TWENTIETH CENTURY TEXT-BOOKS

EDITED BY

A. F. NIGHTINGALE, Ph.D., LL.D.

SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS
FORMERLY SUPERINTENDENT OF HIGH SCHOOLS, CHICAGO

TWENTIETH CENTURY TEXT-BOOKS

A HISTORY OF
THE AMERICAN NATION

Andrew c. Mclaughlin

PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN HISTORY IN THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

1903

■ \

HENRY MOftSE STEFHM»

PKEFACE.

The purpose of this book is to trace the main outlines
of national development, to show how the American people
came to be what they are. These main outlines include
the struggle of the nations of western Europe for possession
of the New World and the final victory of England over
France ; the foundation of English colonies and their de-
velopment as effective instruments for winning and hold-
ing dominion for the English king; the steady progress
of these colonies in strength and self-reliance until they
were fit for independence ; the growth of political ideas and
governmental forms in preparation for the organization of
the new republic ; the separation from the mother country
and the assertion of distinct nationality; the difficulties
and disorders of the confederate period, when the country
presented the " awful spectacle " of a " nation without a
national government " ; the finding of suitable and proper
political organization by the adoption of the Constitution
of the United States ; the effort to maintain national inde-
pendence and to keep free from entangling alliances with
Europe at a period when much of the civilized world was
at war, and the nations of Europe had neither respect nor

regard for the feeble democracy on this side of the ocean ;

iii

510838

i v HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

the continuing problem as to whether the American repub-
lic, stretching over so wide a territory and embracing so
many interests, could continue to exist or would be broken
into pieces by the operation of local prejudices and jeal-
ousies — a problem that became more serious after 1820, when
it began to come home to the minds of men that the North
and South, though not legally separated, were actually
divergent ; the growth of slavery and of antislavery senti-
ment and the gradual separation of the sections, until the
uth sought to sever the bonds of union and to establish
a proslavery confederacy ; the declaration of the civil war
that there must be one nation, and that, as a house divided
against itself will surely fall and a nation can not exist half
slave and half free, the nation should be wholly free ; the
events of the period of reconciliation that followed after
strife, a period during which the two sections were welded
anew into a nation stronger and sounder than ever before.
The main outlines of national progress must also show
how American territory has been extended ; how the Flori-
das, Louisiana, Texas, Oregon, California and the great
West, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, became part of the
United States, and how Western expansion has gone on until
now the newest West is in the farthest Orient.

I have endeavored in this volume to mark out these
different phases of progress, and hope that I have not been
unsuccessful. I have sought chiefly so to narrate the events
of the past that the reader will come to an appreciation of
his political surroundings and of the political duties that
devolve upon him. For this reason especial attention has
been paid to political facts, to the rise of parties, to the
issues involved in elections, to the development of govern-

PREFACE. v

mental machinery, and, in general, to questions of govern-
ment and administration. While all references to indus-
trial changes and facts of interest in industrial history have
not been omitted, those events have been selected which
seem to have the most marked effect on the progress or the
make-up of the nation. Isolated and unrelated facts in any
field of historical inquiry do not constitute history.

The short lists of references which appear here and there
throughout this volume contain only a few of the best and
most readable books. As a rule, only those are mentioned
that are easily accessible, and that are of such a character
that high-school pupils will be likely to read them and en-
joy them. A small pamphlet has been prepared to accom-
pany this volume, which will, it is thought, be of service to
teachers. It contains a bibliography and list of topics for
outside study, suggestions on methods of teaching, and
kindred matter.

It is to be hoped that the illustrative material contained
in this volume will prove to be truly illustrative and help-
ful. I have sought to select only trustworthy portraits of
leading persons, and a few pictures that have in themselves
historical value, either because they are contemporary rep-
resentations of a situation or because they actually repro-
duce a past condition. Merely imaginative pictures which
have no real historical value are altogether out of place in a
high-school text-book. A great deal of time and patient
work have been expended on the preparation of the maps,
and while one can hardly dare hope that they are absolutely
without error, I trust that they will be found, on the whole,
accurate, truthful, and illustrative.

I desire to express my thanks to Prof. Isaac N. Dem-

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

mon, who kindly read the whole of my manuscript. I
received many helpful suggestions from the editors of the
series. I wish to make special acknowledgment to Prof.
Burke A. Hinsdale, who examined my manuscript with
care, and gave me valuable advice both as to content and
as to method of treatment.

Acknowledgments are due to Houghton, Mifflin & Co.,
the publishers of Winsor's Narrative and Critical History
of America and of Winsor's Christopher Columbus, for per-
mission to reproduce the picture of Columbus, page 11, and
two of the old maps, also to Osgood & Co., publishers of
Winsor's Memorial History of Boston, and to the Magazine
of American History for two or three of the illustrations in
the text.

Short as this book is and carefully as it has been writ-
ten, I do not expect to find it faultless, and I shall be under
obligation to any one who will point out its mistakes. The
necessary brevity makes perfect accuracy of statement very
difficult, inasmuch as less than the whole truth is sometimes
as bad as falsehood.

University of Michigan, March 1, 1899.

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. — Discovery and exploration 1

II.— The Southern colonies— 1607-1700 .... 28

III.— The New England colonies— 1607-1700 ... 67

IV.— The Middle colonies— 1609-1700 97

V. — History of the colonies in the eighteenth century. 116

VI.— France and England— 1608-1763 129

VII. — Social, industrial, and political condition of the

colonies in 1760 151 f

VIII. — Causes of the Revolution 169

IX.— The Revolution— 1775-1783 189

X. — The Confederation and the Constitution — 1781-1789. 216
XI. — Federal supremacy — Organization of the Govern-
ment— 1789-1801 233

XII. — The supremacy of the Republicans — Foreign com-
plications— War— 1801-1817 260 x

XIII. — Political and industrial reorganization — 1817-1829. 296
XIV. — Democracy and slavery — Industrial and economic
controversies — The annexation of Texas — 1829-

1845 322

XV. — Territorial expansion — Shall slave territory be

extended ?— 1845-1861 359

XVI.— Secession and civil war — 1861-1865 .... 417

XVII. — Political and social reconstruction — 1867-1877 . 469

XVIII.— The new nation— 1877-1899 499

XIX. — Conclusion 536

Appendix 548

Index 573

vii

LIST OF ILLUSTKATIONS.

PAGE

George Washington Frontispiece

Restoration of a Norse ship 5

Building a ship of the fifteenth century 9

Earliest engraved likeness of Christopher Columbus ... 11

Drawing attributed to Columbus 17

Facsimile of the sentence in which America was first named . 21

The house where Columbus died 27

Captain John Smith 39

Captain John Smith's adventures 40, 43

Sir Walter Raleigh 66

First page of the Bradford manuscript 73

John Winthrop 81

John Winthrop, Jr 87

Peter Stuyvesant 103

William Penn 110

Title-page of the Frame of Government of Pennsylvania . . 112

Penn's house in Philadelphia 115

James Oglethorpe 126

Christ Church, Boston 128

Defeat of the Iroquois 131

Samuel Adams 152

Gunston Hall 155

New York city in 1732 161

Benjamin Franklin 162

Franklin's birthplace 162

William and Mary College 168

Patrick Henry 170

James Otis 174

A newspaper broadside on the day before the Stamp Act went

into effect 176

Handbill issued to check opposition to the Stamp Act . . .177

Handbill announcing repeal of the Stamp Act .... 179

X HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

PAGE

John Dickinson 180

Portion of a handbill recalling the Boston massacre . . . 182

The Boston massacre 188

The battle of Lexington 190

Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Independence . . . 195

Robert Morris 201

Nathanael Greene . . . 211

A page of Washington's accounts 214

Independence Hall, Philadelphia 215

James Wilson 224

Gouverneur Morris 225

Rufus King 226

Cuts from a Boston newspaper published while the Constitution

was being ratified 229

John Jay 234

Wall Street in 1789 236

Henry Knox 238

Alexander Hamilton 240

The Campus Martins, Marietta, Ohio, 1798 248

John Adams . . 253

Reception of Washington at Trenton, 1789 259

Thomas Jefferson 260

Albert Gallatin 261

John Marshall 266

James Madison 276

The frigate Constitution 284

The house where the Treaty of Ghent was discussed . . . 295

James Monroe 296

Cincinnati in 1810 298

Henry Clay 309

John Quincy Adams 311

John Randolph 313

Advertisement of the first passenger train in Massachusetts . . 316

Marietta, Ohio, in early days 321

Andrew Jackson 322

John C. Calhoun 326

Daniel Webster 327

William Lloyd Garrison 342

The first message sent by the Morse telegraph .... 358

Winfield Scott 367

Zachary Taylor 375

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

William H. Seward 380

Charles Sumner 396

James Buchanan 398

John Brown's fort 408

Newspaper announcement of the secession of South Carolina . 411

Jefferson Davis 415

Abraham Lincoln 417

Joseph E. Johnston 424

George B. McClellan 425

Edwin M. Stanton 429

Albert Sidney Johnston 430

Union gunboats on the Cumberland 431

Robert E. Lee 437

Stonewall Jackson 439

Lincoln's draft of the Emancipation Proclamation . . . 442

George G. Meade 444

George II. Thomas 447

Philip 11. Sheridan 455

The Confederate ram Tennessee 456

John B. Hood 458

William T. Sherman 459

Salmon P. Chase 461

Ulysses S. Grant 482

Samuel J. Tilden 495

Buildings of the Centennial Exposition, 1876 498

Rutherford B. Hayes 499

James A. Garfield 507

Grover Cleveland 511

Benjamin Harrison 515

William McKinley 529

The Maine 531

The Court of Honor, Columbian Exposition, 1893 .... 547

LIST OF MAPS AND TABLES.

page;
Physical map of the United States (colored) . . Facing title

Political map of the United States (colored) . . . facing vi

Linguistic stocks of American Indians (colored) . . facing 2

Ptolemy map 13

Toscanelli's map 14

Western half of Lenox globe 22

Mercator map of 1541 . . 25

Western half of the Ribero map 26

Territory granted by the charter of 1606 35

Territory granted by the charter of 1609 41

Maryland grant 56

Grant of the Carolinas 62

John Smith's map of New England 68

Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 86

Territory granted to Mason and Gorges 90

New England, 1650 93

Van der Donck's map of New Netherlands, 1656 .... 99

European possessions, 1650 (colored) 101

East Jersey and West Jersey 106

The Iroquois country 132

The Joliet map 134

La Hontan's map of Canada 137

European claims and possessions, 1755 (colored) .... 141

Theater of the French and Indian War .... 142, 144, 146

Contemporary plan of the siege of Quebec . . . facing 146

Central North America, 1763-83 (colored) 149

Boston and surrounding towns 192

Boston and vicinity, 1776 193

New York and vicinity, 1776 198

The Revolution in the Middle States 202

The Revolution in the South 209

The United States, 1783 (colored) 219

xii

LIST OF MAPS AND TABLES. xiii

PAGE

Distribution of population, 1790 (colored) 231

The election of 1796 (colored) 251

Central North America, 1803 (colored) 263

Route of Lewis and Clark 270

The war in the West, 1812 282

War on Niagara frontier 283

War on northern frontier 286

War in the South 288

Vicinity of Baltimore and Washington, 1812 289

Cruise of the Essex 290

Western extension of population in 1820 (colored) .... 299

The Missouri compromise line 305

The election of 1828 (colored) 319

Distribution of population in 1840 (colored) 337

Texas 357

The Mexican War 366

Acquisition of territory in the West, 1803-53 370

The Western Territories, 1854 390

The election of 1856 (colored) • . . .397

Western extension of population, 1860 (colored) .... 405

The United States in 1861 (colored) .... facing 416

Charleston harbor 419

The civil war in the East 423

The war in the West . 426

Battle of Shiloh . 433

Battle of Hampton Roads 435

The Peninsula campaign 436

Battle of Fredericksburg 440

Battle of Gettysburg . 445

Siege of Vicksburg 446

Historical sketch of the war 453

The campaigns of the civil war (colored) . . . facing 458

Western extension of population in 1870 (colored) .... 491

The election of 1876 (colored) 497

The election of 1896 (colored) 527

Puerto Rico 532

Philippine Islands 533

Hawaiian Islands 534

Distribution of population in 1890 (colored) 537

Movement of the center of population 538

Productions of pig iron in the United States , , , 540

xiv HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION.

PAGE

Teachers in common schools and appropriations for schools . . 543
Relative areas of the States of the Union and European States . 548
Summary of popular and electoral votes for President and Vice-
President of the United States 549-553

Summary of the States and Territories 554-555

Cities of over 100*000 inhabitants in 1900 ..... 555
United States, showing the territorial acquisitions previous to

1898 facing 572

a^^^^' / ^ K -

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

CHAPTER I.
Discovery and Exploration.

The Western Hemisphere has been the dwelling place of
men for a great many centuries. Long before the existence
of the Western World was known to Europeans,
Antiquity of j n f ac ^ De f ore Europe itself was civilized or
had a history, human beings wandered over
these continents. It is even confidently asserted that men
were living here in the glacial age, when the northern part
of North America, nearly as far south as the present site
of Philadelphia, was swathed in a great ice sheet. As to
this there are differences of opinion among scholars, but it
is plain that the antiquity of man in America is so great
that it does not furnish a problem for the historian, for he
deals, in the main, with the work and progress of civilized
men, who are formed into political bodies or states.

There seems likewise little need of prolonged discussion

concerning the original home of these primitive men. For

• the ethnologists this problem is full of interest,

Origin of man an( j C0ll \^ they reach substantial agreement

in America. J , °

the student of history would accept their con-
clusions ; but special students of the subject seem hope-
lessly at variance. Men may have made their way hither
from Asia thousands of years ago, when there was a con-
tinuous strip of land where the Aleutian Islands now form,
as it were, a dotted line between the Old World and the New.

g HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

The primitive inhabitants of Central America may be of
the same stock as the inhabitants of some portions of
southern Asia ; and, indeed, some scholars assert that they
find striking similarities between these races. These peoples
may have come to this continent by way of the islands of the
central Pacific. But of all this there is no substantial proof.
It seems probable that there was some contact, in times far
past, between the civilizations or, as we may more properly
say, the " culture " of southern Asia, or even of Africa, and
that of America ; but here again one can speak with no
certainty. It seems, on the other hand, quite within reason
that the semicivilization of Mexico and Peru might have
grown up without influence from other continents.

When the New World became known to Europeans the
natives of some portions of it were quite far advanced to-
ward civilization. This was especially true, as
Peru and } ias already been intimated, of Peru and Mexico.

The people of those regions were far from sav-
agery. The people of Peru had fine buildings and magnifi-
cent roads; they worked skillfully in metals, fashioning
beautiful vases, or forging arms for war and tools for the
husbandman. Gold, silver, lead, and copper were known
and used by them. They raised great crops of corn and
potatoes, and kept vast flocks of llamas and alpacas. Their
language was rich and copious, and capable of expressing
fine shades of thought and noble ideas. Though they had
no system of writing,* they seem to have composed and re-
membered dramas, poems, and histories. The, Mexicans
were not far behind the Peruvians in advancement.

* A curious method of keeping accounts and perhaps recording
events is described in Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, vol. i, p.
243. The " quipus " used for this purpose was a set of ropes in which
knots could be tied at different places. Mr. Markham suggests that
the system of accounting was better than the exchequer tallies used in
England even down to the nineteenth century. See " Tally " in the
dictionary.

110 Longitude 105

DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION. 3

Many persons have supposed that there existed in

North America a race of " mound builders," who had

reached a high plane of culture, before the

The mound advent of the red Indian. To this race

builders.

have been attributed the artificial mounds
and earthworks that are found in considerable numbers
especially throughout the eastern portion of the Missis-
sippi Valley. The evidence seems conclusive, however,
that the mound builders were really Indians ; but it is
not impossible that at an earlier day they were some-
what more advanced than when they became known to
Europeans.

Of the Indians of North America with whom the Euro-
pean people came into contact we may mention especially

three groups or families : * 1. The Algonquin

The Indians. - -i i i

iamily, a numerous people occupying a large
extent of country. Their dwelling place and hunting
grounds reached from Hudson Bay on the north to the
Carolinas on the south, and westward even beyond the
Great Lakes. 2. The Muskhogees, living south of the Al-
gonquins and north of the Gulf of Mexico. To this family
belonged the Seminoles, Choctaws, and other tribes. 3.
The Huron-Iroquois, who held the region south of Lakes
Erie and Ontario and the peninsula east of Lake Huron. f
" They formed, as it were, an island in the vast expanse of
Algonquin population." One detached tribe of this family,
the Tuscaroras, lived in the Carolinas ; but at a later time,

* The teacher or student desirous of getting an idea of the extent '
and location of the Indian tribes will find interesting accounts in Park-
man, The Conspiracy of Pontiac, vol. i, chap, i ; Fiske, The Dis-
covery of America, vol. i, chap, i ; Thwaites, The Colonies, chap, i ;
Shaler, The United States of America, vol. i, chap. iv. The rela-
tions of the French and English with the Indians is given in Winsor,
Narrative and Critical History of America, vol. i, chap. v.

f Generally when the Iroquois are spoken of the tribes of central
New York are meant.

4 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

after a disastrous war with the English settlers, they joined
their kinsmen at the North.

Of these groups of Indians the Iroquois were the most
warlike. They waged almost ceaseless war on neighboring
tribes and subdued and conquered many of
nation™ them. They were bold, crafty, and cruel, gift-

ed with great energy and considerable intelli-
gence.* The confederacy of " five nations," who occupied
the central part of what is now New York, was well or-
ganized for war and conquest, and held a position of great
military advantage at the sources of rivers that flowed
northward to the St. Lawrence, eastward to the Hudson
and the Atlantic, or found their way even southward to the
Gulf.f

The first connection between Europe and America of"
which anything is known was made by adventurous Nortli-
men from Iceland. In the latter part of the
tenth century they founded settlements in
Greenland. Possibly we may believe that Bjarni Herjulf-
son, driven from his course on a voyage to these settlements,
first saw the mainland of America, which proved to be not
the shore of mountains and icy fiords, but " a land flat and
covered with trees," several days' sail southwest from Green-
land. Whether this tale be true or not, there is little doubt
that about the year 1000 Leif Ericson, the son of that Eric
the Red who had begun the settlement of Greenland, actu-
ally found the continent and that he with a number of
companions spent the winter somewhere upon its shores.

* Parkman, The Jesuits in America, gives a highly entertaining
story of the power and horrible cruelty of the Iroquois. See also Hart,
American History told by Contemporaries, vol. i, p. 129.

f An examination of the map will show what a center the middle of
New York is. While the Mohawk flows eastward to the Hudson, the
Susquehanna flows southeast, the group of lakes is connected with the
St. Lawrence system, and Lake Chautauqua belongs to the Mississippi
Valley.

DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION.

They found grapes in the new country, and " Leif , giving
the country a name from its products, called it Vinland."
In the course of a few years other Northmen came to these
strange coasts where there were tall trees and vines. A
settlement was made, but the settlers were attacked by the
natives, who proved fierce and unfriendly, so that the colony
was abandoned.

The sagas.

A Norse Ship of the Tenth Century.
A restoration of the remains of an old ship found in 1880.

The accounts of these Norse discoveries are recorded in
Icelandic chronicles called " sagas." Many historians have
doubted their trustworthiness, and have looked
upon the voyages of Bjarni and Leif as mere
mythical tales. Others have taken them too literally, have
believed all their details, and striven to find out from their
vague descriptions the exact place where the Northmen
settled. The truth seems to be that there is good reason
for believing the main outline of the story, and for think-
ing that the hardy Vikings of the north were the first
Europeans to catch a glimpse of the New World. They were
of the same blood as the bold Northmen who overran Eng-
land in successive invasions and finally established them-

6 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

selves there as rulers of the land, near the time when Leif
made his famous voyage to Vinland.*

Interesting as these discoveries may be, they are of little
historic importance, inasmuch as the people of Europe
Norse dis- were no ^ reac ty either to receive the idea of a

coveries new world or to act upon it. The discovery

unimportant. by Columbus five hundred years later came
upon the full flood-tide of events, in response to industrial
needs ; it found the people eager for new tidings, and in a
condition to appreciate in part the meaning of what was
done and to reap advantage from the opening of new con-
tinents.

The movement that resulted in the discovery of Amer-
ica was due to the spirit of enterprise and enthusiasm at
the end of the Middle Ages. For some cen-

T e Renais- turies the condition and character of life in
sance.

Europe had been undergoing change. Men

were stirring to take a broader and more intelligent interest
in themselves and their surroundings. The period from
the beginning of the fourteenth to the middle of the six-
teenth century is called the " Renaissance," or the new
birth, although sometimes the word is applied to a some-
what shorter period, and used to indicate the development
of new interest in literature and art.f The crusades for

* Fiske, The Discovery of America, vol. i, pp. 148-221 ; Bryant and
Gay, Popular History of the United States, vol. i, pp. 35-63, are the
most readable of the accounts of the Norse discoveries. See especially
Old South Leaflets, No. 31, containing the Voyage to Vinland ; American
History Leaflets, No. 3, containing Extracts from the Sagas ; Hart,
American History told by Contemporaries, pp. 28-35.

f " The term Renaissance is frequently applied at present not only
to the new birth of art and letters, but to all the characteristics, taken
together, of the period of transition from the Middle Ages to modern
life. The transformation in the structure and policy of states, the pas-
sion for discovery, the dawn of a more scientific method of observing
man and Nature, the movement toward more freedom of intellect and
of conscience, are part and parcel of one comprehensive change — a

DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION. 7

the conquest of the Holy City had aroused men to new
speculation and thought, and had helped to bring about a
more reasonable political situation, because they tended to
break down the feudal system and to do away with some of
its evils. Each European state became more strongly
knitted together and more competent for action as the
feudal baron lost his power. Moreover, the revival in the
knowledge of the ancient classics encouraged freer and
higher thinking. About 1450 the art of printing was in-
vented, and this gave a channel for communicating new
thoughts and ideas and announcing new discoveries and
inventions. The times were marked by an outburst of com-
mercial enterprise, by a zeal for a wider trade, and by a
fresh interest in travel and discovery.

For many centuries the people of Europe and Asia had
carried on trade with one another, and the general effect of

the crusades was to increase this traffic. Genoa
£»BiSr Wtth a ^ d Venice became great seats of commerce

and grew rich in their traffic with the far East.
Europe used more and more of the silks and spices of the
Orient, and these commodities became necessities to the
people. There were three routes of travel : one by way of
the Black Sea and the Caspian ; another through Syria and
the Persian Gulf; the third by the way of the Ked Sea.
But toward the end of the Middle Ages the Ottoman Turks
began to press forward in Asia Minor and to block the
routes of travel, checking or making dangerous the way to
the East. In 1453 Constantinople fell into their hands, and
commerce in that direction was ended. Turkish corsairs
frequented the waters of the eastern Mediterranean, and
Europe saw herself in danger of being cut off entirely from
the longed-for wealth of u India and Cathay." *

change which even now has not reached its goal." (Fisher, Outlines of
Universal History, p. 387.)

* Cathay was the name by which China was known in Europe.
India was a very indefinite term.
2

8 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Although this commerce with the Orient was not small
and had lasted for many years, yet in the fifteenth century

the people of Europe knew little of India or
E^st, 8 on * e China, since the traffic was in general carried on

through middlemen. Accounts of the far East
had been written by travelers, and some of them seem to
have had influence in arousing interest in those regions.
Chief among these narratives was the work of Marco Polo,
an Italian traveler, who spent many years in China, and,
returning to Europe, recounted strange stories of the wealth
and glories of the Great Khan. He described not only
China, but India, and made mention of Japan * and Java.
This famous book was one of the greatest single contribu-
tions ever made to geographical knowledge. Its descrip-
tions have been found to be, on the whole, remarkably

correct. In the next century after Marco Polo

wrote his book, appeared the "Voyage and
Travels of Sir John Mandeville." Such a man-as the famous
Sir John probably never existed in the flesh, any more than
did Robinson Crusoe. The stories of which he was the hero
were taken bodily from other writers ; but the doughty
knight, real or fictitious, was a perfect prince among story-
tellers and was a very actual person to the men of that day,
who read with eagerness the fascinating tales of the mar-
velous East. He told of pillars of gold and precious stones
half a foot in length, of golden birds that clapped their
wings by magic, of golden vines laden with costly jewels,
of the fountain of youth whose waters, if one drink them
thrice, would make one ever young. f

* Japan had the name Chipangu or Cipango in Marco Polo's book.
As we shall see, Columbus thought that he had reached it, and at one
time thought that Hayti was the famous land, where the lord of
the island had 'a great palace which is entirely roofed with fine
gold. . . . Moreover, all the pavement of the palace, and the floors of
its chambers, are entirely of gold in plates like slabs of stone, a good
two fingers thick."

f " 1, John Mandeville," says the old impostor, " saw this well and

DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION.

Eager to know a way to the East that would be free
from the dangers of the robber Turk, men had been turn-
ing their thoughts to new routes. Much was
TxpEions. done b y Prince Henry of Portugal who won
for himself the title of " Henry the Navigator."
An earnest and enthusiastic student of geography and as-
tronomy, he devoted his life to directing voyages of discov-
ery and exploration along the western coast of Africa.

Building a Ship of the Fifteenth Century.

Year after year daring Portuguese sailors in their little
ships crept farther and farther southward, and returned to
announce to the great navigator the results of their expedi-
tions. Henry died in 1460 ; but Portugal continued to be
the home of bold and progressive mariners, and the air was

drank thereof thrice, and all my fellows, and evermore since that time
I feel that I am better and haler." Marco Polo's Travels were written
in 1299 in the prison at Genoa. Read Marco Polo's Account of Japan
and Java, in Old South Leaflets, No. 32.

It is noteworthy that Mandeville declares that " men may well per-
ceive that the land and sea are of round shape and form," and that
he tells of a man who wandered quite around the earth and returned
to his own home again.

10 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

filled with stories of discovery and plans for further achieve-
ment. At the very end of the century (1497) Vasco da
Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope, made his way to
the harbor of Calicut,* and returned with a cargo of the
coveted spices and jewels of India.

From the dawn of history the nations of Europe had
stood with their backs to the Atlantic. The Mediterranean
was to them the center of the earth. The voy-
ages and discoveries of the Portuguese navi-
gators brought new knowledge of strange coasts and helped
to drive away from men's minds the great fear of the Sea
of Darkness, which was supposed to contain all kinds of
dreadful monsters and threaten all sorts of fearful dangers.
Europe began to face about and to look out upon the great
western ocean, whose coast had for so many centuries been
the limit of the civilized world.

Thus the mariners of Portugal found a new way to the
Indies ; but before they were successful in finding this
southern route, Columbus made his great effort
to reach the East by way of the West, finding
not the land he sought, but discovering a new world whose
treasures in the course of years filled the coffers of Spain to
overflowing. Both the time and place of Columbus's birth
are uncertain. The probability is that Genoa was his birth-
place. Certainly he spent his early years there, when ho
was not upon the sea. We may select the year 144G as
most likely to be the correct date of his birth, f

* Not Calcutta.

f The keenest investigators place the date between the 25th of
March, 1446, and the 20th of March, 1447. An interesting sketch of
Columbus will be found in Adams's Christopher Columbus. The
account in Fiske's The Discovery of America, chap, v, is enter-
taining. Many fascinating pages will be found in Irving's Life of
Columbus. The great critical authority is Justin Winsor's Christo-
pher Columbus. See also Life of Christopher Columbus, by Clements
R. Markham.

DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION. H

His early education was not entirely neglected, but it
was neither broad nor thorough. He acquired a reading

The Earliest Engraved Likeness of Christopher Columbus.

knowledge of Latin and became a good penman. He was
early interested in the study of geography, and

Education. J , , . , , , J B , 8 / f'

somewhat later seems to have gained skill as
a maker of maps and charts, for he himself says : "God
hath given me a genius and hands apt to draw his globe,

12 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

and on it the cities, rivers, islands, and ports — all in their
proper places." Even before reaching manhood he entered
upon a seafaring career, and seems to have taken part in
ventures of a turbulent if not piratical nature.* He be-
came a bold seaman and navigator, and there is some evi-
dence that in one voyage he sailed even as far as Iceland, a
fact which has made some persons believe that he gained
from these Northmen a knowledge of lands in the western
ocean. He went to live in Portugal about 1473, and there
began to take consuming interest in the new discoveries
and in the search for a new route to the Indies.

For some years he was engaged in various commercial

enterprises ; but he also read and studied, and became con-

. . vinced that great discoveries were to be made

out upon the Sea of Darkness, the great Atlan-
tic, whose terrors still, in spite of the daring achievements of
the Portuguese, held men in dread and awe. Columbus
came to the belief that the shortest and best way to reach
the East was to sail west, and he gave himself up to the
accomplishment of this great purpose.

At that time people generally believed the earth to be a
great plane, a vast flat surface. With the exception of the

information given to the world by Marco Polo,
onVe P 5 ty few important additions had been made to

geographical knowledge for a thousand years.
The famous map of Claudius Ptolemy, made about the mid-
dle of the second century, fairly represented the general
idea concerning the earth at the beginning of the fifteenth
century. We must not think, however, that the belief in
the earth's roundness, or the idea that India lay to the west
of Spain, was original with Columbus. He carried the
thought into action ; he had the needed courage and per-
sistency; he had the steadfast and enduring faith. But

* " There was a spice of piracy even in the soberest ventures of com-
merce " (Winsor's Columbus, p. 81).

DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION.

the belief that the earth was a sphere was a very old one.
Aristotle, the great Greek philosopher, who lived in the
fourth century before Christ, spoke of this idea as if it
were not new, and gave, himself, substantial grounds for
holding it.* Other ancient writers mentioned the thought,
and it did not die out among learned men even in the Middle

Sketch of the Ptolemy Map.|

Ages. With the revival of learning it once more appeared
in published writings, and Columbus seems to have eagerly
scanned and pondered these pages.

Shortly after going to Portugal, when Columbus was

hardly thirty years of age, he obtained a letter from a famous

Florentine astronomer named Toscanelli. It

letter 116 * was * n l ar g e P ar t a C0 P V °^ a letter sent by
Toscanelli to a man at the Portuguese court,
who had written at the request of the king to obtain the opin-
ion of the great astronomer on the subject of the shortest

* " Wherefore," says Aristotle, " we may judge that those persons
who connect the region in the neighborhood of the Pillars of Hercules
with that toward India, and who assert that in this way the sea is one,
do not assert things very improbable."

f This is only a simplified sketch of the Ptolemy map.

DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION. 15

route to the Indies. This was one of the most important
letters ever written, for it contained quite positive assurances
that the earth was round, and that the way to India was west-
ward across the Atlantic. " And do not wonder," said the
letter, " at my calling west the parts where the spices are,
whereas they are commonly called east, because to persons
sailing persistently westward those parts will be found by

courses on the under side of the earth." Tosca-

nelli sent a chart also, and Columbus used this
as a guide in his great undertaking. Now, fortunately, this
chart was far wrong in one particular. Although the size
of the earth was given not far from right, Asia was so ex-
tended that the coast of China, or Cathay, was put about
where the Gulf of California really is, and Cipangu, or
Japan, east of Mexico. To reach Asia, therefore, seemed
not such an insurmountable task as would have been the
case had the coast of China occupied on the map its real
position. Moreover, Toscanelli placed on the chart certain
mythical islands * which he thought existed. " So," said
he, " through the unknown parts of the route the stretches
of sea to be traversed are not great."

Columbus was now wholly given up to the idea of find-
ing India across the Atlantic. He tried for years to obtain

assistance and authority for the task. He ap-
seekraid plied for aid to the monarchs of Portugal and

Spain, and seems to have sent his brother to
London to seek aid at the court of England. Success
finally came to reward his patience and persistence. Ar-
rangements were made for the expedition with the help
and encouragement of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain.

On the 3d of August, 1492, three vessels started on a
momentous voyage in search of the spices and gold of the
East by way of the West. The largest vessel, the Santa
Maria, " a dull vessel," we are told, " and unfit for discov-

* See on the map St. Brandan's Jnsel and Antilia

16 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

ery," was Columbus's flag-ship. According to modern esti-
mates, made from descriptions of her size, she was not much
over sixty-three feet in length and twenty in
His first width. The Pinta, commanded by Martin Pin-

voyage. ' *

zon, and the Xina, commanded by Vincente
Pinzon, were still smaller, and without decks amidships.
The little fleet set sail to the Canaries, remained there for
a time, and early in September stood boldly forth on the
waste of unknown waters. As the weeks went by the sea-
men lost patience, but the courage of Columbus did not
wane. " The people could endure no longer ; they com-
plained of the length of the voyage. But the admiral
cheered them . . . the best way he could, giving them good
hopes of the advantages they might gain from it. He
added that, however much they might complain, he had to
go to the Indies, and that he would go on until he found
them, with the help of our Lord." *

Land was discovered early in the morning of the 12th
of October. Columbus disembarked and " took possession
of the island for the king and queen." f He
had not discovered India or China, as we well
know, but had come upon an outlying island of a new con-
tinent, a world inhabited by barbarous and savage men,
without the marble palaces and the golden wonders de-
scribed by Marco Polo and Mandeville. Columbus, how-
ever, believed that he had reached the Indies. Before

* This quotation is from the journal of Columbus, which has not
been preserved in its original form, but was abridged by Las Casas,
who wrote a great book on the History of the Indies in the sixteenth
century, and was himself one of the noblest characters of the day. The
student will be interested in With the Admiral of the Ocean Sea, by
Mackie. P. L. Ford, Writings of Columbus, can be read with profit.
The journal is printed in the Hakluyt Society Publications, and is
edited by C. R. Markham.

f Upon which one of the Bahamas Columbus first landed is not
known. The weight of authority is now in favor of Watling's Island.
See Adams's Columbus, p. 88, where the evidence is summarized.

DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION.

returning, the voyagers visited other islands, discovering
Hayti and Cuba. Early in 1493 Columbus set sail for

2©cearoca|

From the Letter to Sanxis, 1493.

The pictures contained in the published letter are supposed to have been

made after drawings by Columbus.

home, and after various adventures reached Spain in
Bafety, where he was received with triumphal honors

18 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION.

as the discoverer of a new route to the riches of the far
East.*

The bold explorer made three other voyages, always

hoping to find the wealth and glories of Cathay. On his

second voyage he established a colony in

Slcoveries, Ha y tL t 0n his third ( 1498 ) he discovered the
mainland of South America, but he still sup-
posed the land to be part of Asia, or in the near neighbor-
hood of the wished-for places. Shortly after returning from
his fourth expedition he died (1506) in Spain,
neglected, poor, and broken-hearted ; for he
found little favor with the people when it was seen that
he had not brought them the gold and jewels and precious
fabrics of the Orient, but had " discovered the lands of de-
ceit and disappointment — a place of sepulchres and wretch-
edness to Spanish hidalgos."

It is important to remember that the desire of Europe

was not to discover a new continent, but to reach Asia.

Men believed that the new discoveries lay

Desire to along the coast of China, and the idea only

reach Asia. ° ' J

gradually took hold of them that the lands
out in the western ocean were parts of a new continent.
South America, which became known in rough outline be-
fore the northern continent was well known, was supposed
to be a new island or a projection from Asia ; and after the
coast line quite well to the north was put down on maps
and charts, the hope of many voyagers was to get around
these troublesome barriers or through them, and to find
their way to the coveted riches of India. Even after Euro-
pean settlements were made in the new land there were
many patient explorations of bays and rivers in hopes of

* Columbus's own account of his discovery will be found in his
letter to Santangel. It is published in American History Leaflets,
No. 1.

f Columbus left some men on the island on his first voyage, but
found only ruins of their houses and fort when he returned.

DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION. 19

finding a thoroughfare. Slowly, through the process of
decades, the Western World was uncovered and opened up
to be a part and parcel of the known geography of the
earth.

Before Columbus completed his four voyages other im-
portant discoveries had been made. In 1497 the mainland
of North America was discovered by an expedi-
tion sailing from Bristol, England. The leader
of this expedition was John Cabot. His son Sebastian
may have accompanied him. The land first seen by them
was Cape Breton, or Labrador.* An entry in the privy
purse of shrewd Henry VII notes that £10 were given " hym
that founde the new isle " — not a magnificent gift in light
of the fact that upon this voyage of the Cabots England
later based her claim to the whole continent of North
America. Cabot also received a small pension, charged
upon the revenues of the port of Bristol. The following
year he seems to have started upon another voyage, but
nothing more is known of him.f

There is some reason for believing that the mainland of
South America was first visited by an expedition that set

* The date generally given for this first sight of the main coast
of North America is the 24th of June. Possibly, as recent investiga-
tions seem to show, the discovery was even earlier than this. There
is some difference of opinion, too, as to whether the landfall was
Cape Breton, or Labrador. Some of the uncertainties are well put in
Mr. Winsor's words : " If we believe Sebastian's own words as reported,
he accompanied his father on his first and second voyages. If we
believe contemporary witnesses, and some are bitterly reproachful in
their negatives, Sebastian was never on the coast of North America at
all " ( Winsor, in a paper read before the New York Historical Society,
November 18, 1896). See for the Cabots, Winsor, Narrative and Critical
History of America, vol. iii, pp. 1-7; Fiske, The Discovery of America,
vol. ii, pp. 1-16.

f Contemporary accounts of the Cabot voyage in Hart, American
History told by Contemporaries, vol. i, pp. 69-71. There is some evi-
dence that Cabot returned from the second voyage.

20 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

sail from Cadiz, May 10, 1497. Americus Vespucius,* a

Florentine merchant and traveler, speaks of this voyage,

in which he claims to have taken part, and

Vespucins. sa ^ s ^ na ^ " a ^ ^ ne en( ^ °^ twenty-seven days "
they came " upon a coast which we thought to
be that of a continent." If such a voyage and such discov-
eries were made, then these navigators, and not the Cabots
or Columbus, were the first since the Northmen to see
the mainland of the new world. Concerning these matters
students disagree, but many of the most learned believe
that Vespucius never made this voyage, and is chargeable
with willful deceit. That he did make later important dis-
coveries, however, is beyond question. In 1501 he sailed
along the eastern coast of South America, and
new world" & then, driven by violent gales, went far into the
southern seas, probably even to the Island of
Georgia, a land not rediscovered until nearly three cen-
turies afterward. Within a short time he made still another
voyage to the southern continent. Even if he did make
the voyage of 1497, it was these later explorations, and not
the early one, that gave him fame, for he wrote a short
description of what he had seen, and his accounts of far-
off lands that were new and strange were eagerly read by
those who looked upon Columbus as the unfortunate dis-
coverer of an insalubrious archipelago upon the coast of
Asia. His story, written in a private letter, was printed f
and widely circulated. In 1507 a young German professor,
living at St. Die, in the Vosges Mountains, published a
little volume on geography, and with it some letters of
Vespucius, and suggested that, inasmuch as a fourth part

* This is the Latin form of the name. In Italian it is Americo or
Amerigo Vespucci. ,

f In his letter Vespucius spoke in wonder of what he saw on the
Brazilian coast, and said, "Novum mundum appellare licet" — one
might call it a new world. This letter, when published, bore the title
Novus Mundus.

DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION. 21

of the earth had been discovered by Americus, it be called
America.* This name came into general use only slowly,

Nuc tfo Sc Jig partes funt latius lu(lrat^/&: alia
quartapars per Americu Vefputiu(vt in fequenri
bus audietur )inuenta eft/qua non video cur quis
iure vetet ab Americo inuentore fagacis ingenr) vi
AmeriV ro Amerigen quafi Americi terra / fiue Americam
ca dicendatcu Sc Europa Sc Afia a mulieribus fua for

tita fintnomina.Eius fitu Sc gentis mores ex bis bi
nis Americi nauigationibus quae fequuntliquide
intelligidatur.

Facsimile of the Sentence in which America was first named,
from the Cosmography Introductio, 1507.

being applied first to the unknown lands, " the New World "
on the south, and then given to both continents.!

In 1519 Ferdinand Magellan started upon a great and
eventful voyage. He discovered the straits that bear his

name, and, passing boldly through, crossed the
SjSjJ broad Pacific and reached the East Indies, thus

actually doing what Columbus had failed to do.
Magellan himself was killed in the Philippine Islands ; but
one of his vessels, with a remnant of her crew, sailed to
Spain, completing the first circumnavigation of the globe.
Judged by its results, this voyage was not so important as
many others, but it was one of the greatest feats of bold

* In another place is the same suggestion: "But now these parts
have been more extensively explored, and . . . another fourth part has
been discovered. . . . Wherefore I do not see what is rightly to hinder
us from calling it after its discoverer, Americus, a man of sagacious
mind, Amerige — i. e., the land of Americus, or America, since both
Europe and Asia have got their names from women."

f For Vespucius, see Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of
America, vol. ii, chap. ii. Fiske, Discovery of America, vol. ii, pp. 25-
175, especially pp. 97-105. On the naming of America, Winsor, ibid.,
pp. 164-169: Fiske, ibid., pp. 107-117, 125-140. T

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

navigation in history. It shows how much had been clone
in this wonderful era in the course of a few years ; for, fifty

Western Half of Lenox Globe.*

years before, the Portuguese seamen had sailed hardly more
than halfway down the western coast of Africa.

* This map follows a sketch given in Winsor, Narrative and Critical
History of America, vol. ii, p. 170 (by permission of the publishers,
Houghton, Mifflin & Co.). It is the part of a globe made about 1510 or
1511, now in the Lenox Library, New York. It shows the Mundus

DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION. 23

While for nearly a century after the discovery of America
other nations did little to get possession of dominions in
the New World, Spain entered eagerly into the
Spanish task. Settlements were made in the West

Indies, and bold adventurers made long journeys
into the interior of the continents looking for the fabulous
riches of Cathay. Ponce de Leon, seeking the fountain of
perpotual youth, explored Florida, " the land of Easter." *
Balboa, from a peak in Darien, looked out upon the
waters of the great Pacific. Somewhat later
Pineda entered the mouth of the Mississippi,
and called it the Rio de Santo Espiritu, the River of the
Holy Spirit. In 1539-'42 De Soto made his famous march
through the southern part of what is now the United
States. About the same time Coronado, start-
ing in search of the fabulous " seven cities of
Cibola," wandered over the dreary plains and through the
mountain defiles of the southwest. These explorations ac-
complished little, but in Central and South America the
Spanish soldiers won a great and wealthy empire; Her-
nando Cortes conquered Mexico (1519-'21) ;
jj nd . . the Pizarros conquered Peru (1531-'34). In

15G5 a settlement was made at St. Augustine,
the first European settlement within the future limits of
the United States.

It will thus be seen that Spain occupied the islands of
the West Indies and the semicivilized countries of the two
continents. The Indians of the islands were
Character of timid, and incapable of resisting the cruel
Spanish soldiers ; the people of Mexico and
Peru were not able to unite effectively against the invaders ;
and so the power of Spain was established with little diffi-

Novus of Vespucius as an island southeast of Zipangri (Japan). Other
interesting maps will be found in Winsor, vol. ii.

* Ponce de Leon saw Florida on Easter Day. In Spanish this day is
Pascua Florida, the flowery passover.
3

24 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

culty, and she became possessed of a great subject empire
in the New World from which came gold and silver in
abundance.* To govern such an empire her character
and her condition fitted her. But the Spaniard showed no
skill in making permanent, self-reliant settlements, that
had within them the power of natural development and
growth. In this, as we shall see, the Spanish differed from
the English, who simply made in America new homes for
Englishmen, where their old ideas and customs might de-
velop freely — where, in fact, in many ways a new England
might grow up.

After the discovery of America by Columbus, the Pope,
Alexander VI, issued two bulls, dividing the heathen lands
Th h 11 f °^ ^ ne wor ^ between Portugal and Spain,
demarcation, These gave to Spain all she might discover
1493. wes £ f a jj ne d rawn one hundred leagues

west of the Azores and the Cape Verde Islands. The next
year the two powers entered into an agreement, in accord-

* The Spaniards were moved by three great purposes : the gathering
of gold and jewels, the establishment of dominion, and the winning
of souls to the Church. The first two of these objects were accom-
plished, but the Spanish soldiers, in their greed for gold, seemed to
forget the mission of the cross. See Winsor, Narrative and Critical His-
tory of America, vol. ii, chap, v ; Fiske, The Discovery of America, vol.
ii, pp. 444-481.

The Mercator Map of 1541.
This map shows the word America applied to both the northern
and southern continents. It was long supposed to be the very first, but
quite recently another map (also by Mercator) has been discovered that
was made three years earlier. Mercator was the wisest geographer of
the time, and showed a truly wonderful power of interpreting the re-
ports of travelers and explorers and of divining the truth. The map
as here given follows a sketch made by Mr. Winsor himself, and repro-
duced in his Narrative and Critical History of America, vol. ii, p. 177
(by permission of the publishers, Houghton, Mifflin & Co.). The original
map is on gores. For an example of this method of making maps, see
Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, vol. ii, p. 120.

The Mercator Map of 1541.

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Bnce with which the dividing line should be three hundred
and seventy leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. Upon

ehmmoo^ebaoefaibicrto feffcUgcna; 6i30lal>

ape que t>i3icron los catho\\coe> tfeye&xxetyaiwi

The Western Half of the Eibero Map, 1529, showing the Routes
of Columbus and the Line of Demarcation.

this agreement, duly ratified by the Pope, Spain based her
claim to the New World.

DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION.

References.

Thwaites, The Colonies, Chapters I and II ; Fisher, The Colonial
Era, pp. 1-20; Fiske, The Discovery of America, Volume I, espe-
cially Chapters I, II, III, V, VIII, IX, and X; Iligginson, The Larger
History of the United States, Volume I, Chapters I, II, and III.
Longer accounts : Markham, Christopher Columbus ; Adams, Chris-
topher Columbus.

* %

Uill

The House at Valladolid where Columbus died.

CHAPTER II
The Southern Colonies— 1607-1700.

VIRGINIA.

England was not ready in the first half of the sixteenth
century to enter into competition for the New World ; she
t, , :■ . ,,. was not ready for that outburst of energy which

England in the J . -r. ^

sixteenth made her the successful rival of France and

centnry. Spain and the greatest colonizing nation of the

world. The Tudors, then on the throne, governed England
sternly but well ; order was brought out of the confusion
that came as the old feudal system disappeared ; the mid-
dle classes of society were given opportunity for growth and
betterment ; and the foundations were laid for the trade and
commerce of the years to come. But not until toward the
end of the century did the English people take part in the
contest for empire in America. They were not yet, in the
days of Henry VIII, prepared to reach out for new do-
minions.

The French accomplished little or nothing in the way of
colonization in the sixteenth century. Until the accession
of Henry IV (1589) the country was not in good
sixteenth condition for colonial enterprise. The vitality

century. f the nation was weakened either by foreign

wars or by internal strife. The fierce contests between
Huguenots and Catholics did much to exhaust its energy.
Nevertheless French seamen did something in discovery,
and a few unsuccessful efforts were made to found settle-
ments in America. Hardly was the New World known to
the Old when the hardy fishermen of Brittany began to visit
28

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 29

the fisheries of Newfoundland. Verrazano,* in 1524, sailed
along the North American coast from North Carolina to
Maine. Ten years later Jacques Cartier, a jovial and roist-
ering fellow, explored the lower part of the St. Lawrence,
and the next year visited the present site of Montreal. A
few years after this (1542-'43) an attempt was made to
plant a colony in the new-found region, but without success.
The Huguenots sought to settle in Brazil, but the effort
ended in miserable failure. A colony formed in Florida was
destroyed by the Spaniards and its people murdered in the
cold-blooded fashion of which the Spanish soldier of the day
was master, f

Thus Spain, unsuccessful herself in obtaining a hold on
the Atlantic coast north of the Gulf of Mexico, save in the
Eff F . weak outpost at St. Augustine, which hardly de-
and Spanish served the name of a colony, did succeed in pre-
rivalry. venting the French from settling in the south,

while the cold winters of the north brought disaster to
French colonists on the St. Lawrence. As a consequence,
the middle Atlantic coast remained to the end of the cen-
tury free from settlements, and England was given the
chance to occupy it with her colonies.

Not till the beginning of the next century, when France
was inwardly at peace under the sagacious rule of Henry IV,
D did the French succeed in making a permanent

Permanent ° *

French settlement in America. In 1G05 Port Eoyal,

colonies. j n Acadia, was founded, and three years later

Champlain founded Quebec. How the French power devel-
oped in Canada, and how the French endeavored to extend

* Verrazano, like Columbus, Cabot, Vespucius, was an Italian by
birth.

f Graphic accounts of these early French enterprises will be found
in Parkman, Pioneers of France in the New World, pp. 9-183. Shorter
accounts will be found in Doyle, The English in America, vol. i (Tho
Southern Colonies). Fiske, The Discovery of America, vol. ii, pp. 512-
522.

30 IIISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

their sway over the whole interior of the continent, will be
told in a later chapter. It is sufficient to say here that Eng-
land and France came to vie with each other for dominion
in North America ; and while in the course of a hundred and
fifty years the English colonics along the middle Atlantic
coast were growing strong and vigorous, the French, as an
ever-watchful, zealous enemy, sought to check the progress
of their rivals.

It is highly important that the main features of the geo-
graphical situation should be kept in mind. The Spanish
were at the south; the French, after lG05,were
nation* for the established at the north; the middle portion,
possession of from Maine to Florida, was unsettled at the be-
ginning of the seventeenth century. Into this
middle portion came the people of England, and the Dutch
and Swedes also. In the course of a few years it fell into
the hands of the English, Holland and Sweden being too
weak to retain their hold upon it. Then began a contest
between France and England, a contest for wider dominion,
and in this contest England was successful. Thus by the
end of what we call the colonial period the whole of North
America* was possessed by two nations, England and
Spain.

England advanced very rapidly in wealth and prosper-
ity under the strong, kind hand of Elizabeth, and became a
commercial nation of no mean power. During
England and this time English hostility to Spain was con-
stantly growing more keen, for England was
now firmly Protestant in belief, and the people detested
1'hilip II, who stood forth as the champion of Eoman Ca-
tholicism. They looked upon Spain as the natural enemy
of their country, and the brave English mariners considered
all Spanish commerce fair spoil. These bold sea dogs, scorn-

* Possibly an exception should be made. Russia had already done
something to establish a claim to Alaska.

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 31

ing the threats of Philip against any Protestant who should
visit the seas of the West Indies, lay in wait for galleons
freighted with the treasures of Mexico and Peru and robbed
them ruthlessly. The very names of these daring and in-
comparable seamen were dreaded in the settlements of the
New World.*

Chief among these seamen was Francis Drake. He first
carried the English flag into the Pacific. Sailing through
the Straits of Magellan, he loaded his bark with
Sir Francis g \^ anc [ s ii V er and precious jewels from Span-
ish ships, taking from one alone the sum of
three million dollars. f Passing to the north, he reached
the coast of California or southern Oregon and took formal
possession of the region, naming it New Albion. He then
crossed the Pacific and completed the second navigation of
the globe (1577-'80). Frobisher and Davis made voyages
into the northwestern Atlantic, and other brave mariners J
in various expeditions gave evidence of the new-found ener-
gy and enterprise of England. The expeditions of men like
Drake were at least half piratical, but they were perhaps the
necessary forerunners of English colonization, for they gave
courage to English seamen and helped to break down all
fear of the power of Spain.

* An interesting account is to be found in Green, History of the
English People, chap. vii.

f Fletcher, Drake's chaplain, who wrote an account of the voyage,
speaks of taking thirteen chests of silver reals, eighty pounds weight of
gold, twenty-six tons of uncoined silver, two very fair gilt silver drink-
ing bowls, " and the like trifles."

X Famous among these men was John Hawkins, a valiant seaman,
knighted by Queen Elizabeth for his success in the slave trade. He who
made himself famous in this horrible traffic seems not to have realized
its horror or its wickedness. For he was a pious, religious spirit, and
carried slaves or fought the Spanish with as clear a conscience as if en-
gaged in holy errand. His sailing orders to his ships close with the
words : " Serve God daily ; love one another ; preserve your victuals ;
beware of fire ; and keep good company ! "

32 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

The first English settlements in America were not made
under the guidance and direction of the monarch, nor to
carry out any policy of state ; they were the re-
sult of private enterprise. And yet those who
were chiefly interested in colonization were influenced by
other motives than the mere hope of personal gain ; they de-
sired the extension of English power, and they longed in
some measure to check the might of Spain. They hoped to
get a share of the gold and silver with which the New World
was supposed to abound, and which was thought to be the
source of Spanish strength. Mere hatred of the Spaniard
and religious rivalry seem to have had no small share in the
real motives for colonizing effort.*

The man who first seriously entertained plans for settle-
ment in North America and had the zeal and courage to
make decided effort was Sir Humphrey Gilbert, a gentle and
noble character, one of those persons whose life and conduct
serve to brighten the page of history. In 1579, assisted by
his half-brother, Walter Raleigh, he endeavored
Gilbert and ^ ma k e a settlement in Newfoundland. This

Raleighi

effort, as well as one a few years later (1583),
was unsuccessful. Raleigh now took up the plan, and for
years persisted in trying to establish a permanent English
colony. He more wisely chose a location farther to the
south. In 1584 he sent out two vessels on a voyage of ex-
ploration. Their commanders f sailed along the coast south
of Chesapeake Bay. The name Virginia was given to the
whole country in honor of the maiden queen, Elizabeth.
The next year Raleigh sent out a company who settled on Ro-
anoke Island. This colony was a failure, and another effort

* Hakluyt's famous Westerne Planting contains these words among
others : " That this voyage will be a great bridle to the Indies of the
King of Spain."

f Amadas and Barlowe. Raleigh was knighted as a reward for these
voyages.

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 33

met with like result.* Although Ealeigh was not entirely
discouraged, no other serious steps were taken until the be-
ginning of the next century.

These efforts were a preparation in more ways than one
for successful colonization in America. They pointed to
the difficulties and did something toward marking out the
way of success, f Moreover, a number of the men who were
actively interested with Ealeigh were subscribers to the com-
pany which made a permanent settlement at Jamestown, the
planting of which is soon to be told. And yet there is a
marked difference between the efforts of the sixteenth and
those of the seventeenth century. With the age of Eliza-
_ . . . , beth there seemed to pass away the flavor of

Colonization oj ■>

the middle romance and adventure ; the settlements under

class. prosaic James I were the offspring of the eco-

nomic needs of England. " We pass . . . into the sober at-
mosphere of commercial and political records, amid which
we faintly spell out the first germs of the constitutional life
of British America." The Englishman who succeeded in
colonizing America was not the gay courtier or the daring
buccaneer or the bold freebooter or the gallant soldier of the
reign of Elizabeth, but the steady representative of the in-
dustrious, plodding men of the middle classes, whose wants
and thoughts henceforth were the directive forces of Eng-
lish history. J The first settlements of the seventeenth cen-

* In 1587 over a hundred men, women, and children were left on the
coast of North Carolina, and when some three years later assistance was
sent to them, they were not to be found. This was Raleigh's " lost
colony."

f Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America, vol. iii, has an
interesting chapter on Hawkins and Drake, also one on Sir Walter
Raleigh. For further facts, see Fisher, The Colonial Era, pp. 23 fol. ;
Thwaites, The Colonies, p. 38 fol. ; Bancroft, History, vol. i, chap, v,
p. 60 ; Doyle, The English in America (The Southern Colonies), p. 57 fol.

% For a picture of the England of Drake and Raleigh, of Gilbert and
Sir Philip Sydney, read Charles Kingsley's Westward Ho ! or Scott's
Ken il worth.

34 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

tury contained some of the elements of romantic England ;
but only when these were cast aside did the colonies
prosper.*

Other motives than a desire for wealth or a longing to
curb the power of Spain seem to have had their influence

with those who undertook at the beginning of
Motives for the seventeenth century to found a permanent

settlement in America. The industrial condition
of England naturally turned men's thoughts to plans of col-
onization. The people were restless and uneasy ; soldiers
that had fought for Elizabeth found their occupation gone
and wished for further excitement ; many men were out of
work, for the conversion of plow land into sheep farms de-
prived laborers of employment. There was a complaint that
England was overcrowded — a strange complaint, one might
think, inasmuch as the population of Great Britain has in-
creased tenfold since that day. But in those days, before
the invention of modern machinery, men could not easily
find employment save as tillers of the soil. The country
therefore was overcrowded with those who had no work ;
lawlessness prevailed and crimes were frequent, f Under
these circumstances men turned their thoughts to America
as a fit place to which to move the unemployed. Partly,
then, as a business enterprise, partly in consideration of
England's industrial condition, partly from motives of pa-
triotism in order that England, as well as her hated rival,

* John Smith was, as we shall see, the exception which proved the
rule. He was a rollicking soldier of fortune, but he was more. When
lie declared that " he who will not work shall not eat," he announced
the gospel of a new dispensation — the principle of a coming de-
mocracy.

f The Spanish minister in London wrote to his king that the chief
reason for the English effort to colonize Virginia was that a colony
" would give an outlet to so many idle and wretched people as they
have in England." See Hart, American History told by Contempo-
raries, vol. i, pp. 154, 155.

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700.

TERRITORY

Granted, by the Charter of
lOOO

GRANT EXTENDED 100 MILES INLAND

AND INCLUDED ALSO ALL ISLANDS

100 MILES FROM THE COAST.

Spain, might have possessions across the sea, colonization
was undertaken.

The experience of Ealeigh seemed to prove that no
single person could successfully establish a settlement in
America. The task required greater wealth and greater in-
fluence than one man could possess. For the prosecution
of the enterprise, therefore, a number of men sought and re-

36 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

ceived a charter from King James. The charter was complex
and intricate, providing for two companies of like character.
Th L a d ^ ne was com P ose< l °^ London merchants, and
Plymouth had authority to establish a settlement be-

Companies. tween the thirty-fourth and forty-first degrees
of latitude ; in other words, somewhere between Cape Fear
and the mouth of the Hudson. The other, the Plymouth
Company, was made up of "sundry knights, gentlemen,
merchants, and other adventurers of Bristol and Exeter,
and of our town of Plimouth," and it could found a colony
between the thirty-eighth and the forty-fifth degrees, or
between the southern point of Maryland and the Bay of
Fundy. Thus it will be seen that the grant to one of the
companies overlapped the other by three degrees, but it was
provided that one was not to make a settlement within a
hundred miles of the other. The strip of three degrees was
to belong to the company first colonizing it.

It was also provided by the charter that each of these
companies should have a council of thirteen, resident in
America ; and there was to be one general su-
How they were p er i or council in England. The aif airs of the
company were in the hands of the council, but
it must govern " according to such laws, ordinances, and in-
structions as shall be in that behalf given and signed with
our hand or sign manual " — that is to say, according to the
orders of the king. The colonists and their children were
to have " all liberties, franchises, and immunities " of native-
born subjects of the king.

A paper of instructions was issued by the king, and this
contained certain directions to the company or limitation
upon its power. Trial by jury was provided for
jj*J when a person in the colony was accused of a

capital offense. The president and council in
Virginia were empowered to make laws which would have
force for the time being, but must be finally ratified in
England.

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 37

There were some liberal provisions in the charter and

instructions, but the king in reality retained almost com-

, . plete power in his hands. He could manage

The colonists f 7T^

without self- the company almost at will, lne colonists, on
government. the other hand, were in the power of a com-
mercial company, made up of men who desired indeed to
found a colony, but wished also to reap their reward in
wealth. The settlers had no share in the government ; all
local authority was placed in the resident council.

A company of colonists sailed for America in December,
1606.* Among them were all sorts and conditions of men —
white-handed gentlemen, hoping to find imme-
e se ers. di a te riches ; broken gallants and ruined trades-
men ; and a few " carpenters " and " laborers." The gentle-
men made up more than half the company. A gentleman,
we must remember, was a man who knew not work. There
were also on board a tailor, a barber, and a drummer, f
These men expected to gather with ease the precious stones
and gold and silver with which the country was supposed
to abound. \ Thus it is plain that the company was strik-
ingly ill fitted to build homes in a wilderness, to fell the
forest, to plant corn, to toil and struggle in patience — " more
fit to spoil a commonwealth than either begin one or but
help to maintain one." #

Early in the spring of 1607 the expedition entered
Chesapeake Bay, and in May decided to build a town on a

* The whole story of the settlement is vividly told in Cooke's Vir-
ginia, Part I, and in Eggleston, Beginners of a Nation, pp. 1-72.

f " They were going to a wilderness in which, as yet, not a house
was standing, and there were forty-eight gentlemen to four carpenters."
Bancroft, History, vol. i, p. 88.

\ " For rubies and diamonds, they go forth on Holydays and gather
them by the seashore, to hang on their children's coats and stick in
their caps." These words are from Eastward Ho ! a popular play in
England at this time.

* Captain John Smith's The Generall Hjstorie of Virginia.

38 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

low peninsula jutting out into one of the rivers that flows
through the fertile and attractive country south of the
great bay. In honor of their monarch they
named the river the James, and their town
Jamestown. Dissensions and quarrels threatened at the
very outset to bring failure to the colony. Even while on
the voyage the leaders had fallen into dispute ; and when
they landed, Captain John Smith, who had been named as
one of the council, was for a time prevented from taking
the office, because he had been " suspected of a supposed
mutiny." Wingfield was chosen president, but was grossly
unfit for the task of governing this band of eager gold
hunters and adventurers. He was finally deposed, but his
successor was alike incompetent.

The first dismal summer was full of dread and trouble.
The Indians made an attack, but were beaten off. The
food was scanty and the water bad ; the rank
marshes exhaled malaria. Disease broke out,
and nearly the whole colony was prostrated with fever.
" Burning fevers destroyed them," says Percy, one of the
company ; " some departed suddenly, but for the most part
they died of mere famine." Before autumn came, fifty were
dead, and the living were in a pitiable plight.

The one man fit to rule was John Smith. He had al-
ready had a remarkable career of war and adventure. He
was a sort of soldier of fortune, brave, self-
reliant, capable — one of those enterprising men
left over from the sixteenth century, when adventurous
knight errantry was in season.* He worked without ceas-

* "He was perhaps the last professional knight errant that the world
saw — a free lance who could not hear of a fight going on anywhere in
the world without hastening to take a hand in it." See Tyler, History
of American Literature, vol. i, p. 18. Tyler's description of Smith and
his writings is full of charm and interest. The portrait on the opposite
page is from Smith's The Generall Historic of Virginia, and is a part
of the map of New England. For a part of this map, see the chapter
on New England.

C^Cheft arc theLitteS ihatjhcw tky~Facc\tntt thofc

nhatfhew thy Grace and ^toVV, brighter bee :

<~&iy Taire-di/coueries and JFoYVtC- Overthrowes

Of SalvagCS,mach CiviilizA hy tke^j<^

"Beftjfow ~thy Spirit/and to it Glory (Wyt

Sojhou artBra&C without, hut Qol(U~Within, ,

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

ing to save the colony, and to him its final success was due.
Help came from England, and new settlers were brought
over. Smith now became president of the council, and he
wielded his power with vigor. " You must obey this now
for a law," he declared, " that he who will not work shall

[Smith Vindtth afalutuje tohts armc~.
~gg^- all hiscompany, anJJlen> J of '<!«.*

From Captain John Smith's Generall Historie.

not eat." No more wholesome statute for a new settlement
and a new world could be devised than this, and as long as
the murmuring people obeyed there was hope of plenty.
Again settlers came, and, though Smith bitterly complained
that "there was now no thought, no discourse, no hope,
and no work, but dig gold, wash gold, refine gold, load
gold," when he left, in 1609, there was a good chance of
success if his fundamental ordinances were obeyed.

In this year (1609) the company received a new char-
ter. To the council in Virginia was added a governor,

to whom the colonists were " forthwith to be
?609. er ° f obedient." The limits of the territory of the

company were altered, and in later years the
terms of this charter were held by the State of Virginia
to give her dominion in territory northwest of the Ohio.
The line was to run along the coast for two hundred miles
on either side, north and south, of Point Comfort, and was

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700.

to include " all that Space and Circuit of Land lying from
the Sea-Coast of the Precinct aforesaid, up into the Land,
throughout from Sea to Sea, West and North-west." *

When Smith left the colony he might well have hoped
that a permanent English colony was established in Amer-
ica. Jamestown was then a struggling little village of fifty
or sixty houses ; but the people were not in want. Hardly

* By this charter the London Company was made a separate com-
pany, distinct from the Plymouth Company.

42 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

was the stout-hearted soldier gone, however, when the old
troubles broke out afresh. The autumn and winter were,
as a consequence, full of bickerings and dis-
putes. Men quarreled when they should have
worked. Misery and want followed close upon the heels
of strife. " Within six months after Captain Smith's
departure there remained not past sixty men,

su enng, womeil) an( j children, most miserable and
poore creatures ; and those were preserved for the most
part by roots, herbes, acorns, walnuts, berries, now and
then a little fish ; . . . yea, even the very skins of their
horses." *

In 1610 the colonists, obtaining temporary relief, were
on the point of abandoning the settlement when Lord
. Delaware arrived with new supplies. And so
Dale, 1610 to the colony struggled on in a miserable plight.
1616, Delaware was succeeded by Dale, a rough,

domineering soldier, who ruled with a rod of iron. The
people suffered untold miseries during the years of his ad-
ministration, which was long remembered as the " five
years of slavery." f Yet perhaps this period of stern dis-
cipline was needed for the preservation of the colony.

We need not recount the details of Dale's administra-
tion or the work of the governors that came after him. \
It is sufficient to know that the colony struggled on, and

* John Smith's Gencrall Historic of Virginia.

t Read especially Eggleston, Beginners of a Nation, pp. 45-48.
Delaware, who lived in England, was the nominal governor, but the
colony was in Dale's hands. At this time the practice of bringing all
products to a " common store " was abandoned in part ; the old planters
were given garden patches. The communal system had tempted men
to be lazy, in hope of eating the bread that other men had earned.
Men now worked in the prospect of enjoying the fruit of their toil.

% George Yeardley, a " mild and temperate " man, ruled for a time.
ne was followed by Argall, whom Cooke calls a " human hawk, peering
about in search of some prey to pounce on." In 1619 Yeardley re-
turned.

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700.

that before Dale returned to England the people had
found in the cultivation of tobacco a profitable industry,
to which they turned their attention, filling
" the market place, street, and other spare
places " with the growing crops. There was a ready sale
for this commodity in England, for the people were fond

Tobacco.

From Captain John Smith's Geneeall Historie.

of smoking, and continued the practice, spite of the outcry
of worthy King James, who published a Counterblast to
Tobacco, and declared that it was the " greatest sin " that
a man could not " walk the journey of a Jew's Sabbath "
without having a coal brought to him " from the nearest
pothouse to kindle " his tobacco with. As early as 1619 Vir-
ginia shipped twenty thousand pounds of this weed. The
colony had thus found a business basis,* and as the years

* It thus justified its existence, and made its success certain.

44 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

went by tobacco became almost the sole export. It is not
too much to say that on this one crop the colony grew and
prospered, and that the social, industrial, and even the
political life of Virginia was built upon it.

Shortly after the beginning of tobacco culture, negro
slavery was introduced into the colony. In 1619 there

came into the harbor, says John Eolfe, " a
Negro slavery. T3 utc h manne-of-war, that sold us twenty ne-
gars." The raising of tobacco was well suited to slave
labor, for the negro was easily taught to do simple field
work, and could learn to cultivate the single crop to which
Virginia soon gave itself up. So tobacco and slavery grew
and prospered together. It was long, however, before the
number of blacks was very large, or materially affected the
real life and character of the colony. As a matter of fact,
for some years there were more white than black servants.
Persons who desired to move to America agreed to work for

a term of years in order to pay the expenses of
White servi- ^he vova (Te. These were called "redemption-

tude. „ * i -i i i

ers, * and came in large numbers not only to

Virginia, but in later years to the other English colonies as
well. In .addition, there were other white laborers, not so
desirable an element, drawn from the idle or vicious classes
of England. These " indented servants " were often po-
litical criminals, persons who had been engaged in some
uprising against the Government, and of these in the days
to come many were shipped to America to serve for a pe-
riod of years. Sometimes they were common rascals, who

* For the redemptioner at a later time, see McMaster, History of
the People of the United States, vol. ii, p. 558. The words " indented
servants " are often used to include the redemptioners. " Some-
times," says Jefferson, " they [the indented servants] were called re-
demptioners, because, by their agreement with the master of the vessel,
they could redeem themselves from his power by paying their pas-
sage." For the origin of the word "indented," see the dictionary,
under " indenture."

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 45

were transported to the colonies instead of being hanged at
home.*

While the colony was growing in strength and finding a
sound basis in industry, an alteration in its form of govern-
ment changed it from a mercantile venture
The general fofo a political colony. This great change —

courts" of the 5 . / ° &

London Com- the beginning, one might almost say, of the po-

iTd ln EUg " litical and constitutional history of the United
States — was the result rather of conditions in
England than of any great demand on the part of the set-
tlers for new institutions. In 1612 a new charter had been
granted by the king, according to which the control of the
London Company's affairs, which had at first been in the
hands of a small council, was given to the body of stock-
holders, who were authorized to hold four " general courts "
a year, and to come together at other times. These meet-
ings became important gatherings, in which was a great
deal of interest and much bold discussion. These assem-
blies gave themselves up to debate, and the questions under
discussion were not always confined to the mere temporary
interests of the company. There were factions among
its members. The leaders of one element were Sir Edwin
Sandys, a man of rare ability and of noble character,
and the Earl of Southampton, the friend of Shakespeare.
These men were foes of arbitrary rule in England ; they
hated the sly kingcraft of James ; they belonged to that
class of liberal-minded men who were growing restless
under the high-handed rule of an unpopular monarch.
They were anxious to rear in America a strong colony on

* " In 1G25 there were about four hundred and sixty-four white serv-
ants in Virginia, but only twenty-two negroes. In 1671 there were
six thousand servants and two thousand slaves " (Bruce, Economic
History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, vol. i, p. 572). From
about 1G80 the slave population rapidly increased. These white servants
were in the seventeenth century " the main pillar of the industrial
fabric."

46 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

a broad and liberal basis, and they seem to have resented
the interference of the king in the affairs of Virginia.
Largely through the influence of these patriotic men a

great charter was granted by the company to
Charter No-** tne P e °pl e ot Virginia. This memorable docu-
vember 13, ment has been lost, but its contents are in part

known to us. It provided for the summoning
of a popular assembly ; it laid the foundation for a consti-
tutional government in the New World.* Sandys and
Southampton, who were chiefly influential in bringing
about this great change, should be honored among the
fathers of American liberty.

In 1619 Governor Yeardley appeared in Virginia with
" instructions from the Company for the better establish-
inge of a commonwealth." f He proclaimed that " the

cruell lawes, by which the ancient planters have
Assembly in soe l° n g e Deen governed," were now abrogated,
America, July, and that they were to be governed " by those

free lawes which his majesties subjectes lived
under in Englande. . . . That the planters might have a
hande in the governing of themselves, yt was granted that
a generall assemblie shoulde be held yearly once, whereat
were to be present the governor and counsell with two
Burgesses from each plantation freely to be elected by the
inhabitantes thereof, this Assemblie to have power to make
and ordaine whatsoever lawes and orders should by them be
thought good and profitable for our subsistence." J In con-
formity with this notice, an assembly was held in the little
church at Jamestown in this same year. With the won-
derful English instinct for government and organization,

* " It contained in embryo the American system of an executive
power lodged mainly in one person, and a Legislature of two houses."
(Eggleston, The Beginners of a Nation, p. 55.)

f In other words, Yeardley came over to put the principles of the
new charter into operation.

\ These words are from the " briefe declaration " written somewhat
later.

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 47

the representatives of this little community in the wilder-
ness of Virginia entered upon the duties and privileges of
their office with a zest and an aptitude that augured ill for
tyrannical rule and pointed to the development of a self-
ruling democracy in the New World.*

The privileges granted by the company in 1619 were
further confirmed in an instrument brought to Virginia

two years later by Sir Francis Wyat. It pro-
Virginia's vided among other things that no law should

be valid without the consent of the company ;
but, on the other hand, that no orders from London should
be binding on the colony unless ratified by the Assembly.
The courts were to use the laws and forms of trial used in
England. " The system of representative government and
trial by jury thus became in the new hemisphere an ac-
knowledged right. On this ordinance Virginia erected the
superstructure of her liberties." f It furnished, too, a model
for later government throughout the colonies. This trans-

* Interesting accounts of this first Assembly will be found in Ban-
croft's History of the United States, vol. i, p. 111-119 ; Cooke's Virginia,
chap. xix. Bancroft says: "Prom the moment of Yeardley's arrival
dates the real life of Virginia." We owe this establishment of free
institutions to Sir Edwin Sandys and the Earl of Southampton. The
Earl of Southampton was a conspicuous man in the reign of James.
He was interested in colonization, and was one of the members of the
Virginia Company of London. He belonged to the liberal faction of
the company, and was one of the foremost in insisting upon the rights
of the company in opposition to James. He may therefore be con-
sidered one of the fathers of American constitutionalism. He was a
friend and patron of Shakespeare, and is thought by some critics to be
the " W. H." whom the poet addresses in his idolizing sonnets. To
him some of Shakespeare's poems are dedicated. " Should the plan-
tation go on increasing as under the government of that popular Lord
Southampton," said the Spanish ambassador, " my master's West In-
dies and his Mexico will shortly be visited, by sea and land, from those
planters in Virginia."

f Bancroft, History, vol. i, p. 118. When at a later day the colo-
nists feared that they would lose their new-found rights, the Virginia

48 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

planting of the free institutions of England to the New
World, to flourish and expand there, is one of the note-
worthy facts of all history.

Virginia in these years was prosperous, and was now
far past the experimental stage. There were several thou-
sand people scattered about in the little settle-
rospen y. ments. Tobacco-raising was proving a profit-
able business, and new farms and plantations sprang up
along the river banks. The strength of the colony was
shown by the fact that, although the settlements were
fiercely attacked by the Indians (1622) and over three
hundred persons were killed, the "great massacre," as it
was called, served as little more than a temporary check
upon progress.

But meanwhile King James was losing patience with
the London Company and its turbulent general courts, in
which men spoke so freely and fearlessly,
loses its char- These meetings were thronged, and the whole
ter, 1624. f London seems to have been stirred and ex-

cited by their discussions. The Virginia courts, whispered
the Spanish minister to James, " are but a seminary to a
seditious parliament." And such, in fact, they were. The
king resolved to be rid of this seminary of sedition. An
excuse was readily found, and the necessary legal steps were
taken to revoke the charter. Virginia then became a royal
colony (1G24). A governor with wide powers was directly
appointed by the king. Eepresentative government, how-
ever, did not die out, for the Assembly continued to exist,
although there is no record of its meeting for a time after
the annulment of the charter. The attack of James upon
the company was an act of petty tyranny, but in the long
run it was better that the colony should be under the king
than subject to the whim of a commercial company.

Assembly petitioned the king to send over commissioners to hang them
rather than establish the old tyranny.

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 49

Charles I, who now came to the throne, had enough to
do at home seeking to rule according to his own sweet will,
and soon had more than he could do in trying
Results. to gaye kjg throne and his head. The people

in America were therefore allowed, without much interfer-
ence, to develop their own institutions and to become prac-
ticed in the management of their own interests. In later
years royal governors were at times cruel and domineering,
but on the whole Virginia developed naturally and freely.

We can only hurriedly glance at the succession of events
which mark the growing political character of the Virgin-
ians. In 1635 the people, displeased with the
Harvey thrust CO nduct of their governor, deposed him, and
sent him home to England to give an account
of himself. This " thrusting out of Sir John Harvey " was
not a riotous affair.* It was what one may call an orderly
rebellion. It points to two facts : first, a spirit of inde-
pendence and self-respect in the young community ; and,
second, a faculty of self-control which prevented what was
legally a rebellion from degenerating into tumult and
anarchy.

When the civil war broke out in England (1642) the peo-
ple of Virginia sympathized on the whole with Charles, and
upon his death the Assembly went so far as to
Virginia a p asg rcso lutions speaking of the " most excel-

loyal colony.

lent and now undoubtedly sainted king." But
the authority of the victorious Parliament was established
over the colony without much trouble, and it became subject
for a time to the power of the Commonwealth. This sym-
pathy with the defeated party in England had, however, a
material effect upon the growth and character of Virginia.
It became an asylum for " distressed cavaliers." \ Many

* The brief record of the council is amusing in its brevity : " On the
28th of April, 1635, Sr. John Harvey thrust out of his government, and
Capt. John West acts as Governor till the King's pleasure known."

f " For, if our spirits were somewhat depressed in contemplation of

50 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

stiff-necked royalists, and those who were not at ease after
the downfall of the monarchy, made their way to Virginia.
It is a noteworthy fact that, whereas the immigration to
New England, of which we shall presently speak, ceased
when the war between Parliament and king broke out, there
flowed into Virginia a steady stream of population, espe-
cially, it seems, through the period of the Commonwealth.
In 1640 there were not over eight thousand people in the
colony, and in 1670 there were about forty thou-
sand. It is too much to believe that the in-
crease was all due to the influx of distressed cavaliers, but
beyond question there were many such, and their coming
did a good deal to shape colonial life and manners. They
seem to have raised the tone and character of Virginia life.
Many of them must have been men of some social standing
in England, men of culture, if not wealth ; they were well
born and well bred, fitted for polities and self-government.
They were loyal in their sympathies and devoted to the
memory of their lost king, but in the free air of the New
World they were to develop into uncompromising democrats
and the fiercest defenders of their own privileges. When
one considers the number of statesmen and soldiers that
Virginia has furnished America, and the great part she has
played in politics and in building up the nation, he may well
consider this immigration, next to the great inroad of the
Puritans at the North, the most important one in our
history.*

a barbarous restraint upon the person of our king in the Isle of Wight ;
to what horrors and despair must our minds be reduc'd at the bloody
and bitter stroke of his assasshmtion at his palace at Whitehall " (from
A Voyage to Virginia (1649), published in Force's Historical Tracts,
vol. iii, No. 10.) See also Stedman and Hutchinson, American Litera-
ture, vol. i, p. 50.

* When one notices the size of the land grants made in the days after
the cavalier immigration, he sees that the influx of these men meant the
establishment of the great estates of Virginia, which became the domi-

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 51

Upon the restoration of Charles II (1660) Virginia passed
under royal control once more. Although it had sympa-
thized with the king in his exile and afflictions,
Governor ft was no £ s i n gl e d out for special consideration.

On the contrary, it was ruled with great harsh-
ness. Sir William Berkeley, who had been deposed from his
governorship in the time of the Commonwealth, was now re-
instated in power, and he ruled with an iron hand. He was
not by nature a small man or a cruel one, nor did he set delib-
erately at work to despoil the people ; but he was a born aris-
tocrat, completely devoted to the king and the Church, and
he believed that the duty of the common people was to fol-
low, not to lead.

He was devoted to what seemed to him the interests of
Virginia, yet he was out of all patience with murmuring or
discontent. But the people were growing rest-
less. King Charles, utterly disregarding the
rights of the settlers, gave to two of his court favorites at
this time " all the dominion of land and water called Vir-
ginia " for a term of thirty-one years. Moreover, since the
influx of the cavalier element and the extension of the plan-
tation system, the government had become more
B h C °iv 8 aristocratic, and the planters with the big plan-

tations had acquired considerable political au-
thority and influence, under which the poorer people fretted.
Added to these troubles were the vexatious laws that were
passed by England in restraint of colonial trade. But most
grievous of all were the Indian attacks on the frontier, and
the refusal of the haughty governor to do aught to prevent
them or to guard the western settlements in

1 R7R

any way. The result of these gathering discon-
tents was a rebellion headed by a young man named Na-
thaniel Bacon. At the head of a band of determined men

nating fact of industrial life ; the increase of the negroes in number at
the same time points to the extension of the plantation system.

52 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

he defeated the Indians ; but in doing so he incurred the
enmity of Berkeley, who had no patience with volunteer
movements or popular uprisings even for the purpose of
self-defense against savages. The troubles that followed
are commonly known as Bacon's rebellion, and the episode
is full of interest to the student of the political and indus-
trial history of Virginia. We need not give the details of
the rebellion ; it was a failure, and Berkeley wreaked a
dreadful vengeance upon the rebels. Charles II, the king
whom the haughty governor was ready to worship, is said to
have exclaimed : " That old fool has hanged more men in
that naked country than I did here for the murder of my
father ! "

It remains for us to consider the meaning and the re-
sults of this rebellion. It was in part a protest against the
arbitrary authority of the governor, in part a
Itsmeaning manifestation of discontent with the naviga-

and resultSi

tion laws and the existing industrial order, and
in part a revolt against the power of the great planters, who
by that time had absorbed authority in the management of
local affairs, and many of whom were out of all sympathy
with popular government. Bacon's followers were in large
measure the poorer people, " Ye scum of the country," as
they were called by the aristocrats. Although other less
serious uprisings followed in the course of a few years, the
failure of this rebellion marks, on the whole, the establish-
ment of the aristocratic character of Virginia in its politi-
cal, social, and industrial life.

But this does not mean that in the years to come the
powers of the crown and governor increased in Virginia,

. and that there was no development of the

character in principles and practices of self-government,
after years. Rather, as we shall see, the small planters and
great planters, as time went on, made common cause. Al-
though the rich slave owners held the offices and dominated
the social and industrial life of the colony, they constantly

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 53

strove to wrest greater authority from the royal governor
and the crown, and to make the colony self-governing. In
the great revolution against Great Britain in the next cen-
tury the rich and the poor of Virginia acted together ; the
wealthy and prosperous did not support the Tory cause, as
did so many of their class in other colonies ; but, with a
masterly knowledge of the principles of political action,
they opposed the king and his ministers, and furnished
during the whole struggle great leaders in thought and
action, men who appreciated at their full value the doc-
trines of English liberty, which England herself seemed to
be forgetting.

Of the industrial and social condition of the time no
better statement can be made than in a report made by

Governor Berkeley, and we may well leave Vir-
Berkeley'8 gi n i a a t the end of the seventeenth century

with some of his words in our mind : " Com-
modities of the growth of our country, we never had any
but tobacco, which in this yet is considerable that it yields
his Majesty a great revenue. . . . Now, for shipping, we
have admirable masts and very good oaks ; but for iron ore,
I dare not say there is sufficient to keep one iron mill going
for seven years. . . . We suppose . . . that there is in Vir-
ginia above forty thousand persons, men, women, and chil-
dren, and of which there are two thousand black slaves, six
thousand Christian servants, for a short time, the rest are
born in the country or have come in to settle and seat, in
bettering their condition in a growing country. . . . Eng-
lish ships, near eighty come out of England and Ireland
every year for tobacco ; few New England ketches ; but of
our own we never yet had more than two at one time, and
those not more than twenty tons burthen. . . . We have
Iforty-eight parishes, and our ministers are well paid, and
by my consent should be better if they would pray oftener
and preach less. But of all other commodities, so of this,
the worst are sent us. . . . But, I thank God, there are no

54 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

free schools nor printing, and I hope we shall not have these
hundred years."

References.

Short accounts: Thwaites, The Colonies, pp. 36-44, 64-78; Fish-
er, The Colonial Era, pp. 23-62 ; Lodge, Short History of the Eng-
lish Colonies in America, pp. 1-25 ; Higginson, Larger History, pp.
84-107. Longer accounts : Bryant and Gay, Popular History, Vol-
ume I, pp. 224-308; Volume II, pp. 9-13; Bancroft, History, Vol-
ume I, pp. 60-152, 442-474; Cooke, Virginia, pp. 1-331; Hildreth,
History of the United States, Volume I, pp. 76-96, 99-135, 335-353,
509-565 ; Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, Volume III, Chap-
ters II, IV, V. For the beginnings of Virginia, read especially Eg-
gleston, The Beginners of a Nation, pp. 1-98, a very charming and
entertaining book ; Fiske, Old Virginia and her Neighbors, Volume
I, especially Chapters II to IV.

MARYLAND— 1632-1700.

Among the most noticeable features of American life at
the present day are the entire absence of connection between

church and state and the complete toleration
Religious tol- f a \\ f orms f religious belief. Our national

Constitution provides that Congress "shall
make no law respecting an establishment of religion or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof." The State Consti-
tutions contain similar provisions, and men now quite gen-
erally assert that intolerance is foolish and wrong. But
this broad and tolerant spirit has been of slow growth. In
the seventeenth century, when America was settled, the
great mass of men did not believe in toleration. Even in
England, which was in some respects, perhaps, more ad-
vanced in liberal thought than were most of the countries
of Continental Europe, there were severe laws on the statute
books providing for the punishment of those that did not
accept the faith of the Established Church or did not con-
form to the prescribed modes of worship. Many of the

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 55

settlers in America were fugitives from the persecutions
of the Old World ; and yet in many of the colonies,
throughout the whole colonial period, a spirit of intolerance
prevailed. Only slowly did men come to a full apprecia-
tion of the wisdom of allowing all people to think as they
chose in matters of religion. This continent received in
its early days men of many and diverse faiths ; and in the
free air of the New World, where free thinking and free
acting were encouraged, people gradually came to respect
their neighbor's sincere faith, even though it differed from
their own.

In the light of these facts, we are interested in the
early history of Maryland, where for some years Protestants
and Eoman Catholics lived together in peace,
e ver s * and where the principles of tolerance were
carried into practice. The founders of Maryland were
George and Cecilius Calvert. The former, a man of con-
siderable influence in England, was for a time secretary
of state under James I. In 1625 he announced his conver-
sion to Roman Catholicism and resigned his position.*
James made him a peer, with the title of Baron Baltimore
of Baltimore. Even before his retirement from office he
had entered upon plans for founding a colony in America,
and he now made an unsuccessful attempt to establish a
settlement in Newfoundland. Undaunted by this failure,
he turned his attention to the south, and obtained from the
king a grant of land on either side of Chesapeake Bay. Be-
fore the charter was actually issued Baltimore died, leaving
his plans for founding a principality in America to be car-
ried out by his son Cecilius, who seems to have inherited
his father's ambitions.

In June, 1632, the charter was issued. " It contained

* It was against the law for a Catholic to hold office. In James's
reign, before 1618, twenty-four Catholics are said to have been pun-
ished with death.
ft

ITISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

ek-n:x^

■sv.-'y- ..■■■' l ■■■■' ■.r : ^%- n'---\i\- OT

10 20 30 40 50
Original Charter Boundary at
Present Boundary

j» claimed by proprietor* ....:. "f-^"'°*"h* F ,/

of Maryland _ _ ••'••* ^ V *<* f/\

the most ample rights and privileges ever conferred by a
sovereign of England." We have seen that the first suc-
cessful settlements in Virginia were made un-
e o ar er. ^ er ^ e aug pj ces f a commercial corporation.
This charter, on the other hand, bestowed on one man full
title to a large territory,* and gave to him alone, with
scarcely any restrictions, full powers to govern the people
that settled there. The proprietor was the feudal lord of
the province ; he owed allegiance to the King of England,

* The colony was named Maryland at the request of the king, in
honor of his wife, Henrietta Maria. The boundaries of the grant were
more extensive than the present State of Maryland. The lines were as
follows : On the north, the fortieth parallel ; on the west, a line running
south from the parallel to the farthest source of the Potomac ; on the
south, the Potomac from this point, and then by a line running across
the bays and peninsula to the Atlantic ; on the east, by the ocean and
by Delaware Bay and river. A glance at the accompanying map will
show the boundaries. The northern boundary of Maryland, long a
subject of dispute, was finally surveyed in part by two men named
Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, two English mathematicians. This
was not till 1763-'67.

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 57

but he was the feudal overlord and superior of the people
upon his domain. Baltimore, then, may be looked upon
as practically King of Maryland ; the people that came to
settle there were his subjects.

The colony was a palatinate modeled after the palati-
nate of Durham, in England. The head of such a domin-
ion, within his palatinate, had, in fact, kingly rights " as
fully as the king in his palace," subject, of course, as feudal
vassal, to the king.

While it is true that the proprietor lacked none of the
essential rights of kingship within his province, the charter
gave in a vague way certain rights to the
Rights of the people. He was the lawmaking power ; but
the laws were to be made with the advice and
consent of the freemen or their representatives. The set-
tlers were to have the privileges of Englishmen ; but this
could not have meant much in a patent granted by Charles
Stuart.

There is no evidence in the charter itself of an inten-
tion to found a colony where all men should be allowed to
worship God as they chose ; but it seems cer-
Practical toler- ta j n t hat £j n g Charles would never have

ation.

granted the right to establish a colony solely
for Catholics. He was too strongly Protestant for that. It
must, then, have been understood that the adherents of
both religions were to be welcome.* And as a matter of
fact, the first two ships, the Ark and the Dove, that
set sail for the new colony, had on board both Catholics and

* Brown says of Cecilius : " There is no reason to suppose that he
intended to found a Catholic colony like the nonconformist colonies to
the north. Such a quixotic scheme would have been ruinous to his en-
terprise and himself." " Both he and his father had planned to make
Maryland a refuge for their persecuted fellow-believers, without mak-
ing it a distinctively Catholic province, which, of course, would have
resulted in its ruin." (George and Cecilius Calvert, Lords Baltimore,
pp. 89-98.)

58 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Protestants. The expedition was in the charge of Leonard
Calvert, the brother of the proprietor. He was to be the
first governor, and had received strict instructions from
Lord Baltimore " to be very careful to preserve unity and
peace, . . . and suffer no scandall nor offense to be given to
any of the Protestants." This voyage of the Ark and
the Dove seems a noteworthy voyage in history. For,
though troublous times were to follow, it was prophetic
of better days that men of these two religions could set
sail together to build up a commonwealth in America.

The vessels reached Virginia in February, 1634. A site
was purchased from the Indians near the mouth of the Po-
tomac. A permanent settlement was made
JJJSjf* there and named St. Mary's. With some of the

Virginians, and especially with one Claiborne,
the settlers had considerable trouble. Claiborne claimed
land within the limits of the Baltimore grant, and he con-
tinued without ceasing to demand its possession and to op-
pose in all possible ways the authority of the proprietor and
the development of the colony. He has been well called
" the evil genius " of Maryland. These trials and vexations,
much as they disturbed the early history of Maryland, are
of comparatively little importance in its history. We are
more interested in the development of the political charac-
ter of the colony and in the effort to establish religious
toleration.

At the head of the colony was the governor, appointed

by the proprietor and representing him as the owner of the

soil and lord of the people. Baltimore pro-

1116 vided for a council the duties of which were ad-

government. ,

visory and judicial. It served also as a legisla-
tive chamber. The proprietor's laws could be enacted with
the consent of the people, and to gain this consent a legis-
lative meeting was held a year after the founding of the
colony. This assembly seems to have been a mass meeting
of all the freemen in the colony. Such a gathering was un-

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 59

wieldy, and it was inconvenient for all the settlers to attend,

and so, two or three years later, some of them sent proxies,

and after a time the assembly became a rep-

■I one •» *

resentative body.* Moreover, before long the
people were not content with the privilege of ratifying the
enactments proposed by the proprietor ; they demanded the
right to propose new laws. This right Baltimore granted.
Thus we see that within ten years from the first settlement
Maryland had a government not unlike that of Virginia,
and in some respects not unlike that of the mother country.
Throughout these early years toleration prevailed in
Maryland. " This enjoyment of liberty of conscience did

not spring from any act of colonial legislation,
The Toleration nor from any formal and general edict of the

government. . . . Toleration grew up in the
province silently as a custom of the land." In 1649 it
seemed wise to provide for religious freedom by positive en-
actment, and in consequence the famous Toleration Act was
placed upon the statute books. " And whereas the enforcing
of the conscience in matters of religion hath frequently fallen
out to be of dangerous consequence in those commonwealths
where it hath been practiced, and for the more quiet and
peaceable government of this province, and the better to pre-
serve mutual love and amity among the inhabitants, no per-
son within this province professing to believe in Jesus Christ
shall be in any ways troubled, molested, or discountenanced,
for his or her religion, or in the free exercise thereof." The
council and assembly that passed this act were composed of
both Catholics and Protestants, and it was an event of no

* In 1638-'39. This change is an interesting example of institu-
tional growth. The principle of representation seems to us of child-
like simplicity, yet the student of English history knows that centuries
were required for its production and its application to the needs of the
popular state. It may be considered perhaps the greatest bequest of
England to politics. Here in Maryland in a few years are mirrored the
changes of centuries in Europe.

60 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

small importance in the history of mankind when adherents
of these two faiths conld thus amicably agree to live to-
gether and respect each other's beliefs, even if it were in a
corner of the New World.

One would like to say that henceforth there was peace

and amity in Maryland, and that the principle of religious

freedom grew stronger as the vears went bv ;

Disturbances. , . °, , . "J» . , . J , . , /'

but unfortunately that tale can not be told.
Some of the Puritans whom Baltimore had invited into the
colony proved a restless and uneasy element, and found it
difficult to take the oath of fidelity or to quiet their con-
sciences so far as to accept the practice of religious tolera-
tion. The Protestants by this time exceeded the Catholics
in number. Various turmoils ensued and the rule of the
proprietor was endangered; but in 1657 toleration was
again established.

On the whole a spirit of moderation and good sense
seems to have prevailed in Maryland for some years.
" Here," wrote a colonist in 1666, " the Roman
frienfohf lf " ° f Oatholich and the Protestant Episcopal (whom
the world would perswade have proclaimed open
Wars irrevocably against each other) contrarywise concur
in an unanimous parallel of friendship and inseparable love
intayled unto one another." *

After the revolution of 1688, when William and Mary
came to the throne of England, Lord Baltimore was de-
prived of the right to govern this province. A
Later story. ^ w j^rs j ater ^ English Church was estab-
lished in Maryland, and laws were passed that discriminated
against Roman Catholics. Early in the eighteenth century
Benedict Calvert, the fourth Lord Baltimore, renounced the

* Cecilius Calvert lived till 1675. He was a just man and a wise
ruler. Even if his effort to make Maryland tolerant was prompted only
by policy, it showed broadmindedness and good sense. At his death
the people praised his " unwearied care to preserve them in the enjoy-
ment of their lives, liberties, and fortunes."

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 61

Catholic faith, and in 1715 full authority over thisprovince
was restored to him. Maryland thenceforward, until the
Revolution (1776), remained a proprietary colony.

References.

Short accounts : Thwaites, The Colonies, pp. 81-86 ; Fisher, The
Colonial Era, Chapter V; Lodge, English Colonies, pp. 92-107.
Longer accounts : Bryant and Gay, Popular History, Volume I, pp.
476-517, Volume II, pp. 214-226 ; Doyle, The English in America,
The Southern Colonies, pp. 365-436; Brown, Maryland (American
Commonwealth Series), pp. 1-202 ; Brown, George and Cecilius Cal-
vert; Fiske, Old Virginia and her Neighbors, Volume I, Chapter
VIII, Volume II, Chapter XIII; Bancroft, History, Volume I, pp.
154-175, 437-441 ; Hildreth, History of the United States, Volume
I, pp. 204-213, 357-367. The reader will be especially entertained
by the charming account of the founding of Maryland that is given
in Eggleston's Beginners of a Nation, Book III, Chapter I.

THE CAROLINAS— 1663-1700.

In the middle of the seventeenth century there was but
one real settlement on the Atlantic coast south of Virginia.
Th This was St. Augustine, in Florida, a Spanish

south of outpost rather than a colony. French Hugue-

Virgima, no ^ -^ w ^ ^ e rememjjej^ h a d ma &e an effort

to establish themselves in Florida, but without success.
The Spaniards were quite unwilling to acknowledge the
rights of any nation save themselves, but they could not
occupy the country, and it lay open, inviting English colo-
nization. The site was attractive for an agricultural colony
because of the mildness of the climate and the richness of
the soil.

Not till the reign of Charles II was there a serious effort
on the part of England to take possession of this region.
The king, naturally lavish of his possessions, was sur-
rounded with many favorites to whom he wished to be gra-
cious and generous. Some of the men that had faithfully

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Grant of

OarolinaB.

stood by the royal house during its days of adversity, or
who had aided Charles since his restoration, were especially
deserving in his eyes. In 1663 he granted to a
set of these men the territory of Carolina with
somewhat indefinite limits. Two years later,
by a new charter, the boundaries were fixed at parallel 36°
30' on the north and 29° on the south — a vast principality
stretching westward across the continent. The proprietors
of this new dominion were among the most important men
in England.* The Duke of Albemarle was that General

Monk by whose instru-
mentality Charles had
been brought back to
the throne of his fath-
ers. The Earl of Clar-
endon had been a
most faithful friend in
the days of exile.
Anthony, Lord Ash-
ley, afterward Earl of
Shaftesbury, held at
that time high official
position, and was con-
sidered the most astute
politician in the king-
dom. He is the original of Achitophel in Dryden's famous
satire. Others were joined with these men as the owners
of Carolina.

The privileges and rights granted to the proprietors
were as broad as their dominion. They lacked none of the
essentials of kingship. The charter, it is true, seemed to

* The charter calls them " our right trusty and well-beloved cousins
and counsellors." They were said to be " excited with a laudable and
pious zeal for the propagation of the Christian faith and the enlarge-
ment of " the British dominions.

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 63

recognize the desirability of religious toleration, and pro-
vided that the freemen should ratify the laws. But it has
been well said that " every favor was extended to the pro-
prietors; nothing was neglected but the interests of the
English sovereign and the rights of the colonists."

Before the proprietors took steps to colonize Carolina,
settlements had already been made within the limits of
their grant. Some Virginians had settled on the Chowan
River. This became a permanent settlement, and was the
beginning of North Carolina. Somewhat later, colonists
were sent over under the auspices of the proprietors.
They first settled on the west shore of the Ashley River
(1670), but in a few years moved to the present
2"* site of Charleston.* This was the beginning

of South Carolina. For a time these two set-
tlements had the same governor, but in political and social
life they were different. Each had its own character.

When the proprietors entered earnestly on the task of
colonization, they undertook to provide a model govern-
ment for their tenants. The few people that
Grind Mod l were a l rea( ty on * ne g r °und were getting on
very well without an elaborate constitution.
Here, as elsewhere, they were showing capacity for creat-
ing institutions as they needed them, suited to their
wants. But Shaftesbury entertained the hope that he
could avoid "erecting a numerous democracy." He was
the great friend of aristocratic privilege and power in
England, and he doubtless thought that he could give an
example of a typical aristocratic commonwealth. Shaftes-
bury's secretary at this time was John Locke, who later be-
came one of England's famous philosophers. He helped to

* The proprietors sent them word : " We let you know that Oyster
Point is the place we do appoint for the port town, of which you are to
take notice and call it Charles Towne." So the present city of Charles-
ton dates from 1680.

64 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

draw up a constitution* for the colony. Now, even in
America, the home of written charters and fundamental
laws, the maxim holds true that constitutions are not
made, but grow. The one thing that was quite impossible
under Locke's plan was growth. The country, wild as it
was and almost uninhabited, was to be divided up with
mathematical accuracy, and the feudal system in an ex-
aggerated form was to be foisted upon the people. Various
grades of society were established — proprietors and land-
graves, and caciques and leetmen — and it was solemnly de-
clared that " all the children of leetmen shall be leetmen,
and so to all generations." f This document, known as the
" Fundamental Constitutions," is often referred to as Locke's
" Grand Model." It is surprising that the clever philosopher
and the crafty Shaftesbury could together have made or
countenanced such folly under the name of wisdom.

This constitution is sometimes looked upon as a mere
philosophic fantasy, fit for a museum of antiquities ; but it
Eff t f th seems to have had a real effect on the history
model on of the Carolinas, although it was never fully

colonial life. enforced. Obedience to such a law was quite
impossible, and the settlers were thus schooled by necessity
to disregard the wishes of the proprietors, who had shown
no sense in appreciating the needs of their colonies. The
northern colony, rejecting this philosophic strait-jacket,
showed its disobedience in acts of lawlessness ; the south-
ern colony, a little more peacefully disobedient, early gave
evidence of political sagacity, and carried out its opposition
in orderly method with great deftness and skill. " In Caro-

* Though these are generally called Locke's laws, probably he acted
as little more than a secretary rather than as sole author.

f The charter provided that the proprietor could grant titles of no-
bility, but that these titles must be different from any used in England.
Hence the use of such absurd words as landgrave and cacique. The
leetmen were tenants attached to the soil and " under the jurisdiction
of their lord, without appeal."

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES— 1607-1700. 65

lina," says Bancroft, " the disputes of a thousand years were
crowded into a generation." The spirit of independence
was early manifested, and before long the people secured
the management of their own concerns.

Upon the accession of William and Mary to the throne

of England, South Carolina, like some of the other colonies,

bade her governor begone. Proprietary gov-

Oonditions from ernmen t however, lasted for some years after

1688 to 1700. ' * J

this revolution. But the proprietors gave up

this futile effort to fasten " the grand model " on the people.*
Before the end of the century both colonies increased in
numbers and strength. Negro slavery was introduced, and,
especially in South Carolina, the slaves rapidly increased in
numbers, f Various elements were added to the population ;
French Huguenots, Hollanders, and Scotch Irish found
their way thither. Different religious faiths existed side
by side ; for, in spite of the efforts of the proprietors to es-
tablish the English Church, and although the Catholics
were exempted from the operation of a law guaranteeing
complete freedom of conscience, substantial toleration and
religious freedom prevailed. Though still weak in 1700,
the Carolinas were thrifty and prosperous. The people of
the southern colony, especially, seemed well provided with
practical sense and progressive spirit. New England is
often cited as an example of England's great power as a
colonizing nation. But South Carolina will serve as well.
She wished no tender paternalism. Business enterprise

* The proprietors announced " that, as the people have declared they
would rather be governed by the powers granted by the charter, with-
out regard to the fundamental constitutions, it will be for their quiet
and for the protection of the well disposed to grant their request."

f "It became the great object of the emigrant 'to buy negro slaves,
without which,' adds Wilson, ' a planter can never do any great matter,'
and ... in a few years, we are told, the blacks in the low country
were to the whites in the proportion of twenty-two to twelve." (Ban-
croft, History, vol. i, p. 431.)

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

and political capacity tell her story. North Carolina, too,
was not unprosperous, but at the end of the century her
affairs seemed unsettled, and her feet were not quite so
surely set on the way to real prosperity.

References.

Short accounts : Thwaites, The Colonies, pp. 87-95 ; Fisher, The
Colonial Era, Chapter VI. Longer accounts : Bryant and Gay, Pop-
ular History, Volume II, pp. 268-290, 355-373 ; Doyle, The English
in America, The Southern Colonies, Chapter XII ; Winsor, Narrative
and Critical History, Volume V, Chapter V ; Bancroft, History, Vol-
ume I, pp. 408-436, Volume II, pp. 10-16 ; Hildreth, History, Vol-
ume II, pp. 25-43, 210-213 ; Fiske, Old Virginia and her Neighbors,
Volume II, Chapter XV ; McCrady, History of South Carolina under
Proprietary Government.

CHAPTER II L

The New England Colonies— 1607-1700.

PLYMOUTH.

Nearly the whole coast of North America had heen
divided between the London and Plymouth Companies.
The former established Jamestown, but the Plymouth Com-
pany at first had no such success. Some of its members
were zealous for colonization, and eager to get a hold upon
the mainland and to enjoy a monopoly of the fisheries ; but
t,^_x . * 3 efforts to this end were fruitless. The same

Efforts to found

settlements at year that Jamestown was founded a party of
the north. one hundred and twenty people was sent out

to the mouth of the Kennebec, under the leadership of
George Popham, a nephew of the Chief Justice of Eng-
land. They began their settlement with great hopes, but
soon met with disappointment. When the long, bitter
winter set in, cold and disease brought suffering and death
to the colony. Popham himself died, and the next summer
the enterprise was abandoned. This failure seems to have
prejudiced the people of England against the bleak and
forbidding north, and for some years no other effort at set-
tlement was made. In 1614, John Smith, the
New England doughty soldier who had saved Jamestown,
made a voyage to these coasts and explored
them from the Penobscot to Cape Cod. He drew a map of
the coast, sprinkled it plentifully with English names, and
christened it " New England." *

* Smith says on his map : " The most remarqueable parts thus named
by the high and mighty Prince Charles, Prince of Great Britaine."

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Jfffe* inlZmpcfaojoft Smiths lAck t> ttarc)
rTkn&> %* art Vtrtua. Southampton. k> \

SxmonT^AP^iis Jcu t
Stebert CUrkt eXn't'd

Motives of

settlement.

Part of John Smith's Map of New England.

Smith ventured the prophecy that nothing but hope of
riches would ever people that region or "draw company
from their ease and humours at home." But
there was a nobler and stronger motive than
the love of ease and wealth, and this proved
powerful enough to fortify men against the unspeakable
trials and hardships of New England winters, and gave
them the heart to build homes on the bleak coast which
at first seemed so forbidding. The first successful colo-
nies at the north were made under the inspiration and
enthusiasm of religion by men whose lives were devoted to

THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700. 69

holy purposes, to whom wealth was of little moment if they
were allowed to worship as they chose and to live their
simple lives in a state of their own building. To under-
stand aright how these permanent settlements came to be
made, we must get some idea of the religious strivings and
dissensions of that day in England.

Students of English history will remember that, in the
reign of Henry VIII, the Church in England was separated
from the Koman Church and dependence on
bE?gZr tS the P °P e renounced. In the time of Eliza-
beth, however, not all the people were Protest-
ants, nor was there agreement as to forms of worship or
methods of church government. The queen insisted upon
conformity to the regulations of the Established Church, of
which she was the head, and during her reign perhaps the
majority of the people acquiesced in the conservative posi-
tion she adopted. Many, on the other hand, were dissatis-
fied, and some were ready to suffer persecution rather than
conform to the existing order. The land still contained
Roman Catholics who believed that the Pope was the true
head of the Church. Others, on the contrary, were desir-
ous of freeing the Church from forms and symbolism, which
they considered relics of Romanism and superstition. They
wished to " purify " the Church by adopting simpler modes
of worship. They objected to the sign of the cross in bap-
tism, to the use of the surplice, and to other practices of
this kind. Still another class believed that the form of
church government should be altered, that the creed and
ritual should be prescribed not by the queen but by assem-
blies. These persons were known as Presbyterians, because
they believed in the appointment of church dignitaries
called presbyters. All of these classes, so far named, be-
lieved in a state church, but disagreed as to its government
or as to forms of worship. There was, in addition, another
sect of extreme Puritans, who believed that a church was a
local body of believers, and that each such body had the

fO HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

right to elect its own ministers and determine its own
methods. These men were called " Independents " or " Sepa-
ratists," because they believed in separation from the Estab-
lished Church.

Even during the reign of Elizabeth members of dissent-
ing sects * were severely punished for nonconformity. The
queen loved symmetry and order, and hated the
Dissenters semblance of disagreement in church manasre-

persectrtedi

ment. The Separatists were dealt with sharply.
Some of their members were hanged for nonconformity.
Upon the accession of James there was no improvement.
He was a stickler for prerogative, and in his narrow, dogged
way was determined to reign with a high hand in church
and state. But the Puritans grew apace. The stately
Elizabeth had been enabled to hold her people ; her pre-
tensions as the head of the Church seemed not gross blas-
phemy. They loved her well, for she was devoted to Eng-
land, had repelled the infamous Spaniard, and protected
with rare shrewdness her people and her throne. But
James was personally a sloven, mentally a pedant, morally
selfish, bigoted, and mean. Demand for civil and religious
liberty was sure to grow as a revolt against the assumption
of such a monarch, who believed in his divine right to rule.
We are especially interested in a congregation of ear-
nest, conscientious folk who came together for worship in
the little hamlet of Scrooby, in Nottinghamshire. They

* The sects may be thus designated :

1. Roman Catholics.

2. Episcopalians : a. High Church, b. Low Church . . . Puritans.

3. Presbyterians.

4. Separatists.

The Low Church, Presbyterians, and Separatists ought all to be
called Puritans, inasmuch as all desired " purification " to some degree.
Adherents of any of these sects might outwardly " conform " and thus
be "conformists," or refuse to attend church and receive the sacra-
ment of the Established Church, and thus be "nonconformists." The
Separatists were likely to be nonconformists.

THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700. 71

were Separatists, and were therefore set upon and tor-
mented. They could not long continue " in any peaceable
condition ; but were hunted and persecuted on
The Scrooby every side, so as their former afflictions were

congregation. " ' . ,

but as nea-bitmgs m comparison of these
which now came upon them. For some were taken, & clapt
up in prison, others had their homes besett & watcht night
and day, & hardly escaped their hands ; and y e most were
faine to flie & leave their howses and habitations, and the
means of their livelehood." * Thus molested and beset, " by
a joynte consente they resolved to goe into y e Low-Countries,
where they heard was freedome of Religion for all men."
Betaking themselves to Amsterdam (1608), they went

thence to Leyden. But they still loved the
They become d ear England which had treated them so

pilgrims.

harshly. They had much to struggle against
in Holland, although the church prospered. " That which
was ... of all sorrowes most heavie to be borne ; was that
many of their children . . . were drawne away . . . into
extravagante, dangerous courses." So they determined to
go to America and build for themselves new homes far from
the vices of Europe and beyond the reach of the long arm
of persecution.

" The place they had thoughts on was some of those vast
and unpeopled countries of America, which are fruttful, &

fitt for habitation, being devoyd of all civill in-
Theycometo habitants, wher ther are only salvage & brut-

America. . J °

ish men which range up and downe little oth-
erwise than y e wild beasts of the same." They obtained
money from merchant "adventurers" in England, and a

* This and the following quotations are from History of Plymouth
Plantation, by William Bradford, second governor of the colony.
Bradford has justly been called the father of American history. His
book was left in manuscript, and was not published till about the mid-
dle of the present century. It is beautifully written... " The daily food
of his spirit was noble."
6

72 HISTORY OF TIIE AMERICAN NATION.

grant from the London Company. They probably wished to
settle somewhere in the northern part of the London Com-
pany's grant, yet south of stern New England, whose cold
winters were known to them. It did not seem wise for the
whole Leyden congregation to go, but an advance guard of
one hundred and two brave souls sailed from Plymouth, Eng-
land, in the good ship Mayflower, September, 1620. The
weather was rough and tempestuous. The captain lost his
reckoning, and when they first saw land it was not the New
Jersey shore, but the bleak wintry coast of New England, in
the neighborhood of Cape Cod. There they finally deter-
mined to stay and to build their homes on the west side of
the broad bay, at a point to which Smith had already given
the name of Plymouth. Before leaving their

Impac a t yfl0Wer slli P the y came to g etner in the little cabin
and drew up the famous Mayflower Compact,

whereby they solemnly covenanted and combined them-
selves into a " civill body politick " for their " better order-
ing and preservation." They acknowledged their dread
sovereign King James, but they declared as well their
intention to make and obey the laws. This was not
an announcement of independence, but it meant self-
government.*

It was the 21st of December before they disembarked.

The land offered but a dreary prospect. "For summer

being done, all things stand upon them with a

Hardship met we ther-beaten face ; and y e whole countrie, full

with courage. ' J _ '

of woods and thickets, represented a wild and
savage heiw." The first winter was full of terrible distress.
In two or three months' time half their company were laid
away in graves under the snow. In the time of most dis-

* It is an interesting fact that the government thus drawn up was
the same in form as they were authorized by the Virginia Company to
institute until something more permanent could be done. See especially
Eggleston, Beginners, etc., p. 173.

1*^*31 *8**?I

74 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

tress there were but six or seven persons well enough to
care for the sick or bury the dead. And yet in the midst
of all the wretchedness the survivors did not lose courage.
" It is not with us," said the brave Brewster, " as with men
whom small things can discourage." When warm weather
set in, the Mayflower sailed back to England, but not one
of the settlers went back. They planted corn, they built
homes, they met together in town meeting, they worshiped
God in their own simple fashion. The Puritan state and
the Puritan church in America were begun.

The leaders of the company were Brewster and Brad-
ford and the hardy soldier Miles Standish ; yet all had the
„ __ heroism of steadfastness and faith. When the

Steadfastness

and courage crops of this first summer were gathered a day
bring success. f thanksgiving was appointed. Ke-enforce-
ments came from Europe, but some years passed away be-
fore the success of the undertaking was assured. They
were not molested by the Indians, because the numbers of
the red men had been greatly reduced by a pestilence, and
this was attributed to the fact that shortly before this some
white men had been killed. The Indians stood, in conse-
quence, in superstitious awe of the colonists. Moreover,
Massasoit, a powerful chief, became their friend, and he
directed them " how to set their corne, wher to take fish,
. . . and never left them till he dyed."

Where there was so much energy and devotion success
was sure to follow. The settlers first secured a grant from
the Plymouth Company, on whose land they
beginnings had settled. Then they paid off all dues to the
great things London adventurers, and in 1G33 were free
arepr from debt and owners of their tract of land.

The colony never became a large one, but it was prosper-
ous, wholesome, and sound. It showed the way to others,
and prepared for the greater migration of which we shall
now read. " Out of small beginnings," said Bradford,
" great things have been produced ; and, as one small can-

THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700. ^5

die may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath
shone to many, yea, in some sort to our whole nation." *

MASSACHUSETTS BAY AND HER NEIGHBORS.

We have already seen that during the reign of James I

there were growing discontents in England. When his son

Charles came to the throne (1625) new trou-

Charles I and ^les ^ j n< jj e was even more obstinate than

Parliament.

his father, and had high ideas of his own author-
ity, and contempt for such principles of the constitution as
were meant to restrain the arbitrary conduct of the king.
" The king is in his own nature very stiff," said Sir Ferdi-
nand Fairfax, and this well describes the character of the
young monarch who now set himself the task of ruling
without regard to the wishes of the nation. He began al-
most at once to quarrel with the House of Commons, de-
manding money from it without deigning to listen to com-
plaints or consenting to consider grievances.! But the
House could not be browbeaten. They wrested from him
his consent to the famous Petition of Right. His word did
not bind him, however ; he disregarded his promises and
went on as before. In 1629 he dissolved Parliament, and
for eleven years he ruled without one, extorting money
from his subjects with high-handed indifference to their
rights. These were fateful years for England. Archbishop
Laud and the Earl of Strafford laid their heavy hands upon
the people. They sought to crush out all opposition, and
to cow the people into complete submission to the king.

* For a picturesque description of life in Plymouth in early days,
read Hart, American History, etc., vol. i, p. 35G, where Governor Edward
Winslow is quoted.

f " I would you would hasten for my supply," he exclaimed in an-
ger when the House sent in a list of grievances, " or else it will be the
worse for yourselves, for if any ill happen I think I shall be the last to
feel it."

76 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Because of these conditions in England a great migra-
tion to America set in. In these years, when King Charles
was ruling without a parliament and exacting
The great illegal taxes from the people, over twenty thou-

migration. ° r r ? j

sand persons left their homes and sailed for
New England.* If one is to appreciate the meaning of this
great movement one should understand its causes and his-
torical circumstances. The men who came to America in
those years cherished the principles of the English Consti-
tution, and were from the same class as those who, later in
the great rebellion (1642-'49), fought to maintain the liber-
ties of England They believed that a monarch had no
right to take money from the people without the consent
of Parliament. They believed that the people
had rights and privileges, and many of them
realized, in part at least, the force of the maxim that be-
came fundamental in the New World — that government
obtains its just powers from the consent of the governed.
We may consider, therefore, that the principles for which
our Eevolution was afterward fought were brought by these
men to America from amid the trials of troubled England
in the days of Charles I. No doubt these principles grew
more sturdy in the air of a New World, but the principles
of 1770 were not new ideas or the sudden offspring of the
tyranny of George III. They were English principles, for
which the people of England fought in their rebellion and
which they made good in the revolution of 1G88; and in
the Eevolution of 1776 the American people, more true to
these principles than England herself, struggled to main-
tain them and make them effective.

To appreciate this movement it is also necessary to un-
derstand the character and purposes of these emigrants.

* It has been estimated, I know not with what accuracy, that about
thirteen million of the present inhabitants of the United States are de-
scended from these twenty thousand persons.

THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700. 7?

They were Puritans — not Separatists, but believers in the
state Church. They believed, however, that the Estab-
lished Church needed purification. They came
fewttknf to America that they might worship as they
chose, free from the persecution of Laud.
They did not come to establish toleration, but to carry out
their own ideas in religion. They were, moreover, men of
ideals and men of character. They were not of common
origin or of common ability. Many of them were men of
education and of wide experience. Among them were
scholars and statesmen and learned ministers. They had
strong convictions and great earnestness of purpose. The
characteristic organ of their communities was " not the
hand, nor the heart, nor the pocket, but the brain." *

Having seen the meaning of this great movement, let us

now see how the settlements were made and how they

prospered. There was at this time a little

E ^l y settlement at Salem, then called Naumkeag.

settlements. ' &

A few persons had been brought there after an
unsuccessful effort to establish a colony at Cape Ann.
Salem now formed a center or gathering point for a new
immigration.

John White, a Puritan rector of Dorchester, England,
entertained the hope of raising in America " a bulwark
against the kingdom of Antichrist." In a
pamphlet which is attributed to his pen the
Puritans were urged " to avoid the plague while it is fore-
seen," and not to tarry till it overtake them.f White en-

* Tyler's History of American Literature, vol. i, p. 98. The student
will find Chapter V interesting and profitable reading. The men who
founded Massachusetts are said to have come from that class of men
" in whom at that time centered for the English-speaking race the pos-
sibility for any further progress in human society." See also Fiske,
The Beginnings of New England, chap. iii.

f " Well might Englishmen long for a refuge where they might pre-
serve these constitutional forms whose day seemed in England to have

78 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

couraged the few settlers still at Salem to remain there,
and took steps to secure a legal basis for the colony. The
old Plymouth Company, which had been coupled with the
London Company in the original charter
The land grant. granted by James - m 1606? * had reC eived a sepa-
rate charter, and was now known as the Council for New
England. From it a tract of land was obtained ; the north-
ern boundary was three miles north of the Merrimac Eiver,
and its southern was three miles south of the Charles. It
extended westward to the Pacific. In 1628 a little com-
pany of sixty persons set sail for Salem under the leader-
ship of John Endicott, Gentleman, " a man well known to
divers persons of good note." f

The next spring a royal charter was granted by the

king creating a corporation with the title of the Governor

and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in

1628^29!*' ~^ ew En g land - It is one of tne curious con-
trasts of history that in the same year and the
same week that the headstrong monarch entered upon the
task of ruling without a parliament he granted a charter
to this company, whose work was fated to result in the
erection across the water of a great free republic, which
was destined to cherish and develop the principles he was
seeking to crush. This charter will bear examination, for
out of it grew important forms of colonial government.

passed away, and that political freedom which at home, if saved at all,
c'ould be saved only by the sword." See Doyle, The P]nglish in America
(The Puritan Colonies), vol. i, p. 116.

* See ante, page 36.

f " A fit instrument to begin this wilderness work, of courage bold,
undaunted, yet sociable and of a cheerful spirit, loving and austere,
applying himself to either as occasion served " (From the Wonder-
working Providence). Endicott came over to New England in 1628,
and was governor at Salem till the transfer of the charter. He was
deputy governor from 1641 to 1644, and also in 1650, and was governor
at various times — 1644, 1649, 1651-1665, except 1654. He was a severe
disciplinarian, rigid in religion, and a stern ruler.

THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700. fc)

The affairs of the company were intrusted to a governor,
deputy governor, and eighteen assistants, who were elected
annually by the freemen or members of the corporation.
These officers were to meet once a month or oftener to
transact business, and four times a year they were to meet
with all the freemen in " one great, general, and solemn as-
sembly." The freemen in these " great and general " courts
had the power to make laws and ordinances for the welfare
of the company and for the government of the plantation,
" so as such laws and ordinances be not contrary and re-
pugnant to the laws and statutes of the realm of England."
Soon after the granting of the charter about four hundred
persons embarked for New England.

The company in England now decided upon the impor-
tant step of transferring its seat of government and taking
its charter to America. This change was of
The transfer of g rea t moment. The company thus fully resi-
dent in the New World was more than a trad-
ing company, such as it might appear to be on the face of
the charter. Legally it was still a corporation under the
control of the King of England ; actually it developed into
a self-governing commonwealth, a body politic, in nearly all
respects independent and self-sufficient.*

This transference of the charter took place in 1630, and
in the same year nearly one thousand persons went over to
Massachusetts. This was the greatest effort at colonization

* " Under the disguise of a trading company and a commercial
charter, they went forth to found a State and erect an independent gov-
ernment " (Lodge, A Short History of the English Colonies in Amer-
ica, p. 344). The company records say : " And lastly, the Governor
read certain propositions conceived by himself, viz. : That for the ad-
vancement of the Plantation, the inducing and encouraging persons of
worth and quality to transplant themselves and families thither, and
for other weighty reasons therein contained, to transfer the govern-
ment of the Plantation to those that shall inhabit there, and not to
continue the same in subordination to the Company here, as now it is."

80 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

as yet made by Englishmen. John Winthrop,* a man of

noble and lofty spirit, a magnanimous and gentle soul, one
of the best products of his age, a high type of
the Puritan statesman and scholar, came out as

governor of the colony.

Other settlements were rapidly founded. Charlestown

had already been begun, and here Winthrop at first made
his home ; but he later moved to the peninsula

Various ^hat ] av ^ the sou th and west of Charlestown,

RfittlfTnflTl1"H

where three bare hills raised their heads, a place
" very uneven, abounding in small hollows and swamps, cov-
ered with blueberries and other bushes." With Winthrop
went a number of other people, and they " began to build
their homes against winter ; and this place was called Bos-
ton." Other towns sprang up. Within a year of Winthrop's
arrival there were eight separate settlements extending from
Salem on the north to Dorchester on the south.

We may well notice the various changes that were made
in the government of this colony. The charter of a trading

company in reality furnished the basis of the
Changes in government of the people. Self-government

government. ° l r n

was not here, as in Virginia, a gift from the
company to the settler ; the settlers were the company, and
as members of the corporation they governed themselves. f
As the people were now separated into various towns and

* This picture of Winthrop is engraved in many places, notably in
Winthrop's History, in Winsor's Memorial History of Boston, etc. It is
a copy of a painting supposed to be by the great artist Vandyke. It
hangs in the Senate Chamber of Massachusetts. He was governor of
Massachusetts Bay from his arrival in 1630 to 1634, and at several other
times.

f Of course there were in Massachusetts many settlers who were not
members of the company, but the substantial truth is stated in the text.
It might be more exact to say that the members of the company were
settlers. The student should notice how the government of a corpora-
tion grew into the government of a political body.

THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700.

could not readily come together, the assistants were at first
possessed of almost all power, and, it seems, assumed the

John Winthrop.
The original is in the Statehouse, Boston.

right to hold office until the freemen removed them. This
plan made the government in fact an oligarchy, and not a
democracy ; but it did not last. When Watertown was called

82 HISTORY OF THU AMERICAN NATION.

upon to pay a tax, " the pastor, elder, etc., assembled the
people and delivered the opinion that it was not safe to pay
moneys after that sort, for fear of bringing themselves and
posterity into bondage." This was the true American doc-
trine, " No taxation without representation." Soon after
this (May, 1632) the General Court agreed " that the gov-
ernor and assistants should all be new chosen every year by
the General Court." " Every town chose two men to be at
the next court, to advise with the governor and assistants
about the raising of a public stock, so as what they should
agree upon should bind all." * Somewhat later it was or-
dered " that every town should send their deputies, who
should assist in making laws, disposing lands, etc."

For some time these representatives or deputies sat with
the governor and assistants as one body, but in 1G44 another
change was made. A controversy had arisen
business on between a rich man and a poor woman over the
small occasion, ownership of a stray pig. The people became
interested in the dispute, and it was at length brought be-
fore the assistants and the deputies for settlement. The
majority of the assistants voted against the poor woman, the
majority of the deputies in her favor. Then " there fell out
a great business upon a very small occasion," as Winthrop
said. The assistants and deputies were now separated into
two houses. Thus it came about that the legislature had
two branches instead of one.

It was early declared by the law of the colony that no

men should " be admitted to the freedom of

The church this body politic but such as are members of

and the state. » -T . . •

some oi the churches within the limits of the
same." In other words, in order to have a share in the
government a man must be a church member. Thus it was

* These quotations are from The History of New England from 1630
to 1649, by John Winthrop. Governor Winthrop in this book, which is
in the form of a diary, has left for us his own account of the building
of Massachusetts.

THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700. 83

that in many ways the church and the state were one.* This
limitation of the suffrage was altered and a more liberal
rule was adopted in 1664, but this modification probably
had little practical effect.

It is important to notice that the people of each little
settlement within the colony began early in its history to
regulate its own concerns. Each little band
of settlers was bound together by ties of com-
mon interest. The center of their life was usually the church .
Matters that concerned the well-being of the community
were passed upon in the meeting of the freemen of the town.
Thus the colony became a group of little self-governing
towns which were subject legally to the laws of the Gen-
eral Court, but which in fact regulated in large part their
own affairs. The members of the town carefully managed
matters of communal interest, watched over communal
property, and guarded against any intrusion from without.
The town therefore was not merely a place of abode or a
number of houses, nor was it simply a number of people
through whom the laws of the colony were enforced ; it was
a body of people with many common business interests,
with kindred purposes and hopes.

AVithin four years from the settlement of Boston there
were four thousand people in the colony. They were in-
dustrious and thrifty ; they built houses, laid
rospen y. ^ roa( ^ an( j tilled the soil. Not content
with mere bodily well-being, they decided that learning
should not " be buried in the graves " of their fathers.
They knew that it was " one chief project " of " that old
deluder Satan " " to keep men from the knowledge of
the Scriptures" by persuading them "from the use of
tongues." f In 1636 the General Court appropriated money

* At the beginning it was really an extension of the suffrage.

\ These words are part of an ordinance passed in 1647, at which
time the law for the establishment of a school in each township was
passed. Legislation on the subject had been passed even earlier.

84 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

for a college, and two years later John Harvard, " a godly
Gentleman and a lover of learning," gave the " one halfe of
his Estate (it being in all about 1700 I.) . . . and all his
library " for this purpose. A law was soon passed requiring
every township of fifty householders to maintain a school
for reading and writing, and every town of a hundred house-
holders a grammar school to fit youths for the university.

As soon as the colony was fairly established it was con-
fronted with dangers. Its success attracted the attention
of the king and of the ever-watchful Laud,

En n fa e nd fr0m wh ° m Charles had J ust made the Archbishop

of Canterbury. To Laud a Puritan common-
wealth across the sea was a hateful thing. Steps were taken
to annul the charter in the courts (1635) ; but Massachu-
setts was not willing to be ruled by Laud. It proposed to
fight, if need be. The governor and assistants held counsel
with the ministers, and they decided : "If a General Gov-
ernor were sent, we ought not to accept him, but defend
our lawful possessions (if we were able) ; otherwise to avoid
or protract." The General Court ordered the building of
fortifications, captains were authorized " to train unskilled
men," and bullets were made legal tender for the payment
of debts.* Very good examples these of the fact that in
the history of states the child is the father of the man.
Fortunately, the trouble blew over. The storm was brew-
ing in England that brought both Laud and Charles to the
scaffold.

While this danger from its foes in England was disturb-
ing the colony there was also trouble within. A young
Welshman named Roger Williams brought dis-
oger iams. cor ^ amon g the people. He was a man of
ability, of sound morals, and of pure purpose ; but he was
impulsive, and fond of argument. He was gentle and re-

* "At this court brass farthings were forbidden, and musket balls
made to pass for farthings" (Winthrop, History, vol. i, p. 186). See
also Palfrey, History of New England, vol. i, p. 394.

THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1G07-1700. 85

fined, and yet he reveled in dispute and controversy. He
now declared that the lands of the colony belonged to the
red man ; that the King of England could not give away
what he did not own. He said, too, that the power of the
civil magistrates extended only to the bodies and goods
and " outward state of men," or, in other words, that there
should be freedom of worship and entire separation of
church and state. He made many other assertions that
angered the good Puritan fathers, who were then in trouble
enough because of the enmity of Charles and Laud, and did
not wish dispute and bickering within the colony, but
longed for unity of aim and a common front against a com-
mon enemy. They had no desire to listen to " divers new
and dangerous opinions." The General Court ordered
Williams away, but when preparations were made to send
him to England he fled into the woods (January, 1636).*
He passed the winter in the wilderness among the Indians,
" sorely tossed," as he afterward said, " for fourteen weeks
in a bitter winter season, not knowing what bread or bed
did mean." The next summer he made his way to Narra-

gansett Bay, and together with a few friends
Providence. from the settlements founded Providence. The

first government of this little colony, which de-
veloped into Rhode Island, was a simple democracy built
on the principle of majority rule. Its power was not
to extend to matters of conscience, but only to "civil
things." f

* For this controversy and the character of Williams, see Doyle, The
English in America (Puritan Cols.), vol. i, p. 153 ; Fiske, The Begin-
nings of New England, p. 114.

t " We whose names are hereunder, desirous to inhabit the town of
Providence, do promise to subject ourselves in active and passive obe-
dience to all such orders or agreements as shall be made for public
good of the body in an orderly way by the major assent of the present
inhabitants, masters of families incorporated together into a town fel-
lowship, and such others whom they shall admit unto them, only in
civil things."

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Mrs.
Hutchinson.

Hardly had Williams disappeared from Massachusetts
Bay when even more serious difficulties arose. Anne
Hutchinson, a brilliant woman "of a nimble
wit and active spirit," began preaching doc-
trines that filled the little town of Boston with
excitement. We need not discuss the meaning of her
teachings ; to the modern reader not versed in theological
lore her propositions seem vague and almost unintelligible.
But the early Bostonians were fond of religious discussion,
and Mistress Hutchinson carried forward her work with so

much skill and with such
feminine tact that the little

commonwealth throbbed
with interest. She came
to have a large following,
and the church was di-
vided into two bitterly
hostile factions. But her
enemies prevailed against
her, and Mrs. Hutchinson
was banished. Thereupon
peace obtained in Massa-
chusetts Bay. " Not any
unsound, unsavorie and
giddie fancy have dared,"
said a contemporary writer,
" to lift up his head or abide the light among us."

Thus we see that the Puritan of those days was not bent
upon establishing toleration. He had, in fact, no patience
with " giddie fancies." He had not yet reached
the good sense and the charity that lay at the
bottom of Koger Williams's theories. But, on the other
hand, these men can not be justly charged with inconsist-
ency. They came to found a settlement where they could
carry out their own ideas; and when they found their
project imperiled or their peace disturbed by those who

}rovidence^£

^s^ & PROVIDENCE

PLANTATIONS

Intolerance.

THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700.

Connecticut.

disagreed with them, they bade these disturbing elements
begone.

With some of her followers Mrs. Hutchinson went, as
Williams had done, to Narragansett Bay, and bought from
the Indians the island of Aquedneck for " forty
fathoms of white beads." This was later called
the " Isle of Rhodes, or Rhode Island." Dissensions arose
among the settlers. So some of them went away and
founded Newport. These various settlements were later
united into one colony, known as the Providence Planta-
tions (1644), under a very liberal charter, which declared
that the people should rule themselves " by such form of
civil government as by the voluntary consent of all or the
greatest part of them shall be found most serviceable to
their estate and condition."

We must now turn our attention to the founding of
Connecticut, a colony which was in part an off-
spring of Massachusetts.
In 1635, John Winthrop, son of the Massachusetts gov-
ernor, acting for Lord Say and
Sele and Lord Brooke,

Saybrookand who had obtained a
Hew Haven.

patent for the land,
established a colony near the
mouth of the Connecticut River
and named it Saybrook. A few
years later New Haven was
founded.

We are chiefly interested, how-
ever, in the settlements farther to

the north made by

emigrants from the

older towns of Massa- Jfl^JpJnJ^fa^
chusetts Bay. It may be that this LJ «-iZ

migration was but a natural swarming of the people, but
there is some evidence that it was brought about by dis-

A migration

from

Massachusetts

88 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

satisfaction, and that the people moved because they were
out of sympathy with the hard rule of the united church
and state of Massachusetts. The great leader was Thomas
Hooker, a learned and eloquent preacher and a man of
great personal force.*

Some settlers went out in 1634 and 1635. In the next

year a great migration set in. " Hereing of y e fame of

Conightecute Eiver, they had a hankering

The valley mind after it." Hooker and a congregation

tOWHSi ■ m

of one hundred or more made their way to the
Connecticut Valley and began the building of Hartford. f
Within a year the new colony had eight hundred people
gathered in the three towns of Windsor, Hartford, and
Wethersfield.

The people of these three towns were at first nominally

under the control of Massachusetts ; but in 1639 they formed

a government and constitution for themselves.

tionotS" Jt ma yJ ustl y be called th e first written con-
stitution springing from the people and creat-
ing a government. It contained no reference to dread
sovereign or beloved king; its quiet assumption was that
the people had a right to rule. Each town could choose
four deputies in the legislative assembly, called the General
Court, while the governor and six magistrates or assistants,
also forming part of the General Court, were elected by the
whole body of the people. It will thus be noticed that this
original Constitution of Connecticut had certain similarities
to the present Constitution of the United States, inasmuch

* " In matters .... which concern the common good," said Hooker,
" a general council chosen by all to transact business which concern all,
I conceive .... most suitable to rule and most safe for relief of the
whole." This sentiment was different from that of Winthrop, who had
declared that " the best part is always the least, and of that best part
the wiser part is always the lesser." This difference between the ideas
of Hooker and Winthrop may perhaps illustrate the reasons for the
movement to the Connecticut Valley.

f See Hart, American History, etc., vol. i, pp. 412, 413,

THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700. 89

as the individuality of the town was recognized on the one
hand, arid the main body of the people on the other, as in
our national system both the States and the whole people
are represented.*

For some years the New England settlers were not
troubled by the Indians. But in 1636 war broke out with
the Pequots, a fierce and warlike tribe. In the
Pequot War. winter rf 1636 _> 37 they kept the little Connec-
ticut towns in continual fear. The next summer a small
band of white men, some seventy-seven in number, attacked
the Indians in their palisaded town. One of the leaders of
this party thus briefly tells the story : " It is reported by
themselves that there were about four hundred souls in this
fort, and not five of them escaped out of our hands." Thus
the Pequots were exterminated. It was a sharp lesson to the
Indians of the surrounding country. Not till forty years
later, when the fate of the Pequots was in part forgotten,
did the savages dare again to begin war upon the whites.

A settlement was made within the present limits of New
Hampshire soon after the founding of Plymouth. Possibly
this continued to exist. However this may be,
amps ). a Y[^\ e i a ter a permanent settlement was made
at Dover (before 1628). Other settlements followed. In
a short time these towns were made part of Massachusetts
(1641-'43). Thus the history of New Hampshire is part of
that of the older colony until 1679.

Mason and Gorges, two Englishmen who were for many

years interested in colonization, obtained at an early day a

grant to all the land between the Merrimac and

the Kennebec. This property was later divided,

and Mason became possessed of the territory between the

Merrimac and the Piscataqua. Gorges received the remain-

* It is an interesting fact that in the Federal Convention (1787) the
compromise in accordance with which our national arrangement was
agreed upon was called the " Connecticut compromise." Students will
find this treated of in Johnston's Connecticut, p. 219, etc.

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

der. Mason's share was, roughly speaking, New Hampshire,
and this part, as we have seen, was after a time annexed to

Massachusetts. On
Gorges's portion of
this grant there
were a number of
little settlements,
some of them made
quite early in the
history of New
England.* But
they grew very
slowly, and a trav-
eler who sailed
along the coast in
1638 described the
region as " no other
than a mere wilder-
ness, with here and
there by the sea-
side a few scattered
plantations with a
few houses." \ The province was absorbed by Massachu-
setts (1652-'58). Thus we see that Massachusetts became
possessed of all the New England coast north of Plymouth.
Almost immediately after the founding of Connecticut
there was some discussion as to the advisability of forming
a league among the various New England colo-
nies. The purpose of combining was to secure
mutual protection. The Pequot War had shown the danger
of an Indian outbreak. Moreover, the Dutch on the Hud-
son were troublesome and ambitious neighbors, while the

* In 1639 Gorges was made Lord Proprietor of Maine.

f " In this province," said an English commission in 1665, " there
are but few Townes, and those much scattered as generally they are
throughout New England. They are rather farmes than Townes."

TLA N T I C

OCEAN

Need of union.

THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700. 91

French at the north, though seemingly afar off, had already
shown that they were near enough to cause uneasiness if
not danger.

A union was therefore formed. With Massachusetts,
the strongest of all, were joined Connecticut, Plymouth,
New England an( ^ -^ ew Haven. A written constitution was
confederation, adopted, whereby was formed " The United
1643--84, Colonies of New England." The association

was declared to be a " firm and perpetual league of friend-
ship." Its affairs were placed in the hands of eight com-
missioners, whose right it was to determine upon all mat-
ters of common interest to the members of the league,
"which were the proper concomitants or consequents of
such a confederation of amity, offence, and defence." The
confederation lasted some years, in fact not entirely disap-
pearing until 1684. It must have had an important effect
on the later history of America. Eighty years passed by
before the popular representatives from all the colonies
came together to protest against the novel laws of England,
and to body forth the real unity of interest of the settle-
ments scattered along the Atlantic coast; but a remem-
brance of the New England confederation could not have
died out during these eighty years, and it doubtless aided
in the work of forming a perpetual union.*

In these years the people of Massachusetts had trouble
with the Quakers. Members of this sect were, as a rule,
men and women of great purity and sweetness
of the Quakers. °^ character, but their doctrines were pecul-
iarly obnoxious to the Puritans; and when
some of them came to New England and dared to call the
people of Boston to repentance, they were met with perse-
cution. At first the unwelcome intruders were banished ;
but they boldly returned, and were hanged on Boston Com-

* " In the federation of the New England colonies we see the germ
and the foreshadowing of the united republics." (Doyle, English in
America [Puritan Cols.], vol. i, p. i.)

92 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

mon. Four were thus punished. The public sentiment
of Massachusetts, however, revolted at the cruelty, and the
law imposing the death penalty was modified. For some
years after this the Quakers were imprisoned, or whipped
out of the colonies at the cart's tail ; but before long these
punishments also ceased.* A freer and nobler sentiment
slowly grew up in New England. Men came to see at length
the folly and the sinfulness of coercion and persecution in
matters of religion.

From the outbreak of the civil war in England (1642)
until the restoration of the Stuarts (1660) New England
was allowed to govern itself; but Charles II
charters was nar dly seated on his throne before he

turned his attention to America. New Haven
had received and sheltered two of the fugitive judges of
the court that had condemned his royal father to death.
Spite of its protestations, it was now annexed to Connecti-
cut. The latter colony was given a liberal charter, which
became very dear to the people. Ehode Island, too, re-
ceived a new charter. It is an interesting fact that Charles
II, who in England gave no sign of loving free government,
should have granted these two charters, so liberal and good
that the people cherished them and kept them as their fun-
damental constitutions well down into the nineteenth cen-
tury, f The charter and the independence of Massachusetts
were threatened at the time, for the king looked upon the
colony with suspicion ; but this danger was for the time
being avoided.

Since the time of the Pequot outbreak there had been

* See Fiske, Beginnings of New England, pp. 180, 181. In Hart,
American History, etc., vol. i, p. 479, will be found The Justification of
Mary Dyer, one of the Quakers that was hanged ; also the trial of Win-
lock Christison, p. 481. Christison was condemned to death, but public
sentiment prevented the execution.

f The charter of Rhode Island (1663) continued to be the Constitu-
tion of the State until 1843. Connecticut preserved hers until 1818.

THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700.

New England, 1650.

no serious trouble with the Indians. There came to be a
sense of security even in the frontier towns. But this feel-
ing was dispelled by the outbreak of war in the

Wa? 1675 P -'76. summer of 1675 ' The red men ' led ^ P hil ip>
an able chieftain, attacked the outlying set-
tlements and inflicted much loss and suffering upon the
settlers. The next summer Philip was killed, and the war
soon ended. And yet from this time on the frontier settle-
ments were at no time quite secure. For fifty years and
more the Indians, now in alliance with the French at the
north, continued to be a constant menace. Years might go
by without an outbreak, but at some unexpected moment
an outlying settlement would be suddenly attacked, men
would be shot at their work, women and children murdered.

94 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

The hardy New Englanders pushed the frontier back from
the sea in the face of this ever-present danger.

New dangers now threatened the people of the northern

colonies. Charles II was not so headstrong and obstinate

as his father, but he was no friend of free gov-

CharactM of ernment, and he detested a Puritan. Without

Charles II, '

virtue himself, given over to corruption and
vice, he looked upon goodness as merely the trick of a
hypocrite, by which only a fool could be cheated. He was
too wise to set himself deliberately against his Parliament
or to endanger his own head, and he was determined, as he
said, " not to go on his travels again " ; but he did " not
think he was a king so long as a company of fellows were
looking into his actions and examining his ministers as
well as his accounts." He was quite ready, to take a hand
in demolishing free government in Massachusetts, where he
could act more tyrannically than he dared at home. But he
was playing a dangerous game. The spirit of liberty was
not dead among Englishmen on either side of the ocean.
Many persons in England, as Pepys said, had begun before
this time to " reflect upon Oliver and commend him, what
brave things he did, and make all the neighbor princes fear
him." *

One of the first steps against Massachusetts was to take
New Hampshire from her and make it a royal province, the

first in New England. Moreover, the old char-
ftucked? 8ettS ter of Massachusetts was annulled, the charter

under which this great Puritan commonwealth
had grown and prospered and become the mother of colo-
nies. Before Charles could carry out his plans to the full
he died, and was succeeded by his brother James. It is said
of Charles that he never spoke a foolish word or did a wise
thing ; but James, utterly lacking in tact and brightness,
was incapable alike of wise speech or sensible action. He

* Read Green, Short History of England, chap, ix, sec. iii.

THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES— 1607-1700. 95

sent to New England Sir Edmund Andros, a rough, coarse
soldier who, though not personally dissolute or addicted to
political corruption, was a fit instrument of tyranny. He
was empowered to bring the various New England colonies
under his rule. All political power was taken from the
people and vested in the hands of this arrogant governor
and a council. He could make laws and levy taxes, and
had, indeed, full right to disregard in every respect those
fundamental principles and practices of freedom and self-
government which had become dear to the people and part
of their very life. " All those devices of tyranny which Eng-
lishmen had resisted, even where they were rare and excep-
tional, were now adopted as part of the regular machinery
of government." * He carried out his instructions with
soldierly thoroughness. The General Court was abolished.
The town meetings were limited to one a year. Place
hunters and greedy officials came to prey upon the people.

Andros next brought Rhode Island and Connecticut
under his sway, and then New York and New Jersey. But

his power did not last long. The people of

England might put up with the smiling, pleas-
ure-loving tyrant Charles, but they soon grew weary of his
tactless, stubborn brother James. In 1688 they deposed
him, and William and Mary took the throne. Early in the
next year news of this glorious fact reached New England.
The people rejoiced ; militia poured into Boston from the

surrounding country; Andros and his agents
overthrown °^ ty rannv were seized and thrown into prison, f

Liberty and self-government were not yet gone
from New England.

William III was no tyrant, and he had a plentiful fund
of common sense. He did not believe, however, in letting
the colonies go their own way without guidance or control.

* Doyle, The English in America (The Puritan Colonies), vol. ii, p.
305.

fRead the account in Hart, American History, etc., vol. i, p. 463.

96 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Rhode Island and Connecticut were allowed to go on under

their old charters, but Massachusetts was given a new one

(1691). It provided for the appointment of a

A new onarter. , . * , ,

governor, lieutenant governor, and secretary by
the crown ; the assistants, or councilors, and the representa-
tives constituted with the governor the General Court. The
representatives were to be elected by the towns ; but the
assistants and representatives together chose each year the
assistants for the ensuing term. The religious qualifica-
tion for voting was abolished. Plymouth was added to
Massachusetts. Maine and Acadia also belonged to her.
Thus the colony held the coast, with the exception of the
territory of New Hampshire, from Martha's Vineyard to the
Gulf of St. Lawrence.

The tyranny of Andros doubtless taught its lesson to
the New Englanders. Seventy-five years later men re-
membered this attack upon their liberties.

r e ann SSOnSOf Had the P lans of James worked smoothly at
home, the boasted freedom of England would
have disappeared. Had his plans been carried out in Amer-
ica, free colonial life would have been crushed out. But
the revolution of 1688 saved the liberties of England and
America, and in the next century the colonies strengthened
their hold upon principles of self-government. When,
under another king, George III, the Parliament seemed to
have forgotten the fundamental teachings of the seven-
teenth century and their own revolution, the American
people, true to the established doctrines of English liberty,
resisted encroachments on their rights.

References.
Short accounts: Thwaites, The Colonies, pp. 112-177; Fisher,
The Colonial Era, pp. 82-176 ; Eggleston, The Beginners of a Nation,
pp. 98-220, 266-346. Longer accounts: Fiske, Beginnings of New
England; Bancroft, History, Volume I, pp. 177-407, 584-589, also
Volume II, pp. 47-69 ; Doyle, The English in America, The Puritan
Colonies.

CHAPTER IV.
The Middle Colonies— 1609-1700.

NEW YORK.

1^ the seventeenth century Holland was one of the
most prosperous and progressive countries of Europe.
While Elizabeth was on the throne of England
this sturdy little Netherland nation was en-
gaged in a long fierce fight against the tyranny of Spain — a
fight full of deeds of daring and of bravery beyond com-
pare. It came out of this conflict a self-reliant people —
stronger, more vigorous than ever before — while the power
of Spain, the mighty oppressor, was checked. Now, just as
England was getting ready to colonize and to build up her
great states in the New World, brave little Holland was a
serious rival. The Dutch were the carriers of Europe. In
the middle of the seventeenth century they are said to have
had half the carrying trade of the Continent. Amsterdam
was a great mart of trade. It was to be expected that
when the sails of Holland were on every sea there would be
some attempt to secure a hold upon America.

The Dutch merchants were interested in commerce with
the East Indies, and Henry Hudson, an English mariner
in the employ of a Dutch company, sought to
solve the old problem of finding a snorter route
to the silks and spices of the East. Baffled in an effort to
discover a passage to the northeast — north of Europe — he
turned westward to seek a way through or north of America.
He was moved to this, it is said, " by some letters and maps

98 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

which his friend Captain Smith had sent him from Vir-
ginia." In August, 1609, he, with his ship, the Half Moon,
sailed into Delaware Bay, and a month later entered the
noble river that was to bear his name. He sailed north as
far, perhaps, as the present site of Albany. He found no
route to India, but was deeply impressed with the beauties
of the country, and returned to Holland to recount his
travels and to report that from the natives, who inhabited
the new-found land, furs could be had almost for the ask-
ing — for baubles and trinkets and gewgaws.

Thus Hudson opened up to the Dutch a new trade, and
the merchants of Amsterdam were not slow in taking ad-
vantage of it. Traders soon found their way
The West India t the bankg Q f the new river to traffic with
Company i

the natives. Trading stations were founded.
Finally a company was organized and granted immense
power (1621). It was given supreme dominion on the
whole coast of America, the right to employ soldiers in the
name of the States-General of Holland, to make treaties,
and to maintain courts. To this West India Company Hol-
land transferred her prospects in the New World. A thor-
oughly successful colony could not arise under the direc-
tion of a company whose only end was gain.

The first colony under the new company was sent over
in 1623. The most important settlement was at Fort

Orange, where Albany now stands. The set-
New Nether- ^ erg were distributed here and there about the

lands^

country, some going to Delaware River, others
to the Connecticut, while some settled on Manhattan and
on Long Island. The Dutch claimed all the territory as
" New Netherlands " from the Delaware to the Connecticut,
including the navigation of these rivers. Had they con-
centrated their forces and sought to secure the mouth of
the Hudson and the immediate neighborhood, they might
have been more successful.

The company next took steps to establish a semi-feudal

Van deb Donck's Map of New Netherlands, 1656.

100 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

class in the new land. Men of wealth were induced to
take up landed estates. Each person establishing a colony
of fifty persons over fifteen years of age was
epa ' entitled to become the owner and ruler of a
strip of country on the banks of some river sixteen miles
in width, or eight miles where both banks were occu-
pied, and stretching back from the river indefinitely.
This was a principality of no mean dimensions, and several
men at once took advantage of this opportunity to become
petty monarchs. They were known as " patroons," or pa-
trons. Although this plan had the immediate effect of
bringing in new settlers, it was, on the whole, not well
adapted to promote the healthful growth of a free com-
monwealth. The patroons could not be expected to be
zealous for the growth of political equality or for the gen-
eral development of the colony.

There is little to interest us in the history of this Dutch
province after it was fairly settled. There were some seri-
ous troubles with the Algonquin Indians, but

detent? 4 the friendshi P of the Iroquois was secured
by careful and considerate treatment. With
them the Dutch carried on considerable traffic, but the
progress of the colony was slow. The company, anxious to
make an immediate profit from its possessions, took little
interest in building up a commonwealth. There is doubt-
less much truth in the complaints of those in the colony
who were struggling for more self-government and a more
liberal administration. " It seems," they said, " as if from
the first the company had sought to stock this land with
their own employes, which was a great mistake, for when
their time was out they returned home, taking nothing
with them, except a little in their purses and a bad name
for the country. . . . The directors here, though far from
their masters, were close by their profit. . . . They have
also conducted themselves just as if they were the sov-
ereigns of the country. In our opinion, this country will

THE MIDDLE COLONIES— 16Q9-KOC.

1:0-1

EUROPEAN POSSESSIONS 1650

BASED ON EXPLORATIONS AND SETTLEMENT.
|~~| ENGLISH POSSESSIONS tZU DUTCH POSSESSIONS

| 1 FRENCH " CD SWEDISH "

CD SPANISH "

never flourish under the government of the Honorable

Company."

Gustavus Adolphus, the great King of Sweden, one of

the great generals of history, was interested in founding a
colony in America. He took part in forming
a company, but his death prevented his plan

from being carried out for some years. Queen Christina

and Oxenstiern, the famous minister of Adolphus, entered

New Sweden.

10>2 HL*T0JIY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

anew upon the enterprise. An expedition was sent out in
1638, and a fort, called Fort Christina, was established on
the Delaware Eiver where Wilmington now stands.* The
country was called New Sweden. This ground was claimed
by the Dutch, and of course dissensions ensued. In 1655,
after some years of wrangling, Fort Christina passed into
the hands of the Dutch, and New Sweden disappeared.

In the seventeenth century Holland and England were
strong commercial rivals. The New Englanders had already
NewNetherland en g a g ed in sundry controversies with their
becomes neighbor over the control of the Connecticut.

New York, Soon after the accession of Charles II it was

determined to seize the Dutch possessions, and in 1664 an
English fleet appeared before Fort Amsterdam. The place
was in no condition for defense. Stuyvesant, the Director
General, fumed and strutted, and swore he would rather be
carried to his grave than surrender; but the frightened
townspeople besought him to yield, and the white flag was
soon run up. Dutch rule in America was over. The Eng-
lish now held possession of the whole Atlantic coast north
of the Spanish Floridas and south of the French claims in
Acadia. Ten years later (1673-74) Holland secured pos-
session of her old colony for a time, but at the end of the
war between the two countries England gained it again.
Charles II gave the newly acquired territory to his brother
James, the Duke of York, and it was rechristened New
York. When James became king, in 1685, the colony be-
came a royal colony.

Although Dutch customs and habits were not rudely

overturned by the conquerors of the new province, the

English accession brought better government.

Local Forms of local government were introduced at

government. °

once ; the so-called " Duke's laws " were issued
providing for town meetings for the election of town offi-

* The Dutch head, as early as 1623, founded Fort Nassau, just below
the site of Philadelphia.

THE MIDDLE COLONIES— 1609-1700.

103

The revolution.

^>v£~-

cers. In the course of the next few years the system devel-
oped. The towns were represented in a board of county
supervisors, whose chief
duty it was to apportion
taxes and to look after the
general financial needs of
the county. Not till 1683
did New York have an
assembly like the other
colonies.

King James cherished
the hope of bringing all
the northern colonies un-
der one royal governor.
Andros, it will be remem-
bered, had
come to New
England to be general gov-
ernor, and in 1688 he was
put in charge of New York and New Jersey as well. He had
his seat of government in Boston, but was represented in
New York by a deputy. The revolution in England made
an end of James's tyranny there, and as soon as the people
of New York heard of this event they rose, drove out their
royal deputy, and proclaimed William as their new sover-
eign. This revolt was headed by an impetuous German by
the name of Jacob Leisler, who, once in the
lead, wished to remain there, and assumed the
powers of government, which he wielded in arbitrary and
reckless fashion. When the new governor appointed by the
king came to take possession, Leisler hesitated to surrender
the colony. This he was soon forced to do, however, and a
short time after he was hanged for treason, the order for
his execution, it is said, being signed by the governor while
under the influence of drink. It is a curious fact that

Leisler was instrumental in summoning the first general
8

C ffixf

Leisler.

104 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

colonial Congress, which met in Albany in 1690. Its pur-
pose was to consider means of mutual protection against
the French and Indians.

At the end of the seventeenth century New York was a
strong and successful colony, although her population was

as yet not large — perhaps twenty-five thousand
t?*o5aro ° f inhabitants, including negro slaves. Trade and

agriculture both flourished. The Dutch were
the largest landowners, and they still retained their own
dress and followed their own customs without much refer-
ence to the invading Englishman. The steady conservative
spirit of the Hollander doubtless continued to influence the
life of New York for many decades ; but even at this early
day men of many nations had come hither. It had become
" a community of many tongues, of many customs, of many
faiths." Partly because of this diversity of population the
colony did not have so marked an influence in our colonial
history or play so conspicuous a part in the development of
our political ideals as did the more homogeneous colonies of
the south or of New England.

References.
Short accounts: Thwaites, The Colonies, pp. 196-210; Fisher,
The Colonial Era, Chapter IX; Lodge, Short History, pp. 285-302.
Longer accounts : Bancroft, History, Volume I, pp. 475-527, 577-582 ;
Bryant and Gay, Popular History, Volume I, pp. 339-369, 429-449 ;
Tuckerman, Peter Stuyvesant ; Roberts, New York, pp. 1-185; Roose-
velt, New York; M. W. Goodman, A. C. Royce, R. Putnam, Historic
New York, pp. 1-191 ; Fiske, Dutch and Quaker Cols., Volume I.

NEW JERSEY— 1664-1700.

What is now the State of New Jersey was part of the
territory claimed by the Dutch under the name of New
Netherlands. Before the English seized the country some-
thing had been done to settle this part, although it had not
developed, as might have been expected, in the fifty years
of Dutch occupancy. The Duke of York, as proprietor of

THE MIDDLE COLONIES— 1609-1700. 105

the territory newly acquired, ceded (1664) this southern

portion, lying between the Delaware River and the sea, to

Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret.

The first rj^g new p rov j nce was named New Csesaria or

settlement. r

New Jersey, in honor of Carteret, who as gov-
ernor of the island of Jersey had heroically defended it
against the Parliamentarians during the great rebellion.
The proprietors at once issued a document known as " the
Concessions," which outlined a form of government and laid
down various rules for the administration of the colony.
This formed practically the first Constitution of New Jersey,
and as it was broad and liberal in its terms it was cherished
by the people as a charter of liberties. There were some
settlers already in the province who had come in under the
Dutch rule. In 1665 Philip Carteret, a nephew of the pro-
prietor, came out as governor, bringing with him a small
body of Englishmen. The settlement thus founded was
given the name of Elizabeth, in honor of Lady Carteret.
Other settlements were made soon after this, emigrants
from the other colonies, especially from New England,
coming in to take advantage of the privileges offered by
the new proprietors. No provision was made at first for a

legislative body, inasmuch as the " Conces-
ssem y. g ' ons w p rovec [ sufficient f or the simple needs of
the young colony. But in 1668 an assembly was summoned,
and the legislative history of New Jersey was begun.

Berkeley finally became weary of the bickerings and dis-
putes and sold his share to some Quakers, and this interest

finally passed into the hands of William Penn

divided 0117 an( ^ a ^ ew °^ ^ s asso °i a tes. About this time
(1674) the colony was divided into two parts,
Carteret obtaining East Jersey. The Quakers, to whom fell
the western portion, now entered upon the task of legisla-
tion and control. Outcasts and outlaws in other organized
states, how would they legislate when the power and
responsibility came into their hands ? Their first acts were

106

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

East New
Jersey.

marked by a generous and kindly spirit, and breathed a
true democracy. " We lay," they said, " a foundation for
Th k r a ^ er a £ es to un derstand their liberty as Chris-
in West New tians and as men, that they may not be brought
Jersey. m ^ bondage but by their own consent ; for we

put the power in the people." Many Quakers, glad to find
a refuge from oppression, now made their way to the new
colony.

Shortly after this George Carteret died, and his rights
in East Jersey were sold to Penn and twenty-three asso-
ciates. These associates were not all Quakers ;
there were among them Presbyterians from
Scotland, dissenters, and Catholics. Within a
few years many Scotch came over, and thus began the
strong Scotch and Presbyterian element of New Jersey.
In the meantime there had been great trouble with An-

dros, the duke's governor
in New York, who set up
certain claims of right in
East Jersey, and could
not refrain from annoy-
ing interference in the
colony. After a time
the rights of the proprie-
tors were acquired by
the crown (1702), and
the two Jerseys united
into one became a royal
colony.

The history of New
Jersey in these early
days can scarcely be
called interesting. There
is a certain lack of unity
and purpose in the col-
ony ; it was not a great

THE MIDDLE COLONIES— 1609-1700. 107

experiment in religion and politics like ~New England, nor

had it the picturesque qualities of the southern colonies.

Despite legislative wranglings and proprietary

Character of disputes, the colony prospered steadily and

the colony. * ' . . ^ r ^ . J

soberly, growing into a substantial common-
wealth. Farming was almost the sole occupation. There
was no effort to build up diversified interests, and all
through the next century the colony was commercially
dependent on New York or on the more prosperous and
vigorous colony which grew up on its western border.

References.

Short account : Thwaites, The Colonies, pp. 210-215 ; Fisher,
The Colonial Era, Chapter X ; Lodge, Short History, pp. 263-267 ;
Bancroft, History, Volume I, pp. 520-523 and 546-551, also Volume
II, pp. 31-33 ; Hildreth, History, Volume II, pp. 51-61 and 216-218 ;
Bryant and Gay, Popular History, Volume II, pp. 472-480.

PENNSYLVANIA AND DELAWARE— 1681-1700.

We have already mentioned the Friends, or Quakers,
some of whom early came into various colonies, and were
there treated with great harshness. This sect
Quakers m wag an j m p 0r tant element in English coloniza-
tion. Three of the colonies, New Jersey, Penn-
sylvania, and Delaware, were built up largely under their
guidance and influence. It thus happened that the very
central portion of the English domain in America felt the
impress of the beliefs and ideals of these people. It is
worth while, therefore, to examine the beginnings of the
sect and to notice the characteristics of its faith ; for, as
these people controlled for many years so much territory,
and were not few in numbers, it is probable that their be-
liefs and modes of thought have been wrought in part into
the national character. These three Quaker colonies were
directly influenced by the ideals of the sect.

The religion of the Society of Friends had its beginnings

108 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

in the mind of George Fox, the son of an English weaver.
He had been placed as apprentice with a shoemaker, but
his master was also engaged in keeping sheep,
and George, during part of his apprenticeship,
was given the task of watching the flocks, a business well
suited to his quiet spirit. He became deeply distressed
for the safety of his soul. These were the tumultuous years
of the great rebellion, and the country was filled with clam-
oring sects, each claiming to have the true light and to be
the only way. But from none of the priests or preachers
could he find help. Some ridiculed, some abused him ; none
were able to bring light to the darkened soul of the poor
shoemaker's apprentice. He seems to have been woefully
cast down, in a sort of ecstasy of misery, when the truth
began to dawn upon him that the blind could not lead the
blind, that " being bred at Oxford or Cambridge was not
enough to qualify men to be ministers of Christ," that all
the learning of the universities could not lead a man to
heaven. " Thus he grew to a knowledge of divine things,
without the help of any man, book, or writing," and there
shone as into his very inmost soul the strong truth that
there is a living God. He came to believe that each person
is given light from on high, that every one is called upon to
follow the guidance of that "inner light." These words
contain the Quaker's creed. " The Quaker," says Bancroft,
" has but one word, the in^er light, the voice of God in
the soul. That light is a reality, and therefore in its free-
dom the highest revelation of truth ; ... it shines in every
man's breast, and therefore joins the whole human race in
the unity of equal rights." *

Fox was moved to preach, and soon made many con-
verts. Those who embraced his doctrines became in turn
imbued with the desire to win men to repentance. Messen-
gers of the new faith wandered over Europe, calling upon

* Bancroft, History, vol. i, p. 535.

THE MIDDLE COLONIES— 1609-1700. 109

all to be guided by the light in their own souls. Fox was
ridiculed, beaten, thrust into prison, but his courage waxed
ever stronger, and his followers rapidly in-
?*jPJ* of creased. Everywhere the Quakers were perse-
cuted, but they persisted in the faith. The
courage and devotion of the sect is well illustrated by the
story that, when Fox was in Lanceston jail, one of his
people called upon Cromwell and asked to be imprisoned
in his stead. " Which of you," said Cromwell, turning to
his council, " would do as much for me if I were in the
same condition?"

Quakerism cherished the essence of democracy, because

one of its necessary beliefs was that each man was the equal

of every other. Certain manners and habits

They teach the emphasized this kernel of their creed. They

equality of men. r J

believed there should be no distinctions m dress,
no difference in title, no unnecessary elaboration in speech.
The hat was to be kept on the head before the most august
tribunal, because to stand uncovered savored of the homage
due to God alone. Simple language with " thee and thou "
was addressed to all alike, and the unadorned coat gave
no chance for superiority in apparel. " My Lord Peter
and My Lord Paul are not to be found in the Bible ; My
Lord Solon or Lord Scipio is not to be read in Greek or
Latin stories."

Among the followers of Fox was one man who was a far
greater soul than the founder of his faith. William Penn
__ may justly be called one of the great men of

William Penn. V. , J „. . ., u 8 . . •

our history. His father was Admiral Penn, a
man of prominence and position in England who had won
distinction by the capture of Jamaica and stood in special
favor at court because he had helped to reinstate the
Stuarts. The son, while a student at Oxford, was much af-
fected by the teachings of the Quakers. Refusing to attend
the religious services of the university, he was expelled and
sent home in disgrace. He now spent some time on the

110

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Continent, especially in Paris, and the gayeties of life seem
for a time to have banished all serious inclination to re-
ligion from his mind. He
returned to England in 1664,
and thence went to Ireland,
where he came under the in-
fluence again of the Quaker
preacher who had won such
a hold upon him in his stu-
dent days. He was then
fully converted to the new
faith. This was a great
event for Quakerism, because
converts among the wealthy
and influential had been
very few, and because Penn
was in himself a man of rare
vigor, sweetness, and ability.
In spite of his social posi-
tion and the sweetness of his
character, he was many times in prison ; and these rough
experiences had doubtless their effect in broadening his
sympathies with the poor and the oppressed.* Rude
schools as they were, the Old Bailey and the Tower may
have given him broader views of life and led him to see with
greater clearness the needs of men and the crime and
follies of the state.

In 1670 his father died, leaving him wealthy.
He acquires He inhered claims on the Government to a

Pennsylvania.

large amount. The frivolous Charles II had
no zeal for paying debts in cash, and so in 1681 Penn re-
ceived in satisfaction of his claim a vast estate stretching

* " In such rough schools of statesmanship as the Old Bailey, New-
gate, and the Tower he imbibed broad and liberal views of what was
necessary for the welfare of mankind." (Winsor, Narrative and Critical
History of America, vol. iii, p. 475.)

The middle colonies— 1609-1 700. m

westward from the Delaware River through five degrees of
longitude.* The king gave the name Pennsylvania to the
province in honor of Penn's father.

Here Penn intended to establish a free commonwealth.
" And because," he said, " I have been somewhat exercised
at times about the nature and end of govern-
is purpose, men t among men, it is reasonable to expect
that I should endeavor to establish a just and righteous one
in this province. . . . For the nations want a precedent."
And again, he wrote to a friend : " For the matter of lib-
erty and privilege, I propose that which is extraordinary,
and to leave myself and successors no power of doing mis-
chief — that the will of one man may not hinder the good
of an whole country." The same broad generosity is shown
in the letter which he now issued to the people who were
already within the limits of his grant. " You shall be gov-
erned," he promised, " by laws of your own making, and
live a free and, if you will, a sober and industrious people."

Emigrants made their way at once to Pennsylvania, and

in 1682 Penn himself set out for his new province. A city

was marked out on the Schuylkill and named

fhfcoion^ ° f Philadel P nia > the cit y of brotherly love. Penn
had already drawn up a " Frame of Govern-
ment " for his colony — a liberal instrument full of the true
spirit of democracy and worthy of its author. This was
afterward altered in parts, but its main princi-
p . e if' ! . pies remained. He believed in free govern-

philosophy, r . °,

ment, but not in the power of form or in the
might of maxim. " Any government," he asserted, " is free
to the people under it (whatever be its frame) where the

* The boundaries of Pennsylvania, as of most of the colonies, were
later subject to dispute. The northern line had to be agreed upon with
New York. Connecticut also claimed the northern portion, and this
gave rise to serious disputes in later years. See Fiske, The Critical Pe-
riod of American History, pp. 148-150 ; McMaster, History of the
People of the United States, vol. i, pp. 210-216.

The FRAME of the

GOVERNMENT

OF THE

l^cfofote of ^mnftnwmfo
AM ERICA--

Together with certain

LAWS

Agreed upon in England

BY THE

GOVERNOUR

AND

Divers F R E E - M E N of the aforefaid
PROVINCE

To he furth-r Explained and Confirmed there by the firll

Troiinciai Count i7 and Q eneral Ajfemhly that (hall

be held, if they fee meet.

Printed in die Year MDCLXXXII.*

* Title-page of the Frame of Government. It provided for a council
and an assembly, to be elected by the freemen, and one third of the
members of the council to retire annually. Committees were also pro-
vided for. It was soon changed in part ; but these provisions are note-
worthy.

THE MIDDLE COLONlES-1 609-1 700. 113

laws rule and the people are a party to those laws ; and
more than this is tyranny, oligarchy, or confusion. . . .
Liberty without obedience is confusion, and obedience with-
out liberty is slavery." Never has the philosophy of gov-
ernment been more exactly stated.

Pennsylvania, like Maryland, and like other colonies
founded after 1660, was a proprietary colony. Penn was
the owner of the soil ; from him the settlers obtained the
right to occupy the land and build their houses ; to him
they paid their rent. He appointed the governor to act as
his representative in his absence, and provided for a legisla-
tive assembly. Penn was not granted such full and absolute
powers as were bestowed upon Lord Baltimore. Doubtless
he did not wish them. The inhabitants of his province
could appeal to the king and the acts of the General Assem-
bly must be presented to him in council for ratification or
rejection.

In 1682 Penn became possessed of New Castle and the
territory lying to the south of it. This land he acquired
from the Duke of York. It came to be called
the " Territories," while Pennsylvania was
known as the " Province." For some time these two com-
munities were enrolled under one government, but for
some reason each was jealous and suspicious of the other;
disputes arose, and peace was finally secured by making
the Territories into the separate colony of Delaware
(1703).

Pennsylvania grew rapidly into a flourishing and well-
peopled colony. Before the end of the century there were
not less than twenty thousand persons within

2bT? er0fthe fche limits of Penn ' s grant, and Philadelphia
was already a busy and prosperous town. The
settlers were by no means all Quakers ; there were Swedes
and Dutchmen and Germans as well. At a later day many
Scotch Irish made their way thither. The Quaker faith,
however, shaped the character of the colony ; toleration

114 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

was freely accorded to all religions and modes of worship,
for toleration was a logical result of the faith of the Friend.
Moreover, the Quakers believed that each man was enlight-
ened and guided from on high ; they believed in the equal-
ity of men ; and under such influences Pennsylvania be-
came in some ways the truest example of a thoroughly
democratic commonwealth.

One might expect that, when Penn had freely given
the colony so much, there would be little trouble in govern-
ing it and no political unrest. But such was not
Political ^ e caga rp^g p e0 p] e h a( j their longings and am-

aisputeSi r r o ©

bitions, and entered erelong lustily into political
controversy. These difficulties were at times a great source
of annoyance to Penn. " For the love of God, me, and the
poor country," he wrote at one time, " be not so government-
ish, so noisy and open in your dissatisfactions." These dis-
satisfactions were bound to come, and it was as well they
did, perhaps, since men are versed in the art of politics and
self-government not by quiet contentment, but by zealous
strivings.*

A part of Penn's wisdom and brotherly love was shown
in his treatment of the Indians. To his first commissioners

in this new province he wrote : " Be tender of
^ n ^ th the offending the Indians. . . . Make a friendship

and league with them. Be grave ; they love not
to be smiled upon." He himself, after his arrival in Amer-
ica, purchased land of the Indians and entered into " great
promises of friendship." At a later day he wrote : " We
leave not the least indignity to them unrebukt nor wrong
unsatisfied. Justice gains and awes them." So Pennsyl-
vania was long free from Indian dangers. Not till the later
troubles with France began, was the progress of the colony
seriously threatened.

* Penn was for a time (1692-94) deprived of his province by the
authorities in England, but it was returned to him again.

THE MIDDLE COLONIES— 1609-1700.

115

A book printed in England at the end of the seventeenth
century says that Philadelphia contained many stately houses
of brick and " several fine squares and courts."
rospen y. Between the principal towns the " watermen
constantly ply their wherries." " There are no beggars to
be seen, nor, indeed, have any the least temptation to take
up that scandalous life."

References.

Thwaites, The Colonies, pp. 207-217; Fisher, The Colonial Era,
pp. 199-206 ; Lodge, Short History, pp. 205-226 ; Winsor, Narrative
and Critical History, Volume III, Chapter XII; Bancroft, History,
Volume I, pp. 528-573, Volume II, pp. 62-75 ; Bryant and Gay, Pop-
ular History, Volume II, pp. 165-178, 481^98; Stoughton, William
Penn, The Founder of Pennsylvania ; Fiske, Dutch and Quaker Colo-
nies, Volume II, Chapters XII, XVI, XVII.

House in Philadelphia in which Penn lived— 1699-1701.

CHAPTER V.
History of the Colonies in the Eighteenth Century.

It will be remembered that by the decree of the Pope

and by an agreement between Spain and Portugal these

two countries claimed title to the heathen

Right of world. Spain asserted that she owned the

discovery! x

whole of Xorth America and all of South
America lying west of the line agreed upon. Before the
beginning of the eighteenth century, however, she had been
forced to give up her excessive demands and to yield to
other countries some title and dominion. By this time
there had developed a doctrine known as the right of dis-
covery. That doctrine included the following proposi-
tions :

1. The Christian nation that discovers a heathen land
owns it to the exclusion of all other Christian nations. 2.
This nation must complete its title within a reasonable
time by occupying and using this land. 3. The native in-
habitants are the occupants of the land only.*

At the beginning of the eighteenth century the English
dominion stretched from east of the Kennebec to the Sa-
vannah ; its western border was the Allegheny
Claims of range. As yet no adventurous pioneer had

dared to make a settlement in the great valley
beyond the mountains. On the northeast the claims of
England extended into the territory which France asserted

* See Hinsdale, How to Study and Teach History, pp. 204, 205. The
propositions here given are in the words of Professor Hinsdale.
116

THE COLONIES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 117

was hers, and on the south Spain claimed title to all the
territory at least as far north as the Savannah, while the
English claimed southward to the St. John's. We shall see
how the English established a colony in the region south
of the Savannah (1733), and how through the efforts of
Oglethorpe the land was held for England. By the middle
of the century Spain's possessions in the eastern part of
North America were confined to Florida alone.

With France, however, England had still to wage a
mighty struggle. Until near the beginning of the eight-
eenth century there had been no good reason
En ai jand nd for conflict between the two nations, for the
continent was large enough for the settlements
of both countries, and the colonists of the one did not come
into contact with those of the other. But, as the years
went by, the rivalry grew more and more intensely bitter,
and all questions of colonial policy and growth were more
or less influenced by this international jealousy and hatred.
War succeeded war, and in the intervals of peace each na-
tion narrowly watched the other. These wars were partly
caused by religious differences and by the political problems
of Europe ; but they were caused also by the fact that both
the nations were seeking to secure great possessions in
America. France and England were natural rivals because
of their colonial ambitions.

From whatever point of view one studies the colonial

history of the eighteenth century it must needs have these

intercolonial wars and this intercolonial rivalry

intercolonial ag a background. We must remember that

wars. °

New England grew and prospered and reached
out for more territory to be filled with thriving towns, while
the French and their Indian allies were lurking on her bor-
ders and watching her progress with malice in their hearts.
We must remember that in some of the colonies disputes
arose between the governor and the popular assembly over
the question of supply or preparation for war, and that

118 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

each dispute gave to the colonists practice in declaring
their rights and privileges. We must remember, too, that
the colonies felt their dependence on England, because of
the presence of an enemy on their frontier.

During the first half of the century the political history
of each colony is very similar to that of every other. It is
p rti ai a s ^ or y °^ P e ttv quarrels between the assembly

character of and the governor, of incessant disputes over
these years. some matter apparently trivial, but yet involv-
ing, as the colonists thought, some question of principle or
some real substantial right. The hapless governor was often
between two fires. On the one side were the stubborn colo-
nists absolutely refusing concession and demanding new
privileges ; on the other side he had clear instructions from
the proprietors or royal authority directing him not to
grant what the colonists wished. But these quarrels and
disputes were evidences of a persistent spirit of self-govern-
ment. The people were thus trained in political methods
and taught to understand and appreciate constitutional and
legal principles. For these contests did not consist of vio-
lent uprisings ; they were mere wordy disputes carried on
with the formalities of legal language and with the studied
decorum of debate.

It is important to notice that the development of the
American colonists through this period followed the lines
already marked out by the progress of the
mother country. The assembly or lower house
of the colonial legislature strove to obtain full control over
the purse. When this hold was secured, or nearly so, it
demanded redress of grievances and new privileges on pain
of a refusal of supply. It said to the governor, " Cease this
or that practice, or else we will cease to pay your salary."
Thus the right of self-taxation became the basis of many
other rights, and was looked upon by the colonists as the
most fundamental of them all. Edmund Burke, the great
English orator and statesman, in his Speech on Concilia-

THE COLONIES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 119

tion with America, one of the most remarkable speeches
ever delivered, thus speaks of this love of the colonists for
the principle of self-taxation, a principle which the experi-
ences of the whole eighteenth century strongly confirmed :
" The people of the colonies are descendants of English-
men. . . . The colonies draw from you, as with their life
blood, these ideas and principles. Their love of liberty, as
with you, fixed and attached on this specific point of tax-
ing. Liberty might be safe or might be endangered in
twenty other particulars without their being much pleased
or alarmed. Here they felt its pulse ; and as they found
that beat, they thought themselves sick or sound."

So this first half of the eighteenth century passed away,
uneventfully on the whole. On the north and west the bor-
ders were time and again beset by wandering
A period of parties of French and Indians. The outbreak

progress. *

of actual war caused some excitement, and
brought almost surely a dispute with some ambitious gov-
ernor over increased supply or new authority. But the
signs of the times are a steady development in the arts and
practices of self-government, a slow but sure advancement
in industrial prosperity, a quiet and sober progress toward a
self-sufficient and independent life.

We can not enter at length into the history of New
England during these years. We must content ourselves

with noticing one or two instances of political
Msto England controversy that illustrate the spirit of the

people. One of the governors of Massachusetts
on returning to England complained bitterly of the temper
of " Boston, a town of eighteen thousand inhabitants."

He declared that it was full of a "leveling

spirit," and that the citizens were bent upon
making " continual encroachments on the few prerogatives
left to the Crown." * These angry words were doubtless not
far from true. The people of Massachusetts had no thought
of treason or insurrection ; but they were determined to
9

120 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

govern themselves just as far as they possibly could, and to
cling persistently to their own purse strings and open their
purse at their own discretion. At times they managed to
get on very well with the royal governor ; but often they
were engaged in some dispute with him. A good illustra-
tion of these differences is a controversy between the Assem-
bly and the governor over the question of permanent salary.
Successive governors demanded that the legislature should
grant a permanent sum. The house preferred to make its
grant annually. Especially during the administration of
Burnett (1728-'29) the controversy was hotly waged. The
governor threatened and scolded the legislators, dissolved
the General Court, and declared they should not longer sit
at Boston, but at Cambridge or Salem, " where prejudices
had not taken root," but all to no avail. His successor
brought with him rigid instructions to obtain a permanent
salary, but he did not succeed. He finally gave way and
accepted, with due thankfulness no doubt, the pay the
house was willing to give each year. Thus the people won
by obstinate striving the power of keeping the governor in
order by controlling his pay.

The history of Connecticut and Rhode Island differed
in one way essentially from that of Massachusetts, because
in these colonies there was no royal governor
Ehode C Sd and to cause annoyance. Several times they were
threatened with the loss of their free charters ;
but they contrived by argument and clever management to
save these precious documents. Although not engaged in
quarrels with royal governors, the people were interested in
political questions and governed themselves quietly and well.
Turning to New York, we find that its political history
was in many ways not essentially different from that of
Massachusetts. Probably New York was un-
usually unfortunate in the royal governors that
were sent to rule over her. Some of them were not very
bad, but others either were greedy and bent upon filling

THE COLONIES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 121

their purses or were very quarrelsome and domineering.
The Assembly struggled doggedly against successive gov-
ernors, winning little by little a stronger hold upon the
Government. One who knew the people well told the au-
thorities in England (1729) that " most of the previous and
open steps which a dependent state can take to render them-
selves independent at their pleasure are taken by the As-
sembly of New York."

Prominent among the royal governors of New York was
one Cosby (1732-36), a money getter, a boisterous, irrita-
ble fellow, tactless and devoid of both decorum
The right of an( j virtue. A man named Zenger published
ee speec . .^ ^ p a p er some criticisms of the governor, de-
claring that the people of New York " think that slavery is
likely to be entailed on them and their posterity if some
things be not amended." Thereupon the paper was ordered
burned and Zenger was cast into prison and brought to trial
for criminal libel. The lawyer who defended him admitted
that the articles in question had been published, but asserted
that they were true and not false or scandalous. " A free
people," said the bold lawyer, Andrew Hamilton, " are not
obliged by any law to support a governor who goes about to
destroy a province." He pointed to the abuses of the ex-
ecutive power and warned the jury that it was " not the
cause of a poor printer alone, nor of New York alone. No !
it may in its consequences affect every freeman that lives
under a British government on the main of America." He
called upon them to protect the liberty " to which Nature
and the laws of our country have given us a right, the lib-
erty both of exposing and opposing arbitrary power, in
these parts of the world at least, by speaking and writing
the truth." Zenger was acquitted, and Hamilton, who was
a Pennsylvanian, was given the freedom of the city in a
gold snuff box. These were pretty evident straws to show
which way the wind was blowing in New York.

We might expect that in Pennsylvania, founded by a

122 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

generous proprietor and inhabited by a peace-loving people,
there would be no contentions or disputes. But it had its
full share. In 1718 Penn died and the province
became the property of his heirs. The colony
prospered exceedingly and grew in wealth and population,
and as it grew the people became somewhat masterful and
assertive, quite as insistent upon their full rights as were the
people of any colony. Various disputes between governor
and Assembly arose, and in them all the Assembly was ob-
stinate and tenacious of its rights. When the troubles with
France grew serious in the middle of the century and the
frontier settlements were attacked by the Indians, the Gov-
ernment, refusing to do as the Assembly wished, had diffi-
culty in getting money to repel the invaders. One can not
entirely sympathize with the people in their inflexible re-
fusal to grant supplies at a time when the borders of the
colony were laid waste by Indian forays. But the refusal
shows well that the legislators knew their rights and were
determined to act on them. When the governor pleaded
for money they would not yield, quietly remarking that
" they had rather the French should conquer them than
give up their privileges." " Truly," remarked Governor
Dinwiddie, of Virginia, " I think they have given their
senses a long holiday."

Among the most notable governors of the eighteenth
century was Alexander Spotswood, who for twelve years was
at the head of the government in Virginia
(1710-'22). Like many another ruler, he
thought that the duty of the people lay in obedience alone,
and he was wont to lecture the burgesses as if they were so
many schoolboys, declaring that they had not the "ordi-
nary qualifications for legislators." * But withal he was an

* Chalmers, in his Introduction to the Revolt of the American Colo-
nies, says : " Had Spotswood even invaded the privileges, while he only
mortified the pride of the Virginians, they ought to have erected a
statue to the memory of the ruler who gave them the manufacture of

THE COLONIES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 123

able and energetic man, sincerely devoted to the interests
of the colony and full of zeal for its improvement. On the

whole, therefore, his administration was peace-
Governor f u i an( j p roS p erous# « This government," he

said, " is in perfect peace and tranquillity, un-
der a due obedience to the royal authority and a gentle-
manly conformity to the Church of England." He brought
about peace with the Indians, who were apt to be trouble-
some on the border.* Under his leadership an expedition
was made over the Blue Eidge and into the Shenandoah
Valley. Such a journey was only a pleasant excursion in
comparison with the long exploring trips of the French far
into the unknown west ; but it made much noise in the col-
ony, for governors were not accustomed to interest them-
selves in exploration or in extending the bounds of their
provinces.

In the second quarter of the century Virginia began to
reach out toward the mountains and to long for the smiling

valleys beyond. Soon a tide of immigration
Virginia ge ^. | n an( j swe p^ [ n i the fertile fields along

the Shenandoah. About the middle of the
century, then, we see in Virginia two strongly contrasted
societies. On the tide-water rivers a race of planters " dress-
ing richly, living on large estates, riding in coaches, and
attending the Church of England " ; past the mountains
hardy settlers, "clearing the land, building houses and
churches, and making a new Virginia in the wilderness;
and still farther toward the Alleghanies, hardy frontiers-
men who have set their feet on the very outposts of civil-
ization." There is little resemblance in life and habits.
The planter is waited upon by slaves; the frontiersman
must defend himself and earn his own hard livelihood.

iron, and showed them by his active example that it is diligence and
attention which can alone make a people great."

* A very interesting account of Governor Spotswood is given in
Cooke's Virginia, p. 311.

124 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Yet both are Virginians, and both are devoted to liberty.
The planter, accustomed to rule others as well as himself,
would not brook restraint. The pioneer breathed in free-
dom with every draught of mountain air.*

The Carolinas entered the eighteenth century somewhat
restless under the senseless proprietary rule, but, on the

whole, they were prosperous and progressive.

South Carolina had grown quickly into a staid
community. Charlestown was already a thriving little
place, trie home of the planters, who left their plantations
in the interior to be cultivated by slaves, while they enjoyed
the pleasures of town life. They were men of force and
ability, many of them educated gentlemen, and they felt
quite competent to manage their own affairs without great
deference to the proprietors, who seemed to have no knowl-
edge of the real needs of the colony, and to care little for
the interests and wishes of the colonists. Such a condition
of affairs could bring but one result. The people formed
"an association to stand by their rights and privileges,"
and the popular assembly took the reins into its own hands

and refused to be ruled longer by a set of non-
B «S»loSoia resident proprietors, who were greedy only for

their own gain. This practical revolution (1719)
was not made a legal fact until ten years after the first re-
volt. Then the proprietors gave up their charter, and
South Carolina became a royal colony.

North Carolina did not throw off the proprietary yoke
when her southern neighbor rebelled, but she too became a

royal colony in 1729. Her population grew
Carolina. rapidly, but the people were not so progressive

as those of either Virginia or South Carolina.
Without convenient harbors, the people had little or no
communication with the outside world, even the tobacco
crop being carried to Virginia for transportation abroad.

* Read Cooke's Virginia, p. 322 et seq.

THE COLONIES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 125

For this and other reasons life was simple and primitive.
Many of the colonists were ignorant, and showed no desire
for learning ; printing was not introduced until about the
middle of the century, and schools were almost unknown.
Among such a people we ought not to expect a great knowl-
edge of the art of politics ; yet here, too, the colonists
showed some capacity for managing their own affairs, and
were growing steadily into an appreciation of the problems
and principles of self-government.

GEORGIA— 1732-1765.

By the beginning of the eighteenth century, as we have
seen, England had planted colonies along the Atlantic coast

from the Kennebec Eiver at the north to the
EnTand d Savannah at the south. Spain, on the other

hand, had made no progress toward the north
since the founding of St. Augustine. This settlement
served as an outpost to guard her West Indian colonies,
but it served no other purpose. Though Spain did nothing
herself, she watched England's advance with jealous eye,
and continued to claim the land as her own far north of
her actual possessions. At the beginning she might have
broken up the colony at Jamestown and prevented the
Englishmen from gaining a foothold on the coast ; but it
was too late now, and all she could do was to hold what she
had and protest against the aggressions of England along
the coast and of France in the Mississippi Valley. In 1670
England and Spain entered into an agreement known as
the American treaty, but this did not determine the bound-
ary between Florida and Carolina. Sixty years after the
founding of South Carolina there was no settlement south
of the Savannah.*

* England had established weak military outposts there, but there
was no settlement.

12G HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

A colony was finally planted in this region through the
efforts of James Oglethorpe, a member of the English Par-
liament, "a gentleman of unblemished char-
orpe " acter, brave, generous, and humane." He saw
the desirability of founding a settlement in the country
south of the Carolinas. At this time in England persons

were imprisoned for debt
and hanged for a petty
theft. Each year, we are
told, at least four thousand
unhappy men were shut
up in prison because of
the misfortune of poverty.
The jails were wretched,
woe-begone places, scenes
of misery and often of
horror. Oglethorpe pro-
posed to carry away these
luckless captives to Ameri-
ca, and there to found a
colony where they might
have a chance to get
ahead in the world. Oglethorpe and several other persons
were constituted "trustees for the establishing the colony
of Georgia in America." The king granted
His purposes. them a charter and vested them with com-
plete power.

Oglethorpe was chosen to lead the expedition, and set

sail for America with a number of colonists in the latter

part of 1732. In February of the next year he

The colony f oun ded Savannah. Other settlers soon fol-

founded.

lowed, among them a number of German Prot-
estants, who had been persecuted at home for their religion.
These people were thrifty and industrious, and did much
for the colony. But the shiftless debtors that were brought
over do not seem to have learned how to work. A few years

THE COLONIES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 127

later still other emigrants arrived, among them Moravians
and Lutherans from Germany.

Oglethorpe was well fitted for the task of protecting his
frontier colony against the attacks of Spain. When war
broke out between England and Spain in 1739
War with Georgia was in an exposed position. Ogle-

thorpe conducted an expedition against the
Spanish colony, but was obliged to give up the siege which
he had begun. The enemy in turn made a fierce attack
upon the town of Frederica. It was repelled through the
courage and clever strategy of Oglethorpe. Thereafter the
colony was safe from Spanish attack. A new domain had
been securely added to the English Crown.

Georgia developed slowly. The rule of Oglethorpe was
just, but as the time went on the regulations of the trustees
became very obnoxious to the settlers. In 1752
SthTcobn ^ ne trustees g ave U P their charter to the Crown,
and Georgia became a royal colony. A legisla-
ture was established, and in administration and political
form Georgia became similar to the other colonies. From
this time on the colony grew more rapidly, and acquired
stability and strength ; but when the troubles with England
began, and America was drawn into war against the mother
country, Georgia was still a backward province ; its people
had had little practice in self-government, and, as we might
expect, played no very conspicuous part in the struggle for
political and civil liberty.

Everywhere throughout America in the eighteenth cen-
tury there developed the spirit of liberty and capacity for
Material self-government. But quite as important in

prosperity its influence on our later history is the mate-

and democracy. r j a j development of these years. The colonies
waxed powerful and rich, losing all the appearance of strug-
gling frontier settlements. And with this growth there
came a strong sense of popular rights, the feeling of man-

128

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

ly independence, which was the firm foundation of the
coming democracy.

References.

Short accounts: Thwaites, The Colonies, Chapter XIV; Fisher,
The Colonial Era, Part II. Longer accounts : Bryant and Gay, Pop-
ular History, Volume III, pp. 151-170, 222-254; Bancroft, History,
Volume II, pp. 3-85, 238-280 ; Lodge, Short History, passim.

For Georgia.— Short accounts: Thwaites, The Colonies, pp.
258-263; Fisher, The Colonial Era, pp. 303-313. An interesting ac-
count of Oglethorpe is to be found in Bruce, James Edward Ogle-
thorpe (notice especially Chapters III, IV, and VII). Bancroft, His-
tory, Volume II, pp. 280-299; Bryant and Gay, Popular History,
Volume III, pp. 140-169.

View of Christ Church, Boston,

On the spire of which Paul Revere hung lanterns to announce

the arrival of the British troops.

CHAPTER VI.
France and England— 1608-1763.

Soon after the accession of William III to the throne of
England war was begun with France. This was in 1689, and
for the next one hundred and twenty-five years
Second hundred ^ e ^ w0 countries were in continual enmity,
often in open war. This long struggle has
been named not inaptly the " second hundred years' war." *
The nations were natural rivals. They differed in religion
and they differed in their ambitions in European politics.
Most important of all, each had hopes of wide dominion in
America, and their claims conflicted. From our point of
view these contests mean but this : they were to decide
which nation was the more vigorous, virile, and sound, which
nation was so made up in its moral and physical fiber and
in its political talent, that it would succeed in securing
America to itself. The prize was, above all, that great cen-
tral valley of our country — a noble prize indeed, as fertile
a space for its size as the globe shows, capable of sustain-
ing two hundred million inhabitants, traversed by mighty
rivers, free from impassable mountain chains, a place which
Nature seems to have fashioned as the home of a single peo-
ple. And so in the history of the world these wars mean
much; they were not petty squabbles between kings and
princes, but the struggles of nations for empire. Before the

* Seeley, Expansion of England, Lecture II. Seeley's positions are
somewhat extreme, but the book is profoundly interesting and sug-
gestive.

129

130 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

hundred years were gone a great portion of the prize had
fallen to England and a part again had been wrested from
her by her rebellious colonies ; and yet from the accession
of William III to the downfall of Napoleon the enmity of
the two great nations may be said to have sprung from their
colonial ambitions.

Let us trace out, not in detail but roughly, the early ex-
pansion of French power in America. We have seen that
early in the sixteenth century explorers from

France ready France sailed alonsr the coast and that efforts
for colonization, f; ,_

were made to settle on the banks 01 the St.
Lawrence. But the efforts of these years only prepared the
way for the successes of the next century. France had been
torn by civil war, distracted by religious hatred, but the
end of the sixteenth century found her at peace. Henry
IV, a rugged soldier, had won the throne and issued the fa-
mous Edict of Nantes, proclaiming liberty of worship to
Huguenots. France sank into repose, while art, industry,
and commerce sprang into renewed life. Adventurous men,
losing their trade of war, were ready to seek new employ-
ment for their restless energies.

One such was Samuel de Champlain, a bold, resolute man
of dauntless courage. Wearying of France in " piping times
of peace," he sought new adventures beyond the
amp am. ocean. He explored the coast of New England,
and finally (1608) founded Quebec. Thus the French ac-
quired a permanent abiding place at the north in a posi-
tion of great military strength, on the river that afforded a
highway to the Great Lakes and to the great valley beyond.
Champlain continued his discoveries to the south and west.
He discovered the lake which bears his name in 1G09, and
later made his way westward as far as Lake Huron. Until
his death, in 1635, he labored ceaselessly in exploration and
was the moving spirit in colonial enterprise.

But Champlain made one grievous blunder, that in time
brought woe to French colonists. In 1609, in company

FRANCE AND ENGLAND— 1608-1763.

131

with a war party of Algonquin Indians, he made his way

southward from Quebec, and on the banks of the lake that

,. x . now bears his name attacked and routed a

His expedition

against the band of Iroquois. A similar expedition a few

iroqnois. years later was not so successful, and the only

result of espousing the cause of the Algonquins against
their ancient foe was to make the warriors of the Five Na-
tions the inveterate enemies of the French.

The five
nations.

Defeat of the Iroquois. From Champlain's Voyages, 1613.

The Iroquois were a powerful and capable race. All the
tribes of the North and East stood in dread of them. As
far west as the Mississippi, as far east as Maine,
as far south as the Carolinas, they were known
and feared. They are said to have called Lake
Champlain the gateway of the country. Such it may be
said to be to-day. It forms with the Hudson a line of com-
munication with the Atlantic ; it is the road to Canada from
the south. Hence in all wars between the nation that pos-
sesses Canada and that which holds the Atlantic coast this
valley must be a place of great strategic importance. The
Iroquois seem to have felt the strength of their position.

132

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

These people were now made by Champlain's action the
enduring enemies of the French. " For over a century the
Iroquois found no pastime equal to rendering
life in Canada miserable." The Dutch of Kew
York, more fortunate, made friends with these
tribes, and when the Dutch were supplanted by the English
they too for some years held the Iroquois as allies. Thus

Results of
Iroquois enmity

-a

)

•*

FRANCE AND ENGLAND— 1608-1763. 133

the settlements of the middle Atlantic coast were in their
early years protected from French attack by this living bar-
rier, the Iroquois — a barrier impassable by French war par-
ties. Moreover, partly because of the Iroquois, the French
made their explorations into the west and northwest rather
than to the south and southwest. Lake Superior was known
before Lake Erie, and the Mississippi had been traversed
before the waters of the Ohio were known. In conse-
quence, for a long time the French and English settle-
ments diverged, the French occupying positions on the
Great Lakes and the rivers of the far West long before they
dared to come near the English by occupying places imme-
diately beyond the mountains. The great struggle between
France and England did not come till, under different con-
ditions, the authorities of Canada tried to take and hold
strategic points in the eastern portion of the Ohio Valley.

The seventeenth century is a picturesque period in the
history of Canada. Bold adventurers and soldiers, brave
and patient priests, hardy fur traders and rest-
Early Trench j egg rovers a \\ &{& their part in exploring the

explorersi x

great West, carrying the lilies of France, the
cross of the church, or the brandy and gewgaws of the mer-
chant into the remote solitudes of the interior. As early as
1634 Jean Nicollet was in Wisconsin and Illinois. A few
years later Jesuit priests preached their faith before two
thousand naked savages at the falls of Ste. Marie. Soon
after this Allouez began a mission in this same region, and
for thirty years he passed from tribe to tribe in that far-off
wilderness, preaching and exhorting and striving to implant
his faith. Marquette gathered the Indians about him at
Sault Ste. Marie, and passed even to the farther end of
Lake Superior, seeking to win souls for the Church. St.
Lusson (1671), at the Sault, with solemn ceremony before a
motley concourse of braves, proclaimed the sovereign title
of the great monarch of France to all the surrounding
lands, " in all their length and breadth, bounded on the one

<o <D V

FRANCE AND ENGLAND— 1608-1763. 135

side by the seas of the North and West, and on the other
by the South Sea." In 1673 Joliet and Marquette paddled
up the Fox Eiver in their birchen canoes, floated down
the Wisconsin, and came out on the broad waters of the
Mississippi. Descending even beyond the Missouri, they
returned by way of the Illinois and the Chicago portage.
But most conspicuous among these bold explorers is Eobert
Cavalier de la Salle, a marvel of a man, resolute, brave,
inflexible of purpose. Danger, disappointment, hardships,
treachery, beset him, but he overcame them all and effected
his object. In the year 1682 his little flotilla of canoes
floated down the Mississippi to its mouth, and La Salle
took possession of the vast valley in the name of Louis XIY.
Thus the dauntless French explorers had traversed the
great West, while the English settlements nestled close to
the Atlantic seaboard, almost within sound of
the surf. France possessed the two great gate-
ways and highways to the interior of the continent.* And
thus New France was founded with its two heads, as Park-
man has said, one in the canebrakes of Louisiana and the
other in the snows of Canada. The first settlement in
Louisiana was in 1699, and New Orleans was founded in
1718. By this time little groups of Frenchmen had settled
down upon the banks of the Western rivers. Here and
there a fort was built. Detroit was founded by Cadillac in
1701. Even thus early throughout the West the points of
military advantage were chosen.

The methods of French colonization form a sharp con-
trast to those of the English. The Englishman came to

* It should be noticed that the English were hemmed in between
the mountains and the sea. While the mountains acted as a barrier to
the extension of the English colonies, they also served to protect the
settlers from attack. Doubtless the chief reason why the English did
not extend their settlements at an early day into the far West was the
fact that they were chiefly interested in industrial and commercial life,
in clearing farms, in founding towns, and in building ships.
10

136 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

the New World for himself — to find a home, perchance to

escape religious persecution, or to follow the light of his

own conscience, expecting hy hard and hon-

cobniLtion est toil to work nis wav to comfort. He was
uncared for by the mother country, and his
colony flourished in neglect. Occasionally a meddlesome
governor awakened his political spirit, but, as a rule, he
governed himself as he chose. He and his fellows founded
villages and cities and established a lucrative commerce.
They built schoolhouses and churches, and gradually worked
their way back from the sea as the population increased and
new needs arose. Everywhere was prevalent a spirit of
sturdy independence. The English settler had not then,
any more than he has to-day in India, the power of associa-
tion with the race below him. There were instances of
friendship between the red men and the whites ; there were
a few unbroken treaties ; but the career of the Englishman
was one of conquest. He pushed the Indians ruthlessly
before him, and turned up their hunting grounds with his
plowshare.

The French were not so. Their earliest pioneers were
priests striving with marvelous heroism to win heathen to
the church, or adventurous soldiers who sought
RttwL 6 Wlt nonors an( * empire for the monarch of France.
The settlements along the St. Lawrence were
harshly ruled by edict and royal order. They knew nothing
of self-government or of self-taxation. The colony was not
neglected, but cared for by the home Government. It was
absolutely ruled, continually interfered with. The roots of
mediaeval feudalism were fastened in the soil. There was
no chance for the development of men, for practice in poli-
tics, for self-reliance.

On the other hand, as a contrast to this iron rule were
other influences in Canada. The fur trade charmed away
from the settlements many restless fellows, who, breaking
over the restrictions of the home Government, which tried

138 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

from the offices of Paris to control the details of the fur
hunting of America, wandered off into the West and engaged
in the lucrative trade. A picturesque element
e ur rae, were these rollicking boatmen and rangers of
the wood. They helped France to hold positions in the
West, but they were of no great service as colonists. Some
helped to make the little settlements that were formed in
the interior along the rivers that flow into the lakes, and
even beside those that find their way southward to the
Gulf. Thus the contrast between the English and French
colonists was strong, and the result of seventy years of war
would show which nation had the sounder and better colo-
nial system and the greater inherent strength.

The war between England and France that broke out
when William III came to the English throne spread at

once to America.* In 1690 Sir William Phips
intercolonial j e( j a com p anv f New Englanders by sea

against Port Royal — now Annapolis, Nova Sco-
tia — and captured it. Later in the summer he made a

demonstration against Quebec, but did not
War 1689^97. ca P^ ure the place. At the close of the war

Port Royal was given up by the English.
In 1702 broke out Queen Anne's War. This is known
in English history as the War of the Spanish Succession,

because the controversy seemed to turn upon
War 6I i702-'i3. ^ ne P oss ible accession of a French prince to the

throne of Spain. The New England troops
tried three times to take Port Royal, and the third time
succeeded. An effort to take Quebec miserably failed.
The treaty of Utrecht ending the war gave to England
Acadia, with its " ancient limits," and this indefinite bound-
ary was fruitful of much future wrangling. There was no

* In 1628 and 1G29 the English attacked Port Royal and Quebec,
and captured both places. But these places were given back to France
in a short time.

FRANCE AND ENGLAND— 1608-1763. 139

war between France and England again for some thirty
years ; but there was little peace for the colonies. Their
frontiers were in constant peril from Indian forays. Tlie
history of the period is full of heartrending stories of mid-
night attack and slaughter.

The war known in English history as the War of the
Austrian Succession is called in America King George's
War. Its chief event was the capture of the
Waf 1744^48. f° r t ress of Louisburg, on the island of Cape
Breton. The honor fell entirely to the New
England troops, though they were aided by an English
fleet. This port was given up at the end of the war, much
to the disgust of the colonies, who disliked to see their
efforts thus disregarded. England, however, paid back to
Massachusetts the money that she had expended in the en-
terprise.

It was evident that a great, fierce contest was yet to
come, and France and England watched each other closely.
It was equally clear that, in spite of their great
congress* 1754. stren g tn > the English colonies were in danger
because they did not act together. It was sug-
gested that a congress for conference be held, made up of
commissioners from the various assemblies. The chief ob-
ject was a joint treaty with the Iroquois. Such a congress
met at Albany. Eepresentatives were present from seven
colonies. It had no immediate result, though the example
was beyond question of importance in succeeding years.
Benjamin Franklin, a member of the congress, drew up and
presented a plan of union which provided for the formation
of a grand council of forty-eight members selected from the
colonies and a president general appointed by the Crown.
This plan of union was not acceptable to the
plan, US colonial assemblies, nor did it meet with fa-

vor in England. The lords of trade had al-
ready prepared a plan of their own; but anything like
a free union of the colonies seems to have been looked

140 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

upon with suspicion in the mother country, possibly with
dread.*

The treaty which ended the War of the Austrian Succes-
sion was in reality but a truce. The treaty of Utrecht
(1713) had declared that the Iroquois were sub-
EnTVdaims <J ec ^ to ^ reat Britain, an d now England claimed
as her own the vast territory over which the
war parties of the six nations ranged, " every mountain,
forest, or prairie where an Iroquois had taken a scalp." The
French, on the other hand, claimed the whole Mississippi
Valley, as well as all the land that was drained by rivers
flowing into the St. Lawrence. Acadia, moreover, had been
given to England. But what was Acadia ? Commissioners
appointed to settle the matter could not agree. War was
the tribunal that remained.

Meanwhile France had been strengthening her position
and creeping nearer to her enemies on their western fron-
tier. A position at Niagara was taken and
fortified, and forts were built on the head wa-
ters of the Ohio. Thus the French were well on their way
to hem in the English east of the mountains and to shut
them out of the Ohio Valley, f

Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia was watchful of the
French advances, and decided to send a remonstrance. He
chose as his messenger George Washington, a
meets the young man holding the position of adjutant

Trench, general of the Virginia militia. Washington

made his perilous journey at the beginning of winter. He
found the French at Fort Le Bceuf as well as Venango, and
warned them that they must not infringe on British do-

* The earliest plan came from the great Penn, and was called " A
Briefe and Plaine Scheame how the English Colonies in the North
part of America . . . may be made more useful to the Crown and one
another's peace and safety with an universall concurrence."

t See map opposite. France had good ground for claiming the
Texas country, perhaps even to the Rio Grande.

IgDDD

142

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

minion.* The French, of course, refused to heed such
warnings, and the next year took a further step in advance

_______ by occupying a most

^ FtE(h / ard | important position.!
They built Fort Du-
quesne at the forks
of the Ohio, where
Pittsburg now stands.
This was the signal
for war. Washing-
ton with a few troops
marched against the
enemy, but was de-
feated and obliged to
give up the under-
taking. Thus all Eng-
lish efforts to occupy
these strategic posi-
tions were frustrated
by the French, who acted with promptness and decision.
" Not an English flag now waved beyond the Alleghanies."

The next year the English set vigorously to work. Gen-
eral Braddock was sent to America to command the forces
and to dislodge the French in the West. A
defeat° C i755 courageous soldier, and one who might, as
Franklin said, have made a good figure in
some European war, he was unfit for the task assigned
him. In the summer of 1755 he led an expedition against
Fort Duquesne. Near the Monongahela the army was at-
tacked by the French and their Indian allies. Braddock
was slain and the whole force routed. Thus ended the

* See Parkraan's Montcalm and Wolfe, vol. i, p. 181 fl. for Wash-
ington's expedition.

f The English had actually begun the works, but were obliged to
yield to the French.

FRANCE AND ENGLAND— 1608-1763. 143

first battle in the great valley between the contestants for
its possession. England was woefully beaten.

The plans of this year included attacks upon Niagara

and Crown Point. Both efforts were unsuccessful, although

a victory was won by the English at Lake

SSjJJJJJf George. The year brought slight consolation

or hope to the English.

While this fighting was going on in America there was

still a nominal peace in Europe. In 1756 war was formally

declared between France and England.* This

The Seven was ^he beginning of the Seven Years' War.

Years' W^ri

The contest was not limited to two combat-
ants. It involved nearly the whole continent. England
was allied with Frederick the Great of Prussia, and
against them were arrayed Kussia, Sweden,
Saxony, Austria, and France. Frederick, al-
most completely surrounded by foes superior in power if
not in valor, fought with desperation and with consum-
mate skill and bravery. His support from England was for
a long time weak and ineffective, for the English Govern-
ment was corrupt and feeble. Walpole's belief that every
man had his price had become the corner stone of cabinets ;
governments were founded on bribery. That parliamentary
government was dependent on corruption had
arisen almost to the dignity of a principle in
political science. The nation was strong and robust, for it
cherished the precepts of real freedom ; but it was the
coarse, vulgar England of one hundred and fifty years ago.
At the head of the Government was Newcastle, an expert
in corruption. Yet weak as was England, France was
weaker still. England was sound at heart, because her
throne rested on the people. In France the monarch was
absolute ; the people existed for the Government ; there

* The Seven Years' War of Europe (1756-63) was the French and
Indian War of America. There was actually war here after 1754.

144

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

was no parliament that needed to be bribed ; there was not
even the appearance of political life. The nobility that
surrounded the king were frivolous lovers of
folly. The people were taxed to support an
empty pageantry. There was no heart in the nation. Op-
pression, luxury, extravagance prevailed, and the nobility,

that should have been the protectors, leaders, and defenders
of the people, wasted the people's substance and despoiled
them.*

* Valuable and entertaining accounts of the condition of the com-
batants in Parkman's Montcalm and Wolfe, vol. i, chap, i, and vol. ii,
chap, xviii. Sloane's The French War and the Revolution, chaps, i,
ii, and iii.

FEANCE AND ENGLAND— 1608-1763. 145

The French in America did not exceed eighty thousand
in number, and they were neither wealthy nor progressive,

but, on the other hand, they were despotically
Strength of governed, and had therefore a certain military

advantage in a war with a self-governing peo-
ple. The French could strike, while the governors of Eng-
lish colonies were wrestling with obstinate assemblies and
begging for money and munitions of war. Moreover, Can-
ada was well protected by nature ; she was shielded by thick-
ets and almost impassable forests. There were only two
ways in which to reach the real center of Canada : one
was by way of Lake Champlain, where the French were
strongly posted ; the other was by way of the St. Lawrence,
and there above its waters frowned the fortifications of
Quebec. The French were aided by their devoted friends
the Algonquin Indians, while the English had no secure
hold upon the Iroquois, although during the course of
the war, because of the exertions of Sir William John-
son, they were brought to render the English cause some
service.

The English colonies had a population of 1,300,000 white
people. The people were well-to-do. The colonies were

supplied with provisions and other sinews of

Mtorie? gliBh war * Wllile {t is tme tliat the assemblies
were often obstinate and hesitating, and the
different colonies were jealous of one another, the Eng-
lish colonist, unlike the Canadian peasant, knew for what
he fought. When once the colonies were aroused to
fight they gave men and money liberally, and showed a
power, a vigor, and an earnestness such as could come
only from free-thinking, free-acting, and freedom-loving
people.

At first the war was conducted by the English in a
slovenly and ineffectual manner. On the other hand, the
Marquis de Montcalm, the French general, newly appointed
to command in Canada, acted with promptness and vigor.

Uti

HISTORY OF T11W AMKKKWN NATION.

The Indians wore ceaseless in (heir cruelties.* The two

Fnglish generals who came over in \]M\ London and

Ahercrombie — wore incompetent and preten-

1756andl757. lions. The colonists quite justly dubbed the

Latter " Miss Nabby-

erombie." This year
Oswego, the English
outpost on Lake Onta-
rio, fell. The next year
(1757) great prepara-
tions were made to at-
tack Louisburg; but
nothing was accom-
plished. Montcalm
captured Fort William
Henry at the head of
Lake (George. Fort Fd-
ward still remained in
the hands of the Eng-
lish, but the northern
frontier was ravaged by
Indian parties, and the
situation in New York
was distressing.!

There now came into
the British Cabinet a
great man. William

Pitt became Secretary

Of State, and was giyen full control of war and foreign
affairs. It was a momentous day for Fngland. kk 1 am sure

* " Not i week passes but the French Bend them [the English] a band

of /niinlrrsst rs whom thcv would be wry glad to dispense with.

(Letter of i young French captain to liis tether, quoted in Montcalm

and Wolfe, \ol. I, p. 880.)

| John Adams, on hearing of these matters, is said to have likened

tin 1 English generals to millstones hum,' uhout the colonial neck.

Ibr the

A Contemporary Pl

*gr-

AC TIO A r gained bribe ENGXISH
w QUEBEC,^'/?

Bntilk
Amrr.

b JLatetUdt .
{Itruijl'ury

French.
-Army

car.*

the Siege of Quebec.

FRANCE AND ENGLAND— 1608-1763. 147

that I can save this country, and that nobody else can," he
said. He was full of life, confidence, and energy. He was

an orator of great power, the idol of the com-
am 1 ' mon people, a lover of old England, and a be-
liever in her strength. For the next four years the eyes of
the world were upon him, and by his magnificent daring and
by the fire of his word he raised slothful England from
degradation and dismay to a lofty pinnacle of power, where
she felt her strength only too keenly. " England has at last
produced a man," said Frederick the Great. Pitt arranged
for the American war on a liberal scale, and prepared to win.
In 1758 Fort Frontenac, near the mouth of Lake On-
tario, and Fort Duquesne were captured by the Euglish.

But the next campaign brought even greater
1758 and 1759. victories - The English were now confident, the

Canadians in despair. Pitt's courage and en-
thusiasm assured success. The plans for the year included
the capture of Niagara, Ticonderoga, and Quebec. Am-
herst was to take Ticonderoga, and then proceed north to
Quebec and there join Wolfe, who was to sail up the St.
Lawrence and beset the city. The plan was partly carried
out. Niagara was captured. This place, with Fort Du-
quesne, secured to the English the control of the Ohio
Valley. Amherst captured Ticonderoga; but he worked
with such masterly deliberation that co-operation with
Wolfe was impossible. Wolfe made his way up the great
river which the French had controlled so long and prepared
to attack Quebec. The place was the strongest natural
fortress in America, and was under the command of Mont-
calm, who was able and brave. The whole summer was
passed without result. Wolfe tried various expedients to
entice the enemy to an open fight, for to attack their de-
fenses seemed madness. Finally he determined upon the
bold and seemingly impossible task of scaling the high
bluff that rose precipitously from the river. A favoring
ravine seemed to offer a footing. On the night of the 12th

148 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

of September a body of about thirty-five hundred men
struggled up the height, and in the morning stood upon the

Plains of Abraham. Montcalm was surprised,

but accepted the gage of battle. The battle was a
brief one. The French were repulsed. Montcalm and Wolfe
were killed. Quebec fell into the hands of the English.*

The next year (1760) Montreal was taken. This was
practically the end of the war in America. Peace was not
made in Europe until three years later. Let us see the re-
sult of the great conflict. France ceded to England all her

possessions on the North American continent
Result of the eagt f ^ Mississippi, save New Orleans and

a small district adjacent to the city. New
Orleans and all the territory west of the Mississippi, to
which France had laid claim, passed into the hands of
Spain, who gave up Florida to England. France was
allowed certain privileges in the Newfoundland fisheries,
and two small islands were given her to serve as a shelter
for her fishermen. She retained her hold on some of the
West Indies. To this had her vast dominion in the New
World dwindled. Great Britain was now the great colonial
power of the world. The little island had become an em-
pire. " This," said Earl Granville on his deathbed, " has
been the most glorious war and the most triumphant peace
that England ever knew." \

The triumph of Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham, the

* Horace Walpole wrote : " What a scene ! An army in the night
dragging itself up a precipice by stumps of trees to assault a town and
attack an enemy strongly intrenched and double in numbers! The
king is overwhelmed with addresses of our victories; he will have
enough to paper his palace." Parkman says : " England blazed with
bonfires. In one spot alone all was dark and silent ; for here a widowed
mother mourned for a loving and devoted son, and the people forbore to
profane her grief with the clamor of their rejoicings."

t " Englishmen had permanently girdled the globe with English
civilization and opened boundless avenues to English enterprise."
(Sloane, The French War and the Revolution, p. 108.)

150 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

most striking event of this war, is a turning point in mod-
ern history. It determined that all this vast western region
should pass into English hands ; that here Eng-
A turning point ligh ideag of f ree dom and law, English customs

in history. °

and methods of thought, should prevail. It
determined that the civilization of the great valley should
be Teutonic, and not Latin. In addition to this, the acqui-
sition of Canada was of great moment in our history.
The colonists were freed from the fear of French invasion,
and stood no longer in constant dread of Indian attacks.
They could now with some hope of safety push their way
across the mountains. Moreover, relieved of these anxie-
ties, they felt less their dependence on England, although
all gloried in the name of Englishmen when the mother
country was thus at the zenith of her power. The war had
shown that provincial troops could fight and that pro-
vincial officers were not devoid of skill. The blunders of
men like Loudon, and the domineering conduct of other
British officers, left a tinge of resentment in the colonial
heart.*

References.

Short accounts: Thwaites, pp. 33-49, Chapter XII, 274-284;
Hart, Formation of the Union, Chapter II ; Sloane, The French War
and the Revolution, Chapters III to IX; Bourinot, The Story of
Canada, especially Chapters XII, XIII, and XVIII; Hiusdale, The
Old Northwest, Chapters III to V; Cooley, Michigan, pp. 1-65;
Griffis, Sir William Johnson and the Six Nations.

The whole subject of this chapter is covered in a series of fasci-
nating books by Francis Parkman. The reader will find them full
of interest. The titles are : Pioneers of France in the New World ;
The Jesuits in America; La Salle and the Discovery of the Great
West; The Old Regime in Canada; Count Frontenac and New
France under Louis XIV; A Half Century of Conflict; Montcalm
and Wolfe ; The Conspiracy of Pontiac.

* "With the triumph of Wolfe on the Heights of Abraham began
the history of the United States." (Green, History of the English
People, vol. iv, p. 193.)

CHAPTER VII

Social, Industrial, and Political Condition of the Colonies in

1760.

Each of the English colonies that lay along the Atlantic
coast in the middle of the eighteenth century had its own
individuality and its own peculiarities. The
Contrasts and people of one colony knew little of the inhabit-
ants of the others ; and one can find very little
evidence of sympathy and fellow-feeling, or of any realiza-
tion of a common interest and a single destiny. Without
sympathy there could be no true national life nor any
strong sentiment of patriotism, and there could not be sym-
pathy without knowledge. In its origin and history each
colony differed from the others, and the course of events up
to the outbreak of the French and Indian War seemed
rather to strengthen these differences than to wear them
away. Climatic conditions varied greatly: the mean yeaily
temperature of Maine is not far from that of southern
Norway, while the mean yearly temperature of Georgia is
nearly the same as that of northern Africa. Amid such
dissimilar surroundings there grew up, as a matter of
course, distinct methods of social and industrial life. And
yet there was a strong bond of union binding these groups
of men together. They had common political ideals, built
upon the fundamental principles of English freedom ; and
although each colony differed somewhat from every other,
they all differed still more widely in spirit and essential
character from the countries of Europe.

11 151

152

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

If one is to understand the history of the United States,
he must keep in mind this diversity and this inevitable
tendency to union and harmony. For these
Importance of differences were of importance not simply
while the nation was in its infancy (1765-
'90) or in the days when it was first trying its youthful
strength. All through our history, even to the present

time, sectional and local
peculiarities have had their
influence. At times they
have endangered the well-
being of the whole nation.
The important fact is this :
because of these differences,
when the colonies separated
from Great Britain, they
could not yield up all rights
of local government to a
central government, inas-
much as each colony or
State felt its own individu-
ality. On the other hand,
the colonies were inspired
by the same political pur-
pose ; the ruling spirit in
all was a spirit of progress ; they cherished like ideals ; they
had a common cause, which could be realized only through
union and co-operation. Thus it was that the United
States came to be — having one Government which repre-
sents the common interests of all and carries out the pur-
poses of all, and, on the other hand, being made up of States

* Samuel Adams, often called the Man of the Town Meeting and the
Father of the Revolution, is the best example of an energetic politician
and statesman of the late colonial period. The original of this picture,
painted by Copley, hung for a time in Faneuil Hall, Boston, but is now
in the Art Museum. See post, pp. 180-183.

/a7^W^

CONDITION OF THE COLONIES IN 1760. 153

or commonwealths, where the people can regulate their own
local concerns and manage their own affairs as they choose.

While it is true that each of the colonies had its own
peculiar life and character, we can easily dis-
ree groups, tinguish three groups of colonies : the South-
ern, middle, and New England groups. In considering the
conditions of colonial life, it will be well to make use of
this classification.

All of the colonies south of Pennsylvania had many
characteristics in common. The similarity was due to the
- h fact that they were founded on slavery.*

colonies founded There were slaves in all the colonies ; but in the
on slavery. South slavery directly shaped the industrial
and social life of the people. In Virginia, in the middle of
the eighteenth century, one half of the population were
slaves. South Carolina contained even more negroes than
white people, and the number was rapidly increasing by
importations from Africa or the West Indies. In all the
colonies rigorous laws were passed to guard against a servile
insurrection; but they do not seem to have been rigidly
enforced, and on the whole the slaves were well treated.

The slave does the task assigned him, but does not
readily change his methods or take up new work. There-
fore, partly because of slave labor, the indus-
trial interests of the South were not diverse.
The great staple product of Maryland and Virginia was
tobacco. South Carolina raised rice and indigo. All the

* We should notice, too, that even up to the Revolution convicts were
shipped from England to America and entered into servitude in the
colonies. They seem to have been more abundant south of Mason
and Dixon's line than at the north. We are told that in Maryland
"not a ship arrives, with either redemptioners or convicts, in which
schoolmasters are not as regularly advertised for sale as weavers, tail-
ors, or any other trade." In addition to these convicts in servitude,
were redemptioners, persons who bound themselves to service for a
short term of years, generally to pay the expenses of the voyage to
America.

154 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Southern colonies were purely agricultural, and they raised
few products for export. There was almost no manufactur-
ing. The commonest articles of household use were
brought from the mother country or from the New Eng-
land colonies.

There were in 1760 over three fourths million people
living south of Pennsylvania, and yet Charleston and Balti-
more were the only cities of any importance

SSSaSShl* south of Pniladel P nia - Although Virginia was
the oldest colony, and had a population of
about five hundred thousand at the end of the colonial
period, there were no cities and only one large town within
its borders. In the early days the people were ordered by
law to build towns, but these paper places never amounted
to anything. The plantations were the units of Virginia
life, and by studying them we can see the real social forces
of the colony.

In Virginia there were natural or physical reasons for
the absence of towns and the predominance of country life.
Eeasonfbr ^ ne " cn ' ^ eT ^ G so ^ tempted men to agricultu-

absence of towns ral life. Moreover, the branching rivers navi-
m lrgmia. gable from the sea served as great highways to
the interior. Vessels sailed up to the planter's very door
to discharge their cargoes and to be loaded with tobacco.
Thomas Jefferson said : " Our country being much inter-
sected with navigable waters, and trade brought generally
to our doors instead of our being obliged to go in quest of
it, has probably been one of the causes why we have no
towns of any consequence." *

The large Virginia plantation was a small community
almost sufficient unto itself. Its center was the large and
_ hospitable planter's home, built of wood or

The planter. ,. * . r . ... . . . ,

brick. Around this imposing mansion clus-
tered the offices, and not far away was the little village of
negro cabins. The plantation gave food in profusion ; other

* Notes on the State of Virginia, C^uery XII.

CONDITION OF THE COLONIES IN 1760.

155

necessities and luxuries were brought from England to the
planter's wharf in exchange for tobacco. Everywhere was
a look of lavishness and of open, free-handed living in this
golden age before the Eevolution. Lavishness had already
in many instances become extravagance. Many a planter
living in profusion was in debt to an English merchant ; his
mansion house, with its show of elegance, was out of re-
pair;* his large band
of slaves was systemat-
ically exhausting the
soil; and there were
other evidences of waste-
fulness and loose busi-
ness methods. But it
was a happy, easy life.
The jovial planter may
have been haughty,
proud, extravagant, and
perchance impetuous,
but he was apt to be

straightforward, hospitable, honest, with a keen sense of
honor, and a thorough devotion to his rights and liberties.

Although the great planter was the most important per-
sonage of colonial Virginia and dominated its social and
political life, there were others whose presence
must not be forgotten. There were the fron-
tiersmen with their small clearings, men who
were pushing out into what was then the new West, and
who, earning their bread by their own toil, had little in
common with the aristocratic planters of the East. Then
there were the poor whites, reckless, rollicking fellows,

Gunston Hall, the Home of George
Mason.

Elements in
Virginia.

* " The Virginians," said a traveler, " are not generally rich, espe-
cially in net revenue. There one often finds a well-served table covered
with silver in a room where for ten years half the window panes have
been missing, and where they will be missed for ten years more." These
words were written of a somewhat later time, but were true of 1760.

156 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

many of them, who gathered around tha country taverns to
bet on horse races or to engage in wrestling and gouging
matches. And, lastly, there was a certain middle class,
rough, unlettered men, perhaps, but often of sterling worth
and good stock for a commonwealth.

The College of William and Mary, established in 1693,
was the only college in the South. The sons of the great

planters often studied in Europe, or they were
Schools and taught by private tutors. The common people

received little or no education. Libraries and
other means of education were few. Yet it would be wrong
to regard the average planter as stupid or ignorant. There
was much that was invigorating in his life. The sense of
responsibility and power which he constantly felt, his
interest in politics, his intercourse with other men, which a
boundless hospitality encouraged — made him, in spite of
his somewhat secluded life, a man of strong parts, with a
knowledge of himself and some skill in dealing with his
fellows. There was something wholesome in the society
which in one generation produced several of the great men
of the world's history. Washington, Jefferson, and Mar-
shall belong not to Virginia, but to the world.

The New England colonies at the end of the French
War had a population of nearly six hundred thousand,
Massachusetts alone having almost three hun-
dred thousand inhabitants. These colonies
differed somewhat from one another in their social, indus-
trial, and political makeup; but on the whole they were
much alike, while they presented many sharp contrasts to
the colonies of the South. The population was of almost
pure English blood. There were a few slaves,
but slavery did not materially affect the condi-
tions of life or change the development of the colonies.
" Originally settled," said a contemporary writer, " by the
same kind of people, a similar policy naturally rooted in all

CONDITION OF THE COLONIES IN 1760. 157

the colonies of New England. Their forms of government,
their laws, their courts of justice, their manners, and their
religious tenets, which gave birth to all these, were nearly
the same."

The isolated life of the plantation was unknown in New
England ; the small farmer was within sound of the church
bell and within reach of a schoolhouse. There
were many causes for this concentration of pop-
ulation. Some were natural or physical causes, some sprang
from the purposes and character of the colonists. The
chief reasons were the following : 1. The long and dreary
winter of New England brought the people together for
companionship and protection. 2. The soil was poor, and
yielded its crops only to the diligent toiler ; it did not by its
fertility beguile man to easy agriculture ; he was tempted to
become a trader or a mechanic. 3. Since the sea was more
fruitful than the land, little fishing villages dotted the
coasts. 4. The rivers were many of them rapid and narrow,
well suited to turn the mill wheel, but not serving as high-
ways from the sea. 5. For a century before the Eevolution
the Indian was a constant source of fear, and this dread
induced the frontiersman not to move too far from the vil-
lage and the common defenses. 6. Moreover, the early
settlers were men of intense religious conviction and pur-
pose ; they came to worship together, and in consequence
the first settlements were clustered around the meeting-
house. 7. In many instances, too, the people had been
moved by a common interest to emigrate from " dear Eng-
land," and they therefore settled together as a community
to live out together a common life. The town was, as a
consequence, almost from the outset the most noticeable
thing in the social and political structure of the colony.

While Virginia was almost solely given up to agricul-
ture, the New England States had various industries.
Farming, of course, occupied a great portion of the popula-
tion; but, especially in Massachusetts and Rhode Island,

158 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

some persons engaged in manufacturing. Every New Eng-
lander, taught by stern necessity, became a mechanic more

or less "handy with his tools." Had it not
Varied b een f or the repressive policy of the mother

country, the hum of the busy factory wheels
would have been heard along many of the swift water courses
that were ready to give their force for the asking. As it
was, something was done : linens and woolens were woven ;
the smith and tanner plied their trades ; homely articles of
daily use were made by the farmer and his sons, and the
housewife prepared the simple homespun.

Many were interested in ocean commerce, and were
showing a skill that has become proverbial in all the arts of

trade. Shipbuilding had grown to be a great

industry. With their own ships the hardy Yan-
kee seamen made long voyages. Before the end of the sev-
enteenth century they sailed along the coast of the South-
ern States in their little sloops and ketches. The trade
with the West Indies came to be of great importance. Car-
goes of fish and lumber were taken to the islands, and sugar
or molasses was brought back. Voyages to the countries of
southern Europe were not uncommon.* Thus it will be
seen that before the Eevolution the New England colonies
had developed a wide commerce, and established a founda-
tion for a broad and varied industrial life.

New England was founded by men full of religious en-
thusiasm. Throughout its colonial existence its religious
beliefs strongly affected the manners and habits of the peo-

* " No sea," exclaimed Burke, " but what is vexed by their fisheries.
No climate that is not witness to their toils. Neither the perseverance
of Holland, nor the activity of France, nor the dexterous and firm
sagacity of English enterprise, ever carried this most perilous mode of
industry to the extent to which it has been pushed by this recent
people — a people who arc still, as it were, but in the gristle, and not yet
hardened into the bone of manhood." These words were spoken of the
colonies in general, but are especially true of the New England colonies.

CONDITION OF THE COLONIES IN 1760. 159

pie. Religion was part of the daily social life of the Puritan ;
it was not something set apart for Sundays and fast days.
By the middle of the eighteenth century other
6 glon ' elements than the strictly puritanic were every-

where visible, but society was still largely ruled by the
early conceptions. Life was still running in the channels
marked out by the founders of the colony. The Puritan
faith was firmly held by strong men, and its believers helped
to form as sound and virile a community as the world could
show. In early times churchgoing was the chief occupation
of Sunday. The churches were not heated in winter, but
the devoted congregation seemed not to be disturbed by
cold. One of this old, hardy school, writing in 1716, tells
of the bread's being frozen at the communion table, and
says : " Though it was so cold, yet John Tuckerman was
baptized. At six o'clock my ink freezes so that I can hard-
ly write by a good fire in my wife's chamber. Yet was very
comfortable at meeting." One must honor the steadfast
earnestness which warmed this good man. From such firm
believers in what they believed, and sturdy doers of what
they thought right, came many of those who in later years
laid the foundations of the republic.

" The public institutions in New England for the educa-
tion of youth, supporting colleges at the public expense,
and obliging towns to maintain grammar
schools, are not equaled, and never were, in any
part of the world."* Thus John Adams forcibly stated
one great fact that lay at the bottom of New England's
worth. The colonies were founded by men who respected
learning. In the middle of the eighteenth century illiter-
acy was almost unknown. Each man could read his Bible ;
he could read his books on politics as well as religion.
Burke says that almost as many copies of Blackstone's
Commentaries were sold in America as in England, and

* Familiar Letters of John Adams, p. 120.

160 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

General Gage wrote from Boston that the people in his
government were either lawyers or smatterers in law.
" This study," says Burke, " renders men acute, inquisitive,
dexterous, prompt in attack, ready in defense, full of re-
sources." When Great Britain determined to coerce Massa-
chusetts, she arrayed against herself the most enlightened
and intelligent population on the face of the earth.

Politically New England was nearly a pure democracy.

Socially it was democratic in comparison with Europe or

with the colonies of the South. The New Eng-

Classes of j an( j y^We, with its wide street, its rows of

society. ° ' '

comfortable houses, and its big roomy yards,
declared more plainly than words that no feudal system
had ever laid its burden on the people. It was clear also
that the aristocracy of the plantation had no place there.
And yet, though few had anything that could be called
riches, and none need be poor, there were social differences
in New England. Some families were entitled to distinc-
tion. The best pews in church were reserved for them;
they were treated with deference and respect. The " old
families " were preferred to the " newcomers." Society
was divided into gentlemen, yeomen, merchants, and me-
chanics, but the lines were not sharply drawn. Such prim-
itive variations from pure democracy seem quaint and
trivial. One would greatly err, however, if he believed that
these social distinctions did not influence the development
of our history.

Before the outbreak of the Eevolution the population

of the middle colonies had reached four hundred thousand.

Many different nationalities were represented,

odoXl ddl6 the emi g rants from tne countries of Conti-
nental Europe having come in larger numbers
to these colonies than to others. Though agriculture here,
as elsewhere, was of chief importance, New York and Phila-
delphia were thriving towns with considerable foreign com-

CONDITION OF THE COLONIES IN 1760. 161

New York City in 1732, from Brooklyn Heights.

merce. In Pennsylvania manufacturing was begun, giving
prophecy of the immense development of the future.

The middle colonies had no such facilities for education
and no such devotion to learning as the New England colo-
nies. In New York was King's College, estab-
lished about the middle of the century. It was
not largely attended, and did not materially affect the ideals
of the colony. The lower schools throughout the province
were neither good nor plentiful. In New Jersey, thanks to
the large New England element that had settled there, a
few good schools were found. Princeton College was found-
ed by the Presbyterians in 1746, and at the outbreak of the
Revolution, though still small, it was an influential and
thrifty institution. Philadelphia possessed two public libra-
ries besides many excellent private ones, filled with copies of
the classics of the time. The University of Pennsylvania
was already founded and was in a flourishing condition, the
most important and influential college in the Middle States,
and hardly second to the New England colleges.

Of all the northern colonies New York had the nearest
approach to an aristocracy. There was a class of great land-
holders possessed of vast estates. These men had much
political and social influence. They towered above their
neighbors. Some of the estates had been established in

162

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

New York
aristocracy

Democracy in
Pennsylvania

Dutch times, and some of their holders were descendants of
men upon whom the old West India Company had lavished
its grants. Spite
of this aristocracy,
the great control-
ling sentiment of the colony was
democratic, and petty class dis-
tinctions were sure in time to
fall before the rising tide of
democracy.

Pennsylvania, on the other
hand, was free from aristocratic
burdens. "In Penn-
sylvania," said Al-
bert Gallatin at a
later day, " not only we have
neither Livingstons nor Rensse-
laers,* but from the suburbs of Philadelphia to the Ohio I
do not know a single family that has any extensive influ-
ence. An equal distri-
bution of property has
rendered every individ-
ual independent, and
there is among us true
and real equality." The
people were sober-mind-
ed, conservative. If
other colonies were has-
ty, Pennsylvania was de-
liberate. To the more
fiery colonies of the
South and North she
seemed at times phleg-
matic and devoid of
spirit. But Pennsylva-

* Two of the great New York families.

The Birthplace of Benjamin Fkank-
lin, in Boston.

CONDITION OF THE COLONIES IN 1760. 163

nia cherished her liberties and knew how to defend them.
The success of the American republic was to depend largely
on the good sense and liberality of democratic Pennsylvania.

If we should confine our attention solely to the cen-
tral government of each colony, we should get but a faint
idea of the political life of the American colonists. Kep-

resentative assemblies were, as we have seen,

alert and active; they show that the people
were alive to political questions ; they stand out sharply
in contrast with the government of Canada, where power
was despotic. But the virility of American politics is per-
haps even more clearly seen in the local organizations. There
were three systems of local government : «, the township ;
b, the county ; c, a mixture of the two. The New England
colonies had the town, the Southern colonies the county,
and the middle colonies the mixed system.

The town grew up naturally in New England. The peo-
ple of each small community governed themselves. All the
little affairs of the neighborhood were the concern of the

town meeting.* There was nothing beyond its
^nd! ™' 8 reach. It sought to know " the town's mind,"

and to declare it. Each man was entitled to
take part in its sturdy discussions, and each was expected
to bow to the decision of the town. Selectmen were elected
to have general charge of town affairs ; and a clerk, \ whose
duties were various, and a constable were also chosen. Be-

* The town played an important part in its relation to the govern-
ment of the colony, but its local duties were chief in its own eyes doubt-
less. An example of thorough local legislation is illustrated by the
following : " It is ordered that all doggs, for the space of three weeks
after the publishinge hereof, shall have one legg tied up. ... If a man
refuse to tye up his dogg's legg and he bee found scraping up fish in the
corne field, the owner shall pay 12s. besides whatever damage the dogg
doth." Quoted in Hart, Practical Essays on American Government,
pp. 144, 145.

f Not simply the orders of the town meeting were written in his

164 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

sides these officers there were many others. Some were
regularly and annually elected, others because of a tem-
porary need. The titles and duties of these men bring be-
fore us the readiness of the town to express its " mind " on
any subject of common interest. Among them we find
tithing men ; fence viewers ; hog reeves ; measurers of
wood ; overseers of measurers of wood ; men to take " care
of the Ale wives not Being stoped from going up the Revers
to cast their sporns " ; men to prevent cheating by those
who sold lumber, " because bundles of shingles are marked
for a greater number than what they contain " ; wardens to
inspect " y e meeting Hous on y e Lord's Day and see to Good
Order among y e Boys " ; cattle pounders ; sealers of leather ;
gamekeepers " to Bee the men for Prevesation of the Deare
for the year Insuing."

Here, then, men learned the art of government, and
they learned the lessons of obedience as well. The New
A school of Englander did not gain his ideas of govern-
practioal ment from books; he based his theories on

po1 C8, practice and experience. The town meeting

was his school. Men thus trained could not accept tyranny ;
accustomed to govern themselves, they were ready to re-
sent the slightest encroachment upon their rights.

The South did not have the town. Its method of set-
tlement had not naturally produced it. The nearest ap-
proach to the town of New England was the
parish of Virginia ; but its functions were few,
and its duties were in the hands of select vestrymen. The
Virginia county was the organ of local government. The
population of a county was not large, perhaps no greater

books ; but births, deaths, and marriages, transfer of pews in the meet-
inghouse, estrays taken up, as " a Red Stray Hefar two years old and
she hath sum white In the face." He wrote down, too, the earmarks
of the farmers' cattle. " Joshua Brigs mark Is a Scware Crop In the
under side of ye Right ear." See the delightful account in Bliss, Colo-
nial Times on Buzzard's Bay, chap. vi.

CONDITION OF THE COLONIES IN 1760. 165

than that of an average New England town ; but the people
were scattered, and popular gatherings were inconvenient.
Most important of all is the fact that the
e ooun y. coun ty officers were appointed by the royal
governor, and were not the agents of the people. Its vari-
ous officers thus represented the power of the common-
wealth, not of the locality ; or, more correctly, they repre-
sented the power of the Crown in the colony. Were it not
for the sterling, vigorous independence begotten by the free-
dom of Virginia life, one might fancy that under such a
system free institutions would be in danger of extinction.
Yet it must be remembered that this local authority was in
the hands of men chosen by the governor from the neigh-
borhood, not strangers or creatures of a foreign power, and
Results of a ^ so ^ na t the laws under which they acted were

the political made by the people's own representatives.*
organization. Qne regul ^ at j^ f ii owe d— practice in ad-
ministrative government fell to a select few; the colonies
were governed by the conspicuous planters, who felt their
aptitude for rule. Moreover, the colony, as the source of
power, impressed itself strongly upon the minds of its citi-
zens. Jefferson thus expressed his appreciation of Virgin-
ia's lack of proper local organization : " Those wards, called
townships in New England, are the vital principle of their
government, and have proved themselves the wisest inven-
tion ever devised by the wit of man for the perfect exercise
of self-government, and for its preservation."

In the middle colonies neither the county system of
Virginia nor the town system of New England prevailed,
but a mixture of the two. There were counties and towns
in both Pennsylvania and New York. In Pennsylvania the
county officers were chosen by popular election, but the

♦"The centralized system created able political leaders, just as the
town meeting created a well-trained democracy, while the forces of
American life tended to carry both alike against Crown and Parlia-
ment." (Hinsdale, The American Government.)

166 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

township had also its duties. In New York the towns were
of some importance and influence, but the most conspicu-
ous feature of the system of this colony was the
The middle election of supervisors by the towns to form a

colonies.

representative body to regulate the affairs of
the county.

These three systems of local government are of more
than mere historic interest, because, as the country has

grown, each has played its part in the local
Influence of organization of the new States. Speaking gen-

tnese systems. ° r ° °

erally, one may say that the various systems
have been carried westward along the parallels of latitude.
The town prevails to-day in the Northern States west of
the Alleghanies, the county in the Southern States. The
method of connecting the town with the county by the elec-
tion of supervisors has, moreover, been widely adopted, espe-
cially in the Northern States westward to the Pacific.

There was great general similarity in the form and
methods of colonial government. Yet, as we have already
seen, there were differences. The colonies may
°o™rnment8 be classified as follows : (a) Koyal, (b) proprie-
tary, and (c) charter colonies. In the first the
governor was appointed by the Crown, and could veto laws
of the assembly ; the form of government had no guaranty
by the terms of a written charter. In the second there was
a proprietor, who appointed the governor and had other
rights.* In the third the people had a charter from the
Crown, in which certain privileges, such as the right to
elect their own officers, were granted them. The royal
colonies were (1775) Georgia, South Carolina, North Caro-
lina, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire.
At the outbreak of the Revolution, Pennsylvania, Delaware,
and Maryland were proprietary colonies. Connecticut and
Rhode Island were possessed of liberal charters which con-

* See the accounts of Maryland and Pennsylvania.

CONDITION OF THE COLONIES IN 1760. 16V

stituted them practically into little self-governing republics.
Massachusetts had also a charter, and may be classed with
the last two as a charter colony ; but, on the other hand,
the governor was a royal appointee, and thus it may more
correctly be considered a semi-royal colony. The organiza-
tion of each colony was strikingly like that of every other.
Each had a governor, a council whose duties were partly
advisory, partly legislative, and generally also judicial, and
a popular house based on popular but by no means universal
manhood suffrage. Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Georgia
had only one legislative house.*

Everywhere in the colonies the spirit of liberty was

" fierce." \ The temper and character of the people made

the broad foundation for free government. " In

The spmt of ^-g c h arac ter of the Americans a love of free-
liberty,

dom is the predominating feature which marks

and distinguishes the whole ; and as an ardent is always a
jealous affection, your colonies become suspicious, restive,
and untractable whenever they see the least attempt to
wrest from them by force or shuffle from them by chicane
what they think the only advantage worth living for. This
fierce spirit of liberty is stronger in the English colonies
probably than in any other people of the earth." Filled
with this fierce spirit of liberty, the colonies were sure to
break away from the mother country whenever she aban-
doned her wise neglect and assumed the right to dictate or
control. Their governments were already so organized that
a change in the monarchical head would cause no violent
shock, no great disruption in daily life and industry. Popu-
lar governors might take the place of royal favorites, and
popular wishes might be more readily carried into effect,
but the political training of the people gave assurance that,

* An admirable treatment of colonial, general and local govern-
ment is in Hinsdale, The American Government, chap. ii.

f Burke, Speech on Conciliation with America, Works, ii, p. 120.
12

168

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

though there might be danger of occasional violence and
turbulence, revolution would not mean dissolution, anarchy,
or riot.

References.

Channing, The United States of America, Chapter I ; Lodge,
Short History, Chapters II, IV, VI, VIII, X, XIII, XV, XVII,
XXII (a series of very valuable chapters) ; Fisher, Colonial Era,
Chapter XXI ; Hart, Formation of the Union, Chapter I (1750) ;
Hinsdale, The American Government, pp. 36-51 ; Cooke, Virginia,
pp. 364-374 ; Hosmer, Samuel Adams, Chapter XXIII.

William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Va.
From an old print.

CHAPTER VIII.
Causes of the Revolution.

The close of the French and Indian wars found Eng-
land elated and jubilant. She had established an immense
empire. The long struggle for the possession
England's £ America was over. In India, too, she had

new duties. .

gained a secure foothold. Her expansion and
development during the last hundred years was marvelous.
But her great success brought new duties and dangers.
Could she rule wisely and well these vast colonial posses-
sions ? Could she adapt herself to her new situation ? She
was no longer girt about by "the four seas"; her tasks
were world-wide. To solve her problems she must appre-
ciate their difficulty, and act with rare wisdom and sense.

But England inwardly was not in a healthy condition.
She was entering upon a period of industrial growth and

prosperity ; the period of stagnation was be-

STn e Ta n nd. ti011 hind her > but her P olitical system had not de-
veloped to keep pace with the growth of her
people. The great underlying principles of her Constitu-
tion were good, and on them a free popular government
could be reared. Now, however, her government was in
reality aristocratic, not popular. The whole system of
representation had become utterly wrong and foolish. She
still clung to the doctrine that money must be voted by the
people's representatives — the House of Commons. But the
house did not rest on the votes of the whole people, or
even, indeed, on a large part of them. Large and thriving

169

170

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

cities were without the right to send members to Parlia-
ment, while little boroughs of a few houses had such right,

simply because they had long
ago acquired it. These little
places were often willing to sell
their votes, or to cast them as
directed by some nobleman who
had control of the people. Eng-
land needed to popularize Parlia-
ment and bring her government
into closer relations with the
people before she could wisely
govern free Englishmen in the
colonies, who were accustomed
to think and act for themselves.
It is probably true that, in
spite of these absurdities and
faults in the representative system, the will of the people
of Great Britain was not ill set forth in the House of Com-
mons ; yet it is clear that representation in

American idea of . . ,, . ,.— , - M i ,

America meant something different from what
it meant in England, and that the American
system was more reasonable and right. In
each of the colonies there was an assembly made up of men
taken from the body of the people. The people of each
representative district felt that they had thus a part in
making the body that made the laws. In England, on the
other hand, men were supposed to be represented in the
House of Commons, even though great and populous sec-
tions had no participation in the election. For this and

representation
compared with
English idea.

* Henry played a great part in the events that led to separation
from Great Britain. He was one of the greatest orators America has
produced. George Mason, himself a man of ability, said : "He is by
far the most powerful speaker I ever heard. But his eloquence is the
smallest part of his merit. He is, in my opinion, the first man upon
this continent as well in abilities as public virtues."

CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. 171

other reasons England could not fully appreciate American
sentiment. Englishmen held that America was represented
in the English Parliament, because it was the Parliament
of the empire. An American colonist could not understand
that sort of representation. In other ways the colonists gov-
erned themselves more fully than the people of England
governed themselves. A revolution set in and the two
peoples were torn apart, largely because England had now
fallen behind the colonists in her appreciation of doctrines
of political liberty and her application of them.

Moreover, George III had just come to the throne with
strong ideas of the kingly prerogative. He aimed to con-
trol Parliament more fully than had been done
MsM^* 1 since the S reat re ^olution (1688). He had
built up a faction of personal supporters,
known as the " king's friends." He sought to manage the
ministry to suit his own desires. If this coalition between
an aristocratic Parliament, a ministry founded on bribery,
and a designing king were once fully formed, the liberties
of England were in danger, perhaps were already a thing
of the past. And so America was to fight for English as
well as American liberty. " America," exclaimed the great
Pitt, the true founder of this new British empire, " Amer-
ica, if she fell, would fall like the strong man with his arms
around the pillars of the Constitution."

An idea prevailed in England that the colonies were the

property of the mother country, that they existed for her.

Men did not think of the colonists as English-

The lde * of men, separated indeed from the old country by

ownership. ' r ^ J

three thousand miles of water, but Englishmen
still. They did not conceive of America simply as an ex-
pansion of England. They thought of England's owning
the colonies, and too often seemed to think that she owned
the colonists. Thus the whole basis of relationship was
wrong. This is not to be wondered at. Such notions had
prevailed in Europe since Spain had obtained her colonial

172 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

"possessions." Natural as this feeling was, it prevented
the English people from treating the restive Americans
with fairness and with the consideration that was their
due. " Every man in England," said Franklin, " seems to
jostle himself into the throne with the king and talks about
our subjects in America."

Up to this time (1760) the mother country had not tried

to tax the colonies directly, or to interfere with their local

concerns. External trade had been regulated

A sensible somewhat, and was generally conceded to be a

compromise i

matter for the English Government. But in
internal affairs the colonies largely managed their own con-
cerns. The colonies had, as we have often said, flourished
in neglect.* When it was suggested to wise old Robert
Walpole that he tax the colonies, he exclaimed, " What ! I
have old England set against me, and do you think I will
have new England likewise ? " England should have rested
content with this practical and sensible compromise. It
might be asserted that it was illogical, and that the British
Parliament was supreme over the colonies, and had as good
right to pass laws for the internal management of the
colonies as to make regulations for external trade. But it
was not a question of logic ; it was a question of common
sense.

As early as 1651, in the time of Cromwell, England legis-
lated in behalf of English commerce to cut off any profit

there might be to foreign countries in trading

i T aws naVigati0n with her colonies - After this time la ^s multi-
plied, all directed toward the same end, namely,
the holding of the entire colonial commerce in her own
hands. Only English or colonial ships could carry on
colonial trade ; the most important products of the colonies

* " The colonies," said Burke, "in general owe little or nothing to
any care of ours, . . . but through a wise and salutary neglect a gen-
erous nature has been suffered to take her own way to perfection."

Causes of the revolution. 173

could be carried only to England, and — perhaps most im-
portant of all — foreign goods could not be brought to the
colonies except under heavy duty, unless first shipped from
an English port. In other words, the colonies were re-
stricted to the English market and to English carriers, save
where they had their own vessels; and they were not
allowed to import foreign goods save by using the English
merchants as their factors. Moreover, trade between the
colonies was restricted. In addition to all this, acts had
been passed to stamp out the beginnings of
American manufactures in order that the
colonies might be dependent on England for supplies. It
must be said that other countries with colonial possessions
treated their colonists with less consideration than England
did. In some respects English legislation favored colonial
enterprise, and up to the time of the last French war the
laws do not seem to have injured the colonies materially.
An attempt to enforce them, however, and to secure not
simply a monopoly of American trade but to obtain revenue,
irritated the colonies and helped to bring on disaster.

The navigation laws had not been rigidly enforced.

They were constantly broken. But now, before the end of

the French war, the ministry became infatuated

Writs of ^fa t^e idea of stopping this lawlessness and

assistance.

enforcing the acts. One of the means em-
ployed was the issuing of general warrants to search for
smuggled goods. These warrants were called " writs of
assistance." Such a writ gave general and not particular
instruction to the revenue officers. It was good for an in-
definite time, and might serve as authority for search in any
suspected place. Such a power in the hands of an officer
is dangerous to liberty.* In 1761 a great case arose. James
Otis, a young and brilliant lawyer, argued before the

* Notice the Constitution of the United States, Amendments,
Article IV, where general warrants are made illegal.

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Superior Court of Massachusetts against the validity of

these writs. He declared that to use them was an act of
tyranny such as had " cost one king
of England his head, and another
his throne." He declaimed against
the acts of trade which imposed
" intolerable taxes," and inveighed
against "the tyranny of taxation
without representation." "Then
and there," said John Adams, "was
the first scene of the first act of
opposition to the arbitrary claims
of Great Britain. Then and there
the child of Independence was
born."

Shortly after this Patrick

Henry made a great speech in

A statute had been passed by the Virginia

Legislature that materially lessened the income of the
clergymen, which was payable in tobacco. This

The parson's ac f. wag d ec i are cl void by royal authority in

causei y * •»

England. A clergyman now brought suit to
obtain his dues under the law as it existed before this
statute was passed. Henry was retained for the defense,
and poured out his torrents of new-found eloquence in
defense of the right of the colonial legislature to pass such
laws as it chose, without reference to the gracious per-
mission of the English king. He declared " that a king,
by disallowing acts of this salutary nature, from being the
father of his people degenerates into a tyrant, and forfeits all
right to his subjects' obedience." The jury brought in a
verdict of one penny damage for the poor parson. Thus it
appears that in Massachusetts and in Virginia popular
young orators were ready to preach a doctrine that savored
of rebellion. The Americans were then faithful subjects
of King George, but Henry struck the keynote of colonial

Virginia.

CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. 175

politics when he asserted that the test of a law's validity-
was not the kingly sanction, but the people's desire.*

George Grenville f is said to have brought on the Amer-
ican war because he read the colonial dispatches. Other

ministers had been content to let the colonies
determines to go their own way, and to wink at breaches of
enforce the laws. ^ e navigation laws. Grenville began to ex-
amine into their affairs and to study their condition. He
resolved to enforce the revenue acts,J using, if need be, the
royal navy for the purpose. This was sure to bring on dis-
turbance, for an enforcement of the Sugar Act alone
would be a great hardship to New England, because
it would damage a lucrative commerce with the West
Indies.

Grenville also saw that the colonies were prosperous and
rich. The English Government had expended vast sums
of money in the late war, and it seemed to him only just
that, inasmuch as the colonies had profited by the destruc-
tion of the French power, they should now pay for their
own protection. In accordance with his recommendation
Parliament passed a Stamp Act. It provided that bills,
notes, marriage certificates, legal documents, etc., should

be written only on stamped paper. The rev-
The Stamp Act, enue stained from the sale of stamps was to

be used for colonial defense. The plan was
not devised for enriching the mother country at the ex-
pense of the colonies ; for it was fully expected that the tax
would yield not more than £100,000 — less than one third

* Tyler's Patrick Henry, chap, iv, gives a picturesque account of this
famous case.

f First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer,
1763-'65.

% " The customhouses were to be something more than cosy nooks
on the wharves where holders of sinecures might doze comfortably ; the
ships of war everywhere were to be instructed to enforce the revenue
laws." (Hosmer, Life of Thomas Hutchinson, p. 52.)

CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION.

the amount England must expend to protect America
efficiently from foreign invasion or Indian uprising. It
can not be said, therefore, that the law was an act of
greed, or of tyranny. But the colonists resented it; it
ran counter to all their practices and principles. Their
love of liberty was "fixed and attached on this specific
point of taxing." *

The Stamp Act alarmed America. The Virginia As-
sembly adopted resolutions, offered and eloquently sup-
ported by Patrick Henry, declaring that " tax-
The Stamp Act ation of pe0 pi e by themselves or by persons

Congress. r r j j r

chosen by themselves to represent them . . .
is the distinguishing characteristic of British freedom, and
without which the ancient constitution can not subsist."
The Massachusetts rep- rf ^ H E LlEUTENANT Governor

declares he will do nothing in

*"" Relation to the STAMPS, but

leave it to Sir Henry Moore, to do as

he pleafes, on his Arrival. Council

Chamber, New-York, Nov. 2 ? 1765.

By Order of his Honour,

Gw. Banyar, D. CI. Con.

The Governor acquainted Judge Li*

virigfton,ihe Mayor, Mr. Beverly Robin-

Indians, and all else had >.' an ^;>^ S T7<^ h *^S?i

being Monday the 4th of November, that

he would not iffue, nor fuffer to be if-
fued, any of the STAMPS now in Fort-
George. Robert R. Lruingftcm.
John Cruger,
Beverly RoiinJbn 9
John Stevens.

The Freemen, Freeholders, and In-
habitants of this City, being fatisfiedthat
the STAMPS are not to be iffued, are
determined to keep the Peace of the Ci-
ty, at all Events, except they fliould
have other Caufe of Complaint.
Handbill issued in New York to

Allay Excitement and Check

Riotous Opposition to the Stamp

Act.

resentatives called for a
general congress of the
colonies. In October
(17G5) delegates from
nine colonies assembled
in New York. Fear of
the French, dread of the

hitherto not brought
about union. Now in
a moment, when their
chosen liberties were
threatened, they came
together. The congress
drew up memorials ad-
dressed to the Eng-
lish Government, and a
"Declaration of Rights
and Grievances of the
Colonists in America."

Burke's Speech on Conciliation with America.

178 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

But resistance to the Stamp Act was not all by remon-
strance. In Boston during the summer there was disorder.
The stamp collector was hanged in effigy ; the
Disorder and ncm se of Chief -Justice Hutchinson was sacked.

riots.

Other acts of violence occurred. Though the
town meeting of Boston expressed its " abhorrence " of such
conduct, it was clear that there were some who did not
distinguish between orderly and disorderly resistance. New
York was the headquarters of the English army in America ;
but here, too, there were mobs. There was strong evidence
everywhere that the act could be enforced only at the point
of the bayonet, if at all. Societies were organized, called
"Sons of Liberty," pledged to resist the obnoxious law.
Many entered into agreements not to use British goods.

Meanwhile, there was amazement and discomfiture in
England. The merchants began to feel a loss of trade.

Grenville had resigned before he could see the
repealed * consequence of his own well-meaning folly. A

new ministry was confronted with serious diffi-
culties. America seemed actually on the verge of open
violence and resistance. A great debate took place in
Parliament. William Pitt, who for some time had been
kept by illness from his place in the House, now appeared
to support the colonial cause. He declared that there was
a plain distinction between " taxes levied for the purpose of
raising revenue and duties imposed for the regulation of
trade." He insisted that internal taxation without repre-
sentation was tyranny, and, if the Americans yielded, it
would be an evil omen for English liberty. " The gentle-
men tell us," he exclaimed, " America is obstinate ; America
is in open rebellion. I rejoice that America has resisted."
The act was repealed. There was great rejoicing on both
sides of the ocean.

Had England been content with this comfortable re-
treat all would have been well. But new acts were soon
passed quite as obnoxious as the old. The opponents of

Glorious News.

BOSTON, Friday n o'clock, 1 6th May 1766.

THIS Inftant arrived here the Brig Harrifon, belonging
to John Hancock, Efq; Captain Sbisbael Coffin, in 6
Weeks and 2 Days from London', with important
News, as follows.

From the London Gazrttb.
Weftminjler, March »8*h, 1766.

THIS Jay his M.ijcfly came to tKe FToufe of Peers. arvJ being in his royaj
robes ieatcd on the tluonc with the. ufu?l folemmty, Sir Francis Moli.
neux. Gendcmaji UQier of the Black Rod, was Inn with a Mcflugo
from hrt Majelly to tlic Houle or Commons, commanding their atten-
dance in the Houfeof Peers. The Commons being come thither accordingly,
lus Majefly wa* plcafcd to give his roynl a(fcnr to

An ACT «b REPEAL an Aft made in the bff S( (hon of Parliament, in*
tirulcd. an Aft for granting and applying certain Stamp- D.mcs and other Ditties
in (he Brkifh Colonics and Plantations in America, toward* further defraying
the evinces of defending, protecting and fecunag the fame, and for amending
fuc'n parts of the fcvcral Afts of Parliament reJanng to the trade and revenues
of the hid Colonics and Plantanons. as direft the manner of determining and!
rccovcimg the penalties and forfeitures therein mentioned.
AJfo ren public bills, and fcrentcen pnvateoncs.

When the KING went to the Houfc of Peers to give the Royal AfTcnt. there
was fuch a vafl Concourleof People ruiz/aing, clapping Hands, &c. tlut it
was fevcral Huuu befptc His Maftlty reached the Houfc.

Immcdiatelyon His Majclfv's Signing the Royal Ailcnt to the Repeal of the
Stamp-Aft. the Merchants trading to America. difpatched a VcfTel which had been
in waiting, to pot into the firft Port on the Continent with the Account. ,

There were thcgrcuell Kqoicmgs poflible in thcCicy of London, by all Ranks
of People, on the TOTAL Repeal of the S:amp-A/r.— the Ships in the River
dif played all thcrr Ct^uuts, UJ-i..:u(tnns 2nd.B°nfire« m manv Parts. — In
(hurt, the Rejoicings were as great as wis ever known on any Occafion.

It is faid the Afts of Trade relating to America would be taken under Con-
fidcration. and all Grievances* removed. The Friends 10 America arc very pow-
erful, and difpofed ro aflifl us to rhe utraoft of their Abdity.

Capt. Blake failed the fame Day with Capt. Coffin, and Capt. Shand a Fort-
night before him, both bound to this Port.

// is impoffblc to cxprefs the y>;y the Town it now in, en receiving the
ab'j'je, great, glorious and important N EtVS—The Belli n -tl the Churches
■wen immediately fet a Ringing, and we beet the "Day for a general Rejoicing
■will be the beginning of next fVeek.

■ vyw.o'wj — 1 — 1 — — -,

Printed for the Benefit of the PUBLIC, by
Drapers, Ede\ & GiU> Green Sc Ruffell, and Fleets,
The CufAouiers 10 the BoftonPapers may have the above gratis at thcr efpeftive

Handbill announcing Repeal of the Stamp Act.

180

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

the Stamp Act had declared that England could not im-
pose a direct tax, but could regulate the external trade of
the colonies. Charles Townshend, a brilliant,
2jJ ^^ hend flippant man, then Chancellor of the Exchequer,
proposed to levy duties on goods imported into
the colonies, as a fair example of external regulation. The
act was passed laying an import duty on tea, paints, paper,
glass, and red and white lead. The writs of assistance

were declared legal. The rev-
enue was to be used to pay the
salaries of the judges and roy-
al governors in America. From
what we have seen of the strug-
gles of the colonial assemblies
in the eighteenth century, we
may be sure that the object of
the duty rendered it doubly dis-
agreeable ; if money were thus
expended, the governors and
judges would be entirely re-
moved from popular control.
Added to this grievance was
the fact that about this time
Parliament suspended the legis-
lative functions of the New
York Assembly, because it had
not made suitable provision for quartering the British
troops.

The colonists protested against the Townshend acts.
There was a clear practical distinction between "regula-
tion " and duties for revenue. Samuel Adams,
protests. " ^* e man °^ tne town meeting," was now clerk

of the Massachusetts Assembly. In this posi-
tion he was active in keeping resentment at the proper
pitch. He wrote a series of addresses that were issued by
the Assembly. The most important document of all was a

STU^Zt,

CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. 181

circular letter sent to the other colonies asking co-operation
and consultation. John Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, wrote
at this time the famous "Farmer's Letters," full of good
sense and shrewd reasoning. " English history," he hinted,
"affords examples of resistance." Non-importation and
non-consumption agreements were entered into. Some
revenue was obtained under the act, but the net returns
were a mere trifle. Troops were sent to Boston in the
autumn of 1768. From this time on Boston was the center
of attention.

Shortly after the passage of the Townshend acts Parlia-
ment petitioned the king that persons in the colonies

charged with treason should be carried to
A dangerous England for trial. This seems to have been

a mere threat, but if Parliament was not in
earnest it was playing with a sacred right, the right of an
Englishman to be tried by a jury of the vicinage or the
neighborhood. To withhold this privilege was tyranny.*

On hearing of this action by Parliament, the
The Virginia Virginia House passed a series of resolves.

They assured the king of the loyalty of his
subjects, but asserted in unmistakable language the right
of petition and the privilege of self-taxation, and declared
that sending persons " beyond the sea to be tried is highly
derogatory of the rights of British subjects."

In 1770 the Townshend acts were modified. The duty
was taken off all the articles save tea, but the act so altered
was as obnoxious as before. The discussion in Parliament

* It is nowhere more strikingly denounced than in Burke's Letter
to the Sheriffs of Bristol. " A person is brought hither in the dungeon
of a ship's hold ; thence he is vomitted into a dungeon on land, loaded
with irons, unfurnished with money, unsupported by friends, three
thousand miles from all means of calling upon or confronting evidence,
where no one local circumstance that tends to detect perjury can pos-
sibly be judged of : — such a person may be executed according to form,
but he can never be tried according to justice."

182

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

disclosed the utter failure of many to appreciate the prin-
ciples which the colonists cherished. It was not a paltry
£40,000 a year that was at stake ; the princi-
ftake? Ciple at P le of self-taxation and the rights of the popu-
lar assemblies were in danger. This is what
Webster meant when he said at a later day, " They went to
war against a preamble. They fought seven years against
a declaration."

Meanwhile the British troops in Boston were a constant
irritant. The House of Eepresentatives refused to legislate
or pass bills of supply. They denounced a
standing army as a menace to their liberties.
They absolutely refused to pay for quartering
the troops (1769). "We never will make provision for the
purposes in your several messages above mentioned," they

quietly and firmly asserted.

The Boston
Massacre.

AMERICAN SI

«EAa IN RfMSMJUtAHCe

The HORRID MASSACREI

Perforated in Kingtftrcet. Boston.

New-Engfand.

On the Evening of March the Fifth, 1770

When five of your fellow countrymen,

Cray. Mamrick, Caldwrll.Attucks

and Cars,

Lay fallowing in their Core I

Being ba/efy, and mod inbamantj

MURDERED!

And SIX others badly wounded !

By a Party of the XXIXtn Regiment.

Under thfcommand of Capt. Tho. Prefton

ICMIMItHl

ThatTwo of the Murdireri

Were convifted of MANSLAUGHTER

By a Jury, of whom I fhall fay

NOTHING.

Branded in the hand I

And difmijftd,

The others were Acquitted,

And their Captain .PENSIONED!

Portion of a Handbill recall-
ing: the Boston Massacre.

The soldiers on the streets
were a source of annoyance
and were often insulted and
provoked by crowds of men
and boys, who delighted in
teasing them. On the night
of March 5, 1770, occurred
the " Boston Massacre." A
small guard of soldiers, irri-
tated beyond endurance,
fired into a crowd and in-
stantly killed three persons
and wounded several others,
two mortally. Only the im-
mediate arrest of the offend-
ing soldiers prevented a serious riot. The town meeting
next day, under the lead of Samuel Adams, demanded the
immediate withdrawal of the troops from the town. To
this demand the authorities finally acceded, and stationed
the soldiers on an island in the harbor. The massacre

CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. 183

caused great excitement throughout the colonies. When
the soldiers were tried on the charge of murder, they were
defended hy John Adams and Josiah Quincy, two bright
young lawyers, whose devotion to the popular cause had
not stifled their sense of justice. Two soldiers were found
guilty of manslaughter and slightly punished.

For some time there was quiet ; but all danger was not
removed. By this time Samuel Adams had made up his
Local mind that the colonies ought to be independ-

committees of ent. He worked without ceasing. In 1772
correspondence. he moved in the Boston town mee ting the ap-
pointment of a committee " to state the rights of the Colo-
nists and of this province in particular as men, as Christians
and as subjects ; . . . also requesting of each Town a free
communication of their sentiments on this subject." Thus
was shown the worth of the town meeting as a weapon
against oppression. The Assembly might, mayhap, be dis-
solved, browbeaten, even outwitted ; the town meetings,
everywhere alert, could not be crushed.

In this year (1772) an English ship, the Gaspee, whose
commander seems to have been very arbitrary and arrogant
in his efforts to enforce the revenue laws, was
attacked and burned by a party of Rhode
Islanders.* We need not excuse the act ; it was a piece of
violence that deserved condemnation ; but the English
Government unduly magnified the offense and appointed a
commission for investigation, which threatened to take the
culprits to England for trial. The offenders could not be
discovered, however, while the high-handed methods of the
commission aggravated the discontent in the colonies. The
Virginia Assembly appointed a Committee of Correspondence
to keep in communication with the other colonies. Thus a

* There were many acts of violence during these years ; and we
need neither excuse nor commend them. But we must remember that
a great revolution was in progress, and that in such times violent men
and wicked characters find an opportunity for disorder.
13

184 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

means was provided for getting the colonies to act in con-
cert. " In this manner," says Bancroft, " Virginia laid the
foundation of our Union."

An act of violence now occurred in Boston, and affairs
hurried to a climax. As a clever device to coax or bribe

the colonies into paying the tea tax, the duty
The Boston na( j b een reduced so much that the price of tea

was actually less than in England. This was
said to be the " king's plan." " The king meant to try the
question with America." Cargoes of tea were sent to
America, and three ships entered Boston harbor (1773). A
mass meeting was held. Too large for Faneuil Hall, it ad-
journed to the Old South Meeting House, and there it was
solemnly resolved that the tea must be sent back to Eng-
land. But the authorities refused to give the sailing
papers. On the evening of December 16th a body of men
disguised as Indians boarded the ships, and, breaking open
the chests, emptied their contents into the sea.

Boston had thrown down the gauntlet. The English
people were outraged by this action. Fiery speeches were

made in Parliament. " The town of Boston,"
The five ^ one « 0U orht to be knocked about their

ears and destroyed." Another described their
acts as " the proceedings of a tumultous and riotous rabble,
who ought ... to follow their mercantile employments
and not trouble themselves with politics and government,
which they do not understand." In this spirit five acts
were passed, some of them at least in violation of the prin-
ciples of the English Constitution. The first act was the
Boston Port Bill, closing the port of Boston until the tea
was paid for and the town became compliant and obedient ;
Salem was made the seat of government. The second
changed the charter of Massachusetts in many important
particulars, chiefly by extending the power of the Crown ;
town meetings, except for electing officers, could be held
only by the governor's permission. The third act provided

CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. 185

that if any person were accused of " murther or other capital
crime," and it were made to appear that " the fact was com-
mitted in the execution of his duty as a magistrate, for the
suppression of riots " or in support of the laws, the accused
should be taken for trial to some place outside the colony.
This seemed to the Americans to encourage officers in
shooting down the people. A fourth bill provided for
quartering troops in America. A fifth, called the Quebec
Act, established the old French law in Canada, sanctioned
the Catholic religion there, and extended the boundaries of
the province westward and southward to the Mississippi and
Ohio. The establishment of the despotic law of France,
even in the old French colony, was thought by the Amer-
icans to be a menace to free institutions in all the colonies.
The recognition of Eoman Catholicism, although in fact it
was a reasonable act of toleration, offended the New Eng-
enders and seemed to threaten their chosen faith. More-
over, Massachusetts and other colonies claimed, under their
charters, title to portions of this western land thus made
part of Canada. Such were the five "Intolerable Acts."
These acts were passed early in 1774, and almost at once
General Gage, commissioned as governor, came to Boston
with additional troops to see that the laws were obeyed.
Boston harbor was closed.

Again all the colonies were alarmed. Their political
theories were alike ; the political practices of all had made
The First ^ or self-government. Now, spite of differences

Continental in social and industrial condition, under the
Congress. stress of a common danger and a common fear,

a new people was born. September 5, 1774, a Congress met
at Philadelphia. Delegates were present from all the col-
onies save Georgia,* and the people of Georgia were known

* It must not be supposed from what is here said that the people of
Georgia were all in favor of opposition to Great Britain. Quite the
contrary. There were many " Tories " there who continued to favor the

186 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

to be in sympathy with the purposes of the Congress. It
issued a " Declaration of Rights." This declared that the
people of the colonies were " entitled to life, liberty, and
property," and that they had " never ceded to any sovereign
power whatever a right to dispose of either without their
consent." It further asserted that the colonists were en-
titled to the rights of Englishmen, and that

tfon S deClara " the " f oundation of English liberty, and of all
free government, is a right in the people to
participate in their legislative council ; and as the English
colonists are not represented, and from their local and
other circumstances can not be properly represented in the
British Parliament, they are entitled to a free and exclusive
power of legislation in their several provincial legislatures."
They consented, out of regard to mutual interest, " to the
operation of such acts of the British Parliament as are bona
fide restrained to the regulation of our external commerce."
This was a reasonable compromise. The colonies had now
come to the point where they utterly denied the authority
of the British Parliament over them ; they had their own
parliaments; but for mutual interest they promised to
recognize laws passed by the British Parliament that were
really external in their operation, and were acts of real
regulation and not of taxation.

The Congress also framed Articles of Association, where-
in the delegates for themselves " and the inhabitants of the
several colonies " agreed and associated " under
the sacred ties of Virtue, Honor, and Love of
our Country," not to import into America any goods from
Great Britain, products from the British West Indies, tea
or wines. The importation of slaves was to cease Decem-
ber 1st. Addresses to the king, to the people of the
colonies, to the people of Quebec, and to the people of

mother country. The same is true of the other colonies. In America,
as to some extent in England, this was a party question.

CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. 187

Great Britain were adopted. But more important and
fateful than all these addresses was the following resolu-
tion : " That this Congress approve the oppo-
e a esses. g ^ on f the inhabitants of the Massachusetts
Bay to the execution of the late Acts of Parliament ; and
if the same shall be attempted to be carried into execution
by force, in such case' all America ought to
Congress support them in their opposition." This could

supports Boston, rr . .

mean but one thing — war with the mother
country if she persisted.

Trivial offenses on the part of government can not
justify revolution. Only oppression or serious danger can
w , justify war. It can not be said that the people

Revolution of the colonies had actually suffered much,
justifiable? j^. might even seem that the mother country
was not at all tyrannical in taxing the colonies to pay for
defending them. How, then, can the war that followed be
justified? The Kevolution was justifiable because the
colonists stood for certain fundamental principles that
were woven into the very fabric of their lives. They were
determined that no one should take money from them
without their consent, and that their own local governments
should be indeed their own and do their will. They carried
to a legitimate conclusion the true political principles for
which the English people had fought in the great rebellion
of the seventeenth century. They had a keener apprecia-
tion of liberty than any other people in the world. In
England a designing monarch was intent upon making
himself king in fact as well as in name, and the people
seemed lethargic and forgetful of the fundamental princi-
ples of English liberty. The colonists, on the other hand,
cherishing the rights of Englishmen, demanded the sub-
stance and not merely the forms of self-government. Had
these self-reliant people on this side of the ocean been
pliant and obedient to laws they considered wrong and
tyrannical, it would have been an evil day for popular gov-

188 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

ernment. It is sometimes said that the American Revolu-
tion was conservative or preservative. Such it surely was ;
but it did more than save the principles of English liberty :
it built them up and gave them a logical expression in the
institutions of a free people made by themselves and
changeable at their own discretion, and in the growth of
free government resting on the people not only in America
but in England.

References.

Short accounts : Charming, United States of America, Chapter II ;
Hart, The Formation of the Union, Chapter III; Hinsdale, The
American Government, pp. 52-63. Longer accounts : Fiske,
The American Revolution, Volume I, pp. 1-120 ; Sloane, The French
War and the Revolution, Chapters X to XIV; Hosmer, Samuel
Adams, pp. 33-313; Tyler, Patrick Henry, pp. 32-135; Morse, Ben-
jamin Franklin, pp. 99-202; Hosmer, The Life of Thomas Hutch-
inson ; Lecky, The American Revolution, 17G3-1783.

The Boston Massacre.
From an etching by Paul Revere.

CHAPTER IX.
The Revolution— 1775-1783.

During the winter and early spring of 1775, although
there was no open violence, the feeling was intense. There
B . . . was a sympathetic communication from colony

the beginning to colony. Each felt the danger of the other,
of 1775. "We must fight!" exclaimed Henry in Vir-

ginia; "an appeal to the God of hosts is all that is left
us." Upon the anniversary of the " Massacre " Joseph
Warren delivered a stirring address in the Old South Church
in Boston. But there was still no outburst of uncontrol-
lable excitement. There seemed to be a determination that
the first blow must be struck by the British ; for the war
was to be conservative or preservative rather than destruc-
tive. Boston was almost in a state of siege ; its business
was thrown into much disorder ; there were cases of suffer-
ing among the poor and the unemployed. The sullen per-
sistence with which the people neither fought nor relented
suggested that when war was once begun only success
would end it.

The New Englanders, under the lead of Massachusetts,
were taking steps to bring about united armed resistance,
T . , . when the war was actually precipitated bv the

Lexington and «r * * J

Concord, action of the English commander. General

April 19, 1775. G a ge sent a detachment to destroy stores which
the Americans had gathered at Concord, a little village
some twenty miles from Boston. The movement was dis-
covered, the country was aroused, and when the advanced
division of the British force reached Lexington in the pale

189

190

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

gray of the early morning they found a squad of sturdy
yeomen drawn up defiantly on the village green. Called
upon to disperse, they refused ; and the regulars fired into

tffj?S

A&mar^K ~4< 0~i*4 tAj*-

From an etching by Doolittle, copied from a drawing made by Earle
after the battle.

the little company, killing seven and wounding several
others. The English then proceeded to Concord and de-
stroyed the stores. Meanwhile the provincials were pour-
ing in from the surrounding country, and the British force
began to retire. The retreat became little better than a
headlong flight. Franklin, in his humorous fashion, wrote
to a friend that the British " troops made a most vigorous
retreat, twenty miles in three hours — scarce to be paralleled
in history — and the feeble Americans, who pelted them all
the way, could scarce keep up with them." The news of
this engagement spread like wildfire. Men grasped what-
ever weapons they had and hastened toward Boston. An
army was soon gathered in the vicinity of the city, and the

THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783. 191

people of the colonies realized that, after ten years of excite-
ment and vexation, war was at last begun.

Early in May Ticonderoga was taken by the Americans.
Crown Point fell a day or two later. The capture of these
fortresses was important, because the British
S^FaST* were considering the advisability of taking the
line of the Hudson and cutting off from the
other colonies the New Englanders, who were thought to
be especially disaffected and rebellious.

The second Continental Congress met May 10. It be-
came the central government of the nation, and continued
to be so for six years. Washington was se-
Oontinental lected commander in chief of the " Continen-
Congress. £ a j Army." Preparations were made for the

support of the troops. Washington was then in the very
prime of life — forty-three years of age, tall, stalwart, and
strong. His experience in the French and Indian War-, his
undoubted military talents, the unqualified respect which
all felt who knew him, coupled with the fact
as mgton. ffogft ^ e choice of a Southern general was the
imperative demand of common sense, made his selection
the only possible one. It was a fateful moment when the
question was under consideration. From that time the
Eevolution rested on Washington's shoulders. Had the
task fallen to any other man the war would probably have
been a failure ; for he was not simply a great man, he was
a great general, possessed of wonderful judgment and self-
control, and yet capable of bold, quick, decisive action.
The campaigns of the Eevolution, which can be given here
only in outline, prove that in a century which boasted of
some of the greatest commanders in history, Washington
won deserved renown as one of the ablest of them all.

Meantime the Continental Army with dogged care had
been drawing the lines around Boston. Before Washing-
ton could take command another battle had been fought.
Gage had decided to take an advanced position. To antici-

192

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

pate him, and to secure, if possible, a point commanding the

harbor, on the evening of the 16th of June a force of twelve

hundred men under the command of Colonel

BunkerHm, p resco tt pushed forward from the American

June 17, 1775. r . .

lines and took up a position on Bunker Hill,*
an eminence on the Charlestown promontory. By morn-
ing, when they were discovered by the enemy, an embank-
ment had been thrown up, and the continuous bombard-
ment from the English men-of-war was of no avail in
driving the Americans from their position. General Gage
determined to assault the works. The world knows the

result. Beaten back
in two desperate as-
saults, the British
finally captured the re-
doubt when the pro-
vincials had run out
of ammunition. It
was a victory dearly
bought, and though
the Americans were
for the moment over-
come by mortification,
their brave resistance to disciplined troops was of great
moral effect.

Congress had appointed a number of generals *nd other
officers at the same time that Washington was made com-
mander in chief. In addition to these warlike preparations,
they sent one last petition to the king asking for a redress
of grievances, and they also issued a declaration of the
causes of taking up arms. The petition, of course, had no
effect upon obdurate George III, who, on the contrary,
issued a proclamation against the American traitors, and

* Breed's Hill, where the battle was fought, was in reality an exten-
sion of Bunker Hill, and connected with it by a ridge.

THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783.

193

proceeded to hire foreign troops to put down the rebellion.
Some twenty thousand men were employed as mercenaries
against the people in America, who were risking their lives
for self-government and the rights of Englishmen.

Washington took command of the Continental Army in
July. His task was a difficult one. The army was undis-
Boston ciplined, unorganized. The men had come

evacuated, hurriedly together on the impulse of the mo-

arc ,1776^ men t 5 and lacked nearly everything needful for
the long task that awaited them. Slowly, as the year went
by, Washington made out of the raw militia an army. The
lines were drawn more closely around Boston, and at the
opening of the following spring (1776) entrenchments
were thrown up on Dorchester Heights overlooking the
city. Bunker Hill had taught its lesson, and General
Howe, who was now in command of the British forces,
evacuated the city (March 17, 177G).

While the main body of the army was engaged about
Boston a daring attempt had been made upon Canada.

194 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Eichard Montgomery, with a force of about two thousand
men, made his way north by the Lake Champlain route and
Attempt to ^°°k possession of Montreal. Meanwhile Col-
take Quebec, onel Benedict Arnold was endeavoring to push

directly north through the woods of Maine,
hoping to join Montgomery in an attack upon Quebec.
The two forces, small enough at the best, were united early
in December, and on the last day of the month made a
daring night attack upon the walled city. Montgomery
was killed, Arnold was sorely wounded, and, in spite of the
fiercest courage, the assault was unsuccessful. The Amer-
icans withdrew. Canada remained in the possession of
England.

The early part of 1776 was full of encouragement. The
Virginians, fully aroused to hostility by the conduct of
Situation in their royal governor, were quite ready for de-
early part of cisive action. In North Carolina the Scottish

royalists were badly beaten,* and the other
colonies rapidly swung into line in favor of complete sepa-
ration from the mother country. The sentiment of inde-
pendence had developed with a slowness that seems remark-
able when one considers that already war had been in
progress a year or more. It only shows again that the
Revolution was a cautious, well-considered, conservative
matter, and not the result of hot-headed rebellion.

On June 7th Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, offered in
Congress the resolution " That these United Colonies are,

and of right ought to be, free and independent
£o>p^W States." The debates were vigorous. It was

in connection with this debate and the repeated
appeals for unanimity that Franklin perpetrated his fa-
mous witticism, " Yes, we must indeed all hang together,
or assuredly we shall all hang separately." No doubt the
thought thus humorously expressed had its influence for

* Moore's Creek, February, 1776.

196 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

harmony. The middle colonies, as yet unmolested and not
feeling full sympathy with their Northern brethren, were
inclined to hold back. But the people on the whole were
found to be ready for the step. July 2, 1776, the resolution
was adopted, and two days later the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, drawn by Thomas Jefferson,* was adopted, stat-
ing the reasons and the justification of the act.

This declaration deserves careful study. The language
is so well chosen and so dignified, its phrases are so har-
monious, that it must always stand as a great piece of liter-
ature. It embodies, too, a distinct statement of grievances ;
and, moreover, lays down the fundamental principle of
democratic government — that all men are created equal,
and that each man has the inalienable right to pursue hap-
piness.

The people thus announced that they constituted an in-
dependent nation ; and at the same time the colonies were
transformed into States, and steps were taken toward an
organization suitable to the new situation. We should not
lose sight of this phase of the Revolution — the transforma-
tion of colonies into States, the peaceable organization of
commonwealths, the drafting of constitutions, the organiza-
tion of local governments. But the changes were not
marked ; there was little or no destruction of the institutions
that were the results of colonial growth. Two of the States,
Ehode Island and Connecticut, went on under their old
charters. The new constitutions were founded on the peo-
ple, and recognized the ultimate political authority of the
people. This is a great fact in human history: govern-
ments were no longer to be the source of power, but the
agents and the servants of the real governors, the people.

* See Morse's Jefferson, pp. 32-40. On July 5 some copies were
printed and issued. Not till August 2 was the engrossed copy signed
by the delegates. See Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, vol. vi,
p. 208. One member did not sign till November, 1770, and another not
till 1781.

THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783. 197

Such is the American idea; that is the principle which
American colonial history had brought forth.

While the Congress was still hesitating over the desira-
bility of independence, a sharp battle was fought in the
South. Sir Henry Clinton had sailed from
Fort Moultrie, Boston for the Southern colonies in the middle
June, 1776. f the winter. He cruised about waiting for
re-enforcements, and not till June did he feel justified in
attacking Charleston. The Americans, under the direction
of Colonel Moultrie, had thrown together a rude fort of
palmetto logs and sand on Sullivan's Island, in the harbor.
Rough and weak as these defenses seemed, they proved suf-
ficient. The brisk bombardment from the British had no
effect ; but the guns of the fort, aimed with precision and
care, did such execution among the vessels that Clinton
thought better of his purpose, and sailed away to the north
to co-operate with General Howe, who was preparing to
attack New York. The Carolinas were for some time left
free from molestation.

From both a military and a political point of view the

city of New York and the line of the Hudson were of great

importance. New York had a large number

British prepare * _ j,

to attack New of British sympathizers, and there was some
Yorkl chance that through them the colony might be

won for the king. The Hudson valley, if securely held,
would separate the ever-active New Englanders from their
less vehement brethren of the Middle States. Washington
anticipated the desire of Howe to get possession of the city
and the mouth of the Hudson. He moved his troops from
Boston to New York in April. His army was small and
very poorly equipped, while New York was a place very
difficult to defend. He made the best of the situation,
holding the city, and stationing a strong detachment on
Brooklyn Heights, an eminence which must be held if the
city were to be retained.

An English fleet with troops on board arrived at Staten

198

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

NEW YORK

AND VICINITY

1776

Island in July. The army was commanded by General
William Howe. His brother Richard, Lord Howe, was in
command of the fleet. The latter was charged
Efforts at yrith. the task of making offers of conciliation

and pardon. But he could accomplish noth-
ing. Washington said there could be no pardon where
there was no guilt; and when the proposals were made

known to Congress,
Governor Trumbull,
of Connecticut, re-
marked : " No doubt
we all need pardon
from Heaven ; but
the American who
needs the pardon of
his Britannic Majesty
is yet to be found."
It was clearly too
late to treat with the
Americans as rebel-
lious British subjects.
As we have seen,
Washington had post-
ed a portion of his
troops on Brooklyn
Heights, hoping to
hold the position.
This was a difficult undertaking. The English outnum-
bered the Americans, and, moreover, could strike where
B ttl fL ^ e v chose, while Washington must divide his
Island, August, forces to meet the enemy at various places.
1776. Howe decided to attack the troops on Long

Island, and was successful in the battle. Many Ameri-
cans were taken prisoners, and the remainder of the army
was in a critical situation. They were hemmed in and
in danger of being captured to a man. Washington now

iTLANTIC OCEAN

THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783. 199

executed one of the most brilliant maneuvers of the war.
During the night the whole force was ferried silently and
stealthily across the East River to New York, leaving the
British in possession of empty earthworks and a barren
victory.

Driven from New York city, Washington skillfully re-
treated with his discouraged army. Late in October the
battle of White Plains was fought. The Eng-

Retreat across

New Jersey, lish were on the whole successful, for the
autumn, 1776. Americans were obliged to retreat. Howe did
not follow up his advantage, however, but turned aside to
attack Fort Washington, the plans of which had been put
into his hands by an American officer. The fort was taken,
and Fort Lee, on the west side of the Hudson, was at once
evacuated. These two defenses had been built with the
hope that they could keep the English fleet from sailing up
the river. Washington now withdrew into New Jersey, and
the dreary, disheartening retreat began. The American
army was daily dwindling, for the soldiers lost heart when
they were not victorious. In the early winter the little
army of three thousand men crossed the Delaware into
Pennsylvania. Had Howe then made a rapid march to
Philadelphia it would surely have been taken, and the
moral effect would have been so great that all hopes of re-
sistance might perhaps have been abandoned ; the Revolu-
tion might have been a failure. But Howe, pluming him-
self upon his success, left his troops under the command of
General Cornwallis, so as to guard Washington completely,
as he thought, and went back to New York to hear
praises of his victories and enjoy the gayeties of the holiday
season.

But Washington was not yet beaten, nor utterly dis-
couraged. A few re-enforcements came to him. He made
up his mind to strike. Crossing the Delaware Christmas
night, 1776, he surprised a company of Hessians at Tren-
ton, and took a thousand prisoners and a thousand stands
14

200 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

of arms. He retreated into Pennsylvania, and then once
more crossed back into New Jersey, where by a series of
brilliant movements he completely outgener-
Pri^ton^e- aled Cornwallis, who was perhaps the most
cember, 1776, competent commander on the English side dur-

January, 1777. ing ^ w> ^ ^ ^^ Qf p rinceton Wash .

ington defeated the enemy, and then, though not daring
with his small force to push ahead and capture their stores,
he practically held New Jersey by taking the heights at
Morristown. Thus in midwinter was fought an important
campaign. The losses of the summer were in part re-
trieved. The American general showed a combination of
caution with boldness and skill in strategy that marked
him a general of the first rank. Frederick the Great, him-
self a master in the art of war, is said to have declared that
this was the most brilliant campaign of the century.

The experiences of this year of active warfare taught
their evident lessons. It was plain that the struggle was
not to be finished in a moment, that it was likely to be long
and desperate, and that something must be
Renewed done f- provide a suitable army, one with some

prepan degree of permanence, and not made up of

militia that would melt away in the day of trial and dis-
couragement. Washington was clothed with almost dicta-
torial authority, but of course used his power with con-
sideration.* To get together a considerable body of men
well equipped and bound to serve for the war proved
an enormous task. Throughout the winter Washington
labored faithfully ; but by the opening of spring his force

* In speaking of Washington's success at Trenton and Princeton,
one ought not to forget Robert Morris, whose generosity and exertions
to raise money made these victories possible. His executive ability
was of great service to his country. He raised money on his own
credit to aid Washington. " During December and January he may be
said to have carried on all the work of the continent." (Sumner's
Robert Morris, p. 17.)

THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783.

201

W>Sfc/

was still small, and only by the most careful strategy and
waiting could he hope to accomplish anything against
his powerful opponent.

The enemy were at New

York and in eastern New

Jersey. The

The military American line

situation. .,

ran from the
Hudson southwestward to
Morristown, and on to
Princeton. Thus the open-
ing of the campaign of 1777
saw the Americans still
steadfast and hopeful, for,
spite of the victories of the
summer before, Howe was
hardly further ahead than he was just after the battle of
Long Island.

The English Government now prepared to take a firm

hold upon the country. They determined to get control of

the Hudson Eiver, and thus cut off New Eng-

Attack upon the i an a f rom fa e Middle States. General Bur-
center, 1777.

goyne was to march down from Canada, and

Howe was to go north and meet him. Another force under
St. Leger was to go up Lake Ontario to Oswego, take Fort
Stanwix, and come down the Mohawk Valley. By some ac-
cident Howe seems not to have been ordered by the home
Government to proceed with his troops up the Hudson ; but
he ought to have known enough to go without explicit
orders. Burgoyne began his southward march in June.
We can not trace his course in detail nor see all the difn-
Burffoyne culties that beset him. At first he was suc-

marches south cessf ul. Ticonderoga was taken, and the news
from Canada, of hig victory filled England with glee and

Burgoyne with undue vainglory. But soon the danger of
marching into an enemy's country began to be made more

THE REVOLUTION

IN THE

MIDDLE STATES -Q

o *

THE REVOLUTION-1775-1783. 203

clear to him. An American army was in front, and the
militia were gathering behind him. He sent a detachment
to Bennington, in what is now Vermont, to seize supplies ;
but the militia, under the command of doughty John Stark,
simply annihilated the whole force. Aroused by this suc-
cess, the country rose to check the invader, and it was soon
apparent to Burgoyne that he was in a tight place. His
army was growing weaker. He was compelled to fight or
starve. But he was defeated in the engagements which
he risked. His supplies were cut off, and while the Amer-
ican army grew stronger, his own grew constantly weaker.
, He retreated to Saratoga, and there, surround-

and surrenders -i •

at Saratoga, ed, baffled, beset, he surrendered at discretion.
October, 1777. Burgoyne's defeat was inevitable, inasmuch as
Howe had not gone north to co-operate with him. Gates,
the American commander, was devoid of genius, talent,
or character. His conduct of the campaign was free from
all merit, save that his very failure to act gave an oppor-
tunity for the enemy to be slowly weakened and over-
come.

Meanwhile St. Leger had met with discomfiture. In a
fierce battle at Oriskany, the bloodiest contest of the war, a
detachment of Tories aided by Indians was
defeateiTat S ° defeated by a band of Americans under the
Oriskany, brave old General Herkimer. Fort Stanwix

ngus ' ' could not be taken, and finally, upon the ad-
vance of an army under Arnold, the British fled precipi-
tately.

Let us now turn southward and see what became of
Howe. Washington expected to see him move northward ;
„ , but he did not. He seemed to be infatuated

no we s

expedition to with the idea of taking Philadelphia. He pre-
Philadeiphia. pared to march across New Jersey ; but Wash-
ington, perceiving his purpose, blocked him and worried
him by superior strategy. Then Howe determined to sail
for the " rebel capital." In August he appeared in Chesa-

204 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

peake Bay, and began to advance upon Philadelphia.* A
battle was fought at Brandywine Creek, and the Americans,
B tti of sorely outnumbered, were beaten. Washington

Brandywine, brought his troops off in clever fashion, and
Sept., 1777. ^ e ^ a y a ft er the battle he had his army
organized and ready to fight again. The British entered
Philadelphia. Even now the heart of the American com-
mander did not fail him. He determined to surprise the

enemy at Germantown, and he mapped out a
Germantown, pj an f p era tions which, if successful, would

have overwhelmed them. An attack was made
in the early morning and was almost a success ; but two
advancing divisions lost their way in a dense fog, and one
fired upon the other thinking it was the enemy. So the
surprise was a failure.

And yet it was not a failure. It disclosed to the think-
ing men of America and to the onlookers in Europe the
Effect of daring generalship of the man who thus in the

campaign face of defeat ventured to plan a bold assault

on Europe. ^[th i n t en t no t simply to annoy but to crush

the army that had beaten him. European statesmen
and monarchs, who were watching the "rebellion" with
utmost care, saw that the colonists could fight with great
courage in the midst of defeat, and that the capture of the
capital by no means meant that the war was over.

For some time Benjamin Franklin had been at Paris as
a commissioner from the United States, and had been

working in his quiet, shrewd way to bring
j^ e J^ e ench France to recognize the independence of the

United States and take part in the war. This
France was not loath to do. She was still smarting under
her defeat in the Seven Years' War, and was longing for
revenge for the loss of Canada. After the defeat of Bur-
goyne it was apparent that the Kevolution had good

* He landed his troops at Elkton.

THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783. 205

chances of success. France then made a treaty of alliance
with the United States (February, 1778).* In a short time
Spain and Holland too were drawn, for their own reasons,
into the war against Great Britain. Even before the
French treaty a number of Frenchmen came over to help
in what they considered a struggle for liberty. Chief
among them was Marquis de Lafayette. Other foreigners
came also, and one, Baron Steuben, a German, was of great
service in organizing and drilling the American troops.

This winter, that brought the happy news of foreign aid,
was a winter of suffering for the American army. It passed

the dreary months at Valley Forge in destitu-
Jjjjy^ 6 ' tion. Washington did not leave his men and

go home to live in luxury, but stayed to endure
privation with them. Only he who reads his letters written
during these trying times can appreciate his troubles and
anxieties. The worst of it all was, that the nation was not
poverty stricken. The war had brought some hardships to
the people, but the country had plenty of clothing and
shoes and beef and flour. Why did the army not have
them ? In the first place, because the General Government

was inefficient. Congress had no power to

&££££. ley y taxes - Tt could ask for mone y' but not

demand it. It was not well organized to act
as a government, being in essence a convention of dele-
gates. There was no proper executive authority and no
judiciary, and a large body of men gathered together from

* The end of the alliance was asserted to be to maintain the liberty,
sovereignty, and independence of the United States, " as well in matters
of government as of commerce." The United States guaranteed to
France its " present possessions " in America, and all that it might ac-
quire by the war ; France, in its turn, guaranteed the liberty and inde-
pendence of the United States, and all their possessions, "and the
addition or conquests that their confederation may obtain during the
war." At the same time a treaty of amity and commerce was agreed
upon.

206 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

different parts of the country was, of course, singularly in-
capable of conducting a war with wisdom and economy.
The executive work was first done by committees, and
afterward these committees became executive boards. Be-
fore the end of the war experience proved the desirability
of having a single man in charge of each distinct depart-
ment of executive work. But it was 1781 before the step
was taken; then a Superintendent of Finance was ap-
pointed, and a Secretary for Foreign Affairs.

In addition to the fact that the Government was not
properly organized, there were other reasons for folly and
inefficiency. Some of the members of Congress seem to
have loved the intrigues of politics more than the work of
providing for the army and holding up the hands of its
great leader. Moreover, there were jealousies and rivalries
between the different States. The course of colonial his-
tory had taught the people to cherish their local govern-
ments and to repel any sort of dictation from without.
Now the people were a nation, and all the States had a
common interest ; but real national patriotism and fervid
devotion to a central government could come only as the
growth of years. In November, 1777, Congress proposed to
the States for adoption Articles of Confederation. These
were not adopted by all the States for some time, and did
not go into effect until 1781.

In the summer (1778) English commissioners arrived in
Philadelphia offering terms of conciliation. All proposals
Beginning of were rejected. Sir Henry Clinton succeeded
campaign of Howe, and Philadelphia was evacuated. The
1778, English army began its march across New

Jersey to New York. Washington followed. He attacked
the enemy at Monmouth, and, had it not been for the
dastardly conduct of General Charles Lee, who disobeyed
orders and beat a shameful retreat, a complete victory for
the Americans would probably have resulted. As it was,
the British, much discomfited, withdrew in the night.

THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783. 207

The rest of this campaign of 1778 contains no startling
successes or reverses. A French fleet appeared, but ac-
complished nothing. In Pennsylvania there
other events occurred the dreadful massacre of Wyoming.
The Indians, who had been won to the British
side of the controversy, attacked the exposed settlements
of the Wyoming Valley in northern Pennsylvania and
Cherry Valley in New York. Houses were pillaged and
burned; men, women, and children were ruthlessly slain.
An American army under General Sullivan was sent to
punish the savages, and it accomplished the welcome task
with thoroughness. Many of the red men were killed in
battle, villages were razed to the ground, and the wide-
spreading cornfields of the Iroquois were devastated.

In the meantime events of more than trivial importance
were happening in the far West. George Rogers Clark, a
War in the voun g Virginian, marched into the country
West, north of the Ohio and took possession of it

1778-79. (1778). The British commander in the West

was captured (February, 1779), and Detroit was the only
important position which did not pass into our hands.

In the summer of this year (1779) Washington was ex-
ceedingly desirous of retaking Stony Point, on the Hudson,
Captnreof a ver y im P or tant position, which the British

Stony Point, had forced the Americans to evacuate early in
Jnly 16, 1779. June> The attack was j n t rus ted to General
Wayne, and under his direction the Americans surprised
the garrison and captured the defenses, taking over five
hundred prisoners.

Cheering news came from an unexpected quarter. John
Paul Jones, a hardy Scotcli sailor, who had lived for some
years in Virginia, had been harrying the coast
Jones. a of England for some time. In the summer of

1779 he had charge of a small fleet which, with
the utmost audacity, hung off the eastern coast of England
and Scotland, threatening destruction to exposed places.

208 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

In the autumn occurred the great duel between the English
frigate Serapis and Jones's flagship the Bon Homme Rich-
ard. It was one of the bloodiest naval fights
Septemher, in history. The American vessel was victo-
rious. Jones was the hero of Europe. " His
exploit was told and told again in the gazettes and at the
drinking tables on the street corners."

The winter of 1779-'80 was a gloomy one in America.
The Northern army wintered at Morristown, where the
suffering was very great. Washington wrote
MoirisSwn, (January 8, 1780) : " The present situation of
i779-'80. ^he armv , with respect to provisions, is the most

distressing of any we have experienced since the beginning
of the war. For a fortnight past the troops, both officers
and men, have been perishing for want. They have been
alternately without bread or meat the whole time ; . . . fre-
quently destitute of both." *

In the latter part of the year (1778) the British turned
their attention to the Southern States. Savannah was taken.
Through the summer of 1779 little happened there to give
the patriots heart. In the spring Lincoln was obliged to
surrender Charleston to Clinton. Cornwallis took command
^ . of the British forces in the South and entered

War in

the South, on a vigorous campaign. Washington remained

i779-'80. j n tj ie North to watch the central post of dan-

ger — New York and the Hudson. Gates, who was sent to
confront Cornwallis, began a career of incompetence, if not
stupidity. The patriots of the Carolinas had

Camden, arisen under such able leaders as Marion and

August, 1780.

Sumter, and were fighting valiantly against the

invader. On the 16th of August Gates was disastrously

defeated in the battle of Camden. He did not wait to

* See Ford's Writings of George Washington, vol. iii, pp. 155-161,
etc. Those who have access to Washington's writings will find them
full of interest.

THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783.

209

make an orderly retreat, but, leaving his army behind him,
fled two hundred miles in three and a half days. Thus
was put to the test the valor and skill of the man who had
been plotting to succeed Washington, and whose talent

■#':-*fC AXRiOU

!>r;ui_v

v '..-;'•;.■ \tf' Uranireburir ^ + Xi^,. 14

^neaufort
_jj Port Jioyal .

THE REVOLUTION

THE SOUTH

King's

Mountain,
October, 1780,

was highly valued by many of the malcontents in Congress
and the country. Some light now comes in the midst of this
gloom and despondency. In October, a body of
English and Tories was beaten by a force of
mountaineers and backwoodsmen in the battle
of King's Mountain. This was one of the famous victories
of the war. The British force was utterly defeated by an
undisciplined force of " embattled farmers " who showed
the energy, zeal, and bravery of the frontier.*

While these events were happening at the South the
Americans narrowly escaped a severe disaster at the North.

* Read Roosevelt, The Winning of the West, vol. ii, pp. 241-295. A
very interesting book.

210 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Benedict Arnold, one of the best fighters on the American

side, disgusted and disheartened at his treatment by the

American Congress, in a fit of envy and spite,

f"^ 1 '.... entered into a plot to surrender West Point

treason, 1780. x

to the enemy. But the British messenger,
Major Andre, returning from an interview with Arnold,
was captured and the plot discovered. Andre was hanged
as a spy. Arnold escaped to the enemy's lines, to reap his
rewards of office and money from the English Government.
At the beginning of 1781 no one would have dared to
presage great victory for the American cause, or to expect

the speedy close of the war. The English still
Beginning of held New Yo rk ; in the South, where Cornwal-

1/O.Li .

lis was m command, there seemed little hope
of anything like immediate success for the patriot army.
Washington, with praiseworthy self-control, remained in the
North to guard against attack, and Greene took command
of the troops in the South. Greene soon showed the quali-
ties of a first-rate general, and proved that among the Amer-
ican officers he was second to Washington alone. Corn-
wallis was brilliant and daring, but was at first overconfi-
dent and then desperate. He pressed vigorously northward.

A detachment was overwhelmed by the Amer-

JaX n y,' 1781. icans at the battle of the c °wpens. The Brit-
ish still pushed on to the North. Greene fell
steadily back, hoping to lead Cornwallis into a place whence
he could not escape. In March was fought the battle of
Guilford Court Gmlfo r cl Court House. The English were on
House, March, the whole victorious, but too much weakened
!78l. to go farther. Cornwallis retreated to Wil-

mington, and seemed for the time to have abandoned his
northward movement. Greene at first pursued the enemy;
then, turning abruptly, marched south into South Carolina.
By the autumn the British forces in that State were shut
up in Charleston, and the rest of the State was in the
hands of the Americans.

THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783.

211

situation 111
1781.

Cornwallis was puzzled by Greene's action. He decided,
however, not to pursue him, but to go on to the North. He
The general marched into Virginia. There he was baffled
by Lafayette. " The boy can not escape me,"
he said ; but the young Frenchman, then only
twenty-three years of age, was wary and cautious, and Corn-
wallis could not trap him. The situation, then, in the
summer of 1781 was this :
Washington was at the
North, planning an at-
tack upon New York city,
which had been held since
August of 1776 by the
British; but he was fur-
tively watching Virginia.
Greene was in South Car-
olina. Lafayette was lead-
ing Cornwallis a chase
through Virginia. Now,
tired of his unsuccessful
pursuit and strategy, Corn-
wallis returned to the coast
and occupied a strong po-
sition at Yorktown.

Washington saw his chance. He found that he could

have the assistance of a French fleet that was expected in

the Chesapeake. He abandoned his plan of

"Rri ti all

surrender at operations against New York and marched
Yorktown, quickly to the South. Almost before Corn-

' ' wallis could realize his danger he found him-
self shut up in Yorktown. Early in October the bombard-
ment of the works began, and on the 19th the besieged
army surrendered, and filed out of its trenches as the band
played an old English tune, " The world turned upside
down."

Upside down the world surely seemed. England had

212 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

come out of the French and Indian War a great colonial
power, glorying in her achievements, astonished at her own
success. The surrender at Yorktown meant the
The end of the i oss f ner mos t promising and fruitful colo-
nies. Everywhere she was beset and humbled.
The obstinacy of George III and his ministers had found
its reward. They had failed to understand the rudiments
of English liberty. With the failure of the American war
fell kingly presumption. Constitutional government was
saved at home, saved by an insurrection in the colonies,
saved by the loss of America. The King had set out at
the beginning of his reign with a determination to be King
indeed, and not the mere agent of Parliament. The Ameri-
can war was in large part the result of his obstinacy and
perseverance ; he had succeeded in keeping in office men
that were out of sympathy with the nation, and were at
times not in harmony with Parliament. In attacking the
American principle, he had been attacking the fundamental
principle of English liberty ; and had he been successful on
this side of the water, his success might have well proved
fatal to the liberties of England itself.* Upon the surren-
der of Cornwallis, Lord North, the Prime Minister, was
compelled to resign, and a Whig ministry succeeded to
power. From that day parliamentary government was safe
in England, f

The war was now unpopular in England, and a treaty of
peace was only a matter of time. John Jay, Benjamin

* This is what Horace Walpole meant when he exclaimed, " If
England prevails, English and American liberty is at an end."

f " The American Revolution was a step in that grand march of
civilized man toward larger freedom and better political institutions
which began in Europe in the fifteenth century, and has continued to
the present day. This movement was felt in England before the
American plantations were made. . . . The American Revolution was
the proper continuation of the English Revolution of 1642 and 1688."
(Hinsdale, The American Government, p. 54.)

THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783. 213

Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Henry Lau-
rens were appointed commissioners to agree upon terms of
peace. Jefferson did not leave America, and
v7Rq ty ° fpeaCe ' Laurens took no important part. An agree-
ment was reached only after considerable diffi-
culty and discussion. All differences were finally adjusted,
and a treaty was signed, at Paris, September 3, 1783. The
northern boundary ran from the St. Croix River to the
highlands that divide the rivers that empty into the St.
Lawrence from those that empty into the Atlantic, thence
by the Connecticut Eiver, the forty-fifth parallel, the main
channel of the St. Lawrence, and the middle of the Lakes
to the Lake of the Woods. The boundary line then ran
down the Mississippi to the thirty-first parallel, thence east-
ward to the Appalachicola, and 1 on to the Atlantic by the
line that now forms the northern limit of Florida.

These boundaries seem definite and the descriptions
sufficiently accurate ; but as a matter of fact these were
drawn at a time when men were very ignorant
^definite! 8 °* * ne g eo & ra P n y °f the North an d West. Many
disputes arose in after years, and nearly sixty
years elapsed before our northern and northeastern boundary
was finally established. At this same time England ceded
the Floridas to Spain, meaning to convey the territory south
of the boundary agreed upon with the United States * — at
leant such was our interpretation of the cession.

Thus the Revolution ended with the American people
in possession of a vast domain stretching from the ocean to
the Mississippi, a territory several times as large as France,
or much greater than that of any European power save
Russia. Already there were visions of manifest destiny.

* Inasmuch as England had some years before established a prov-
ince of West Florida, the northern limit of which was 32° 30', Spain
maintained for some years that her possessions between the Appalachi-
cola and the Mississippi extended up to this old boundary of West Flor-
ida. This matter was not arranged until 1795. See map, p. 219.

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THE REVOLUTION— 1775-1783.

215

The nation could not long remain a mere group of States
scattered along the Atlantic coast. A great political and
industrial future lay before it ; but it must first
find a proper method of national organization,
must establish a suitable national government, must recog-
nize in very fact the existence of a national life. Before
these great things could be accomplished there were, as we
shall see, years of confusion and times that tried men's
souls. " The newborn republic narrowly missed dying in its
cradle."

References.

Hart, The Formation of the Union, Chapter IV; Sloane, The
French War and the Revolution, pp. 179-388; Lodge, Short His-
tory, pp. 501-517 ; Channing, The United States of America, pp.
72-107 ; Higginson, Larger History, pp. 241-293 ; Lodge, George
Washington ; Ludlow, The War of American Independence ; Fiske,
The American Revolution; Lodge, The Story of the Revolution;
Brooks, The Century Book of the American Revolution. Younger
students will be especially interested in Fiske, War of Independence ;
Fiske, Washington and his Country, which is a simplified edition of
Irving's Life of Washington ; also Coffin, The Boys of '76.

Independence Hall, as it was duking the Eevolution.
From contemporary drawing.
15

CHAPTER X.
The Confederation and the Constitution— 1781-1789.

During nearly the whole course of the war the Central
Government was the Second Continental Congress. There
was no written instrument denning the power of this body.
It used such powers as it needed to use or was permitted to
use by the people. During those years political institutions
were forming. Men were learning valuable political lessons
from experience. The powers that were exercised by the
Continental Congress were in nearly every particular those
that were confided to the central authority when the writ-
ten Articles of Confederation were agreed upon.

In 1777 Articles of Confederation were proposed by Con-
gress to the States, but they were not ratified by all until
1781. By these Articles was formed what pur-

Mtoritof P° rted t0 be a " firm lea S ue of friendship " be-
tween the States. The Central Government, if
government it may be called, was a Congress composed of
delegates annually appointed by the States, and to this
body was given considerable authority. It alone had the
right and power of declaring war or making peace, of send-
ing or receiving ambassadors, of appointing courts for the
trial of piracies or felonies on the high seas, of regulating
the alloy and value of coin, of fixing the standard of weights
and measures, of " establishing and regulating post offices
from one State to another." It also could build and equip
a navy and raise and support an army, and make requisi-
tion for troops upon the States. The Congress was author-
216

CONFEDERATION AND CONSTITUTION— 1781-1789. 217

ized to appoint a committee to sit in the recess of Congress,
to be known as a " Committee of the States." In this Con-
gress each State had one vote ; Delaware had quite as much
voice as had Pennsylvania or Virginia. No step could be
taken without the consent of a majority of the States, and
for many important measures the consent of nine of them
was necessary. All the States must agree to an amendment
or alteration in the Articles'.

This Congress stood forth as the representative of the
American people, and it had many duties and responsibili-
ties : but there was no effectual means given

Their defectSi .

of executing its laws or of raising the money
which was so needful. No power was given it to collect
taxes directly from individuals, or to levy duties on imports.
The only way to get funds was to ask the States for them.
Moreover, Congress could not execute its laws directly upon
the citizens of the States, or compel obedience to treaties
with foreign nations. It could recommend and advise, but
it could, not execute ; it was soon, therefore, in a condition
where it could promise but could not perform. Without
power over persons, it had no efficiency as a government.*

Each State was now jealous in the extreme of any au-
thority beyond its own borders. This narrow, selfish, short-
sighted policy was due in part to the demoral-
Growth of State — influences of the war, in part to the fact

selfishness. ° ' r

that the war had been carried on against an
external foe, and now in the eyes of many " King Cong "
had taken the place of King George. For some time after
the peace local prejudices grew rankly. As a consequence,
the requisitions and recommendations of Congress had little
influence. The demands for money met with niggardly re-
sponses. Each State seemed anxious to exalt itself at the
expense of the nation.

* The Articles of Confederation asserted that each State retained its
sovereignty. Strictly, a confederation is a union of sovereign States.

218 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Under such circumstances great difficulties beset the
impotent Confederation. Foreign nations looked askance
at the new combination of republics, and for-
Disorderni e jg n p r i nces were i n no hurry to be gracious
to the dangerous democracy which had arisen
from rebellion against authority. Congress had trouble in
raising money in Europe even at enormous rates of interest ;
for who would trust a government without visible means of
support ? The treaty of 1783 was no sooner ratified than
broken, both by England and America ; for the States re-
fused to obey the provisions of the treaty which provided
that British creditors should find no lawful hindrance in
the collection of their debts, and England, anxious to secure
the fur trade and the Indian alliance, retained possession
of the forts in the northern and western part of our terri-
tory. " We are one to-day," said Washington, " and thirteen
to-morrow." No foreign government could respect a na-
tion so organized. Washington, indeed, had early predicted
" the worst consequences from a half-starved, limping gov-
ernment, always moving upon crutches and tottering at
every step."

But even more dangerous conditions appeared within
the Union than without. The States were envious of one
D'ffi nit' another. Each passed laws to increase its own

among the commerce at the expense of its neighbors. The

States. States, with " no convenient ports for foreign

commerce, were subject to be taxed by their neighbors
through whose ports their commerce was carried on. New
Jersey, placed between Philadelphia and New York, was
likened to a cask tapped at both ends ; and North Carolina,
between Virginia and South Carolina, to a patient bleeding
at both arms." * Difficulties arose between New York and

* The quotation is from James Madison, in the paper placed as an
introduction to his notes on the Philadelphia Convention. See Elliot's
Debates, vol. v, p. 109. A very valuable paper.

CONFEDERATION AND CONSTITUTION— 1781-1789. 219

New Jersey, between Connecticut and Pennsylvania, be-
tween Connecticut and New York, and between other
States as well. " In sundry instances . . . the navigation

THE

UNITED STATES

& AT THE END OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. O

SHOWING WESTERN LAND CLAIMS OF THE STATES 1783

laws treated the citizens of other States as aliens." There
was actual danger of civil war among people who had
just emerged from an eight years struggle against a for-

eign foe.

220 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Within the respective States there was disorder and dis-
tress. The paper-money craze wrought havoc in some. A new
race of speculators arose to make the most of
No domestic t ne situation. People who had been rich found
themselves poor; their farms were mortgaged
or their trade was stopped, while perchance they had paper
money by the bagful stored away in the attic. Business
was so depressed that there were want and suffering. Riots
and mobs ensued. In Massachusetts a dangerous insurrec-
tion broke out. Here, as everywhere, a good many men were
out of work or could find no money to pay their debts, and,
as is customarily the case in times of distress, the idle and
the vicious saw an opportunity to right their fancied
wrongs. Several hundred men came together under the
leadership of one Daniel Shays, an old Continental captain,
who seems to have been a weak and inefficient creature, un-
fit to command or hold in check the rabble that followed
his standard. Conflicts between the insurgents and the
State troops ensued. The malcontents were especially bit-
ter in their hatred of courts and lawyers, and they pre-
vented the Supreme Court from holding its regular session
at Springfield. By the energetic action of the State gov-
ernment the uprising was finally quelled, but the people of
the whole land feared and wondered. They began to long
for a national government with power, a government that
could restore harmony between jealous States, able to win
respect abroad, establish justice, and insure domestic tran-
quillity.*

Before studying the steps that were taken to organize a
new government and establish a permanent union, we must
turn aside to notice the settlement of conflicting claims of
the States to Western lands. Even before the independ-

* " It is indeed difficult to overcharge any picture of the gloom and
apprehension which then pervaded the public councils as well as the
private meditations of the ablest men of the country." (Story, Com-
mentaries on the Constitution, vol. i, § 271.)

CONFEDERATION AND CONSTITUTION— 1781-1789. 221

ence of the United States had been acknowledged by Great
Britain there had arisen much discussion over the owner-
ship of the territory west of the mountains.
Western land Six of the States — New Hampshire, Rhode \

claims. r '

Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware,
and Maryland — could set up no claim to this territory.
Their boundaries were defined. The other States claimed
lands stretching west to the Mississippi Eiver. South of
the Ohio there was no good ground for much dispute.
Each State might take possession of the lands lying directly
to the west ; but to the lands north of the Ohio there were
conflicting claims. Massachusetts and Connecticut based
their titles on their old charters. Each claimed a strip of
land extending through the Northwest. The land claimed
by Massachusetts formed a large portion of what is now
Wisconsin and the lower peninsula of Michigan. The
Connecticut strip was chiefly in what is now northern Ohio,
Indiana, and Illinois. New York set up a title to a vast
territory in the West on the ground that she had received
under her protection the Iroquois Indians and was lord of
their domains. As scalping parties of these fierce warriors
had wandered as far as the Mississippi and extorted tribute
or homage, New York thus asserted ownership to nearly
the whole of the Northwest. The claims of Virginia were
very strong. She based her title, first, on her early charter,^
which described her dominion as running up into the land
"west and northwest"; second, on the fact that George
Rogers Clark had won and held this territory, and that it was
the pluck and enterprise of Virginia that had secured it.

Some of the States, hemmed in by definite boundaries,
had hesitated to agree to the Articles of Confederation be-
cause they feared the overweening influence of
Western claims t j ie ^ eYS wno thus laid claim to a great do-

given np. f 3

minion in the West. Maryland was long per-
sistent in her refusal to sign under such circumstances, and
in fact did not do so until New York had yielded, and there /

222 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

was good reason to believe that all the other States would
likewise relinquish their claims. Within a few years after
the establishment of the Articles all the land northwest of
the Ohio was ceded to the United States by the claimant
States.* Connecticut reserved for her own use a strip of
land one hundred and twenty miles long south of Lake
Erie. This was later sold by the State, but is still often
called the " Western Eeserve." Part of the territory south
of the Ohio was ceded to the United States. At a later
day Kentucky was organized as a State, without previous
cession by Virginia. \

These cessions of the West were of the utmost impor-
tance. Thus it happened that these various commonwealths
forming the Confederation had a common in-
Restdtsof terest in common property, and this interest

cessions. x

formed a strong bond of union when such ties
were sorely needed ; and thus it happened that almost from
the beginning of our national history we have had a wide
public domain. Moreover, it was understood that the
people of this new West were not to be held in subjection,
but when the population was large enough, new States were
to be admitted to the Confederation on an equality with
the old. \ Thus arose the idea of our wise system with re-
gard to the Territories.

I * Connecticut had claimed a large portion of the northern part of
Pennsylvania. This, however, was decided to belong to Pennsylvania.
The little triangular piece in northwestern Pennsylvania was later
ceded to that State by the National Government. Massachusetts also
laid claim to a portion of what is now New York. The two States
came to an agreement about it, the jurisdiction passing to New York.

f North Carolina ceded Tennessee in 1790.

% Congress declared that these lands should be settled and " formed
into distinct republican States which shall become members of the
Federal Union." " From this line of policy," says Johnston, " Congress
has never swerved, and it has been more successful than stamp acts
or Boston port bills in building up an empire." (Lalor's Cyclopaedia,
vol. iii, p. 916.)

CONFEDERATION AND CONSTITUTION— 1781-1789. 223

Soon after the cession of the Northwest, plans for its
government were discussed. In 1784 Jefferson submitted a

plan for the government of all the Western
°f r i784 0es country from its southern boundary to the

Lakes. He proposed that slavery should not
exist there after 1800 ; but this part of his plan was not car-
ried, though a majority of the State delegations present in
Congress at the time the vote was taken were in favor of it.
The rest of the plan was adopted, but it was not put into
operation. In 1787 was enacted the famous ordinance for
the government of the territory northwest of the Ohio.
This provided for the organization of government. The
first officials were to be a governor, secretary, and three
judges appointed by Congress; but as the population in-
creased, the people were to be allowed a representation in

the Government. Not less than three nor more

than five States might be formed from the
Territory and admitted to " a share in the Federal councils."
Sound doctrines of civil liberty were announced. No per-
son was to be molested on account of his mode of worship
or religious sentiments. Each citizen was entitled to the
writ of habeas corpus and trial by jury. Neither slavery
nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime,
was permitted ; and the Territory and the States which
might be formed from it were to remain forever " a part of
this Confederacy of the United States of America." It
announced in telling phrase that " religion, morality, and
knowledge being necessary to good government and the
happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education
shall forever be encouraged." This is one of the wisest
documents ever issued by a deliberative assembly. It had
great weight in shaping later territorial organization. It
kept the dark tide of slavery from inundating the North-
west. The ordinance of 1787 was passed by the dying
Congress of the Confederation. Its trials and its failures
had been many, but the honor of this act rests with it.

224

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

" I doubt," said Webster, " whether one single law of any
lawgiver, ancient or modern, has produced effects of more
distinct, marked, and lasting character than the ordinance
of 1787."

The discord among the States, the distress and disorder

everywhere, taught their evident lesson. Strong government

was needful. Shays's rebellion gave the last

The work for sa l u tarv shock. Men realized that something

union. *

must be done. The country presented an
" awful spectacle " ; there was a " nation without a national
government." Some men were ready to do more than pon-
der and lament. Washington's
influence was always for nation-
ality and against State selfish-
ness. He belonged to Amer-
ica. Without him, lasting union
would have been almost impos-
sible. Others, too, were alert
and active. Alexander Hamil-
ton and James Madison deserve
chief mention. In 1786 delegates
from the States were asked by
Virginia to meet at Annapolis
to consider the commercial rela-
tions of the country. Only five
States were represented, but the
convention asked for a new convention at Philadelphia the
ensuing spring, to take measures for rendering " the Fed-
eral Constitution adequate to the exigencies of the Union."
In May (1787) this convention met. Some of the dele-
gates came late, but finally all of the States
were represented save Rhode Island. The best
and wisest men in the country were present.
Washington was chosen President. Among the ablest of
the members were Madison of Virginia, James Wilson,
Gouverneur Morris, and Benjamin Franklin of Pennsyl-

^^X

The

Philadelphia

convention.

CONFEDERATION AND CONSTITUTION— 1781-1789. 225

vania, Alexander Hamilton of New York, Oliver Ellsworth
of Connecticut, Rufus King of Massachusetts, and Charles
C. Pinckney of South Carolina.
The convention lasted four
months, its members often de-
spairing of success. So many
differences arose that it seemed
at times impossible to reach a rea-
sonable conclusion. The great
influence of Washington and
Franklin contributed to har-
mony. It was determined at
once to establish a government
with supreme executive, legisla-
tive, and judicial departments.
The adoption of this resolution
meant that the convention did not intend to patch up the
Articles of Confederation, but to found a real national
government with power to act — to form a Con-
stitution, in order that there might be no longer
merely a Congress whose efficiency depended on the whim
or caprice of the States.

The first difficulty arose over the question of represen-
tation in the Legislature of the new Government. Many
of the delegates from the small States in this
convention seemed merely solicitous for the
dignity of their respective States, and anxious
to preserve them from attack by securing to them the same
weight in national councils as had the larger States ; but
many of them wished even more than this, and demanded
that the principle of the Confederation be perpetuated so
that the Central Government should continue the creature
of the States, which would thus form the basis of the new
order as they had of the old. This, the Small State, party
demanded that each State should have as many representa-
tives as every other.

Its purposes.

Small State
party.

226 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

On the other hand, the so-called Large State party, led

by Madison, Wilson, Gouverneur Morris, and King, insisted

that the basis of the new Government was not

L a a rT Stat6 to be the States > but tne people, and that the

States therefore should send representatives to

the Congress of the new Government in proportion to their

population. It was wrong and illogical to give Delaware as

many representatives as Pennsyl-
vania or Virginia. Thus we see
that a real fundamental question
of principle was involved. The
extremists of the Small State
party desired, in reality, a con-
federation of equal States ; the
Large State Party struggled for
a government based upon the
people. Therefore we might be
justified in calling one party the
State party, the other the Nation-
al party.*

The contest between these two
factions was long and severe. At
times it seemed as if there could
be no agreement. " Gentlemen," exclaimed Bedford, of
Delaware, " I do not trust you. . . . Sooner than be ruined,
there are foreign powers who will take us by the hand."
By a vote of six to five the convention decided in favor of
proportional representation in the more numerous branch
of the Legislature. But it was impossible for the Large

* The States that voted for proportional representation (the Large
State party) were Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Caro-
lina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Of these the first three were really
large States. Five States voted against proportional representation;
they were Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Mary-
land. The New Hampshire delegation came too late to take part in the
first critical vote. Rhode Island sent no delegation at all.

CONFEDERATION AND CONSTITUTION— 1781-1789. 227

State party to secure that basis for representation in the
other branch. A compromise was at length agreed upon,
whereby each State was to have two senators,
Struggle and w hile the House was to have the right to
° mpr01 originate all bills for raising revenue. Thus

was formed the first compromise of the Constitution.

The student should see clearly the real controversy,
the real difference between the Large State men and the
Small State men. The former were for a government
based on the people, receiving its power directly from the
people, and touching the States as little as possible. The
Small State men were in part divided: they all wanted
equal representation of the States ; but some of them were
not opposed to a national government, while others desired
to preserve the principle of the Confederation — to maintain
the equal sovereignty of the States.

But after this first and important agreement on the sub-
ject of representation and the character of the new Govern-
ment had been reached, there remained many
Slavery causes other difficulties to be overcome. These arose
largely from the fact that the industrial inter-
ests of the Southern States were essentially different from
the Northern, the former being built upon slave labor, the
latter upon free. It stands to the everlasting credit of
Madison, Mason, and others from Virginia that they de-
nounced slavery and the slave traffic ; but the delegates
from the States of the far South were anxious for more
slaves and for the protection of the system. Still another
question arose : Were slaves to be counted in determining
the basis of representation of the States, or should they, since
they were held as property, be no more taken into account
than the sheep and oxen of the Northern farmer ? Again,
the Southern States generally were, to use Mason's words,
" staple States " — that is, they raised raw material and ex-
ported a large part of it. They feared that, if Congress
were given authority to regulate commerce, the power

228 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

would be used to tax exports and destroy Southern trade.
These differences were finally settled by various bargains or
compromises.

In determining the basis of representation and of direct

taxation, it was decided that five slaves should count as

three freemen.* "Slaves were to be admitted

Compromises. ^^ ^ ^ Qf J anuar y j 1808? \> ut j n t h e

meantime Congress should have power to levy a duty of ten
dollars on each person so imported, f Congress was given
full authority to regulate interstate and foreign commerce,
but was prohibited from levying an export duty. J

The Constitution was signed by delegates from all the
States represented in the convention on the 17th of Sep-
tember, but not by all the delegates. Three
Constitution ^q were p resen t refused to sign ; thirteen had
left during the course of the convention. Only
thirty-nine, therefore, out of the fifty-five members gave
their final consent. When such evidences of differing opin-
ions appeared in this assembly of wise men, what hope
could there be of the success of the Constitution when dis-
cussed before the people ? It was laid before the Congress
of the Confederation, and was then submitted by this Con-
gress "-to a convention of delegates chosen in each State
by the people thereof."

The new Constitution was essentially different from the
Articles. The new Government was not to be the agent of
the States and dependent on State generosity for funds,

* See the Constitution, art. i, sec. 2.

f Constitution, art. i, sec. 9, § 1.

% Constitution, art. i, sec. 9, § 5. It may be noticed that the impor-
tation of slaves till 1808 was sufficient to fasten the slavery system per-
manently on the Southern States, just as many of the members of the
convention said it would. Doubtless even without this right of impor-
tation it would have been difficult to root out the system. As to the
effect of the three-fifths compromise as it appears to a strong oppo-
nent of slavery, see Gay's Madison, pp. 99, 100.

CONFEDERATION AND CONSTITUTION— 1781-1789. 229

Its essential
character.

or on State humor for obedience. It was to spring from
the people and to have power over the people. The pre-
amble of the Constitution states that "we, the
people, ... do ordain and establish this Consti-
tution." The laws of the Government were to
be direct commands to persons. It could raise money with
its own machinery and compel obedience with its own offi-
cers. Great political powers were given to the new Govern-

Etghth Federal PILLAR reared?

From the Independent Chronicle and Universal Advertiser, Boston, Thursday, June 18, 1788.

ment, powers general in their nature, such as the right to
make peace or war, conduct negotiations with foreign gov-
ernments, raise armies and equip navies, establish post
offices and post roads, regulate commerce among the States
or with foreign nations. All power was not bestowed on
the National Government, but only certain enumerated

The Ninth PILLAR erected /

" The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, (hall be fuffitient forthe eftahlifti-
ment of this Conftitution, between the States lo ratifying the fame." Art. vii.

INCIPIENT MAGNI PROCEDERE MENSES.

The Attraction rouft
be irrefiftibl©

From the Independent Chronicle and Universal Advertiser, Boston, Thursday, June 26, 1788.

powers ; the rest belonged to the States or to the people,
unless the Constitution forbade their use by any govern-
mental authority. There were thus created immediately
over every citizen two governments, occupying each a dif-

230 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

ferent sphere of political action, and each having power to
order and compel obedience. The distinguishing feature of
this new republic was this distribution of political author-
ity between the Central Government on the one hand and
the commonwealths that composed the Union on the other.

Moreover, the form of the new Government was differ-
ent from that of the old. Power was divided between sep-
arate departments, and each department was
to be in large measure independent of the
other. A single person, the President of the United States,
was given executive authority. The experiences of the
confederation had taught that one man can execute the
laws more vigorously and sensibly than many. The legis-
lative power was intrusted to two bodies of nearly equal
power, that one might act as a check and a balance to the
other. An independent judiciary was provided for, the
judges to be appointed by the Executive with the advice
and consent of the Senate, to hold office during good be-
havior. Thus the separation of the powers of government,
which was thought to be essential for the preservation of
liberty, formed an important part of the new plan.*

Conventions were summoned in all the States save obsti-
nate little Ehode Island, to pass upon the new Constitution.
The people of eleven States ratified the instru-

yJgSjJJ ment before the end of 1788 - This decision,
however, was reached only after prolonged dis-
cussion and debate. In some of the States the outcome was
doubtful almost to the end. Virginia, Massachusetts, and
Xew York were the most doubtful States. Here the Con-

* Students of history and of politics believed that the powers of
government should be classified according to their nature, and that the
same body should not be possessed of two essentially different kinds of
power. " If it be," said Madison, " a fundamental principle of free
government that the legislative, executive, and judiciary powers should
be separately exercised, it is equally so that they be independently ex-
ercised." (Madison's Journal of the Convention, July 19th.)

CONFEDERATION AND CONSTITUTION— 1781-1789. 231

stitution had formidable opponents and no less able defend-
ers. The ratification in the New York convention was due,
in large part, to the eloquence and able statesmanship of
Hamilton. During the progress of the discussion in New
York, Hamilton, Madison, and John Jay wrote a series of arti-
cles for the press, commenting on the character of the Con-
stitution. These papers, gathered into a volume called the
Federalist, constitute a great work on the science of govern-
ment, one of the most famous books ever written in America.

Map showing Distribution of Population in 1790.

Some of the State conventions would have rejected the
Constitution had its supporters not agreed that after the
organization of the new Government amendments should
be added in the nature of a bill of rights to guard against
tyrannical action on the part of the central authority. The
first ten amendments to the Constitution were afterward
agreed to in accordance with this understanding.* North

* The first ten amendments were adopted in Washington's adminis-
tration. They were declared in force December 15, 1791. It is to be
noticed that they are restrictions on the power of the National Govern-
ment, and do not bind the States.
16

232 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Carolina did not become a member of the new Union till
November, 1789. Ehode Island gave up her pretensions to
independence in 1790.

The Constitution thus established was in one sense not
a new creation. It was more than the outcome of a con-
ference of wise men. It was the result of ex-
The product perience, and was in itself a growth. Its main
characteristics were the products of the time.
The very failures of the Confederation had shown the
proper basis. In the details of the machinery of govern-
ment there was little that was absolutely new. The fram-
ers drew from the history of other nations, from their
knowledge of the English law and institutions, but most of
all from their own political experience. They were at once
scholars and men of affairs, students of history and of prac-
tical politics. The goodness of their handiwork resulted
from their wise appreciation of the teaching of the past,
and the clever joining together of the best and safest mate-
rial that the tide of history brought to their feet.*

References.

The best short references are Hart, The Formation of the Union,
pp. 102-135; Walker, The Making of the Nation, pp. 1-73; Morse,
Alexander Hamilton, Chapters III and IV; Lodge, George Wash-
ington, Volume II, Chapter I; Pellew, John Jay, Chapter IX; Tyler,
Patrick Henry, Chapters XVII-XIX ; Schouler, History, Volume I,
pp. 1-74. A very interesting account of the period is given in
Fiske, The Critical Period of American History; and a much longer
and fuller statement in McMaster, History of the People of the
United States, Volume I, especially Chapters I-V.

* " The American Constitution is no exception to the rule, that
everything which has power to win the obedience and respect of men
must have its roots deep in the past; and that the more slowly every
institution has grown, so much the more enduring is it likely to prove.
There is little in the Constitution that is absolutely new. There is
much that is as old as Magna Charta." (Bryce, The American Com-
monwealth, vol. i, p. 29.)

CHATTER XL

Federal Supremacy — Organization of the Government—
1789-1801.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF GEORGE WASHINGTON—
1789-1797.

The Congress of the confederation made the necessary
arrangements for ushering in the new Government and then
_ . ... , expired.* The election of President was ap-

EstaDlisament r r

of the pointed for the first Wednesday in January,

Government. 1789? the mee tiiig of the electors for the first
Wednesday in February, and the inauguration of the Gov-
ernment and the real beginning of the new order for the
first Wednesday in March. It happened that the first
AVednesday in March fell on the 4th of that month, and
thus it came about that March 4th is the day when a new
President and a new Congress assume the duties of office.
As a matter of fact, however, Congress did not assemble at
the appointed time. Its members leisurely came together
in New York, where the Government was to be organized,
and there was not a quorum of the House of Kepresenta-
tives till the 1st of April, or of the Senate till some days
later.

When the votes for President were counted in the pres-
ence of the two houses, it was found that Washington had

* The confederate Congress continued in formal existence till March
2, 1789. " It then nickered and went out without any public notice."
One of the men at the time said it was hard to say whether the old
government was dead or the new one alive.

233

234

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

been unanimously elected President, and that John Adams,
having received the next greatest number of ballots, was
m _. elected Vice-President.* Washington's iour-

Washington . . 8 J

elected and ney iroiii Virginia to JNew lork was a long
inaugurated. triumphal progress. The people gathered
everywhere to pay a reverent respect to the man whose
greatness was deeply felt and honored. Not till the 30th
of April did he take the oath of office. The place was the

Senate balcony of Federal
Hall. The scene was an im-
pressive one. One of the
greatest of the world's great
men consecrated himself
anew to the service of his
country, and entered upon
the duty of giving life and
vigor to the new Government
of the young nation. After
the oath had been taken
Washington read to Con-
gress, assembled in the Senate
chamber, his inaugural ad-
dress. "It was very touch-
ing," we are told by a spec-

yy^i^t y<z

<Zc^>-

tator, "and quite of the solemn kind. His aspect grave
almost (<> sadness; his modesty, actually shaking ; his voice
deep, a little tremulous, and so low as to call for close
attention ; added to the series of objects presented to the
mind and overwhelming it, produced emotions of the most
affecting kind upon the members."

Even before the inauguration the House had entered
earnestly upon the work of legislation. The great need of

* By the Constitution as it then was, each elector east two votes
without designating which was for President and which for Vice-
Prosident. Constitution, art. ii, sec. 1, § '3.

ADMINISTRATION OF WASI 1 1 NOToN— 1780-1797. 235

the new Government was money, and bo the House began
at once the consideration of ;i tarifE bill. One was passed
n early in the summer, and ;i national income

Congress J

begins was thus secured. It proved m a short time

legislation. | | )( . inadequate, and the duties wore increased.
This and other means of obtaining money soon gave the
Government dignity and won it respect.

But much besides the raising of funds was necessary to
put the lutw Government into running order. The Consti-
tution, general in its provisions, did not outline
Executive m fofafi the forms and methods that must be

departments.

followed in giving it effect. Many new offices
must be established and their duties declared. The expe-
riences of the war and the Confederation had shown the
value of single administrative officers, and the Constitution
provided that the President could "require the opinion, in
writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive de-
partments, upon any subject relating to the duties of then-
respective offices."* Congress now passed bills to form
three such departments — State (at first called Foreign Af-
fairs), Treasury, and War. The Post Office was continued
on its old footing, and the office of Attorney-General was
established. This officer soon became an important person
in the administration because of his duty to give the Presi-
dent Legal advice, but he was not at first at the head of
what was strictly an executive department.

To the offices thus established Washington appointed
able men. Thomas Jefferson, then absent in France, was

upon his return made Secretary of State, as-
Washington's Bumm g the duties of the office in 1790. The

appointments. °

Treasury portfolio was given to Alexander

Hamilton, then a young man hardly more than thirty-two
years of age, possessed of wonderful executive ability, with
a strong grasp of details and a firm comprehension of prin-

* Constitution, art. ii, sec. 2, § 1.

ADMINISTRATION OF WASHINGTON— 1789-1797. 237

ciples. He had long been interested in the disordered
finances of the Confederation, and Washington thought
him the man to bring order out of the confusion that every-
where prevailed. For this task he was specially qualified.
All matters seemed to take form and arrange themselves in
passing through his mind. His task was a difficult one.
" Finance ! " said Gouverneur Morris to Jay at one time ;
" Ah, my friend, all that remains of the American Revolu-
tion grounds there." The fate of the Constitution seemed
to depend upon the success with which order was brought
out of the disorder that had been inherited from the war
and the critical period. Henry Knox, an excellent officer
and an able man, head of the War Department under the
Confederation, was made Secretary of War. Edmund Ran-
dolph was appointed Attorney-General.

We must remember that the Constitution does not pro-
vide for a Cabinet, but simply speaks of executive depart-
Th Am I nients. In fact, even the English Cabinet was
Cabinet a not so clearly defined then as now ; its func-

growth. tions were not so evident and well understood.

So that we ought not to expect that, inasmuch as the Ameri-
cans had had no experience with a Cabinet, the heads of the
executive departments would be formed at once into a
single body, bent on carrying out a well-recognized policy.
At the present time the members of the President's Cabinet
meet together at intervals ; in these meetings great ques-
tions of state are discussed, and it is thought desirable that
there should be, in a very general way, harmony and co-opera-
tion, at times even a definite Cabinet policy. This state of
things is, however, the result of growth. No such con-
dition existed in 1789 — indeed was hardly possible — for as
yet there were no political parties with a distinct programme
of action. Washington sometimes called the heads of de-
partments together for consultation, sometimes asked for
their individual opinions in writing, or for the advice of one
alone.

238

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

As it turned out, Washington's first Cabinet contained
men who by training and temperament were quite diverse.
Two opposite tendencies in political life were
elements in the represented in it. On many questions pre-
Cabinet. sented for discussion, Hamilton and Jefferson

took different positions. With the former, Knox was apt to
agree, while Jefferson and Randolph were often opposed to

the other two. Jefferson was
a man of great ability, and
was a statesman of wide
powers. He was strongly
democratic in his sympa-
thies, believing that the peo-
ple at large were the purest
and safest source of politi-
cal power and opinion. He
was given to sentiment, if
not to sentimentality, and
he was not always strong as
an administrator. During
his political career in Vir-
ginia he had attacked the
aristocratic institutions of
the colony and State, and he now had no sympathy with
governments or organizations whose tendency was to check
free growth and free thinking. He played no such part as
Hamilton and Washington in bringing about order and sys-
tem and establishing the new Government. His greatness
lay in the fact that he appreciated the sentiment or spirit
of popular government, a spirit that was destined to be the
ruling force in the great republic, which was then organ-
izing itself for effective work. In this sympathy he was
opposed to many men of that time who believed with John
Adams that " the rich, well-born and the able " were quali-
fied to rule. While Hamilton was not entirely out of sym-
pathy with popular government, he represented the con-

<72i9X

ADMINISTRATION OF WASHINGTON— 1789-1797. 239

servative elements of the nation. His power was in admin-
istration, in bringing order out of disorder. He had no
fear of an energetic and efficient government, and felt
keenly the necessity of such government after experience
with the discord and turbulence of the critical period.

At this first session of the First Congress, Federal courts
were established. Besides the Supreme Court, Circuit and

District Courts were provided for. All cases
^hrh^ ^ fta ^ un( ^ er the Constitution might come under

Federal jurisdiction were not confided to these
courts alone, but the State courts were allowed concurrent
jurisdiction in many cases. To avoid obscurity and con-
fusion by differing interpretations of national laws, and to
avoid the possibility that the effect and nature of Federal
statutes should be permanently decided by the State courts
in such a way as to detract from the power and efficiency
of the National Government, provision was made for an
appeal from the Supreme Court of a State to the Supreme
Court of the United States of cases (1) where a decision
had been rendered in the State court denying the validity
of some Federal statute or treaty ; or (2) refusing to recog-
nize a privilege claimed under the Federal Constitution, laws,
or treaties ; or (3) where the validity of a State law under
the Constitution of the United States had been called in
question and the State court had held such law valid.* By
this method the supremacy of national law was to be secured
without trouble or vexation to the States. f The Federal
courts are to-day arranged on the same general plan as
that outlined in this famous statute, which was largely the
work of Oliver Ellsworth, of Connecticut. The first chief
justice appointed was John Jay, a man of rare purity and
sweetness of character, with good legal knowledge and a

* The Constitution provides for one Supreme Court and other courts
that Congress may establish (see Constitution, art. iii). Congress, how-
ever, needed to provide for the Supreme Court also.

f See the Constitution, art. vi, § 2.

240

HISTORY OF TIIE AMERICAN NATION.

wide experience in affairs of State. The peculiar duties of
our first justices demanded the wisdom of the statesman
even more than the learning of the lawyer.

Hamilton set about the task of bringing order into the
deranged finances of the country. Upon request, he pre-
pared a report and submitted it to Congress at its second
session. He showed that the debt of the United States was
about fifty-four million dollars, including arrears of inter-
est — a vast sum for that day. He proposed to
The public debt. iggue new C e rt ifi cates f indebtedness, and to

receive in payment the old evidences of indebtedness. The
new certificates were to be issued on more favorable terms

to the Government than the
old. It was resolved by Con-
gress to pay in full the debt
which we owed abroad; but
many objected to paying the
home debt in full, because the
paper had been so depreciated
that a payment at face value
would simply pour loads of
dollars into the hands of specu-
lators who had bought up the
old paper. Hamilton, however,
argued for straight downright
honesty, without distinction of
persons. He believed that the
Government promises to pay
must be redeemed in full. A
bill was finally passed by Con-
gress providing tor the payment of the domestic as well as
the foreign debt in substantial accord with Hamilton's
suggestions.

Hamilton proposed at the same time that the State
debts should be assumed and paid by the National Govern-
ment, on the ground that they were actually incurred in

ADMINISTRATION OF WASHINGTON— 1789-1797. 241

behalf of the common weal. This proposal met with vigor-
ous objection, and a bill for the purpose was defeated at this
session. About the same time, however, there

aeTitaL ^ was S reat discussion over the location of the
permanent capital. This seems a trivial mat-
ter, but men became very much excited about it, as if the
fate of the nation were at stake in the decision. Finally a
bargain was struck. Hamilton secured Northern votes for
a Southern capital, and Jefferson was instrumental in se-
curing Southern votes for assumption of the State debts, a
measure more favored by the Northern and Eastern than the
Southern States. The site on the Potomac was soon af-
terward selected.

Among other plans of Hamilton were the laying of an
excise and the establishment of a national bank. At the
final session of the First Congress (winter of
1790-'91) such measures were proposed. There
was bitter opposition to the excise, for it seemed to many
that the secretary, in order to magnify his office and to ex-
alt national power unduly, was striving to obtain all sources
of taxation for the Federal Government. The bill was finally
passed after a sharp debate. It provided for a tax on liquors,
and it was humorously suggested tnat it would be like
" drinking down the national debt."

Hamilton advocated a bank, on the ground that it would
be of assistance to the Government in borrowing money and
carrying on its financial business, and that it
would be of service in furnishing a circulating
medium. The plan caused great discussion in the House.
Hamilton's financial measures had already won him a de-
voted following, but a strenuous and vigorous opposition
was now forming. Madison was its leader. He had favored
the excise, but he now argued strongly against the bank bill.
The main argument of its opponents was that it was un-
constitutional, that the Federal Government had not been
given the authority to establish a corporation. A bill in

242 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

practical agreement with Hamilton's proposals was at length
carried through both houses. It provided for a bank with
a capital of ten million dollars. The Government was to
be a stockholder, and subscriptions to a large portion of
the stock were to be made in United States bonds. The
effect of this would be to make a demand for the bonds,
and thus help the credit of the Government. All interested
in the bank would be sure to be interested in the stability
of the Government.

Before signing the bill Washington asked from the
members of his Cabinet their written opinions. The re-
plies of Hamilton and Jefferson are great State
JSJSSlir 4 Papers. They clearly mark out doctrines of
two distinct schools of political thought and
two distinct methods of interpreting the Constitution. Jef-
ferson, anxious to keep the central authority within narrow
limits, argued that the Government did not have the right
to establish a bank, because no such power had been ex-
pressly granted in the Constitution, and because it was not
necessary for carrying out any of the powers that were
granted. He thus advocated what is known as " strict con-
struction" of the Constitution. Hamilton, on the other
hand, argued that the Government had the right to choose
all means that seemed suitable and proper for carrying out
effectually the powers intrusted to it by the Constitution.*
He thus laid down the doctrine of " implied powers," and
advocated a " broad " construction of the Constitution.
Here, then, were stated by these two secretaries fundamen-
tal ideas that were to form the basic principles of contend-
ing parties.

Before the end of Washington's first term political par-
ties were organized. They were largely formed in conse-

* See the Constitution, art. i, sec. 8, § 18. The right of Congress to
choose means for carrying out its power does not rest simply on this
clause of the Constitution, but is a reasonable inference from the
whole.

ADMINISTRATION OF WASHINGTON— 1789-1797. 243

quence of sympathy with or antagonism to Hamilton's
plans, which plainly enough tended not simply to establish
sound financial conditions, but to give power
and efficiency to the central authority. It was
believed by many that the wily secretary was making use
of his position by various vicious methods to bring and hold
together a monarchical party, and that repub-
partv. ePU CaU ^ can institutions were endangered by the
schemes and machinations of what Jefferson
called the "corrupt squadron." These persons, so opposed
to Hamilton's measures and suspicious of his devices, were
now crystallizing into a party. Its leaders were Jefferson
and Madison. It soon called itself the Eepublican party,
but was often stigmatized by its opponents as democratic, a
word not then in good odor because of the excesses of the
French Eevolution committed in the name of liberty and
fraternity. It believed that the rights of the States should
be defended against encroachments on the part of the Na-
tional Government. Distrust of government and faith in
the people were its dearest principles. Although Jeffer-
son's suspicions of Hamilton's monarchic designs were quite
unfounded, and much of this early opposition to Federal
measures was unwise, it was well that a party was formed
with democracy for its substantial faith, a party whose aim
was — to use Jefferson's quaint words — " the cherishment of
the people." The defenders of the Hamiltonian policy still
called themselves Federalists, the word assumed
by the supporters of the Constitution when it
was before the people for ratification. Their opponents
were often called Anti-Federalists, although, as suggested
above, when parties were really formed (1792-'93) the Jef-
f ersonian party was more properly designated as Republican
or Democratic. The Federalists were broad construction-
ists, believers in a strong central government. They came
in good part from the commercial States. The Repub-
licans were strict constructionists, and on the whole were

244 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

from the agricultural States. Industrial conditions of the
different sections of the country did much to determine
party beliefs and tendencies. Commerce is essentially gen-
eral, not local, and thus its followers favored a strong gen-
eral government — a government that could insure free com-
mercial intercourse and protect trade.

By the end of Washington's first term it was plain
enough that the new Government had elements of success
& tion l an( ^ P ermanence - There was evidence of pros-

prosperity perity everywhere, of renewed hope, and of

and union. business energy. National parties had sprung

into existence, and, though one of them was opposed on
principle to the development of the power of the Federal
Government, the co-operation among advocates of party
doctrine, from one end of the country to the other, was a
bond of real union, bringing the people into a closer and
more sympathetic relation than had existed before in the
era of the Confederation, when sympathies were often cut
short by State boundaries. The new nation had evidently
won attention if not respect abroad, but its international
trials are best considered as a whole in connection with
Washington's second term.

Washington desired to retire at the end of his first term,
but was persuaded to accept another election. The discord
p , in his Cabinet, which had by this time become

personal serious, troubled him very much. Hamilton

enmities. an( j j e ff ers0 ii, to use the hitter's own expres-

sion, "were pitted against each other like two fighting
cocks." Jefferson thought the Secretary of the Treasury
a corrupt and scheming enemy of republicanism, an in-
triguing monarchist. Hamilton thought that the Secretary
of State was a demagogue, who cloaked a rankling ambition
under professions of fear for popular well-being. Washing-
ton's efforts to restore peace were fruitless. He had not
known hitherto the depth and rancor of party feeling. Co-
lonial history had given no indication of such party organi-

ADMINISTRATION OF WASHINGTON— 1789-1797. 245

zations, and hence he and others were astounded at what
seemed to be unaccountable ill feeling. But, as we have
seen, the differences, though needlessly bitter and personal,
were natural ones,* and these two men were but representa-
tives of different thoughts and feelings in the country at
large. Spite of all these party clashings and personal en-
mities Washington was again unanimously elected. The
opposition was directed against Adams, who was, however,
chosen Vice-President by a good majority.

Without attempting to follow out in chronological order

the events of Washington's second administration, let us

see what the chief troubles and achievements

The Whisky W ere. One of the difficulties to be overcome

Eebellion, .

was the resistance to the excise law. This re-
sistance was especially strong in western Pennsylvania.
The opposition was formidable. Mobs intimidated the tax
collectors, and even used tar and feathers to emphasize
their disapproval ; public meetings denounced the atrocious
interference of the Federal Government in the " natural
rights of man." f In 1794 opposition became rebellion.
It was high time for the authorities to take decisive action.
Fifteen thousand militia were called out, and, accompanied
by Hamilton himself, they marched to the scene of disorder.
Eesistance was hopeless, and it ceased. Even the distant
frontier was thus made aware that a National Government
was in existence, and that it could enforce its laws. It is a
striking proof, however, of the dangers and trials that beset

* It was inevitable that men should differ regarding the power and
scope of the new Government ; inevitable, too, that they should differ
regarding the trust and confidence to be bestowed on the whole people ;
inevitable that, under the circumstances, some men should dread the
establishment of monarchy and see visions of tyranny where danger did
not exist.

f Whisky actually took the place of money in the Western country.
A gallon of whisky was worth a shilling, and therefore a tax of seven
cents a gallon seemed very severe.

246 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

the establishment of the Government, that three years had
passed by before these steps were taken to crush lawlessness
in a few counties of the frontier.

Most of the difficulties of these years were connected
with foreign affairs. Politically independent of any Euro-
pean powers, our country was still industrially
Troubles with dependent. Moreover, the nation was weak,
and its power was not respected by foreign
governments. England had long refused to treat us as an
equal. Not till 1791 did she send a minister to this coun-
try. The treaty of 1783 had not been fulfilled by either
party. England retained possession of the military posts
on our Northern and Western frontier within the limits of
the United States. She gave as her excuse that, contrary
to the treaty, the loyalists had been persecuted, and the
British creditors prevented from collecting sums due them
by American citizens. Her charges — at least during the
time of the Confederation — had too much truth in them ;
but her main reason for retaining the Western posts was
her desire to control the fur trade and to maintain her in-
fluence over the Indians.

In 1793 war broke out between France and England.
This put the United States into an embarrassing position.
War between ^ e were ^ound by the treaty of 1778 to allow
England and France certain privileges in our ports not
France. granted other nations, and common gratitude

might seem to force us to her side as an active ally. True,
the French had not entered the Revolutionary War so much
for the purpose of helping America as of injuring England,
but they seemed to the men of that time generous bene-
factors. If by assisting France we should be drawn into
war with England, it might bring complete disaster. The
country was just beginning to hold up its head, and to look
prosperous and hopeful after the trials of the Confederation.

Washington concluded that we were at least morally
justified in disregarding the French treaty, and he issued

ADMINISTRATION OF WASHINGTON— 1789-1797. 247

a proclamation of neutrality. Just as he did so a minister
from the new French republic landed at Charleston. He
began at once to fit out privateers to prey
upon British commerce, and proceeded to vio-
late the neutrality of the United States and to act in gen-
eral as if he were justified in doing what he pleased. He
demanded, in a lofty tone, various favors from the Govern-
ment, and finally was so impertinent and so outrageous in
his conduct that Washington asked for his recall. The
most discouraging thing about the whole affair was that
this fellow, Genet, was hailed as a hero as soon as he landed
on American soil. Men that were in shivering dread lest
Washington or Hamilton should make himself a king, were
ready to pay kingly honors to this man whose conduct was
directed to bringing on another war with England, all in
the name of liberty, equality, and the rights of man. Wash-
ington was actually attacked in venomous newspaper arti-
cles, and held up as the enemy of freedom and the friend of.
monarchy and corruption. Fortunately, the insulting mis-
conduct of Genet * and the intemperate clamors of the
French partisans ended in winning to the side of the Gov-
ernment the sober-minded citizens who had sense enough
to see the real situation.

But affairs were long in a critical condition. So ex-
travagant in their actions and conduct were many of the
people that insurrection within or war with-
! ng J! L - out seemed at times almost inevitable. Eng-

aggressions. °

land meantime, instead of wisely seeking to
conciliate and win us, was exasperating in the extreme.
American merchantmen on the high seas were plundered,
on the ground that they were bound with provisions to
French ports and that provisions were " contraband of war " ;

* Under authority from the French Government, Genet planned not

only to cement a close allianco with America, but, with the assistance of

the frontiersmen of the Mississippi Valley, to attack Spain's possessions

in Louisiana and Florida, and to win Canada for " liberty and equality."

248

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

seamen were taken from American vessels and forced to do
service on English frigates ; and in other ways the com-
merce of the country was attacked or outrageously inter-
fered with. All this was done under pretense of right, but
the Americans felt that it was the right of the highway
robber.

Closely connected with these foreign complications were
the Indian troubles in the West. Not since the end of the
Eevolution had there been a good assurance of
continued peace. The frontier was kept in
constant dread of attack, and the only wonder
is that men and women had the hardihood to move across
the mountains into the Northwestern wilderness to suffer

Indian
hostilities

View of the Campus Maktius, Marietta, Ohio, 1798.

hardships and privations and to imperil their lives. In 1788
a settlement was made at Marietta by people from New
England, the first settlement of importance north of the
Ohio. The frontier, however, in the next few years ex-
tended but little. Detroit and Mackinaw were held by the
British. It was popularly believed that the Indians were
incited to hostilities by the British officers. Though it is
not true that the English Government was guilty of such

ADMINISTRATION OF WASHINGTON— 1789-1797. 249

dastardly conduct, the red men took courage from the fact
that the frontier forts were in the hands of their former
allies, and they were continually led to look upon England
as their steadfast friend.

In 1790 an expedition sent out under General Harmar

to punish the Indians of Ohio was utterly routed. The

next year an army under General St. Clair met

Wayne's similar fate. In 1794 Washington intrusted

victory. °

the command of an army to General Anthony
Wayne, one of the men of the Revolution upon whom the
President knew he could rely. " Mad Anthony," as he was
sometimes called, gave no signs of harebrained rashness.
He completely defeated the Indians in a battle on the Mau-
mee, not very far from where the city of Toledo now stands.
In the winter (1795) he formed the treaty of Greenville
with the chiefs. This victory and the treaty opened up a
large section of the Northwest for settlement ; and emi-
grants from the seacoast States were soon pouring over the

mountains to build new homes in the new West.

In seven years from the treaty of Greenville
Ohio was knocking for admission into the Union — one of
the most striking facts in our history.

It will thus be seen that the year 1794 was a dreadful
one. The Government was for a time openly disobeyed

by the anti-excise men of Pennsylvania. The
0*1794 yeai coun ^ r y was inwardly torn by faction, some

persons upholding England, and others ready to
accept the fraternal embrace of the French republic. Our
flag was insulted on the seas and our seamen impressed.
In the West the Indians were hostile, and were believed to
be encouraged by the English, who still held possession of
our frontier forts.

We have seen how Washington overcame some of these
troubles. To come to an understanding with England, he
now sent John Jay as a special envoy to that country.
The mission was a delicate one. Failure presumably meant

250 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

war ; and yet we were in no condition to fight. Jay suc-
ceeded in making a good treaty, the best that could be

obtained under the circumstances. It was not

fair or equitable ; England did not give us any-
thing like fair commercial privileges, nor did she promise
to give up impressment ; but she did give up the frontier
posts, and agreed to pay for the provisions she had seized.
The United States promised to pay debts due British cred-
itors, the collection of which had been hindered in the
States. The treaty met with violent opposition when its
terms were known in America. Washington was vehe-
mently abused. Jay was hanged in effigy and denounced as
a traitor. Hamilton was stoned when endeavoring to speak
in behalf of the treaty. But, with the exception of a sin-
gle clause, it was finally ratified by the Senate. When the
House was called upon to pass the necessary appropriation
bills for carrying out the treaty, it called upon Washington
for the papers relating to the matter. Washington refused
to give them, on the ground that the House had no share in
the treaty-making power. A great debate ensued, and at
length the necessary appropriations were made.

In the course of Washington's second term both Jeffer-
son and Hamilton gave up their offices, and other changes

took place in the Cabinet. At the end the
Cabinet Cabinet was decidedly Federal, containing no

longer members of different parties or repre-
sentatives of different political tendencies.

Three new States had by this time been admitted to the
Union — Vermont, whose territory had been claimed by both

New York and New Hampshire (1791) ; Ken-
Important tucky, formed from what was the western part

of Virginia (1792) ; and Tennessee (1796). A
new amendment to the Constitution, the eleventh, was pro-
posed in 1794, but it was not adopted till four years later.
It resulted from the fact that the Supreme Court had de-
clared that a private individual could sue a State.

ADMINISTRATION OF WASHINGTON— 1789-1797. 251

The
Government

The end of Washington's administration saw the coun-
try free from many perils and on the high road to pros-
perity. The new Government had weathered
severe storms and had proved itself efficient.
Much of its success was due to the President's
good judgment, sound sense, and firmness.* His chief as-
sistants also, especially Hamilton, deserve great credit. Spite
of some uneasiness and waywardness among the people, they
had shown to the world the great example of a nation or-
ganizing a government in peace and giving it obedience.

Washington refused to consider an election for a third
term, and in September, 1796, issued a farewell address.
This is a noble public document. It deserves
The farewell careful reading to-day, and in many ways fits
our times as it did the days of a hundred years
ago. He pleaded earnestly
for a true national spirit and
for devotion to country. " Do
not encourage party spirit,
but use every effort to miti-
gate it and assuage it. . . .
Observe justice and faith to-
ward all nations ; have neither
passionate hatreds nor pas-
sionate attachments to any ;
and be independent practi-
cally of all. In one word, be
a nation, be American, and
be true to yourselves."

In the election that en-

ELECTION
OF 179G

Federalist tZU
Republican 1 I
Divided I I

* One can hardly overestimate the importance of Washington's per-
sonal character upon the life of his country. His wisdom and courage,
his simple integrity, his tact and forbearance, his dignity and manli-
ness, his purity and magnanimity of soul, exalted the nation. Without
him it is difficult to see how the Revolution could have succeeded or the
new Government been established.

252 niSTOKY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Bued the Federalists supported John Adams and Thomas
Pinckney, and the Republicans Thomas Jefferson and
Aaron Burr. At that time the Constitution
provided that each elector should vote for two
persons. The one having the greatest number of votes
should be President, " if such number be a majority of the
whole number of electors," and the person having the next
number Vice-President. Adams and Jefferson were well-
known men, and each of them received more votes than
either of the other two candidates. Adams was elected
President and Jefferson Vice-President. And thus these
two important positions in the Government were filled by
persons of differing political beliefs ; they were, as Adams
said, " in opposite boxes." The consequence was that
Jefferson was bitterly opposed to most of the work of an
administration in which he held the second position.

References.

Short accounts : Walker, The Making of the Nation, Chapters
V and VI; Hart, The Formation of the Union, pp. 136-164. Longer
accounts: Lodge, George Washington, Volume II, pp. 47-216 ; Lodge,
Alexander Hamilton, pp. 84-197; Morse, Thomas Jefferson, pp. 96-
173; McMaster, History of the People of the United States, Volume
I, pp. 525 604, Volume II, pp. 1-308.

ADMINISTRATION OP JOHN ADAMS— 1797-1801.

Adams was a strong Federalist, given, at this time, to
ideas somewhat lofty and aristocratic. He had wide experi-
ence in affairs of state and had acquired merited
distinction. He was not always tactful or wise-
ly forbearant with those who did not agree with him, and
was at times headstrong, always proud and sensitive ; but
he was withal a sturdy patriot and an honest, able man.

Jay's treaty did not put an end to foreign troubles.
England, indeed, treated us with more consideration than

ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN ADAMS— 1797-1801. 253

before ; but France seemed utterly regardless of how she
abused a young nation whom she did not fear, and she was

now wroth with the United States because the
wiSance. Government had come to terms with England

without her august sanction. Monroe, whom
Washington had sent as a minister to Paris, was recalled in
179G, because he was too ready to receive French compli-
ments and too lax about pressing upon the Government our
demands for damages. The
United States had long been
suffering from the depreda-
tions of the French upon our
commerce. French war ships
ruthlessly plundered Ameri-
can merchantmen. They had
not, on the whole, done so
much damage as the English
men-of-war, but that was not
because the French naval offi-
cers lacked the will and the
desire, but was due to the fact
that France was less powerful
on the sea than England, and
was less capable of injuring
neutral commerce.*

Charles C. Pinckney was sent to Paris as our minister to
succeed Monroe ; but, instead of being courteously received,
he was shamefully treated by the French Government. Our
Government was given to understand that a minister would
not be received until grievances were redressed, as if, for-
sooth, America, not France, had been the aggressor. With
the hope of bringing France to her senses, Adams appointed
a commission of three persons, John Marshall, Elbridge

Jffm^/dwui

* For some years after the treaty of 1794 England did not injure
our commerce much.

254 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Gerry, and Charles C. Pinckney. These men, instead of
being treated with official courtesy, were waited on in Paris
by secret messengers sent by Talleyrand, the French minis-
ter, who made most extraordinary and insulting demands.
One of their requests was for a bribe for the members of the
French Directory. They said they wanted " money, a great
deal of money." * The commissioners found their situation
humiliating and unbearable. Marshall and Pinckney left
Paris ; Gerry unwisely remained for a time, but accomplished
nothing.

The President sent to Congress the dispatches of the
commission, April, 1798. The names of the French mes-
sengers were not given, but the letters X, Y, Z
The X Y Z supplied their places ; hence this whole diffi-

correspondenc6i

culty is often called the X Y Z affair. Con-
gress and the country at large were amazed and angry at
the treatment accorded our envoys. Adams proclaimed
that he would not send " another minister to France
without assurance that he would be received as the rep-
resentative of a great, free, powerful, and independent
nation."

Preparation was made for war. An army was organized,
and Washington given the command. The navy was in-
creased. Battles were actually fought at sea.
War with ^ general war seemed inevitable. But the

French Government was readier to intimidate
and browbeat than to fight. Upon this great question of
national honor the American people were no longer danger-
ously divided into hostile factions. The French sympathies
of the Republicans were not strong enough to make them
accept insults willingly.

* " Said he [M. X] : ' Gentlemen, you do not speak to the point : it is
money ; it is expected you will offer money.' We said we had spoken
to that point very explicitly; we had given an answer. 'No,' said he,
1 you have not. What is your answer ? ' We replied : ' It is no ; no ;
no ; not a sixpence.' " (Report of the commission.)

ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN ADAMS-1797-1801. 255

When it was evident that America was ready to fight,
Talleyrand, the wily minister, whose methods and words
had been so exasperating, thought it best to
Prance retracts. try different tactics. He suggested in a round-
about way that France would be ready to receive a minister
from the United States " with the respect due to the repre-
sentative of a free, independent, and powerful nation."
This declaration of penitence was not so open and straight-
forward as might have been desired, but Adams wisely de-
cided to make the best of it, and a commission was appoint-
ed to proceed to France and settle the difficulties. This
was successfully accomplished, and friendly relations were
thus re-established.

Almost from the beginning of Washington's administra-
tion, parties had differed with regard to foreign policy.
. The Federalists were eager to keep on good

try to crush terms with England; they were called "the
opposition. British faction" by their opponents, and

charged with truckling to the interest of that country. As
we have seen, the Federalists were specially strong in New
England, and the commercial interests of this section
prompted them to wish to keep out of trouble with the
country whose power on the sea seemed invincible. The
Republicans, on the other hand, had fellow-feeling for
France. Even the extravagances of the French Revolution
did not shock some of them. England was to them the
abode of despotism, France the home of liberty. This sym-
pathy was not unnatural, but, carried to an extreme by the
more excitable element of the people, it had caused trouble.
There were in the country many men who were worthless
fellows, foreigners who rejoiced in railing at the Govern-
ment, ridiculing Adams, and indulging in general abuse of
those in authority. These men were in the Republican
party ; but that party should not be judged by the follies of
its most foolish members. The X Y Z disclosures for a
time put an end to faction. All reasonable men were

250 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

united in their readiness to defend America against insult.
The Federalists felt that now was the time to act, that
" democracy " was permanently discredited, that false and
malicious criticism of Government should be made a crime.
They decided to take advantage of their power to crush
factious opposition. With this end in view three acts were
passed (1798) : 1. The Naturalization Act
IditSlaws! lengthened the time of residence required be-
fore a foreigner could become a citizen. 2.
The Alien Act empowered the President to exclude dan-
gerous foreigners from the country. 3. The Sedition Act
made it a crime to print or publish " any false, scandalous,
and malicious writings against the Government of the
United States, or either house of the Congress, or the Presi-
dent, with intent to defame them or to bring them into
disrepute." The last two laws were dangerous in their na-
ture. The Sedition Act might well be so enforced as to
make all criticism of governmental action a crime.

These laws were vigorously denounced by the Eepub-
licans in Congress as tyrannical and unconstitutional, as
laws that " would have disgraced the age of
Virginia and Gothic barbarity." When they had been
resolutions. passed, the party leaders decided that a formal
protest must be made. The mode chosen was
unfortunate. The Legislatures of Virginia and Kentucky,
each passed a series of resolutions condemning the laws as
unconstitutional and void, and declaring the right of the
States to interpose and to maintain their rights. These
resolutions came from distinguished authors. Madison
drew up the Virginia resolutions, and, though Jefferson's
name was for a time hidden, he was the real author of those
of Kentucky. As to how we are to read these instruments
scholars may yet differ. Madison in later years indignantly
denied that he had meant to advocate the doctrine that
a single State could declare void an act of the National
Government and prevent its enforcement within the limits

ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN ADAMS— 1797-1801. 257

of such State ; but as a matter of fact, the doctrine of
"nullification " and the related doctrine of secession did in
course of time draw encouragement and sustenance from
these resolutions.*

When the war cloud blew over, the Federalists were
left in an unenviable plight. The expenses of the Govern-
ment had been materially increased, a direct tax

th^FderaUsta nac * Deen l ey i ec ^ an( * acts unnecessarily harsh
had been placed on the statute books. More
over, the party itself was divided. Many were opposed to
Adams on personal grounds ; they believed that his readi-
ness to treat with France was disloyalty to the party.
Adams found it necessary to reorganize his Cabinet, because
some of its members looked to Hamilton as their leader
and guide. This factional bitterness was sure to tell
against the Federalists in the election. In addition to all
this was the fact that the people were really at heart demo-
cratic, and the mild, hopeful principles of Jefferson were
more to their liking than the sterner, repressive teachings
of the party whose task it had been to put the Government
in working order. f

* The Virginia resolutions declared that "this Assembly . . .
views the powers of the Federal Government as resulting from the
compact to which the States are parties, . . . and that in case of a
deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of other powers, not
granted by the said compact, the States . . . have the right and are
in duty bound to interpose for arresting the progress of the evil and
for maintaining within their limits the authorities, rights, 'and liberties
appertaining to them." The first series of Kentucky resolutions de-
clared that " each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of
infractions as of the mode and measure of redress"; while the second
series said " that a nullification by those sovereignties [the States], of
all unauthorized acts ... is the rightful remedy." It is now well de-
cided that, although the Central Government has only the authority
given by the Constitution, it can judge of the extent of the authority so
given. The Supreme Court is final judge.

f In the autumn of 1800 Congress assembled for the first time at
Washington. It was then a rude town of about five hundred people.

258 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

The Republican candidates were the same as in 1796,
Jefferson and Burr. The Federalists put forward Adams
and Charles 0. Pinckney. The Republicans
were successful. The result, however, was not
what they had expected. Both of their candidates had re-
ceived the same number of votes, and thus the election was
thrown into the House of Representatives. The Federalists
were in the majority there. To many of these men Jeffer-
son seemed not only the chief enemy of their party, but a
dangerous man ; they therefore voted for Burr. According
to the Constitution the vote was by States. Out of sixteen
States, eight voted for Jefferson, six for Burr, and two were
evenly divided. The balloting continued several days, until
it was feared that no election would take place, and that
some extra constitutional device must be resorted to ; but,
fortunately, patriotism and sense finally overcame partisan-
ship, and Jefferson was elected (February 17, 1801). Burr
was a man utterly without principle and wholly selfish.
He was practiced in the worst arts of political management.
His election as Vice-President was bad enough ; had the
Federalists succeeded in making him President, it would
have been the crowning shame of partisanship. In order
to avoid in the future such trouble as this, Congress pro-
posed the twelfth amendment to the Constitution, and it
was adopted by the States (1804). It provided that the
electors should cast a ballot for President, and a separate
ballot for Vice-President.

By the end of Adams's administration parties were
formed and organized as they were to remain without
much change for some years. Hamilton's financial meas-
ures had attracted into the Federal party the commercial

With few exceptions the houses were huts. The inhabitants were negroes,
or idlers who expected to get rich at once from the sale of their lands.
It was a gloomy, unpromising place. " We want nothing here," said
Gouverneur Morris, " but houses, cellars, kitchens, well informed men,
amiable women, and other trifles of this kind to make our city perfect."

ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN ADAMS— 1797-1801. 259

classes of the North. All the elements of society whose
chief desire was stability and strength found their way into
the party that was seeking to give force and character to
the National Government. The task of the Federal party
had been to establish the Government and to bring about
order and system. When this was accomplished its useful-
ness was in large measure over, and it gave way to the Ke-
publican party.

References.

Short accounts: Hart, The Formation of the Union, pp. 1G4-175 ;
Walker, The Making of the Nation, pp. 137-168 ; Morse, Thomas
Jefferson, Chapter XII ; Schouler, Thomas Jefferson, pp. 177-198 ;
Magruder, John Marshall, Chapter VII (for the French mission) ;
Morse, John Adams, pp. 265-311 ; Lodge, Alexander Hamilton, pp.
194-236. Longer accounts: Schouler, History, Volume I, pp. 341-
500 ; McMaster, History, Volume II, pp. 308-533. For the presi-
dential election, see Stanwood, History of the Presidency, Chapter V.

Reception <>f Washington at Trenton, \. J., April 21,

ON His Way TO Mis [nAUQURATION.

From the Columbian Magazine of May, 1789.

ITS!)

CHAPTER XII.

The Supremacy of the Republicans — Foreign Complications-
War— 1801-1817.

Jefferson's
doctrines.

ADMINISTRATION OF THOMAS JEFFERSON— 1801-1809.

The new President was a man of strong parts, with a
great faculty of winning men and of filling them with his
own ideas and hopes. When positive action
was necessary he was at times weak, and was
given to idealizing when thje actual should
have occupied his attention. But his ideals were on the
whole noble and wise, for he seemed to foresee the coming
life of his country. He was bitterly opposed to anything

that might fasten upon this
young land the burdens under
which the people of Europe
suffered. America was for
man ; and if man were to
make the most of himself, he
must not be oppressed by a
smothering upper crust of no-
bility, by heavy taxes that con-
sumed his substance, by big ar-
mies and navies, by a huge and
expensive government. War,
too, was to be avoided. " Peace
is our passion," he declared.
The essence of Jeffersonism is
contained in the thought that
America means opportunity.

ADMINISTRATION OF JEFFERSON— 1801-1809. 261

In carrying out the policy of his administration Jeffer-
son was ably assisted by Madison, his Secretary of State,
and by Albert Gallatin, his
Secretary of the Treasury.
Up to this time the Republi-
can party had been opposed
to an extension of the powers
of the National Government.
But now that they were in
power the Constitution was
broadly construed, and much
was done to increase the
strength of the nation and to
bind its parts together.

Since the time of the Rev-
olution the Mississippi ques-
tion had been of great im-
portance. That great river,
with its tributaries, formed

highways to the sea for the people west of the
The Mississippi moun tains. To float their heavy flatboats

question, , J

down to New Orleans was an easier task than
to carry burdens by the long route overland to the cities of
the Atlantic. It seems strange, but it is an important fact
in Western and national history, that until the days of
canals and railroads the Western people faced southward
rather than eastward.*

The West was growing. Already (1803) there were three
States beyond the mountains, Ohio having been just ad-
mitted. To the man who could imagine a tithe of the fu-
ture growth of the country, the possession of the mouth of
the Mississippi seemed a simple necessity. " There is one
spot," said Jefferson, " the possessor of which is our natural

( yVU>&i7f~Ca'

aZZ+O-

* A very clear account of the Mississippi question is to be found in
How to Study and Teach History, by B. A. Hinsdale, chap, xx,

262 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

and habitual enemy." That spot was New Orleans, and Jef-
ferson fully realized that sooner or later we must possess it.
It will be remembered that by the treaty of 1783 Spain
obtained possession of the Floridas, which had been held by
England for twenty years. She also owned

^ s Tana. tain8 the land west of the Mississi PP^ including the
land at the mouth of that river.* The United
States held nothing at that place south of the thirty-first
parallel. Now in 1800, by a secret treaty, Spain ceded
Louisiana to France. Just what Louisiana was is uncer-
tain, but it certainly included New Orleans and a vast terri-
tory to the west. Not for some time was this secret trans-
fer discovered. When it was found out, it was time to
act. Spain, in this point of advantage, was bad enough;
but France would never do ; she was too enterprising and
strong. To make matters worse, the Spanish authorities at
New Orleans deprived the Americans of the right they had
had of depositing their goods there. Something had to be
done, or the West would not keep the peace.

Jefferson took steps to purchase New Orleans and West
Florida. Monroe was appointed special envoy for the pur-
pose. Before he reached Paris Talleyrand had
The Louisiana SU gg e gted to Livingston, the resident minister,
the possibility of a great bargain, and after
Monroe's arrival a treaty was signed whereby France sold
Louisiana to the United States for about $15,000,000 (April,
1803). The boundaries, as we have already said, were in-

* Spain insisted for many years after 1783 that she owned the terri-
tory as far north as the northern boundary of the old province of West
Florida, a line through the mouth of the Yazoo. In 1795 it was agreed
that the thirty-first parallel should be the southern limit of the United
States between the Mississippi and the Appalachicola. Spain at the
same time granted to the Americans the right to deposit goods at New
( Orleans and to export them without paying duty. As the West grew in
population the desire increased to hold the mouths of the streams that
rose in American territory and flowed southward into the Gulf.

•.v,l

IIISTOKY OF THE AMKKKWN NATION.

definite. Napoleon remarked, with his eustomarj running,
tluil if mi obsourity did not exist about the boundary 11
would bo well to make one. The purehaso eortainly in-
Oluded New Orleans, and so nine!) of the territory west of
the Mississippi as luv north oi the Old Spanish possessions,

south of t lie English possessions, and east of the Rookj

Mountains; m other words, it v>:is the western half Of the
Mississippi Valley. Tho United States elaiined West
Florida also, hut probably wron:-. fully. It was taken later,

boweyer, under claim of title (1810 18).*

There wore hoiiio doubts ill JolTorson's mind as to the

constitutionality of purchasing and annexing the territory.

To o\o so was eertainly contrary tO the doetrme

liVUy l)t of stnet construction oi the ( onstitution whioh

ft«»»«>x.vUou. JolTorson had advocated when in opposition.
Tho groat majority of the Republican party, howeyer, did

not think tho art illegal. The l-Vderalist s opposed it on

the -round that the treaty provided tor fche admission of

now States from tho territory so annexed. Both parties,
therefore, agreed thai the United States as a nation eould

acquire territory*!

Thus t ho territory of the United States was more than
doubled. Louisiana contained 0T0T 800,000 square miles.

It was part of the great Mississippi Yalle\.

l,H mmulln *"' Tho lu>:ir( of tho oo^tinent, bound together bj
rivers into a single geograpbio wltolo, fell to t lu> now re
puhlie. Nothing else eould ho done so likely to insure per-

* Wo look Kranoo's litle Louisiana with tho oxtont that it "has
In the bftndl Ol Spain, and that it had when l^ranoo possossod it, and
rooh as it should be fiftor the treaties Bubtaquantlj intend Into b«
t«.vn Spain and Othor States." On tho basis of those words we laid
claim to Klorida us far oast as tho Pordido, on tho ground that Loutll

ana in tht handa >>f Prano« had extended thus far. This.it must be

said, was an afterthought on I iv illusion's part, ;>iwl m tho light of all
tho ovidonoo must K> oonsidorod an unjust olaim.

f Tho right to annex torriton was afterward uphold l>y the Supreme
Court Am. Ins. i\>. r. I anter. t Peters. Ml.

ADMINISTRATION OF JKFFKRSON 1801 1800.

pot mil union, Geography it sol f taught tho inevitable lesson.
Moreover, t ho party of striol construction had done tho not,
and thus had committed itself to i broad Interpretation of

the Constitution and to a liberal conception of tho nation's
greatness and destiny.

In tho meantime internal politics had not been quiet
Just before Adams left ottioo the Federalists had passed an

act creating a number of new judgeships and
180?"?^ ^tending tlu> judicial system. The new places

thus provided were all tilled with Federalists.
It was reported that Adams on the last da\ o\' his admims
(ration was busy up to midnight tilling fat otVteos with his
own party followers. The Uepuhlieans, upon getting into
power, repealed the act which created the new judicial
otlices, and tin 1 judges were thus deprived of their positions.
it was claimed by tho Federalists that this violated tho
Constitution, which provided that judges were to hold ottioo
during good behavior. There was great ill fooling on both
sides. Out of this same matter arose an interesting law suit.

A man named Marburv had been Appointed to
Marl.ury vb. ^ o|Vuv , )y A daius, b ul l, ls commission had not
Mmliaon.

boon delivered. Ho asked the Supremo Court

for an order directing Madison, .lolTorson's Secretary of
Stale, to give him t ho commission. This the Oourt refused
to do on tho ground that the writ ho asked for could not be
issued in a suit begun in tin* Supreme Court, booauso tho
Constitution did not give the Court such power. This was
a very important case, because it declared void a part oi
the judicial'}' act o\' I iS',», and it was the first clear assertion
by the Supreme Court that it could declare void an net of
Congress.

The judges of the United states irere at this time all

Federalists., It irritated tho Republicans to think that
their opponents, although beaten at tin* polls, bad, as it
were, retired Into the judicial department, where they
might, interpret the Constitution as limy chose. Judge

266 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Pickering, a district judge in New Hampshire, was im-
peached and removed from office. The offense charged was
drunkenness and unseemly conduct on the

The judiciary bench. He seems to have been insane, and in-
attacked. ... .

capable of performing his duties. More serious

attacks were made on the courts. Some of the men on the
bench were disagreeable to the Eepublicans because of

their narrow partisanship. One
of these, Judge Chase, was im-
peached by the House, but the
Senate did not convict him
(1805). No doubt some of
Chase's utterances were annoy-
ing and out of taste, but the
Federalists rightly considered
this impeachment as a dangerous
interference with the independ-
ence of the judiciary.

After the failure of the Chase
impeachment the Court was
never again directly attacked
by the political branches of the
Government. Jefferson declared,
somewhat mournfully, that im-
peachment was but a " scarecrow." For many years the
Supreme Court remained a Federalist stronghold. John
Marshall * was the greatest judge in our history, and this
was not simply because he was a great lawyer — other men

* Marshall was chief justice from 1801 to 1835. Story was appoint-
ed in 1811. Mr. Bryce thus speaks of Marshall: "It is scarcely an ex-
aggeration to call him, as an eminent American jurist has done, a
second maker of the Constitution. . . . Marshall was, of course, only
one among seven judges, but his majestic intellect and the elevation
of his character gave him such an ascendancy that he found himself
only once in a minority on a constitutional question." (The American
Commonwealth, vol. i, p. 374, first American edition.)

ADMINISTRATION OF JEFFERSON— 1801-1809. 267

have equaled him in that respect — but because he was
a statesman of high order, and, with marvelous ability and
insight, comprehended and interpreted the
Co h ^rt. Upreme fundamental law of the state in accord with
its deepest needs and purposes. Under his
influence and guidance the Court was raised to a position
of great dignity and power. Judge Story was likewise a
great jurist, and did much to establish the dignity of this
branch of our Government. The respect which the people
came to feel for the Court and their readiness to abide by
its decisions was one of the most encouraging and whole-
some features of our national life.

The Barbary States of North Africa were in these days
nests of pirates. The European powers were accustomed
to pay them tribute in order that their mer-
ar ary war. c h an t yessels might not be molested. The
American Government had entered upon the same practice.
Cargoes of presents were sent now and again to appease the
greed of these scourges of the ocean. Their demands be-
came so exorbitant that our Government at last found it
better to fight than gently submit to insult and robbery.
In 1801 a small fleet was sent to the Mediterranean, which
in 1802 was followed by an imposing squadron. The Amer-
ican navy won the honor of teaching these robber nations
that they must behave themselves, and that blackmailing
must cease.

As the next election approached it seemed quite plain
that the Eepublicans had gained a secure hold on the coun-
The New ^ r y* ^e federalists, now confined almost en-

England tirely to New England, were greatly disheart-

conspiraoy. ened at the prospect. Many seemed to believe
that the country was on the brink of destruction because
of the misdeeds of the party in power. They believed that
democracy would soon cause the overthrow of all respect-
able government. Some of the more hot-headed among
them actually discussed in secret the advisability of dissolv-

268 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

ing the Union. Aaron Burr, whose foul ambition could
ever be relied on, was to be used as a tool by these conspira-
tors, and one of the first steps was to try to secure his elec-
tion as governor of New York. Hamilton, who was bitterly
opposed to the whole treasonable scheme, used all his influ-
ence against it, and it was due to his opposition, in no small
measure, that the intrigue was a failure and Burr was de-
feated. Burr thereupon challenged Hamilton
^ Wl to a duel and killed him (1804). The treason-
able conspiracy, for the time at least, died out.
A few years later there seems to have been a renewal of
these whispered plots among some of the more bitter Feder-
alist partisans. The great majority of the New England
people were never guilty of the crime or folly of planning
the destruction of the Union.

Hamilton's death startled and shocked the Northern

people, and had its effect in doing away with the brutal

practice of settling personal disputes upon

Hamilton. M the fieM of honor/ , BmT was i n ai c ted for

murder and fled the State, followed by the execration of
the public. This awful tragedy is the most dramatic epi-
sode in the early history of our Union. Hamilton had in
reality offered up his life for his country. He had served
her well, and perhaps this was not an inappropriate close of
a great career. With a wonderful capacity for government
and the tasks of civil administration, with a strong grasp of
political principles and a profound knowledge of public
law, gifted with financial skill of a high order, and han-
dling details with as much ease as he comprehended systems,
he stands forth as one of the greatest constructive states-
men of his generation.
Election of In the election of 1804 tne Kepublicans

supported Jefferson for President and George
Clinton for Vice-President, while the Federalists voted for
Charles C. Pinckney and Rufus King. The result of the
contest was an overwhelming victory for the Republicans.

ADMINISTRATION OF JEFFERSON— 1801-1809. 269

The Federalists cast but fourteen electoral votes, carrying
only Connecticut and Delaware, and getting two out of the
nine votes of Maryland.

Disappointed in his ambitions in the East, Burr now en-
tered upon a desperate undertaking in the West (1805-'6).
Exactly what his plans were is somewhat un-

The Burr certain. Perhaps he hardly knew himself what

conspiracy! x

he hoped to do. Indeed, at different times and
to different persons his plans assumed different aspects. If
he was intent upon attacking the Spaniards in Mexico, he
also hoped for power and grandeur as the head of a Western
empire. Possibly the story is not ill told in a le 'ter written
at the time by one who was in the secret : " Kentucky, Ten-
nessee, the State of Ohio, the four Territories on the Missis-
sippi and Ohio, with part of Georgia and Carolina, are to
be bribed with the plunder of the Spanish countries west of
us to separate from the Union." It was a wild and foolish
plan, such as could be begotten only in the brain of a man
who was so devoid of principle and patriotism himself that
he could not appreciate such qualities in others. He inter-
ested many persons in his conspiracy, chief among whom
was General Wilkinson, Governor of the Louisiana Terri-
tory. Burr was at length arrested and tried for treason
(1807) ; but he was not convicted, because it could not be
proved * that he had actually levied war upon the United
States.

The great West, which had been purchased in 1803, was
an unknown wilderness. Some French explorers years

before had crossed the plains, but little or
oTPike^ 0118 nothing was now known about the country.

In the summer of 1805 Lieutenant Pike made a
journey of exploration up the Mississippi Eiver. He went as
far north as Leech Lake, and notified British and Indian

* The Constitution declares that " treason against the United States
shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their
enemies, giving them aid and comfort." (Constitution, art. iii, sec. 3.)

270

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

occupants of the territory that they were under American
rule. The next year he went from St. Louis to the West.
He penetrated even into the mountains of Colorado and
New Mexico, and gave his name to Pike's Peak as a per-
manent monument of his expedition. In 1803 Jefferson,
eager to ascertain the character of the great dominion he

had purchased, sent out Meriwether Lewis and
OkA™ ^ william Clark to make explorations in the far

West.* They made their way to the head
waters of the Missouri, crossed the great divide, and reached
the mouth of the Columbia River, and there they saw " the

ROUTE OF j Q

LEWIS AND CLAKK

waves like small mountains rolling out in the ocean." They
had reached the goal of American ambition. The journey
to the coast and return required more than two years.

These Western expeditions were evidences of American
enterprise, but they could bring very little immediate result.
American skill and independent thought were
beginning, however, to show themselves in
other fields than exploration. On August 17, 1807, Robert
Fulton put his steamboat, the Clermont, to the test. Before

The steamboat.

* Even before the acquisition of Louisiana Jefferson had taken a
practical interest in the exploration of the West.

ADMINISTRATION OF JEFFERSON— 1801-1809. 271

a crowd of onlookers the little craft slowly made its way at
the rate of four miles an hour against the current of the
Hudson Kiver. This is an important date in* our history.
In a few years steamboats plied up and down the Western
rivers. It was no longer necessary to float down to New
Orleans and plod wearily back by land, or to pole the heavy
flatboat back hundreds of miles against a stubborn current.
The whole West with its network of rivers could now be
traversed. Emigrants from the East thus found their way
to new homes ; the great resources of the continent were
opened. In 1811 a steamboat was built at Pittsburg, and
descended to New Orleans. In 1818 the Walk-in-the-
Water made a voyage from Buffalo to Detroit.* For the
first time the American people were given means to conquer
the continent.

During Jefferson's second administration the United

States was beset with many troubles in its relations with

England and France. These two nations, it

England and w {\\ k e remembered, had begun to fight in

± ranee at war. ° °

1793, and the contest was still waging. There
had been a troubled peace for about a year after the treaty
of Amiens (1802), but now the war was being carried on
with renewed vehemence. The English felt that their
safety and independence as a nation were at stake. They
were desperately in earnest. Napoleon's victorious career
on the Continent had given rise to fears that he would es-
tablish a European empire and crush all that were not sub-
missive to his will. He hated with a profound hatred the
little island that stood doggedly in the way of his lawless
ambitions. Neither nation was in a mood to consider the
rights of a neutral state. Each sought to make the most
out of America, the young republic, whose power was not

* An interesting account of the steamboat will be found in McMas-
ter, History, vol. iv, pp. 397-407 ; or Adams, History, vol. iv, p. 135,
and vol. ix, pp. 167-172.

2Y2 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

dreaded, and who seemed by her carrying trade to be the
only nation profiting by the war.

In 1805 England decided that, contrary to her previous
policy, goods from the French colonies transported in
American ships could be seized, even though
upon American they had been landed in the United States and
commerce. reshipped.* This was a serious blow to Amer-

ican commerce, which had been thriving in this very trade.
In the same year the battle of Trafalgar was won by Nel-
son; England was henceforth mistress of the seas. She
used her power arrogantly. British men-of-war were actu-
ally stationed just outside New York harbor to intercept
American merchant vessels, search them, and impress their
seamen. The dqmineering spirit of the British command-
ers increased the annoyance and mortification arising from
such treatment. Hundreds of sailors were
pressment. ^ ug ^ n ft s j n gj e y ear t a k en f rom American

vessels and forced to fight the" battles of England. The
ground of seizure was that these men were Englishmen
born, and England's assertion was " Once an Englishman,
always an Englishman." It must be noticed that that coun-
try was not unique in holding that a man could not give up
allegiance to his native land and become the citizen of an-
other. Other nations held the same doctrine. But in prac-
tice England enforced her claims arrogantly, seized native-
born Americans as well as Englishmen, and disdainfully
treated American commerce as if the flag at the masthead
of a vessel offered no security from insult and annoyance.
It was plain enough that, much as the Jeffersonians loved
peace, the United States must soon fight in defense of its
self-respect.

The crowning act of insolence occurred in 1807. The
American frigate Chesapeake was overtaken not far from

* This subject is very clearly treated in Charming, The United
States of America, pp. 174-180.

ADMINISTRATION OF JEFFERSON— 1801-1809. 273

Hampton Roads by the British frigate Leopard, and the
British commander demanded the surrender of several sea-
men serving on the Chesapeake, whom he
The Chesapeake claimed to be deserters from the British service.
When this demand was not acceded to, the
Leopard, at the distance of a hundred and fifty or two hun-
dred feet, poured her whole broadside into the American
vessel. The Chesapeake was unprepared for action. She
received three broadsides without being able to answer in
kind, and then struck her flag and surrendered. Three
men were killed and eighteen wounded. The alleged
deserters were taken aboard the Leopard. Three of them
were Americans, one of the three being a negro. Perhaps
the most exasperating thing about this whole affair was the
presumption shown in attacking a frigate that was, if given
a fighting chance, a fair match for the Leopard. But the
English did not stoop to consider that an American frigate
could fight. Within a few years they learned their mistake.
This outrage nearly brought on war at once, and it probably
would have been as well if that had been the result, for it
was high time that either France or England came to see
that the United States could defend herself. And yet one
must strongly sympathize with Jefferson and his advisers,
who loathed the barbarity of war, and believed that self-
interest and common sense should win all nations to peace.
Unfortunately, the times were not suited for such humane
ideas. Nearly the whole civilized world was rent with
strife.

Through these years France injured American com-
merce and lost no opportunity to gain by plunder. Eng-
En li h d l an( l, indeed, made some pretense of having
and French legal justification for her conduct ; but Na-
decrees. poleon did not seem to need any excuse for

ordering the seizure and condemnation of vessels. Jeffer-
son, in a moment of exasperation, said that England had
become a den of pirates and France a den of thieves. Na-

274 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

poleon and the English Government vied with each other
in issuing proclamations that would prevent the free course
of neutral trade (1806-'7). England issued two Orders in
Council which went to the extent of declaring a blockade of
nearly the whole coast of Europe. This was to a great ex-
tent a mere " paper blockade " — an announcement without
sufficient force to make it effective. The French Emperor
issued a decree declaring that the British Islands were in a
state of blockade, and later another stating that any ship
which submitted to search by an English ship was a lawful
prize for the cruisers of France. These were known as the
Berlin and the Milan decrees. So here was the dilemma for
American shipping — either to refuse to be searched and in
consequence to be blown out of the water by an English
frigate, or submit to the indignity of search and become
lawful prize for a French man-of-war, or be seized in any
Continental harbor subject to French power. The situa-
tion was not agreeable.

Efforts were made to bring England to terms by some
means short of war. December, 1806, Monroe and William
Pinkney, in London, negotiated a treaty, but
The Monroe Jefferson refused to accept it as satisfactory.
He ought either to have accepted it or to have
prepared seriously for war. He did neither. At the end
of 1807 Congress, on his recommendation, passed an em-
bargo act, closing all the American harbors to
e em argo. commerce# This act was in force for over a
year. It solved none of the difficulties under which the
country was suffering. The vessels lay idle at the wharves,
men were thrown out of work, foreign trade was abruptly
stopped, and home trade was checked. The products of
the Southern plantations could not be trans-
ported. The interests of all sections of the
country were injured. Perhaps New England was hurt
least of all, because the inventive Yankee now turned his
attention to manufacturing, and made money, because for-

ADMINISTRATION OF MADISON— 1809-1817. 275

eign goods could not be imported. The Northern people
were, however, bitterly incensed against the policy which
seemed, under the guise of protection, to be destroying
their commerce. England was doubtless somewhat in-
jured, but not enough to induce her to revoke her orders.
Napoleon confiscated American vessels in the ports of
Europe, claiming that he was in all kindness
?° n " enforcing the embargo. Thus the plan broke

intercourse. ° ° r .

down. The embargo act was repealed m the
spring of 1809, and the non-intercourse act passed, making
all commerce with Great Britain, France, and their depend-
encies illegal, but restoring trade with the rest of the world.
In 1808 the Federalists once more presented Charles C.
Pinckney and Rufus King as their candidates. The party
was stronger than four years before, carrying
this time all of New England except Vermont,
and winning some votes at the South ; but the Republicans
were easy victors. James Madison and George Clinton
were elected by a large majority.

Refekences.

Short accounts: Hart, Formation of the Union, Chapter IX;
Walker, The Making of the Nation, Chapters IX and X ; Channing,
The United States of America, Chapter VI; Morse, Thomas Jef-
ferson, pp. 209-320; Schouler, Thomas Jefferson, pp. 198-224;
Stevens, Albert Gallatin, pp. 176-289; Stanwood, History of the
Presidency, Chapters VI and VII. Longer accounts : Schouler,
History, Volume II, Chapters V-VII; McMaster, History, Volume
II, Chapter XIII, Volume III, Chapters XIV-XX; Henry Adams,
History, Volumes I-IV.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES MADISON— 1809-1817.

When Madison became President he had already had
wide political experience. He had been a member of the
Congress of the Confederation and a member of the Federal
convention that formed the Constitution (1787), where his

276 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

work was so great that he justly won the title of "Father
of the Constitution." During Washington's administration
he was a leader of the opposition
party. He was Jefferson's Secretary
of State through both terms. He
was a man of much political wisdom
and of honest, sincere devotion to
his country ; but, like Jefferson, he
was at times not so vigorous an ad-
ministrator as seemed to be needed
in these trying days. He retained
some of the members of Jefferson's
Cabinet, the ablest of whom was
Albert Gallatin, one of the greatest
Secretaries of the Treasury m our
history. In 1811 James Monroe became Secretary of State.
Madison's administration began brilliantly. An agree-
ment was reached with the English minister, Erskine, resi-
dent at Washington, that the Orders in Coun-
The Erskine G n gh^i^ De withdrawn. The country was

agreementi

elated, but doomed to a speedy disappointment.
The English Government repudiated the action of its min-
ister, and Madison was even accused of having taken advan-
tage of Erskine's youth and inexperience to cajole him into
an unauthorized agreement. Erskine was recalled. Jack-
son, his successor, was so impertinent in his insinuations of
bad faith on Madison's part that he was informed that our
Government would receive no communication from him ; and
so the situation was worse than it had been for some years.
Matters were now indeed hurrying to a catastrophe.
France and England were so utterly brutal in their attacks

upon American commerce that they both de-
Napoleon's served a whipping ; but as it was impossible to

treachery. l r ° ' r

fight both, one of them should have been
chosen for an ally without more delay. In 1810 (March
23) Napoleon issued what is known as his Rambouillet de-

ADMINISTRATION OF MADISON— 1809-1817. <277

cree, ordering the seizure of all American vessels that,
since the non-intercourse policy was adopted, had entered
the ports of France or of any other country occupied by
the French. As a result, scores of vessels worth many thou-
sands of dollars were confiscated, and the money was poured
into Napoleon's treasury. It was a shameful piece of thiev-
ing, but by no means the only one of which Napoleon was
guilty. However objectionable war might be, American
property might better be used in defense of American
rights than stolen by the Emperor of the French to help
on his career of glory and carnage.

Soon after the issue of this infamous decree the Ameri-
can Congress passed a bill known as the Macon Bill No. 2

America gives ( Ma ^ *' 1810 )* This Prided that non-inter-
Napoleon an course should be abandoned, but that if either
opportunity. f the offending nations should " so revoke or
modify her edicts as that they shall cease to violate the
neutral commerce of the United States," then intercourse
with the other nation should be prohibited. Napoleon,
cunning and dishonest, was ready to take the advantage
thus offered him. The French Minister of Foreign Affairs
wrote to the American minister in Paris : " His Majesty
loves the Americans. Their property and their commerce
are within the scope of his policy." This surprising an-
nouncement was coupled with the statement that after No-
vember first the obnoxious decrees should not be enforced,
but that, on the other hand, England must do likewise and
renounce her "new principle of blockade," or that the
United States should " cause their rights to be respected
by the English." * So Napoleon, by taking advantage of

* The important clause in the letter is as follows : " I am author-
ized to declare to you that the decrees of Berlin and Milan are revoked,
and that after November 1st they will cease to have effect, on the under-
standing that, in consequence of this declaration, . . . the United States
. . . shall cause their rights to be respected by the English." It is
plain that by accepting such a revocation Madison in a way bound the

278 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

the Macon Bill No. 2, by a little distortion of its language

entered, as it were, into a contract with the United States.

He is said to have remarked a few days later,

He takes u j^ j g ev id en t that we commit ourselves to noth-

advantage of it. . .

mg. As a matter of fact, he continued to
confiscate the American cargoes and vessels as before. Late
in 1810, however, Madison accepted this statement of the
French Government, and on March 2, 1811, Congress passed
an act re-establishing non-intercourse with Great Britain.

During 1811 the sky did not brighten much. The
United States was still spitefully ill-used by the combatants

and still restlessly held its peace. England
The situation now g ere( i to make reparation for the Chesa-

in 1811.

peake outrage, and the offer was accepted ; but
this did not seem to heal many wounds or bring much con-
solation. About the same time a similar affair occurred
between the English man-of-war Little Belt and the Ameri-
can frigate President, but this time the English man-of-war
was shattered and crippled. This action caused a good
deal of excitement and some elation in America. England
had not yet given up her claim of right to search American
vessels and impress seamen for her service. Doubtless some
of these men were deserters from British vessels, and Eng-
land needed every man in the great death struggle with
France, but the method of using her power was exasperat-
ing in the extreme.

For some time the Indians on the Western frontier had
been in a restless and dangerous mood. Tecumthe — or
Tecumseh, as he is generally called — a Shawnee chief of
great ability, had entered upon the task of organizing the
red men into a vast confederacy to resist the encroach-
ments of the whites. The truth seems to be that, although
the English did not encourage hostilities, they had made

United States to compel England to cease her violations of our com-
merce.

ADMINISTRATION OF MADISON— 1809-1817. 279

preparations to use the Indians in case of war. With Te-
cumseh, in his effort to arouse the braves, was his brother
the " Prophet," who, not so wise or cautious as
Tippecanoe Tecumseh, brought on a war with the Ameri-
November, cans in the autumn of 1811. The white troops

1811

were commanded by General William Henry
Harrison, and they defeated the Indians in the battle of
Tippecanoe, fought (November 7th) near where the creek
of that name falls into the Wabash, in the western part of
the State of Indiana. Tecumseh joined the English army
the next year.

At this time a new element showed itself in the Repub-
lican party. Younger men from the South and West came

to positions of prominence in Congress. Henry

Eepublicans. Cla ^' of Kentuck y> a J omi S m an barely thirty-
four years of age, a representative of the new
West, was chosen Speaker of the House. He was eloquent,
fervid, and full of zeal for American dignity and honor.
He represented a new generation in politics, a generation
which had arisen since the Revolution, and had none of the
old feeling of colonialism or of inferiority to foreign powers,
a generation of men that was intensely American. He
represented, too, the ambitious, impetuous West, where it
was customary to resent insult on the moment and to fight
lustily on occasion. So Henry Clay and those who thought
with him could not be expected to dally with fruitless
negotiations. John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, now
entered Congress for the first time. He was not yet thirty
years old. He was of marked ability, and had a keen, logi-
cal mind. Though not so eloquent as Clay, he was a forci-
ble, effective speaker. Other men somewhat less noted, but
of spirit and ability, began to take an active part in the
national councils.* This young and vigorous element of

* Daniel Webster entered Congress in 1813. Clay, with his usual
sagacity, put Webster at once on the Foreign Affairs Committee. From
19

280 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

the party prepared for war. Clay organized the committees
of the House on an aggressive basis, giving to Calhoun a
place on the Committee of Foreign Affairs, where his ability
and vigor made him its leading member and the director of
its policy.

The election of Clay to the speakership is of moment

for several reasons, not only, as we have said, because he

represented a new, virile element in the party

Clay the first an( j came f rom a new energetic section of the

great Speaker. °

country, but also because he was the first

Speaker to make use of his position materially to influence
legislation. He was therefore the first of modern speakers ;
for from that time the power of the Speaker's office devel-
oped so strongly along the lines that Clay marked out that
it can now be justly called at least second in importance
and power in the Government. " The natural leader of that
moment was Henry Clay," says a recent writer. " That the
place he was given from which to lead the country was the
chair of the House of Eepresentatives is a fact of great
significance. . . . Henry Clay was elected more than any
other Speaker as leader of the House."* Randolph
summed up the situation in 1812 in a telling question :
"After you have raised these 25,000 men, shall we form a
committee of public safety to carry on the war, or shall we
depute the power to the Speaker ? Shall we declare that,
the Executive not being capable of discerning the public
interest or not having spirit enough to pursue it, we have
appointed a committee to take the President and Cabinet
into custody ? " The question is, like many of Randolph's
utterances, extravagant, but its irony discloses an interest-
ing situation.

For twenty years France had been treating the United

this time on for forty years ho was a conspicuous figure in American
life.'

* Follett, The Speaker of the House of Representatives, p. 71.

ADMINISTRATION OF MADISON— 1809^1817. 281

States shamefully. But no French frigate had impressed
American seamen on the ground that they were French-
men, while England resorted boldly to this
Warmth practice and replenished her crews from the

crews of our merchantmen. Moreover, Napo-
leon had taken the opportunity offered by the Macon Bill
No. 2, and by cunning and deceit had put the United
States at disadvantage. Added to this was the fact that
the Eepublicans, in control of the Government, were fa-
vorable to France and opposed to England. Coming, as
many of them did, from the South and West, they did
not fear the ravages of the English navy, because they
had no commerce to be destroyed. So the United States
finally drifted into a war with England and took up arms
as the ally of Napoleon. Could there be stranger com-
panions in arms than Napoleon Bonaparte and James
Madison ?

The young, ambitious Eepublicans, who were largely
responsible for the war, hoped not only to make England
respect our flag, but to seize Canada and to dictate, as they
said, an honorable peace at Halifax. They were filled
with zeal for showing American prowess. So Madison
finally yielded to the impulses of a large portion of his
party— timidly and reluctantly yielded, one must believe,
for to fight at last seemed like casting a slur on the years
through which he and Jefferson had struggled to avoid war,
and had sought to find some peaceable method of coercion.
Avoidance of war seemed now impossible, and Madison
yielded to the inevitable. June 1, 1812, he sent to Congress
a message recounting British aggressions on our rights.
On the 18th Congress declared war. On the 16th of this
same month the English ministry announced in the House
of Commons that the Orders in Council were to be with-
drawn, and a few days later they were formally revoked.
Had there been an Atlantic cable in 1812 it is quite possible
that the war would have been averted.

282

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

The
combatants

The United States at the outbreak of the war had a
population of about eight millions. Great Britain and
Ireland had a population of nearly twenty mil-
lions, and had for a long time been expending
blood and treasure lavishly in the mortal con-
flict with Napoleon. The land was nerved to great effort.
The United States entered the conflict divided. There
was not a universal sentiment that war was

The United necessary. The North and East were the sec-
states divided. J

tions which had suffered the most from the

depredations inflicted by England on American commerce,

yet many of the people of New England preferred to bear

the ills they had rather than

to fly to the heavier if more l.huronV

honorable losses of
war. If the choice
must be made, they preferred
a war with France, in order that Eng-
land might be an ally and not an enemy, and that her fleet
might not harry their coast and destroy their commerce.
But if they must fight against the mistress of the seas, they
desired that the navy be strengthened and given every help.
Because of these different opinions the country was weaker
than it should have been, and suffered disasters that might
have been avoided had there been a common front against
a common enemy.

It was apparent at the outset that the Northwest must
be protected. Some time before the formal declaration of
war General William Hull was sent with a force from Ohio

ADMINISTRATION OF MADISON— 1809-1817.

283

to the defense of Detroit. War was declared while he was
on the way. The British were posted at Maiden. Hull,
after some disasters, arrived in Detroit, and
British gam g0(m p asge( j over i n t Canada, pompously call-
ing upon the Canadians to seek freedom from
oppression under the American standard. Instead of push-
ing on to Maiden, he delayed, crossed back to Detroit, and
there called upon the Government for assistance. His
position was soon perilous. His lines of communication
with Ohio were broken, and on August 16th he surren-
Detroit dered Detroit to the enemy. Mackinaw had

surrendered, already fallen, and the Indians soon* destroyed
August, 1812. ^ ort D ear b orilj where Chicago now stands.
Michigan was in the hands

of the enemy, and the
whole Northwest in dan-
ger. The Indians, under
the leadership of Tecum-
seh, a warrior of rare vig-
or and ability, aided the
British in these Western
campaigns. The people
of Michigan Territory re-
mained in terror of the
Indians throughout the
war.

Little was done in the
East during this first sum-
mer of the war. The
strategic points were Ni-
agara and the Champlain region. At the former place a
battle was fought, resulting in defeat for the Americans.*
The whole • campaign of 1812 was a dismal failure, as far as
the land battles were concerned.

War on Niagara Frontier.

Battle of Queenstown, October 13th.

284 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

On the sea, however, matters had taken a different turn.

Our navy was small, but some of the vessels were good, and

officers and men had received excellent train-

Scean 011 in S in seamansni P- The United States frigate
Constitution, under command of Commodore
Isaac Hull, fought and captured the English frigate Guer-
riere. " In less than thirty minutes from the time we got
alongside of the enemy," reported Hull, " she was left with-
out a spar standing, and the hull cut to pieces in such a

The Constitution. (From an old cut.)

manner as to make it difficult to keep her above water."
She was so badly damaged that the victors destroyed her.
This was a momentous victory. "It raised the United
States in one half hour to the rank of a first-class power." *
Other victories followed quickly, and the people of the
whole country were jubilant, especially the New England-

* Henry Adams, History of the United States, vol. vi, p. 375.

ADMINISTRATION OF MADISON— 1809-1817. 285

ers, who had long boasted that " the wooden walls of Co-
lumbia" would prove the nation's best defense. It was
apparent that Great Britain had found a rival on the
ocean, and this at a time when a succession of victories in
the Napoleonic wars had made England the mistress of the
seas. America could not equal the enemy in strength, for
the English navy was very large and powerful ; but when
vessels met on anything like even terms the Americans
showed themselves at least the equals of the English in
gunnery, and often their superiors in seamanship.

During this summer the presidential election occurred.
We have already noticed the fact that there was oppo-
sition to the war, and to Madison, who had final-

^T8 e i2 Cti0n ty adyised **• The Democratic candidates were
Madison and Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts.
The Federalists supported De Witt Clinton, of New York,
and Jared Ingersoll, of Pennsylvania. In spite of the inef-
ficient way in which the war was being conducted the Ad-
ministration was sustained by the popular and the electoral
vote. Madison received one hundred and twenty-eight elec-
toral votes, Clinton eighty-nine.

The campaign of 1813 began in discouragement. In
January a company of brave Kentuckians, who had volun-
teered to retake Detroit and to wipe out the disgrace of
Hull's surrender, were attacked and beaten at the River
Raisin, in Michigan. The Americans were under General
Winchester, the British under Proctor. The Indians in-
flicted horrible brutalities on the wounded.

In spite of this first failure to drive the British from
Michigan the American army finally achieved success.
General Harrison, the hero of Tippecanoe, now commanded
in the West. He held his own in northern Ohio,* and was

* Fort Meigs, on the Maumee, commanded by Harrison, was at-
tacked by the British in May. It was bravely defended, and the enemy
was forced to retreat. This defeat cost the British the confidence and
support of many of the Indians.

280

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

ready when opportunity offered to proceed to Detroit. To
do this with safety Lake Erie should be in our control.
B ttl fLk ^ ne °^ ^ e great battles of the war took place
Erie, September near the western end of that lake, between an
14, 1813, American fleet under the command of Com-

modore Perry and a British fleet commanded by Com-
modore Barclay. The battle was picturesque. Perry had
to leave his flagship, the Lawrence, during the engage-
ment and row to another vessel.
He finally conquered, and his
announcement of the victory has
become famous : " We have met ^
the enemy, and they are
ours. Two ships,
two brigs,

Buffaloe or
V> ^'^ T ^ w Amsterdam^

War on Northern Frontier.

one schooner, and one sloop." Harrison, with the aid of the
fleet, passed to Detroit. Thence he followed the retreating
army into Canada and defeated them at the bat-
TWs! 16 tie of the Thames, October 5, 1813. Tecumseh

Octobers, was killed. The Indians remained hostile in the

1813 ' Northwest, but the British army was crushed,

and no more open fighting took place in that region.

In the East as well as the West there were some victories
for the Americans. General Dearborn decided upon an ex-
pedition to York (now Toronto). A successful attack Avas
made upon the place and it was taken and destroyed.

ADMINISTRATION OF MADISON— 1809-1817. 287

Later in the summer, Fort George, on the Niagara Eiver,
passed into our hands, the result of a fierce assault led by
Lieutenant-Colonel Winfield Scott, who dis-
Battles in the tinguished himself for gallantry. Late in the
autumn an unsuccessful expedition was set on
foot against Montreal, and in December Fort George was
abandoned. In other words, at the end of the second year
of the war the situation on the northern boundary, except at
Detroit, was much as at the beginning. The campaign had
been managed with no energy and with little show of gen-
eralship.

On the ocean there were victories and defeats for the
ambitious little navy. In February of this same year the
American Hornet fought and sunk the Pea-
cock, the British brig Pelican captured the
Argus, and the American brig Enterprise defeated the
Boxer. The most noteworthy contest was that between
the American frigate Chesapeake and the Shannon. The
former was commanded by Captain Lawrence, who was
anxious to meet the Shannon and accept a challenge pub-
licly offered by the English commander. The engagement
lasted but a few minutes, ending in a complete victory for
the English vessel. Captain Lawrence was killed. The
event caused great sadness in America, but the rejoicing in
England was substantial proof that the defeat of a Yankee
frigate was no longer considered a foregone conclusion.

During the summer of this year and the winter of 1814
there was some sharp fighting with the Indians in the
South. General Jackson was finally victorious
Southwest. over tnem in a °loody battle at the Horseshoe,
a great bend in the Tallapoosa River. This
campaign under Jackson's energetic leadership destroyed
the power of the Indians in that section. Many of them
fled into Spanish territory, and in later years caused the
United States much trouble.

The year 1814 was hardly more cheering than the pre-

288

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

vious one. General Wilkinson, in the Champlain region,
began the campaign by an example of inefficiency. The
summer bade fair to be disastrous. English
S2J?J5A vessels hovered along our coast, and the appar-
ent defeat of Napoleon in Europe gave opportu-
nity to send over to America some of the veterans of that
long contest. On the Niagara frontier our troops under
General Brown, an able man, fought with great gallantry.
The battles of Chippewa and Lundy's Lane were victories

for the Americans,
where Scott again dis-
tinguished himself.
These successful en-
gagements gave us a
slight hold on Canada,
but in the autumn the
American troops were
withdrawn to the New
York side of the river,
and the year ended
with nothing accom-
plished in that quar-
ter.

A victory on Lake Champlain gave some encourage-
ment. The British with a large force were intending an
invasion of New York by the old route, by the
Champlain, wav °^ Lake Champlain ; but the success de-
pended on the support of the accompanying
fleet. All hope of assistance from this quarter
was soon destroyed. An American fleet under Commodore
Macdonough met and defeated the British off Plattsburg in
a desperate and hard-fought contest.

During the summer the eastern coast was much harried
by the enemy. In August they appeared in the vicinity
of Washington, finally taking that city, after some feeble
efforts at resistance. They burned the Capitol as a " har-

1814.

ADMINISTRATION OF MADISON— 1809-1817.

289

bor of Yankee democracy." The President's house and
some of the other public buildings were likewise destroyed.
_ , . This was said to be in retaliation for American

Washington

taken, Augnst, acts in Canada. The Americans had burned
1814, the Government buildings at York ; but this

had been done by some private soldiers acting without
authority, and was denounced by the press of the whole
country and disowned by the commanding general. The
English people, too, regretted the burning of the buildings

Al.'xa.iclria-iy Upper •
Alexandria^ Marl bor6

Ji..Ft.W;ishi.i-to:

?%r-

BALTIMORE,^,/ A*
Jp. ^^North Pit

1 K *4 m

V?'

hrt

^ «

*%J^& h

'ICINITY OF A ^ > ^O 1 5 V \ fc> ° C\ A

BALTIMORE & WASHINGTON
in 1812

290

HrSTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

at Washington. One paper said : " The Cossacks spared
Paris, but we spared not the Capitol of America."

The naval events of this year were not so interesting as
those of the preceding year. The sloop Essex, after an
extended cruise in the Pacific protecting
American whalers and capturing those of the
enemy, was destroyed by two English ships
after a fierce and stubborn contest near Valparaiso. Other
battles served to keep up the reputation of the navy. But

Naval events
1814.

^SANDWICH IS

NUKAHIVA7\

i terra DEL FUEGO
",'CAPE HORN

Cruise of the Essex.

by this time the English fleet on our coast was so large
that it actually blockaded the principal ports of the United
States.

In the latter part of this year the British prepared to
make an attack upon New Orleans. They sent ten thousand
veteran troops for the purpose. General Jackson was in
command of the United States forces in that quarter.
After some skirmishing, the enemy made a grand assault

ADMINISTRATION OF MADISON— 1809-1817. 291

upon the American defenses, January 8th. Our forces were
well protected, and the attack was disastrous to the English.
Battle of New Their loss was very great; their commander
Orleans, Jan- was killed, and some two thousand of the
nary, 1815. troops were either killed, wounded, or missing.
The Americans lost about seventy.

This battle was fought two weeks after peace had been
concluded at Ghent. The treaty ending the war (December
24, 1814) settled none of the questions in dis-
Qhen? ° f pute. But the war was nevertheless not with-

out results. Our little navy had shown its
mettle. American privateers had done immense damage to
British shipping. Impressment was now a thing of the
past, and it needed no clause in a treaty to make it so.
America had beyond question dignified itself among the
nations. And yet one can not help regretting that the war
could not have been avoided. It was waged by one free
nation against another free nation, and it aided Napoleon,
the enemy of free institutions everywhere. It was waged
by two peoples whose real interests were the same, and
whose mission in history has been the development of lib-
erty and civilization.

During the war there had been great dissatisfaction in

New England. In the latter part of 1814 a convention of

delegates from these States met at Hartford.

Hartford j^. wag corn monly supposed that it would plot

convention. J Sjr ... r

a disruption of the Union ; but it simply drew
up remonstrances, and proposed amendments to the Con-
stitution intended to protect a minority of the States
against unwelcome Federal legislation. The doctrines laid
down were similar to those of the Virginia resolution of
1798 : " In cases of deliberate, dangerous, and palpable in-
fractions of the Constitution, affecting the sovereignty of
the State and liberties of the people, it is not only the
right but the duty of such a State to interpose its authority
for their protection. . . . States which have no common

292 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

umpire must be their own judges and execute their own
decisions." Peace came before anything was accomplished.
The Federal party, whose stronghold was Xew England,
was brought into discredit and disrepute because it had not
entered heartily into the war.

The war did much to nationalize the country. State
selfishness and pride had in the minds of the majority of

the people given place to a broader love of

country. The New Englander had grumbled
and indulged in perpetual fault-finding, and his opposition
had given the Government great anxiety and much trouble ;
but his cheek, too, flushed with pride as he thought of the
victories of the Yankee ships upon the sea, and remembered
how Yankee seamanship had more than once excelled the
skill of the British tars. And so when the war ended there
was prospect for a more firmly united nation than ever
before.

The monetary affairs of the country were in great con-
fusion during the war, and at its close the task of bringing

about order and system was a difficult one.*
ba^ Wnati(mal Albert Gallatin, the great Secretary of the

Treasury, who had served from the beginning,
of Jefferson's administration, had gone abroad as one of the
envoys to make the peace of Ghent, and had given up the
secretaryship. Alexander J. Dallas now held the position,
a man of good ability, especially in financial matters.

* " Among the severest trials of the war was the deficiency of ade-
quate funds to sustain it, and the progressive degradation of the na-
tional credit. The currency soon fell into frightful disorder. Banks
with fictitious capital swarmed through the land and spunged the purse
of the people, often for the use of their own money with more than
usurious extortion. . . . The Treasury of the Union was replenished
only with countless millions of silken tatters and unavailable funds-,
chartered corporations, bankrupt, . . . passed off upon the Govern,
ment of their country, at par, their rags — purchasable, in open market,
at depreciations of thirty and forty per cent." (John Quincy Adams
The Lives of Madison and Monroe, p. 272.)

ADMINISTRATION OF MADISON— 1809-1817. 293

Just before entering upon the war Congress had refused
(1811) to recharter the National Bank, whose charter then
expired. State banks had as a consequence increased
greatly in numbers, many of them without more than the
merest show of capital. The value of their notes was a
matter of conjecture. Most of the banks were utterly un-
able to do more than put out promises to pay, for specie
they did not have. In 1816 a new Bank bill was introduced
into Congress and passed. The charter was for twenty years,
the capital $35,000,000, of which one fifth was to be owned
by the United States. One fifth of the directors were to be
appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

Soon after the close of the war there came a demand
for the protection of American manufactures. The long
period of war in Europe, the embargo, and the
non-intercourse policy had resulted in the en-
couragement of manufacturing in this country, because the
products of France and England were not brought into our
ports and into competition with the home product. After
the war English goods were thrown upon our market in
large quantities. To protect manufacturers and to make
the country independent of foreign countries, a tariff law
was passed (1816). This was in essence a protective tariff,
and to all practical purposes the first of that kind. It was
supported by the South and West. Its strongest opponent
was Daniel Webster, representing the commercial interests
of New England. In the course of a few years the South
became opposed to a tariff and the North in favor of it.*

For thirty years and more there had been a continuous
movement of population from the States of the Atlantic
seaboard into the Mississippi Valley. At the close of the

* The time was not far distant when many men at the South would
echo the words that John Randolph, of Virginia, used in the debate
upon this tariff bill : " Upon whom bears the duty on coarse woolens
and blankets, on salt and the necessaries of life ? Upon poor men and
slave owners."

294 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

war this movement assumed larger proportions than before ;

thousands and tens of thousands made their way into the

West, and yet almost nothing had been done to

Internal connect the Eastern States with the new corn-

improvements.

monwealths that were growing up beyond the

mountains. As early as 1806 money had been appropriated
for what was known as the Cumberland Koad. This was to
run from the Potomac over the mountains and into the
West. Something over a hundred miles of road had been
built by 1816, when Calhoun introduced a bill to use the
proceeds which the Government received from the bank
for internal improvements. This bill was vetoed by Madi-
son on the ground of unconstitutionality. Some years
later Monroe vetoed the so-called Cumberland Koad bill for
the same reason. This looked as if a policy of strict con-
struction was to be again taken up. But this was almost
the only sign of a wish to return to the narrow policy the
Eepublicans had favored twenty years before. Experience
and the war had done much to crush out a timorous dread
of governmental power. It is interesting to notice that
Calhoun and some other Southern men were then strong
advocates of such internal improvements and of a broad
national policy. " Let it not be forgotten," said Calhoun,
" let it be forever kept in mind, that the extent of our re-
public exposes us to the greatest of all calamities, next to
the loss of liberty, and even to that in consequence — dis-
union."

Because of the part the extreme Federalists had taken
during the war the party was now in disfavor. Many per-
sons who had themselves been very critical while the war
was in progress, now found no fault with the Administra-
^ tion. It was not uncertain who would succeed

presidential to the presidency. Monroe had been promi-
election, 1816. nent f or vears j n various places of public
trust. He had been an efficient Secretary of State during
Madison's administration, and for a time, when the dangers

ADMINISTRATION OF MADISON— 1809-1817.

295

and disasters had been the greatest, had been Secretary of
War also. He had shown considerable capacity and vigor,
and was almost the only person in high office that had
come out of the war with distinction. The result of the
election was the choice of Monroe for President, and Daniel
D. Tomkins for Vice-President. The Federalists cast their
ballots for Rufus King, but did not unite on a Vice-Presi-
dent. They carried only Massachusetts, Connecticut, and
Delaware.

References.

Short accounts: Hart, The Formation of the Union, pp. 199-226 ;
Walker, The Making of the Nation, pp. 214-275 ; Gay, James Madi-
son, pp. 282-321 ; Gilman, James Monroe, Chapter V ; Schurz,
Henry Clay, Volume I, pp. 68-126 ; Higginson, Larger History,
Chapter XV. Longer accounts : Schouler, History, Volume II, pp.
279-462 ; Hildreth, History, Volume VI, pp. 149-618 ; McMaster,
History, Volume III, pp. 339-560, Volume IV, pp. 1-419 ; Adams,
History, Volumes V-IX ; Bryant and Gay, Popular History, Volume
IV, pp. 180-247 ; Roosevelt, Naval War of 1812 ; Maclay, United
States Navy.

■ Mil! ll fii
rf P IN r "

House in Ghent where the Commissioners Met to Agree uton
the Treaty of Peace that Ended the War of 1812.

CHAPTER XIII.

Political and Industrial Reorganization— 1817-1829.

ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES MONROE— 1817-1825.

Monroe's Cabinet contained a number of strong men.

John Quincy Adams was appointed Secretary of State;

William II. Crawford, of Georgia, Secretary of

The era of the Treasury; and J. C. Calhoun, Secretary of

good feeling, J . J

War. The eight years of Monroe s presidency

were not devoid of interesting problems and of occurrences
that mean a good deal in our history. But the old party
disputes that were carried on with so much bitterness were

now for a time laid aside. The
country enjoyed an " era of good
feeling." A journey through
the Northern States which was
made by Monroe soon after his
inauguration did something to
bring about the change. " The
visit of the President," said a
newspaper of the time, " seems
to have allayed the storms of
party. People now meet in the
same room who a short while
since would scarcely pass each
other along the street."

There were many reasons
for this era of good will. The
times had changed. The w;ir bad bad in reality a na-
tionalizing effect. The great questions of foreign policy
296

ADMINISTRATION OF MONROE— 1817-1825. 297

which had divided the people since the coming of Genet

were now no more. The changed commercial conditions

bade people forget their party strivings and

Seasons for enter lustily into the tasks of business life. The
good ieelingi J

new West, opening up with all its possibilities

of wealth and empire, filled men's minds with hopes of a
great material destiny for their country. Moreover, there
was nothing left for the Federalists, disgraced by the name
of the Hartford convention. The Eepublicans were now
construing the Constitution as broadly as did the Federal-
ists in the days of Hamilton.*

One of the most noticeable facts of the period was the

development of the West and Southwest. There had long

been an intermittent stream of migration over

Migration to the moun t a ins from the seacoast States. When-
the West. .

ever times were bad or the ocean commerce

was seriously interfered with, then many turned their faces
westward and sought new homes. Ohio was admitted to
the Union in 1803. Louisiana, in 1812. Between 1810 and
1816 the population of Ohio increased from two hundred
and thirty thousand to about four hundred thousand. In
the same period the number of people in Indiana leaped
from twenty-four thousand to nearly three times that num-
ber. The Southern seacoast States poured their citizens
into Illinois and the Territories of the Southwest. Many of
the Eastern States were almost stationary in population.
North Carolina complained that within twenty-five years
two hundred thousand people had removed to the waters of
the Ohio and Tennessee. Virginia, " the Old Dominion,"
might almost be said to be the mother of States as well as
of Presidents. " While many other States " reported a com-
mittee of her legislature, " have been advancing in wealth
and numbers with a rapidity which has astonished them-

*" There should be now no difference of parties," said Josiah
Quincy, " for the Republicans have out-federalized Federalism." See
Schouler, vol. ii, p. 462,

298

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

^|^l|Olf)#!l l |ij , J i L l l ll 'i')i

Cincinnati in 1810. (From an old print.)

selves, the ancient Dominion and elder sister of the Union
has remained stationary. . . . The fathers of the land are
gone where another outlet to the ocean turns their thoughts
from the place of their nativity, and their affections from
the haunts of their youth."

Great as was this westward movement during the years
just mentioned, after 1816 it was even greater. The tide
a . .„ of migration to the new West became a mighty

Significance & ° J

of westward current. Steamboats plied up and down the
expansion. Western rivers. Prosperous towns sprang up,

and big plantations stretched along the rich river bottoms
of the Southern States. In 181G Indiana came into the
Union; Mississippi (1817), Illinois (1818), Alabama (1819),
Missouri (1821), followed in quick succession. The United
States had entered fairly upon a new stage of its existence.
In 1775 there were thirteen colonies scattered along the
Atlantic coast ; their traditions were colonial ; they looked
eastward across three thousand miles of water to a mother
country whose leading strings they were ready to cast
aside. Forty years later only four States had been formed

ADMINISTRATION OF MONROE— 1817-1825. 299

west of the mountains ; the people still looked toward
Europe, and their polities were largely shaped by foreign
conditions. In 1820 there were eight States in the Missis-
sippi Valley, and everywhere a Western vigor and energy
showed themselves. The center of population in 1789 was
thirty miles east of Baltimore. It had now moved west-
ward over one hundred and twenty miles, even beyond the
Shenandoah. No longer was the United States a row of
seacoast republics, but an empire stretching away to the
interior, giving visions of continental dominion. In the
great valley won from France in the momentous conflict
seventy-five years before, the American people were now
waxing strong, regardless and forgetful of old colonial de-
pendence, and heedless of European politics.

In considering this Western expansion three things are
noticeable that acted as means or causes : (1) The steam-
boat was an important factor. Without it the populating
of the West must have been a slower process. (2) More-

Western Extension of Population in 1820.

[The western boundaries of Missouri and Arkansas are given as they were
at a later date.]

300 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

over, just at this time, at the elose of the great European
wars, emigration from Europe to Ameriea set vigorously

in and added to the population of the coun-
Eeasons for this trv# (3) More interesting, and perhaps in the

long run more important, than either of these
things is the fact that the fertile fields of the Southwest at-
tracted thousands of slave owners from the seaboard States
who desired to raise cotton from the virgin soil.

To understand the meaning of this Southern movement,
we must remember that cotton raising was comparatively a

recent industry for the South. Some cotton
SWy and the fc^ been raised i n colonial times; but it took

cotton gin, 7

so long to pick the seeds from the fiber that it
was not a very remunerative crop. In 1793 Eli Whitney
invented the cotton gin. With this ingenious machine one
slave could do as much work in cleaning the cotton as
hundreds of slaves had done before. About the same time
the great inventions in England for spinning and weaving
by machinery gave a strong stimulus to such industry.
Cotton raising now became very profitable. Negroes made
good field hands, and slaves rose in value. A migration set
in to the new regions of the Southwest, where the fertile
lands were soon transformed into wide plantations. Thus
it was, that just as the Northwest was filling with men who
worked for themselves and earned their bread by the sweat
of their own brows, the southern part of the Mississippi
Valley was given over to slavery.

When we examine the commercial and business con-
dition of the nation during this period we see that it was a

period of transition, a period of readjustment,
fra^sitfonf For alm <>st the fourth of a century there had

been war in Europe, and American trade had
grown up largely on what we may call a war basis. Now
there was peace ; and men, that had been accustomed to the
more reckless ventures of trade in time of war, found they
must learn new lessons of cool calculation and unlearn

ADMINISTRATION OF MONROE— 1817-1825. 301

much thitt they had learned before. On the whole, the
people showed energy mid skill in adapting themselves to
the new conditions.

Men entered joyously upon the pursuits of peace, and
for a year or two after the war there seemed to be pros-
perity. What are commonly called flush times
prevailed. Men were led into speculation and
were tempted to run wildly into debt. Such conduct
always brings its reward in disaster. Only gradually could
the losses of the war be repaired, or business be established
on a fair basis and lasting prosperity secured. Every hasty
step simply added to the trouble that was to come.

Before an era of sound prosperity commenced, the

country passed through the hardships of a commercial

panic. For this there were many reasons. The

and their currency in common use in many parts of the

nlfiflJfulT'fl

land was of fluctuating and uncertain value, or
of no value at all ; much of it consisted of notes issued
by banks acting under State charters without sufficient
capital, often with scarcely any specie or real money of any
kind. English manufacturers by sundry devices avoided
the tariff laws and flooded the Eastern cities with their
goods. Other causes co-operated to bring confusion and
uncertainty in business. Great depression was the in-
evitable result. " The years 1819 and 1820," says Benton
in his Thirty Years' View, " were a period of gloom and
agony. No money, either gold or silver ; no paper con-
vertible into specie ; no measure or standard of value left
remaining. . . . No price for property or produce. No
employment for industry, no demand for labor, no sale for
the product of the farm, no sound of the hammer, but
that of the auctioneer knocking down property." Benton
knew the West, and perhaps he did not exaggerate the
conditions. This was the first of those severe commer-
cial panics which have during this century swept over our
country.

302 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

The United States Bank was charged by many with
"bringing on tho hard times, for which it seems indeed to have
been in part responsible.* Some of the States
The National tried to prevent it from establishing branch
banks within their limits. In the case of
McCulloch vs. Maryland, the Supreme Court decided that
the bank was constitutional, and that a State could not tax
the bank, as it was an agent of the United States. For
some time, however, in the West the establishment of branch
banks was resisted, and in Ohio the bank was for a while
practically an outlaw.

From the beginning of the century our Government had

been desirous of getting possession of the Floridas. It will

be remembered that West Florida had been

Acquisition of c ] a i me ^ as par t f the Louisiana purchase, on

Florida. r , ..*«■■.. L i . •

the ground that the original Louisiana — that is
to say, " Louisiana as it was in the hands of France " — had
extended to the east of Mobile Bay, and even to the Per-
dido. In 1810 f a considerable portion of this territory was
occupied by American troops, and in the early part of 1813
Mobile was taken and a fort built at the entrance of the
harbor. But for some years after this the rest of the
Floridas remained in the hands of Spain. In 1818 General
Andrew Jackson, engaged in fighting the Seminole Indians
who were then at war, entered Florida and hanged two
Englishmen, on the ground that they had given aid and
comfort to the Seminoles and were but " outlaws and
pirates." This showed that the province was not in reality
governed by Spain, but was at our mercy. In 1819 Spain
ceded Florida to the United States. In payment, the
United States agreed to pay the claims of our citizens

* See McMaster, History, vol. iv, p. 495. The succeeding pages of
this chapter in McMaster are very readable and instructive.

f A proclamation was issued by Madison in 1810 ordering the seiz-
ure and possession of the land " south of the Mississippi Territory and
eastward of the Mississippi, and extending to the river Perdido."

ADMINISTRATION OF MONROE— 1817-1825. 303

against Spain to the amount of $5,000,000. The western
boundary of Louisiana was at the same time determined ;
we surrendered any claim we might have to the Texas
country, and Spain gave up all claim to land north of the
forty-second parallel.* The treaty was not ratified by
Spain till 1821.

For nearly a generation after the adoption of the Con-
stitution there was no great contest on the subject of slav-
ery. The exciting events that rapidly followed
question in one upon another after the foundation of the
politics. Government gave little opportunity for discus-

sion of the slavery question. Men, in fact, did not realize
that during these years the North and the South were de-
veloping differently ; and in 1818 no one seemed to appre-
ciate the fact that the situation had radically changed in
the past thirty years, that the two sections had grown apart
in the essentials of their social and industrial life, and that
the opinion of the South on slavery was now quite different
from the prevailing opinion of the North. When the Con-
stitution was formed all the States save Massachusetts and
New Hampshire had slaves, but everywhere in the North
the institution was losing ground. At the North the in-
dustry and life of the people were- not materially influ-
enced by slave labor ; at the South society was built upon
that system. But in the South as well as in the North it
was considered by thinking men an evil. The ablest Vir-
ginia statesmen lamented the existence of slavery and fore-
told its baneful effect. In the Philadelphia convention
George Mason, of Virginia, used these words: "Slavery
discourages arts and manufactures. The poor despise labor

* See the map. This line of 1819 is important. It ran up the west
branch of Sabine River to 32° latitude and thence due north to the Red
River; thence up the Red River to longitude 100° ; thence due north to
the Arkansas River ; thence along the south bank of the Arkansas to
its source, in latitude 42°, or by a direct line from its source to the 42d
parallel ; thence due west to the Pacific.

304 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

when performed by slaves. They prevent the emigration
of whites, who really enrich and strengthen a country.
They produce the most pernicious effect on manners.
Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring
the judgment of Heaven on a country. As nations can not
be rewarded or punished in the next world, they must be in
this. By an inevitable chain of causes and effects, Provi-
dence punishes national sins by national calamities."

It is true that the delegates from the most southern
States contended in the convention for permission to intro-
duce slaves, and the Constitution in conse-
notrealLe the* quence declared such introduction should not
growth of be prohibited before January 1, 1808.* And it

is true that at a later time representatives in
Congress from these same States bitterly resented attacks
upon slavery. But the Northern men were for some years
deluded by the hope that in the natural course of events
slavery would disappear from the South, as it was every-
where disappearing in the North. In 1807 a bill was passed
making the importation of slaves illegal after the end of
the year, and later the President was authorized to use the
ships of war to stop the African slave trade. Upon neither
of these matters was there great discussion or excitement,
and until 1819 the North slumbered on, in large measure
regardless of the fact that slavery was winding ever more
firmly its coils about the Southern States, that opinion in
Virginia was changed, that already the lower part of the
Mississippi Valley was utterly given over to the system.
The greatest reason for the extension of slavery and for its
gaining a stronger hold than had seemed possible forty
years before lay in the fact that cotton raising had become
a widespread industry, an industry for which slave labor
seemed to be well fitted.

Thus the two sections had been developing differently,

* Constitution, art. i, sec. 9, § 1.

ADMINISTRATION OF MONROK— 1817-182. f

305

and suddenly it was seen that Northern and Southern sen

timents were antagonistic. Slavery became a political ques*

tion, aroused the fear of men, and stirred them

but i!T k ; . to bitterness in debate. Although the North

ened to the fact. °

had been gaining in population more rapidly
than the South, slave States and free States had been ad-
mitted into the Union alternately, and the balance between
the sections had been kept in the Senate, where each State
had equal weight with
every other. A propo-
sition to exclude slav-
ery from a State seek-
ing admission disclosed
to the people how wide-
ly they had drifted
asunder.

The matter came up
in this wise. Missouri
applied for admission
to the Union. In 1819,
when an act for this
purpose was before the
House, John Tall-
madge, Jr., a represen-
tative from New York,
introduced an amend-
ment to the act provid-
ing that no more slaves The Missouri Compromise Line.*
should be introduced into Missouri, and that all children
born after the admission of the State should
be free at the age of twenty-five years. The
House adopted the amendment. The Senate
The discussion lasted long. The whole coun-
try was aroused to a high pitch of excitement. Now
Maine, about to separate from Massachusetts, asked ad-

* Arkansas was organized as a Territory in 1819, but not till 1824
were the boundaries, here marked, established.

The Missouri
controversy.

rejected it.

306 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION.

mission as a State. The friends of slavery sought to make
the admission of Maine dependent on the admission of Mis-
souri without the Tallmadge amendment. A compromise
was finally agreed npon (1820). It provided for the ad-
mission of Missouri as a slave State, but with this exception
there was to be no slavery in the Territory purchased from
France under the name of Louisiana north of the line 36°
30'. Maine was also admitted.*

A question of considerable interest was discussed in the

course of the debate. Could Congress place conditions

upon the admission of a State ? It was strongly

Constitutional ar g ue a that it could, and as strongly that it

questions. ° • -. • i

could not. This can be said with some cer-
tainty, that Congress can make no conditions permanently
binding upon a State which would deprive it of equality
with other States. Congress has power to admit new States
into this Union,f and "this Union," it was cogently and
rightly said, is a union of equal States. When the bills
came before Monroe he hesitated to sign them. Was it
within the power of Congress to banish slavery from this
Western land ? He finally signed the bills, and there seemed
in 1820 to be a general belief that the compromise was con-
stitutional.

When Missouri presented herself for final admission into
the Union, it was discovered that the Constitution con-
tained a clause forbidding the entrance of free
The second negroes. This caused difficulty anew; but a

compromise. ° ^ '

compromise was adopted, through Clay s eftort,
whereby Missouri was admitted, but with the understand-
ing that citizens of other States should not be deprived of

* The line of 3G° 30' is the northern line of North Carolina. The
northern boundary of Tennessee varies slightly from this parallel, run-
ning somewhat to the north, between the mountains and the Cumber-
land River. West of the river the line of 36° 30' is the northern
boundary.

f Constitution, art. iv, sec. 3.

ADMINISTRATION OP MONROE— 1817-1825. 307

their rights under the Federal Constitution of going to
Missouri.* «•

Thus the cleavage between slavery and freedom was
clearly marked by a geographical line. This whole bitter
controversy showed the people how they differed.
s T J t io ^ s stinct It rang out, said the aged Jefferson, " like a
fire-bell in the night." There were now two sec-
tions well defined, differing more and more as the years went
by in industrial and social makeup. For each succeeding year
the South was more under the influence of this one institu-
tion, while the North was developing like the rest of the
civilized world, free from the weight of slavery.

In the midst of the excitement of the Missouri question
the election of 1820 occurred. Monroe was again elected,
this time with but one dissenting vote. The
Jnstcf 1011 Federalists were now no more. In New Eng-
land some still remained as a sort of social
reminiscence, but they could not be called a party. There
were grounds for differences of opinion, but parties did
not form again until some years later.

One of the most important problems that arose in these
years grew out of our relations with the states of Central
and South America. After the close of the
American States Napoleonic wars, all the Spanish continental
and the Holy colonies from Mexico to the far south, one by
one, threw off the yoke of Spain, and finally
succeeded in sustaining themselves as independent powers.
At this same time the so-called " Holy Alliance " was formed
in Europe, made up of the most powerful monarchs of the
Continent. Its chief aim was to check the growth of de-
mocracy, and to strengthen the hold of absolutism on the
people. As long as the work of the Holy Alliance was con-
fined to Europe we had no ground of complaint ; but there
began to be signs that government by the people was not

* See Constitution, art. iv, sec. 2, § 1.

308 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

safe from interference even on this continent ; that efforts
would be made to overthrow the free governments set up
in Central and South America, and compel the return of
these states to Spanish control. In addition to this trouble,
our Government was somewhat uneasy over the fact that
Russia showed an inclination to creep down the western
coast of North America and to claim land considerably
south of what might justly be considered her right.

Under these circumstances Monroe sent to Congress
(December, 1823) a message which contained a statement

of the foreign policy of the United States.
doctrine! 10 There were two chief propositions : That any

attempt on the part of the European powers
" to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere "
would be considered " as dangerous to our peace and safety,"
and that any effort to oppress the South American states
or to control their destiny would be viewed as a " manifesta-
tion of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States."
Second — as a warning to Russia — that the American conti-
nents were no longer "to be considered as subjects for
future colonization by any European power." The next
year Russia entered into a treaty with us, agreeing not to
claim territory south of 54° 40', the present southern bound-
ary of Alaska.* Monroe's message undoubtedly made the
Holy Alliance pause and consider. England was in sym-
pathy with our action. " This crowning effort of Monroe's
career contrasted well with that to which it stood opposed,

* The Monroe Doctrine, as it was announced in 1823, had its roots
in the past (see Gilman's Monroe, chap. vii). And it now means more
than it did in 1823. " On its negative side it is a strong jealousy
in respect to European interference in any and all matters that are
peculiarly American, and particularly North American. In a word, it
is the national resolution to assert and to maintain the leadership that
the people believe both Nature and history have assigned to them on
the two continents." It is a sentiment produced by historical and geo-
graphical conditions; it is in no proper sense a principle of inter-
national law.

ADMINISTRATION OF MONROE— 1817-1825.

309

The tariff of
1824.

for the main motive was to shelter honorably these tender
blossoms of liberty on kindred soil from the cold Siberian
blasts of despotism." *

In 1824 there was a demand for another tariff act mate-
rially increasing the duties on imported goods. Clay was
the leader in this movement, while Webster
vigorously opposed it, as he had the act of 181 G.
Clay advocated what he called a "genuine
American policy," the object of which was to build up
home industry and give a home market for American prod-
ucts. The act was passed, but
the majority in both houses
was very small. The vote
was sectional, too — an ominous
fact — for the South was vig-
orously opposed to a protective
tariff, on the ground that it en-
riched the manufacturer at the
expense of the agriculturist.

The election of 1824 was
rather a personal than a party
contest. There were many
questions of public policy
about which persons might
honestly differ, especially in-
ternal improvements and the
tariff ; but as yet men had not
organized to defend their be-
liefs on these matters. In
those days candidates for the presidency were not pre-
sented by national conventions, as they are now.f The

* Schouler's History, vol. iii, p. 291.

f Washington and Adams were not nominated in any proper sense
of the word at all. There was a general understanding that they were
to be voted for. The caucus system of nomination was not fully estab-
lished until 1800. See Hinsdale, The American Government, chap. xxx.

310 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

"regular" nomination was made by a "caucus" of the

members of Congress. Such a caucus, composed of only a

minority of the Eepublican congressmen, nomi-

Jf h i824 Cti0n nated William H - Crawford, of Georgia. Craw-
ford was then Secretary of the Treasury, but
for some time he had been much broken and at times
physically unable to perform the duties of his office. The
nomination of a man in his condition, and that, too, by a
minority of the members, was so preposterous that the
caucus method of presenting candidates was discredited.
This was said to be the death of " King Caucus," for this
was the last of such nominations. Other candidates were
named for this election by State Legislatures. They were
John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and Andrew Jackson.
The result of the contest was surprising. Adams received
84 votes, Crawford 41, Henry Clay 37, while Andrew
Jackson, whose candidacy had in many quarters not been
taken seriously because of his lack of experience in po-
litical affairs, received 99 votes. The choice of one from
the three highest candidates was thus thrown upon the
House of Kepresentatives. Clay, whose influence in Con-
gress was great, favored Adams, and the New Englander
was elected, much to the disgust of Jackson's friends, who
claimed that the will of the people had been disregarded,
and that Adam* and Clay had entered into a corrupt
bargain. There was no difficulty about the vice-presi-
dency, Calhoun having been elected without serious oppo-
sition.

The " era of good feeling " was at an end. There had
been more or less ill feeling all the time. Political ques-
tions had often been bitterly discussed, and per-

End d°f fe iin° f sonal animus nad often taken tne P lace of
political principle. As yet, however, parties
with principles were not formed. For some years after this
men spoke of "Jackson men" and "Adams men." But
the elements of party organization were at hand, and out

ADMINISTRATION OP JOHN Q. ADAMS— 1825-1829. 311

of the bitterness of personal contests parties with principles
were sure soon to arise.

References.

Short accounts: Hart, Formation of the Union, pp. 231-252;
Gilman, James Monroe, Chapters VI and VII; Schurz, Henry Clay,
Volume I, pp. 126-258; Von Hoist, John C. Calhoun, Chapter III;
Morse, John Quincy Adams, pp. 102-177; Higginson, Larger His-
tory, Chapters XVI and XVII. Longer accounts: Schouler, His-
tory, Volume III, pp. 1-335. The pupil will be entertained by the
fascinating series of chapters in McMaster, Volume IV, which treat
topically the different phases of this period of reorganization and
readjustment. Read especially Chapters XXX-XXXIX, and, above
all, Chapter XXXIII.

ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS— 1825-1829.

When John Quincy Adams came to the presidential
chair he was in his fifty-eighth year. He had been for

thirty years in
itT 07 Public life. He

had been foreign
minister, senator, and, during
Monroe's administrations, Sec-
retary of State. His charac-
ter was beyond reproach. He
was scrupulously honest, his
straightforwardness amount-
ing to bluntness. He was
ambitious, but not meanly self-
seeking, and he devoted him-
self untiringly and unselfishly
to the duties of his office. He
was not actuated by petty
motive, and never consented
to make use of improper means to secure power or influ-
ence. Able as well as honest, he was one of the best
21

CXA*TiJ>,

312 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

officers that ever served a people. High-minded himself,
he demanded purity in others, and his caustic criticism
of the motives and acts of his fellows often estranged
those whom he might have won as his friends. He was
formal and cold in his manners, and had no great tact or
talent as a political leader.

Adams made Clay his Secretary of State. It was a

natural choice ; for the two men thought alike on political

issues, and Clay certainly merited the distinc-

Charges of Hon. But the appointment gave countenance

corruption. ■■ i •

to those who asserted that, by making promise
of the secretaryship, Adams had secured his own election.
The charge was utterly unfounded ; but it was believed by
many, and had no little effect on the public mind. Through-
out the administration, the friends of Jackson proclaimed
without ceasing that the " people's candidate " had been
defrauded of his rights.*

There was much personal bitterness during these four
years. The people were divided into " Adams men " and

" Jackson men." Yet the elements of distinct
Beginnings of political parties with real principles were

new parties. - 1 r r r

clearly enough in existence, and Adams, both
by selecting the founder of the " American system " as his
Secretary of State, and by favoring in his first message a
broad and liberal policy for the National Government, ac-
tually announced the beginnings of a new party. The
message advocated appropriations for roads and canals, and

* John Randolph, a master of malicious abuse, referred to the "cor-
rupt coalition between the Puritan and blackleg," and called the
administration a " puritanic-diplomatic-blacklegged administration."
Clay challenged him to a duel, and a meeting occurred. Neither was
injured. Benton records the affair, and ends : " On Monday the parties
exchanged cards and social relations were . . . restored. Tt was about
the last high-toned duel thai I have witnessed, and among the highest
toned that I have ever witnessed." fortunately we have outgrown that
•■■mli'i ton "f societ \ .

ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN Q. ADAMS— 1825-1829. 313

advised the establishment of a national university and the
creation of an astronomical observatory — " a lighthouse of
the skies." Such words natural-
ly antagonized many who were
averse to such appropriations.
Adams and others did not see the
situation. They did not see that
the old party was torn asunder,
and that two new parties were
at hand ; they considered the dif-
fering factions as wings of the
old Republican party. Except by
making a clear statement of prin-
ciples, nothing was done by the
President to organize an Admin-
istration party. The friends of
liberal construction and of the tariff formed slowly around
Clay as their leader, rather than around Adams, and began
before 1828 to call themselves " National Republicans."
The strict-constructionists called themselves Democratic
Republicans, and before many years were commonly known
as Democrats.

Owing to a number of causes, a good many persons
joined the party opposed to the Administration, not because
they objected to internal improvements or like
measures, but because they disliked Adams
and liked Jackson. So this party, which in-
cluded the strict-constructionists, was for some time uncer-
tain of its own policy. Indeed, the exact views of Jackson
himself were uncertain. Through these years many persors
summed up their political creed in the war-cry, " Hurrah
for Jackson ! " and it proved in itself an unanswerable
argument. And yet, although fit first the party of opposi
bion, as Buch parties are apt to be, wag somewhat uncertain
in it.-- beliefs and fundamental principles, and contained *
number of incoherent elements, nevertheless the differing

Their
characteristics

314 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

factions of the old Republican party were, before the next
election, formed into parties, each with its own character-
istics and natural tendencies. The Rational Republican
party was similar in some respects to the old Federalists ;
but it cast away, as unsuited to American politics, the
exclusive, superior tone which had characterized the fol-
lowers of Hamilton. The people at large were appealed to
by both parties ; but the natural enthusiasm for Jackson,
" the man of the people," called into the -ranks of the
opposition the masses of the people and made it a real
democratic party.

The times naturally called for opinion and action with

regard to internal improvements. The rapid building up

of the West increased rather than diminished

the demand for roads and other means of corn-
improvements.

munication. A few years before this the State
of New York had begun to make the Erie Canal, and in
1825 it was finished. De Witt Clinton, for some years
governor of the State, devoted himself earnestly to the
undertaking, and the success of the enterprise was due to
his untiring energy. The canal was first ridiculed as
" Clinton's ditch," but the results justified the
faith and the unflagging zeal of its advocates.
The most enthusiastic person could scarcely have foreseen
the influence of this canal on building up the commerce of
New York city and enriching the State.* By means of it
emigrants from the East found their way westward. The
States and Territories of the Northwest grew rapidly in
population, and poured their products back to the cities of
the coast for consumption or transportation. " At this
epoch," we are told, " the history of modern New York
properly begins." From this time, too, the Northwest
enters upon a new phase of its life. In 1826 there were

* This canal, three hundred and sixty-three miles in length, con-
necting the waters of Lake Erie with those of the Hudson, is still of
great commercial value.

ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN Q. ADAMS— 1825-1829. 315

no less than seven steamers on Lake Erie, and four
years later a daily line was running between Detroit and
Buffalo.

Other States, moved by the enterprise of New York,
were now eager for canals. All sorts of projects were in
men's minds, and some of them were under-
National aid for t}lken> Therc naturally also a desire for

improvements. . f

the assistance of the National Government,
and somewhat liberal appropriations for internal improve-
ments were given during this administration. But zeal for
such national expenditure was partly sectional ; the South
looked somewhat jealously upon the improvements which
enriched the commercial States of the North. It is worthy
of notice that the plan of appropriating money for the
improvement of harbors was entered upon as early as
1823.

Another means of transportation than the slowly moving
canal boat soon won and absorbed the attention of the
people. Horse railroads had been in use for
some little time, and various efforts had been
made both in this country and in England to use steam as
a motive force.* As early as 1814 George Stephenson, an
Englishman, invented a "travelling engine," which he
named "My Lord." Some years later (1825) the Stockton
and Darlington Railway was opened, and Stephenson acted
as engineer on a trial trip of his new locomotive. The suc-
cess of this enterprise encouraged the building of the
Liverpool and Manchester Railway. On this line (1829)
Stephenson tried the Rocket, which sped away at the
astounding pace of twenty-nine miles an hour. " Canal
property is ruined," wrote a correspondent from London ;

* The earliest roads were built with wooden rails, and afterward these
were covered with bands or strips of iron. Horses furnished the motive
power. The first road of this kind seems to have been built as early M
1807, in Boston. The first steam locomotive used in this country was
brought from England in 1829, and was called the * Stourbridge Lion."

316

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

" in fact they are even anticipating that it may be necessary
to let the canals dry and to lay rails on them."

Meantime inventors and capitalists were at work in
America. Indeed, the success of the Stockton and Darling-
ton Railway seems to have produced a greater
impression on this side of the water than in
England. Xew York was already reaping the
benefit of the Erie Canal, but the cities farther smith were
still without easy means of communication with the West.
Both Baltimore and Philadelphia seem to have felt the loss

BOSTON AND WORCESTER RAIL ROAD.]

Railroads in
America.

THE Passenger Cars will continue lo run daily from the
Drpol near Washington street, lo Newton, al 6 and
10 o'clock, A.M. and at 34 o'clock, P. 11. and

Returning, leave Newion at 7 and a quarter past II, A.M.
and a quarter before 5, P.M.

Tickets for the passage either way may be had at the
T»ckei Office, No. 017, Washington street ; price 3i£ cents
each ;a»id lor the return passage, of the Master of the Car i t
Newton.

By order oXthe President and Directors.

a 29 epistf F. A WILLIAMS, Clerk.

Advertisp:ment of the First Passenger Train in Massachusetts,

May, 1834.

of Western trade, which was now deflected to New York.
A railroad was determined upon, and in 1827 a charter
was issued to the Baltimore and Ohio road. July 4, 1828,
work was actually begun, the first act being done by Charles
Carroll of Carrollton, the only living signer of the Declara-
tion of Independence. He is said to have exclaimed : " I
consider this among the most important acts of my life,
second only to that of signing the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, if second to that." Two years later a short
section of this road was opened for traffic. In South Caro-

ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN Q. ADAMS— 1825-1829. 317

lina, too, a road was built running from Charleston to Ham-
burg, and in 1833 this road was one hundred and thirty-five
miles in length, then the longest road in the world.*

In 1840 there were two thousand eight hundred and
eighteen miles of railroad in operation, and as the years
went by the mileage increased. But no one in those early
years could foresee the immense development of railroads,
and the great changes they were to make in the life of the
nation. The first lines connected neighboring cities, or
furnished outlets from the coal regions to the sea; but in
time the long trunk lines were constructed, stretching
across the country, binding the land together into an in-
dustrial unit. Wherever men are gathered together, there
the railroad now goes to serve them, ready to carry the
products of their toil to market and to bring back what
they wish in exchange. f

The political significance of the railroad was almost as

great as its social and industrial significance. The East

and West were made one ; the strong ties of

The political commercial interest and the fellowship of
significance. r

social communication bound the States of the

coast to their younger sisters of the Mississippi Valley.
The old saying that a free government could not exist
over a wide expanse of territory was bereft of # meaning, for,
as the railroads were built into the West, Michigan and
Illinois became the next-door neighbors of Massachusetts
and Connecticut.

For some years Georgia had been anxious to get posses-
sion of the land of the Creek and Cherokee Indians within
the limits of that State. These tribes were already civil-
ized.' The Cherokees especially were well advanced. They
had churches, schools, and courts of law, and had well-

* Interesting data are given in Encyclopaedia Americana, vol. iv,
p. 296.

f An admirable short essay on the railroads and their functions in
Shaler's The United States of America, vol. ii, pp. 65-131.

31$ HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

tilled fields and comfortable homes. The presence of such
independent bodies within the State, not subject to its

laws, was unnatural. Georgia desired the In-
Georgiaand dians' lands, and was not willing to wait.

She demanded the immediate removal of the
tribes beyond the Mississippi. A treaty was made by
the National Government providing for the sale of most
of the land of the Creeks. But Georgia would not wait
until the time came for carrying out the treaty. State
surveyors were ordered into the territory of the Creeks.
The President forbade the survey.* At first the State
obeyed, but finally became very impatient. The Governor
announced the doctrine of State sovereignty, and asserted
that the State had an equal authority with the United
States " to pass upon its rights." Adams was prepared to
protect the Indians in their property, and ordered the
United States District Attorney and the marshal to arrest
any one endeavoring to survey the Indian lands west of a
certain line. The Governor prepared for resistance, and
ordered the militia officers of the State to be in readiness
with their forces to repel invasion. The majority in Con-
gress were opposed to Adams and did not wish to support
him, and he hesitated, naturally, to bring on civil war on
such an issue. The Creeks were soon compelled to leave
their lands. About the same time encroachments were
made upon the Cherokee territory, and the final outcome
was much the same as in the case of the Creeks. Georgia
successfully maintained her " sovereignty." f

* Indian affairs have always been under the control of the Federal
Government. Congress is given power to regulate commerce with
Indian tribes. See Constitution, art. i, sec. vii, §3. Moreover, the
Creeks and the Federal Government had entered into treaties.

f This trouble with Georgia has its political significance in the fact
that the State maintained, in some measure, its authority against the
Government. It is also significant as an episode in the process of
transferring the Indians to reservations in the West. The plan of
confining them to reservations was fully carried out in the course of the

ADMINISTRATION OP JOHN Q. ADAMS— 1825-1829. 319

The tariff of
1828.

The manufacturing interests of the Northern States were
rapidly growing through these years ; but in some respects,
especially in the making of woolen goods, Eng-
lish factories seemed to have the advantage.
There was a demand by the manufacturers for
a higher tariff and more protection. In 1828 a bill for the
purpose was introduced. All the interests of the country
began at once to push and scramble for recognition. The
result was what is commonly known as the " tariff of abom-
inations." It was an "economic monstrosity." The rate
of duty on many articles,
including raw materials
for manufactures, was
very high. So much had
the coming presidential
election been kept in
view, that John Ran-
dolph declared in a bit-
ing phrase, " The bill re-
ferred to manufactures
of no sort or kind ex-
cept the manufacture of
a President of the United
States."

The South had now
become bitterly opposed to a tariff. It seemed to enrich
the Northerner, and to make the Southerner pay an en-
hanced price for all the goods which he
bought. There were at the South no fac-
tories, or nearly none ; the people therefore
did not seek protection. Randolph said that the bill was
intended "to rob and plunder one half of the Union

century. During Jackson's administration the Cherokee lands were
occupied, and Georgia successfully opposed the authority of the Federal
court. See Schouler, History, vol. iv, pp. 233-235 ; Sumner, Andrew
Jackson, pp. 180-183.

South opposed
to the tariff.

320 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

for the benefit of the residue." South Carolina protested
against the law, asserting that it was unconstitutional,
and an abuse of power incompatible with free govern-
ment. " The interests of South Carolina," she said, " are
agricultural, and to cut oif her foreign market and to
confine her products to an inadequate home market is to
reduce her to poverty." The defenders of the American
system argued that the South derived a benefit from the
fact that the tariff made a home market, and thus brought
a market nearer to the cotton States, and therefore increased
the price of cotton. But the planters did not admit the
truth or force of this argument.

Because of the President's advocacy of internal improve-
ments, and because of the passage of the tariff bill, for
which the National Kepublicans were largely
'ri828 Ctl0n responsible, a strong and united opposition was
formed against Adams before the end of his
administration. The South was a unit against him, and
the foes of internal improvements at the North were op-
posed to his policy. Moreover, Jackson was everywhere
hailed as the people's friend, the man of the common
people, while Adams was denounced as an aristocrat, who
felt himself above the ordinary man. There was an out-
burst of popular enthusiasm for the " hero of New Orleans."
Now it must be noted that since the beginning of the Gov-
ernment the high offices of state had been in the hands of
trained statesmen, and the presidency had been given to
men of learning and experience. But in 1828 the people
had grown confident — overconfident — and ready to resent
the insinuation that they needed educated or experienced
statesmen to lead them or show them the way. The West,
which was enthusiastic for Jackson, was accustomed to give
its allegiance to a downright forcible character like " Old
Hickory," who had succeeded in what he had undertaken,
and had whipped the British and the Indians with equal
thoroughness and skill. And so Adams found himself the

ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN Q. ADAMS— 1825-1829. 321

candidate of the North and East, and defended by the
more conservative elements of society, who dreaded what
they considered a democratic upheaval, and feared the
election of a new and untried man to the presidency.
Richard Rush, of Pennsylvania, was the candidate of the
National Republicans for Vice-President. Calhoun held
second place on the Jackson ticket. Jackson received one
hundred and seventy-eight electoral votes, while Adams re-
ceived only eighty-three. The popular vote of the National
Kepubliuans was large, however, and this showed that a
strong conservative party was in existence.

References.

Short accounts: Hart, The Formation of the Union, pp. 245-
262 ; Schurz, Henry Clay, Volume I, Chapter XI ; Morse, J. Q.
Adams, pp. 189-225 ; Burgess, Middle Period, pp. 145-166. Longer
account : Schouler, History, Volume III, pp. 336-449.

• : *"V2CK>

Marietta, Ohio, in Early Days.
The picture illustrates the manner in which ruauy of the principal cities
in Ohio and the West began. From an old drawing now preserved in
Columbus, Ohio.

CHAPTER XIV.

Democracy and Slavery — Industrial and Economic Contro-
versies—The Annexation of Texas— 1829-1845.

Andrew
Jackson

ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JACKSON— 1829-1837.

Andrew Jackson" is one of the most striking figures in
American history, and few persons have played a more im-
portant part. He was born in South Carolina
in 1767, of sturdy Scotch-Irish stock. When
he was twenty-one he moved to Nashville. He
studied law, and when Tennessee was admitted to the
Union he became the first representative from the State

in Congress. Soon afterwards
he became Senator, but held
the position only a short time.
" When I was President of
the Senate," wrote Jefferson
at a later time, "be was a
Senator, and he could never
speak on account of the rash-
ness of his feelings. I have
seen him attempt it repeat-
edly, and as often choke with
rage." Until the outbreak
of the War of 1812 Jackson
was most of the time in pri-
vate life, not in public office.
His surroundings were those
of a rough frontier community, and we read of his taking
part in duels and quarrels that were typical of the crude
322

ADMINISTRATION OP JACKSON— 1829-1837. 323

life of the young and energetic Southwest of those days.
For it can not be denied that, with much that was sound
and wholesome, there was a good deal that was rude and
boisterous in the life of these new States beyond the moun-
tains. Jackson, in his downrightness and uprightness, in
his promptness to resent an insult and to fight in obedience
to the code of honor, was a true son of his surroundings.
His early career taught him to love his friends and to hate
his enemies. He was strong and willful and full of energy,
but his powers were undisciplined. In the War of 1812 he
fought with characteristic bravery and energy, showing
many of the qualities of skillful generalship. In the Semi-
nole War (1818-'19) he crushed the hostile Indians of the
South and won new renown. He was a man of perfect hon-
esty, and his motives were good ; he had a warm heart, a
quick temper, and undoubted ability ; he had the faculty of
winning men and of making them love him. The coun-
selors and friends that surrounded him when he was Presi-
dent never hid him from view ; he stood always clearly out
before the people. His greatest weakness lay in the fact
that designing men, his friends, could play upon his preju-
dices, and through his iron will accomplish their own objects.
Jackson was elected in 1828 because he was looked
upon as a candidate of the common people, while Adams
was declared to be an aristocrat without sym-

KeS e . of P ath y for the masses ; ft was said > too > that

Jackson had been defrauded of his just rights
in 1824. His election marks an era in our politics for
many reasons. He was the first man chosen from the new
West. He was the first man elected President who had
not already acquired wide knowledge and experience in
public affairs. The election of this self-made man, who
was put forward as " a man of the people," shows that in
the development of American life the people had reached
a stage of self-confidence and assertion ; they felt no need
of trained experts in statesmanship ; they desired only some

324 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

one who would fulfill their behests. Perhaps they were
overconfident, and there was certainly something wrong in
their antagonism to an experienced man like Adams on the
ground that he was an aristocrat, for it is not undemocratic
to place in public office the best of trained servants ; but,
nevertheless, in the growth of a popular state like the
United States it is only reasonable to expect that the peo-
ple will come to see their power and use it ; and only when
they know their power can they feel the full responsibili-
ties of citizenship.

Up to the time of Jackson's accession to the presidency
national office-holders were removed only for inefficiency or
dishonesty. Adams removed only two men in
Astern* 18 his whole term, and these not for political rea-

sons. Although a strong party was arrayed
against him, he refused to use public office to reward his
friends. Now, Jackson was fully persuaded that the office-
holders who had held their places under Adams were a cor-
rupt lot, for by temperament he looked upon all who were
not his friends as his enemies, and, moreover, he believed
that the Adams administration was begotten by fraud, and
that none who participated in it merited consideration. In
some of the States the practice of using public office as a
reward to political friends was already fully established.
Influenced by men that had been used to this practice, and
hearing the outcry against aristocratic office-holders, Jack-
son began the removal of men who were opposed to him in
politics and filled their places with his followers.* Thus
was introduced into the national administration the " spoils
system," f in accordance with which a person was given

* There were more men removed from office in the first few months
of Jackson's administration than in the forty years preceding.

f Those, words seem to have been .adopted from a speech madp by
W. I.. Marc; in the Senate in 1831. " It maj be, sir, thai rhp poli-
n<-i;m- of Ne* York are no! so fas! idioua as -<>m gentlemen are as to
disclosing th< principles on which thej act. . . . The; see nothing
wrong in the rule that to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy."

ADMINISTRATION OF JACKSON— 1829-1837. 325

employment in the public service not because he was com-
petent and trained for his duties, but because he was a
faithful partisan. Jackson was honest and patriotic, but
he was instrumental in establishing this system, which has
had a most harmful influence upon the character of our
national politics.

Jackson's first Cabinet was not composed of men of
wide experience or of great ability. Martin Van Buren,
the Secretary of State, was probably the ablest member.
He had for some years been a prominent figure in the poli-
tics of New York. He was shrewd and keen, and a good
manager of men ; his enemies considered him underhanded
and dishonest, but he was by no means devoid of states-
manship. In 1831 Jackson reorganized his Cabinet. Van
Buren was appointed minister to England, but the Senate
refused to confirm, the nomination. This was considered
a piece of spite, and helped rather than hurt his political
prospects. The new Cabinet was abler than the preceding.
Edward Livingston became Secretary of State ; Louis Mc-
Lane, Secretary of the Treasury ; Lewis Cass, Secretary of
War ; Levi Woodbury, Secretary of the Navy ; Roger B.
Taney, Attorney-General. These were all men of strong
character. They represented the organizing forces of the
new Democratic party. Some of them were for many years
prominent and influential men in the nation.

Hardly had the tariff of 1828 been passed when some of
the Southern States began to show their strong dislike of

the protective system. South Carolina was
John 0. foremost in opposition, and John C. Calhoun

was her leader and guide. Calhoun had drifted
wide from the position he held after the War of 1812, when
he advocated a broad national policy. He now stood forth as
the champion of State sovereignty, and devoted himself to
h defense of sectional interests. Slavery bad made the
South peculiar. WTiai wm good policy for the North with
diversified industries, might be injurious to the South with

326

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

one dominating industry. Calhoun, a clear, incisive speaker
and acute reasoner, claimed that the Government had no
authority to pass laws that were harmful to a State or sec-
tion. He drew up a careful
statement of his constitu-
tional theories, asserting that
each State was wholly sov-
ereign, and the Constitu-
tion only an agreement or
compact between sovereign
States; he announced, like-
wise, the doctrine of nulli-
fication. State sovereignty
meant this : that each State
of the Union was not sub-
ject to the Constitution as
a superior law, but retained
the right to govern itself
wholly if it so preferred.
From State sovereignty came
the right of secession ; each State had the right to interpret
the Constitution for itself, and, if it chose, to withdraw from
the Union on the ground that the agreement
or treaty (the Constitution) had been broken,
or on the ground that its interests were no longer furthered.
In accordance with this theory, the relations between the
various States were just the same as they would be between
France, England, and Spain if they should enter into a
treaty establishing a central agent to which certain powers
of government should be given for certain purposes ; each
of the three States would retain its full sov-
ereign character, and would have the right
to withdraw from association with the others
when it chose. Nullification meant the right of a State
to declare null and void any act of the Federal Govern-
ment which it considered a breach of the compact (the Con-

and
nullification

ADMINISTRATION OF JACKSON— 1829-1837.

327

The great
debate.

stitution), and to resist the enforcement of such act within
its limits.*

In 1830 Senator Hayne, of South Carolina, gave utter-
ance to these theories in the Senate. He was a man of
strong parts, and his presentation of Calhoun's
theories was forcible. Daniel Webster an-
swered him in a great speech, which stands to-
day unsurpassed in the annals of American oratory. Web-
ster was then at the height of his intellectual vigor. His
eloquence was pure and great.
No orator that has ever spoken
the English tongue has ex-
celled him in the beauty, force,
and appropriateness of lan-
guage. He maintained, in re-
ply to Hayne, that the Con-
stitution was a law, and not a
mere agreement ; that it had
the force of law, and was bind-
ing on each and every State ;
and that each State could not
at will interpret the Constitu-
tion to suit its interests. He
pointed out that nullification
must be only interstate anar-
chy. The speech made a deep impression on the people
of the country, for it harmonized well with the predominat-

Q 1 ^^- fay&tZ^

* Under this theory of Calhoun, a State would nullify while it re-
mained in the Union, but secession would follow in case the obnoxious
laws were enforced against its will. " Should the other members,"
wrote Calhoun, " undertake to grant the power nullified, and should the
nature ... be such as to defeat the object of the . . . Union, at least so far
as the member nullifying is concerned, it would then become an abuse
of power on the part of the principals [the other States], and thus pre-
sent a case where secession would apply." Between 1828 and 1832
Calhoun fully outlined the whole logical basis of secession. Nothing
needed to be added in 1861. Read Johnston, Am. Orations, vol. iii, p. 321.
22

328 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

ing sentiment at the North. This was long known as " the
great debate " in the Senate.

But Calhoun's doctrines were to be more forcibly de-
picted than by mere oratory. In 1832 a new tariff act was
passed. This was more moderate than the one
Nullification in f four yearg before, but South Carolina pre-

Sonth Carolina, J x

pared to protest directly against it. Under the
direction of Calhoun the steps for nullification were taken.
A convention of the people declared the tariff law null and
void, forbade its execution within the State, and threatened
secession from the Union if there should be an effort to
enforce it. This was November, 1832. The Ordinance of
Nullification was to go into force February 1, 1833.

On December 11th Jackson issued his famous proclama-
tion addressed to the people of South Carolina. It was

full of fire and vigor. It was at once strong,

Jackson's reasonable, and gentle. " The laws of the

proclamation. ' &

United States must be executed, he said.
" Those who told you that you might peaceably prevent
their execution deceived you. . . . Their object is disunion,
and disunion by armed force is treason." The people of
the United States owe Jackson a deep debt of gratitude.
His name — a name of power for many years to come — was
joined with the idea of union and the supremacy of the
Constitution. But he did more than issue a proclama-
tion : he made preparation to enforce the law.

Calhoun resigned the vice-presidency, and was elected
Senator from his State. In the winter a tariff bill, called

the Compromise Tariff of 1833, was passed.

This provided for a gradual lowering of the
duties. Clay was instrumental in bringing about the com-
promise. At the same time an act was passed known as
the " force bill." It gave the President means of enfor-
cing the law. Thus were presented to South Carolina " the
rod and the olive branch bound up together." South Caro-
lina repealed the nullification ordinance, thus accepting

ADMINISTRATION OF JACKSON— 1829-1837. 329

the olive branch, while she ignored the threatening rod.
Danger of war or secession was, for the time being, gone.

Through the summer of 1832 a contest of another sort
had been in progress, a struggle between the friends and
the opponents of the Bank of the United
States. From the beginning of Jackson's ad-
ministration the bank had been more or less under fire.
Jackson himself may be supposed to have had a natural
objection to it, although he does not seem to have been
anxious to attack it until it was hinted to him that the
institution was using its power for political purposes against
the Administration. This was doubtless not true at first.
But Jackson in various messages to Congress hinted at the
dangers of such a moneyed organization and the unconsti-
tutionality of the charter. The National Republicans, led
by Clay, believed that the bank was useful and desirable,
and thought that the people at large felt the same way
about it. In 1832, though the charter did not expire till
four years later,* a bill was passed by Congress granting a
new charter. Jackson vetoed the bill on the ground of un-
constitutionality, and for other reasons.

" Bank or no bank " was one of the chief issues of the
presidential campaign of that year. Jackson had appealed
to a wide public sentiment when he objected
Selection 1 ^° wna ^ ne considered a great national monop-
oly, and he strengthened his case in some quar-
ters by urging that the bank was a machine for making the
rich richer and the poor poorer. Although it had not be-
fore been active in politics, it seems that under strong
temptation the bank did in this election endeavor to influ-
ence public opinion. It did nothing, probably, that merits
the charge of corruption, but deep hostility was engendered
by its acts, and it is possible that its conduct pointed to a
real and serious danger.

* The bank, it will be remembered, obtained a charter in 1816, good
for twenty years.

330 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

For the election of 1832 candidates were presented in a
novel way. National conventions now assembled for the
_ T . x , purpose of making nominations. At this time

Nominating r r o

Convention, there was a new organization known as the
l83i-'32. Anti-Masonic party. The formation of this

party was due to the existence of a strong feeling against
the Masons, who were charged with the abduction and
murder of one William Morgan, a member of the order who
had threatened to disclose its secrets, In 1831 this party
held a national convention and nominated William Wirt
for the presidency. This method was followed by the
other parties. The Democrats nominated Jackson and
Van Buren ; the National Eepublicans nominated Clay and
John Sergeant, of Pennsylvania.

Clay was a natural choice of his party. To a great ex-
tent it had formed under his leadership, and he represented

its chief aims. He had introduced and de-
J fended the American system. He had been

consistently in favor of internal improvements, and in
other respects stood for a very broad and liberal national
policy. He was a natural leader. Men felt the spell of his
eloquence. Though not so keen as Calhoun, nor so pro-
found as Webster, he had the faculty of inspiring his hear-
ers by his fervid appeals and filling them with his own
enthusiasm. Spite of Clay's wide popularity, he was badly

beaten in the election. Before the end of
and the Whig another presidential term his followers took the

name of Whigs. The name itself, recalling the
popular one by which the patriots of the Revolution were
known, implied that Jackson's methods " were high-handed
and tyrannical." *

Jackson now felt himself fully sustained in his attitude
toward the bank. In the summer of 1833 he proceeded to
make another attack upon it. The charter declared that

* Jackson's administration is sometimes called the " reign of An-
drew Jackson."

ADMINISTRATION OF JACKSON— 1829-1837. 331

the public money was to be deposited in the bank " unless
the Secretary of the Treasury shall at any time other-
wise order and direct, in which case he shall

Removal of immediately lay before Congress . . . the
deposits, 1833. . , •, -, • ?. „ T n

reason of such order or direction. Jackson

determined to remove the deposits. In order to accom-
plish this he needed to make some changes in his Cabinet.
He first appointed William J. Duane Secretary of the Treas-
ury, but the new secretary refused to take the necessary
action ; whereupon Jackson dismissed him, and appointed
Roger B. Taney, who did as desired, and issued an order
that the public money should no longer be placed in the
bank. This was called a removal of the deposits. In
reality the Government simply ceased to deposit its money
in the bank, and did not at once draw out all the money
it had there. The Government funds were thereafter
placed in banks acting under State charters. Those that
were selected for this purpose were called "pet banks."
The hope of having part of the public money for use en-
couraged bankmaking, and the number of State banks rap-
idly increased.

Jackson was sharply attacked by the Whigs for his
assault upon the bank, and a resolution of censure was
„„ , spread upon the records of the Senate. Thomas

The censure and * *

the expunging II. Benton, of Missouri, gave notice that he
resolution. would each session, until he succeeded in his

efforts, introduce a resolution to erase the resolution from
the record. After three years his famous " expunging reso-
lution " was adopted.

These years were full of business zest and enterprise.

The whole country was in a state of great prosperity, but

men were rapidly losing their heads in their

Distrihutionof gearch of immediate riches> Qne gource of

surplus revenue.

speculation was the Western lands. State banks
grew rapidly in number and issued their promises to pay by
the handful. These notes were taken by the Government

332 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

in exchange for wild lands, and because of this and other
sources of income the Treasury was well filled. The States
were now eagerly engaged in building railroads, and full of
zeal for all sorts of internal improvement. It was proposed
to distribute among the States the surplus revenue belong-
ing to the National Government. A bill for that purpose
was passed in 183G. The money was to be given out in four
quarterly installments, beginning January 1, 1837. Three
payments were made, amounting in all to about $28,000,000.
Before the fourth installment was due the Government had
no more money to give away. This distribution was on the
face of the law only a loan ; really it was looked upon as a
gift. The money so distributed has not been repaid. It
did the States little good, and probably in most instances
did harm, encouraging wild plans of internal improvement,
for many of which there was no real demand.

Before the end of Jackson's term he caused to be issued

the " specie circular," an order directing that only gold

and silver and so-called land scrip should be

The speoie received in payment for lands. This brought

circular. r J °

the speculators and wild enthusiasts face to
face with facts, and soon made clear to them that promises
to pay money were not money, and that making plans of
cities on the Western prairies did not materially add to the
wealth of the nation.

Before passing on to further consideration of the effects
of the specie circular and the results of rash speculation,

let us consider the industrial and social con-
American dition of the United States in this decade of

literature.

our history. In every way the people seemed
alert and full of vigor. American literature was entering
upon a new and brilliant career. Washington Irving had
already achieved fame by his chaste and picturesque tales
and sketches. Cooper was writing his novels of the sea and
wilderness, and Poe was beginning to give out his weird
stories and his pure and delicate verses. Hawthorne, born

ADMINISTRATION OF JACKSON— 1829-1837. 333

in Salem, in the very midst of Puritan tradition, was start-
ing upon his career as the romancer of mystery and of Puri-
tanic faith and superstition. His terse, simple, harmoni-
ous style proved that clear and sweet English prose could
be written outside the British Isles. Emerson was just
beginning his essays on the homely practical philosophy of
life, and Longfellow the finely finished poems that have
placed him at the head of American poets. In oratory the
Americans easily outstripped any English competitors of
that generation. Webster's speeches were great and pure
and simple ; Edward Everett uttered polished periods,
turned and fitted with delicate care. Clay's fiery eloquence
and Calhoun's cold reasoning always had something artistic
about them. In the writing of history, too, American
authors were showing talent. Bancroft began the pub-
lication of his great work, the final revision of which
did not appear until forty years later. Prescott published
in 1838 his Ferdinand and Isabella, the earliest of his
charming volumes on Spain and the Spaniards of the New
World.

The American inventive spirit, which had showed itself
in the invention of the cotton gin and the steamboat, was
n . , , now manifest in many new labor-saving de-

Open-mmded- , .

ness and vices. One was the McCormick reaper, another

progress. ^ e gteam hammer. Friction matches were

coming into use. In 1838 steamboats began to make trips
across the Atlantic. About the same time the process of
smelting iron with anthracite coal and the hot-air blast
was put into successful operation, the beginning of that
great industry in the United States. This country offered
a welcome asylum for men of energy or of inventive power,
for no device was rejected because of its novelty. This
same open-mind edness and eagerness for progress showed
itself in the establishment of new wide-awake newspapers.
More important still, the public-school system was widened
and popularized.

334: HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

The Jacksonian era was a time when great characteristics

of the nineteenth century seemed to burst forth into view.

_ The intensity of national life seemed to show

Characteristics J

of the nine- itself free from restraint, and although there

teenth centnry. wag doubtless a fantastic extravagance, in these
very exaggerations one can see with special clearness cer-
tain qualities that mark the line of growth along which the
nation Avas moving. The development of the public-school
system came doubtless from a feeling of public duty, from
a realization of the essential unity of the people, and from
a comprehension of the fact that a democratic government
was safe only in the hands of an educated people. But
while the century has been marked by the growth of knowl-
edge and by the popularizing of education, it has been
marked still more, perhaps, by the widening and deepening
of human sympathy and feeling. The foundation of the
great missionary societies, five of which were established
between 1830 and 1840, is an important evidence of this de-
velopment of generous feeling for others. And as there
grew up in men's minds a fuller appreciation of their rela-
tion to their fellows, they showed this appreciation in great
social movements, in works of generosity and charity. One
might expect that men in democratic America would mani-
fest more clearly than the people of Europe this sentiment
of humanity and this appreciation of the common interests
of men ; and such was probably the case ; but everywhere
in Europe, too, during the fourth and fifth decades of the
century, there appeared these waves of social sentiment,
all marking the great movement of society, and, if they
were extreme or extravagant at the time, they are none the
less proofs of the great motive force of the century. " We
are a little wild here," wrote Emerson from Boston, " with
numberless projects of social reform; not a leading man
but has a draft of a new community in his waistcoat
pocket." The impulse for temperance reform which swept
over the country, and the abolition movement, which

ADMINISTRATION OF JACKSON— 1829-1837. 335

we shall soon study, were manifestations of this new social
conscience. " A great wave of humanity, of benevolence,
of desire for improvement, poured itself among all who
had the faculty of large and disinterested thinking." *

The democratic spirit, which we have seen in the politi-
cal life of the country, prevailed in society. The election
of Jackson simply heralded the fact that the
people felt their power, and that they had
reached their majority. Social distinctions had now van-
ished or were of little moment. Success in life, not one's
ancestry or supposed position, was given deference and re-
spect. Little honor was shown to assumed superiority. A
feeling of self-confidence prevailed, and a spirit of boastful-
ness was not lacking ; for men prided themselves on the
fact that the United States, in advance of the world, was
giving an example of popular government, and they de-
clared their country to be the freest and best on earth.
Spite of self-assertion and vainglory, there was much that
was sound and good in this democratic spirit ; the people
rudely made real the truth that "worth makes the man,
and want of it the fellow " — the true motto of true de-
mocracy. Men were hard at work, for work was no dis-
grace in this new country ; they eagerly sought after
money, not for its own sake, but for what it would bring.
Work was the common lot of all men ; and where that is
the case democratic equality has its surest foundation. f

One is not mistaken in attributing this development of
religious, moral, and mental freedom and strength, in part
at least, to democratic institutions, to the fact that in
America each man was given responsibilities, and taught
by the force of circumstances, by his duties, by the very

* These words are used of the situation in England in J. Morley,
The Life of Richard Cobden, p. 61. See also Hinsdale, Horace Mann,
p. 73.

f The society in America is discussed in Schouler, History, vol. ii,
chap, viii (1809), and vol. iv, chap, xiii (1831).

336 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

political theory of the commonwealth, to think for himself

and to strive for personal uplift. Out of this feeling of

personal responsibility and power have come

Democracy and ^e successful establishment and maintenance

human progress.

of the Church and other religious institutions
upon a perfectly free and voluntary system, without the au-
thority or interference of the Government ; the building up
of the great free-school system, of which we have spoken ;
and the endowment of higher institutions of learning,
libraries, and museums by the State as well as by private
generosity. All of these result from the free and unre-
strained desire of an intelligent public. We may well stop
to consider these facts while we are discussing these pro-
foundly interesting times, when Andrew Jackson, "the
man of the people," was President, and when in countless
ways energetic men, realizing in some measure the heritage
of a great country and a free government, were pushing
boldly and enthusiastically forward in the pursuit of wealth
and moral and intellectual ideals.

Until the end of Jackson's administration the country
grew with astounding rapidity. The seacoast towns no
longer looked like country villages, but had put
on the airs of populous cities. Emigrants from
Europe came in increasing numbers, many of them staying
in the ports where they landed, others moving to the new
West. The Western States and Territories grew at a marvel-
ous rate. Arkansas and Michigan were admitted as States
(183G and 1837). Ohio increased her population in the dec-
ade (1830-'40) from about 900,000 to 1,500,000, or over G2
per cent. The population of Illinois increased 202 per
cent ; of Michigan, 570 per cent ; of Mississippi, 175 per
cent ; other States of the Mississippi Valley advanced
almost as rapidly, and even the Territories were filling
with sturdy settlers. Chicago in 1830 was but a rude
frontier post, a mere cluster of houses ; before 1840 it was
a prosperous town, with lines of steamers connecting it

ADMINISTRATION OF JACKSON— 1829-1837.

33'

with the East, and was already the center of the newest
West.

There seem to have been less than thirty miles of rail-
road in the country in 1830 ; in 1840 there were not far from
three thousand. It is no wonder that men were
iW^ements. incl uced to build air castles, or that they ex-
pected to see the Western wilderness conquered
in a day. Some .of the States planned great railroad and
canal systems, and, wild with schemes of internal improve-
ment, plunged rashly into debt. Michigan, for example, en-

Map showing Distribution of Population in 1840.

tered upon the task of building three railroads across the
State, voted sums for the survey of canals, and authorized
the Governor to borrow five million dollars to defray the ex-
penses of such undertakings. Individuals as well as States
discounted the future, expecting almost immediate wealth
as a result of investments.

As we have already seen, the purchase of wild lands
from the Government was an especially attractive form
of speculation. Men seem actually to have thought that
lands purchased at $1.25 an acre would in a few days or

338 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

months be worth much more on the market, although the

Government had a great deal more land to sell at the old

figure. Indeed, at times these speculations were

Speculation in profits f or the nation was buoyed up with

public lands. * ... .

hope and with visions of unbounded prosperity.
Sales of Government lands rose from about two and a half
million dollars in 1832 to over twenty-four million dollars in
1836. Everywhere in the last years of Jackson's term
appeared enthusiasm in business enterprise and a tendency
to bold speculation. Much of this was healthy vigor, for
the country was growing, and its growth was due to zealous
work. But thrift had been displaced by greed for immedi-
ate riches, and the result was sure to be disappointment, if'
not disaster. Few saw, when Jackson left office in 1837,
that the storm was ready to break.

For the election of 1836 the Democrats nominated Martin
Van Buren for President, and Kichard M. Johnson, of Ken-
tucky, for Vice-President. The Whigs nomi-
of I836? tl0n na ^ e ^ General William Henry Harrison, of Ohio,
the hero of Tippecanoe, for the presidency, and
Francis Granger, of New York, for the vice-presidency.*
Other candidates were presented by State legislatures, and
it was thought the result might be to throw the election
into the House of Eepresentatives. The issues of the cam-
paign were not very distinct, and yet the two leading candi-
dates showed a clear difference of opinion on matters that
were agitating the public mind. Harrison declared in favor
of the distribution of the surplus revenue among the States,
a like distribution of the proceeds from sale of public lands,
the appropriation of money for river and harbor improve-
ment, and the granting of another bank charter. Van
Buren opposed all these measures. The Democrats were
successful in the election.

* The nomination of Harrison and Granger was not made by a
formal national convention.

ADMINISTRATION OF VAN BURP1N— 1837-1841. 339

References.
Short accounts: Wilson, Division and Reunion, pp. 2-93; Roose-
velt, Benton, pp. G8-156; Charming, United States of America, pp.
208-223; Moore, The American Congress, pp. 240-294; Lodge,
Daniel Webster, Chapter VII; Von Hoist, John C. Calhoun, pp. 63-
183; McLaughlin, Lewis Cass, Chapter V. Longer accounts: Schurz,
Henry Clay, Volume I, pp. 311-383, Volume II, pp. 1-112; Schouler,
History, Volume III, pp. 451-529, Volume IV, pp. 1-273.

ADMINISTRATION OF MARTIN VAN BUREN-1837-1841.

Martin Van Buren had been somewhat prominent in
political life for twenty years before his accession to the
presidency. He had been senator from New York, and
Vice-President of the United States. * He was a politician
of great adroitness, and so clever in political management
that he had won the title of the " Little Magician." He
was a polished, polite, good-natured man, never giving way
to excitement or to appearance of anger. His cool suavity
was attributed by his enemies to a designing disposition,
his politeness to a capacity for deceit. His life does not
show, however, that he was devoid of either ability or prin-
ciple. He performed his presidential duties well. His term
was full of trouble and anxiety, but he showed good judg-
ment and discretion in meeting the trying problems that
confronted him.

He entered upon the office with an inaugural address,

congratulating the people on "an aggregate of human

prosperity not elsewhere to be found ; on pos-

His inaugural. . , ...

sessmg a popular government, wanting m no
element of endurance or strength." Such statements were
characteristic of the times. The people were elated, and
wont to praise their own lot. But now a period of distress
and want was close upon them.

Some slight indications had already been given that the
country was on the eve of business disaster. It was awak-

340 niSTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

ening with a shock from the prolonged fit of intoxication
over American success and growth. In the winter before

the inauguration a large gathering was held in
The panic of New Yor k in response to a call headed " Bread,

meat, rent, fuel ! Their prices must come
down ! " The meeting was followed by a riot. Abroad,
too, there was business depression. April 10, 1837, the
London Times said that great distress and pressure had
been produced in England in every branch of industry, and
that the calamity had never been exceeded. Englishmen
that had invested money in this country now began to de-
mand payment on their stocks, bonds, and notes. With
what were Americans to pay ? With the paper of the hun-
dreds of banks scattered here and there throughout the
country — banks with little or no gold and silver in their
vaults, and without capital that could be turned into good
money ? Of course, the Englishmen wanted good money.
Jackson's specie circular, too, did much to topple over the
castles in the air which the people had been building. It
now became clear enough that the paper of worthless banks
was not money ; and it soon appeared that nearly everything
had acquired an unreal price. Speculation came sharply to
a standstill. Commercial failures began in April. One
business house after another failed. All sorts of goods
fell in price. Workmen were thrown out of employment,
and there was much suffering among the poor. Men who
had thought themselves rich, found that their wealth was
in Western lands for which there was no market, or in
promises to pay on which they could not realize, or in
shares of some gigantic project which was now no more.
The great fabric, reared on credit and hope, fell, and the
whole country was in consternation. Such was the dismal
outcome of the extravagance and wild speculation of a decade.
The lesson was pretty sharply taught, that not the planning
of new cities where none were needed, or the digging of
canals where the country was not ready for them, or the

ADMINISTRATION OF VAN BUREN— 1837-1841. 341

speculation in lands or stocks, created real wealth or stored
up help for the day of distress.

Unfortunately, all the lessons of this panic were not
gathered by the people. The Government was charged
H l f th w *^ a l ar £ e P ar t °^ ^ ne trouble. Doubtless
Government Jackson's somewhat rude handling of the na-
demanded. tional bank and financial affairs had aggra-

vated matters, but the root of the evil was far deeper : it
sprang from reckless extravagance. There was a wide de-
mand now for the Government to lift the people out of
their difficulties, but the Government was itself in perplex-
ing straits. Beginning in January to distribute money
among the States, before the end of the year it was not
only unable to pay the last of the four quarterly install-
ments, but was hardly able to meet its own running ex-
penses. Van Buren refused to adopt or recommend any
extraordinary plans for bringing about good times. He
saw that only time and industry could bring back a condi-
tion of hope and faith, which were the basis of growth and
prosperity. Moreover, he did not believe it was the duty
of government — especially the United States Government —
to take a paternal care over interests that were best left to
individuals. He was in consequence denounced as hard-
hearted and cruel by Whig orators and by many of the
people.

He recommended (special session, September, 1837) that

thereafter the Government of the United States should do

its own financial business ; that it should not

?re e a!n dependent kec P its funds in State banks, nor, on the other
hand, establish another national bank, but that
the money should be collected and kept by the Govern-
ment itself. This meant simply that whatever money was
collected should be put by the Government in its own
" strong box." The plan — called the " Divorce Bill," be-
cause it divorced the Government from the banks — was
bitterly attacked, and was not indeed adopted until 1840.

342

HISTORY OK TIIK A1MKIM0AN NATION.

The
abolitionists

In fche uext administration (1841) this bill was repealed,
but in L846 a like measure was passed, and since that day
lias remained in force almost unchanged.

The country suffered severely from the panic during a
good portion of Van Buren's term; but there were other
questions that occasionally occupied public in-
terest, and one of these was of even more im-
portance than money and banking. Since the
Missouri compromise the slavery question had not been
allowed to disappear entirely from public attention. Until

about 1830, however, there was
little discussion, and little oc-
casion for excitement. In 1829
William Lloyd Garrison and
Benjamin Lundy began to
print, at Baltimore, The Gen-
ius of Universal Emancipation.
Two years later Garrison
founded The Liberator, at Bos-
ton, and in 18132 the New Eng-
land Antislavery Society was
founded. The society advo-
cated the abolition of slavery at
once, on the ground that it was
sinful and demoralizing. Men
were called to "immediate re-
pentance." Somewhat later t he
American Antislavery Society was organized. It grew but
slowly at first, and met with the angry opposition of many
who saw that the South would not consent to immediate
net ion, and that < he preaohing of such dootrine would neces-
sarily bring sectional ill feeling and disturbance.

During the next few years many abolitionists* were

* It should be noticed that abolitionism was essentially different
from other earlier movement* against shivery, inasmuch as its main
tenet was the sinfulness of slavery, which tainted the slaveholder and

•1r~J^ry<£- 4~~ri

ADMINISTRATION OF VAN BUREN— 1837-1841. 343

attacked by Xorthern mobs, in large part made up doubt-
less of the more ignorant and excitable people, but some
of them containing men who ought to have
They suffer known that, in a free country, persecution and

violence. ' •

violence are the poorest of arguments, and likely
to have quite an opposite effect from that intended. In
1833 Prudence Crandall opened her school in Canterbury,
Conn., to negro girls. She was cast into jail, and her school
building destroyed. Like outrages occurred elsewhere. In
1837 Elijah P. Lovejoy was shot in Alton, 111. His offense
was the publication of an antislavery newspaper. Even in
Boston Garrison was mobbed, and led through the street
with a rope about his neck.

The feeling at the South against the abolitionists was
intense. It was to be expected that slave owners would be
Th So th incensed against an organization which de-

demands their clared slaveholding to be a sin, calling for in-
suppression. stant repentance. Men who had been sur-
rounded by the system all their lives might see some of its
bad effects, but were not willing to be denounced as crimi-
nals. Some of them now declared that abolition news-
papers and pamphlets should be shut out from the mails,
and the Governor of Alabama went so far as to demand
that Xew York should turn over to his State for punish-
ment the publisher of the Emancipator, an antislavery
paper, on the ground that he had disseminated seditious
articles (1835).* The Southern papers called for action on
the part of the Xorthern States. " Words, words, words

the whole nation. It would have nothing to do with gradual emanci-
pation ; its purpose was to arouse the conscience of the nation to imme-
diate repentance.

* The Constitution provides for the return of fugitives from justice
to the State whence they have fled ; but it makes no provision for the
authorities of one State to turn over to another State a person charged
with a crime in such second State when he did not actually flee
from it.

344 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

are all we are to have," said one. " Up to the mark the
North must come if it would restore tranquillity and pre-
serve the Union," said another. The South was moving on
dangerous gr.ound. There was little sympathy with the
abolitionists at the North, but the excessive demands of
the South were sure to bring about a reaction, in part at
least. An occasional mob might attack " a fanatic," but
there was little chance that the Northern people would turn
over to Alabama a Northern man for punishment because
he had written or said words distasteful to the South,
or that they would suppress by law free speech on the sub-
ject of slavery.

Thus at the beginning of Van Buren's term the slavery
question had taken on a new and dangerous aspect. At
the North the open abolitionists were few, but
question in a seemed to be slowly increasing. At the South
new phase. there was deep resentment. Sharp debates had
occurred in- Congress. The South could look with no pa-
tience on a movement whose promoters denounced slave-
holding as a cardinal sin, and who refused to consider any
plans or methods but immediate and unconditional abo-
lition. Now began that controversy which ended in the
civil war. Sectional feeling grew constantly more bitter.

A favorite idea of some Northern opponents of slavery,
even when not abolitionists, was to bring about the abo-
lition of slavery in the District of Columbia.
Adams and Petitions to this end came to Congress in in-
creasing numbers. A rule was proposed in the
House providing that such petitions should not be printed
or referred to a committee, but laid upon the table (1836).
John Quincy Adams was then a member of the House, and
when this rule was presented, he rose and said : " I hold the
resolution to be a direct violation of the Constitution of
the United States, the rules of this House, and the rights
of my constituents." The rule was adopted by a large
majority ; but from that time on Adams devoted himself

ADMINISTRATION OF VAN BUREN— 1837-1841. 345

to the presentation of antislavery petitions and to an at-
tempt to bring about an abandonment of the so-called
" gag policy." He was not successful, however, until after
eight years of effort. This long contest of Adams for the
right of petition is full of striking and dramatic scenes.
The proslavery men made a serious blunder when they
tried to prevent debate on this great question. Not only
did they array against them the keenest debater in the
House, but the effort to stifle discussion awoke the interest
of the nation, and thousands of men signed petitions or
were won over to antislavery sentiment who otherwise
would have had nothing to do with the movement. The
first eighteen months of the gag policy increased the num-
ber of antislavery petitions from twenty-three to three
hundred thousand. The abolitionists henceforth might
be denounced, but they were safe from personal violence.

Among other difficulties of these days was war with the
Southern Indians. For some time the National Govern-
ment had been striving to remove all the In-
The second di ans to new homes beyond the Mississippi.
The Seminoles of Florida were a great object
of hatred to the people of Georgia, because they offered an
asylum to runaway slaves and were savage and intractable
neighbors. Finally, under the leadership of their famous
chief, Osceola, the Indians began war. The contest lasted
for seven years (1835-'42), and was full of atrocities and
horrors. The troops that were sent into the wilds of
Florida suffered from fevers and exposure almost as much
as from the tomahawk and scalping knife. Many lives
were lost and millions of money expended to secure at last
this old Spanish dominion that bore the peaceful name of
the Land of Easter.

In the election of 1840 there were three tickets in the
field. The Democrats nominated Van Buren again. They
stood pretty squarely on the platform of 1836, favoring the
rights of the States and opposing the assumption of power

346 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

by the National Government. They were against a national

bank, and in favor of the independent treasury. Some of

the States were badly in debt because of the

Democratic J

platform in extravagances of the last ten years ; some had
1840. repudiated their debts, and there was now a

demand in some quarters that the United States assume
and pay State obligations. This the Democrats opposed.*
The natural Whig candidate was Clay, the real leader
of the party. He had been fighting valiantly against Jack-
son and his successor for years, and represented
6 g8, the meaning and motive of the Whigs better
than any other man. But by means of a trick of the politi-
cal managers in the convention, Clay was passed by and
General Harrison put in nomination. The Whig party was
in these years essentially a party of opposition ; it was
therefore made up of different elements, some of which had
no positive principle in agreement with the main body of
the party. One of these elements was a State-rights ele-
ment, that had found its way into opposition because of
dislike of Jackson's personal rule and what was considered
his high-handed methods. In mere attacks, such men
could work side by side with the Whigs, and might con-
sider themselves brothers in the same party with Clay
and Webster ; but in reality almost the only point in com-
mon was opposition to Jackson and his disciples. To this
element belonged John Tyler, of Virginia. He was a
thorough State-rights man ; he had early declared that
Congress could not prohibit slavery in the Territories, and
in 1833 had cast in the Senate the only vote against the
bill providing for the maintenance of national law and

* The Democrats at this time were often called the " Loco-focos,"
but the name is more strictly applicable to a faction of the party. For
the origin of the name and the meaning of the " loco-foco " movement,
see Von Hoist, Constitutional History, vol. ii, p. 396 ; Shepard, Martin
Van Buren, p. 293 ; Lalor, Cyclopedia, vol. ii, p. 781 ; see also the
dictionary under Locofoco.

ADMINISTRATION OF VAN BUREN— 1837-1841. 347

supremacy. He is said to have wept when Clay was not
nominated, and " Tyler's tears " were asserted to be the
reason for his own nomination to the vice-presidency — a
nomination due in part doubtless to a desire to hold in the
party the element which he represented.* The Whigs put
forth no declaration of principles.

A third party was now before the people. It was called
the " Liberty party," and was composed of those who were
strongly opposed to slavery, but willing to take
The Liberty political means of getting rid of the evil. Such
means Garrison and his school of abolitionists
objected to. They considered their movement a moral
reform, not to be sullied by politics. Indeed, the orthodox
abolitionists soon refused to cast a ballot of any kind, be-
cause the Constitution itself was tainted with immorality,
inasmuch as it recognized slavery, and because a union with
slaveholders was wrong. The Constitution they declared to
be, in the words of the Hebrew prophet, " a covenant with
death and an agreement with hell." f The nominees of
the Liberty party were James G. Birney and Thomas Earle.

The election was one of great excitement. The people,
as never before, entered with unbounded enthusiasm into
the contest. There was little calm discussion of principles.
In the race for popular favor the Democrats were left far
in the background by the Whigs, who claimed to be the
people's party and made every appeal to popular sympathy.
Monster meetings, long processions, campaign songs, took
the place of argument. " Every breeze says change," said
Webster. " The time for discussion has passed," exclaimed
Clay. " Tippecanoe and Tyler too " was the watchword of

* Thurlow Weed, a prominent Whig politician, declared that Tyler
was elected " because we could get nobody else to accept."

f " And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your
agreement with hell shall not stand ; when the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it." (Isaiah
xxviii, 18.)

348 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

the jubilant party, which had never yet tasted success, but
expected now to be triumphant. The most was made of
the fact that Harrison was a simple Westerner. Throughout
the campaign live coons and barrels of cider were always in
evidence ; log cabins were reared as emblems in town and
city, or were drawn about on carts in long processions to
mass meetings, which the newspapers said contained " acres
of men." Enthusiasm for Harrison, strongly aided by the
hard times, for which the Democrats had to bear the blame,
easily carried the day for the Whigs.* They were wild
with elation and overcome with joy. Nineteen States out of
twenty-six cast their electoral votes for Harrison and Tyler.

References.
Short accounts : Wilson, Division and Reunion, Chapters IV and
V; Roosevelt, Thomas H. Benton, Chapters VIII-X; Schurz, Henry
Clay, Volume II, pp. 113-198; Shepard, Martin Van Buren, pp.
242-300; Morse, John Quincy Adams, pp. 240-301. Longer ac-
count : Schouler, History, Volume IV, pp. 274-359.

ADMINISTRATION OF WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON AND
JOHN TYLER— 1841-1845.

Harrison was an honest, straightforward, simple man, of

moderate ability. He was not a great statesman, nor did

he show himself to be a leader of men, but

William Henry throughout life he quietly and conscientiously

Harrison. & , ,,.,,,■, *, ■, i •

performed the duties that devolved upon him.
He won some honor in the War of 1812, when the nation
craved national heroes. He was Governor of Indiana Ter-

* Interesting accounts of this campaign of sound and excitement will
be found in Schouler, History, vol. iv, pp. 328-340, especially pp. 335-340 ;
Shepard, Van Buren, pp. 327-338 ; Schurz, Henry Clay, vol. ii, pp.
170-197 ; Von Hoist, Constitutional History, vol. ii, pp. 390-405. One
of the pieces of doggerel verse used in the campaign was only too de-
scriptive —

" National Republicans in Tippecanoe,
And Democratic Republicans in Tyler, too.'"

This was a strange combination of men and principles.

ADMINISTRlTION OF TYLER— 1841-1845. 349

ritory for twelve years, a Representative in Congress, and
also a Senator. For some years before his election he had
been living in a quiet, unassuming way at his home in Ohio.
The new President was inaugurated with unwonted dis-
play. The Whigs were jubilant, but were soon to be disap-
m , . , pointed. Harrison announced his Cabinet al-

The beginning x

of the most immediately. Daniel Webster was made

administration. Secretary of State. Clay did not desire to
enter the Cabinet, though he could have had the place
given to Webster. It was better so ; Clay was in no mood
to be second even to the President. The spoils system had
been very objectionable to many Wliigs when out of power,
but now the tide of office seekers set in, and there was a
scramble for office quite as vigorous as any that had occurred
before. This practice, now indorsed by both parties, fastened
and confirmed the system in national politics.*

Harrison was sixty-eight years of age, and was not ro-
bust in body. The campaign had fatigued him, and the
duties of his new position sorely tried his
Death of the strength. He was beset by office seekers. Just

President. ° J

one month after his inauguration he died.
For the first time in our history death entered the White
House. The people were shocked at such an end of their
hopes. Harrison was deservedly popular, and the whole
nation sincerely mourned his loss.

Tyler at once assumed the duties and the title of Presi-
dent. The Whigs who had elected him were somewhat

anxious, but for a time tried to preserve a bold

pr y l7deT mes front - T y ler ' s whole career could g ive them no

assurance that he would follow what they con-
sidered the Whig programme. At first things went smoothly.
He retained Harrison's Cabinet, and issued an address to

* " We have nothing here in politics," wrote Horace Greeley, who had
daring the campaign edited the Log Cabin newspaper, " but large and
numerous swarms of office-hunting locusts, sweeping on to Washington
daily." See Schurz, Henry Clay, vol. ii, p. 192.

350 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

the people, in which he said nothing that was particularly
new or that gave notice of Democratic leanings. Difficul-
ties soon arose, however. Clay felt himself the leader of
the party, and, by nature imperious and qualified for leader-
ship, he could not brook the pretensions of the man whose
position had been secured by sheer accident. Tyler, in
turn, Avas headstrong and ambitious, and seems to have be-
gun early to nurse hopes of a re-election. However that
may be, his whole history showed that, unless he renounced
his past, he could not agree with the Whigs on affirmative
measures, however well he might have got along with them
when both were in opposition.

It is not necessary to recount here the different steps by
which Tyler became estranged from the party that elected
him. Twice was a bank bill passed by Con-
Whigs gress and vetoed by the President. His cabi-
estranged. ne -^ ^^ ^ e exception of Webster, resigned.
Webster remained in office in order that he might settle
difficulties that then existed between England and America.
When he had brought these to a satisfactory settlement, he,
too, gave up his office. A tariff law was passed (1842) and
signed by the President, but this was accomplished only
after a long struggle, in the course of which two different
tariff measures were vetoed. Before the middle of his term
Tyler was without strong support in either party, but was
upheld by a few men who were sneered at as "the cor-
poral's guard." We need not consider who was right in
this political controversy. The Whigs were deprived of much
that they considered the legitimate fruit of their victory.*

The difficulties with England alluded to above were for
a while quite serious. In Van Buren's administration an in-
cident occurred commonly called " the Caroline affair."
There was at that time an insurrection in Canada, and some

* " As an instance of the President's unpopularity, an influenza
which about this time broke out acquired the name of the ' Tyler
grippe.' " (Schouler, iv, p. 433.)

ADMINISTRATION OF TYLER— 1841-1845. 351

of the people of the United States sympathized with the
rebels. A vessel, the Caroline, seems to have been used to

transport men and supplies from New York
The Caroline acr0 ss the Niagara River. An expedition from

Canada crossed to the American side, seized the
vessel, set her on fire and let her drift over the falls. An
American citizen was killed in the affair. Some years after
this a Canadian named McLeod was arrested in New York
and charged with the murder of the American. The English

Government demanded the release of this man,

on the ground that the whole matter was a
public affair, for which England herself, and not a private
citizen, was responsible. The New York authorities refused
to surrender their prisoner to the National Government, and
the situation was serious and critical. Fortunately he was
acquitted upon trial, and so England had on this score no
further ground of complaint.

Some time before these occurrences serious disputes had
arisen concerning the northeastern boundary. The terms

of the treaty that was signed at the close of the

The northeast- R evo i u ti n were not explicit. Maine and Can-
em boundary. *

ada both laid claim to a large territory, and

each insisted that under the treaty she was the rightful
owner. There was danger of war. Maine ordered troops
into the disputed territory and held it, and this armed pos-
session, known as the " Aroostook war," is said to have cost
the State a million dollars (1839). War was prevented,
however, and negotiations fo# settlement were undertaken.
In 1842 Lord Ashburton came to America authorized to
treat, and he and Webster agreed on a treaty which com-
promised this dispute, and set at rest all controversies con-
cerning the northern boundary of the United States even
as far west as the Lake of the Woods. It also provided for
the extradition of certain classes of criminals, and for keep-
ing armed errtisers of both nations employed in checking
the slave trade.

352 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Two outbreaks of a somewhat serious nature occurred
within the States of the Union during Tyler's administra-
tion. One was the so-called Dorr Rebellion, in
The Dorr Rhode Island. It was the result of an effort

Eebellioiii

to extend the suffrage and correct the faults
of the existing constitutional system, which seemed to many
people unsuited to the needs of the State. Rhode Island
still retained as a fundamental law the old charter of Charles
II, a document that had been admirably suited to a simple
agricultural community, but was not so well adapted to new
and changed conditions of life. Some modification had
been made years before, widening the suffrage somewhat,
but there was still a large property qualification. Moreover,
the basis of representation was entirely out of date. Disre-
garding legal forms and methods, the "suffrage party,"
under the lead of Thomas W. Dorr, endeavored to establish
a new Constitution. Under this instrument Dorr was elected
Governor. The legal authorities refused to recognize the
Constitution or the new officers. Trouble ensued. Troops
were collected on both sides. The State was on the verge
of civil war. Dorr was arrested and imprisoned, but on the
other hand a new Constitution was adopted with more lib-
eral and reasonable provisions. Although the Dorrites won
their point, the constitutional party preserved the principle
that a constitution must be altered by legal methods, by ob-
serving the forms and restrictions laid down in the Consti-
tution, not by assuming a popular demand for change.

The other outbreak, " the patroon war " or the " anti-
rent trouble," occurred in New York. Descendants of the

old Dutch patroons still held large estates, and,
The patroon ag p p U i a ti n increased, their exactions from

their tenants were irritating and irksome in the
extreme, recalling rather the dues of the old feudal system
than reasonable rents. Attempts to collect back rent and
to enforce the legal rights of the landlords, especially in the
great manor of Rensselaer wyck, caused disturbances which

ADMINISTRATION OF TYLER— 1841-1845. 353

lasted for about ten years (from 1839 to 1849), during
which time little rent was collected and the authorities of
the State were often openly resisted. The matter was finally
adjusted by reasonable compromise.

A new invention was now presented to a wondering
world. In 1837 Samuel F. B. Morse took out a patent for
sending messages by electricity. Not till 1843
The electric ^ j^ succee( j j n getting from Congress an ap-
propriation that enabled him to make a practi-
cal and convincing test. The next year a line was run
from Baltimore to Washington — forty miles. " What hath
God wrought ? " was the first message sent over the wire.
The invention made great changes in methods of conduct-
ing all sorts of business, The newspaper could now contain
the intelligence of yesterday. As the invention came into
use everywhere the same news could be read on the same
day everywhere in the land. Space no longer need divide
men into warring factions, when they could think the same
thoughts and feel the same emotions at the same time.
Politically as well as socially, the telegraph, like the rail-
road, was of great importance. It narrowed our big country,
and brought the National Government to each man's door.
For some time past the question of the annexation of
Texas to the United States had been receiving a good share
of the public attention. Let us look for a

Texasi

moment at the history of the whole matter.
It will be remembered that in 1819-'21 the United States
agreed with Spain that the Sabine River should be our
southwestern boundary. Under the Louisiana treaty we
had ground for claiming even as far as the Rio Grande, but
of course gave up our claim by the later agreement. Hard-
ly had the treaty with Spain been agreed to when Mexico
attained her independence and came into the ownership
of the Texas country. Settlers from the Southern States
began to move into this territory. Before 1830 there was
a considerable American population there, utterly out of

354 HISTORY Otf THE AMERICAN NATION.

sympathy with Mexico and her whole political system. In
1836 the Texans declared their independence, and, led by
Samuel Houston, fought and won the battle of San Jacinto.
From that time on Mexican authority practically ceased.
The next year Texas asked admittance to the Union. Many
of the Southern people now became intent upon annexation
because it would extend slave territory. Nothing of impor-
tance was done in Van Buren's administration, but after
Tyler came into office plans for getting Texas were seriously
taken up, especially by some of the Southern enthusiasts.
In 1844 Calhoun became Secretary of State. He bent all
his energies toward the desired end. A treaty of annexa-
tion was secretly entered into, but it was rejected by the
Senate. Texas claimed that she possessed more territory
than the original Mexican province of that name, and in-
deed a much greater territory than she had ever acquired
control of. She claimed all east and north of the Eio
Grande.* Annexation of the State and adoption of her
claims meant probably a war with Mexico. Such was the
situation when the election of 1844 occurred.

It was generally supposed that Van Buren would be the
Democratic candidate in this election. But he opposed the

annexation of Texas, and was defeated in the
?o4? dates in convention. James K. Polk, of Tennessee, was

nominated in his stead. George M. Dallas, of
Pennsylvania, secured the nomination for Vice-President. f
Clay, too, objected to bringing Texas into the Union, but

* " That is, as if Maine should secede, and claim that her boundaries
were the Alleghanies and the Potomac. . . . That is, as if Maine should
join the Dominion of Canada, and England should set up a claim to the
New England and Middle States, based on the declaration of Maine
aforesaid." (Sumner, Andrew Jackson, p. 357.) This illustration is in
somewhat exaggerated form, but shows the Texas situation well.

f The Democratic platform demanded " the reoccupation of Oregon
and the reannexation of Texas at the earliest practical period." These
words were shrewdly chosen to indicate that we had given up territory
that was justly ours.

ADMINISTRATION OF TYLER— 1841-1845. 355

the Whigs nominated him with enthusiasm, and gave the
second place to Theodore Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey.
The Liberty party was again in the field, with Birney and
Thomas Morris for their candidates.

The burning question of the campaign was the annexa-
tion of Texas. In the midst of the contest, Clay, hoping to
win friends of annexation without repelling its
Clay and the f oes ^ wro t e his famous Alabama letters. He
declared he should be glad to see the annexa-
tion of Texas "without dishonor, without war, with the
common consent of the Union, and on just and fair terms."
He did not think " the subject of slavery ought to affect
the matter." By these words he lost many Northern votes,
without gaining any from the South or from the extreme
annexationists, who were now shouting " Texas or dis-
union ! " On the whole, the Whigs were strongly opposed
to the acquisition of more slave territory, and those who
were not averse to the annexation of Texas strongly dis-
approved of hasty measures and the studied disregard of
Mexico's protests.

The Democratic party, however, by the nomination of
Polk instead of Van Buren, and by the direct statements of

its platform, was committed to annexation.
The Democrats. ~* r ^- j_i t-v j -i t n

Many JN orthern Democrats doubtless were op-
posed to slavery extension, but party ties held them close,
and they voted for Polk and the " reannexation " of Texas.
This was a turning point in the party history, for this
sympathy with a movement which seemed intended, in
large part at least, only to add another slave State to the
Union, alienated a number of old-time Democrats at the
North and won new adherents at the South. The small
farmers of the Northern States had from the beginning of
the century belonged naturally in the ranks of the Demo-
cratic party beside the agriculturists of the South; but
now this element began to drift away from its old moor-
ings, either into the AVhig party or into the party that was,

356 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION.

more definitely the foe of slavery and slave extension. One
must speak here only of tendencies and beginnings. These
changes were wrought out only gradually. But we shall
find that in the course of fifteen years the Democracy lost
its hold upon the Northern States, and, by a careful exam-
ination, we can see that this loss took its marked begin-
nings with the Texas agitation and the nomination of Polk.
The election was an exciting contest. Clay had all the
qualities of leadership, and aroused the enthusiasm of the
people. Men were devoted to him with some-
Election and thing akin to a deep affection. The extrava-

results

gances of 1840 were not repeated, but there was
great and intense earnestness. While Texas was the absorb-
ing topic, many sought to blind their own eyes or those of
others to the real question. The tariff was discussed at
great length, and at the North especially both parties
claimed to be its defenders. Some little enthusiasm, too,
was aroused by the proposition of the Democratic platform
to take possession of the Oregon country, then held jointly
with England. Clay was defeated. Had the Liberty party
cast its vote for him, he would have been elected. Over
sixty thousand votes were given for its candidates, and it
held the balance of power in New York and Michigan.
The Whigs were greatly cast down over the defeat. " It
was," said an eyewitness, "as if the firstborn of every
family had been stricken down."

Tyler and his helpmates, intent upon the annexation of
Texas, believed that the result of the election gave full war-
rant for immediate action. Florida and Loui-
Annexation s i a na had been annexed by treaty. But Texas
was an independent power, and it was proposed
to pass a joint resolution inviting her into the Union. If a
treaty were made, it would be necessary that two thirds of the
Senate should vote to confirm it, and such a vote could not
be secured. A resolution required only a majority of each
House, This ; then, seemed the only feasible plan for the

ADMINISTRATION OF TYLER— 1841-1845.

357

annexationists. A joint resolution was passed giving the
President authority either to invite Texas into the Union
as a State or to negotiate formally with her concerning ad-
mission. It declared that four new States besides Texas
might be made out of her territory, but that in any new
States so formed there should be no slavery north of 36° 30'.
Tyler did not hesitate which of the alternatives to accept.

He did not wish to leave the honor of annexation to Polk ;
so the day before he left office he sent off a messenger in
hot haste to the " Lone Star Republic " with
efTexutfae proposals for immediate union (March, 1845).
beginning of Texas, of course, accepted the invitation. This
1 e exxd ' was the beginning of the end ; from this time

on the policy of slavery extension found thousands and
tens of thousands of bitter opponents at the North. Texas

358 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

was the last slave State admitted to the Union. Texas claimed
all the land north and east of the Eio Grande River from
its mouth to its source, and south and west of the line of
1819-'21. By this annexation there was added to the United
States 376,163 square miles of territory, an area greater than
that of France and England combined. The accession of
so much slave territory naturally startled the North and
made men watchful and suspicious. We must not think
that there was as yet anything like a united sentiment at
the North against the extension of slavery, but every year
and every new success on the part of the South tended to
awaken and strengthen antislavery feeling. Up to this
time the North had rested in some security, because slavery
was hemmed in by the Missouri compromise line and the
southern and western limits of the Union. In the future
there was to be little security ; the annexation of Texas
showed a new way of adding to the limits of slavery.

References.

The best short accounts are in Wilson, Division and Reunion,
pp. 133-145; Schurz, Henry Clay, Volume II, pp. 198-268; Lodge,
Daniel Webster, Chapter VIII; Bryant and Gay, Popular History,
Volume IV, pp. 356-369; Roosevelt, Thomas H. Benton, pp.
237-316; Burgess, The Middle Period, pp. 278-327. Longer ac-
count : Schouler, History, Volume IV, pp. 359-494.

Keproduction of the First Telegraphic Message sent by the
Morse System, now Preserved at Harvard College.

CHAPTER XV.

Territorial Expansion— Shall Slave Territory be extended?—
1845-1861.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES K. POLK— 1845-1849.

James K. Polk was in many ways a remarkable man.
When he was nominated for the presidency he was not
well known, though he had been in Congress,
and even Speaker of the House. "Who is
Polk ? " was a common inquiry, and the Whigs made much
sport of the Democrats for placing such a competitor
against their peerless Clay. But when Polk assumed office
it became apparent that he was no pygmy; and as one
studies his career in the light of historical evidence it is
seen that he was in some sort a man of iron, with unyield-
ing determination and unflinching purpose. He was a keen
and unrelenting partisan, but conscientiously devoted to
the interests of his country as he saw them. Altogether
pure and upright in private life, in politics his feelings
were not delicate, and in diplomacy it is to be feared that
he believed that an honorable end justified unworthy means.
His Cabinet was composed of able men. The more impor-
tant were James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, Secretary of
State ; Kobert J. Walker, of Mississippi, Secretary of the
Treasury ; William L. Marcy, of New York, Secretary of
War; George Bancroft, of Massachusetts, the historian,
Secretary of the Navy.

At the very beginning of his administration the Presi-
dent privately announced the purpose not only of establish-
ing the independent Treasury and reducing the tariff, but
also of settling the northwestern boundary trouble and ac-
24 359

360 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

quiring California. He succeeded in accomplishing all these
objects. The independent Treasury was re-established. A
new tariff act was passed materially lowering
The Presi- ^he duties and making inroads upon the pro-
tective system so dear to the Whigs. How he
achieved his other objects we shall see as we go on.

Texas, as we have seen, accepted the invitation to enter
the Union. This was in the summer of 1845. Congress
installed her as a State in the Union in December of that
year. Before that was done, however — before, in fact,
Texas was legally part of the United States — Polk sent
troops within her boundaries to defend her against possible
attack, and to make sure that annexation was not inter-
rupted by Mexican interference. General Zachary Taylor
was ordered to Texas, and in November had about four
thousand men in his command. He took a position on the
left bank of the Nueces Kiver.

While the plans for the acquisition of Texas were being
thus carried to a successful end, hopes of new possessions
in the Northwest were likewise awakened. For
The reoccupa- some years the land beyond the Rocky Moun-
tains and north of California, known as the
Oregon country, had been jointly occupied by England and
the United States. Each claimed the title, but for the
time being agreed not to demand exclusive rights there.
Our demands were based (1) on the Louisiana purchase, a
shadowy title, (2) upon the Spanish cession of 1819-'21, (3)
upon early exploration, and (4) upon settlement and occu-
pation. England's claims were similar. She claimed by
discovery, basing her title in the first place on the voyage
of Drake in the time of Queen Elizabeth. Later explora-
tion helped to substantiate her title, and settlements had
been made by English subjects on Xootka Sound even at
the end of the last century. Of the valley of the Columbia,
however, or at least the larger portion of it, we were fairly
well assured, because for some years emigrants from the

ADMINISTRATION OF POLK— 1845-1849. 361

States had been making their way thither, and even now
(1845-'46) the emigrant wagons were carrying many new
settlers to the region. This actual occupation gave us nine
clear points in law. The " reoccupation " of Oregon had
been coupled in the presidential campaign with the " rean-
nexation " of Texas, for we claimed both under the Louisi-
ana treaty, and now, after the inauguration of Polk, there
was a popular demand, especially from the Western States,
for " the whole of Oregon," and the cry was raised of " Fifty-
four forty or fight." * It looked for a time, indeed, as if war
might ensue, because it could hardly be hoped that Eng-
land would consent to having her American dominions
limited by the Rocky Mountains. The difficulty was finally
settled, however, by a compromise. The two countries
showed their good sense by not fighting for land or sup-
posed honor, when both had reasonable grounds for their
claims. The forty-ninth parallel already marked the divi-
sion between the British dominions and those of the United
States as far west as the mountains, and the same line was
now agreed upon as the boundary through to the Pacific. f

War did not break out immediately upon the annexation
of Texas, as might well have been the case. The claims of

Texas were so extraordinary that Mexico could
What was no £ a d m it them to be just, inasmuch as they

included not alone the old province of Texas,
but a large territory besides over which the State had not
succeeded in establishing control, and to which she had title

* Fifty-four forty was the southern point of Alaska, then in the pos-
session of Russia, known as Russian America.

f The statement in the text is substantially accurate, but it is worth
remarking that the line ran to sea water, and then followed the middle
of the channel dividing Vancouver's Island from the main, and then
through the middle of Fuca Strait. A dispute later arose as to what
was the middle or the main channel. In 1872 the German Emperor,
chosen as arbitrator, gave his decision in favor of America. Thus ninety
years elapsed (1782-1872) before our northern line was finally deter-
mined. See map, p. 370.

362 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

only by assertion. What were the boundaries of Texas as a
province of Mexico is somewhat difficult to say, and, in fact,
what they were makes little difference. The Texans had
certainly not made good, by war and occupation, a title to
more than so much of the Mexican territory as lay north of
the Nueces Eiver and east of the present eastern boundary
of New Mexico. By our assumption of the claim of Texas
to all the land north and east of the Rio Grande from its
mouth to its source, and by any endeavor to follow up our
claim by taking actual possession of the disputed portion,
we were sure to bring on war, unless Mexico was submissive
and ready to bow before the superior strength of the United
States. But such was not the case. Poor, weak, torn by
internal strife and dissension, the Mexicans still retained
a modicum of their old Spanish spirit. They were not
given to self-control at the best, and were now greatly
irritated.

Moreover, Polk wanted California and laid his plans to
get it. While he was doubtless ready to buy the coveted
D . region, he was also ready to surround Mexico

to obtain with difficulties, and willing so to arrange mat-

Caiifomia. £ erg that, if war should break out, we could

pounce upon California and add another vast territory to
our dominions. The methods of the administration were
many and devious. The whole affair does not furnish the
pleasantest reading in American history, for it can hardly
be denied that our Government used power with unseemly
disregard of a weaker neighbor's rights, and pressed roughly
forward to the goal we wished for. It is not agreeable to
remember that those in authority forgot the high duty rest-
ing upon them as the representatives of a great country
claiming to be the leader of the New World, not in might
alone, but in intelligence, virtue, and the graces of civiliza-
tion. The far West, which soon proved to be golden, be-
longed, perhaps, by a manifest destiny to the Anglo-Saxon
man ; but if we could have obtained it by means that re-

ADMINISTRATION OP POLK— 1845-1849. 363

dounded to our honor, this would have been a brighter page
in our history.

Although one must acknowledge that in large measure

the South was moved by a desire to attain more territory

. , for slavery, and that Polk was not magnani-

Geograpny and . „ ,

manifest mous m his treatment of Mexico, we should

destiny. no ^ f or g e t that the American feeling of mani-

fest destiny had a physical basis. Texas was, to all intents
and purposes, part of the great central valley of the conti-
nent, the greater portion of which had become part of the
American possessions ; the Eio Grande seemed to be the
only reasonable halting place in the forward movement of
the population toward the Southwest. This energetic for-
ward movement into the unsettled regions of the West had
been going on since the English colonists first settled on
the Atlantic coast, and with redoubled energy since the be-
ginning of the nineteenth century. Aptitude for settling
new areas and for subduing the wilderness, zeal for more
land and wider dominion, had become national traits. This
is no excuse for the methods used in wresting Texas and
the far West from the nerveless hands of Mexico ; but it ex-
plains the fact in part. " It would be vain to expect," said
Calhoun, "that we could prevent our people from penetrat-
ing into California. Even before our present difficulties
with Mexico the process had begun. We alone can people
[this region] with an industrious and civilized race, which
can develop its resources and add a new and extensive re-
gion to the domain of commerce and civilization." * Benton

* These words were spoken after the war with Mexico had begun.
Calhoun, it may be said, was opposed to the war, but believed that our
acquisition of the West was a foregone conclusion. We must remember
that from the very beginning of English colonization the settlers in
America had been pitted against other nations for the possession of the
continent. The acquisition of Texas and California was another step
in the great contest with Spain for dominion in America — a contest that
began with Sir Humphrey Gilbert and his desire to build up a colonial
realm for England and to weaken the power of Spain. (See chapter ii.)

364 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

was opposed to the methods of annexation, and denounced
intrigue ; but he desired the acquisition of the country by
honorable means. His words show us that the movement
was not merely a Southern conspiracy to extend slavery.
" We want Texas," he said — " that is to say, the Texas of La
Salle ; and we want it for great natural reasons obvious as
day, and permanent as Nature."

The land between the Nueces Eiver and the Eio Grande
was claimed by the United States as a part of Texas ; but
Mexico was not ready to give up her title. In
egtm ' the early part of 1846 Polk, without sending
word of his intention to Congress, which was then in ses-
sion, ordered General Taylor to take a position on the left
bank of the Eio Grande. Taylor obeyed, and, moving to
the river, intrenched himself opposite the Mexican town of
Matamoras, where there were Mexican troops. " The armies
being thus in presence, with anger in their bosoms and arms
in their hands, that took place which everybody foresaw
must take place — collisions and hostilities."* A detach-
ment of Mexican troops was sent across the river by Arista,
the commanding general. A small body of Americans was
attacked and a few were killed. When the news reached
the President, he sent a message to Congress declaring that
" Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has
invaded our territory, and shed American blood upon Amer-
ican soil." War existed, he declared, notwithstanding all
efforts to avoid it, and existed " by the act of Mexico her-
self." Congress declared, May 13, 1846, that war existed
by act of Mexico. Money was appropriated, and the Presi-
dent was authorized to call for fifty thousand volunteers.

There was now no help for it, and the country prepared
for war. It was from the first popular with many. But,
on the other hand, a strong element was bitterly opposed,
not knowing in their bewilderment where the land hunger

* Benton, Thirty Years' View, vol. ii, p. 679.

ADMINISTRATION OF POLK— 1845-1849. 365

of the nation would carry it. To the Whigs it seemed a
Democratic war. Not all were opposed ; hut those who had
been averse to the annexation of Texas were ready to
War un o ul denounce these bloody consequences. To the
with some antislavery element at the North it seemed a

persons. war on b e nalf of slavery and for the exten-

sion of slave territory. The feelings of these men were
well voiced in the Biglow Papers, which were at this junc-
ture written by James Russell Lowell and were very widely
read. The keen sarcasm and homely humor of these verses
— more effective than argument — made converts to the anti-
slavery cause ; the war was more seriously attacked in these
telling lines than by scores of pamphlets and speeches.*

The first engagement of the war took place on the
northern side of the Rio Grande. Taylor's defenses were
attacked in his absence, but the garrison obeyed
battles 8 * to tne ^ e ^ er the instructions which their gen-

eral had left : " Defend the fort to the death."
The attack was repulsed. Then followed the battles of
Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, May 8 and 9, 1846. The
Americans, under Taylor, were greatly outnumbered, but
fought with gallantry. The Mexicans were defeated, and
withdrew across the Rio Grande. The Americans followed,
and occupied Matamoras. After waiting here for a time
that re-enforcements might be obtained, they pushed on into
the enemy's country, and in September reached Monterey,
a strongly fortified city. Here there was heavy fighting,
but battery after battery was taken by assault, and the

* " I dunno but wut it's pooty,

Trainin' round in bobtail coats, —
But it's cur'us Christian dooty,
This 'ere cuttin' folks's throats.

" They jest want this Californy
So's to lug new slave States in
To abuse ye, an' to scorn ye,
An' to plunder ye like sin."

866

HISTOUY OK T11K AMERICAN PKOPLK.

plaoe tell. Taylor thou moved forward again. In Feb*
ruarv (1847) occurred the battle of Buena Vista. The
Mexicans had four times as many troops as the Americans,
but the American army was posted in a strong position.
The Mexicans fought with great courage and obstinacy, but
they were beaten again. The whole of the surrounding

citv or %v , v -

MKXICO^V

Onto Gordoj

Tin: MEXICAN WAR

country, by reason of this victory, fell into the hands of the
Americans.

We may now turn to consider the movements of the
other armies of invasion. Genera] Kearny marched across
the plains to Santa Ke, hoisted the American Hag there,
and proclaimed New Mexico a part of the I'nited States.

ADMINISTRATION OK POLK- 1845-1840,

367

He then marched on into California, and reached San

Diego. Long before his arrival, however, the principal

part of that region had passed into our hands.

Ne . w n M . e .? C0 . For some time a squadron had been kept on the

and California. * r

western coast, ready to pounce upon the prize.
When war was begun — in fact, even before it was known
that an express declaration had been made — Monterey was
seized. San Francisco and other chief harbors were also
occupied.

A new movement was begun in the early spring of IS IT.
General Scott took Vera Cruz, and began a march to the

city of Mexico. A

fierce battle took

place at Cerro Gor-

the Mexicans, as
usual, fought with bravery, and,
as usual, were beaten.* Scott
led his army forward again.
lie met with little opposition
until near the enemy's capital.
Here there were strong de-
fenses ; but the Americans won
a series of unbroken victories.
The soldiers fought bravely,
while Scott and his lieutenants
showed great skill and daring.
In September the heights of
Chapultepec were stormed and the city of Mexico was taken.
Peace was soon after concluded.

General Scott'8
army.

do, where

./^A^ie^t Jc^lr

* General Grant, who served as a second lieutenant in this war,
speaks thus of the Mexican troops: "The Mexicans, u on many other
occasions, stood up ms well as Mtiy troops ever did. The trouble seemed
to be the laek of experience anions]: the officers, which led them after ■
certain time to quit, without being particularly whipped, but because
they had (Sought enough." This remark is characteristic of Grant, who
did not fight in that way himself.

368 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

This was certainly one of the most remarkable wars in
history. Our troops won every pitched battle. Scott
Ch t r nd marcne d for two hundred miles and more into
influence of the enemy's country, and wrested stronghold
the war. after stronghold from the hands of greatly su-

perior forces. This war was in marked contrast with the
War of 1812. Both were party wars ; but in this one the
generals were fit to command, and the soldiers were thor-
oughly disciplined and equipped. Many of the generals
who afterward became prominent in the rebellion obtained
in Mexico their first practical lessons in military art.
Ulysses S. Grant and Eobert E. Lee served in subordinate
positions, both with credit. This war, in more than one
sense, was the precursor of the civil war.

The war was not concluded — indeed, was hardly well be-
gun — before the inevitable slavery question arose in Con-
gress. In August, 1846, the President asked
The Wilmot f 0Y monev t a i(j m bringing the war to a close.

proviso. J on

It was supposed that the money was to be used
to buy territory. A bill was introduced into the House ap-
propriating two million dollars. David Wilmot, a Demo-
cratic Eepresentative from Pennsylvania, proposed that
there be added to the bill a proviso that slavery should
never exist within any territory acquired from Mexico. The
bill with this proviso passed the House, but did not pass the
Senate. The same contest between the two houses took
place the next year ; but the Senate finally won, and an
appropriation of three million dollars was made without the
antislavery condition. The " Wilmot proviso " was for sev-
eral years used as a general phrase — not with special refer-
ence to the amendment of Wilmot, but to the principle
which it contained. All who were opposed to the exten-
sion of slavery were said to be in favor of the " Wilmot
proviso."

February 2, 1848, the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo was
signed, ending the Mexican War. It was ratified by the

ADMINISTRATION OF POLK— 1845-1849. 369

Senate the next month. By its terms the United States
became possessed not only of the disputed territory, which
_ . . had been claimed by Texas, but of a vast ter-

The treaty of J mt

Guadaloupe ritory to the west as well. The boundary line
Hidalgo. agreed upon ran up the Eio Grande to the

southern boundary of New Mexico, thence along the south-
ern boundary to the western limit of New Mexico, up these
western limits to the Gila Eiver, thence along that river to
the Colorado, and from the junction of these two rivers
followed the line dividing Upper and Lower California to
the Pacific Ocean.* The United States paid $15,000,000 in
cash, and agreed to pay in addition claims of its citizens
on the Mexican Government to an amount not exceeding
$3,250,000, and other claims already definitely allowed by
Mexico. A glance at the map will show how much was
secured by this cession as the fruit of the war. There
was thus added to the United States about 875,000 square
miles, including Texas and what is now the State of Cali-
fornia.

The result of Polk's aggressive policy, aided by Southern
zeal and the native land hunger of the nation, was an aston-
ishing increase of the national domain in the
Territorial course of four years. March 4, 1845, the

expansion.

western boundary of the United States was the
line of 1819, and we occupied, jointly with Great Britain,
the Oregon country. In 1848 the republic stretched from
sea to sea, and as far south as the Rio Grande Eiver. The
Bay of San Francisco, the coveted harbor of the western
coast, was in our hands. If we include Oregon in the
acquisitions of this administration, over 1,000,000 square

* In 1853, due to the fact that some question had arisen about this
boundary, and because a proposed route for a railroad to the Pacific
ran somewhat south of our line at the Gila River, another purchase
was made from Mexico. This was known as the Gadsden purchase, and
included 47,330 square miles. The map will show the land so acquired.
The sura paid was $10,000,000.

370

HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION.

ACQUISITION OF TERRITORY ^
IN THE WEST 1803-53

The line marked XY was undetermined
and in dispute and partly on this account
the GADSDEN PURCHASE was made

miles were added to American territory, more than the
whole area of the United States when its independence
was acknowledged by Great Britain.*

Square miles. Square miles.

* Texas (1845) 376,163 Austrian Empire 240,942

First Mexican cession . 545,753 Germany, France, and Spain 613,093

Oregon 284,828 Sweden and Italy 285,383

1,206,744 M39,418

ADMINISTRATION OF POLK— 1845-1849. 371

The country might well be lifted up as it contemplated
its greatness and exalted the courage and skill of our

soldiers in Mexico. But the acquisition of this
for bodh? and new territory was at once the cause of great

foreboding and of deep and bitter feeling.
Territorial expansion was especially in favor at the South,
and now, even before the war was ended, and before the
land for which the soldiers were fighting was securely
wrested from Mexico, the slaveholders saw men at the
North asserting that slavery should not be admitted into
any part of the territory acquired. To many at the
,South this seemed like robbing them of the just spoils of
conquest.

The people were fully awake to the momentousness of
the issue. The North was divided. Few were desirous of

seeing slavery admitted to the new territory ;
Shall slavery ^^ man y were no t [ n sympathy with a policy

which would rigidly exclude the Southerner
with his human property, because they believed that the
question would settle itself, if men would only consent to
let it alone. Such persons looked upon "agitation" as
the great evil, because discussion of the slavery question
angered the South and endangered the Union. Others, an
increasing number, were now flatly opposed to further ex-
tension of slavery, and they demanded the principle of the
Wilmot proviso without qualification and without delay.
Let us not mistake the situation. It is not true that for
fifteen years before the civil war a solid North faced a solid
South. The South naturally was nearly a unit on the
principle of extending slavery, or at least declared the slave-
holders' right to move into the new possessions of the nation
— possessions obtained by the expenditure of national blood
and treasure. On the other hand, Northern sentiment
was divided ; only a minority were deeply enough in earnest
to make opposition to slavery the first and controlling mo-
tive of political conduct. As the years went by this num-

372 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

ber grew larger, until something like a solid North faced
a solid South. It will be our task to watch the phases of
this movement toward a unity of sentiment at the North.*
In 1847, General Lewis Cass, then Senator from Michi-
gan and a leader in the Democratic party, wrote his famous
Nicholson letter. He had been a prominent
Popular candidate for the presidential nomination in

sovereignty^ x

1844, and was now mentioned as the standard
bearer of the party in the ensuing campaign. His letter,
when published, therefore won attention. It announced a
new doctrine. It declared that the National Government
ought not to interfere with the domestic concerns of the
Territories, and, in short, asserted that the existence of
slavery was a question with which the people of the Terri-
tories must deal themselves. He even denied that Congress
had the constitutional authority to regulate the internal
affairs of a Territory. " I do not see in the Constitution
any grant of the requisite power to Congress ; and I am not
disposed to extend a doubtful precedent beyond its necessity
— the establishment of Territorial governments, when needed
— leaving to the inhabitants all the rights compatible with
the relation they bear to the Confederation." Thus was
stated the doctrine later known as " popular sovereignty."

By the summer of 1848 there were four propositions
before the country concerning slavery in the territory ac-
quired from Mexico. (1) That of Calhoun,
sitions regard- wno declared that the territory so acquired
ing slavery belonged to the States, and that a Southern
man had as good a right to carry his slave with
him into the Federal domain as a Northern man had to
take his sheep or his oxen. (2) The doctrine of the Wil-

* The student must not be confused by details and prevented from
seeing the main drift and meaning of events. From now on to 1861
the question ever growing more important was whether or not slavery
should be hemmed inside its old limits, or be allowed to expand and
occupy the WesU

ADMINISTRATION OF POLK— 1845-1849. 373

mot proviso, which declared it to be the moral duty of
Congress to keep slavery out of the public domain. The
most ardent advocates of this principle denied that Con-
gress had the right to legalize slavery in national territory.
(3) The doctrine of the Mcholson letter. (4) The exten-
sion of the line of 36° 30' through to the Pacific as the
boundary between slavery and freedom. The idea was
already spread abroad among the Northern people that this
new West was ill adapted to slave labor ; many therefore
favored a policy of neglect, hoping thereby to soothe the
South, whose peculiar institution would be driven from the
region by Nature herself, whose laws were stronger than any
enactments of men. Persons holding this idea were likely
to support either the third or the fourth of the propositions
just given.

As the presidential campaign approached the Demo-
cratic party found itself divided. Especially in New York
there were differences. With these the slavery
emocra s. q Ueg ^ on j ia( j muc } 1 to do. One faction was

called the " Old Hunkers," the other the " Barnburners." *
The latter faction was personally devoted to Van Buren,
and expressed its " uncompromising hostility to the exten-
sion of slavery into territory now free." The Hunkers were
opposed to a statement of principle. The National Demo-
cratic Convention nominated Cass for the presidency, and
William 0. Butler, of Kentucky, for the vice-presidency.
A platform was adopted full of safe sayings, but not defi-
nitely committing the party on the slavery question.

The Whigs, too, were not united. In the East there
were " Conscience Whigs " and " Cotton Whigs." In the
Northwest there was a strong antislavery ele-
6 lg8 ' ment. The leaders of the party at large, how-
ever, were desirous of avoiding the dread issue, and the con-
vention, when it met, firmly held its peace on the great

* For the origin of these names see Shephard's Van Buren, p. 354;
McLaughlin's Cass, p. 237.

374 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

question which everybody knew was in everybody's thoughts.
Clay was still popular, but many feared his candidacy.
Following the example of 1840, General Taylor was put
in nomination. Millard Fillmore, of New York, was nom-
inated for Vice-President. These nominations meant noth-
ing, except that the Whigs did not dare to announce prin-
ciples, but hoped for success by mere dint of shouting for
" Old Eough and Eeady," as Taylor was called.

The antislavery Whigs had hoped for an antislavery

platform, and when they found the party ready to hide

itself behind a popular name they declared

The Free- ^hat they would not be bound by partv ties.

soilerSi J j r j

The Barnburners and other dissatisfied Demo-
crats were likewise aroused and ready for independent
action. In August a convention at Buffalo nominated Mar-
tin Van Buren and Charles Francis Adams. This was the
beginning of the Free-soil party. The Liberty party coa-
lesced with it. It was devoted, without shadow of turning,
to the principle of free soil. " Congress," it declared, " has
no more right to make a slave than to make a king."
" Thunders of applause " are said to have followed the read-
ing from the platform of such sentences as this : " Eesolved,
that we inscribe on our banner free soil, free speech, free
labor, and free men, and under it we will fight on and fight
ever, until a triumphant victory shall reward our exertions."
The great revolt at the North against slavery extension was
fairly begun.

Thus there were three candidates in the field. Two of
the parties refused to express definite opinions on the slav-
ery question ; but one of them nominated a slave owner,
and the other chose as its leader the man who had given
out his belief that Congress could not legislate on the sub-
ject of slavery in the Territories. Taylor and Fillmore
were elected. The Free-soilers cast over two hundred and
ninety thousand votes, and held the balance of power in
some of the Northern States. Although both of the old

ADMINISTRATION OP TAYLOR— 1849-1850.

375

parties blinded their eyes to the great problem, it remained
to be solved, and could not be escaped. Moreover, there
were tens of thousands of men at the North that were now
insisting that it must be solved by a recognition of principle.

References.

The best short accounts are in Wilson, Division and Reunion,
pp. 145-160; Bryant and Gay, Popular History, Volume IV, pp.
368-387; Roosevelt, Thomas H. Benton, pp. 317-340; Schurz, Henry
Clay, Volume II, pp. 268-315; Blaine, Twenty Years in Congress,
Volume I, pp. 41-86; Von Hoist, John C. Calhoun, p. 260-335.
Longer accounts : Schouler, History, Volume IV, pp. 495-550, Vol-
ume V, pp. 1-128.

ADMINISTRATION OF ZACHARY TAYLOR AND MILLARD
FILLMORE— 1849-1853.

General Taylor's life up to the time of his election

to the presidency had been spent in large measure as a

soldier in the

Zachary Taylor. -,

J J regular army.
He owned a plantation in
Louisiana and several hun-
dred slaves. He was an hon-
est, straightforward man,
free from all pretense, with
a soldierly devotion to duty,
and with a very clear sense
of right and justice. In
political experience he was
totally lacking, and his
knowledge of public men
and events was necessarily
limited. He is said to have
supposed, until a short time
before his arrival at Wash-
ington to assume office, that the Vice-President was ex-officio
25

~7^c^/C^c^p/^t^

376 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

a member of his Cabinet. Spite of his unfamiliarity with
the formalities and duties of his position, his frankness
and honesty did not ill fit him for the presidency in the try-
ing days that were before the people. Slaveholder as he
was, he could see no reason for doing aught to fasten slav-
ery on regions where the inhabitants did not want it, and
he could be relied upon to act with what seemed to him
complete fairness.

During Polk's administration the balance between South-
ern and Northern States had been preserved. Florida was
admitted in 1845, and Iowa in 1846. The ad-
mission of Texas was offset by the entrance of
Wisconsin into the Union in 1848. In the summer of that
year Oregon was established as a Territory. The act of
establishment forbade slavery or involuntary servitude within
the territorial limits. Save as the laws of Mexico were
recognized or military rule might be enforced,
The great ^he Territory acquired from Mexico as the

result of the war was still without legal organi-
zation. It was necessary for Congress to act at once.

California presented peculiar difficulties. In 1848 gold
was discovered there. This discovery soon made a deep
impression on the minds of the Eastern peo-
S°?? f in . pie, and in 1849 a great migration to the new

gold coast set in. Thousands and tens of thou-
sands left their homes in the East to hunt for riches. Long
trains of wagons started on the weary journey over the
Western prairies. Every sort of ocean craft was pressed
into service that the eager crowds might be carried " around
the Horn " or landed at the Isthmus of Panama, to make
their way across as best they might. Lawyers, ministers,
school-teachers, mechanics, men from all walks of life, old
and young, hastened away to the gold fields to make their
fortunes in a day. The population of California grew with
astounding rapidity. Something like eighty thousand
persons arrived there in a single year. San Francisco

ADMINISTRATION OF TAYLOR— 1849-1850. 377

changed from a hamlet to a city in a twelvemonth. The
mad race for the gold diggings brought together a motley
crowd. There was no law save the rough code of the min-
ing camp. The whole territory was on the very verge of
anarchy ; but there was underneath it all a strong senti-
ment of order.

These people, thus quickly swept together into a com-
munity without law, showed in the end rare talent for
m „. . organization. In September, 1849, delegates

California 6 x . J ' ' ®

adopts a met in convention, adopted a btate Lonstitu-

Constitutlon. ^ion, and prepared to seek admission into the
Union. A clause prohibiting slavery was adopted without
difficulty. The people ratified the Constitution, and elected
State officers and members of Congress.

When Congress met, therefore, in December, 1849, seri-
ous problems demanded immediate solution. (1) California,
with a free Constitution, claimed immediate
Serious admission into the Union. Such admission

was strongly opposed by the South, for it would
destroy the balance between the States, because there was no
slave State ready for entrance, nor was there likely to be
for some time to come. (2) Some sort of Territorial govern-
ment must be established in the rest of the land obtained
from Mexico, and it must be decided whether slavery should
be recognized there or not. (3) Moreover, there was a con-
test between Texas and the people of the old Mexican prov-
ince of New Mexico. Texas, it will be remembered, seceded
from Mexico, claiming all land north and east of the Eio
Grande Eiver. But the province of New Mexico had in
reality extended considerably to the east of this river, and
the Texans had never succeeded in making good their claim
to this region. The people of New Mexico objected to hav-
ing their province divided and the eastern portion of it
embraced in the State of Texas. This contest Congress was
called upon to settle. (4) In addition to all of these difficul-
ties, slavery presented others. The Northerners were, year

378 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

by year, more hostile to the whole institution, and the ex-
istence of slavery in the District of Columbia was especially
irritating. Slaves were bought and sold within sight of the
Capitol, and this seemed to Northern sentiment a disgrace
no longer to be borne. (5) Many desired also the suppression
of the trade in slaves between the States, as clearly within
the power of the United States Government. (6) The South-
erners, resenting any interference with the traffic in slaves,
made serious charges against -the North ; they charged all
the North with the sins of abolitionism ; they demanded a
more stringent fugitive slave law, in order that they might
thus recover the hundreds of slaves that yearly escaped and
made their way to the North.

Through the winter of 1849-'50 the feeling was intense.

Southern men felt that they were now struggling for a last

hope. Texas, with its wide prairies, was in-

The Union ^ ee( j theirs, but it now seemed possible that

in danger. ' r

slavery would be shut out of the Mexican ces-
sion, because even the people of New Mexico did not wish
it. The Virginia Legislature passed resolutions declaring
that the adoption and attempted enforcement of the Wil-
mot proviso would leave to the people but two courses : one,
of " abject submission to aggression and outrage " ; the other,
" determined resistance at all hazards and to the last ex-
tremity." All over the South these sentiments were ap-
plauded. The Union seemed to be in danger, for the South
was exasperated and utterly in earnest. " All now is up-
roar," wrote Clay, " confusion, and menace to the existence
of the Union and to the happiness and safety of the people."
To the task of quieting the storm and of saving the
Union, Clay now applied himself. He hoped that each sec-
~ , tion might be brought to yield a portion of its

mise measures, claims and that peace could be secured by com-
1850. promise. No one was better fitted for the task

than he. He was a slave owner, but he had no great love
for slavery. He knew Southern life and passions, but he

ADMINISTRATION OF TAYLOR— 1849-1850. 379

knew Northern life and prejudices quite as well. His popu-
larity was great, for his sympathies were wide and deep,
and for forty years he had stood before the people as a
faithful representative of American ideas. He introduced
into the Senate, in January, a series of resolutions dealing
with the subjects of controversy. He proposed, among other
things, (1) to admit California ; (2) to establish Territories
without saying anything about slavery ; (3) to pass a fugi-
tive slave law; (4) to pay Texas to give up her claim in
New Mexico ; (5) to declare that it was inexpedient to abol-
ish slavery in the District of Columbia, but (6) to abolish
the slave trade there.

These resolutions were the subjects of discussion for

months. All through the summer of 1850 North and South

anxiously watched the movements of Congress.

Great debates. The Senate wag the chief arena of debate< Great

speeches were made by Clay, Webster, Calhoun, Seward,
and others. Webster greatly disappointed thousands of his
w . , Northern admirers by supporting the compro-

7th of March mise, and declaring that slavery need not be
speech. excluded by law from the new Western Terri-

tories, because it was excluded by a law superior to legisla-
tive enactment : " I mean the law of Nature, of physical
geography, the law of the formation of the earth." He de-
clared that antislavery agitation was useless and danger-
ous, and he even censured the North for harboring runaway
slaves. It was believed by many that he spoke these words
in hope of securing the presidency. If he did, he was
sadly mistaken, for from that time, although Northern con-
fidence seemed temporarily to be given him again, his great
power of leadership was gone.

Calhoun was at the point of death and unable to deliver
the speech he had prepared. It was therefore read for him.
If one wishes to know the feeling of the South that finally
led to secession and civil war, one should study this speech.
To Calhoun the nation seemed clearly divided into two

380

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Calhoun's
position,

distinct sections; if the Northern one insisted on over-
turning the balance between the two, the interests of the
South would be endangered and slavery would
not be safe ; the only way in which the Union
could be preserved was by carefully maintaining
this balance and by the complete recognition of sectional
differences and interests. To the Western Territories the
Southerner must be allowed to go with his slaves as freely
as the Northern man with his cattle ; slavery must not be

discriminated against, but
protected by the power of the
National Government.

Seward made the greatest
speech of these debates, be-
cause he fully represented
the best Northern sentiment
concerning slavery; because
he represented the sentiment
that was to become the dom-
inant power in the nation.
He declared that slavery must
go no further. He warned
the South that every effort to
extend slavery or to fasten
its hold upon the country
would only hasten the day
of emancipation, because this
land must be free, and the forces of economy, the forces of
civilization, were fighting the battles of freedom. " The
question of dissolving the Union is a complex question : it
embraces the fearful issue whether the Union
Seward's shall s t a nd, and slavery, under the steady,

peaceful action of moral, social, and political
causes, be removed by gradual voluntary effort and with
compensation ; or whether the Union shall be dissolved and
civil war ensue, bringing on violent but complete and im-

fai<L^- //2L*^-~c4.

ADMINISTRATION OF TAYLOR— 1849-1850. 381

mediate emancipation." * How much misery and woe
might have been avoided had the South listened to Seward's
warning in 1850 !

Not till September were all parts of the compromise

passed. It agreed substantially with Clay's scheme. (1)

The boundary between Texas and New Mexico

The compromise was established, and Texas was paid ten mil-

enacted, . . x

lion dollars for giving up her claims. (2) Cali-
fornia was admitted as a free State. (3) New Mexico and
Utah were given Territorial governments without restric-
tion as to slavery. (4) A law was passed to provide for the
arrest and return of fugitive slaves. (5) The slave trade in
the District of Columbia was abolished. On the whole, it
was received favorably by both sections of the country.
The people were relieved from the high excitement under
which they had been living for two or three years. Another
crisis seemed passed in safety, and men breathed more
freely.

The part of this compromise that was most disliked by
the North, and that eventually caused greatest trouble, was

the fugitive slave law. This was a very severe
The fugitive measure. A negro claimed as a runaway slave

gloyQ law " **

had no right to a trial by jury, could give no
evidence in his own behalf, and was altogether without
chance of escape. The trial might be before a commis-
sioner instead of a court, and it was the commissioner's duty
to hear and determine the case of a claimant in a summary
manner. Whether the negro was a person or a thing was
decided with less formality than in a suit at common law
before the Federal courts where over twenty dollars were

* Seward at this time also said that " there is a higher law than the
Constitution which regulates our authority," etc. For this " higher-law
doctrine " he and his followers were bitterly attacked, on the ground
that they sought to overthrow the Constitution for mere sentiment.
But he spoke plain truth ; the Constitution itself could not resist the
moral forces of the nation.

382 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

involved. The passage of this act was in many parts of the
North keenly resented, but time was needed to disclose all
its awful meaning. In the course of the next few years
Northern sentiment against slavery was aroused to a new
pitch by efforts to enforce the law, for it brought home be-
fore the very eyes of the people some of the most odious
aspects of slavery. It helped to intensify hatred of the
whole barbarous system, and to bring about a nearer ap-
proach to unity of thought and feeling. Throughout the
North were many colored people, who had either escaped
from service in years gone by or been born in freedom;
they could now be seized on the mere presentation of an
affidavit made by an alleged owner, and they might be
dragged away into bondage after a hasty trial. Eiots and
rescues became not infrequent, and some of them aroused
the interest of the whole country. This part of the com-
promise, therefore, did not allay ill feeling, but in the end
made it more intense and bitter.

While the compromise was under discussion President
Taylor died (July 9, 1850). His death brought deep sor-
row to the nation. The people of the North
Death of p a ^ ^ e tribute of mourning to the honest sol-

dier, who seemed to have forgotten sectional
prejudices in his love of country. "I never saw," wrote
Seward, " public grief so universal and so profound."

Mr. Fillmore immediately assumed the presidency. He

was not a great man, but of good ability and with some

experience in political affairs. His cast of mind

US lard led him to be, on the whole, conservative and

Fillmore. ' '

careful. His past showed that he had anti-
slavery convictions, but he threw his influence in favor of
the compromise while it was under discussion, and endeav-
ored to see it fully carried out after it was passed. The
Cabinet was reorganized. Webster became Secretary of
State, and to a great extent directed the policy of the ad-
ministration.

ADMINISTRATION OF FILLMORE— 1850-1853. 383

In the midst of all the excitement on the slavery ques-
tion the country had been growing in wealth, in strength,
and in population. In 1840 the census showed
Growth in about seventeen million people. In 1850 there

population. .

were twenty-three million. This increase was
due in large part to the great influx of European immi-
grants, who in this decade came to America in large num-
bers. The Irish and Germans were especially numerous.
Of the former nearly one hundred and sixty thousand came
in a single year. After the great popular uprisings in Eu-
rope in 1848 — uprisings in behalf of greater political free-
dom — thousands moved to America either to escape pun-
ishment, or, despairing of brighter days at home, to seek
prosperity in a land whose institutions seemed reasonable
and just. All of these newcomers found homes either in
the Northern cities or on the farms of the new Northwest.
To the South they would not go, because they came to work,
while beyond Mason and Dixon's line work was left to
slaves and labor was considered degrading. They came,
too, without local or sectional prejudices, and thus added to
the nationalizing forces and stimulated the national spirit.

In this decade of political excitement the inventive
spirit of America had not slumbered. Among the most

important inventions was the rotary printing

Inventions. r , , . , ,, M . .. ,

press, by which the process of printing became
amazingly rapid. The result was the cheapening of books
and newspapers and consequent widening of educational
opportunities. The sewing machine, too, was invented, and
the result of this invention was not simply to lessen the
drudgery of the household, but to reduce the work on all
articles of clothing, and thus to make them cheaper and
more attainable by the poor. About this same time a
patent was secured for the manufacture of rubber goods.
The value of the discovery was so great that this industry
assumed large proportions at once. In 1850 over three
million dollars' worth of rubber goods were made in the

384 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

United States. In trade and commerce the United States
was now one of the first nations of the world. " I can
never think of America," wrote Leigh Hunt at one time,
" without seeing a gigantic counter stretched all along the
seaboard.' ,

The shipping interests had recently developed greatly.
Steam vessels were taking the place of the old sailing ves-
sels on the ocean, as they had already sup-
Shipping planted the flatboats on the rivers. Steamships

interests. r . *

now made the passage across the Atlantic in
about ten days. The wealth of the nation was increasing
rapidly in spite of the forebodings of those who feared slav-
ery and its blighting influence. Men looked hopefully
forward to an immense material development. In this they
were not mistaken. The decade from 1850 to 1860 was one
of progress. Before its end America had actually out-
stripped England in the tonnage of its merchant marine.

The compromise of 1850 was quite generally acquiesced
in. Some men continued to denounce it, but the first two

Acquiescence 0r three y earS after its P assa & e were y ears of
in the comparative quiet, and the members of both

compromise. the old par ti es vied with each other in declar-
ing their attachment to it. Occasionally the fugitive slave
law was openly violated, or men gave utterance to their feel-
ings in ringing denunciations ; but on the whole it seemed
to the majority that it was now only necessary to decry
"agitation" and to assert unwavering obedience and re-
spect for the great compromises.

In the spring of 1852 Mrs. Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin
was published. The book holds a high place in our litera-
ture, not because its language is especially ar-
Cabin T ° m ' 8 tistic, but because it pictures a situation with
power and is the frank utterance of impassioned
belief. But it is more than a piece of literature in the or-
dinary sense; it is a great political pamphlet. The sales
of the book were enormous. In Europe and America hun-

ADMINISTRATION OF FILLMORE— 1850-1853. 385

dreds of thousands of copies were sold. Its effect in awak-
ening antislavery feeling was great. Eufus Choate is re-
ported to have said, " That book will make two millions of
abolitionists " ; and Garrison wrote to Mrs. Stowe, " All the
defenders of slavery have left me alone and are abusing

you."

The Democratic party nominated Franklin Pierce, of
New Hampshire, and William E. King, of Alabama, as their

candidates. The Whigs nominated General
Thedectionof winfield Scott, of Virginia, and William A.

Graham, of North Carolina. Both parties fa-
vored the compromise, and declared that it was a final settle-
ment of the slavery question. The Free-soilers nominated
John P. Hale, of New Hampshire, and George W. Julian, of
Indiana. They wittily characterized the old parties as the
"Whig and Democratic Wings of the great Compromise
Party of the Nation." Their principles were set forth in
the phrase, " Free soil, free speech, free labor, and free men."
The election resulted in a victory for the Democrats so
complete that the Whigs were overwhelmed. Scott carried
only four States and received only forty-two electoral votes.
Though his party had humbled itself and bowed down be-
fore the compromise, and refused to yield to its own
better impulses, it could not win the Southern vote.

This was the end of the Whig party. Four years later
a few men still clung to the name and tried to believe their

party was not gone, but to no avail. It was
New political gaid to have « died of an attempt to swallow the

conditions!

fugitive slave law." Before the next election,
as we shall see, the slavery question assumed new forms and
took on enormous proportions. The Whig party had to be
dissolved that a new party might take its place, ready to
act upon principle in opposition to slavery extension. More-
over the old stalwart leaders that had controlled Whig
counsels for a generation were now passed away. Webster
and Clay died in 1852, and the Northern men that could

386 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

have taken their places were opponents of slavery. In-
deed, we now find new men, and a fair field for new forces.
Salmon P. Chase, Seward, and Charles Sumner became the
giants of the arena, and they were unrelenting foes of slav^
ery. The South, too, had men thoroughly devoted to its
peculiar interests, its most able and fearless champion, after
the death of Calhoun, being Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi.
Though men might blind their eyes to it, the contest was
narrowing down to a contest between the North and the
South. The bright, able young men of the North, the men
of the next twenty years of action, were prepared to cast
away old party ties and vote for principle, while the South
would support none but men fully devoted to its interests.

References.

Short accounts in Wilson, Division and Reunion, pp. 161-179;
Bryant and Gay, Popular History, Volume IV, pp. 387-402; Gree-
ley, American Conflict, Volume I, pp. 198-210; Burgess, Middle
Period, pp. 340-365; Von Hoist, John C. Calhoun, pp. 310-352.
Longer accounts : Schouler, History, Volume V, pp. 129-267; Rhodes,
History of the United States, Volume I, pp. 99-384 ; Schurz, Henry
Clay, pp. 315-414 ; Lodge, Daniel Webster, Chapters IX and X.

ADMINISTRATION OF FRANKLIN PIERCE— 1853-1857.

The new President was not a great statesman. He had
been a consistent Democrat, but no one could foresee what

his career as President would be. Indeed, he
Franklin ^ad been nominated by the Democrats partly

because they desired a colorless candidate. He
was a man of some ability, a good lawyer, and a fine speaker.
He had both civil and military experience, having been in
the House and the Senate, and having served as a brigadier
general in the Mexican War. The Vice-President, King,
never assumed the duties of office. He died about a month
after the inauguration. Pierce made William L. Marcy

ADMINISTRATION OF PIERCE— 1853-1857. 387

Secretary of State, an able, clear-headed man, who per-
formed his duties with unusual skill. Jefferson Davis, of
Mississippi, became Secretary of War. The Cabinet was on
the whole a strong one.

Southern ambition was fired in these days with the hope

of winning new territory in the regions of the South.

Cuba and Central America, both suitable for

Expansion of t

American slavery, were alluringly near, and both might

territory. t> e acquired by a little effort. How widely

hopes of conquests in that direction were entertained
at the South one can not say. Certain it is that many
were intent upon extending slavery, and hoped to gain
strength for slavery by the acquisition of new territory.
But zeal for the annexation of Cuba was not confined to
Southern politicians. There was prevalent at the time a
bold belief in the doctrine of " manifest destiny," a belief
that we as a nation were called upon to extend the sphere
of our wholesome influence, to gather in new lands that we
might do our great duty in elevating man. This sentiment
is well expressed in the words of Edward Everett, who dur-
ing the last few months of Fillmore's administration was
Secretary of State : " Every addition to the territory of the
American Union has given homes to European destitution
and gardens to European want."

Marcy himself seems to have been anxious for the an-
nexation of Cuba. In 1854, at his suggestion, the American

ministers to England, France, and Spain —
manifesto. James Buchanan, John Y. Mason, Pierre Soule

— met and consulted upon the prospects of ac-
quiring this island. They drew up a paper which has since
borne the name of the " Ostend manifesto," from the place
where the first consultations were held. This is a remark-
able document. It declared that the "Union can never
enjoy repose nor possess reliable security as long as Cuba is
not embraced within its boundaries." It suggested, in
hardly mistakable language, that the United States would

388 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

be justified in seizing the coveted spot if Spain refused to
sell it. " We should be recreant to our duty, be unworthy
of our gallant forefathers, and commit base treason against
our posterity, should we permit Cuba to be Africanized and
become a second St. Domingo, with all its attendant horrors
to the white race, and suffer the flames to extend to our own
neighboring shores, seriously to endanger or actually to
consume the fair fabric of our Union." The Government
did not directly sanction this extraordinary paper. Marcy
directly disapproved of it; but when it was published it
startled the world. Men at the North wondered if our
nation was in such a plight that three of our foreign diplo-
mats dared openly proclaim that we must seize an island,
lest its inhabitants become free.

The Democrats, highly successful in the campaign of

1852, took office the next year with elation and confidence.

They had proclaimed loudly the sanctity of the

The slavery compromise, and men hoped and believed that

question again. , _ \ _ . _ , . x , , . , ,.

the dreadful slavery issue was a thing of the
past. But hardly had the new Congress assumed its duties
when the storm burst again with renewed fury. It was
proposed to form a new Territory in the land west of Iowa
and Missouri, part of the Louisiana purchase. From all of
this country north of 36° 30' slavery was excluded by the
express terms of the Missouri compromise. The minds of
the Northern people had long rested in calm assurance that
this portion of the national domain was destined for free-
dom. It was protected by a law of over thirty years' stand-
ing, and both of the great parties had avowed their faith
and allegiance to it.

In January, 1854, the Senate began the consideration of
a measure for organizing a Territory in this region. Senator
Dixon, of Kentucky, who was filling the unexpired term
of Henry Clay, offered an amendment repealing so much
of the Missouri compromise as restricted the extension of
slavery. A few days later, Senator Stephen A. Douglas,

ADMINISTRATION OF PIERCE— 1853-1857. 389

from Illinois, brought in a new bill providing for two Ter-
ritories, Kansas and Nebraska, and for the repeal of the
slavery restriction of the famous compromise on
The Kansas-^ ^ g roun( j ^hat it was " superseded by the prin-
ciples of the legislation of 1850." The policy of
" non-intervention," which was said to be the basis of the
act of 1850, was now to be adopted a3 a principle in the
organization of the new Territories. It was declared that
the intention of the act was " not to legislate slavery into
any Territory or State, nor exclude it therefrom ; but to
leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate
their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only
to the Constitution of the United States."

The bill was debated long and bitterly. Chase, Seward,
and Sumner made great speeches, attacking slavery and
charging the South with breach of faith.
Douglas defended the measure with his usual
skill and vigor. He was powerful in debate. His language
was not elegant and his manner was coarse, but he spoke
with such vehemence, with such consummate shrewdness and
adroitness, that he was one of the greatest debaters that ever
spoke in Congress. He declared that the compromise of
1850 contained a principle ; that the principle was wise and
constitutionally sound ; that in order to quiet the slavery
agitation forever this principle should be applied to all of
the Territories.

It is not perfectly clear that the "non-intervention"

policy of 1850 was the same as the doctrine of "popular

sovereignty," nor was it made absolutely evi-

Sme^? 116 dent tnat under tnis Kansas-Nebraska act, pur-
porting to be based on the principle of 1850,
the people of the Territories themselves could, after organi-
zation, either admit or exclude slavery as they chose. But
Cass and Douglas, and other Northern Democrats that voted
for the bill, seem to have believed that it recognized " popu-
lar sovereignty " ; and if it did, then the people of the new

390

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Territories could settle the matter for themselves. The
Southern people later denied that either the compromise of
1850 or the Kansas-Nebraska bill meant anything but this
— that they should be allowed to go into the Territories
with their slaves without " intervention " from anybody,
either from the Territory or the National Government.

The bill was passed by Congress in May, 1854. The
people of the North were roused to intense excitement dur-
ing the whole period of this discussion. As
Effect of the j on g ag s i averv was m0 re or less limited by the
compromise restriction and there existed a sort
of balance between the sections, which men persuaded them-
selves was the natural and constitutional condition, there

ADMINISTRATION OF PIERCE-1853-1857. 391

was something like quiet and composure ; but now, as they
saw these old restrictions cast aside and the prairies of the
great West opened to slave labor on an equal footing with
free, there was deep indignation in the hearts of many who
had hitherto belonged to the conservative classes and had
deprecated agitation and excitement. Congressmen that
voted for the measure had difficulty in justifying them-
selves before their constituents. Douglas was for the time
being bitterly denounced. " I could then travel," he said
at a later day, " from Boston to Chicago by the light of my
own effigies." Some ardent foes of slavery were indeed
elated ; they felt that now the real contest was begun ; they
felt, too, that the bad faith of the slaveholders was so clearly
shown that no further compromise of principle was possible.
" This seems to me," exclaimed Seward, " auspicious of bet-
ter days and better and wiser legislation. Through all the
darkness and gloom of the present hour bright stars are
breaking, that inspire me with hope and excite me to per-
severance."

The time was ripe for the formation of a party out-
spoken in its opposition to the extension of slavery into the
Territories. Early in the winter, when Doug-
Tile Kepublican lag introduced his bill, an address signed by

party. ' ° J

Chase, Sumner, and other antislavery leaders,
was published in the newspapers, denouncing the Kansas-
Nebraska bill as " a gross violation of a sacred pledge, as a
criminal betrayal of precious rights, as part and parcel of
an atrocious plot to exclude from a vast region immigrants
from the Old World and free laborers from our own States,
and convert it into a dreary region of despotism inhabited
by masters and slaves." These words expressed the senti-
ment of many Northern people. The Free-soilers were
still in existence, but the party had never been a popular
one. All the antislavery elements were now fused into
a new party. The movement was felt everywhere in the
North, but the first active steps toward organization were

392 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

taken in the Northwest, where the people were not bound
by commercial ties to the South, and where, less conserva-
tive by nature than the men of the East, they were readier
to cast aside old party bonds and take on new ones. In
Michigan a State convention was called of those, " without
reference to former political associations, who think the
time has arrived for union at the North to protect liberty
from being overthrown and downtrodden." This conven-
tion nominated a full State ticket, and chris-
tened the new party " Republican." Like ac-
tion was taken in several other States, but the new name
was not adopted in all of them. The principles of the party
were unmistakable ; its chief aim was " resistance to the en-
croachment of slavery."

The elements that were brought into the new party were

various. It absorbed all the Free-soilers, many of whom

had been Democrats; it took in also a great

its character numDe r of the Whigs — those who, realizing

and success. ° ' °

that their party had nothing left to it but a

name and a remembrance, were ready to co-operate boldly
against slavery. The so-called anti-Nebraska Democrats
also joined the Republicans. Thus the party was a com-
posite one, but it was guided by a very definite purpose.
Its tendencies were toward a broad and liberal construction
of the Constitution, and opposition to the doctrine of State
sovereignty. The success of the movement was surprising.
In the fall election of 1854 the opponents of " Nebraska "
carried every State of the old Northwest, and their success
in the East was not slight.

About this time still another party arose, and for a time
assumed large proportions. This was the " Native-Ameri-
can " or " Know-Nothing " party. It was a
£ he -RT ..u secret organization, devoted primarily to the

Know-Nothings. . e . ' -f J

exclusion 01 ioreign-born citizens, and espe-
cially Roman Catholics, from the suffrage, or at least from
public office. It took its popular name from the fact that,

ADMINISTRATION OF PIERCE— 1853-1857. 393

if any of its members were questioned concerning its object
and methods, their answer was " I don't know." The great
influx of immigrants had startled many people. They be-
lieved that the presence of so many foreigners was a menace
to our institutions. Some men were persuaded that the
Roman Catholic Church was secretly plotting for political
influence. The watchword of the new party was " America
for Americans." Probably its members were honestly de-
luded by the belief that it had a duty to perform ; but it
can hardly be doubted that many joined the organization
because they longed for another issue than the dreadful
slavery question. For a year or two the new party was so
strong that it ran a not uneven race with the Eepublicans.
But after 1856 its power dwindled rapidly. It could have
no lasting vigor. Its secret methods were out of place in a
free country, where, as it was well said, " every man ought
to have his principles written on his forehead."

The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill had other con-
sequences than the formation of the Eepublican party.*
P ul r Popular sovereignty, reduced to its lowest

sovereignty in terms, meant but this : a contest of strength
practice. between North and South, between slavery and

freedom. That section must win that had the greater vigor.
If the North could pour more men into the Territories than
the South could, their destiny was secure. Both sections
now prepared for the struggle. Emigrants from the South-
ern States made their way into Kansas, and the people of
the neighboring State of Missouri were ready to move across

* One should notice through these years some of the more striking
efforts to rescue slaves taken at the North under the fugitive slave law.
Read in the Atlantic Monthly, March, 1897, the thrilling account given
by Mr. Iligginson of the attempt to rescue Burns. The situation was
dramatic. A descendant of the first minister of Massachusetts Bay and
a negro, side by side, battered with a beam the door behind which the
fugitive slave was imprisoned. When such a scene could be enacted,
open conflict could not be long postponed.

394 TTISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

the border, if only temporarily, in order to carry an election.
From the North, too, came men by the thousand, many of
them to seek new homes, many of them in search of excite-
ment, or bent on holding Kansas against the inrushing tide
of slavery. In this great contest the free States had the
advantage. Their population was now considerably larger
than that of the slave States, and was yearly increased by
immigrants from Europe. Moreover, the Southern slave
owner could not at a moment's warning abandon his planta-
tion and transport his band of retainers to the West ; and
even if he wished to do so, he hesitated to move to a Terri-
tory where there was a chance of losing his property in his
slaves. But above all, the North was now in every way the
more powerful section. Slavery had cast its blight upon
the South. In this struggle for Kansas, the greater conflict
between the two sections that was to arise within a few
years was fairly shown forth. The South was defeated be-
cause it was weak ; because its ruling institution did not
endow it with actual vigor ; because it could not maintain
itself against the superior wealth and power of the free
States.

At first the proslavery element was successful in Kansas.
In the autumn of 1854 they elected a delegate to Congress,

and the next spring elected a Legislature fa-
The struggle vorable to slavery. The Free-State men charged

that the election was carried by fraud and in-
timidation ; that residents of Missouri had swarmed over the
border only to vote, returning at once to their own State.
The Legislature thus elected took steps to make Kansas a
slave Territory, and passed a severe code of laws for the
protection of slavery. This government was not recognized
as legitimate by its opponents, and the Northern men pro-
ceeded to ignore it. They met in convention at Topeka
and formed a State Constitution, under which they sought
admittance to the Union. They even elected officers under
this instrument. There were thus two authorities in the

ADMINISTRATION OF PIERCE— 1853-1857. 395

Territory, one a proslavery government, the other an anti-
slavery government pretending to have power under a State
Constitution. The National Government refused to recog-
nize this Constitution or the officers acting under it, and
the President ordered the Federal troops to dismiss the
Free-State Legislature when it assembled.

For about two years the history of Kansas was a history

of violence and disorder. Civil war broke out. Men were

shot ; towns were sacked. The whole Territory

Bleeding wag j n a s t a te f anarchy. Robbery and deeds

Kansas. , . .

of brutality were constant. "Which faction

surpassed the other in violence it would be hard to say." *

Men from the North and men from the South seemed to

lose all sense of their common humanity. It was estimated

that from November 1, 1855, to December 1, 1856, about

two hundred persqns were killed, and property worth not

less than two million dollars destroyed in the Territory.

" Bleeding Kansas " became a watchword at the North ;

and indeed this awful condition was a sad commentary on

the policy of " popular sovereignty."

The Kansas question was of course hotly discussed in

Congress. In these trying times men forgot the decorum

of debate and talked with savage earnestness.

8umOT np011 In May ' 1856 ' 0harles Sumner made his great
speech on the Crime against Kansas. He was
a powerful and polished orator ; and now his soul was
lifted up within him, for he hated slavery with a deadly
hatred. His speech was a furious attack upon' the slave-
holders, and was, beyond question, needlessly sharp and
severe. f He spoke with special severity of Senator Butler,

* This quotation is from Spring's Kansas, a very interesting book.
Chapters vi-x give a vivid picture of the horrors of the time.

f It is not meant that the attack on slavery was too severe, but the
attack on the slaveholders was. The great Lincoln always spoke of
the Southern man with compassion, while he spoke of slavery with
loathing and sorrow.

396

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

of South Carolina. Preston S. Brooks, a representative
from that State and a kinsman of the Senator, determined
to take revenge. A day or two later, after the Senate had
adjourned, Brooks entered the Senate Chamber and found

Sumner busy at his desk, his
head bent low over his work.
He made the most of his op-
portunity, striking Sumner
over the head with a walking
stick and so seriously injuring
him that he did not fully re-
cover for a number of years.
The House did not expel
Brooks because the needed
two-thirds vote could not be
secured. . Brooks, however,
resigned his seat, and was re-
elected at once almost unani-
mously. The North was
mightily stirred by this at-
tack. Even those who did not sympathize with Sumner
were indignant at the brutality of the assault. Perhaps
nothing that occurred before the outbreak of the war did
more to estrange the two sections and to fill the hearts of
men with bitterness. The North felt that the South was
given over to ruffianism. The South, on the other hand,
believed that all Northern men were abolitionists plotting
violently to overthrow slavery ; many 'seemed to believe that
Sumner had received his just deserts.

The campaign of 1856 was begun soon after these ex-
citing events. There were three parties in the field. The
Democrats nominated James Buchanan, of
Pennsylvania, and John C. Breckenridge, of
Kentucky. Their platform approved of the
Kansas-Nebraska Bill and the principle of popular sover-
eignty. It disapproved of " all sectional parties . . . whose

cx<^j^ yu4^_

The election
of 1856.

ADMINISTRATION OF PIERCE-1853-1857.

397

avowed purpose, if consummated, must end in civil war and
disunion." The Republicans were organized as a national
party in the winter of 1856, and in the early summer
candidates were chosen. John C. Fremont, of California,
was nominated for President, and William L. Dayton, of
New Jersey, for Vice-President. Resolutions were passed
declaring that Congress had sovereign power over the Ter-
ritories and should use it to prohibit slavery there, and that
Kansas should be admitted at once under the Free-State
Constitution. The Know-Nothings put forward as candi-

' \ j

r~"-- — ^ V err| tor

L \ £ *«"o* y \

r-A—KAN. TER. i M O . v

T ERR

'Tory I

THE ELECTION
OF 1856

I 1 Republican \

UZJ Democratic

I I American Party

TEXAS

dates Millard Fillmore and Andrew J. Donelson, of Ten-
nessee. The campaign was carried on through the summer
with great earnestness and with extraordinary show of feel-
ing. Buchanan was elected, but not by a large electoral
majority. The popular vote of the Democrats was less than
that of the Republican and American parties combined.
The Republicans polled 1,341,204 votes, about five times as
many as the Free-soilers had ever cast. It was evident that
opposition to slavery had assumed a new and formidable
shape.

398

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

References.
Short accounts: Wilson, Division and Reunion, pp. 179-193 ;
Bryant and Gay, Popular History, Volume IV, pp. 404-415 ; Julian,
Political Recollections, pp. 114-157; Moore, The American Con-
gress, pp. 350-370; Dawes, Charles Sumner, pp. 86-121; Merriam,
Life and Times of Samuel Bowles, Volume I, pp. 110-161. Longer
accounts : Schouler, History, Volume V, pp. 272-371; Rhodes,
History, Volume I, pp. 384-500, Volume II, pp. 1-246; Burgess,
The Middle Period, pp. 365-449.

ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES BUCHANAN, 1857-1861.

James Buchanan had held a number of important posi-
tions before he became President. He had been a member
of both houses of Congress, Secretary of State,
Buchanan's life an( j m i n i s ter to England. He had performed
all his public duties acceptably, but had never
shown remarkable brilliancy or talent. He was decorous
and gentlemanly in manner, cautious in all political con-
duct, devoted to the interests
of his party. He had long
been a leader in the party, but
was not so able as some of its
more positive members. He
announced privately after his
election that the great object
of his administration would
be " to arrest, if possible, the
agitation of the slavery ques-
tion at the North, and to de-
stroy sectional parties." Such
a task was too great for human
power. The chief positions in
his Cabinet were given to
Lewis Cass, of Michigan, Sec-
retary of State ; Howell Cobb,
of Georgia, Secretary of the Treasury ; John B. Floyd, of

ADMINISTRATION OF BUCHANAN— 1857-18G1. 399

Virginia, Secretary of War ; Jeremiah S. Black, of Pennsyl-
vania, Attorney-General.

Almost immediately after the inauguration the Supreme

Court gave a decision in an important case. Several years

before, Dred Scott, a negro slave, had been

The Dred taken by his master into a free State, and also

Scott case." J 1

into a part of the national domain where slav-
ery was forbidden by the terms of the Missouri compromise,
lie had then been taken back to Missouri, and after a time
was sold. Scott brought suit against his master for assault
and battery, claiming that by going into free territory he
had become a free man. The suit was taken from the lower
courts to the highest Federal tribunal. The Supreme
Court denied that Scott had become a free man, asserted
that persons of African descent could not become citizens
and thus obtain the right to sue in the Federal courts, and
declared that the Missouri compromise was unconstitutional,
inasmuch as Congress had no authority to exclude slavery
from the Territories. The decision of the court was not
unanimous ; two of the nine judges strongly disagreed with
it, and two others did not acquiesce in all its parts. We
may notice that if Scott, being a negro, could not as a citi-
zen sue in the courts, the court should have dismissed the
case for want of jurisdiction, without proceeding to give a
long opinion on all the merits and difficulties of the con-
troversy. The judges doubtless thought that a legal
decision would have some effect in bringing peace to the
country.

The decision seemed at first to be a great victory for
slavery and to strike a heavy blow at the Eepublicans. The
Th tft a f f un damental Republican principle was that
the Repnhlicans Congress could and must exclude slavery from
towara the case. na tional territory. If the decision of the court
were to stand as good law, the Eepublicans must give up
their fight for congressional action. If they ignored it,
they posed before the country as advocating disobedience

400 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

to the decision of the highest court in the land. The situ-
ation was a trying one. It was too late, however, for an
" opinion " to settle the slavery question. The Republican
party continued to work against the extension of slavery ;
they attacked the decision on the ground that it was not a
judicial opinion, declaring that the court had gone out of
its way to issue a political manifesto. In the long run the
decision helped the antislavery cause, for it brought home
to men the need of resolute action.

All through these years the fugitive slave law was caus-
ing occasional excitement at the North. Some of the States
already had " personal liberty laws," the pur-
MbSt^laws P ose °^ wn i cn was to prevent free negroes from
being carried into slavery on the plea that they
were runaways, and to put difficulties in the way of en-
forcing the fugitive slave law. Moreover, a great system
known as the " underground railroad " had
underground grown up. Its object was to aid escaped
railroad. slaves to pass safely through the Northern

States on their way to freedom in Canada. There were
many routes, the majority leading across Indiana or Ohio
to Lake Erie or the Detroit Eiver. The traffic was carried
on secretly. The fugitives were sheltered in the homes of
sympathetic persons and smuggled on from one " station "
to another as opportunity offered. Many stood ready to
give a helping hand to the hunted black man and to carry
him a little way on his perilous journey. It is difficult to
tell how many were thus enabled to make a good escape,
perhaps not more than two thousand a year ; but the people
of the South were angered by the fact that, in spite of
stringent laws, their slaves eluded them, because Northern
men winked at breaches of the law or openly sympathized
with the fugitives.

The whole North was held responsible for the doings
and words of the abolitionists, yet it needs to be repeated
here that the North was by no means united on the sub-

ADMINISTRATION OF BUCHANAN— 1857-1861. 401

ject of slavery. After the Dred Scott case and the trials
of Kansas, Northern men leaned more and more toward
advanced antislavery sentiment ; it must be re-
sentiment re- membered, however, that Garrisonian abolition-
garding slavery. j s t s were comparatively f ew in numbers. They
believed in " no union with slaveholders," thinking a disso-
lution of the Union better than a. recognition of the crime
of slavery. They did not vote, or advocate political action.
They believed that if emancipation were to take place it
must come at once, because the nation was stained and pol-
luted with sin. The Republicans, on the other hand, were
opposed to the whole institution and thought it wicked
and inhuman ; but they believed in acting only as far as
there was constitutional right to act ; they believed in using
political measures, and not simply in denouncing slavery as
a crime. They made no pretense of trying to wipe out
slavery within the States where it existed. They were bent
on keeping it, however, closely within those limits. It must
be noticed, too, that a large portion of the Northern people
were not ready to go even thus far, still clinging fondly
to the hope that the question would settle itself, and look-
ing upon the Republican party as a sectional party whose
aims were dangerous to the Union. In spite of these differ-
ences the Southerners, or many of them at least, believed
that all Northern opponents of slavery were at heart desir-
ous of overthrowing slavery even within the Southern
States.

By this time the -weakness of slavery had been shown in
the struggle for Kansas. Early in Buchanan's administra-
tion it became evident that the Free-State men

Kanst Uthl ° SeS must win in the contest in th at Territory.
Their numbers were constantly increasing. "We
are losing Kansas," said a Southern paper truly, " because
we are lacking in population." In 1857 the Free-State men
gave up the pretense that they had formed a legal State
Government. They took part in the election of the Terri-

402 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

torial Legislature, defeated the proslavery element at the
polls, and elected a Legislature in favor of free soil. Before
this body took office the old proslavery Legislature called a
convention, which met at Lecompton and formed a State
Constitution recognizing slavery. This instru-

ConstitS 1011 ment WaS n0t fair ty Submitted t0 the P e °pl e >

but only the question as to whether or not there
should be slavery as a permanent institution. The people
were not allowed to vote against the Constitution, but must
cast a ballot for the instrument with slavery or for it with-
out slavery. Moreover, if the popular verdict should be
against slavery, the Constitution guaranteed slave property
already in the Territory. Under these circumstances the
antislavery men refused to vote, and the ballots of the pro-
slavery men gave apparent popular sanction to the Consti-
tution. Shortly after, the Free-State Legislature submitted
the instrument again to popular vote and it was rejected.
The question of the admission of Kansas under the Lecomp-
ton Constitution was now discussed in Congress. The Sen-
ate passed a bill for its admittance, but the measure could
not pass the House. By this time (1858) Kansas was fairly
in the power of the Free-State men ; but it was impossible
to get a bill through Congress admitting the Territory to
Statehood with a Constitution forbidding slavery.

In 1858 occurred the great debates between Lincoln and
Douglas. They were rival candidates for election to the
mi . T . . United States Senate from Illinois, and agreed

The Lincoln- ' . . , .

Douglas to hold in various parts of the State joint dis-

debates. cussions upon the important issues of the cam-

paign. Douglas was the strongest and keenest debater in
Congress, and the recognized leader of the Democratic
party at the North. Lincoln was not much known beyond
the limits of his own State. The whole nation watched
the contest with interest, and the Republicans were sur-
prised and delighted at the shrewdness with which Lincoln
exposed the fallacies of his opponent, at the quiet humor

ADMINISTRATION OP BUCHANAN— 1857-1861. 403

which added a quaint flavor to his argument, and at the
plentiful supply of common sense which enabled him to
analyze the difficult problems of the time and to show their
simplest meanings. Douglas w r as elected, but Lincoln
clearly marked out the course of his party : unflinching
opposition to slavery, because slavery and freedom could not
abide together ; no interference with slavery in the South,
but steadfast opposition to its extension, lest freedom itself be
overcome ; a full appreciation that the only basis for peace
was the disappearance of the whole system. Seward was
soon to declare that there was an " irrepressible conflict "
between slavery and freedom, and now Lincoln said : " In
my opinion it [agitation] will not cease until a crisis shall
have been reached and passed. A house di-

aSstS d vided a g ainst itself can not stand - I believe
this Government can not endure permanently
half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be
dissolved, I do not expect the house to fall, but I do expect
it will cease to be divided."

In the decade between 1850 and 1860 the United States
was, on the whole, prosperous and progressive. There was,
however, one period of difficulty and distress,
amc o . j n 1857 there was a financial crisis and a panic ;
for two years and more business was greatly depressed.
Men were thrown out of employment by the closing of fac-
tories, furnaces, and mines ; banks suspended payment ;
corporations of all kinds went into bankruptcy. Misery
and suffering resulted. Yet the country was, after a time,
on its way to prosperity again. There was a
Signs of great increase in population in this decade.

prosperity. ° r r

The census of 1860 showed about thirty-one mil-
lion people, a gain of about eight million in ten years. Immi-
grants continued to pour into our land. Inventions multi-
plied ; there were nearly four thousand patents issued in the
year 1860 alone. The ocean commerce was immense, and
our merchantmen carried the American flag to every sea.

404 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Americans were proud of the fact that they could now dis-
pute " the navigation of the world with England," and that
England could " no longer be styled mistress of the sea."
Much capital was now invested in manufacturing. The iron
industry of Pennsylvania had assumed large proportions, and
the cotton and woolen industries of the Eastern States had
grown greatly in recent years. America had evidently
passed far out of the agricultural stage. In 18G0 the prod-
ucts of mechanical industry in the United States were
worth almost two billion dollars. Yet our great export trade
was still in agricultural products. Nearly four and a half
million bales of cotton were shipped from the South in a
single year.

The North had now passed far ahead of the South in
population and in wealth. When the Constitution was
ml _ x , adopted the two sections were not dissimilar in

The North out- r

strips the South these particulars. According to the census 01
inpopuiatiou 1790j the inhabitants of the States north of
Mason and Dixon's line were 1,968,040, and of those south
of the line 1,961,174. But in 1860 the free States and Ter-
ritories had a population of 21,184,305, while the slave
States had 10,259,016, of whom about one third were slaves.
This difference, yearly growing more marked, was due in
part to the fact that the European immigrant would not go
and make his home in a section where labor was considered
the duty only of bondmen. Thus it came about that the
South could not keep pace with the North in advance-
ment. The struggle that had been maintained until 1850
to keep a balance of power in the Senate, by admitting
slave and free States in pairs, had to be abandoned. Minne-
sota and Oregon were admitted to the Union in Buchanan's
administration.

But in wealth and material prosperity the free States
had gained in even a greater degree. Slave labor is not fit
for the factory or the workshop, where careful, conscientious
mechanical skill is required. Hence factories were few in

ADMINISTRATION OF BUCHANAN— 1857-1861. 405

and in wealth,

the Southern States. Almost everything had to be obtained
from the North or Europe, in exchange for the great sta-
ples, cotton and tobacco. In 1850 there were
1,260,442 persons engaged in manufacturing,
in the arts, and in mining in the North ; in the South there
were 326,000. The commonest necessities of life, with the ex-
ception of the food that could be raised on the plantation,
were imported. There was one great crop — cotton — a crop
so large that the South felt that the product made it rich
and gave it power. But if the market for this staple were
taken away, the people
would be sure to find
that they were almost
incapable of self-sup-
port for more than a
limited period. More-
over, even in the field
of work to which slav-
ery had driven the
South, in agriculture
itself, methods were
wasteful ; the soil was
not carefully or system-
atically tilled ; it was,

on the contrary, SVS- ^ Ap showing Western Extension of

,. ,, i . -, Population in 1860.

tematically exhausted.

The results are clearly shown by the fact that Southern
plantations were worth less than ten dollars an acre in
1860, while Northern farms were worth about three times
that amount.

Slavery was more expensive than freedom. At first it
seems hardly possible that this can be true, but an examina-
tion of the facts will prove the statement. Benjamin
Franklin saw this a hundred years ago and more. "The
labor of slaves," he says, " can never be so cheap here as the
labor of the workingman in Great Britain. Any one may

406 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

compute it. Reckon, then, interest of the first purchase of
a slave, the insurance or risk on his life, his clothing and

diet, expenses in sickness and loss of time, loss
Slavery an ex- D y ne gi e ct of business (neglect which is natural

to the man who is not to be benefited by his own
care or diligence), expense of a driver to keep him at work,
and his pilfering from time to time (almost every slave being,
from the nature of slavery, a thief), and compare the whole
amount with the wages of a manufacturer of iron or wool
in England ; you will see that labor is much cheaper there
than it ever can be by negroes here." A careful examination
of two farms, one tilled by slaves and one by hired laborers,
could prove to the inquirer that slave labor was extremely
expensive.* Only men with large capital could afford to have
slaves in any number to carry on the work of the planta-
tion, because the interest from the investment was so small.
Thus it was that the slaves were passing into the hands of
a few persons. Those who could not afford slaves did not
use their own energies in toil, as the free men of the North
were doing.

Thus slavery was impoverishing the South. It had dead-
ened, too, the general intellectual activity of the people and

retarded their progress. The better classes,
It makes the wno con \^ travel, import their books and works

South poor. x

of art, and keep in touch with the world, were
cultured and charming ; the large planters, with their sense
of power and responsibility and their wide range of acquaint-
ances, were, as a rule, men of mental vigor, many of them
having distinct talents in politics and statecraft. But spite
of the graces and talents of the planter class, slavery hung
like a millstone about the neck of the people. If we judge
by the number of schools and churches and newspapers and
libraries, or by roads and railroads and all means of com-
munication, by the hundreds of things which help us to

* See illustration in Industrial Evolution of the United States, by
Carroll D. Wright, p. 151.

ADMINISTRATION OF BUCHANAN— 1857-1861. 407

determine the status of a community, we see that the South
was now hopelessly backward. In every respect the cen-
sus returns of each decade showed that freedom was leav-
ing slavery behind. " It was evident that the slave States
were worse fitted at the end of each successive period for a
forcible struggle with the free States, and that the scepter
was departing from the South."

In all that makes for education the South was lament-
ably poor. Outside of the houses of the rich in the larger
cities or the homes of the great planters one
would find neither " a book of Shakespeare, nor
a pianoforte or sheet of music, nor the light of a Carcel or
other good center-table or reading lamp, nor an engraving
or copy of any kind of a work of art of the slightest merit." *
In the North (1850) there were 62,459 schools and 2,770,381
pupils, while at the South there were only 29,041 schools
attended by 583,292 pupils. But worse than all else, a fear
of the introduction of noxious principles that would endan-
ger slavery cast its shadow upon the whole school system,
for education can not flourish in the heavy atmosphere of
dread or repression. In education, as in industry, slavery
was degrading ; it acted like a moral curse, poisoning the
life blood of the people.

The Southern people had for many years declared that

the agitation ©f the slavery question was a menace to their

safety. They had declared, too, that the real

John Brown's intent and wigh Q f fche aD olitionists Was to
raid.

arouse a slave insurrection and to bring woe
and devastation to the whole South. An event now hap-
pened that seemed to them to prove them right in all their
charges and suspicions. This was the famous raid of John
Brown into Virginia. Brown was a New Englander by
birth, who had taken an active part in the bloody struggle
in Kansas. In fact, among " border ruffians " and fierce

* Olmsted, The Cotton Kingdom, vol. ii, p. 285. Read Rhodes, vol.

i, chap. iv.

F 27

408

IIISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION.

Free-State men the old Puritan had distinguished himself
for fearlessness and violence. Now that Kansas was se-
cured, he hoped to strike a more effective blow for freedom.
His design was to seize the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, free
the blacks in the neighborhood, and retreat to some strong-
hold in the mountains. Thence he would make incursions
into the neighboring regions, and make his name a terror
to the whole South. He hoped, indeed, to force the eman-
cipation of the slaves,
not perhaps by inciting
a general revolt, but
£jKJ§^*S&>- Jfi. kv gathering them up

«^^S ^?£2Slfeifl from time to time and

by making property in
slaves insecure. It was
the scheme of a mad-
man. But Brown can
IS hardly be charged with
insanity; some of the
ardent antislavery men
to whom he confided his plan seemed to have had faith in
its success. In the autumn of 1859 he seized the national
arsenal at Harper's Ferry and began to free the slaves in
the neighborhood.

Troops were soon hurried to the spot and .the little band
was overpowered. Some of the men were shot in the
struggle. Brown himself, with several others,
was captured. They were speedily brought to
trial, convicted, and hanged. The whole country was
stirred by this event. The South believed, as never before,
in the wickedness of the North. The moderate people of
the Northern States condemned the act ; but, wild as the
plan had been, the devotion of Brown to his sense of duty,
the calmness with which he met his fate, his readiness to
die in the cause of freedom, won the attention even of the
scoffer and gave a certain amount of dignity to abolitionism.

John Brown's Foet.

Its failure.

ADMINISTRATION OF BUCHANAN— 1857-1861. 409

For a time, however, this act injured the antislavery cause,
because reasonable men could not sympathize with such
methods and purposes.

In the election of 1860 four candidates were nominated
for the presidency. Although there had been differences

between the Northern and Southern wings of
J f h ® 8 e g e ction the Democratic party up to this time, they had

managed to work together. This now proved
impossible, the Northern element refusing to accept South-
ern principles with reference to slavery in . the Territories.
The Southerners had by this time lost all patience with
popular sovereignty. They utterly renounced it and em-
braced the principle of the Dred Scott case, which was in
reality the earlier principle of Calhoun, and demanded that
Congress should protect slavery in the Territories. They
nominated John C. Breckenridge, of Kentucky, and Joseph
Lane, of Oregon. The Northern Democrats, under the lead
of Douglas, still clung to popular sovereignty, and at the
same time, quite inconsistently,* declared their willingness
to submit to the decision of the Supreme Court. They
nominated Douglas and Herschel V. Johnson, of Georgia.
The Republicans denied the " authority of Congress, of a
Territorial legislature, or of any individual to give legal
existence to slavery in the Territories " ; they repudiated
the doctrine of popular sovereignty, and of the Dred Scott
case as well. Their nominees were Abraham Lincoln, of
Illinois, and Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine. A fourth party
nominated John Bell, of Tennessee, and Edward Everett,
of Massachusetts ; it was called the Constitutional Union

* The Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case declared that the
National Government could not exclude slavery from the Territories.
If that be so, then a Territory could not exclude slavery either, for it is
created and its power bestowed upon it by the National Government.
The doctrine of popular sovereignty was just as contradictory of the
court's opinion as was the Republican doctrine, that it was within the
power of Congress to exclude slavery.

410 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

party. It declared for the " Constitution of the country,
the Union of the States, and the enforcement of the laws."
These broad terms and generous phrases could have little
meaning in such a crisis ; but these men still hoped that
words and resolutions and good purposes might quiet the
tempest and save the Union. Lincoln was elected by a
good electoral majority over all other candidates ; but the
Republicans were still a minority of the people, for they
cast only about eighteen hundred thousand votes, while all of
their opponents cast about a million more. The situation
was therefore essentially different from what it would have
been, had the party been sure of anything like a united
North behind it.

A number of times the leading men at the South had
declared that the Southern States could no longer remain
in the Union if the Eepublican party were
leads in successful. The North had not taken these

secession. threats very seriously. They were thought to

be but bluster, in which the South was considered a master.
" The old Mumbo-Jumbo," said James Eussell Lowell, " is
occasionally paraded at the North, but however many old
women may be frightened, the pulse of the stock market
remains provokingly calm." But in some parts of the
South men were desperately in earnest, and had no inten-
tion of resting content with words. South Carolina was
ready to take the lead and put once more into practice the
doctrine of her favorite son, Calhoun. This time, however,
she intended not to stand on her rights and nullify con-
gressional action, as in 1832, but to withdraw entirely from
the Union. December 20, 1860, a popular convention at
Charleston passed an ordinance of secession. Its cardinal
words are as follows : " We, the people of the State of South
Carolina, in convention assembled, do declare and ordain
. . . that the Union now subsisting between South Caro-
lina and other States under the name of 4 The United States
of America ' is hereby dissolved." Before the end of the

CHARLESTON

MERCORY

EXTRA:

Passed unanimously at 1.15 o clack, J». Jtt. y December
20//1, I860.

Alf ORDINANCE

*7b dissolve the Union between the State of South Carolina and
other Slates united with her under the compact entitled *' The
Constitution of the United Slate* oj America?

W\ iXe People of He Slate of Souik Carolina, in Convention auenbkd, do declare and ordain, and
it i$ htrtbg declared and ordained,

Tntl the Ordinanoe adopted by as in Convention, on tba twenty-third day of May, In tbo
year of out Lord one thousand seven 'hundred and eighty-eight, whereby the Constitution of the
Unite* States of America was ratified, and also, all Acta and parts of Acta of the Qeneral
Assembly of this State, ratifying amendments of the said Constitution, are horeby repealed ;
and that the union sow aalelsting between South Carolina and other States, under the name of
• The United Slates of America," is hereby dissolved

THE

UNION

DISSOLVED!

412 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

winter Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana,
and Texas passed like ordinances. Other Southern States
hesitated, and for the time being took no decisive action.

When Congress met after the election, President Buch-
anan sent in his message (December 3, 1860). The whole
country read it with great interest, for the
Buchanan's stand which the President would take toward

message.

secession was of the utmost importance.
Already South Carolina was preparing to carry out her
threats of disunion. Buchanan denied that the right of
secession was constitutional, and asserted his intention to
retain possession of the property of the United States in
the South ; but he entered laboriously into a long argu-
ment to prove that there was no legal right to " coerce a
State " or compel it to remain in the Union against its will.
He cast the blame for existing difficulties on the North,
because of the violation of the fugitive slave law and the
continual encroachments upon Southern rights. He even
spoke encouragingly of getting Cuba ; this meant, of course,
more slave territory. There was nothing in the message
from one end to the other which would be likely to fill with
hope and courage those that were longing for strength and
wisdom in high places, or to make those falter and hesitate
who were plotting a disruption of the Union.*

* It should be noticed that the Constitution does not give a right to
coerce a State, in so many words; it provides for a government that is
directly and immediately over people. The citizens of South Carolina
were also citizens of the United States* The Government of the United
States was immediately over them, and was just as much their govern-
ment as the government at Columbia was. The Federal Government
could enforce its laws against the citizens of South Carolina ; and there-
fore there was no need to consider the question as to whether or not it
could coerce a State. In the Philadelphia Convention in 1787, James
Wilson pointed out the real situation. "In explaining his reasons,"
said Madison in his Journal, "it was necessary to observe the twofold
relations in which the people would stand, first, as citizens of the General
Government, and, secondly, as citizens of their particular State. . . .

ADMINISTRATION OF BUCHANAN— 1857-1861. 413

Buchanan's position all through this time was a trying
one. In December his Cabinet began to break up.* Cass
„ , 3 resigned because he thought the President was

Buchanan and ° . ° . .

the Southern not acting with sufficient vigor to maintain
fortB. Federal authority. Black became Secretary of

State in his place. Cobb and Floyd resigned to take active
parts in the movement for secession, and Thompson, the
Secretary of the Interior, soon followed them. Their places
were filled with Union men, and so before the middle of
the winter Buchanan had a loyal Cabinet. When the
Southern States passed the ordinances of secession they
took possession of the Federal forts and other property
within their limits. Their theory was that the land be-
longed to them, but they professed willingness to pay for
the improvements. With the exception of four forts on
the Gulf and the forts in Charleston harbor, these posi-
tions passed into the hands of the secessionists without
trouble. The position at Charleston was of special interest
and importance. Fort Sumter was held by a small force
under Major Anderson. He determined to hold his position
until ordered by the National Government to retire. Buch-
anan refused to give up the place to the South Carolina
authorities. Early in January an attempt was made to
send relief to the little garrison, whose stronghold was now
menaced by the batteries that had been thrown up to com-
mand it and the approaches to it. A small steamer, the
Star of the West, was dispatched with this assistance. The
batteries opened fire on her, and she gave up the attempt to
relieve Sumter. This happened early in January, and for
three months and more Anderson and his brave little force
continued to hold the fort for the Union at the very gates
of the proud State that was leading the movement for
secession.

Both governments were derived from the people, both meant for the
people ; both, therefore, ought to be regulated by the same principles."
* Read Rhodes, History, vol. iii, p. 187.

414 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

The session of Congress in the winter of 18G1 was a

gloomy one, largely taken up with discussions of compromise

and concession, for men still hoped against

Efforts at h thftt the TJ n i on cou lfl fa save d without

compromise. *

war. The proposals of Senator Crittenden, of
Kentucky, were long considered in the Senate, and many
persons thought that a compromise could be reached on the
basis he advocated. He proposed amendments to the Con-
stitution, one of them providing that the line 30° 30' should
be run through to the Pacific to separate slave territory from
free. But a committee appointed by the Senate to consider
these proposals could come to no agreement. The Kepub-
lican members of the committee voted against the propo-
sition, and without substantial agreement in the com-
mittee there could be no chance for the amendments before
Congress or the people. So this device failed. The House
had no better success in agreeing upon a compromise than
had the Senate. At the suggestion of Virginia, a " peace
convention " was held at Washington in midwinter. Dele-
gates were present from twenty-one States, but the assembly
accomplished nothing. Some of the Northern people were
now timorous and fearful, and longed for concession and
settlement on almost any basis. Others seemed to see that
they could not give up the fair results of the election and
call their action compromise,* for the Eepublican party
was pledged to oppose the spread of slavery anywhere,
either north or south of 36° 30'.

In February delegates from six Southern States f met at
Montgomery, Ala. They organized a confederacy called

* Lincoln let his opinion be known to a few of the influential men.
He objected to dividing the Territories by a geographic line. " Let this
be done," he said, " and immediately filibustering and extending slavery
recommences."

f South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, and Mis-
sissippi. Texas delegates were appointed a little later than the first
meeting of this convention.

ADMINISTRATION OF BUCHANAN— 18.57-1861. 415

the Confederate States of America. The constitution
agreed upon was in most respects similar to that of the
Th c nf d r t United States. They elected Jefferson Davis
states of President, and Alexander H. Stephens, of

America, Georgia, Vice-President.

It is not necessary to give here at length the arguments
used in favor of the right of secession. John C. Calhoun,
thirty years before, had clearly outlined them, and in con-
sidering his statements in regard
to State sovereignty and nullifi-
cation we have seen briefly what
might be said in favor of the
right of a State to secede. It

must be remembered
The Southern th t th Sout]ierners
argument.

believed that they
were acting strictly within their
legal rights ; that each State had
entered into a compact or agree-
ment with other States, and that
when that agreement was violated
or the interests of a State no
longer subserved by the Union, it was at liberty to withdraw.
They had been for some years saturated with Calhoun's doc-
trines, and the peculiar character of slavery had put them
in a defensive attitude. Hence they had come to consider
the State as the chief guardian of their interests, while, on
the other hand, a feeling of national patriotism was grow-
ing daily at the North. The North felt more surely, year
by year, the fact that the American people were a nation,
and that the great republic must not be torn asunder.
But slavery made the Southern people feel that they were
different from the North, from the rest of the world, in-
deed ; that they had their own separate institutions and
must defend them.

The North held that secession was neither more nor less

( ^-~^ e ^^t^L <T L^^a^^/

416 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

than revolution. The people "believed with unwavering
faith that the Union was one and indestructible ; that they
,, .. must use force to crush a rebellion which would

Northern senti-
ment toward the break into pieces the republic of which they
Union. na( j g rown so proud. When the time of action

came they did not stop to discuss fine points of law, be-
cause fervent love of country was burning in their hearts.
Even those who had argued in favor of Southern rights,
and spoken in behalf of State sovereignty, were not ready
to accept the consequences of such doctrine. They felt
the national life, and were prepared to announce its exist-
ence on the field of battle.

Slavery caused the civil war. It is true that the North

fought at first not to free the negro, but to preserve the

Union ; few were ready to admit that the end

•Slavery was .

destructive of would be forcible abolition. But the South
Union. seceded because the Eepublicans opposed the

extension of slavery, because the Southerners believed that
slavery would be unsafe even in their own States, and be-
cause the leaders were driven to madness by a long struggle
for equality in which they now saw themselves beaten. It
is true that slavery caused the war, and, as we shall see, the
war put slavery away ; but the war was for the Union, and
it brought into being a better and greater Union than ever
before, not simply a legal, formal union of States, but a
real union of feeling and impulses and sympathies, such as
could not exist while slavery was vitiating the life of one
great section of the people.

References.

Short accounts: Wilson, Division and Reunion, Chapter VIII;
Bryant and Gay, Popular History, Volume IV, pp. 424-434; Lo-
throp, William II. Seward, pp. 181-24G; Morse, Abraham Lincoln,
Volume I, pp. 111-229. Longer accounts : Rhodes, History, Volume
II, pp. 237-500, Volume III, pp. 1-316; Schouler, History, Volume
V, pp. 371-512.

THE yt;r ^

UNITED STATES \

in 1861 a,

EXPLANATION:
FREE STATES
CONFEDERATE STATES

SLAVE STATES NOT JOINING THE CONFEDERACY
3 TERRITORIES

Lincoln's
early life.

CHAPTER XVI.
Secession and Civil War— 1861-1865.

ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN— 1861-1865.

Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky in 1809.

His father moved later to Indiana, and thence to Illinois.
The family were miserably poor, the father
shiftless and utterly lacking in force of char-
acter. The early life of the boy was spent

in the midst of squalor and ex-
treme poverty. He is said to

have been at school only one

year in his whole life. What

books he could lay hands on,

however, he read eagerly. He

used to write and do " sums," we

are told, on the wooden shovel

by the fireside, and to shave off

the surface in order to renew

his labor. By dint of persever-
ance he educated himself in

some way without the help of

schools ; and we find in his later

life that few men could use the

English language so simply and

effectively as he, and few men

thought and spoke with such

clearness or showed such keen insight into the difficult

problems of the time.

He managed to get admitted to the bar in Illinois, was

417

Olsuur&s.

418 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION.

elected to the Legislature, and finally to Congress. He was

at first a Whig, but joined the Eepublican party when it

was organized, becoming at once one of its

His political m0 st prominent members. He won for the first

career. r

time national attention and respect in the fa-
mous debates with Douglas in 1858. The skill which Lin-
coln showed in these discussions, where he was at least a
match for his renowned antagonist, won him popularity and
applause in the whole North. And yet when he was elected
President in 1860 few people had any idea of his strength.
It was thought even by many Republicans that he was a
rough fellow, and perhaps a dangerous man for such a cri-
sis. No one could know his full greatness, for it required
the awful trials of four years of war, the woe and anxiety
such as few men in the world's history have ever tried to
bear, to bring out the wisdom, judgment, and profundity of
his mind and the sweetness and lovableness of his character.
Lincoln made up his Cabinet from the leaders of his
party, not shrinking from the task of guiding them. Sew-
ard was made Secretary of State ; Chase, Sec-
His Cabinet retary of the Treasury ; Simon Cameron, Sec-

and inaugural. ^ .

retary of War. His inaugural address was a
masterpiece. He did not unduly threaten the Confederate
States, but he solemnly warned them to consider the conse-
quences of their conduct. He left no doubt in any one's
mind about what he held to be his duty : " To the extent
of my ability I shall take care . . . that the laws of the
Union be faithfully executed in all the States. ... I trust
this will not be considered as a menace, but only as the de-
clared purpose of the Union, that it will constitutionally
defend and maintain itself."

Soon after his inauguration Lincoln began to consider
what should be done about Fort Sumter. There was great
difference of opinion as to what should be done. General
Scott, at the head of the army, advised that the fort be
abandoned. Most of the Cabinet hesitated at first to take

ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865.

419

Tort Sumter,

any step that might bring on war, but the final feeling was
well expressed in the words of Chase : " If war is to be the
result, I see no reason why it may not be best
begun in consequence of military resistance to
the efforts of the administration to sustain troops of the
Union, stationed under the authority of the Government, in
a fort of the Union, in

CHARLESTON
HAUBOIt

the ordinary course of
service." A fleet was
consequently ordered
to carry relief to the
fort. Before it arrived,
however, General Beau-
regard, the leader of
the Confederate forces,
summoned Major An-
derson, who was in com-
mand of Sumter, to
surrender. Anderson
refused, and the bat-
teries opened on the

fort April 12, 1861. The bombardment lasted thirty-four
hours, and then Anderson surrendered the position. He
saluted his flag with fifty guns, and marched out "with
colors flying and drums beating, bringing away company
and private property."

The firing on Sumter aroused the North to the highest
pitch of excitement. Among the great mass of citizens
there were no longer discussions of constitu-
tional or legal rights. The flag of the nation
had been fired upon, and that was enough.
The President called for volunteers to suppress the insur-
rection, and the people answered with promptness ; " as if
by magic, the peaceful North became one vast camp."
Washington, surrounded by slaveholding States, was in
peril, and troops were hastened to its defense. The first

The war
is begun

420 HISTORY OF TIIE AMERICAN NATION.

blood of the war was shed in Baltimore, where a mob resisted
the passage of the Northern regiments. That city, how-
ever, was soon forcibly occupied and compelled to keep the
peace. Maryland was kept from joining the Confederacy.
Washington was garrisoned and defended. It remained in
effect a walled town for the next four years.

South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia,
Louisiana, Texas, had passed ordinances of secession before
the firing on Sumter. Arkansas joined the
^ Confederacy May 6, and North Carolina May

20. Virginia and Tennessee took the same
step somewhat later. Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri,
though containing strong slaveholding elements and sym-
pathizing with the South, did not join the Confederacy.

The South was ready for war. Federal arsenals in the
Southern States had fallen into the hands of the Confeder-
acy and furnished the soldiers with equip-
ttoBoBtL and ment * Tne N 01 ^ was almost entirely unpre-
pared. An immense army had to be raised and
furnished with munitions of war. The North was strong,
for it was built on free labor and had far outstripped the
South in industry and wealth. The South was strong in
desperate valor, for the people believed that the Northern
army was a foreign invader ; a long resistance could be
made, for the men were fighting for their hearthstones.
But the North must finally win, if the struggle went on,
for its resources were varied and practically unlimited. It
was really a contest between the powers of modern civiliza-
tion on the one hand, and, on the other, the weakness of a
people whose industry was founded on slave labor, but who
were supported by a magnificent and never-failing courage.
The North appreciated the weakness of the South ; in-
deed, believed that it was weaker and less in earnest than it
was. Neither section recognized fully the physical strength
and intense moral earnestness of the other. It was decided
very early in the war to crush out the rebellion, and this

ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 421

aim, though difficult to carry out, was not abandoned.

The main instrument in this crushing process, or the

" Anaconda " system, was the navy, which was

The blockadei i i • , 1 i« t •

soon employed in establishing an immense com-
mercial blockade. The enormous task of preventing any
vessel from entering or leaving a Southern port was under-
taken. The rebellion was to be crushed, starved, and
stamped out. Before long the ports from Chesapeake Bay
to Galveston were guarded by ships of the United States
navy.

The natural line of defense of the South was the Ohio
and the Potomac ; but as neither Maryland nor Kentucky
joined the Confederacy, the Confederates were
sltuatan*" 7 compelled to take up a line of defense consid-
erably south of these rivers both in the East and
in the West. The attitude of the Confederate armies was
principally one of defense, and of the Federals one of at-
tack. It is necessary to keep these salient facts in mind.
The defensive attitude of the Southern armies gave them
great military advantage.

The mountains, running in a southwesterly direction
from near the source of the Potomac, divided the field of
war into two natural divisions. In the East the main pur-
pose of the Northern army was to reach the political center
of the Confederacy, Eichmond. There were two natural
methods of approach : one overland, almost straight south-
ward from Washington ; in this course the invading force
would be endangered and retarded by forests, through which
the roads were often poor, and by streams, which were
sometimes swollen by rains and difficult of passage ; the
other method of approach was by way of the sea to the
peninsula between the York and the James Rivers, and
thence up the peninsula to Richmond. Each method pre-
sented difficulties. In the West the first great purpose was
to get possession of the Mississippi, which divided the
western part of the Confederacy in two. Here Vicksburg,

422 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

strongly fortified by nature and art, was a strategic position
of immense importance. The rivers in the West, large and
navigable, would serve as roads by which to pierce the ene-
my's country. An examination of the map will make it
apparent,* too, that Chattanooga, holding as it were the
gateway between Tennessee and the Southeast, was likely
to be a center of conflict, for, if the Union forces succeeded
in getting possession of eastern Tennessee, a great contest
would ensue at this point, which was doubly important, be-
cause from it one railroad ran northeast to Kichmond,
another southeastward to the sea.

Looking a little more closely at the first Southern line
of defense, we find in the West the following important
posts : Columbus, New Madrid, and Island No.
The Southern 10 on the Mississippi, Fort Henry on the Ten-
nessee, and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland.
In the East we find first that the western portion of Vir-
ginia was of great value to either party. The eastern part
of the State was more fully protected by the Confederate
troops, who had taken up a position south of Washington.
The cry at the South was " On to Washington ! " the North
answered, " On to Kichmond ! "

The Confederates were beaten in two battles in western
Virginia, and this secured to the North control of that
portion of the country. The people there were
lrginia. ^^ generally slaveholders and had little sym-
pathy with secession. They therefore formed a separate
State and came into the Union as West Virginia. The
movement was begun early, but it was June, 1863, before
the State was admitted to the Union.

The people at the North, not realizing what war meant,
and believing that all would be over in a few months,
clamored for activity. They did not appreciate that the
troops were raw and undisciplined, but they demanded im-

* See map, p. 458-9.

ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865.

423

mediate victory. General McDowell, who commanded the
army in the field in front of Washington, set out with an

army of about thirty thousand men to attack
Jul 1 21*1861 ^ ie Confederates, who were commanded by

Beauregard, and Joseph E. Johnston. The two
armies met near Bull Run Creek, not far from Manassas
Junction, about twenty-five miles southwest of Washington.
The arrangements of the battle were well planned ; but the
Federal troops were not under proper control, and the sub-

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424

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

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ordinate generals were not well trained. For some time the
men fought with quite remarkable vigor and courage ; but

at length re-enforcements for the
Confederates appeared on the field
and began a flank attack. The
National forces then began a re-
treat, which " soon became a rout,
and this presently degenerated in-
to a panic." These are McDowell's
own words describing the effect of
the battle. Many are said not to
have stopped fleeing until they
reached Washington. But the
Confederate forces were in no con-
dition for pursuit. The victory
was as demoralizing to them as
defeat for the Federals.
The battle of Bull Run depressed the North, but it
brought home to the people some conception of what it
meant to suppress the rebellion. Horace Gree-

?attk! 8 ° fthe le y wrote Lincoln a letter > whicn illustrates
the depression at the North. It begins with
the words, " This is my seventh sleepless night " ; it ends,
"Yours in the depths of bitterness." It was no holiday
campaign that was needed. Lovers of the Union quieted
down into stern determination to fight steadily for the laws,
and the effect of the defeat was good. At the South there
was an undue feeling of elation, and the belief that the
South could not be conquered was materially strengthened.
After this battle it was evident that the soldiers needed
drilling and the army needed organization before success
on the field of battle was possible. General
McClellan, who had won some success in
western Virginia, was summoned to take com-
mand of the troops in front of Washington. In November
General Scott was put upon the retired list, and McClellan

General
McClellan

ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865.

425

succeeded him in general charge of the armies of the
United States. Under their new commander the troops,
which were being daily increased with new recruits, were
organized into the Grand Army of the Potomac. For
months there was no action. The daily report of the
Northern newspapers was : " All quiet on the Potomac."

Hardly was the war begun when England issued a
"proclamation of neutrality." This acknowledged the
South m belligerency of the Confederacy. The theory

belligerency of the United States Government was that
acknowledged, there was in reality no war, but only an insur-
rection. The people there-
fore felt that Great Britain
acted hastily in acknowledg-
ing that the South was a
belligerent power.* The
North had hoped for the
sympathy of the English in
a contest manifestly in the
interest of freedom; and
when England so quickly
issued this proclamation
there was considerable re-
sentment. France soon took
the same step, and other
states followed.

The South, on the other
hand, believed that the Eu-
ropean states would not suffer the supply of cotton to be
cut off, and that England especially would be forced to

L^M^Jl^

* Such a proclamation does not acknowledge that those engaged
in the rebellion have really formed a new state in the family of nations,
but it declares that war exists between two parties. Now the United
States Government at this time was not willing to admit that this re-
bellion was a war ; they wished the " rebels " to be considered merely
traitors.

426

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

recognize the Confederacy as an independent power, break
up the blockade, and possibly directly join in the contest
The South * n or( ^ er ^° obtain cotton for her mills, so that

believes "cot- her starving operatives might have work. This
ton is king." never came about, however. Had the South
been fighting for home rule alone, and not for slavery, the
European states would have been under stronger tempta-
tion to acknowledge the Confederacy as a separate nation.

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In the West
1861.

In the West, during the summer of 1861, not much was
accomplished in the way of offensive warfare. In Missouri
there was some sharp fighting. A large ele-
ment of the people of that State sympathized
with the secession movement. For some time,
therefore, the State was given up to internal conflict. A
convention finally voted for the Union by a large majority,
and the Federal forces brought the State under their con-
trol. At the end of the year Generals Halleck and Buell

ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 427

were in command in the West, the latter with his head-
quarters at Louisville in charge of the Department of the
Ohio. Halleck had his headquarters at St. Louis, and was
in charge of the Department of the Missouri. General
Grant, acting under Halleck's orders, was stationed at
Cairo.

Movements in the West were retarded somewhat, be-
cause the Federal authorities did not wish to alienate Ken-
tucky by sending in troops and making that

for Union ™ State the basis of °P erations against Tennessee.

Kentucky endeavored at first to hold a neutral
position, siding neither with the North nor the South.
That condition of things could not last long, however.
With infinite tact and patience Lincoln applied himself to
the task of winning the State for the Union without war.
The Union element was encouraged and guided, until at
length it obtained full control of the State Government.
The Confederate army from Tennessee alienated Kentucky
by making an inroad into it, and as a consequence the
latter State was safely on the Federal side by the autumn
of 1861.

At the end of the year 18G1, with the Union forces sta-
tioned as we have indicated in preceding paragraphs, with

Kentucky now committed to the Union, the

tire West ° f time bad come for an onward marcn of Federal
troops. Movement began in the winter, and
when once the troops in the W^est began to move they
kept vigorously at work, until finally the Mississippi was
open its whole length. A glance at the map will show
what an advantage the rivers were to the Northern forces
in their invasion of the Southwestern States. Troops could
be conveyed up and down these rivers easily and rapidly, or
their supplies could be quickly provided. Seeing this ad-
vantage, the National Government made great efforts to fit
out boats that would be of service on these Western waters.
This gunboat service in the West formed a very important

428 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

factor in the movement of armies and in the conquest
of the country. v

The Congress elected in 1860 was summoned to meet in
extra session on the 4th of July, 1861. The Republicans
controlled the House and Senate. The Demo-
crats joined in necessary war legislation. Be-
fore the gathering of Congress the President had, of his
own accord, declared the suspension of the privilege of
habeas corpus within the vicinity of Baltimore, and had
done a great many acts made necessary by the emergency.
His actions were now ratified by Congress.
Congressional Thege actg were principally the first call for

action. r ii

militia, establishment of the blockade, the call
for three-year volunteers, the increase of the regular army and
navy, and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas
corpus.* The President recommended in his first message
that an army of four hundred thousand men be raised.
Congress passed a bill providing for enlistments of not
more than five hundred thousand men, and authorized a
loan of two hundred and fifty million dollars. It increased
the tariff duties, and provided for a direct tax and an in-
come tax.

By this time Lincoln had shown his master hand as a
popular leader. Whatever he said came to the people of

the North as sound sense. He addressed in
power. 118 simple, straightforward language "the plain

people," and he soon obtained their unwavering
support. In strictly executive matters, too, he was the
guiding spirit of the administration, not yielding his judg-
ment to the wise men who made up his Cabinet. " The
President is the best of us," wrote Seward candidly.

We should notice at this juncture how the Northern
men were now united, irrespective of parties. The Gov-

* There was little question of the legality of the first two, and all,
if extra-constitutional, seemed necessary and desirable.

ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1805.

429

ernment was in the hands of the Republicans, but on the
motion offered in the House by a Democrat that the House
should pledge itself " to vote for any amount of money and
any number of men which may
be necessary to insure a speedy
and effectual suppression of the
rebellion," there were only four
votes in opposition. In January
of 1862, Edwin M. Stanton, who
had been a lifelong Democrat,
was made Secretary of War, in
place of Simon Cameron. There
were, it must be said, through-
out the war some persons at the
North, known as Copperheads,
who were in secret sympathy with
the South, or at the best out of
sympathy with the North; but ^LaZw,^Aa.^Xo^Xo^
the great body of the people,

whatever may have been their earlier political leanings,
were now heartily for the Union.

In the autumn of 1861 serious discord and ill feeling
were brought about between England and America by an
affair in itself comparatively trivial. The Con-
federate Government, intent on getting full rec-
ognition from foreign states, dispatched two
commissioners, the one to England, the other to France.
Conveyed by an English ship, the Trent, they were inter-
cepted by an American man-of-war, under the command of
Captain Wilkes, and were taken into custody. The English
Government demanded the immediate release of the commis-
sioners and a suitable apology, and began preparations for
war. Our Government took time for consideration, and
then gave up the men. Here doubtless England was right.
Our man-of-war had no right to stop an English vessel on
the high seas and take passengers from her. But the

The Trent
affair.

430

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION,

abruptness of the demand for reparation and the haste
shown in preparing for war irritated the American people,
already annoyed at the attitude that England had taken
toward the South. Our Government, by a courteous yield-
ing, was saved a war which would have perhaps been over-
whelmingly disastrous while the civil war was in progress.

At the beginning of 1862 the Union army was large,

and, on the whole, well disciplined and equipped. There

were over six hundred thousand soldiers in the

Jf h i862 ginning whole arm y- In the East McClellan faced
Joseph Johnston. In Kentucky Buell and

Halleck commanded against Albert Sidney Johnston, who
had charge of the Confederate line of defense. Early in

the year General Garfield per-
formed some vigorous and
brilliant work in eastern Ken-
tucky, driving the Confeder-
ates out of the Sandy Valley,
and General George II. Thomas
defeated the enemy at the bat-
tle of Mill Springs. Thus
eastern Kentucky was taken
from the hands of the Con-
federates.

In February it was decided
to attack Forts Henry and
Donelson, the former on the
Tennessee, the latter on the
Cumberland River. If these were taken the Confederate
line would be broken in the center. Commodore Foote,
. with several gunboats, carried up the Tennessee

ries, February, an army of seventeen thousand men, under
1862. command of General Grant. The efficiency of

the new gunboat was to be put to the test. The army was
landed, and the boats engaged the batteries of Fort Henry,

^^/^C^-x

ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 431

but protracted engagement was unnecessary, inasmuch as
most of the Confederate force had been withdrawn to Fort
Donelson, which was only eleven miles distant. Grant

432 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

now marched his army to the Cumberland and invested this
fort, with five thousand less men than the enemy had. Ke-
enf orcements soon appeared to assist him, and the gunboats
made their way around to help in the attack. The garri-
son tried to break through the Union line and escape, but
they were beaten back, and assault was made by the Union
troops. Part of the works were carried and the fort sur-
rendered. It was a great victory for the Union forces;
over fifteen thousand prisoners were taken. The main
line of the Confederate defense was broken. Kentucky was
now wholly wrested from the Confederates, and Nashville
was soon occupied by the Union troops.

New Madrid and Island No. 10 were strongly held by
the Confederates as advanced posts on the Mississippi
Kiver. Early in the spring these places were attacked by
Commodore Foote and General Pope. First New Madrid
was taken, and then, by clever strategy, the island was
captured and with it a garrison of seven thousand men.
There was great rejoicing all over the North at the suc-
cess of Grant and Pope. Memphis itself was in immediate
danger.

After Grant's victory at Donelson the Confederates had

gathered in force at Corinth, in northern Mississippi. This

place was now a strong position in their new

fetotol£!!" line of defense > which ran alon g the Mem "
phis and Charleston Kailroad, from Memphis

through Corinth to Chattanooga. Grant prepared to break
this new line. The main body of his army, some forty
thousand men, was at Pittsburg Landing on the Tennes-
see, while General Buell was marching across the country
from Nashville to co-operate with him.

The Confederate troops marched out from Corinth and
attacked Grant in force before Buell could arrive. The
battle began on Sunday morning, April 6, 1862, and was
waged with furious vigor the whole day. The Confederates
made a series of fierce onslaughts, which were met with ob-

ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865.

433

stinate courage. By nightfall the Union forces had been
driven back about a mile from the position occupied in the

morning.* But there was no discouragement.
***** fm** During the night Buell arrived. The tables

were now turned, and the Confederates were
driven in confusion from f

the field. Grant always
strenuously maintained
that even had Buell not
arrived he could have
won victory on the
morrow. Certainly the
Union forces were not
beaten the first day, but
re-enforcements made
success a certainty.

The Federal army
now took Corinth.
Thus the second chief
line of the Confederate

Battle of Shiloh. Showing positions
of forces at noon on second day.

Memphis taken.

defense was broken. Next Memphis fell, and
the Mississippi was free to the Union gunboats
as far south as Vicksburg. The Western army had certainly
accomplished wonders, and the loyal hearts of the North
were cheered with a succession of victories.

There was no great movement during the rest of the
year in the West. Halleck was a leisurely general, and
Ax , advantage was not taken of the great success

Other engage- ° °

mentsinthe of his subordinates. The Confederates under
West, 1862. Bragg made themselves secure at Chattanooga,
and then rapidly marched forward even to the northern
part of Kentucky, near Louisville. f Checked at Perryville,
they fell back and took position in the vicinity of Murfrees-

* General A. S. Johnston, one of the ablest of the Southern generals,
was killed the first day of the battle — a grievous loss to the South,
j- Battle of Perryville occurred October 8, 1862 — a Federal victory.

434 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

borough. Here, at the very end of the year, they were
attacked by the Federals under Rosecrans. The battle,
known as the battle of Murfreesborough or Stone's River,
was favorable to the Union forces. Bragg withdrew his
army some thirty miles and stood as a barrier against far-
ther Union advance toward Chattanooga, a strategic point
of great importance. Grant held Corinth in spite of deter-
mined efforts * to defeat him. Later in the year he moved
southward, preparing for an attack upon Vicksburg.

Meanwhile a duel had taken place between two iron-
clads in Hampton Roads. The Confederates had prepared
„ u an ironclad of new model. The hulk of an old

Monitor and

Merrimac, vessel was cut down and covered with an iron

March, 1862. coating, which converted it into a floating bat-
tery most formidable to the Union vessels that were gath-
ered in the harbor. Early in March this strange monster
appeared, attacked the frigates Congress and Cumberland,
at the mouth of the James River, and destroyed them
without difficulty. The success of the blockade was en-
dangered. There was great consternation. It was feared
that the rebel ram might bombard Washington, and even
sail to Philadelphia or New York. But now a new and
even stranger craft appeared upon the scene. Northern
ingenuity had produced an antagonist quite a match for
the Merrimac. The Monitor was seemingly a mere plat-
form with a movable turret pierced for two guns. A con-
flict ensued between the iron vessels. The shot and shell
that were poured against the Monitor's turret and deck
glanced harmlessly aside. The Merrimac was not destroyed,
but after a fight of several hours it withdrew to Norfolk, its
victorious career at an end.

The control of the whole course of the Mississippi was
of great importance. In the spring of 1862 a powerful
fleet was fitted out to attack New Orleans from the Gulf.

* Battle of Iuka, September 19, 1862. Battle of Corinth, October
3-4, 1862.

ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865.

435

To capture the place was a difficult task, for it was de-
fended by strong forts and by a number of ships of war.
The command of the expedition against it was

New Orleans S ivCm t0 David G " Farra g ut - In A P ril the fleet

began the bombardment of the forts. Six days
and nights without intermission shells were thrown from
huge mortars into the defenses, but they did not succeed

DIAGRAM OF THE

BATTLE OF HAMPTON KOADS

The dotted lines enclose the channel where
the depth of water is is feet or more.

in destroying the works or driving the garrison out. Far-
ragut then planned to run by the forts, attack the fleet
above them, proceed up the river, and take the city. This
was successfully accomplished. Xew Orleans passed into
the hands of the Federal forces, April, 1862.

436

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

The peninsula
campaign.

As already suggested, the fall and winter * of 1861- , 62
had been spent in quietness by the Army of the Potomac.
In the spring McClellan decided to change
his base of operations and to transfer his forces
to the peninsula between the James River and
the York. He moved leisurely up the peninsula, hindered

somewhat by the enemy, and
especially balked by a daring
offensive move made by " Stone-
wall " Jackson down the
Shenandoah Valley. This
valley was peculiarly
advantageous
ground for
the enemy.
It furnished
a safe avenue
for raids into
Maryland or
feints against
Washington.
If the Union

forces pursued, they were led constantly away from Rich-
mond.

McClellan pushed on and threw his left wing across the
Chickahominy at Fair Oaks. This portion of the army was
attacked by Johnston, who had managed to
May 31 1862. co ^ ec ^ a large force for the protection of the
Confederate capital. Unsupported by the right
wing, which was on the other side of the river, the National
left was nearly crushed. Night ensued, and the next morn-
ing the Confederate army was met and repulsed. McClellan
pushed his army still nearer Richmond. By the end of

* Battle of Ball's Bluff, a serious defeat for the National forces, had
occurred in October, 1861. Only a small force was engaged. McClellan
had brought the army to a fine state of organization and discipline.

The Peninsula Campaign.

ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865.

437

June he was encamped four miles from the city, and to
those who did not know the dangers and the difficulties
success seemed certain.

Johnston had been wounded in the battle at Fair Oaks,
and he was now succeeded by General R. E. Lee. The new
, commander at once began effective strategy,
fight, June 26 While pretending to send forces to the Shen-
to July 2, 1862. an d oan Valley to re-enforce Jackson, he actu-
ally summoned Jackson back to Richmond. The attack
upon the long line of the National troops, the memorable
seven days' fighting, began. The Union forces were at-
tacked with terrific vigor by the Confederates, but the
assaults were met with cour-
age. McClellan handled his
army well, but did not show
ability to act with swiftness
or decision. In the course
of the seven days he moved
his troops from north of the
Chickahominy to Malvern
Hill on the James, where
the last of the seven battles
was fought. In August he
was ordered to withdraw
from his position. He re-
treated slowly toward For-
tress Monroe, bringing off
his troops with skill.

General Halleck, who, be-
cause of the rare
Pope!^^ efficiency of his subordinates,* had won vic-
tories in the West, was put in general charge
of the armies. About the same time an army was placed

* Halleck was a scholarly general, but he lacked force and vim. He
was made general-in-chief, with headquarters at Washington, not tak-
ing the field in person.

438 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

under the command of Pope. Its field of operation was
in northern Virginia.

McClellan was ordered to move his troops from the
peninsula by water to Acquia Creek on the Potomac.
Pope moved southwest from Washington across
of Bull Run, BuU Run and faced Lee on the Eappahannock
August 29, 30, just northeast of Culpeper. The Confederate
commander sent Jackson on a wide detour.
Pope's supplies were destroyed and he fell back. After
various maneuvers, carried on largely in ignorance of the
real situation, the Union forces attacked the enemy, strong
in numbers, near the old battlefield of Bull Run. The re-
sult was disaster. The whole Federal army was near being
overwhelmed.

Pope retreated toward the Potomac, and gathered his
brave but distracted army within the defenses of Wash-
ington. The invasion was a failure. Pope had
defeat complete been outgeneraled by Lee, who seemed at every
moment to know the whole situation thorough-
ly. Stonewall Jackson's splendid efficiency in carrying out
Lee's plans had much to do with the victory. It has been
well said that the whole campaign was one of which an
American can well be proud. The North was outgeneraled,
but the troops of the South and North fought gallantly and
persistently. The Northern men met defeat with that in-
domitable pluck and patience which was a match for South-
ern dash and brilliance. Pope reported after the sore de-
feat : " The troops are in good heart, and marched off the
field without the least hurry or confusion. Their conduct
was very fine."

McClellan was again put in full command of the Army
of the Potomac, including the troops that Pope had com-
manded. He was under the general direction of Halleck.
He prepared to meet Lee, who had determined upon an
invasion of Maryland. The situation was now exactly the
opposite from what it had been a few months before. In

ADMINISTKATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865.

439

Lee invades
Maryland,

June the Union forces were within sound of the church
bells of Richmond; in September they were maneuvering
in the immediate vicinity of their own capital
to guard it from a Confederate attack. Lee
marched northward across the Potomac into
Maryland. Jackson, under his direction, bombarded Har-
per's Ferry and easily took the position with over eleven
thousand men, who ought to have been either removed or
Antietam properly re-enforced. Then occurred the bat-

September, tie of Antietam between the two main armies,
1862, a fierce contest in which the Union forces

lost twelve thousand men and
more ; the Confederates nearly as
many. The invasion of Maryland
was a failure, and Lee retreated
across the Potomac. McClellan,
perhaps necessarily, allowed him
to escape without pursuit. The
Union army was soon led forward
again to the Rappahannock. Mc-
Clellan was then removed, and
Burnside put in his place.

Burnside, knowing how much
McClellan had been criticized be-
cause he did not fight with greater
dash and vehemence, and push
m ^ * vigorously on the enemy, determined to be

The horror of ° . J1

Fredericksburg, aggressive, lie moved down the Rappahan-
nock to Fredericksburg. By this time Lee
had manned the strong defenses south and
west of the town with a powerful army. The Union troops
made a furious attack upon the Confederate position. The
slaughter that ensued was horrible. Burnside retreated
across the river with a loss of thirteen thousand men.

This was the end of a year of dire disaster in the East.

There had been a long series of defeats. In the peninsula
29

December,
1862,

440

IIISTOKV OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

campaign there had been Borne clever work and everywhere
desperate fighting. Antietam was counted a Union victory,
and Lee had found that he dared not press
campaign of farther north; but after the second battle of
1862, Hull Run, and the terrible repulse at Fredericks-

burg, an invasion of Virginia and a conquest of the South
Beemed to many a disheartening and impossible task. Spite
of successes in the West, the winter of 1802-'C3 was a
gloomy one in Northern households.

The campaign of 1803 fortunately brought new hope to
the nation ; it gave assurance, in fact, that the rebellion would

be crushed if tho North
would persevere. Be-
fore examining the mili-
tary events of that year
we need to notice some
political events that gave
new character and mean-
ing to the war. The
North had rushed to
arms when tho flag was
fired upon; tho one
thought prevailed, that
the Union must be pre-
served. But as the
months went by it was
felt by many that the
gre*1 curse of slavery, which had estranged the South and
driven the two sections apart, must be done away with as a
result of the war.

President Lincoln hated slavery, and was anxious to sec
the day when the nation would not be cursed with the sys-
tem. During the first year of tho war, how-
ever, he was averse to taking any step that
WOQld make the war to all appearances a crusade against

BATTLE OF

FHKDKKICKSIU K(.

scale or MILES &/

1 * * v

Political affairs.

ADMINISTRATION OP LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 441

slavery. He knew that there was a strong sentiment at the

North in favor of immediate emancipation, but there was

also a strong race prejudice as well. More-

The Union over, for a loner time feeling in the border

and slavery. ° °,

States must be regarded, and this was, of course,
opposed to abolition. It was clear enough to Lincoln that
slavery could be abolished only by saving the Union, and
that this, morally and legally, was his first duty. Were the
South victorious in the war, abolition would be impossible.
Were the North victorious, then there would be a chance
for the final extirpation of slavery. So the President con-
stantly checked the excited abolition sentiment, and im-
pressed on the minds of all that the Union must be pre-
served.

In March, 1862, he sent a special message to Congress
recommending the passage of a resolution to the effect that

"the United States ought to co-operate with

Compensated g t t M h d t gradua l abolish-

abolishment. J J r °

ment of slavery, giving to such State pecuniary
aid, to be used by such State in its discretion, to compen-
sate for the inconvenience, both public and private, pro-
duced by the change." Congress passed a resolution of that
nature. But Lincoln could not get the slave States that still
remained in the Union to listen to him. He pleaded with
their representatives and senators in Congress, pointing out
to them that slavery in the border States must before long
"be extinguished by mere friction and abrasion — by the
mere incidents of war." His pleading was of no effect.
Those States refused to take advantage of the National aid
thus offered or to take a single step toward emancipation.

Yet the antislavery sentiment was growing, and the
time was near at hand when slavery must go. The en-
thusiasts brought great pressure to bear upon the Presi-
dent, but he wisely and patiently bided his time. About
the middle of the summer he drew up a draft of a proclama-
tion for emancipation. Shortly afterward he read it to

(JfrtAAof \w*M, pftw foil ^ /**^<M&Co~ touu^rPp&j

rf 1&»J pU a*y (Lffi&ttT w*. Que* (frvnJb* jtnrt&*,.

t$ZC cU* /t0 t i+x, euro**' j&^Xg A^f^i^^^ *~ *-&/
&r*W*" t//^* 3 (U^yCZcC JjtSGf^ j(L, /ft^£*%*#C*4 C&tt+i/

Lincoln's Draft of the Emancipation Proclamation.

ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 443

his Cabinet. He did not ask the opinions of his secre-
taries ; he simply announced his purpose. The measure
was a war measure, and he intended to shoulder
Emancipation ^ w h i e responsibility as the commander in

proclamation. r J ,

chief. It is a striking scene in history — this
plain and simple man, bred in poverty, reared in adversity,
quietly declaring that he intends to strike the shackles
from four million slaves ; that he alone is ready to do the
most momentous thing done on the American continent
since the days of the Philadelphia convention.

The publication of the emancipation proclamation was
delayed for a time, because it seemed wise to wait until the
Union forces had won a victory, lest the proclamation " be

viewed," as Seward said, " as the last measure
Lincoln waits of an exhausted Government, a cry for help."

for victory. » T -

After Lee was beaten back at Antietam, Lin-
coln decided that the time was come. " When the rebel
army was at Frederick, I determined, as soon as it should
be driven out of Maryland, to issue a proclamation of
emancipation, such as I thought most likely to be useful.
I said nothing to any one ; but I made a promise to my-
self, and (hesitating a little) to my Maker. The rebel
army is now driven out, and I am going to fulfill that
promise." *

On September 22, therefore, the famous proclamation
was issued. This was only preliminary. It warned the in-
_. ... _. . habitants of the States in rebellion that unless

Publication of

the proclama- they should return to their allegiance before
tion, 1862. the first day of j anuar y 5 18 63) h e W ould declare

their slaves free. Of course this announcement had no
effect in bringing back the Southern people to their alle-
giance, and so, on the appointed day, the final proclamation
was issued. The President had no legal right to emanci-
pate the slaves on any other theory than that he was acting

* These words are given by Secretary Chase as the words of
Lincoln.

44:4

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Results.

as commander in chief of the army and navy, and that
such action was a legitimate war measure.

The results of this proclamation were of great impor-
tance. It made it clear to the world that the war was not
simply an insurrection, hut that slavery and
freedom were pitted against each other ; there-
fore there was no longer any fear of intervention by Eng-
land or France. It gave the Northern people, that were

intensely in earnest against
slavery, new courage and zeal.
Of course its great and lasting
result was the destruction of
the whole institution ; for,
though the proclamation cov-
ered not the whole South, but
only the States or the parts of
States where the people were
in rebellion, the outcome of
the war was now sure to be the
complete extinction of slavery
everywhere in the Union.

The preliminary proclama-
tion seemed for a time to have
a bad effect at the North. There was great opposition
to Lincoln in many quarters; and the elections in the
autumn of 1862 were not so favorable to the Eepublicans
as was hoped. There was a reaction against the President
and his policy. But as a matter of fact, his party in the
end gained strength and coherence by this frank opposi-
tion to slavery. The war had new meaning, and in the
next year (18G3) the tide of success turned strongly in favor
of the North. Lincoln at no time gave any sign of regret
or showed any wish to waver. He issued his final procla-
mation on the first of January, as he had promised.

VXO. Q . ^U^U^L

At the beginning of 18G3 the army in the West under

ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-18C5.

445

Military affairs.

Rosecrans was near Chattanooga. Vicksburg and the whole
Southwest was in danger, for the Union army was being
pushed vigorously forward. In the East, the
Army of the Potomac, which had fought so
Summary. bravely, had few laurels to display. The navy

had shown its great usefulness under the command of able
and intrepid men.

Early in 1863 General Hooker was put in command of

the Eastern army. In May occurred the battle of Chancel-

lorsville, a few miles west of Fredericksburg.

Ma anC i863 8Vme ' This was anotner defeat for the Union army.
It was soon followed by the removal of Hooker
as commander ; General Meade was put in his place.

As he had done the autumn before, Lee again assumed
the offensive, crossed the Potomac, and marched north, this
time even

Gettysburg,
July 1-3, 1863.

into

south-
ern Penn-
sylvania. The opposing
forces met at Gettys-
burg. There was fought
one of the most stub-
born and bloody battles
of the century. Lee's
army, flushed with re-
cent victories, and con-
fident of success, at-
tacked the Union forces
that were posted in a
strong position south of
the town. In spite of
the desperate valor of
the Confederates, their
attacks were in vain. Meade showed talent as a command-
ing officer, and his soldiers fought with a bravery and deter-
mination that was a match for the splendid impetuosity of

446

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

the Southerners. The Confederates lost over 20,000 men
in killed, wounded, and missing, and the Federal army

lost 23,000 out of their
90,000. The invasion
of the loyal States was
a failure, and Lee never
tried it again. Gettys-
burg, with successes in
the West now to be men-
tioned, may be taken
as the turning point of
the great rebellion. It
may be considered, in-
deed, one of the great
turning points in his-
tory. From this mo-
ment the Confederacy
languished; the end of
slavery wasnearathand.
Meanwhile Grant
had determined that
Vicksburg must be
taken. He set patiently
to work and made his
preparations with his
customary care. Gen-
eral Pemberton, commanding the Confederates, endeavored
in vain to check the Federal advance. He was beaten and
outgeneraled, and soon found himself cooped up within the
town. Assaults upon the works were made by the Union
army, but to no avail. Grant therefore determined to lay
regular siege to the place. The town was

Vicksburg, hemmed in and starvation soon threatened it.
July 4, 1863.

On July 4 the stars and stripes floated over

the defenses of Vicksburg. The Mississippi was open ; " the

Father of Waters rolled unvexed to the sea." Grant had

Siege of Vickkburg.

ADMINISTRATION OP LINCOLN— 1861-1865.

447

carried on a vigorous, daring, and offensive campaign. He
had held his army well in hand, and had taken every ad-
vantage of the enemy. His success, coming with the vic-
tory at Gettysburg, lightened the hearts of the Northern
people.

We left Rosecrans facing Bragg, who had taken a posi-
tion not far from Chattanooga at the beginning of 1863.
They faced each other for some months. In

Chickamauga, ■*

September, the course of the summer the Confederates

1863. were maneuvered out of Chattanooga, and the

Federal troops took possession of the place. In September
the battle of Chickamauga was fought. The Union army was
defeated. Complete rout was saved by Thomas, who com-
manded the left. From beginning to end his troops fought
with rare constancy and were superbly handled. At the
end they were surrounded on three sides, but Thomas
never thought of surrender
or flight. Bragg hurled his
army against the solid array
absolutely to no purpose.
" No more splendid specta-
cle appears in the annals of
war than this heroic stand
of Thomas in the midst of
a routed army. . . . Slowly
riding up and down the
lines, with unruffled coun-
tenance and cheery word, it
is his own invincible soul
which inspires his men for
the work they have to do." *
When he got the opportu-
nity, Thomas quietly withdrew in good order, rejoined the
right and center, that had been driven from the field, and
the Union army was ready again for the contest. It re-

* Dodge, Bird's-eye View of the Civil War, p. 181.

448 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION.

tained its hold on Chattanooga, and the Confederate army
desired to get the place. The situation was exactly the op-
posite from what it had been at the beginning of the year.

Grant now took command of the Army at Chattanooga,

and with his usual energy began at once to operate against

the enemy. The Confederates under Bragg

Chattanooga, J . , OD

November were strongly posted m a seemingly lmpreg-

23-25, 1863. nable position on high ground south and east
of the city. Grant gave Sherman command of the left,
Thomas of the center, and Hooker of the right. The battle
was marked by brilliant generalship and magnificent fight-
ing. Sherman pushed eastward and then south against Mis-
sionary Eidge. Hooker's men fought the wonderful battle
above the clouds on Lookout Mountain. They took the
position and forced back the Confederate left. Thomas
was ordered the second day to attack the center. His
troops were eager. They seized the lower earthworks, and
then, breaking away from orders, with cheer upon cheer
they charged up the slope under murderous fire and on to
the very mouths of the enemy's guns.* They swept the
Confederates from their works. The field was won. One
may look in history in vain for anything more glorious in
war, more dashing and brilliant, than the charge up Mis-
sionary Eidge, November 25, 1863.

We need to turn our attention for a moment to the
business condition of the country and notice what was
being done to meet the expense of the war.
Political affairs. The outbreak of hostilities brought great dis-
order to the North ; trade was paralyzed. Men found their
usual sources of income cut off, and many seemed to face

* " The slopes are hard to climb ; strength and ardor are not the
same in all the assailants. But if the ways differ somewhat, there are
seen no laggards among them. The boldest of them gathered around
the flags, each of which they passed from hand to hand as fast as one
pays with his life for the honor of holding it a moment." (History of
the Civil War in America, by the Comte de Paris, vol. iv, p. 300.)

ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 449

privations who had heretofore not known want. But the
courage of the people rose in the midst of need and hard-
ship, and they entered with prodigious energy
Commeroial upon the task of supplying their immense army
with the sinews of war. They economized in
order to lend their means to the Government, and they met
the heavy taxes with cheerfulness. Business soon revived,
the heavy tariff dues that were laid stimulated manufac-
turing, and the very destruction of property, while it meant
a real loss of wealth, made for the time, at least, a de-
mand for work. The busy wheels of industry were soon
whirling at the North. There was no languor and little
repining.

The Government devised various plans of raising the

requisite funds. In August of 18G1 a higher tariff law was

passed. In this year about $150,000,000 were

e green ac s. Dorrowed D y ^ ne ga j e f interest-bearing bonds.

In February, 18G2, an extreme measure was adopted. This
was a bill providing for the issue of paper currency — the
so-called " greenbacks." These pieces of paper were made
legal tender ; in other words, persons were obliged to accept
them as the equivalent of money in the ordinary course of
business. Of course this paper rapidly depreciated. Be-
fore the end of the next year a dollar in gold was worth a
dollar and fifty cents in paper. In 1864 the premium on
gold was still higher, reaching two dollars and eighty-five
cents in July of that year. The depreciation of the paper
meant the rise in the price of commodities.

A year after the passage of the Legal Tender Act Con-
gress passed the National Bank Act. This was later

somewhat altered, but has in its essentials re-
National Bank mained in force to this day It made pro .

vision for the issue of circulating notes by
banking associations throughout the country that were
organized in conformity to law. United States bonds were
to be purchased by the banks and deposited with the Gov-

450 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

ernment ; the bank so purchasing was then entitled to re-
ceive and circulate notes to the value of ninety per cent of
the bonds deposited. The notes were guaranteed by the
Government, which had the bonds for its security. For
over twenty years the State banks had furnished the paper
currency of the country. Their notes circulated widely.
It has been estimated that in 1861 there were as many as
ten thousand different kinds of notes in circulation. Nat-
urally such a condition had brought great confusion into
commercial transactions, because some of these notes were
valueless, or nearly so, while others were good for their face
value. By the establishment of the national banking sys-
tem a real national currency, backed by the credit of the
Government, was given to the country. Moreover, as asso-
ciations were formed to take advantage of this act, there
came a demand for bonds, and this helped the credit of the
Government, which was thus enabled to dispose of its bonds
on the market at better figures. About two years later,
1865, Congress passed a law levying on the issue of State
banks a tax so high that it drove their notes out of circula-
tion.

The Government needed to use every expedient for
raising money. The war was being conducted on such a

gigantic scale that the expenses were enormous.

In addition to a direct tax which was appor-
tioned among the States, a system of excise or internal
revenue was established. Before the end of the war these
internal revenue taxes were very burdensome. All sorts of
articles were taxed. Every branch of trade or industry was
called upon to bear its part of the burden. The people
paid with a willingness that is surprising. " No other na-
tion," said a leading English paper, " would have endured
a system of excise duties so searching, so effective, so
troublesome." When admiring the loyal bravery of the
men who went to the front to fight, we need not forget
the steadfast patriotism of the men who stayed at home

ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 451

and supported the Government with unflinching and un-
grudging readiness.

At the outbreak of the war the armies were filled by
volunteers ; but in the early part of 1863 it seemed neces-
sary to resort to other means of obtaining the
The draft, needed troops. The year 1862, it will be re-

membered, was not a very successful one in
the field, and while it is true that the great body of the
Northern people bore their burdens bravely and were will-
ing to support the war courageously, there was a goodly
number of fault-finders, who pointed to each defeat of the
Union forces as a proof that the South could never be con-
quered. Under such dispiriting influences voluntary en-
listments nearly ceased. This does not mean that the
people had lost all enthusiasm and loyalty ; but they felt,
and justly so, that the Government should undertake to
get men and money in the systematic, businesslike fashion
in which other Governments were accustomed to provide
themselves, and not simply to rely upon popular enthu-
siasm; for the result of such reliance must be that the
more generous and loyal would feel the duty of enlisting,
while those who were selfish and critical would content
themselves with fault-finding. An act was therefore passed
providing for "enrolling and calling out the national
forces." Able-bodied men between twenty and forty-five
were to be enrolled. A certain number of soldiers were to
be called for, in the future, from each congressional dis-
trict, and when the quota of a given district was not filled
by volunteers, drafts were to be made from the enrolled
citizens. There was much opposition to this act. In July
a riot broke out in New York city, which for four days was
almost completely at the mercy of a frenzied
Kg? mob. Officers of the law and innocent citizens

were killed ; negroes were set upon and slain ;
property was ruthlessly burned. Troops were sent to the
city by the National Government, and the rioting was put

452 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

down with relentless energy. Over a thousand of the
rioters were killed before order was completely restored.

Early in 1864 Grant was made Lieutenant General and

given command of all the armies of the United States.

He determined to conduct the war in the East

himself, and to leave the general charge in the

West to his tried friend and able assistant, Sherman.

Grant now entered upon his "hammering campaign."

He decided to keep working steadily forward to Richmond.

Lee was at Orange. The Union forces were

campaign, near Culpeper. Grant pushed southeast, and

1864. was attacked by Lee in the Wilderness,* near

where Hooker met such disasters the year before. The

Confederates knew the ground well, but the region was

unknown to Grant, who nevertheless did not become con-

o .., **. fused or lose command of the situation. The
Battle of the . . , •.,-,, i n • t

Wilderness, battle was indecisive, and the loss on both sides
May 5-9, 1864. was enormous. Not far from eighteen thou-
sand Union men fell, and eleven thousand Confederates.
In comparison with such a struggle many of the famous
battles of the Old World's history were mere skirmishes.
Grant, in spite of this terrible ordeal of fire, ordered his army
forward by the left to Spottsylvania. General Sherman says :
" That was, in my judgment, the supreme moment of his
life. Undismayed, with a full comprehension of the impor-
tance of the work in which he was engaged, feeling as keen
Spottsylvania, a s y m P ath y f °r his dead and wounded as any
May 9-20, one, and without stopping to count his num-

1864, bers, he gave his orders calmly, specifically,

and absolutely — * Forward to Spottsylvania.' " Another
fierce contest ensued. Grant, with his usual stubborn
vigor, tried his hammering with some success. Again the

* A low forest or thicket of undergrowth and second growth trees
extending for miles, and intersected by a few roads by which troops
could be moved. See map, p. 423.

ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 186-1-1865.

453

Union army suffered heavy loss; but the North and the
army realized that a general was in command who had
made up his mind to fight the war to a finish.

After a struggle of about two weeks the attacks upon Lee's
position were given up and the Federal troops were ordered

Movement by to marcn D y tne left straight to Richmond.
the left toward Finally the two armies were pitted against each
Richmond. other at Cold Harbor. The Union forces were
now dangerously near Richmond, not far from the point
reached by McClellan in his peninsula campaign two years
before. Lee was here securely posted. His numbers were

454 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

inferior to Grant's, but he had the advantage of acting on the

defensive. Grant determined upon assault, for he knew the

North at the beginning of a presidential campaign needed

the encouragement of a victory, and he still

Cold Harbor, believed that hammering would be effectual.
June 3, 1864, ° .

The charge of the eager troops was glorious,
but the slaughter was terrific. With all their valor they
could not drive the veteran Army of Northern Virginia
from its well-defended position.

So far Grant had acted upon the furiously offensive.
Lee, with a caution he had not thought necessary against

his previous opponents, had been acting on
Grant moves th defensive. Grant, by a series of flank

to Petersburg i

movements, had pushed south and east until
he had reached the neighborhood of Richmond. Now, re-
pulsed at Cold Harbor, but not beaten — for he did not know
how to be beaten — he determined to shift his position some-
what, as McClellan had done, and with great skill threw a
large portion of his troops across the James and settled down
opposite Petersburg, a strategic point of the utmost impor-
tance, inasmuch as it protected the communications of
Richmond. Lee moved to defend his position. An assault
by the Union army resulted in taking the outer works at a
great sacrifice, but it was apparent that direct attack

would not do. The army settled down to in-
aud lays siege, vest the place. So far the losses of the Army
June, 1864. of ^e p t om ac had been very great, nearly, if
not quite, sixty thousand men, since the opening of the
campaign.

The investment of Petersburg amounted to an invest-
ment of Richmond itself. Grant was determined to keep

his troops active and to wear out his opponent

by successive blows. He desired to get round
the end of Lee's army and to cut off his communications.
This he tried to do by extended cavalry raids, which were
executed with great vigor and daring.

ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865.

455

Earlier in the summer General Sheridan, with a picked

command, had ridden completely around Lee's army, and

had even passed the outer works of Eichmond.

Shenandolh He was later ( Au g ust > 1864 ) directed to take
Valley, August charge of affairs in the Shenandoah Valley,
^ctober, General Early, a Confederate cavalry leader of
great boldness, after having been within sight
of Washington, had re-
tired up the valley. Now
began an entertaining
game of war. Sheridan
had Grant's authority " to
push things hard," and he
did so. By the end of the
summer, after a series of
successful conflicts, he
had the whole valley at his
mercy. It was devastated
with relentless thorough-
ness. It could no more
be a highway for those an-
noying raids which had
frightened the adminis-
tration at Washington, and had such a demoralizing effect
on the courage and hopefulness of the North. It was no
longer a granary for the Confederate forces. In October
n 3 n i. occurred the famous battle of Cedar Creek.

Cedar Creek, ._,__.-

October 19, Early surprised the Union forces and vehe-
1864. mently attacked them during Sheridan's ab-

sence. They had begun to retreat, and, though reforming
was going on and the day was not wholly lost, there was
danger of complete defeat, when Sheridan rode upon the
field, and by his magnetic presence cheered the troops to
renewed effort. He rode back at full gallop, calling out to
the straggling fugitives : " Face the other way, boys ! We
are going back to our camps ! We are going to lick them
30

(^X^L^'c

CC Cttl^*

456

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

out of their boots ! " And so they did. They made a bold
counter attack and overwhelmed the enemy.

Up to this time Mobile had remained in the hands of
the Confederates. It was an important point. The task

of blockading it effectually had proved prac-
Aifust 1864. ticall y impossible. In 1864 it was the one

opening through which cotton could be ex-
ported or the much-needed supplies brought in to sustain
the languishing Confederacy. The harbor was strongly de-
fended, but Farragut determined to lead his ships by the
forts, attack the fleet inside, and, with the help of a land
force, capture the place and its defenses. This plan was
successfully carried out. Farragut, lashed to the rigging
of the flagship, where he could see all that was going on,

The Confederate Ram Tennessee.
From the working drawings in the Confederate Collection at Washington.

directed the movement of his vessels. The Confederate
fleet was beaten and the forts captured. The capture of
Mobile sealed up the whole South. An occasional blockade
runner might creep in, or supplies might be dragged across
the plains from Mexico, but from now on the South was
almost completely thrown on its own resources.

In the earlier part of the war several vessels were fitted
out in England for the use of the Confederate government.
Our minister at London, Charles Francis
Adams, called the attention of the English
Government to the fact that these vessels were building,
and asked that they be not allowed to leave the harbor.
Attention was specially called to a ship known as-the " 290."
The government, however, did not intervene, and the

The Alabama.

ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 457

" 290 " got safely off to sea. She then assumed the name
Alabama, and began, as a privateer, to prey upon American
commerce. She was a fast sailer, well armed and strong,
and she did immense damage, capturing and burning North-
ern merchantmen. There were other vessels of the same
kind, but because of her exceptional success the Alabama
was especially famous. In June, 1864, a battle was fought
off Cherbourg, France, between this Confederate cruiser
and the United States ship Kearsarge. The
Fight with the ^ wo vesse i s W ere of about equal size and arma-

Kearsarge. u

ment. The contest was of short duration.
The Kearsarge was superbly handled, and her fire was de-
liberate and destructive. At the end of an hour the Ala-
bama was totally disabled and struck her colors. Before
her crew could be taken from her she sank to the bottom
of the English Channel. Her captain and some of her men
were taken on board an English vessel and thus escaped
capture.

During the career of the Alabama she had destroyed as
many as sixty-three merchantmen. Other vessels of the
same sort, especially the Florida and the
Protest of the Georgia, had likewise done much damage.
Our Government filed its strenuous protest
with the English Government, asserting that these vessels
ought to have been kept from going to sea when it was
well known for what purpose they were being fitted out.
The warnings of the United States Government are summed
up in the following words from Secretary Seward's dispatch
to Mr. Adams : " Upon these principles of law and these
assumptions of fact, the United States do insist, and must
continue to insist, that the British Government is justly
responsible for the damages which the peaceful, law-abiding
citizens of the United States sustain by the depredations
of the Alabama."

During the summer of 1864 a very active campaign
was fought in the West. Sherman was in command there

458 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

with a stalwart army of one hundred thousand men. The

troops lay just south of Chattanooga facing the Confed-

. . erates, who, under General Johnston, were at

Campaign in . __

the West. Dalton, Georgia. Sherman succeeded in deft-

Jnne, 1864. \y maneuvering the Confederates out of their
position, and, without direct battle, forced them back.
In the neighborhood of Marietta, in the latter half of June,
there was a series of fierce con-
tests, and the Union forces were
successful. The Confederates were
beaten back, but succeeded at last
in repulsing a gallant charge at
Kenesaw Mountain. By the mid-
dle of July, Johnston reached At-
lanta, having conducted his orderly
retreat in a masterly manner that
tested all Sherman's skill and
prowess. Hood was now put in
command, because the Confederate
president demanded an aggressive
policy. A number of minor battles took place about At-
lanta. Only a part of the troops on either side were en-
Atlant f 11 g a S e( l at any one time ; but the Union army
September, was uniformly successful, the men fighting like
1864. toughened veterans. In September Hood aban-

doned Atlanta, and the Northern troops marched in.

Sherman was still in a dangerous position. He had to
depend upon supplies brought a long distance. Hood,
thinking to frighten Sherman out of his well-earned posi-
tion, moved north to threaten his communica-

The i march tions ; but the plan was not successful. Sher-

to the sea.

man concluded that with re - enforcements

Thomas could take care of Hood, and he himself made

ready for his famous march to the sea.* He cut loose from

* The marches to Augusta, Andersonville, and Aiken were made by
the cavalry. See the accompanying map.

ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865.

459

his base of supplies and marched across Georgia. " These
troops numbered over sixty thousand rugged veterans,
unhampered by sick or off-duty men, with twenty days'
rations, plenty of beef on the hoof, about one field gun
per thousand effectives, and an excellent canvas pontoon
train." * Early in December he appeared before Savan-
nah, and it was evacuated shortly after, f

This great march through the very heart of the Confed-
eracy was proof positive that the rebellion could last but
a few months longer at the
best. Sherman had disap-
peared in the heart of
Georgia, and when he re-
appeared at Savannah a
great load was taken from
the anxious hearts of the
North. Grant wrote him :
" I never had a doubt of
the result. When appre-
hensions for your safety
were expressed by the
President, I assured him
with the army you had,
and you in command of
it, there was no danger,
but you would strike bottom on salt water some place." \

y^f2L^

* Dodge, p. 287.

f December 22d, Sherman sent Lincoln the following dispatch
(Sherman's Memoirs, vol. ii, p. 231) :

Savannah, Ga., December 22, 186h.
To His Excellency, President Lincoln, Washington, D. C. :

I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah, with
one hundred and fifty heavy guns and plenty of ammunition ; also about
twenty-five thousand bales of cotton.

W. T. Sherman, Major General.

% Sherman, Memoirs, vol. ii, p. 223.

4 GO HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Meanwhile Thomas had been playing a skillful game
with Hood, whom Sherman had boldly left in his rear.

Hood, venturesome and aggressive, marched to
Tnoi £ as the North against Thomas, whose main position

was at Nashville. Thomas was cautious and
wary. Spite of orders from Washington and demands from
Grant that an advance be made, Thomas took all the time

he wished to make complete preparations and
December, to put his forces in full readiness for battle.

1864:1 He then turned upon Hood and crushed him.*

The rebellion was practically over in the West.

Political as well as military difficulties surrounded the
President in the summer of 18G4. One would think that the
task of carrying on this great war was enough
Political without other cares or responsibilities, especially

during these dreadful months, when the Union
forces were indeed pushing on to victory, but at a fearful
cost in blood and treasure. Though it was clear that under
Grant's terrific blows the Confederacy could not last much
longer, Lincoln was surrounded by unfriendly
Lincoln's critics. Some of the public men of the Presi-

dent's own party were opposed to him, and some
were making plans to defeat him in the coming election.
All through his term he had been troubled and harassed by
political squabbles and quarrels, but in the spring and early
summer of 18G4 there were new dangers and annoyances.

Even Secretary Chase had for a time been nursing presi-
dential ambitions, and his candidacy was urged by many of

* Thomas was a Virginian, but refused to follow his State into re-
bellion. He was one of the most successful generals of the war, shrewd,
careful, thorough. He knew not defeat, and always fought with the
utmost coolness, precision, and energy. He was modest and unpresura-
ing, yet few were so competent to command. Dodge says : " He perhaps
falls as little short of the model soldier as any man produced by this
country."

ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865.

461

Lincoln's opponents. It was soon proved that Lincoln had
the people behind him. They sympathized with him and

felt his worth. Chase saw, before long, that
ase re81gn8, his candidacy was hopeless. He was doubtless
ambitious, but he can not be charged with duplicity or
underhand dealing. His relations with the President, how-
ever, became so strained that he gave up his secretaryship.
William Pitt Fessenden, of Maine, was put in his place, and
proved a very able and efficient officer.

In May a " mass convention " assembled at Cleveland.
It was made up of the fault-finders who were out of all pa-
tience with what they consid-
ered Lincoln's lack of vigor

and administrative

Fremont power. The COn-

nominated. * .

vention nominated
John C. Fremont for the presi-
dency, and John Cochrane for
the vice-presidency. But the
movement was not taken seri-
ously by the people, and Fre-
mont finally withdrew, deliv-
ering as a parting shot the
assertion that Lincoln's ad-
ministration was "politically,
militarily, and financially a
failure."

When the Republican Convention met there was not
the slightest doubt of Lincoln's nomination. The Union
people of the whole North, in a great many
different ways, had announced in unmistakable
language that he was their only choice. He
was nominated unanimously on the first ballot.* Thus the
fault-finding of ambitious and quarrelsome leaders and

* The Missouri delegation voted for Grant, but changed this vote so
that Lincoln could be nominated unanimously.

Lincoln
renominated

462 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

critical newspapers was of absolutely no avail before the
wish of the nation. There was some trouble in choosing
the vice-president. It was felt by many that it would be
the part of wisdom to nominate a war Democrat — some one
who had belonged to the Democratic party before the war,
but who was now working in harmony with the Republicans.
Because of this feeling Hannibal Hamlin was not renomi-
nated, and the choice of the convention fell upon Andrew
Johnson, of Tennessee. A platform was adopted declaring
in favor of the complete suppression of the rebellion, and
announcing " that as slavery was the cause and now con-
stitutes the strength of this rebellion, and as it must be
always and everywhere hostile to the principles of republi-
can government, justice and the national safety demand
its utter and complete extirpation from the soil of the
republic."

The Democratic party nominated Gen. George B. Mc-

Clellan for the presidency, and George IL Pendleton, of

Ohio, for the vice-presidency. The convention

McClellan demanded that "immediate efforts be made

nominated.

for a cessation of hostilities with a view to an
ultimate convention of all the States, or other peaceable
means, to the end that at the earliest practicable moment
peace may be restored on the basis of the Federal union of
the States." The war was declared a failure, and various
acts of the President were denounced as usurpation "of
extraordinary and dangerous powers not granted by the
Constitution."

The presidential campaign was a very earnest and
serious contest. The Republicans felt that everything was
at stake and put forth every endeavor, while
the Democrats were more successful in holding
their forces together than might have been expected — a
result due in large part to the fact that McClellan partly
repudiated the platform by announcing himself in favor of
peace, but only on terms that would preserve the Union.

ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 463

While the political discussions were in progress at the
North, Sherman won his great victory over Hood at
Atlanta. Under such circumstances the declaration that
the war was a failure lost much of its force. Sherman's
telegram, " Atlanta is ours, and fairly won," gave new
courage and great joy to the supporters of the Administra-
tion. Lincoln was elected by a large electoral majority,
receiving two hundred and twelve votes against twenty-one
for his opponent. The Democrats carried only New Jersey,
Delaware, and Kentucky.

It will be remembered that the Emancipation Proclama-
tion declared free all slaves within those parts of the
Thirteenth South then in open rebellion. This was con-
amendment fessedly a war measure — like any other confisca-

in Congress. tion of property) an act Q f war# It did not

destroy slavery in the States not in rebellion. Moreover,
some persons believed that the President had exceeded his
authority in issuing such a proclamation. In the early
part of 1864 a vote on the question of submitting a consti-
tutional amendment abolishing slavery everywhere was
taken in Congress. The necessary two-thirds vote could
not be secured in the House, though the Senate passed the
measure by a large majority. After the election, carried
by the Republicans on a distinctly anti-slavery platform,
abolition assumed new strength. The President in his
annual message advocated the adoption of the amendment.
A great debate in the House followed. The vote was one
hundred and nineteen ayes to fifty-six noes — seven more
than the required two thirds. In the homely, truthful
phrase of Lincoln, the " great job " was ended.

It was still necessary that three fourths of the States
should ratify.* But this ratification was assured. This
amendment declared that " neither slavery nor involuntary

* This was done in the course of the year. In December, 1865, a
proclamation was issued declaring that the thirteenth amendment was
added to the Constitution.

464 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the
party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within
the United States or any place subject to their
Adopted in jurisdiction." Thus the principle of the ordi-

nance of 1787 was, in almost the exact words of
that document, made applicable to the whole Union ; the
great curse that had separated the American people into
two bitterly hostile sections was to be cast aside for ever.
The hopes of the future were for reorganization, a re-estab-
lishment of sympathy and fellow-feeling between North
and South, now that the cause of enmity and division was
no more. As Lincoln pointed out, the amendment meant
the " maintenance " of the Union.

In giving this account of political matters we have

passed by the military events of the winter and spring of

1865, events which made abolition of slavery

Military affairs, , , , T . a , Q ,

more than words. Leaving Savannah, Sher-
man marched north through the Carolinas, harassed but
not long retarded by the Confederates under Johnston.
Grant still held Lee at Eichmond and Petersburg. The
end was evidently near at hand. March saw some sharp
fighting along the line ; but the Confederates were daily

growing weaker, and Lee was getting anxious
Lee and Grant. r.i ij. i j.-l j j £

to break away and to push southward and form

a junction with Johnston. If this were done, Sherman

might perhaps be crushed before Grant could get to his

support. Grant watched Lee with caution and anxiety. A

few severe and bloody engagements occurred, but without

bringing the end. Grant handled his immense army with

great ability, and with full comprehension of his task. Lee

fought with desperation and his accustomed skill. The

Union army was steadily winding itself more closely about

the doomed Confederate army and capital. Grant guarded

Lee cautiously, lest he disappear to the South or West and

leave but empty defences behind him.

ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 465

At length Leo slipped away in the night (April 2, 3).

Grant entered Richmond and began a hot pursuit. The

ragged, starving, brave, disheartened Confed-

Lee surrenders, era tes made their way westward, harassed at

April 9, 1865. . . ., ' . , TJ , . ,

every step by the pursuing cavalry, it they
were to escape at all, it must be by the narrow strip of land
between the Appomattox and James rivers.* But Sheridan
planted himself in the way. Lee was surrounded. On the
9th of April he surrendered. Grant gave generous and
wise terms. The Confederates were released on parole,
" not to take up arms against the Government of the United
States until properly exchanged"; the officers and men
were to return to their homes, " not to be disturbed by the
United States authority so long as they observe their
paroles and the laws in force where they reside." This
last statement looked like an assumption of the pardoning
power by Grant ; but its generosity, coming from a victori-
ous general on the field of battle, merits unstinted praise,
and it had doubtless influence in pointing out to the North
the path of wise self-restraint in days of victory and exulta-
tion. Johnston surrendered to Sherman on the 26th of
April.

The great civil war was at an end. The North had put

forth its energy and crushed all opposition, pouring into the

field an army as large as the fabulous host of

^T" Xerxes. The armies of the East and the West

ended.

had fought with courage and devotion. " All
that it was possible for men to do in battle they have done,"
said Grant, and he knew whereof he spoke. The mistaken
South, hugging her pet vice, slavery, as a viper to her
bosom, had fought with a spirit, a heroism, and a courage
that tempt us to forget the cause and prompt us only to
remember that from Key West to the St. Croix all now are
brethren of a common country. Grant's words in address-
ing his former comrades in arms are well chosen : " Let

* Read Dodge, Bird's-eye View of the Civil War, pp. 313-318.

4QQ HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

them hope for perpetual peace and harmony with that
enemy whose manhood, however mistaken the cause, drew
forth such herculean deeds of valor."

The efforts of the South to sustain the war had been
magnificent. We have seen how dependent the Southern

people were on outside products. There were
Sf°South few factories of any kind. The very arms with

which to fight needed to be smuggled through
the blockade, or, before the Mississippi was under Federal
control, wearily brought across Texas from Mexico. After
the capture of Mobile the country was almost completely
surrounded. Occasionally a blockade runner succeeded
in slipping through the barriers and bringing in supplies
from Europe ; yet such accidental aid helped but little.
The Confederacy was day by day, and month by month,
strangled by the toils of the immense army and navy that
encompassed it. The people fought with desperation, and
yet we need not believe that all were anxious to enter the
army ; a year before the North resorted to the draft, the
Confederate congress took the same step, and before the
end of the war it was determined even to enroll slaves as
troops. Money was almost unattainable. When once the
Confederacy was shut off from the civilized world, borrow-
ing was practically impossible. Paper money was issued
by the million dollars, " payable six months after the close
of the war." This paper fell down, down, as the prospects
of the Confederacy grew dimmer. In May, 1 864, a clerk in
Richmond entered these prices in his diary : " Boots, two
hundred dollars; coats, three hundred and fifty dollars;
pantaloons, one hundred dollars ; . . . flour, two hundred
and seventy-five dollars per barrel ; . . . bacon, nine dollars
per pound ; . . . potatoes, twenty-five dollars per bushel ;
. . . wood, fifty dollars per cord."

Thus it was that the South was beaten — not because
the people could not fight, or because they were not willing
to bear privation and hardships. History, perhaps, shows

ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN— 1861-1865. 467

no parallel to the brave constancy of Lee's men in the fearful
campaign of 1864-05, when they must have seen that under
Grant's terrific hammering they could not long
defeated endure. The men who stayed at home on the

the South. plantations, and, above all, the women — for

they were the greatest sufferers from actual want — endured
their trials with great resolution and cheerfulness. It was
not lack of bravery, skill, or determination that defeated
the South. It was slavery. While the lumber, iron, and coal
of the North were put to service by an intelligent people,
whose every industrial success prompted to new energy,
the South was laboring under a destructive system which
had been abandoned by every other part of the Teutonic
race ; and the fearful penalty of slavery was civil war and
disastrous, overwhelming defeat.

The Union was preserved. The greatest civil war in
history determined that the American republic must en-
dure ; but the cost was enormous. Not count-
The losses of m g ^e men w ^ ^{ e ^ a £ nome as a result of
the war.

wounds received in battle or exposure in the
line of duty, over 300,000 Northern men gave up their lives
for their country. The loss of the South could have been
but little less. From all causes, the nation lost nearly a
million of its able-bodied men.

At the close of the war there were 1,000,516 men in the
Northern army. The receipts of the Government by tax-
ation during the four years were not far from
Its awful ooBt. . J

$800,000,000, but this was only a small portion

of the amount which was expended. Money was spent with

lavish profusion. The total debt at the end of the war was

$2,844,649,626. But one can not count the
August, 1865. \ V ' „ „ , ,

real cost of these four years of destruction, when

hundreds of thousands of men were taken from remunera-
tive employment, to spend their energies in bringing deso-
lation and in killing their fellows. The North offered up
a great sacrifice for union and for the perpetuation of the

468 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Government. But the sacrifice of the South was greater.
Figures can give no idea of what it cost the South to de-
fend slavery and her chosen constitutional principles. She
offered up her very life. At the end of the war the whole
country was desolate. Poverty was the lot of men who
had been reared in luxury. For four years Virginia had
been a battlefield. The more southern and western States
fared but little better. The rebellion had been starved to
death ; and when the soldiers left the army and sought
their homes, they were confronted by want and desolation.
The courage with which men took up their new lives was
no less great than their bravery in war.

The immense Union army of a million soldiers was dis-
banded. The men went quietly back to the farm, the
counting-house, or the workshop. Within a
dkbaS few weeks this huge army was absorbed back

into the body of the people. There was no
violence, no license, no rioting. The volunteer soldier
showed his sense and self-restraint by becoming an ordinary
citizen once more.

References.

The best short accounts for political events are Wilson, Division
and Reunion, pp. 210-238; Schurz, Abraham Lincoln; G. Smith,
The United States, pp. 238-280 ; Julian, Political Recollections, pp.
181-259; Lothrop, Seward, pp. 246-396; Morse, Abraham Lincoln,
Volume I, Chapters IX and XII, Volume II, Chapters I, IV, VI,
IX, XII; Burgess, Civil War and the Constitution; Hart, Salmon
P. Chase, 178-319; Adams, Charles Francis Adams, 117-345. Po-
litical events at the South : Wilson, Division and Reunion, pp.
239-252. For military events : Church, U. S. Grant, Chapters V
to XVIII; White, Robert E. Lee; Dodge, Bird's-eye View of the
Civil War; Rossiter Johnson, Short History of the War of Secession.

CHAPTER XVII.

Political and Social Reconstruction — 1865-1877.

ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JOHNSON— 1865-1869.

The war was ended. But while the people of the whole

North were giving themselves up to joy and thanksgiving,

there came the awful tidings that President

The death of Lincoln had been assassinated. He was shot

Lincoln!

in his box at Ford's theater on the evening of
April 14th, by John Wilkes Booth, a worthless melodramatic
actor, who seems to have longed for notoriety, and to
have sought this dastardly revenge for Southern wrongs
and sufferings. The same evening Seward was assaulted
at his home and grievously wounded. Lincoln died the
next morning. There proved to be a plot, in which there
were a number of conspirators, whose purpose seems to
have been the assassination of several of the more
prominent men to whom the country was looking for
guidance. Booth was, however, the chief conspirator and
the head and front of the enterprise. He was pursued and
shot. Several of the conspirators were arrested and tried.
Four were hanged, three imprisoned for life, and one for a
term of years.

The North mourned Lincoln's loss with sincere sorrow.
There came to each loyal heart a sense of keen personal

affliction and bitter grief. The "plain peo-
A loss to the le » had come t0 know their p r e S ident, to

nation. *■ , '

trust him and to love him as no other public
man has been loved in our history. They felt that his
death foreboded trouble, and mayhap disaster. Could Lin-

469

470 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

coin have lived, the great task of reorganizing the shattered
fabric of the Union might have been accomplished without
begetting strong partisan bitterness or violence ; perhaps the
long period of estrangement between the North and South
might have been shortened. Vice-President Andrew John-
son assumed the presidency without delay, and the Gov-
ernment went on with its work. There was no anarchy or
confusion in the conduct of its business. Republican gov-
ernment never received a severer test.

The new President was a man of vigor, of strong con-
victions, and of set purposes. He belonged to the poor
whites of Tennessee, and had in youth no more
Johnson's life training or advantages than one of his class
was apt to have. He had reached manhood
before learning even to read and write. His determina-
tion and zeal, however, carried him forward in political
life. Before his nomination to the vice-presidency he had
been in the lower House of Congress, Governor of Tennessee,
and United States Senator. By refusing to follow his
State into secession he had won attention and renown at
the North. He was strikingly unsuited to the enormous
task that awaited him. Conscientious and patriotic he
was, no doubt ; but he was narrow, dogmatic, and obstinate.
He was a man of much native ability, but coming, as did
Lincoln, from the most humble surroundings, he had not
Lincoln's native culture and sweetness, nor the faculty of
winning men and of feeling sympathy with them. He was
unbending in all his fiber.

The difficulties that confronted Johnson's administra-
tion were many and arduous. The South was in a condi-
tion of poverty, a condition bordering on help-
onhetime 1118 lessne ss. There were no legal State govern-
ments, no civil officers with legal authority to
act. Millions of men born in bondage were now free, and
had no knowledge of how to use their freedom, or how to
earn their daily bread without direction. There was not

ADMINISTRATION OF JOHNSON— 1865-1869. 471

much turbulence, for the negroes did not fully realize their
new situation, and the whites were exhausted after the four
terrible years of strife. How could order be brought to the
weary and distracted South ? How could industry be estab-
lished on a new basis ? How could the relation between the
two races be determined ? Were the States themselves to be
allowed to solve all their problems as each one saw fit, or
was the National Government to intervene and endeavor
to shape Southern institutions? Was the North to take
full advantage of its victory, and insist upon raising the
black man to a place by the side of his late master in social
and political right, or was political power to be left solely in
the hands of the men who had waged war against the
nation ? These were questions of the greatest importance.
Some of them only time could answer. However much
might be done by way of legislation, time was needed to
bring anything like a solution of the new labor problem of
the South, or to establish suitable social relations between
the negroes and whites.

Moreover, questions arose concerning the right of the

Federal Government to do anything about the internal

affairs of the States, or to treat them in any

jS a1 ,.- way save as members of the Union, with full

difficulties. . • . . '

rights and privileges. It was argued, on the
one hand, that the war had been conducted on the prin-
ciple that the States could not go out of the Union, and it
was maintained that, if they could not go out, they were
now in, on terms of equality with the other States. But,
on the other hand, the leading Republicans now declared
that the States had, at least to some extent, forfeited their
rights as States, and that, before they were once more re-
instated in their constitutional relations, certain reforms
should be brought about. These men wished to have as-
surance that the war was actually over and that the negro
was safe from molestation. Some of the leaders — men like
Charles Sumner — looked upon the war as a great struggle
31

472 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

v for human freedom, and were unwilling to consider that
the real contest was finished until the freemen were given
the right to vote and were in possession of social as well as
political privileges. We need not consider at length the
legal arguments upon which the Republicans based their
assertion that Congress had power to declare that the
Southern States were not immediately entitled to repre-
sentation in Congress or to their full rights as members of
the Union. That men did seek to find legal justification
for their every action is of interest, because it shows that
the people were still regardful of legal rights and prin-
ciples even at the end of the greatest civil conflict in his-
tory which in many a nation would have been destructive
of all rights save those of brute force. But the Korth felt
that the South must be reorganized, and it is of little real
moment what was the legal theory or fiction on which Con-
gress based its action. Republican plans as to what steps
should be taken matured somewhat slowly. By no means
the whole party was ready at first to follow its extreme
! leaders in endeavoring to establish negro suffrage in the
South ; but the whole party did desire that steps be taken
to make the safety of the freedmen certain.

The President issued (May 29, 1865) a proclamation of
\ amnesty, offering to pardon all persons that had been en-
gaged in the late rebellion, save certain classes of persons
who were to apply specially for pardon. All who availed
themselves of the offer of amnesty were to take an oath of
loyalty and pledge themselves to support Federal laws,
including the emancipation proclamation.

At the same time Johnson began his system of recon-
struction by appointing provisional governors for the
J hn on'a Southern States. Each governor was author-

method of ized to provide for the assembling of a conven-

reoonstruotion. tion that would alter or amend t h e state Con-
stitution and provide for the establishment of the State in
its constitutional relations.

ADMINISTRATION OP JOHNSON— 1865-1869. 473

This plan of the President seemed to give the power
into the hands of the white people of the South and to
. ,.,.,. make no provision for the freedmen. It was
by the therefore opposed by the great majority of the

Republicans. Republican party, inasmuch as they believed in
keeping the Southern States under the control of the Na-
tional Government until the negro was secure in his rights.
The opposition to the President would not have been so
bitter had it not been for two things : (1) Johnson showed
himself headstrong and utterly lacking in tact ; (2) the
Southern States, organized under the President's direction,
began to pass laws that bore heavily upon the freedmen —
laws that seemed to have the object of making the negro to
all intents and purposes a slave again. It was quite evi-
dent that even those acts that appeared harmless might
easily be enforced so as practically to establish involuntary
servitude within a State contrary to the Thirteenth Amend-
ment, which, it will be remembered, was just at this time
adopted and put in force.*

When Congress met in December, 1865, many were an-
noyed at the President's haste, and were determined that
the Southern States should not be allowed
SgToftfe 68 their ful1 constitutional rights until the negro
Southern was fully protected from unjust legislation,

problem. g u ^. w h en Congress passed an act providing

for a bureau for the relief of freedmen and refugees, John-
son vetoed it. Immediately upon the reception of this veto
Congress passed a joint resolution declaring that no senator
or representative should be admitted into either branch of
Congress from any one of the States lately in rebellion p
until such State was declared by Congress entitled to
such representation. By this means Congress could com-
pel the States to accept certain regulations that were
deemed essential. An open rupture between the President
and the party that elected him might have been avoided

* December, 1865.

474 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

even yet, perhaps, or at least delayed, had Johnson not
begun to make intemperate and unbecoming speeches, de-
nouncing the Congress as " no Congress," and even charg-
ing individual members with opposition to the fundamental
" principles of this Government " and with " laboring to
destroy them."

Somewhat later in the session a Civil Eights bill was
passed. The intention of the act was to establish the
equality of the races in the Southern States, to
!jj? e ^^ put the freedmen under the protection of Na-

tional law and National officers, safe from per-
secution or molestation at the will or caprice of a State.
It declared, among other things, that " all persons born in
the United States and not subject to any foreign power "
were citizens of the United States. This act was vetoed,
but was promptly passed over the veto. Congress was no
longer in a submissive mood.

It was next determined to put the Civil Eights bill into
the form of a constitutional amendment, where its prin-
ciples would be permanent and safe from vio-
The Fourteenth i a ti on . The Fourteenth Amendment was

Amendment.

therefore agreed upon and offered to the States
(June, 1866) for adoption. It declared that " all persons
born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to
the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States
and of the State wherein they reside." It declared that no

State should make or enforce any law abridg-
es first section. in g the u p r i v ii eges or immunities of citizens

of the United States," or deprive any person of " life,
liberty, or property without due process of law," or deny to
any person " the equal protection of the laws." The Ee-
publicans saw that by the freeing of the blacks they had
actually increased the political strength of the Southern
States, because the three-fifths rule * would no longer ap-

* See Constitution, art. i, sec. ii, § 3.

ADMINISTRATION OF JOHNSON— 1865-1869. 475

ply, but all the negroes would be counted in determining
the representative population. Some were desirous of giv-
ing the negroes the suffrage immediately by i
Its second National act. Others hesitated. All, however,

Cnp + 1 rtTI

desired to prevent the Southern States from
reaping this political advantage from emancipation, unless
they allowed the blacks to vote. It was therefore decided
that if the negroes were not given the suffrage by a State
voluntarily, they should not be counted in determining the j
basis of representation. For these reasons the second sec-
tion of the Fourteenth Amendment was added, providing
that if the right to vote were denied to any of the male
inhabitants of a State, being twenty-one years of age and
citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, ex-
cept as punishment for crime, the basis of representation
should "be reduced in the proportion which the number
of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of
male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State." The

amendment also provided for the exclusion
Its third . from Federal office of the most prominent per-

section. x

sons engaged in the war against the Govern-
ment until such disability were removed by Congress. It

was expressly stated that the validity of the
Its fourth National debt should not be questioned, but the

section. a

debts incurred in and for the rebellion should

not be assumed by the " United States or any State."

Such was the Fourteenth Amendment, by far the great-
est change made in the Constitution since its adoption.
it makes radio l ^ nere was some difficulty, as we shall see, in
changes in the securing its ratification, the Southern States
Constitution. refusing to accept it ; two years passed before
it was finally ratified (1868), but we may notice at this
time how it modified the Constitution when once it be-
came a part of the fundamental law. Before this amend-
ment was passed the subject of suffrage was solely a State
affair, as long as the State had a " republican form of gov-

476 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

ernment." So, too, the State had complete control over its
citizens and could be as tyrannical as it saw fit, provided
that it did not interfere with the relations between a per-
son and the National Government or violate the few ex-
press prohibitions in the National Constitution. By this
amendment the nation intervened to protect the citizen of
the State against unjust legislation or action of a State.
Thus it will be seen the situation had entirely altered from
what it was in 1788-'90. Then it was thought necessary to
shield the citizen from the possible tyranny of the National
Government, and to this end the first ten amendments
were adopted.

Meantime the controversy between the President and
Congress waxed hotter. Johnson vetoed the most impor-
tant bills, and Congress passed them over his
Congress in veto. In this way, in the course of a year, the
open enmity. most essential measures were made law for the
purpose of carrying out the congressional idea of " recon-
structing the Southern States." In spite of the President's
objections, a measure known as the Freedmen's Bureau bill,
providing for the relief and assistance to the Southern ne-
groes, became law. Nebraska at this time was admitted to
the Union.

In March, 1867, Congress passed the Civil Tenure

bill. This provided that a person appointed to office by

the President and approved by the Senate

Tenure of should hold office till another person was ap-

Omce Act. , . . x _ . *

pointed to the position with approval 01 the
Senate, and that members of the Cabinet should hold office
for the term of the President appointing them and one
month thereafter, " subject to removal by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate." An officer might, how-
ever, be suspended while the Senate was not in session, and
the place given for the time being to some other person.

During the fall and winter (1866-'67) the Southern
States, perhaps encouraged by the quarrel between Johnson

ADMINISTRATION OF JOHNSON— 1865-1869. 477

and his party, rejected the Fourteenth Amendment. As
a consequence new reconstruction measures were deter-
mined upon and duly enacted. Congress pro-
Congressional ided f th d i v i s i on of the Soutn into five

reconstruction.

military districts, each to be in the charge of a

general aided by " a sufficient military force." This officer
was to keep order and to have wide powers of government.
Under his guidance a State was to elect a convention,
adopt a constitution granting the suffrage to blacks and
whites alike, and ratify through its legislature the Four-
teenth Amendment. When this was done and approved
the State was to be allowed representation in Congress.

In the summer of this year (1867) Johnson requested

the resignation of Stanton, his Secretary of War, " because

of public considerations of a high character."

The President Tlie tw0 men were i ncompa tible, and Stanton

impeached. , x '

had long been hostile to Johnson and his
policy. He refused to resign, because of " public considera-
tions of a high character." Johnson suspended him in ac-
cordance with the provision of the Tenure of Office act.
When the Senate met it refused to agree to this suspension.
The President then removed Stanton from the office and
gave the portfolio to General Lorenzo Thomas. The ill
feeling was now so great that the Republicans determined
to resort to impeachment to get rid of their obnoxious
executive. In March, 1868, articles of impeachment were
presented by the House at the bar of the Senate. The
chief charge was violation of the Tenure of Office act by the
removal of Stanton. The trial lasted nearly two months.
Chief Justice Chase presided with dignity and impartiality.
The ceremony was watched with interest and curiosity in
America and Europe. The result of the trial was acquittal.
The majority lacked one vote of the necessary two thirds.
Seven Republican senators voted against conviction. They
believed that the President should be entitled to remove
his subordinates. It is now generally believed that im-

L k

478 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

peachment was unwise and that conviction would have
been unjust.

Before the end of 1868 most of the States were fully
re-established in their constitutional relations or "read-
mitted to the Union." Provision had been
"leconsTructed" made for the admission of Tennessee soon
by congressional after the close of the war. North Carolina,
South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana,
and Arkansas were admitted to representation in Congress
in 1868. Seward was enabled to announce, July 28, 1868,
that the Fourteenth Amendment had become part of the
Constitution.

The Southern States during these years and for some
time afterward were in an unfortunate condition. The
more influential white men were kept out of
Oarpet-bag office by the congressional policy because they
had taken part in the war. This left the con-
trol of the convention and the legislature, when once civil
government was established, to the more ignorant white
people and to the negroes, who had no fitness for the diffi-
cult tasks' that needed attention. Men from other States
came upon the scene and became political leaders, taking
advantage of the ignorant blacks to win for themselves
power and influence. These men were called "carpet-
baggers." The governments set up under their direction
were incompetent and woefully corrupt. Doubtless some of
the Northern men that went to the South at this time
were neither corrupt nor influenced by unworthy motives,
but so many were merely unscrupulous adventurers, quite
devoid of principle, that all were called " carpet-baggers "
and looked upon with suspicion. The Southern people
were in their turn intolerant, and occasionally guilty of
outrages against Northern men. The ill feeling between
the sections, therefore, had as yet diminished little, if at all.
The white people under negro and " carpet-bag " rule were
bitter in their hatred of Eepublican reconstruction, while

ADMINISTRATION OF JOHNSON— 1865-1869. 479

every month seemed to harden the Northern leaders in the
belief that the " ex-rebels " were not to be trusted.

Several difficult and interesting foreign questions arose
during Johnson's administration. Soon after the begin-
ning of our civil war France had sent troops
>reign aars. .^ q Mexico, overthrown the republican gov-
ernment there, and established an empire, with Maximilian,
an archduke of Austria, as emperor. During the war
Seward had cautiously protested ; but now that there was
peace at home, France was given very distinctly to under-
stand that the presence of her troops in Mexico was ob-
noxious to the United States. Our Government has for
many decades held the opinion that European countries
must not extend their systems in this hemisphere against
the will and wish of the American Union. Upon receiving
the peremptory demand from Seward, Napoleon III withdrew
his army. The luckless Maximilian, left to his fate, was
captured by Mexican troops, tried by court martial, and
shot.

In 1867 the United States bought Alaska from Eussia
for 87,200,000. This purchase added 531,409 square miles
to the National domain. In the eighty years
^rchaae * na ^ ^ad lapsed since the formation of the

constitution the territory of the Union had
increased fourfold. In 1787 it was 819,815 square miles.
After the purchase of Alaska it was 3,501,509 square
miles.*

No less important than other events of this stormy ad-
ministration was the final laying of the Atlantic cable. In
the summer of 1866 the cable was laid and
The Atlantic use d. The commercial and political impor-
tance of this frail connection between America
and Europe can hardly be overestimated. Trade was put

* These figures are somewhat differently given by different authori-
ties. The United States census gives the total area, without Alaska,
as 3,025,601.

480 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

on a new basis, for the condition of the European mar-
kets could be read in New York each morning. The
political relations between the Old and the New World
were simplified.

For the election of 1868 General Grant seemed the only
possible candidate for the Republicans. The party con-
tained many able leaders with far more political
SiMa" 1 experience, but he was the center of interest
and attention. The quiet, relentless deter-
mination with which he had carried on the war had com-
pletely captured the public imagination. He was unani-
mously nominated on the first ballot in the convention,
amid great demonstrations of enthusiasm. Schuyler Colfax,
of Indiana, was nominated for the vice-presidency. The
platform congratulated the country on the success of the
reconstruction policy of Congress ; it pledged the party to
maintain equal suffrage for all loyal men; it denounced
Andrew Johnson and his methods, and promised the pay-
ment of military bounties and pensions and full payment
of the National debt. The Democrats nominated Horatio
Seymour, of New York, and Francis P. Blair, Jr., of
Missouri. The platform demanded immediate restoration
of all the States to their rights in the Union, amnesty for
all political offenses, economy and reform in office. It ar-
raigned " the Radical party " for its " unparalleled op-
pression and tyranny," appealed to all patriots to unite in
the " great struggle for the liberties of the people," and de-
clared that Johnson was " entitled to the gratitude of the
whole American people." The result of the election was
at no time doubtful. There was great enthusiasm for
Grant at the North, while at the South the electoral vote
was in nearly every State cast for the Republican candi-
date, because the freedmen were all of that party, and
many of the white men were not allowed to vote. Grant
received two hundred and fourteen electoral votes, and
Seymour eighty.

ADMINISTRATION OF GRANT— 1869-1877. 481

Before closing the account of this administration we
should notice that something had been done to reduce the
immense war debt, and that the nation was in
Material many ways prosperous. The highest point

that the debt ever reached was in the summer
of 1865, when it amounted to the enormous total of $2,844,-
649,626, a burden of $84 on each person in the United
States. In 1869 it amounted to $64.43 per capita. The
nation showed remarkable powers of recuperation, after the
long and destructive war.

References.

The best short accounts are in Wilson, Division and Reunion,
pp. 254-272 ; Dawes, Charles Sumner, pp. 214-273 ; Lothrop,
William H. Seward, Chapter XXI; Moore, American Congress, pp.
402-435; Lalor, Cyclopaedia, Volume III, pp. 540-556; Burgess,
Reconstruction and the Constitution; McCulloch, Men and Meas-
ures of Half a Century, pp. 368-412.

ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S. GRANT, 1869-1877.

When General Grant took the presidential chair he
had had no experience in politics, no training in civil

duties. He was a graduate of West Point, and
Ulysses S. ^ad serve( i w ith distinction in the Mexican

War. At the outbreak of the rebellion he
occupied a humble position as a private citizen. His
success as a general gave him world-wide reputation, and
he was hailed by the enthusiastic North as the savior of
his country. He was a man of strict, unswerving honesty,
and of pure motives. He was direct and incisive in his
methods of thought and action. It may be doubted
whether his talents, that so well fitted him for conducting
a great aggressive war, were equally well adapted to the no
less difficult tasks of peace. Downright and upright him-
self, he was not always successful in winning and holding

482

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Problems of
the time.

the best men of his party by giving them frank confidence ;
nor did he have great insight into the weaknesses of the
men about him. These characteristics account, in part,
for some of the difficulties of his administration.

The times were trying ones. One can hardly imagine
greater or more troublesome tasks than those confronting
the American Government in these years. The
people were undoubtedly showing a remarkable
capacity for self-government and self-restraint.
They submitted quietly to the payment of enormous taxes ;
they were honestly and without ostentation bent upon pay-
ing the great war debt with all
reasonable speed. A million
soldiers who had been quiet-
ly absorbed into the peaceful
community seemed to have
forgotten military arts or am-
bition. But spite of all this
the period was full of diffi-
culties. There were grave
international questions to be
settled, and internal problems
that called for wise solution.
Not till about 1871 were all
the Southern States in posses-
sion of their full constitu-
tional rights, and even when
politically " reconstructed " they were of course internally
still in some confusion. Many of their people still felt re-
sentment toward the North. A reconstruction of sentiment
between North and South could come only in the course of
years, as the result of generous fair-mindedness in the one
section and sensible self-control in the other. Moreover,
in many ways the war had brought disorganization into the
National Government ; the details of administration, which
are of the utmost importance in time of peace, could not

^y^

ADMINISTRATION OF GRANT— 1869-1877. 483

be carefully watched and guided in time of a great civil
war. Furthermore, the war had had a demoralizing influ-
ence in some respects. It is true that it called forth
patriotism, prompted men to mercy, and stirred men's
hearts to lofty motives. No war that is waged for country
and to free millions of human beings from slavery can be,
on the whole, bad in its effects on the moral make-up of
the nation. But war is brutal, and its brutality is apt to
leave the curse of selfishness and greed behind it. The
great mass of the people were honest and moral ; but the
troublesome time of war encouraged some men to believe
that it was legitimate to take advantage of the Government
and to get rich by stealth at the public expense.

Before the end of Johnson's term the Republicans de-
termined to give the negro the ballot without qualification.

The Fourteenth Amendment allowed the
Amentoent. state s to determine for themselves what the

basis of suffrage should be. If the right to vote
were denied to any of the male citizens twenty-one years
old, or in any way abridged, the basis of representation in
Congress might be cut down. This provision was not en-
forced, and from that day to this has remained inoperative.
In 1869 the Fifteenth Amendment was submitted to the
States for adoption. It declared : " The right of citizens
of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged
by the United States or by any State on account of race,
color, or previous condition of servitude." Secretary Fish
announced, March 30, 1870, that it had " become valid to
all intents and purposes, as part of the Constitution of the
United States."

The acceptance of the Fifteenth Amendment as part of
the fundamental law of the nation did not do away with
the troubles and distress that grew out of the rebellion. The
corruption of the carpet-bag governments, built on negro
suffrage, was proof enough that slavery had been a poor
schoolmaster for freedom. Some of the blacks quickly

484 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

learned the vices of politics, and showed remarkable apti-
tude in the art of reaping personal advantage from office.
Corruption ^ ne States that na d Deen impoverished by four

in the Southern years of war were plundered ruthlessly ; enor-
mous debts were rolled up by extravagant
and dishonest legislation. In South Carolina, where negro
rule long prevailed because of the great number of blacks,
the debt increased from about $5,500,000 in 1868 to over
$20,000,000 in 1873. Some other States suffered almost as
much.

The Southern w T hites determined that negro rule must
be ended by some means, lawful or unlawful. It seemed
Opposition to ^° them a matter of self-preservation. This
carpet-bag feeling is well illustrated by the statement of

government. ft citizen of South Carolina . « To take the

State . . . away from the intelligent white men and hand
it over bodily to ignorant negroes just escaped from slavery
. . . was nothing less than flat burglary on the theory and
practice of representative government." In some of the
States the negroes were in a minority; and where that
was the case the government soon passed into the hands
of the white people as a simple result of united action on
their part. In other places, however, deplorable methods
were adopted. The poorer and more ignorant white men,
who had been reared amid the degrading influences of
slavery, could not appreciate that the negro had rights
that they were bound to respect. The luckless blacks were
harassed and harried. An oath-bound order under the
name of the Ku-Klux-Klan, throwing a veil of secrecy
and mystery over all its doings, appeared here and there
throughout the South, terrorizing the superstitious negro
and overwhelming him with awe and dread. It is difficult
from any evidence that we have to determine the exact
origin or extent of the Ku-Klux movement. To Northern
men it seemed that the whole South was conspiring to make
national law inoperative, and to rob the negro of his rights.

ADMINISTRATION OF GRANT— 1869-1877. 485

It was some years before the lawlessness and violence were
stamped out. The intelligent people of the South finally
united in efforts to put down this open violence and to es-
tablish order, for they saw that there was a direct issue
between law and anarchy.

Because of these conditions in the South, Congress un-
dertook to pass repressive measures. A series of acts were
passed (1870-'72) the purposes of which were
the protection of the negro in his new privi-
leges and rights. The President was given authority to
suppress insurrection whenever the State officers were un-
able or unwilling to do so. He was also authorized, for a
limited time, to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas
corpus. The courts were assigned wide jurisdiction over
cases in which persons claimed they had been deprived of
rights, privileges, or immunities under the Constitution of
the United States. These measures were called enforce-
ment bills, or "force bills." By such means, by dint of
energy on the part of the National Government and the co-
operation of the more sensible of the Southern people, who
realized the danger of tumult and anarchy, violent methods
of intimidating the negro were done away with. For
some time after this it seemed to the President necessary
to use the Federal troops in order to secure free and fair
elections in the Southern States.

From the outbreak of the rebellion and the acknowledg-
ment by Great Britain of the belligerency of the Confed-
eracy our relations with that country had been
tewM?* - ™ 1 somewhat strained. Upon Grant's accession
there were serious difficulties that demanded
immediate settlement. Our Government asserted that Eng-
land had not done her duty as a neutral ; that it was her duty
to use diligence in an effort to prevent the arming or equip-
ping of any armed vessel within her limits, and to prevent the
departure of such a vessel to cruise against the commerce of
a friendly nation ; that likewise a belligerent should not be

486 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

permitted to make use of neutral ports as bases of naval oper-
ation or for the purpose of getting military supplies ; and that
Great Britain had been remiss in its duty, inasmuch as the
Alabama and other Confederate cruisers had been fitted
out in English harbors to prey upon American commerce
even after the ministry had been given fair warning as to
the character and purpose of the vessels. We insisted,
therefore, that damages should be paid for the resulting
injuries.

Fortunately the two countries were wise enough not to
make more havoc by fighting over their differences. In
1871 a treaty between the two powers was
w 6 h' 16 ^ 7 ° f s ig ne ^ a t Washington, agreeing that all mat-
ters of dispute should be submitted to arbitra-
tion. The Alabama claims were to be passed upon by a
court of five arbitrators appointed by Great Britain, the
United States, Italy, Switzerland, and Brazil.

This tribunal met at Geneva, Switzerland, and made a
careful examination of the whole controversy. The Amer-
The Geneva * can Government contended that our losses in-
award, eluded not only the actual destruction of mer-

1871-72, chantmen and cargoes, but "heavy national

expenditures in the pursuit of the cruisers and in direct
injury in the transfer of a large part of the American com-
mercial marine to the British flag, in the enhanced pay-
ments of insurance, in the prolongation of the war, and in
the addition of a large sum to the cost of the war and the
suppression of the rebellion." The arbitrators refused to
allow compensation for the more indirect or remote dam-
ages, but awarded to the United States $15,500,000 in gold
as an indemnity to be paid by Great Britain in satisfaction
for all claims.

By the Treaty of Washington it was also agreed to leave
to the Emperor of Germany as arbitrator the settlement of
a dispute over the Northwestern boundary. In 1846 the
line between the American and British possessions had been

ADMINISTRATION OF GRANT— 1869-1877. 487

defined as following along the forty-ninth parallel " to the
middle of the channel which separates the continent from
„ x , Vancouver's Island ; and thence southerly

Northwestern 7 J

boundary and through the middle of the said channel and of
the fisheries. p uca ' s Straits to the Pacific Ocean." A question
had arisen as to where the middle of the channel was. The
German Emperor decided in favor of the claim made by the
United States. The Treaty of Washington made provision
for the settlement of difficulties that had arisen concerning
the Northeastern fisheries. In 1877 a commission met in
Halifax and awarded to England the sum of 15,500,000.

It was plain by this time that to compel the Southern

people to observe the new amendments to the Constitution

fully was a difficult if not an impossible task.

Differences in J x

the Kepublican To accomplish anything by force, constant
party. armed intervention was a necessity. But many

felt that the Government had already gone too far ; that the
only sensible course was to leave the South alone ; that as
long as Federal troops were stationed there Southern resent-
ment would continue in all its bitterness, and that the peo-
ple could never be won back to affectionate loyalty by main
force. They felt that the fundamental principle of local
self-government was being dangerously disregarded. Some
Republicans had become antagonistic to Grant personally.
They believed that he had shown rare incapacity for civil
duties, and that he was surrounded by men who were greedy
if not corrupt. A division in the Republican party was
likely to come sooner or later, because it was in reality a
composite party, made up of men who were not apt to think
alike on many questions. When once the great task of
crushing the rebellion was over, the different elements in
the party began to show their natural tendencies.

The feeling of dissatisfaction with existing conditions

showed itself in the Liberal Republican movement of 1872.

The men who became interested in it were those Republicans

who found themselves out of sympathy with the administra-

488 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

tion, out of patience with the management of Southern

matters, and eager for " reform " in civil office. Many, too,

wished a reduction of tariff duties and other

The Liberal economic changes. A national convention held

Republicans^ °

at Cincinnati nominated Horace Greeley, of
New York, for President, and B. Gratz Brown, of Missouri,
for Vice-President. A platform was adopted charging " the
partisans of the administration assuming to be the Repub-
lican party " with arbitrary and unpatriotic conduct toward
the South, and with selfish and unscrupulous use of power.
The new party demanded immediate reform in public office
and the re-establishment of civil rule without military in-
terference in the Southern States.

The Democrats, having no issue to present, found them-
selves fairly well in accord with the principles of the Lib-
eral Republicans. The platform and candidates
were therefore accepted by the Democratic Na-
tional Convention. A few Democrats found it impossible
to accept the nomination of Greeley, who had been for
years an ardent, enthusiastic Republican, given to the use of
very plain language in his condemnation of the Democracy.
This faction placed' a straight Democratic ticket in the
field ; but the movement was of no avail, inasmuch as the
nominees refused to be candidates.

The Republicans renominated Grant, and gave the sec-
ond place on the ticket to Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts.
Many persons were still fearful of any back-
renominated ward step in the management of the Southern
and elected, question. There was a strong feeling, too,
that Greeley was unfit for the presidency. A high-minded,
honest man, with strong purposes and noble aims, he was
impractical and visionary. He was in his place when he
was appealing to the nation's conscience, or discussing in
racy, telling phrases the moral duties of government. But
he had almost no experience in public office, and was with-
out aptitude for the duties of administration. Grant and

ADMINISTRATION OF GRANT— 1869-1877. 489

Wilson were elected by an overwhelming majority. Greeley
died before the presidential electors met to cast their bal-
lots.

Grant's second administration was not very eventful,
nor does it differ in character materially from the first.
_. n .. Some of the troubles that had arisen from the

The Southern

problem rebellion had passed away. Some of the great

remains, problems had been solved, but much still re-

mained to be done. The Southern question was still a
pressing one. How far should the Southern States be al-
lowed to manage elections and all internal affairs without
molestation from the Central Government ? This was the
difficult problem of the time. The Republican party was,
on the whole, in favor of keeping such control that the
amendments could be enforced throughout the South.
But the country was in reality growing weary of inter-
ference and longing for quiet.

In a number of the Southern States, as we have seen,

the Government had already passed into the hands of the

Democratic party. Where that was the case

Federal there was little trouble, but the amendments

intervention. '

were more or less evaded. Where Republican
governments held power great disturbance and unend-
ing controversy prevailed. Disputes often arose over the
action of the returning boards, whose duty it was to
canvass the votes and report the results. The Democrats
declared that the boards were illegally made up, or that
they fraudulently " counted out " the Democratic candi-
dates. The Republicans charged their opponents with en-
deavoring by violence and intimidation to suppress the negro
vote. When such quarrels broke out the President would
send troops to quiet disturbances and to establish authority ;
but he grew tired of the continuing disorder.*

* The situation in Louisiana was especially bad. The Constitution
provides (art. iv, sec. 4) that " the United States shall guarantee to
every State in this Union a republican form of government." This

490 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

A very noticeable feature of those years was the number

of political scandals that came to light in the National

Government. In 1872 it was publicly charged

1 ° * er ' tnat prominent ' Eepublican officeholders had
taken bribes from a company known as the Credit Mo-
bilier.* An investigation was made into all the charges,
and resulted in finding clear proof of the guilt of two con-
gressmen, one of whom had been the company's chief in-
strument for furthering its interests by underhand and
corrupt methods. The investigating committee recom-
mended the expulsion of these men, but the House con-
tented itself with " absolute condemnation " of their con-
duct. Happily the ablest leaders to whom dishonesty had
been imputed were exonerated by an examination of the
facts.

Other scandals than the Credit Mobilier were soon un-
earthed. It was found that a great conspiracy had been
formed for the purpose of cheating the Gov-

^ e T^7 S ? y ernment in the collection of the internal-reve-
ring, 1875.

nue tax on distilled liquors. This "whisky
ring " included men high in power and influence. Through
the untiring energies of Mr. Bristow, the Secretary of the
Treasury, the criminals were hunted down, the ring broken
up, and a number of the guilty punished.

About this same time articles of impeachment were
brought by the House against William W. Belknap, the

clause furnished the legal justification for interference on the part of
the National Government. Read Wilson, Division, etc., pp. 275-277 ;
Lalor, Cyclopaedia, vol. ii, pp. 784-788.

* This corporation organized under a charter from the Pennsyl-
vania Legislature. It received through roundabout and corrupt meth-
ods immense profits for the construction of a portion of the Union 1'ac.ific
Railroad. " The Credit Mobilier was, in short, the first, greatest, and
most scandalous of the ' construction companies ' which have since . . .
made bankrupt so many railroad enterprises." Mcrriam, Life and
Times of Samuel Bowles, vol. ii, p. 225 ; see also Hinsdale, Campaign
Text-book for 1880, p. 170.

ADMINISTRATION OF GRANT— 1869-1877.

491

Secretary of War. He was charged with receiving bribes,

and there was no doubt of his guilt. To escape conviction

he hastily resigned his office, and then denied

Secretary ot J

War impeached, that the Senate had the right to consider
1876, charges against a person who was no longer a

" civil officer of the United States." * The trial was never-
theless begun, but did not result in conviction. Most of
those voting in favor of acquittal said that they did so be-
cause they believed that the Senate had no jurisdiction.

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Just at the close of Grant's first administration Con-
gress passed an act increasing the salary of the President,
members of Congress, and other officers. It
provided that the President should receive fifty
thousand dollars instead of half that sum, as
heretofore, and that members of Congress should receive
seven thousand five hundred dollars instead of five thou-
sand dollars. This Congress was nearly at an end, but,
regardless of that fact, the act declared that its members

Salary grab
1873.

* See Constitution, art. ii, sec. 4.

492 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

should receive the increased salary for the two years just
closing. Great indignation was aroused in the country by
this calm appropriation of the public funds. Some mem-
bers paid back the money into the Treasury to appease
their own consciences and to help quiet the tumult. The
next Congress repealed the act, save such portions as pro-
vided for increased pay to the President and justices of the
Supreme Court. It must be said that previous Congresses
had passed similar laws and made them retroactive. But
the people now thought, without distinction of party, that
the " salary grab " was an unworthy example of avarice and
greed.

For some years after the war the business interests of
the country seemed to prosper. It was a period of great
enterprise. Kailroads were built and extended
I873 am ° ° ou ^ °^ a ^ proportion to the needs of the popu-
lation ; all kinds of industries appeared to be
thriving ; men entered boldly into new undertakings. The
war seemed rather to have stimulated industry than to
have checked it. But the day of reckoning was sure to
come. The finances were not in a good condition, inasmuch
as paper money still circulated and no law had been passed
providing for payment in specie.* Commerce was there-
fore built on an uncertain foundation. In 1873 a great
commercial panic swept over the country. Enterprise and
wild speculation were sharply brought to a standstill. Fac-
tories were closed and the usual suffering ensued among
the poorer people, who were thus deprived of means of
livelihood. Many men seemed to believe that the need of
the hour was more money, and Congress passed a bill for
the increase of the currency. Grant vetoed the measure,
because he thought that such action simply aggravated the

* In 1869 a bill was passed known as a bill "to strengthen the pub-
lic credit," wherein the United States " solemnly " pledged itself "to
make provision at the earliest practicable period for the redemption of
the United States notes in coin."

ADMINISTRATION OF GRANT— 1869-1877. 493

evil. In 1875 a law was passed providing for the redemp-
tion of the " greenbacks " in coin on the 1st of January,
1879. . When that day arrived the " resump-
esump ion. ^ Qn „ ^ S p ec i e payment was, as we shall see,
entered upon without difficulty.

The completion of a century of national existence was

celebrated in 1876 by an exposition at Philadelphia, in which

all the civilized nations of the world took part.

The Centennial The immense development of the United States

Exposition. r

in the course of a hundred years was here
brought to view. In the invention of useful machinery
the Americans had evidently kept pace with or surpassed
the people of Europe. Other countries learned much from
the exhibition of American machines and implements,
many of which were of unique model. Our own country
gathered many important lessons, helping the people to see
their own strength and their own weakness. The exposition
seems to have acted as a spur to the artistic and aesthetic
tastes of the people. One can not tell how much should be
credited to the Centennial Exposition, but it appears to be
true that from about this time there was a new appreciation
of art, and a growing desire for the beauties as well as the
comforts of life.

The country might well pride itself in this centennial
year upon its wealth and prosperity, upon its wonderful

growth in a single century. In spite of the
progress? 7 and & reat civil war > population had increased at a

rapid rate, even in the last decade, and was
still rapidly increasing. In 1870 the census returns showed
over 38,000,000 inhabitants, and in 1880 there were over
50,000,000. The people had given proof of great capacity
in mechanical invention ; nature had been brought to serve
man in almost every field of work. The land was now knit
together by railroads and telegraphs. At the beginning of
the civil war a telegraph line from the East to the Pacific
slope was constructed, and in 1869 the Pacific Railroad was

494 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

completed, reaching from Omaha to San Francisco. It had
been begun during the war, when the people felt the neces-
sity of binding East and West together by the firm ties
afforded by easy and speedy communication. Persons
could now cross the continent in a few days. Twenty years
before the journey was a toilsome task of weary months.

The Eepublicans nominated Rutherford B. Hayes, of
Ohio, for the presidency. William A. Wheeler, of New
BepuMican York, was selected for the vice - presidency.
Convention, The platform of the party gave no indication
of any change or material advance in policy,
but it spoke out frankly in favor of resumption of specie
payment.

The Democrats nominated Samuel J. Tilden, of New
York, and Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana. Tilden was
a man of great native ability, a lawyer of wide
Democratic reputation and skill. As governor of his State
he had relentlessly attacked the corrupt Canal
ring and the groups of thieving officials that were plunder-
ing the treasury of New York. The platform of the party
was largely made up of a series of demands for " reform."
It denounced the " financial imbecility and immorality " of
the Republicans, and demanded the repeal of the Resump-
tion Act of 1875.

There were two other parties in this campaign, the
Greenback party and the Prohibition party. The former
demanded the repeal of the Resumption Act,
Other parties. ^ declared themselves in favor of a paper
currency " convertible on demand into United States obli-
gations." In other words, they did not want gold and
silver as money, but pieces of paper stamped by the Gov-
ernment and issued at its discretion. The Prohibitionists
were in favor of making the liquor traffic wholly illegal.

The result of the election was doubtful, so doubtful that
people were in consternation and perplexity. Tilden re-
ceived one hundred and eighty-four electoral votes ; only

ADMINISTRATION OF GRANT— 1869-1877.

495

Kesult of
election in
doubt,

The returning
boards.

one more was needed to elect him. From four States —
South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, and Oregon — contradic-
tory electoral certificates were presented, one set
announcing that Republican electors had been
chosen, the other that Democratic electors
had been chosen. In each of the three Southern States
there was a returning board, to which the results of the
election from various parts of the State were reported, and
whose duty it then was to declare the result. All through
reconstruction times these boards had exercised
a wide discretion and wielded almost unlimited
authority. They were wont at times to cast
out the votes of some precincts
on the ground that the election
had been fraudulent ; and in this
way the reconstructed govern-
ments had perpetuated their
power. The Republican State
governments felt that only in
this way could they keep the
Democrats from gaining control
of the State by stealth or violence
and intimidation. The tempta-
tion for the returning boards to
use their unrestricted authority c >£^^/ ^.J^fot
willfully and corruptly was very

great, and it is plain enough that to leave the decision of an
election with a group of men whose interests prompt them
to defend their own authority is practically to make popular
government a nullity. The whole situation was one of the
unfortunate results of the distrust and ill feeling that
naturally ensued after the war. Now in this election the
Florida and Louisiana returning boards cast out the vote of
certain precincts as tainted with fraud, and declared the
Republican electors chosen. The Democratic electors also
obtained certificates, in Florida from a Democratic member

496 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

of the returning board, in Louisiana from the Democratic
candidate for governor, who claimed his own election.
From South Carolina there were double returns, the Demo-
crats claiming that the presence of Federal troops had
interfered with the freedom of the election, and that
they had been wrongfully counted out. In Oregon a post-
master had been chosen elector, and the question arose
as to whether he was qualified to sit, being a Federal office-
holder.*

The situation was grave. Up to this time Congress had
neglected to make suitable provision for the settlement of
such disputes and difficulties. As the Demo-
The Electoral cratg nad a ma j or ity in the House and the Re-
publicans in the Senate, it was clear that some
unusual means of solving the question must be found. It
is quite possible that the correct legal rule is that the
Vice-President is given the duty of counting the votes in
the presence of both houses, and can determine the validity
of the votes himself, without interference or direction from
Congress. But Congress had for years proceeded on a dif-
ferent theory, and had assumed its own right to settle dis-
putes. It was determined, therefore, that an extraordinary
commission should be appointed and charged with deter-
mining the validity of the votes in question. The commis-
sion numbered fifteen. There were five members from each
house of Congress and five justices of the Supreme Court.
The hope was to secure a commission that was non-partisan. f
But the chief responsibility was thrown upon Justice Brad-
ley, who was chosen by the other justices as the fifteenth

* See the Constitution, art. ii, sec. 1, § 2. For the whole contro-
versy, see Lalor, Cyclopaedia, vol. ii, p. 50 ; Wilson, Division, etc., p. 283 ;
Merriam, Samuel Bowles, vol. ii, pp. 278-30G.

t The Senate appointed three Republicans and two Democrats,
the House three Democrats and two Republicans. Four justices were
appointed, two Republicans and two Democrats. The four justices
selected the fifth.

ADMINISTRATION OF GRANT— 1869-1877.

497

man. He voted with the Republicans, and the commission
therefore made its decision by a vote of eight to seven in
favor of the Hayes electors. The basis of the opinion of
the majority was that the findings of the returning boards
were final, that the duty of the commission was to decide
what were the legal returns from the States in contest, and
that it was not its duty to investigate the merits of contro-
versies within States, which were by right left to the local
authorities. Thus it was determined that Hayes was elected.
Both candidates behaved with great decorum and as true

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patriots through these trying days. Excited as the men
of both parties were, there was not much feeling of uneasi-
ness or fear in the country at large. When the decision
was announced the defeated party accepted defeat. This
whole affair, then, was a victory for free government ; it
showed that the Americans possessed the prime requisite
for self-government — self-control. " It has been reserved,"
said President Hayes, " for a government of the people . . .
to give to the world the first example in history of a great
nation, in the midst of a struggle of opposing parties for

408

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

power, hushing its party tumults to yield the issues of the
contest to adjustment according to the forms of law."

References.

The best short accounts are in Wilson, Division and Reunion,
pp. 273-287 ; Moore, The American Congress, pp. 435-475 ; Dawes,
Charles Sumner, pp. 273-322; Julian, Political Recollections, pp.
326-374. Longer accounts: Blaine, Twenty Years in Congress,
Volume II, pp. 407-594; Andrews, History of the Last Quarter Cen-
tury; Church, U. S. Grant, 361-423.

^M&MmtMi

<%2>\-^

^'^^^^pt

Two of the Buildings of the Centennial Exposition
at Philadelphia. 1876.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Rutherford B.
Hayes.

The New Nation— 1877-1899.
ADMINISTRATION OF RUTHERFORD B. HAYES— 1877-1881.

Not much was known by the people at large of the real
ability and character of Rutherford B. Hayes when he en-
tered upon the duties of the presidency. He
was born in Ohio and spent his life there.
Having served with distinction in the civil
war, he was elected, at its close,
as a representative in Congress.
In 1868 he was chosen governor
of his State. Again, in 1875, he
was elected governor, and his
success in the election of that
year gave him something of a
national reputation. He was by
nature so modest and unpreten-
tious that, in spite of the fact
that he had held a number of
public offices and had been hon-
ored by the confidence of his
State, one may doubt if even
the people of Ohio knew him at
his full value or appreciated his
strength. While it is doubtless
true that he was not a man of great intellectual brilliance,
he combined in a rare degree mental and moral qualities
— firmness, purity of purpose, wisdom, conscientiousness
— that well fitted him for the great tasks of his admin-

499

500 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

istration, at a time when the nation, leaving behind it in
large measure the memories of civil conflict and sectional
hatreds, was ready to move on to new duties and achieve-
ments. The great need of the day was quiet bravery,
not ostentatious vigor. The years were years of heal-
ing ; they were fortunately uneventful. When the next
election came, it was felt that the troublesome days of re-
construction were gone; that, although there were jealous-
ies and heartburnings still, North and South were once
more growing together in national feeling and spirit.

One of the President's first acts was to withdraw the
troops from the support of the Eepublican government in

_. , , . , the Southern States where such government
Withdrawal of . te

troops from still retained power. His words are so momen-
the South. tous, as they indicate a different policy on the

part of the Federal authority, that they deserve quoting :
" In my opinion there does not now exist in that State
(South Carolina) such domestic violence as is contemplated
by the Constitution as the grounds upon which the military
power of the National Government may be invoked for the
defense of the State. There are, it is true, grave and se-
rious disputes, . . . but these are to be settled ... by such
orderly and peaceable methods as may be provided by the
Constitution and laws of the State. I feel assured that no
resort to violence is contemplated in any quarter, but that,
on the contrary, the disputes in question are to be settled
solely by such peaceful remedies as the Constitution and
the laws of the State provide." So at length the Southern
States were left to themselves. We need blame no one that
the difficulties had lasted so long, but it was well that the
day of interference was now gone.

The uneasiness of the people on the money question
had not been put at rest by the passage of the Resumption
Act, nor yet by the utter defeat of the " Greenback " ticket
in the late election. Some people felt that recent legisla-
tion on money matters had been in favor of the bondhold-

ADMINISTRATION OF HAYES— 1877-1881. 501

ers, and had disregarded the needs of the people. A law
had been passed in Grant's first term pledging the Govern-
ment ultimately to pay the bonds in coin. In
Financial 1873 silver was demonetized — in other words,

the United States mint was no longer to coin sil-
ver dollars. The silver dollar was then rarely seen in circula-
tion, because it was of more value than the gold dollar, and
was therefore exported to Europe, where the silver was
worth more as bullion than here as coin. There was so
much silver in it that, at the market price of the bullion,
it was worth one dollar and two cents in gold. At this
same time an act was passed ordering the coinage of the
so-called " trade dollar." This coin was intended not for
domestic circulation, but to be used in trade with the Ori-
ental nations, and it was not made a legal tender. After
1873, however, the silver mines of the country began to turn
out greatly increased quantities of ore. The opening up of
these mines is a matter of great moment in our industrial
as well as in our financial history, for the new West was
now rapidly building up, with silver as a chief product.
There was a demand for the recognition of this metal in
the national coinage. In 1878 the Bland- Allison Bill was
passed by Congress, providing for the remonetization of
silver. According to the terms of the act, the Government
was to buy each month not less than two million dollars' nor
more than four million dollars' worth of the white metal,
and to coin this bullion into standard dollars. This dollar
was made legal tender, and was to be of the same weight
and fineness * as before 1873, although now silver was of
much less value on the markets of the world than before its
demonetization.! President Hayes vetoed the bill, but it

* By fineness is meant the purity of the coin — that is to say, the
amount of silver or gold in proportion to alloy. The standard silver
dollar contains 900 parts pure silver and 100 parts copper alloy, and
weighs 412£ grains. The gold coin is of the same fineness.

f It is to be noticed that since 1870 a number of the European
states had given up the use of silver as a standard money.

502 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

was passed over his veto. Thus ended the first important
discussion of the silver question. A final solution of the
problem was not reached.

In the summer of 1877 a great strike took place among
the workmen of the country, chiefly the employees of the
Northern railroads, who complained because of
Strikes and a reduction of wages. In many places there
were disastrous riots and great destruction of
property. The commencement of the difficulty was on the
Baltimore and Ohio Eailroad, but the strike extended to
nearly all the Northern lines east of the Mississippi. The
strikers took forcible possession of the tracks at princi-
pal junctions, and prevented the forwarding of goods or
the dispatching of passenger trains. The whole internal
commerce of the country was blocked and thrown into con-
fusion. Fights between mobs and the police authorities
occurred, and the militia was called out to suppress the
rioting in a number of the States. Where the State troops
were unable or unwilling to check the insurrection the
Federal army was used for the purpose. The most serious
disorder occurred in Pittsburg, where angry and excited
mobs burned and pillaged and robbed ruthlessly, destroying
millions of dollars' worth of railroad property and freight.
After about two weeks of lawlessness and rioting traffic
was resumed on most of the principal roads of the country,
and soon normal conditions were re-established everywhere.

In 1879 an interesting controversy arose between the
President and Congress. The intention of the Democrats
_ ., , , in Congress was to restrain the Federal Gov-

President and ° , .

Congress at eminent from interfering in the affairs of the
variance. Southern States, or from making use of the

Federal troops to guard elections or to protect the blacks.
In February, 1879, the House passed the Army Appropria-
tion Bill with a " rider " directed against the use of troops
" to keep peace at the polls," and also passed other appro-
priation bills with riders that repealed the essential parts

ADMINISTRATION OP HAYES— 1877-1881. 503

of the general election law. The Senate refused to pass
the bills and they did not become laws. A new Congress
came into existence March 4. A special session was sum-
moned. Both branches were now Democratic. Various
appropriation bills were passed with riders,* the purpose of
which was to curtail the power of the General Government
in its control over elections. The Democrats declared that
their purpose was simply to erase from the statute books
the legislation which the war had produced, for which there
was now no need, and which was an insult to the States and
a menace to local government. The Republicans, in irrita-
tion, asserted that the Democrats were intent upon " starv-
ing the Government to death." The President vetoed the
bills with the riders, saying that a rider was an attempt on
the part of the House to force the other branches of the
Government to agree to undesired legislation. Congress
could not pass the bills over the veto. Some of the appro-
priations were then made without the rider, but the bill
providing for the payment of the Federal judiciary was not
passed, and all the court officials went without pay until
provision was made for them at the next session. This
contest between the President and Congress is of much
interest. Whatever one may think of the purposes of the
Democrats, Hayes seems to have been quite right in main-
taining that the practice of adding riders to appropriation
bills is productive of much mischief, and that if continued
it would throw nearly all legislative power into the hands
of the House, because it alone can originate bills for raising
revenue, and has assumed the sole power of originating
general appropriation bills.

It will be remembered that during the war the Gov-

* A rider is a clause attached to an appropriation bill and referring
to a different subject than the main body of the bill, the object being
to force the measure on the other house or the President by annexing
it, or " tacking " it, as the English say, to appropriations for needful
purposes.

504 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

eminent issued paper money and made it legal tender.
These notes fell greatly in value, and although, when the

credit of the Government grew stronger in
payments after years, the notes rose again they furnished

resumed, 1879, a t ^ e b es t a fluctuating and uncertain cur-
rency. In 1875, as we have seen, an act was passed provid-
ing for a return to specie payments on the first day of
January, 1879 — providing, in other words, for the redemp-
tion of the " greenbacks " in coin. Preparations were made
in the course of Hayes's administration to resume specie
payments on the day set. Gold and silver coin and bullion
were collected in the Treasury, and so complete and thor-
ough was the preparation, that when the time of resump-
tion arrived there were only a few straggling demands for
coin ; the paper was already at par with coin.

As the election of 1880 drew near the Eepublican party
was in good condition and hopeful of success. The wise

and conservative administration of President
Republican Hayes had won popular respect. There had

Convention. J \ r . f

been no scandals m public life. The resump-
tion of specie payments had seemingly secured prosperity.
The various elements of the party were united. The con-
vention chose General James A. Garfield, of Ohio, as candi-
date for the presidency ; Chester A. Arthur, of New York,
was nominated for the vice-presidency.

The Democrats nominated General Winfield S. Han-
cock, of Pennsylvania, and William H. English, of Indiana.

The platform declared among other things for
Democratic "home rule, honest money, . . . the strict

Convention. , «"

maintenance of the public iaith, . . . and a
tariff for revenue only." Candidates were also placed be-
fore the people by the Prohibition party and the Greenback
party.

The declaration of the Democrats in favor of " a tariff
for revenue only " caused considerable discussion during
the months that succeeded the convention, especially in

ADMINISTRATION OF GARFIELD— 1881. 505

the last few weeks preceding tjie election. For the first
time since the war the two parties differed radically and
explicitly on the tariff issue. It is true the
wad" ?/t£ d Democrats were not as yet wholly given over
campaign. ^o the principle announced in the platform, but

from this time on the party consistently attacked the reve-
nue policy of the Kepublicans, and the latter party took a
stronger hold upon the principle of protection. The South-
ern question was not much discussed during the canvass ;
indeed, there was less discussion of sectional issues than
there had been for nearly forty years. Garfield and Arthur
were elected.

References.

Short account: Wilson, Division and Reunion, p. 288 et seq.
Longer accounts : Blaine, Twenty Years in Congress, Volume II, pp.
595-676; Cox, Three Decades, Chapter XXXVIII; Stanwood, His-
tory of the Presidency, Chapter XXV.

ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES A. GARFIELD AND
CHESTER A. ARTHUR— 1881-1885.

Few men have taken the presidential chair whose train-
ing for executive duties had been so wide and various as
was Garfield's. Graduating from college in
SjSfSa 1856, he became a professor in Hiram College,

Ohio, and soon after president of the institu-
tion. He served in the Union army, becoming major gen-
eral. He was elected to Congress during the rebellion, and
served as a member of the House from 1863 to 1880. He
was a man of broad general culture, of scholarly tastes, and
of unusual capacity as a debater and legislator. He was
elected senator from Ohio in 1880, but was chosen to the
presidency before taking his seat as senator.

Although the administration of Hayes had done much
to bring together the discordant elements in the Republi-

506 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

can party, there were still differences and contending fac-
tions. The radical element of the party, which had been

strongly in sympathy with Grant's administra-
te Eepublican tion and had desired his nomination for a third
party. term in 1880, were known as " Stalwarts." They

objected to the conciliatory spirit of the Hayes administra-
tion. Their opponents were commonly called " Half-breeds,"
a term of contempt bestowed upon them because of their
supposed lukewarmness and their faint-hearted devotion to
Republican principles. As the differences were largely per-
sonal, the issues between the two factions were not very
clearly defined. The leader of the " Stalwarts " was Eoscoe
Conkling, senator from New York.

Garfield seems to have sought to reconcile both factions,
or at least not to arouse the enmity of the " Stalwarts." In

this he was not entirely successful. By ap-
i*eVe™ate 3y0f P ointin g to the collectorship of the port of

New York a man not acceptable to Conkling
he awakened the resentment of that senator. For some
years it had been thought to be the right of the senators to
dictate the more important appointments within their re-
spective States. This principle the President had violated.
To carry out and substantiate this right and prerogative
Conkling and his colleague in the Senate, Thomas C. Piatt,
resigned, appealing, as it were, to their State for ratification
of their conduct in resisting the President. The Legisla-
ture, however, refused to re-elect the two senators.

Perhaps these heated controversies and the consequent
excitement in political circles brought about indirectly the

death of the President. A hare-brained fanatic
Assassination ^y ^he name of Guiteau came to Washington

as an applicant for office. As he did not meet
with success, his mind seems to have been preyed upon by
his failure and inflamed by the political discussions with
which the air was heavy. He became imbued with a hatred
of the President, and cherished the idea that his death

ADMINISTRATION OF ARTHUR— 1881-1885.

507

would unite the party. On the morning of July 2d, as
Garfield was entering a railway station in Washington,
Guiteau shot him. For some time hopes were entertained
that the wound was not mortal, but after enduring great
suffering with fortitude and hopefulness the President died,
September 19, 1881, at Elberon, X. J. The people of the
entire country, and indeed of the civilized world, were
deeply affected by this awful tragedy and crime.

Vice-President Arthur took the oath as President at his
home in New York, September 20, 1881. When he was
elected Vice-President no one knew much of

Accession of

Chester A, his qualifications for

office. He had taken

Arthur,

a prominent and active part in
politics, and had been for some
years collector of the port of New
York. He proved during his term
of office to be a man of rare ad-
ministrative ability and pure pur-
poses, and soon won the respect
and confidence of the nation.

The trouble between Garfield

and the New York senators, and,

above all, the assas-

The civil-serv- s i nat i n of the Presi-

ice commission,

dent, called the at-
tention of the people to the evils and follies of the spoils
system. In two successive annual messages Arthur argued
strongly and wisely in favor of civil-service reform, and
pressed upon the attention of Congress the desirability of
new legislation regarding appointments to office. In Janu-
ary, 1883, Congress passed an act known as the " Pendleton
Act," authorizing the President to direct that appointments
should be made after competitive examinations. He was
also empowered to establish a civil-service commission. The
President put the act immediately into effect, and since that

508 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

time the regulations have been gradually extended by his
successors, until at the present time a very large portion of
the offices in the gift of the Government are bestowed not
as a reward for party fealty, but after an examination made
for the purpose of discovering the merit of the applicants
and their respective fitness for official duties.

The prosperity of the country was so great during these
years, and importations from foreign countries were so
large, that the public moneys derived from the
The surplus and duties accumulated in the Treasury until the
Government actually had more money than it
knew what to do with. The immense public debt rolled
up by the rebellion was rapidly being paid ; but the bond-
holders, resting secure in the credit of the Government,
were not willing to receive payment for their bonds until
they were due. It seemed desirable to many persons that
the tariff duties should be lessened, because the surplus
was unnecessary,' and might be even harmful by encour-
aging public extravagance, if not corruption. A new tariff
law was passed that slightly reduced the duties. In 1884
still another bill was introduced into the House. It was a
Democratic measure and was supported by the main body
of the party, but it was defeated by the combined votes of
the Eepublicans and a small number of Democrats who
were opposed to the reduction of the tariff.

For some years there had existed, especially in the
Pacific States, a strong sentiment against the unrestricted
immigration of the Chinese. The increasing
Seffldnese! number of immigrants had caused consterna-
tion, not to say alarm, in parts of the West,
and it seemed desirable to take steps to restrict the immi-
gration. In 1880 a treaty was made at Peking between the
Chinese Government and a commission from the United
States, providing that this country might place restrictions
upon the entrance of laborers from China. Two years later
a law was passed by Congress suspending the right of Chi-

ADMINISTRATION OF ARTHUR— 1881-1885. 509

nese workmen to come to this country for the period of ten
years, and in 1892 the period of exclusion was extended for
another term of ten years, and severe and strict regulations
were provided to prevent the breach of the law.

The presidential canvass of 1884 was a very stirring
one. The Republicans nominated James G. Blaine and
John A. Logan; the Democrats, Grover Cleveland and
Thomas A. Hendricks. There were two other parties that

put candidates in the field. The " People's
T f h iR84 Ctl0n P ar W which was really to a great extent the

old Greenback party rechristened, nominated
General Benjamin F. Butler, and the Prohibitionists John P.
St. John. The tariff was the main issue. The Republican
platform declared for a continuance of the protective sys-
tem, while the Democratic platform announced that the
party was " pledged to revise the tariff in a spirit of fair-
ness to all interests." To a portion of his party, including
a number of able and influential men, Blaine was not an
acceptable candidate. These persons, calling themselves
Independent Republicans, and commonly known as " Mug-
wumps," advocated the election of Cleveland. The result
of the election turned upon the vote of New York. Out-
side of that State Blaine had 182 electoral votes and Cleve-
land 183. The contest in New York was so close and the
outcome so doubtful that it was not known for several days
after the election which of the two candidates was elected.
It was finally determined that the Democrats had carried
the State by 1,047 votes. Thus Cleveland was chosen by
an electoral majority of 37. No State was carried by either
Butler or St. John.

References.

Short accounts : Wilson, Division and Reunion, pp. 2G8-293 ;
Stanwood, History of the Presidency, Chapter XXVII. Longer
account : Andrews, History of the Last Quarter Century.

510 HISTORY Of THE AMERICAN NATION.

FIRST ADMINISTRATION OF GROVER OLEVELAND-

lHH. r > I HMD.

Grover Cleveland bad held do national office when he
vvaH oalled upon to take up the duties of the presidency.

Be first won attention by bis services as Mayor
flJJJJJ d of Buffalo, where his frank, courageous per

formanoe of duly and bis bold use of the veto
power oheoked extravagant anu! foolish legislation. In
1882 he was eleoted Governor of New 5Tork, in which po-
sition he won the confidence of the people hy (lie diicet
n< of bis methods and the fearlessness with which he

opposed measures that seemed to him harmful to the public
interei ti ,

In his first annual message, in December of 1885, Cleve-
land oalled the attention of Congress to the condition
of the currency, lie showed that only fifty
l ' |il ! i 1 J i " r million dollars, out of nearly two hundred

and sixteen million silver dollars coined in a0-

oordanoe with the Bland Allison act,* had gone into circu-
lation, and he deolared that the oontinuanoe of silver coin-
age would bring the Government to the pass when it would
have only silver money, which would mean that the cur-
rency woidd he let down to a lower standard of v;ilue, inas-
much as the silver in a dollar was not worth a dollar in
gold. Nothing was done hy Congress regarding the matter.
It was believed by many that the President's fears were
fanoiful. Some, on the other hand, favored the " free coin-
age " of silver; in other words, they desired that the Goi
ernment should do more than simply purohase a limited

ftmOUnt Of the metal and coin it; they desired that if
should coin into dollars, freely and without limit, all the

silver bullion that might he brought to the mints. These

persons declared that the reason for the fall of sil\cr in
* Sec i'*t^t> r»Ol . Taper rvv\ .iflciilcM woro issiuul under this act, mid

ireri baton bj fchi ptopW, Inittari of iii«- silver tlwy roprwwntod.

FIRST ADMINISTRATION OK OLKVULAND— 1885-1889. 511

Presidential

succession,

1886.

price in comparison with gold was because the Government
made discrimination in favor of the latter metal. Other

persons, not going so far as to favor free coinage, saw no
great danger in existing conditions, and no law was passed,
nor was the time yet ripe for the money question to become
a party issue.

Vice-President Hendricks died in November, 1885. This
called attention once more to the desirability of changing
the line of succession to the presidency, in case
of the death of the President and Vice-Presi-
dent or their inability to act. At the next
session of Congress a bill was a*^

passed providing that in such
a contingency the Secretary of
State should succeed, and, if
the necessity should by any pos-
sibility arise, the other mem-
bers of the Cabinet should
assume the duties of the presi-
dential office in the following
order: (1) Secretary of the
Treasury, (2) Secretary of War,
(3) Attorney-General, (4) Sec-
retary of the Navy, (5) Post-
master-General, (0) Secretary
of the Interior. The law applies only to such persons as are
constitutionally eligible.* The Electoral Count Act also
became law. Its object is to prevent the recurrence of such
disputes as that of 1870, by providing that the
to$Ml?"* Statea themselves shall provide for the final
" determination of controversies " concerning
the election of presidential electors.

For many years past there had been a demand for a law
regulating interstate commerce. Congress has no au-

* The Constitution, art. ii, sec. 1, § 6.

512 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATIOtf.

thority to regulate trade or intercourse between places
solely within the limits- of a State and not directly con-
nected with commerce between States. But
Interstate interstate commerce is subject to national

Commerce Act. . J

legislation.* The railroads had for some time
been accustomed to discriminate in their charges in favor
of some shippers and against others, and in favor of some
cities and against others. The object of the interstate com-
merce act was to prevent discrimination. One of its most
important clauses provided that no common carrier could
charge more " for a shorter than for a longer distance over
the same line, in the same direction, the shorter being in-
cluded within the longer distance." For the administra-
tion of the law a commission of five persons was created.
This is a very important measure, and, in spite of many
difficulties and embarrassments in enforcing its provisions,
it has doubtless done something to bring about more equi-
table conditions in the railway service of the country.

The labor troubles throughout these years were many
and serious. There were numerous strikes in different

parts of the country, and the relations between

Labor troubles. , .

employers and workmen seemed m many cases
to be unsatisfactory and unwholesome. The labor organi-
zations, such as the " Knights of Labor," had come to have
a wide influence, and their membership was very large. In
1887 the American Federation of Labor was formed. The
object of these organizations was the betterment of the
workmen by securing higher wages and shorter hours, by
obtaining better legislation affecting labor, and by prevent-
ing useless or unprepared strikes.

Besides the regular workmen who desired good wages
and reasonable hours, and were content on the whole with
patient and sensible methods of securing their ends, there
were a few men who styled themselves anarchists and be-

* See Constitution, art. i, sec. 8, §3.

FIRST ADMINISTRATION OF CLEVELAND— 1885-1889. 513

lievcd that a better social and industrial condition could

be brought about only by a complete destruction of the

existing social order. Such persons had in re-

The anarchists. ,., ,,. «,i , -,

ality nothing m common with earnest workmen;
but they became prominent in the confusion that often ac-
companies a large strike, however legitimate its ends may be.
In the spring of 1886 a serious outbreak of violence occurred
in Chicago. A number of policemen were killed by the
explosion of a dynamite bomb while endeavoring to dis-
perse a crowd listening to the harangues of anarchists.
Several of the anarchists were arrested and punished.

When Congress met in December, 1887, the President
sent in a message dealing exclusively with the one subject

of the tariff. There was little doubt among
The surplus and men f either party that the surplus was too

large, and many felt that it was a serious
source of danger, because it was a continuing temptation to
extravagance or to hasty and unwise legislation. The Presi-
dent argued strenuously in favor of a reduction of duties.
While advocating the imposition of lower duties on raw
materials used in manufacturing, he called special attention
to the tariff on wool, which he declared constituted " a tax
fastened upon the clothing of every man, woman, and
child in the land." This message was one of great im-
portance, because, under this spur, the President's party
set earnestly at work to revise the tariff and lower the
duties. A bill directed to that end could not be passed
through Congress at that session, but the tariff necessarily
became the great question of the presidential canvass of
that year.

For the election of 1888 the Democrats renominated
Cleveland, and gave the second place on the ticket to
Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio. They declared that all " un-
necessary taxation is unjust taxation," * that the policy of

* This meant a high tariff, which, the Democrats asserted, took un-
necessary money from the people.

514 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

the party was " to enforce frugality in the public expenses,"
that a vast sum of money was being " drawn from the
people and the channels of trade and accu-
The el ® ctlon mulated as a demoralizing surplus in the
national Treasury." The Eepublicans nomi-
nated Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana, and Levi P. Morton,
of New York. They announced that they were " uncom-
promisingly in favor of the American system of protec-
tion." They declared that they favored reduction of the
revenue by repealing the taxes on tobacco and " spirits
used in the arts," and would prefer the entire repeal of
the internal taxes to a "surrender of any part of our
protective system." Candidates were also put in the field
by the Prohibition party, and nominations were made by a
number of other parties whose existence was indicative of
discontent among many of the people, especially the work-
men and farmers. The Eepublicans were successful in the
election, carrying all the Northern States except New Jer-
sey and Connecticut.

Before Harrison took office a number of important meas-
ures became law. One was the establishment of a Depart-
ment of Agriculture ; another was a bill pro-
Important yiding for the admission of the States of North

measureSi °

Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Wash-
ington (1889).* Congress also passed a bill for the return
to the States of the money that had been collected during
the war as a direct tax, but the President vetoed the meas-
ure.

Refekences.

Short accounts: Wilson, Division and Reunion, Chapter XIII;
Moore, American Congress, pp. 482-491.

* The next year Idaho and Wyoming were admitted.

ADMINISTRATION OP HARRISON-1889-1893. 515

Benjamin
Harrison.

ADMINISTRATION OF BENJAMIN HARRISON— 1889-1893.

Benjamin Harrison, grandson of William Henry Harri-
son, ninth President of the United States, was educated
in Ohio, graduating from Miami University.
After leaving college he studied law, was ad-
mitted to the bar, and began the practice of
his profession in Indianapolis. Soon after the outbreak of
the civil war he entered the army as a colonel, and won dis-
tinction for bravery and efficiency, leaving the service as a
brevet brigadier general. He
was elected senator from In-
diana in 1880, and showed in
the Senate marked ability and
capacity.

In the autumn of 1889 there
assembled in Washington a
congress of delegates from the
principal states of this hemis-
phere. The conference was
asked for by this Government,
in the hope that cordial and
friendly relations might be per-
manently established between
the United States and the coun-
tries of Central and South
America. It was hoped that an American customs union
might be formed for the promotion of trade between the sev-
^ eral nations, that a uniform system of weights

Pan-American and measures might be agreed upon, a common
Congress. silver coin adopted to serve as legal tender in all

business transactions, and that a definite plan for arbitration
of disputes and difficulties might be recommended to the
various governments represented. This congress was in ses-
sion several months, and, while not accomplishing so much as
its enthusiastic promoters desired, it undoubtedly did some-

^wf^

516 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

thing toward bringing the nations into closer and more
sympathetic relations. It is a fact of no little meaning
in the world's history that the representatives of many
nations holding the soil of two continents could come
together in peace and harmony to discuss problems of
trade and endeavor to promote good fellowship and neigh-
borly feeling.

In the House of Representatives there was a great dis-
cussion over the rules. It had long been customary for a
Eulesinthe minority to block the progress of lawmaking
House, by refusing to vote. A person not voting was

not counted as present, and a quorum, there-
fore, could be obtained for the passage of a measure only
when the majority could secure the presence of more than
half of all the members of the House. Thomas B. Reed,
the Speaker, interfered with the " filibustering " tactics of
the Democratic minority* in the House by counting as
part of the quorum all who were present, whether they
voted or not. This power was afterward given him by the
rules adopted by the House, f

* It should be noticed that the Republicans had used like tactics
when in the minority.

f It will be remembered that the Speaker of the House is not, and in-
deed does not pretend to be, the impartial presiding officer of an assem-
bly, as does the Speaker of the House of Commons. The contrasts
between the English and American systems are more striking than the
similarities. The American Speaker is ostensibly and actually a party
leader ; he feels the responsibility for what is done in the House, and
is so completely a master of the situation that no act can pass without
his sanction. By refusing to " recognize" a member offering or advo-
cating a measure to which he is opposed he can keep such measures
from coming before the House; he has the right to appoint the commit-
tees, and can do much to determine the general character of legislation
by the organization of the committees. Probably no Speaker uses this
power selfishly and arbitrarily; some leadership and responsibility are
absolutely necessary in such a body as the House of Representatives, and
such leadership has in the course of a century come to be centered in
the Speaker.

ADMINISTRATION OP HARRISON— 1889-1893. 517

Congress took up the consideration of the tariff and
passed the McKinley Bill. It was decidedly a protective
measure, increasing the duties on many im-
Bffl ?89o nley P orte(i articles with the purpose of encour-
aging manufactures and protecting domestic
industries. A distinguishing feature of this bill was a
provision intended to promote trade, especially with the
West Indies and the states of South America. It was pro-
vided that the President could by proclamation impose a
duty on sugar and certain other commodities coining from
countries that placed import duties upon our products, if
in the President's opinion such duties were " reciprocally
unequal and unreasonable," under the circum-
Keciprocity. stances# This was practically an offer to the
countries of Central and South America and the AVest
Indies to allow their goods to come in free, if they would
in return admit our products free.

In the middle of the summer that part of the Bland-
Allison Act providing for the purchase of silver bullion was
repealed, and in its place the Sherman Act was
a\ 6 i r 6 ^ 11 P ass ed, which provided that the Government
should purchase each month at the market
price four and a half million ounces of such bullion. In
payment for the silver the Secretary of the Treasury was to
give out Treasury notes that were to be full legal tender.
The silver so bought was not to be coined into money ex-
cept as it might be needed to redeem notes presented for
redemption.* By this measure, therefore, the Government
practically ceased to coin silver dollars, but became the pos-
sessor of a constantly increasing quantity of the metal.

During this administration there were a number of seri-
ous difficulties with foreign powers. In 1891 a mob in
New Orleans broke into a jail and killed several Italian
prisoners confined there. The provocation to such conduct

* During the first year two million ounces were to be coined each
month.

518 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION.

was great, inasmuch as it seems quite clear that these men

belonged to a band of assassins who had for some time been

plying their trade of murder and pillage, and

lt r a Ty ble Wlth had murdered the chief of P olice of the c %-
The courts had failed to convict the prisoners,

because, as it was generally believed, the juries had been
bribed or browbeaten. The Italian Government demanded
the arrest and punishment of the lynchers and withdrew
her minister from this country. Finally our Government
brought back friendly relations by consenting to give, as an
indication of good will, a certain sum as compensation to the
widows and orphans of the dead Italians.

Shortly after this there was trouble with Chili. A civil
war was waging there between the President, who endeav-
ored to establish himself as a permanent ruler,

SmMBL and the Con g ress - Up 011 the defeat of the
presidential party the American minister

opened up his official residence as a place of security to the
refugees. This he had a right to do, and like action was
taken by other resident ministers ; but the victorious peo-
ple felt, perhaps justly, that our representative had shown
decided partisanship and had endeavored too zealously to
assist their foes. A party of seamen from an American
man-of-war was attacked by a mob in the streets of Valpa-
raiso and two of them were killed. The United States de-
manded an apology for the outrage, and a sharp correspond-
ence followed. President Harrison sent in a full statement
of the trouble to Congress, and for a time it appeared as if
there might possibly be a war ; but Chili after a time sent
" conciliatory and friendly " statements of regret, and the
war cloud blew over.

During these years there was much discussion concern-
ing improved methods of conducting elections. It was
customary for the political committees of the contesting
parties in the various States or in the minor civil divisions
of the States to furnish the ballots used at the election,

ADMINISTRATION OF HARRISON— 1889-1893. 519

and no means was offered whereby a voter might prepare
and cast his ballot in secret. A number of States now
passed measures that were similar to or partly
in imitation of the Australian laws on the sub-
ject. These acts provide generally for the erection of small
booths, into which the voter can go to prepare his ballot,
and for the furnishing of tickets at public expense. The
candidates of all parties are placed on the same piece of
paper, and but one ticket is given to each elector. In this
way the opportunities for bribery and fraud are lessened,
since those who desire to use corrupt methods hesitate to
purchase a man's vote when, because of the secrecy in which
the ballot is prepared and cast, they can not be sure that
the person who has been bribed has fulfilled his agreement.
For the election of 1892 the Republicans renominated
Harrison, making Whitelaw Reid, of New York, the candi-
date for Vice-President. The Democrats for the
of 1892! 10n third time nominated Cleveland, and for the vice-
presidency selected Adlai E. Stevenson, of Illi-
nois. Thus the contest was between old rivals, and the issues
of the campaign were not essentially different from those of
four years before. The Republicans reaffirmed the doctrine
of protection, and asserted that reciprocity was
Satfarm" 1 a success an( l would "eventually give us the
control of the trade of the world " ; they de-
clared that the people favored bimetallism,* and the party
desired " the use of both gold and silver as standard money."
The Democrats denounced " Republican protection as a
fraud, a robbery of the great majority of the American peo-
ple for the benefit of the few." They declared that the

* Bimetallism means the use of two metals as standard money and
as full legal tender, the purpose being to determine the coinage value
in such a way that both will circulate on a parity. Monometallists
claim that only one metal can be a standard, and that the metals can
not be so coined that the market value of a gold dollar and a silver
dollar will remain the same.
34

520 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Sherman Act was " a cowardly makeshift fraught with pos-
sibilities of danger," but, like the Eepublicans, favored " the

use of both gold and silver as the standard
Democratic money of the country." A newly formed party,

called the People's, or Populist, party, nomi-
nated James B. Weaver, of Iowa, and James G. Field, of
Virginia. Their platform demanded the free and unlimited
coinage of silver and gold, at the ratio of 16 to 1, a gradu-
ated income tax,* and the public ownership of telegraphs

and railroads; it declared that the two old
Populist parties were simply struggling for power and

plunder, and that they had agreed together
" to drown the outcries of a plundered people with the up-
roar of a sham battle over the tariff." The Prohibitionists
and the Socialistic-Labor party also made nominations.

Cleveland was elected, receiving 277 out of a total of
444 electoral votes. The Democrats obtained control of

both houses of Congress, and so had the Gov-
Eesultofthe ernment completely in their hands. The re-

suit of the election showed that the People's
party had considerable strength. Weaver received 22 elec-
toral votes, and a popular vote of over 1,100,000.

Reference.
Moore, American Congress, pp. 488-499.

THE SECOND ADMINISTRATION OF GROVER CLEVELAND
—1893-1897.

By a revolution in the Hawaiian Islands, in January,
1893, a new and interesting problem was introduced into
the foreign affairs of the United States. The Queen, Liliu-

* That is, a tax on incomes so arranged that the greater a man's in-
come the greater the tax in proportion to the income. For example, a
man with an income of $4,000 might have to pay $40, while a man
with $8,000 income might have to pay $120.

SECOND ADMINISTRATION OF CLEVELAND— 1893-1897. 521

okalani, desiring to increase her power, contemplated the
promulgation of a new constitution. The more intelligent
residents of the islands, men who were Ameri-
Jevoiut^n iian can ky Dirtn or of Anglo-Saxon parentage, desir-
ous of being rid of a ruler whom they considered
incompetent and corrupt, deposed the queen and established
a government republican in form. During the progress of
the revolution troops were landed from an American cruiser,
the alleged purpose being the protection of American citi-
zens and property. Immediately after the establishment of
the new government commissioners were sent to the United
States to propose annexation. A treaty was agreed upon
between the two governments and was sent to the Senate
for ratification. Before the Senate had passed upon the
treaty President Harrison's administration came to an end.
Meanwhile the American minister at Honolulu had, at the
invitation of the new government, established a protectorate
over the islands in the name of the United States.

One of the first acts of President Cleveland's administra-
tion was to withdraw the treaty from the Senate. He then
ni . ,, sent a special commissioner to the islands to

Cleveland's *

Hawaiian make an investigation and to report upon the

policy. facts regarding the condition of Hawaii and

the cause of the revolution. The commissioner, upon ar-
rival, announced that the protectorate was at an end and
ordered the American flag hauled down. iVfter an investi-
gation, which the friends of annexation declared was unfair
and partial, he reported to his Government that the success
of the revolution was due to the encouragement of the
United States minister and to the landing of the United
States troops. After receiving this report President Cleve-
land and his Secretary of State, Walter Q. Gresham, en-
deavored to right the wrong which they believed had been
committed. Expressions of regret were sent to the Queen,
and she was asked to " rely on the justice of this Govern-
ment to undo the flagrant wrong." This effort on the part

522 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

of our Government was fruitless. In December the Presi-
dent sent a message to Congress reviewing the matter and
declaring that he would be glad "to co-operate in any
legislative plan " which might solve the problem consist-
ently "with American honor, integrity, and morality."
Nothing was done by Congress.

In the early summer of 1893 there were various evi-
dences of a severe commercial panic. For some time there

had been a great decline in trade, and men who
^ 8 p g a 3 mc wished to borrow money for business purposes

found it difficult to do so even on the best of
security. The foreign capitalists that held bonds or stocks
in American enterprises sought repeatedly to dispose of
them, in consequence of which there was great depression
in all industry. An immense amount of gold left the coun-
try ; the year ending June 30th over one hundred and eight
million dollars was exported. As a result of the depression
and the difficulty of obtaining money, and because the basis
of all credit — namely, men's confidence in the ability of
others to pay — was rudely shaken, failures of mercantile
houses occurred in great numbers. There were doubtless
many causes for this trouble, among which was the fact
that for some time previously there had been in many
places an unwholesome excitement and zeal in business
ventures, resulting in what is commonly known as over-
production. Towns of the Western and Central States
were " boomed " in a way that recalls to mind the infatua-
tion of 1835-'36.

Some persons believed that the panic came because busi-
ness men in this country and foreigners owning American

securities feared that the United States would
Sherman Act d t gilver standard, so that debts would be

repealed, 1893, , r , * .

paid in a dollar the bullion value of which was
less than three fourths the value of a gold dollar, by which
at that time all debts and commodities were measured. Presi-
dent Cleveland called an extra session of Congress for Au-

SECOND ADMINISTRATION OF CLEVELAND— 1893-1897. 523

gust, declaring in his proclamation that " the present perilous
condition of the country " was largely the result of unwise
financial legislation. When Congress met, the President
sent in a message recommending the repeal of those pro-
visions of the Sherman Act which authorized the Govern-
ment to purchase silver. A bill for this purpose was
quickly passed by the House, but the Senate did not pass
the measure till the end of October. This action seems to
have had little effect in restoring confidence or bringing
back better times. The depression in indus-
Depression ^ continued to exist. ' Before winter set in it

continues. J . . . ,

was estimated that eighty thousand people in
New York, one hundred and twenty thousand people in
Chicago, and sixty thousand people in Philadelphia were out
of employment, and many of them were suffering from want.
During this summer of panic and business depression a
world's fair was held at Chicago to celebrate the four hun-
dredth anniversary of the discovery of Amer-
The World's ica> * 0f all th international exhibitions as

Fair.

yet attempted this was by far the greatest.
The chief buildings, designed by competent architects, were
beautiful examples of chaste and noble architecture, which
must have left an indelible impression on the minds of all
who beheld them. The grounds upon the shores of Lake
Michigan were charming and attractive. The nations of
the world vied with one another in sending costly and
artistic exhibits. The attendance was very large, especially
"during the last two months of the Exposition. That such
an exhibition, with its magnificent buildings and its great
display of wealth and culture, could be held in a city where
but seventy years before only a little army post and a strag-
gling frontier village existed, was a striking proof of the
astonishing development of the great West and of American
thrift and progress.

* The celebration would naturally have occurred in 1892, but it was
found impossible to make the necessary preparations.

524 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

For a number of years England and the United States
had been at variance over the subject of the seal fisheries

in Bering Sea. To protect the seals from total
The seal extinction some regulations and restrictions

were imperatively necessary. To settle the
dispute in a friendly and sensible way, and also to deter-
mine some method of preserving the seals from complete
destruction, it was agreed that the whole matter should be
referred to a court of arbitration. The court met in Paris

in the spring of 1893. It was composed of two
The Pans members from the United States and two from

tribunal,

Great Britain, one from France, one from Italy,
and one from Sweden and Norway. Our Government made
two main contentions : (1) That the United States had juris-
diction and dominion in the Bering. Sea ; (2) that the seals
making their homes and rearing their young on the islands
of this sea were our property, even though they might tem-
porarily migrate far out into the Pacific Ocean. The court
gave a decision adverse to the United States, but issued
regulations for the protection and reasonable preservation
of the seals — regulations which, it was hoped, would be suf-
ficient for the purpose.

The year 1894 was marked by great and disastrous
strikes, during the progress of which much property was

destroyed and the traffic and commerce of a
rktL*i8ft4 l ar g e portion of the country thrown into serious

confusion. The worst disturbances occurred at
Chicago. The difficulty had its beginning in a movement
by the employees in the Pullman factories and car shops
for higher wages than the company said it could give.
After the strike had lasted , some weeks, it was extended,
under the direction of the Railway Union, a society of rail-
way workmen, to the railways that on demand had refused
to cease the running of Pullman cars. President Cleveland
sent Federal troops to Chicago to protect United States
property, secure peaceful transmission of the mails, and

SECOND ADMINISTRATION OF CLEVELAND— 1893-1897. 525

prevent interference with interstate commerce. The dis-
order was finally quelled.

The President was anxious that, in conformity with

Democratic pledges, his party, now in control of both

houses of Congress, should pass a new tariff

The Wilson Bill. , -f ' . r , .- _. .

measure to take the place of the McKmley
Bill. An act known as the Wilson Bill, lowering the duty
on many articles, was enacted. It was expected that the
revenue from duties on imports would be materially cut
down by this act, and to provide the requisite revenue a

tax on incomes of over four thousand dollars
The income ^ prov ided for. The constitutionality of this

portion of the law was later called in question
before the Supreme Court. By a vote of five to four the
court held that the income tax was, taken as a whole, a
direct tax, and it was declared inoperative and void because
not apportioned among the States as the Constitution
directs.*

President Cleveland's second administration was not free
from embarrassing and serious problems in the conduct of

foreign affairs. A rebellion in Cuba against

fompifcations. the P ower of s P ain found man y sympathizers
in America, so that it became necessary for the
President to issue a proclamation warning all citizens
against the violation of the neutrality laws. At the end of
1895 more disquieting events occurred. Venezuela and
Great Britain had long been contending concerning the
proper boundary between the former state and British
Guiana. The United States desired to bring about a set-
tlement of the dispute by arbitration. Great Britain re-
fused to submit the matter to arbitration, and

SuhTe e . neZUelan q uestioned tlie ri ght of the United States to
interfere. Mr. Olney, the Secretary of State
after the death of Mr. Gresham, insisted that this Govern-
ment had a right to interpose, and that such interposition

* See Constitution, art. i, sec. ii, § 3.

526 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATlOtf.

was in line with the principle of the Monroe doctrine and
in accordance with traditional American policy. December
17th the President sent a message to Congress, with the cor-
respondence that had passed between the governments.
The message declared that inasmuch as Great Britain re-
fused to submit to impartial arbitration, in the absence of
other means of discovering the true lines in the disputed
territory the United States should investigate the matter and
come to its own decision. He advised, therefore, an appro-
priation for a commission to make such investigation and to
report its findings. "When such report is made and ac-
cepted," the President declared, " it will, in my opinion, be
the duty of the United States to resist by every means in
its power, as a willful aggression upon its rights and inter-
ests, the appropriation by Great Britain of any lands or the
exercise of governmental jurisdiction over any territory,
which after investigation we have determined of right be-
long to Venezuela." Congress immediately appropriated
one hundred thousand dollars for a commission (December
18-80, 1895), and the President appointed its members.
The country was startled by these proceedings, for no one
had been aware that our relations with Great Britain were
at all critical. There was considerable difference of opinion
among the people as to the wisdom of Mr. Olney's dispatches
and the President's message, and there was everywhere great
interest and considerable, but not alarming, excitement.

While the commission was engaged in investigating the
claims of England and Venezuela, the English and Ameri-
can governments continued to discuss the

Arbitration . . . , . . , n — ,

agreed upon. question in dispute by correspondence. Eng-
land finally consented to leave the matter to
an international tribunal, two members of which should be
judges of the Supreme Court of the United States. To this
Venezuela agreed. Thus war was avoided, and the diffi-
culty determined in accordance with the precepts of civiliza-
tion and not the instincts and passions of barbarism. The

SECOND ADMINISTRATION OF CLEVELAND—1893-1897. 527

President and the English ministry also agreed upon a treaty
establishing a general court of arbitration, but this treaty
the Senate rejected.

After the panic of 1893 the General Government found
it difficult to keep a sufficient amount of gold in the Treas-
ury to assure the redemption of notes and
United States securities in that metal. The
President and his Cabinet believed that, if the gold should
get so low that silver was used for such purposes, there

would at once be great financial distress, and that our credit
at home and abroad would be ruined. To secure gold the
Government resorted to the sale of bonds, and in this way
increased the national debt by over two hundred and fifty
million dollars. This sale of bonds was very much con-
demned by many persons and as strongly defended by
others.

The Eepublican party nominated William McKinley, of
Ohio, and Garret A. Hobart, of New Jersey. They declared
in their platform : " We are opposed to the free coinage of
silver except by international agreement with the leading
commercial nations of the world, which we pledge ourselves

528 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

to promote, ana until such agreement can be obtained the
existing gold standard must be observed." The Democratic

party nominated William J. Bryan, of Nebraska,
°Sm, e i896. and Arthur Sewall, of Maine. The platform

demanded " the free and unlimited coinage of
both gold and silver at the present legal ratio of sixteen
to one " ; it also declared its opposition " to the issuing of
interest-bearing bonds in time of peace."

The People's party also chose Mr. Bryan as their candi-
date for the presidency, but nominated Thomas E. Watson,
of Georgia, for Vice-President. Mr. Bryan was also nomi-
nated by a party calling itself the Silver party. A large
number of Democrats were entirely out of sympathy with
the platform adopted by their party, and held another con-
vention, which nominated John M. Palmer, of Illinois,
and Simon B. Buckner, of Kentucky, and declared in favor
of the gold standard.

The campaign was full of intense interest. No other
election since the civil war has stirred the nation so deeply.

Although other issues were discussed some-
Eesults of what, the silver question was the chief subiect

the election. .

of dispute. Spite of the excitement, it was a
campaign of discussion and argument, not of abuse. The
Eepublicans were successful. Mr. McKinley received two
hundred and seventy-one electoral votes and Mr. Bryan one
hundred and seventy-six.

ADMINISTRATION OF WILLIAM McKIN LEY— 1897-

William McKinley was born in Ohio in 1843. Enlisting
as a private soldier at the outbreak of the civil war, he
served with distinction throughout the four years, leaving
the army as major. From 1877 to 1891 he was a representa-
tive in Congress from Ohio, and became one of the best
known men in the Republican party and one of the most
energetic and effective men in the House, distinguishing

ADMINISTRATION OP McKlNLEY— 1897-

529

The Dingley
tariff.

himself especially by his advocacy of the tariff. In 1891 he
was elected Governor of Ohio, and held the office for two
terms.

Two days after his inauguration the President sum-
moned Congress to meet in extra session. In his first mes-
sage he called attention to the fact that for
some years past the expenditures of the Govern-
ment had exceeded the receipts, and said that
there was an evident necessity for the prompt passage of a
tariff bill which would provide ample revenue. Congress
soon passed an act known as
the Dingley tariff bill, which
very materially increased the
duties.

The insurrection in Cuba,
which had caused trouble in
the United States
u a " and anxiety to the

previous Administration, was
still in progress, and was daily
producing more and more rest-
lessness and uneasiness among
the people of America. Many
persons felt, naturally, a sym-
pathy with a people who were
fighting for their independence
from a nation whose colonial
policy had consisted, from the beginning, in extorting as
much as possible from the colony for the sake of the mother
country, with little regard for the needs or the rights of the
colonists. Moreover, the people of the United States were
shocked by the methods used in the suppression of the re-
bellion, which were cruel in the extreme, entailing untold
misery not so much upon the soldiers in arms as on the
women, children, and other non-combatants. A large por-
tion of the whole island was laid waste, its commerce de-

£tr^/}*^>-

530 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

stroyed, while tens of thousands of its citizens died of want
and starvation. American residents in Cuba were at times
ill treated, and our Government forced to call upon Spain
for indemnity. We were obliged to police our shores to
prevent " filibustering expeditions " carrying arms, ammuni-
tion, and re-enforcements to the rebels. American com-
merce with the island was in large measure broken up, and,
though we had legally no right to complain of this inevita-
ble result of the rebellion, the patience of our people was so
sorely tried that it became evident that before long our Gov-
ernment would be compelled by Spain's own cruelty to de-
mand a cessation of hostilities. In Cleveland's administra-
tion an effort had been made to induce Spain to grant Cuba
self-government, if not independence ; but Spain would have
none of it, and even redoubled her energies to crush the
rebellion, continuing with greater zeal upon her appalling
work of desolation and destruction. Renewed overtures
from our Government, after Mr. McKinley became Presi-
dent, were met with assurances that local self-government
would be granted to Cuba, but it was now too late. The
insurgents were not ready to accept anything less than inde-
pendence, and the war continued.

The situation, already full of trouble, was aggravated
by an event which stirred the American people as few

events in our history have done. The battle
The Maine gj^p Maine, while lying in the harbor of Havana,

was destroyed by an explosion and sunk, carry-
ing down over two hundred and fifty sailors and officers.
After a careful examination, a court of naval officers reached

the conclusion that the ship was " destroyed by
trqr 11117 15 ' ^he explosion of a submarine mine, which caused

the explosion of two or more of her forward
magazines." After the rendering of the report it was ap-
parent that war was imminent. One is loath to believe that
the Spanish Government was itself guilty of such an atro-
cious outrage ; but some of the Spanish officers perhaps

ADMINISTRATION OF McKINLEY— 1897-

531

were, and if they were not, the disaster was an impressive
proof of a state of things in Cuba that was intolerable.*

The Maine.

Some further negotiations were carried on between the
two governments, and though Spain now made conces-
sions and promises, they produced little impres-
eg0 la l sion upon the United States, which was weary

of making remonstrances and peaceful representations and
of waiting for the fulfillment of promises. The Presi-
dent sent a message to Congress, April 11th, giving a
history of the Cuban difficulty for the preced-
ing three years, and asking Congress to em-
power him " to take measures to secure a full
and final termination of hostilities between the Government
of Spain and the people of Cuba, and to secure in the
island the establishment of a stable government capable of
maintaining order and observing its international obliga-
tions, insuring peace and tranquillity and the security of its
citizens, as well as our own, and to use the military and
naval forces of the United States as may be necessary for
these purposes."

President's

* See President McKinley's message, April 11, 1898.

532 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

On the 19th, Congress passed a series of resolutions de-
claring that the people of Cuba " are and of right ought to
be free and independent," demanding that
Mtion e88i0nal Spain withdraw her troops and relinquish her
authority, empowering the President to use
the army and navy and to call forth the militia to enforce
the resolutions, and disclaiming any disposition or inten-
tion to annex or exercise control over the island.

Prompt steps were taken to carry these resolutions into
effect. An ultimatum was drawn up announcing that

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Spain must before noon of the 23d of April give a satisfac-
tory answer to our demands or the President would use

force to compel acquiescence. The Spanish
April 1898. minister at Washington immediately demanded

his passports, and the American minister at
Madrid was given his before he could present the ulti-
matum. A fleet was at once sent from Key West to
blockade Havana, and war was thus begun. A few days
later Congress formally declared that war was in progress.
The events of the war do not need now a recital in detail.
The victory of Commodore Dewey over the Spanish fleet

ADMINISTRATION OP McKlNLEY— 1897-

533

Dashi Channel

NORTH I./
BATAN 18. J*«

Balintang Channel

^B^UYAN

in the Philippine Islands, the capture of Santiago by the
American army, and the destruction of Admiral Cervera's
ships by the American fleet are very recent events as this
history closes — events which seem fraught with momentous
consequences, far greater, perhaps, than any one could have
foreseen when the war was begun.

On the 12th of August preliminary terms of peace were
agreed upon at Washington, the French minister acting in
behalf of Spain. By the terms of this arrange-
Aurwt 1898 men ^ Spain promised to surrender all claim to
Cuba, and to cede to the United States Puerto
Rico and all other Spanish islands in the West Indies, as
well as an island in the Ladrones. It was also agreed that
the United States
should hold the
city and harbor of
Manila pending
the conclusion of
a treaty which
should determine
the final disposi-
tion of the Philip-
pine Islands. Com-
missioners appoint-
ed by both nations
met at Paris and
concluded a defin-
itive treaty, in
which Spain gave
assent to all the
express stipula-
tions and promises
of the prelimina-
ry agreement, and
also gave up to the
United States all

ADMINISTRATION OF McKINLEY-1897- - 535

sovereignty over the Philippine Islands. February 6, 1899,
the treaty was ratified by the American Senate.*

It seems strange indeed that at the end of the nine-
teenth century the United States and Spain should be at war
— a war growing out of Spain's colonial policy,
English and caused in large measure by the method

colonies. f co i on i a l administration that marked the be-

ginnings and has sullied the course of her history in the New
World. The defeat of the Spanish armada, says a recent
writer, with truth, was the opening event in the history of
the United States. The beginning of English colonization
in America was made with the hope that it would check
the growth of Spain and undermine her strength. Who
could have foreseen the long rivalry with Spain and the
ultimate success of English and American institutions?
Three hundred and twenty-two years ago an unknown
Englishman, supposed, however, to be the intrepid Hum-
phrey Gilbert, implored the Queen of England
to give him authority to attack the Spanish
shipping and the colonial establishments of the West
Indies. " I will do it if you allow me," he said ; " only you
must resolve and not delay — the wings of man's life are
plumed with the feathers of death." Time has proved that
great national movements are not for a moment, and are
not dependent on the resolutions or delays of a queen or a
passing generation.

During the progress of the war the annexation of the
Hawaiian Islands was finally consummated. A joint reso-
lution was passed through Congress providing
the Hawaiian f or the acquisition of the islands and for their
Islands, July, temporary government. A group of twelve
islands, with an area of 6,677 square miles and
a population of about 100,000 persons, one half of them na-
tive islanders, was thus made American territory.

* Twenty million dollars was given Spain for the Philippines,
35

CHAPTER XIX.
Conclusion.

In the preceding pages we have noticed chiefly the
facts in the political and constitutional history of the
United States ; but political events constitute but a small
portion of the activities of a nation. Laws are perhaps the
best single index of the movement of society ; but the per-
son that studies history from the laws alone gets but a faint
idea of a nation's progress. The people develop in thou-
sands of ways, and the changes of society are but dimly
seen in legislative enactments or in the platforms of politi-
cal parties.

We must remember that in the hundred years and
more since the Constitution was adopted the nation has
grown with astonishing rapidity ; that the fun-
Changes of a damental law drawn up by the men of 1787 for

PfinijTlTV

a little group of States on the margin of a
continent is now the law of forty-five States that stretch
from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In all that we study con-
cerning the history of the country we must remember that
the nation was always in movement, hourly waxing stronger,
reaching out year by year for more territory, and develop-
ing its industrial life and strength. We must remember
that since 1787 greater changes have come over the world,
in all that affects the industry of men, than up to that time
had taken place since the beginning of the Christian era.
The law that was framed by the fathers in the Philadelphia
Convention was framed for a people who sowed their wheat,
threshed it, and shipped it to market by the same tedious
530

CONCLUSION.

537

methods and with the same crude implements that the
world knew in the time of Solon. In the course of the last
hundred years new machinery has been invented, and with
its help man has multiplied his power. Steam and elec-
tricity have been harnessed to do his bidding, and the whole
industrial life of the people has been altered. Society has
become complex ; new and serious problems have arisen.
Everywhere there has been movement and change, and
political institutions have had to adapt themselves to a
people that were constantly expanding.

Distribution of Population in 1890.

Extension of
population.

In 1700 the population of the United States was some-
thing less than 4,000,000, including slaves ; in 1900 it was
over 75,500,000. When the new Government
was established the center of population was
thirty miles east of Baltimore ; it is now almost
as far west as Indianapolis. This is one of the astounding
facts of history ; and we may remember that, if America
has not as yet produced poets, or painters, or sculptors,
or musicians of the first rank, the people have subdued a

538

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

continent ; and they have taken possession of it not as a
nomadic horde, but have covered the plains and hillsides
with cities and villages ; they have taken with them, in
their work of winning the wilderness, the courthouse, the
schoolhouse, and the church.

Until the outbreak of the civil war the population of

the United States doubled in each twenty-five years. Since

that time the increase has been less rapid, and

migra ion, ^^ ^ e number on the census rolls of 1900 is

two and a half times that reported in 1860. This rapid

increase is due in large measure, of course, to the immi-

gration of persons who have come to America to better
their condition. Xot until 1820 was there any exact record
kept of how many persons were coming to the United
States ; the number was at first very small, and did not
reach one hundred thousand until 1842. Shortly before
the civil war over four hundred thousand came in a single
year. In 1882 the number of immigrants was over three
fourths of a million. Probably at the present time not
more than one half of the inhabitants of this country are
descended from persons that lived in the United States one
hundred years ago. When we stop to consider this fact we
wonder that the nation has developed symmetrically and
peaceably, and that these people of different races, with

CONCLUSION. 539

social customs and ideas differing from our own, ignorant
of our political and social system, have been absorbed into
the nation and been so speedily transformed into American
citizens in sympathy with American ideals. Doubtless
this ceaseless immigration has had its dangers and still
presents its difficulties ; but if all foreign elements can be
assimilated into our life, the composite nation that results
is not likely to be feeble or lacking in force, but an ener-
getic, delicately constituted, vigorous, and forcible race.

When the Constitution was adopted the people were
largely engaged in agriculture, and the cities were few and
small. Philadelphia had only forty-two thou-
Growth of san( j inhabitants, New York thirty-three thou-

sand. In 1800 there were only six cities with
over eight thousand inhabitants, and the urban population
was less than four per cent of the total. In 1900 there
were five hundred and forty-five cities of this size, and over
thirty-three per cent of all the people dwelt in them. New
York is now the second city of the world, and Chicago,
which in 1830 was a frontier village, contains more than a
million and a half of people.

The United States is no longer only an agricultural

country, as it was a hundred and twenty years ago ; its

industries are many and varied ; it has be-

ManufactureSi » ,-, *• £

come one of the largest manufacturing states
of the world. In 1900 the capital employed in manu-
facturing amounted to almost $10,000,000,000, the num-
ber of workmen was more than 5,700,000, and the total
value of the product was $13,000,000,000. In this re-
spect there has been great development in the last few
decades. Between 1890 and 1900 the number of factories
increased forty-four per cent, capital fifty-one per cent,
wages twenty-three per cent. The output of steel alone
was seven hundred and fifty times as great in 1900 as
in 1865. At the close of the civil war there were a little
over thirty-five thousand miles of railroad in the United

CONCLUSION. 541

States. In 1900 the total mileage was over one hundred
and ninety-five thousand.

Nothing brings before us the great development of the
country in the last few years more clearly and strikingly
than the growth of the West. At the end of
i* 6 fT eSS ° f ^ e Mexican War, the country west of Iowa and
Missouri was almost unpeopled. A few Mexi-
cans were living within the limits of New Mexico and Cali-
fornia. The Oregon country had something over ten
thousand inhabitants, including white people and Indian
half-breeds. The Mormons had just moved (1847) into the
valley of the Great Salt Lake, and were beginning their
wonderful work of transforming the bleak Western wilder-
ness into a land of plenty. Even as late as the discussion
over the Kansas-Nebraska question, the Western prairies
were thought by many to be a great desert, scarcely fit
for the comfortable habitations of men. The first settle-
ment in the Dakotas, Sioux Falls, was not made till 1857.
In Wyoming, it is true, a fur-trading post was established
as early as 1834, but there was no need of organizing a
separate Territorial government for this region until 1868.
By the census of 1900 the Western States and Territories,
from the line of Missouri and Iowa to the Pacific, con-
tained 11,187,901 people. The great American Desert has
disappeared from the map. The desert has given place to
vast fields of corn and wheat, and the rocky fastnesses of
the mountain ranges are yielding marvelous mineral treas-
ures. Colorado alone produced $29,000,000 worth of gold
and $12,700,018 worth of silver in 1900 ; and the mineral
production of Utah in one year is over $15,000,000. The
two Dakotas raise $50,000,000 worth of staple agricul-
tural products in a single season. These are certainly
very startling figures, when one considers that, within the
memory of men still living, these Western plains and moun-
tain valleys were unpeopled and unknown. But one would
have but a faint idea of this remarkable progress if he

542 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

stopped with a study of industries and population. The
schools, the universities, the libraries, the churches are wit-
nesses to the fact that the graces and refinements of civiliza-
tion have not been neglected. As the Puritans of Massa-
chusetts Bay provided for town schools and a college " while
the tree stumps were as yet scarcely weather-browned in
their earliest harvest fields," so in the new regions of the
West the school and the university have been the foremost
care of the people.

The words of Webster can not be too often repeated :
" On the diffusion of education among the people rest the
preservation and perpetuation of our free insti-
tutions." In 1870-1871 there were about seven
and a half million pupils enrolled in our common schools ;
in 1899-1900 there were over twice that number.* More-
over, the endowments of colleges and universities have been
greatly increased ; many millions have been given by the
States and by private individuals for the advancement of
higher education ; new universities have been founded, and
the number of college students has multiplied. Nowhere
else in the world is there such general interest in education.

While discussing the events of Jackson's administration

we stopped to consider the literature of the time, and to

notice that a number of great writers had ap-
Literature, , -, -. . . ,.,

peared whose work gave American literature a

new dignity and worth. Many of these persons lived until

after the civil war. Longfellow and Emerson did not die

until 1882. Whittier, Lowell, and Holmes lived into the

last decade of the century, the last survivors of that great

coterie of New England writers whose noble work in prose

* The teachers, in 1899-1900, including those working in colleges
and universities, numbered 435,768, having doubled in thirty years.
For the support of common public schools alone $213,274,354 were
expended, three and a half times as much as in 1870-1871. In 1899-
1900, $20.29 were spent for each pupil ; in 1870-1871, $15.20.

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544 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

and verse gave a new charm to American literature and
added a new interest and value to American life. Ban-
croft died in 1891, leaving his history as a great monument
of forty years of toil.

American authors have been especially successful in
the writing of history. John Lothrop Motley by his vol-
umes on the history of the Netherlands won

hLtT!^ a P lace b y the side of Prescott and Bancroft;

indeed, one may say that in historical grasp and
appreciation, in power of analyzing character, and in the
beauty, grace, and vigor of style he is clearly their equal, if
not their superior. Above the three, however, stands Francis
Parkman, in some respects the greatest historian America
has produced. He had the accuracy and the unerring skill
of the scientific historian, and he had, as well, imaginative
insight, power of sympathetic interpretation, and the abil-
ity to clothe his thoughts in peculiarly appropriate and
charming language. Such a book as Montcalm and Wolfe
is at once a great historical composition and a choice piece
of fine literature. Justin Winsor's work, to which refer-
ence has been made many times in the course of this book,
may not give him a place among the great writers of Amer-
ica, if one judges by the grace or felicity of expression,
but he was one of America's most learned scholars, and
his investigations into the early history of the country
showed great critical ability and remarkable mastery of
details. Among other writers of history whose work de-
serves chief mention are Edward Eggleston, James Schou-
ler, John B. McMaster, Henry Adams, and J. F. Khodes.

It would be quite beyond the scope and purpose of
this book to mention the names and work of all the men
who in recent years have written, in prose or
novefiatB 8 ' oets verse > volumes that are entitled to rank as con-
tributions to literature ; but we should notice
that in this respect, as in others, the American people have
shown strength and development. While the nation has

CONCLUSION. 545

grown and prospered, its imagination has not lain dormant
or been consumed in the processes of mechanical invention
or the prosecution of business enterprises. Novelists like
Bret Ilarte and William D. Howell s, poets like Edmund C.
Stedman and Thomas Bailey Aldrich, essayists like George
William Curtis and Charles Dudley Warner, and many
others who have written in recent years, have shown rare
artistic skill. " In the science of language and of things,
in the works of research, of history, and of biography, the
new republic is closing the century with brilliancy." * In
fact, the student of American life since the civil war has
no reason to be discouraged. The character of the nation
has not deteriorated ; its capacity to appreciate the good
and the beautiful has not lessened ; its power of production
in the realm of imagination is not diminished.

In painting, sculpture, and architecture America has
done as yet but little. In the Kevolutionary days there

were a few painters of considerable skill.

Peale, Trumbull, and Stuart possessed real
talent, and they left many portraits of historical characters
that are highly prized. But in the course of nearly a hun-
dred years there seemed to be little progress ; no indication
was visible of a development of artistic spirit among the
people or of growth of artistic power. In the last quarter
of the nineteenth century, however, there came signs of an
awakening ; a group of young artists appeared who pos-
sessed undoubted genius ; those that had been looking for
a new birth of American art felt that the day had come.
There are to-day evidences of a growing power of artistic
appreciation in the public at large. As the Centennial
Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876 quickened the artistic
spirit in America, the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893 sur-
prised every one by its proof of wondrous achievement. It

* Charles Dudley Warner in Shaler's The United States of Amer-
ica, vol. ii, p. 413.

546 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

proved that in various branches of art the people of Amer-
ica were now producing works of great merit — paintings,
statuary, and buildings that were worthy of any nation ; it
announced to the world that the day had gone by when
this nation could be sneered at as a mere race of money
getters ; it gave proof that the art in this country was no
longer servilely imitative, that it had passed beyond the
time of pupilage. The architecture of the Fair showed
that American architects were artists. The on-looker was
forced to the conclusion that the American people, who in
the course of a few decades had swept across a continent
and turned the wide prairies into plowland, were possessed
of more than mere mechanical skill and physical strength.
Here was evidence of a greater capacity, a power to appre-
ciate beauty, ability to minister to the aesthetic wants of
men. The nation was shown instinct with a vigorous life
which gave hope for the accomplishments of the future.

One hundred years ago the United States was an ex-
periment. Students of history who knew the fate of re-
publics in the past hardly dared to hope that this one could
live. The statesmen of Europe took little interest in what
was done on this side of the ocean, and did not believe
that a free and popular government could long survive
over a numerous people and a wide area. Considering
democracy as little better than anarchy, they sneered at
the idea that the masses of the people were capable of
self-government. So far our country has weathered the
storm, and we still have hopes that democratic ideals will
be reached. Politically the nation stands for the principle
that the people are the safest custodians of power, that they
can be trusted to do right, and that all are the best judges
of what is best for all. The experience of a century has
given us confidence ; the people in many crises have shown
a spirit of integrity and a capacity for self-control. But if
the future is to substantiate this principle, it will be be-
cause men and women are intelligent, virtuous, and honest.

CONCLUSION.

547

No one that looks about him can fail to see that the nation
is surrounded with perils ; for as the years go by society
becomes more complex, its problems become more difficult,
and the tasks of government increase ; and if our country
is to prove the truth of the democratic principle for the
future, it will be because the essentials of virtue and patriot-
ism are cherished. It rests in large measure with the
boys and girls that are now at their lessons in the schools
and academies of the land to determine whether or not
amid the perils of the near future the principles of popular
government will justify themselves.

The Court of Honor at the Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893.

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HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

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Richard Rush.
William Smith.

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Henry Lee.
Amos Ellmakei
William Wilkii

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554

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Summary of the States and Territories.'

States and Territories.

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

District of Columbia. . . .

Florida

Georgia

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

SETTLEMENT.

By whom.

French.
Russians.
Spanish.
French.
Spanish.
Americans.
English.
Swedes.
Md. and Va.
Spanish.
English.
Americans.
French.
French.
Americans.
Americans.
Virginians.
French.
English.
English.
English.
French.
Americans.
French.
French.
Americans.
Americans.
Americans.
English.
Swedes.
Spanish.
Dutch.
English.
Americans.
Va. and N. Eng.
Americans.
Americans.
English.
English.
English.
Americans.

DATE OF ACT
CREATING.

When. [Territory.

1713
1805
1598
1670
1769
1832
1633
1627

1565*

1733

1834

1749

1730

1833

1850

1775

1699

1630

1634

1620

1668

1827

1716

1763

1841

1810

1849

1623

1627

1598

1613

1650

1860

1788

1890

1811

1682

1636

1670

1857

1817
1884
1863
1819

1861

Original

1791

1822

Original

1863

1809

1800

1838

1854

1805

Original

1805

1849

1798

1812

1864

1854

1861

Original

1850

Original

1861

1890

1848

Original

1861

* From Appletons' Universal Cyclopaedia, vol. viii, p. 368,

APPENDIX.

555

Summary of the States and Territories — {Continued).

States and Territories.

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington . .
West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

SETTLEMENT.

By whom.

N. C. and Va.

Spanish.

Americans.

English.

Americans.

English.

French.

Americans.

When.

1765
1630
1847
1763
1607
1811
1607
1750
1834

DATE OF ACT
CREATING.

Territory.

1850

Original
1853

1836
1868

State.

1796
1845
1896
1791

State.
1889
1863
1848
1890

Cities of over 100,000 Inhabitants; Population in 1900.

City.

Population.

City.

Population.

New York

3,437,202
1,698,575
1,293,697
575,238
560,892
508,957
381,768
352,387
342,782
325,902
287,104
285,704
285,315
278,718
246,070
206.433
204,731
202,718
175,997

Indianapolis

Kansas City, Mo.. .
St. Paul

169,164
163,752

Chicago

Philadelphia

St. Louis

163,065
162,608
133,859
131 822

Rochester

Denver

Boston

Toledo

Cleveland

Allegheny

Columbus

Worcester, Mass., .
Syracuse

129,896

Buffalo

125,560

San Francisco

Cincinnati

118,421
108,374

New Orleans

Detroit

New Haven

Paterson

108.027
105,171

Milwaukee

Fall River

St. Joseph

Omaha

104,863

Washington

Newark

102,979
102,555

Jersey City

Los Angeles

Memphis ....

102,479

Louisville .

102,320

.Minneapolis

Providence

Scranton

102,026

CONSTITUTION

OF THE

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more
perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, pro-
vide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and
secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do
ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of
America.

ARTICLE I.

Sect. 1. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in
a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and
a House of Representatives.

Sect. 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of
members chosen every second year by the people of the several
States, and the electors in each State shall have the qualifications
requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State
Legislature.

No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained
to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of
the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhab-
itant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

• Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the
several States which may be included within this Union, according
to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding
to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to serv-
ice for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths
of all other persons. The actual enumeration shall be made within
three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United
States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such mau-
556

APPENDIX. 55?

ner as they shall by law direct. The number of Representatives
shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each State shall
have at least one representative ; and until such enumeration shall
be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose
three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Planta-
tions one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Penn-
sylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North
Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.

When vacancies happen in the representation from any State,
the Executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill
such vacancies.

The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and
other officers ; and shall have the sole power of impeachment.

Sect. 3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of
two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof,
for six years ; and each Senator shall have one vote.

Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the
first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three
classes. The seats of the Senators of the first class shall be vacated
at the expiration of the second year, of the second class at the ex-
piration of the fourth year, and of the third class at the expiration of
the sixth year, so that one third may be chosen every second year ;
and if vacancies happen by resignation, or otherwise, during the
recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may
make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the Legis-
lature, which shall then fill such vacancies.

No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the
age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United
States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that
State for which he shall be chosen.

The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of
the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided.

The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a President
pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice-President, or when he shall
exercise the office of President of the United States.

The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments.
When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation.
When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice
shall preside : and no person shall be convicted without the concur-
rence of two thirds of the members present.

558 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than
to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any
office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States : but the
party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indict-
ment, trial, judgment, and punishment, according to law.

Sect. 4. The times, places, and manner of holding elections for
Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each State by
the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law
make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing
Senators.

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such
meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall
by law appoint a different day.

Sect. 5. Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns,
and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall
constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may ad-
journ from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attend-
ance of absent members, in such manner, and under such penalties,
as each House may provide.

Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish
its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of
two thirds, expel a member.

Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from
time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their
judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of
either House on any question shall, at the desire of one fifth of those
present, be entered on the journal.

Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall, without
the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to
any other place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.

Sect. 6. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a com-
pensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out
of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all cases, ex-
cept treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from
arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective
Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any
speech or debate in either House they shall not be questioned in any
other place.

No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which
he was elected, be appointed to anv civil office under the authority

APPENDIX. 559

of the United States, which shall have been created, or the emolu-
ments whereof shall have been increased, during such time ; and no
person holding any office under the United States shall be a member
of either House during his continuance in office.

Sect. 7. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House
of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with
amendments as on other bills.

Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives
and the Senate shall, before it become a law, be presented to the
President of the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but
if not he shall return it with his objections to that House in which
it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on
their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such recon-
sideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the bill, it
shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by
which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and, if approved by two
thirds of that House, it shall become a law. But in all such cases
the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and
the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be en-
tered on the journal of each House respectively. If any bill shall
not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted)
after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law,
in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their
adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a
law.

Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the
Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on
a question of adjournment) shall be presented to the President of
the United States; and, before the same shall take effect, shall be
approved by him, or, being disapproved by him, shall be repassed
by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, accord-
ing to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill.

Sect. 8. The Congress shall have power, —

To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises to pay the
debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of
the United States ; but all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uni-
form throughout the United States;

To borrow money on the credit of the United States ;

To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the sev-
eral States, and with the Indian tribes;

560 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

To establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws
on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States ;

To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin,
and fix the standard of weights and measures ;

To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities
and current coin of the United States ;

To establish post-offices and post-roads ;

To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing
for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their
respective writings and discoveries;

To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court ;

To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high
seas, and offences against the law of nations ;

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make
rules concerning captures on land and water;

To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to
that use shall be for a longer term than two years ;

To provide and maintain a navy ;

To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and
naval forces;

To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the
Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia,
and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the
service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the
appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia
according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases whatsoever, over
such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of
particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat
of the government of the United States ; and to exercise like author-
ity over all places purchased by the consent of the Legislature of the
State in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines,
arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings; — and

To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying
into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by
this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any
department or officer thereof.

Sect. 9. The migration or importation of such persons as any
of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be

APPENDIX. 561

prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight
hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such im-
portation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.

The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended,
unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may
require it.

No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed.

No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in propor-
tion to the census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.

No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State.

No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or
revenue to the ports of one State over those of another ; nor shall
vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or
pay duties in another.

No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence
of appropriations made by law ; and a regular statement and account
of the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be pub-
lished from time to time.

No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States ; and
no person holding any office of profit or trust under them shall,
without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolu-
ment, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince,
or foreign state.

Sect. 10. No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or con-
federation: grant letters of marque and reprisal ; coin money; emit
bills of credit ; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in
payment of debts ; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or
law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of
nobility.

No State shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any im-
posts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely
necessary for executing its inspection laws ; and the net produce of
all duties and imposts, laid by any State on imports or exports, shall
be for the use of the treasury of the United States; and all such laws
shall be subject to the revision and control of the Congress.

No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of
tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any
agreement or compact with another State, or with a foreign power,
or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent dan-
ger as will not admit of delay.

562 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

ARTICLE II.

Sect. 1. The executive power shall be vested in a President of
the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the
term of four years, and, together with the Vice-President, chosen
for the same term, be elected as follows : —

Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature
thereof may direct, a number of Electors equal to the whole number
of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled
in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or person hold-
ing an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be
appointed an Elector.

[The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by
ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabi-
tant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a list
of all the persons voted for, and of the number of votes for each ;
which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the
seat of the government of the United States, directed to the Presi-
dent of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the pres-
ence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the
certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person
having the greatest number of votes shall be the President, if such
number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed ;
and if there be more than one who have such majority, and have an
equal number of votes, then the House of Representatives shall
immediately choose by ballot one of them for President ; and if no
person have a majority, then from the five highest on the list the
said House shall in like manner choose the President. But in
choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by States, the
representation from each State having one vote ; a quorum for this
purpose shall consist of a member or members from two thirds of
the States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a
choice. In every case, after the choice of the President, the person
having the greatest number of votes of the Electors shall be the
Vice-President. But if there should remain two or more who have
equal votes, the Senate shall choose from them by ballot the Vice-
President. — Repealed by Amendment XII.]

Congress may determine the time of choosing the Electors, and
the day on which they shall give their votes ; which day shall be
the same throughout the United States.

APPENDIX. 563

No person except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen of the
United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall
be eligible to the office of President ; neither shall any person be
eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of
thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the
United States.

In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his
death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties
of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-President, and
the Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death,
resignation, or inability, both of the President and Vice-President,
declaring what officer shall then act as President, and such officer
shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a President
shall be elected.

The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services a
compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished
during the period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall
not receive within that period any other emolument from the United
States, or any of them.

Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the
following oath or affirmation: — " I do solemnly swear (or affirm)
that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United
States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and
defend the Constitution of the United States."

Sect. 2. The President shall be commander-in-chief of the
army and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the
several States, when called into the actual service of the United
States ; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal
officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject re-
lating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have
power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the
United States, except in cases of impeachment.

He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present
concur ; and he shall nominate, and, by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public min-
isters, and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other
officers of the United States, whose appointments are not herein
otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law ; but
the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior

564 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts
of law, or in the heads of departments.

The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may
happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions
which shall expire at the end of their next session.

Sect. 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress infor-
mation of the state of the Union, and recommend to their considera-
tion such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he
may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of
them, and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to
the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he
shall think proper ; he shall receive ambassadors and other public
ministers ; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed,
and shall commission all the officers of the United States.

Sect. 4. The President, Vice-President, and all civil officers of
the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for,
and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misde-
meanors.

ARTICLE III.

Sect. 1. The judicial power of the United States shall be vested
in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress
may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of
the Supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good
behavior, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services a com-
pensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance
in office.

Sect. 2. The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law
and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United
States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their au-
thority; to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers,
and consuls ; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction ; to
controversies to which the United States shall be a party ; to
controversies between two or more States, between a State and citi-
zens of another State, between citizens of different States, between
citizens of the same State claiming lands under grants of different
States, and between a State, or the citizens thereof, and foreign
states, citizens, or subjects.

In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and
consuls, and those in which a State shall be party, the Supreme

APPENDIX. 565

Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before
mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction,
both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regu-
lations, as the Congress shall make.

The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be
by jury ; and such trial shall be held in the State where the said
crimes shall have been committed ; but when not committed within
any State, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress
may by law have directed.

Sect. 3. Treason against the United States shall consist only in
levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving
them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason
unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or
on confession in open court.

The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of
treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood,
or forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted.

ARTICLE IV.

Sect. 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to
the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other
State. And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the man-
ner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved,
and the effect thereof.

Sect. 2. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all
privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States.

A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other
crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another State,
shall, on demand of the executive authority of the State from which
he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having juris-
diction of the crime.

No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws
thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or
regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but
shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or
labor may be due.

Sect. 3. New States may be admitted by the Congress into
this Union; but no New State shall be formed or erected within
the jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by
the junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without

566 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

the consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned, as well as
of the Congress.

The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all need-
ful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property
belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution
shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United
States, or of any particular State.

Sect. 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in
this Union a republican form of government, and shall protect
each of them against invasion ; and on application of the Legisla-
ture, or of the Executive (when the Legislature can not be con-
vened), against domestic violence.

ARTICLE V.

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it
necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the
application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States,
shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either
case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Con-
stitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the
several States, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one
or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress;
provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year
one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect
the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article ;
and that no State, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal
suffrage in the Senate.

ARTICLE VI.

All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the
adoption of this Constitution shall be as valid against the United
States under this Constitution as under the Confederation.

This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall
be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shnll
be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the
supreme law of the land; and the judges in every State shall be
bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any State to
the contrary notwithstanding.

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the
members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and

APPENDIX. 567

judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several States,
shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution ;
but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any
office or public trust under the United States.

ARTICLE VII.

The ratification of the conventions of nine States shall be suf-
ficient for the establishment of this Constitution between the States
so ratifying the same.

Done in Convention, by the unanimous consent of the States
present, the seventeenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of
the Independence of the United States of America the twelfth.
Xn Softness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names.
[Signed by] G° : Washington,

Presidt. and Deputy from Virginia,
and by thirty-nine delegates.

AETICLES

IN ADDITION TO, AND AMENDMENT OF,

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

ARTICLE I.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of re-
ligion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the
freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peace-
ably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of
grievances.

ARTICLE II.

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free
state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be
infringed.

ARTICLE III.

No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house,
without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a man-
ner to be prescribed by law.

ARTICLE IV.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses,
papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall
not be violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause,
supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the
place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

ARTICLE V.

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise in-
famous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury,
except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia,
568

APPENDIX. 569

when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall
any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy
of life or limb ; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a
witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property,
without due process of law ; nor shall private property be taken for
public use without just compensation.

ARTICLE VI.
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to
a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and dis-
trict wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district
shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of
the nature and cause of the accusation ; to be confronted with the
witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining
witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his
defence.

ARTICLE VII.

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall
exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved,
and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any
court of the United States, than according to the rules of the com-
mon law.

ARTICLE VIII.

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed,
nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

ARTICLE IX.
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not
be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

ARTICLE X.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitu-
tion, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States
respectively, or to the people.

ARTICLE XL

The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed
to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted
against one of the United States by citizens of another State, or by
citizens or subjects of any foreign state.

570 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

ARTICLE XII.
The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by
ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least,
shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves ; they
shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in
distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President ; and they
shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of
all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes
for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed
to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the
President of the Senate ;— the President of the Senate shall, in the
presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the
certificates, and the votes shall then be counted ; — the person having
the greatest number of votes for President shall be the President, if
such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors ap-
pointed ; and if no person have such majority, then from the per-
sons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of
those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall
choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the
President, the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from
each State having one vote ; a quorum for this purpose shall consist
of a member or members from two thirds of the States, and a
majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice. And if the
House of Representatives shall not choose a President, whenever the
right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of
March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President,
as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the
President. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-
President shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority
of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a
majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list the Senate
shall choose the Vice-President ; a quorum for the purpose shall
consist of two thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a ma-
jority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no
person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be
eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.

ARTICLE XIII.
Sect. 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a
punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly con-

APPENDIX. 571

victed, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to
their jurisdiction.

Sect. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.

ARTICLE XIV.

Sect. 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States,
and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United
States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make
or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities
of citizens of the United States ; nor shall any State deprive any
person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law ; nor
deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of
the laws.

Sect. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the sev-
eral States according to their respective numbers, counting the
whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not
taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of
Electors for President and Vice-President of the United States,
Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a
State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any
of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age
and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except
for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representa-
tion therein shall be reduced in 1 he proportion which the number
of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citi-
zens twenty-one years of age in such State.

Sect. 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in
Congress, or Elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any
office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any
State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Con-
gress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any
State Legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State,
to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged
in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or com-
fort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two
thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Sect. 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States,
authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions
and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion,

572 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

shall not be questioned. But neither the United
State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of
insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for
the loss or emancipation of any slave ; but all such debts, obliga-
tions, and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Sect. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appro-
priate legislation, the provisions of this article.

ARTICLE XV.

Sect. 1. The right of citizens of the United State to vote shall
not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on
account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Sect. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article
by appropriate legislation.

INDEX

Abercrombie, General, 146.

Abolitionists, 334, 342, 347 ; perse-
cuted, 343.

Adams, Charles F., 374, 456.

Adams, John, quoted, 159 ; defends
British soldiers, 183 ; peace commis-
sioner, 213 ; Vice-President, 234 ;
President, 252-259; character, 252;
portrait, 253.

Adams, John Q., Secretary of State,
296; elected President, 310 ; admin-
istration, 311-321; portrait, 311;
character, 311 ; opposed to gag
rule, 344.

Adams, Samuel, portrait, 152 ; in the
town meeting, 183.

Agriculture, Department of, 514.

Alabama admitted, 298; joins Con-
federacy, 420 ; readmitted, 478.

Alabama claims, 457, 485.

Alabama, the, 456.

Alaska purchased, 478.

Alexander VI, bull of, 24.

Alien law, 256.

Amendments, first ten, 231 ; the
eleventh, 250 ; the twelfth, 258 ; the
thirteenth, 468, 473 ; the fourteenth,
474, 475, 478 ; the fifteenth, 483.

America, origin of man in, 1 ; discov-
ery of, by Columbus, 16 ; naming of,
21.

American people, condition of, in 1765,
151-168; in 1830, 333-337; in 1898,
536, 537. See also Industrial Condi-
tions.

Amherst, General Jeffrey, 147.

Anarchist riot, 513.

Anderson, Major, 413, 419.

Andros, Sir Edmund, 95, 103, 105.

Annapolis convention, 224.

Annexation of Louisiana, 262, 268 ; of
Florida, 302 ; of Texas, 356 ; of Ore-
gon, 360 ; of California and the
West, 368 ; Gadsden purchase, 369 ;
of Alaska, 479 ; of Hawaii, 533 ; of
Puerto Eico, 532.

Antietam, battle of, 439.

Appomattox, surrender of Lee at, 465.

Arbitration (see Alabama Claims, Seal
Fisheries) ; of Venezuelan dispute,
526 ; treaty, 527.

Aristotle, quoted, 13.

Arkansas admitted, 336 ; secedes, 420 ;
readmitted, 478.

Arnold, Benedict, attacks Quebec,
194 ; treason, 210.

Art in America, 545.

Arthur, Chester A., elected Vice-
President, 504; becomes President,
507 ; character, 507.

Articles of Confederation. See Con-
federation.

Ash burton treaty, the, 351.

Asia, desire to reach, 18.

Association, the, 186.

Assumption of State debts, 240, 241.

Atlanta, capture of, 458.

Azores, the, 24.

Bacon's rebellion, 52.
Balboa, 23.
Ballot reform, 519.

573

574

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Baltimore, Lord, 55 ; founds Mary-
land, 58.

Bancroft, George, 333, 359.

Bank, the first, 241 ; the second, 293,
302 ; new charter vetoed, 329 ; re-
moval of deposits, 331 ; National
Bank Act, 449, 450.

Barclay, Commodore, 286.

Barnburners, the, 373, 374.

Belknap, W. W., 490.

Bell, John, nominated for President,
409.

Belligerency of Confederacy, 425.

Bennington, battle of, 203.

Benton, Thomas H., quoted, 301, 364;
offers expunging resolution, 331.

Berkeley, Lord John, 105.

Berkeley, Sir William, 51 ; quoted, 53.

Birney, James G., 347, 355.

Black, Jeremiah S., 399, 413.

Blaine, J. G., nominated for presi-
dency, 509.

Blair, Francis P., Jr., nominated for
vice-presidency, 480.

Booth, J. W., 469.

Boston, founded, 80; evacuated by
British, 193 ; maps, 192, 193.

Boston massacre, the, 182, 188.

Boston Tea Party, the, 184.

Boundary of the United States, 213,
351, 487. See also Annexation.

Braddock's defeat, 142.

Bradford, William, quoted, 71-75; his
manuscript history, 73.

Bradley, J. P., 497.

Bragg, General, 433, 434, 447, 448.

Brandywine, battle of, 204.

Breckenridge, John C, elected Vice-
President, 397 ; nominated for Presi-
dent, 409.

Bristow, B. H., 490.

Brown, B. G., nominated for vice-
presidency, 488.

Brown, General J., 288.

Brown, John, raid of, 407; his fort,
408.

Bryan, William J., 528.

Buchanan, James, Secretary of State,
359; minister to England, 387;
elected President, 396, 397 ; portrait,
398 ; character, 398 ; administration,
398-416; message, 412; the South-
ern forts, 413.

Buckner, Simon B., 528.

Buell, General, 426, 430, 432.

Buena Vista, battle of, 366.

Bull of demarcation, 24.

Bull Eun, battle of, 423.

Bunker Hill, battle of, 192.

Burgoyne, General John, surrenders,
203.

Burke, Edmund, quoted, 119, 158, 167,
181.

Burnside, General, 439.

Burr, Aaron, elected Vice-President,
258 ; duel with Hamilton, 268 ; con-
spiracy, 269.

Butler, William O., 373.

Cabinet, the first, 235 ; nature of, 236 ;
changes in, 250.

Cabot, John, 19.

Cabot, Sebastian, 19.

Calhoun, John C, enters Congress,
279 ; Secretary of War, 296 ; princi-
ples, 294, 325, 380, 415 ; portrait, 326 ;
resigns vice-presidency, 328; quoted,
363 ; position on slavery, 372, 379.

California, desire to obtain, 362; con-
quered, 367 ; annexed, 368 ; gold
discovered, 376; admitted, 377-381.

Calvert, Cecilius, 55.

Calvert, George (see Baltimore), 55.

Camden, battle of, 208.

Cameron, Simon, 418, 429.

Canada. See New France.

Cape Verde Islands, 24.

Carolinas, the, early history, 61-66;
charter, 62 ; map of grant, 62; be-
ginning of North Carolina, 63; be-
ginning of South Carolina, 63;
Locke's "Grand Model," 63; be-
come royal colonies, 124. See also
North Carolina and South Carolina.

INDEX.

575

Caroline affair, the, 351.

Carpet-bag government, 478, 484.

Carteret, Sir George, 105.

Carteret, Philip, 105.

Cartier, Jacques, 29.

Cass, Lewis, 325 ; writes Nicholson
letter, 372 ; nominated for President,
373; Secretary of State, 398; re-
signs, 413.

Cavaliers, immigration of, 49, 50.

Cedar Creek, battle of, 455.

Centennial Exposition, the, 493, 498.

Cerro Gordo, battle of, 367.

Champlain, Samuel de, 130.

Chancellorsville, battle of, 445.

Chapul tepee, battle of, 367.

Charles I, 49, 61, 75.

Charles II, 52, 62, 94.

Charleston founded, 63; convention
at, 410; map, 419.

Charleston Mercury, 411.

Chase, Salmon P., 386; Secretary of
Treasury, 418, 419 ; resigns, 460,
461 ; portrait, 461 ; presides at im-
peachment trial, 477.

Chattanooga, battle of, 447, 448.

Chesapeake, the affair of the, 273.

Chicago, 283, 336, 589.

Chickamauga, battle of, 447.

Chili, trouble with, 518.

Chinese, exclusion of, 508.

Chippewa, battle of, 288.

Christ Church, Boston, view of, 128.

Cincinnati in 1810, 298.

Cities, growth of, 539. See also Indus-
trial Conditions.

Civil Eights bill, 474.

Civil-service reform, 488, 507.

Civil war, causes, 409-416; progress,
419-465 ; losses, 467 ; effects, 483.

Claiborne, William, 58.

Clark, George Kogers, services, 207.

Clay, Henry, as speaker, 279, 280 ; and
the Missouri compromise, 306 ; por-
trait, 309 ; candidate for President,
310; Secretary of State, 310; char-
acter, 330 ; candidate for presi-

dency, 330, 354, 355 ; in 1840, 346 ;
offers compromise of 1850, 378 ;
death, 385.

Cleveland, Grover, elected President,
509 ; life and character, 510 : por-
trait, 511 ; first administration, 510-
514; renominated, 513; renomi-
nated and elected, 519; second
administration, 520-527 ; Hawaiian
policy, 521 ; Venezuelan message,
525.

Clinton, De Witt, 285, 314.

Clinton, George, Vice-President, 268,
275.

Clinton, Sir Henry, 197, 206.

Cobb, Howell, 398, 413.

Cochrane, John, 461.

Cold Harbor, battle of, 454.

Colfax, Schuyler, elected Vice-Presi-
dent, 480.

Colonies. See English Colonies, En-
glish Colonization, French Coloni-
zation, etc.

Columbus, Christopher, early life, 11 ;
first voyage, 16 ; discovers America,
16 ; other discoveries, 18 ; portrait
of, 11 ; house in which he died, 27.

Commerce with the East, 7.

Committees of Correspondence, 183.

Compromise, in Constitutional Con-
vention, 227, 228; Missouri, 305;
of 1833, 328 ; of 1850, 378-382 ; the
Crittenden, 414.

Confederacy, Southern, formed, 414,
415 ; belligerency acknowledged,
425 ; difficulty in supporting war,
466.

Confederation, Articles of, proposed,
206, 216; ratified, 216; character,
216 ; trouble during, 218-220, 224.

Confederation, New England, 91.

Congress, the Albany, 139. See also
Continental Congress.

Conkling, Roscoe, 506.

Connecticut, 87-89 ; "Constitution of,
88 ; charter, 92 ; in confederation,
91 ; in eighteenth century, 120.

576

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Constitution framed, 224-229 ; charac-
ter, 229, 232 ; ratified, 230, 231 ; broad
and strict construction, 242.

Constitution, the, battle of, with the
Guerriere, 284 ; cut of, 284.

Constitutions, first State, 196.

Continental Congress, the First, 185 ;
its declarations, 186 ; Articles of As-
sociation, 186.

Continental Congress, the Second,
meets, 191 ; incompetency, 205 ; pow-
ers of, 216.

Convention, the Federal, meeting of,
224 : membership, 224 ; work of, 225-
228.

Cornwallis, General, 199; baffled by
Washington, 200 ; in the South, 208-
211 ; baffled by Lafayette, 210 ; sur-
renders, 211.

Coronado, 23.

Cortez, Hernando, 23.

Cotton, 300, 404, 426.

Cotton gin, 300.

Court, Federal, established, 239 ; sec-
ond judiciary act, 265; judges im-
peached, 265, 266.

Courtesies of the Senate, 506.

Crandall, Prudence, 343.

Crawford, William II., 296, 310.

Credit Mobilier, 490.

Crown Point, attacked by English,
143 ; taken by Americans, 191.

Cuba, desire to obtain, 387, 412 ; rebel-
lion in, 525, 529 ; United States de-
clares independence of, 531, 532.

Cumberland road, 294.

Currency, 292, 449, 450, 467, 492, 520,
527 ; demonetization of silver, 501 ;
Bland-Allison Bill, 501 ; the silver
question, 510, 517, 522, 527, 528 ; the
Sherman Act, 517, 522.

Dale, Sir Thomas, 42.

Dallas, George M., Vice-President, 354.

Davis, Jefferson, 386 ; Confederate

President, 415; portrait, 415.
Davis, John, 31.

Dayton, William L., 397.

Dearborn, General, 287.

Debt, national, 240, 467, 481 ; State, as-
sumption of, 240, 241.

Delaware, Lord, 42.

Delaware, early history, 101, 113.

Democracy, 334-336, 546.

Democratic party, divided, 409 ; atti-
tude toward the war, 429. See also
Party.

De Soto, 23.

Detroit, surrender of, 283.

Development of the United States,
536-547.

Dewey, Commodore, 532.

Dickinson, John, 181; portrait of, 180.

Discovery, Spanish, 23.

Dixon, Archibald, 388.

Donelson, Andrew J., 397.

Donelson, Fort, 430, 431.

Dorr rebellion, the, 352.

Douglas, Stephen A., supports Kansas-
Nebraska bill, 388, 391 ; debate with
Lincoln, 402; nominated for Presi-
dent, 409.

Draft, the, 451 ; riots, 451.

Drake, Sir Franeis, voyages of, 31.

Dred Scott case, 399.

Duquesne, Fort, 142, 147.

Dutch, the, settle in America, 97 ; lose
New Netherland, 102 ; character of,
97, 104.

Earle, Thomas, 347.

Early, General, 455.

East, the, books on, 8.

Education, in colonies, 54, 83, 156, 159,
161, 333; in the United States, 333,
542.

Eighteenth century, character of, 118,
127; history of, 116-125.

Election of 1789, 284 ; 1792, 245 ; 1796,
252; 1800, 258; 1804, 268; 1808,
275 ; 1812, 285 ; 1816, 294 ; 1820, 307 ;
1824, 310 ; 1828, 319, 320 ; 1832, 329,
330 ; 1836, 338 ; 1840, 345-348 ; 1844,
354-356; 1848, 373,374; 1852, 385;

INDEX.

577

1856, 396 ; 1860, 409 ; 1864, 460-462 ;
1868, 480 ; 1872, 487, 488 ; 1876, 494-
497 ; 1880, 504, 505; 1884, 509 ; 1888,
514; 1892,519; 1896,527,528.

Electoral Commission, the, 496.

Ellsworth, Oliver, 225.

Emancipation proclamation, facsimile
of, 442 ; issued, 443 ; results, 444.

Embargo, 274.

Endicott, John, 78.

England, in sixteenth century, 28 ;
hatred of Spain, 30 ; claims in eight-
eenth century, 116, 125 ; wars with
France, 117, 129-150, 271 ; war with
Spain, 127 ; claims the West, 140 ;
condition of, 143 ; trouble with,
246-248 ; at war with France, 246 ;
War of 1812, 281-291 ; treaty with,
see Treaties ; acknowledges bel-
ligerency of South, 425 ; and the
Trent affair, 429 ; Alabama trouble,
see Alabama Claims ; Venezuela
question, 525.

English colonies, political character,
118 ; in eighteenth century, 116-128 ;
conditions, 151-168; schools, 156;
local government, 163-165 ; forms
of government, 166.

English colonization, motives for, 32,
34 ; character of, 136, 145.

English, W. II., nominated for vice-
presidency, 504.

Era of good feeling, 297, 310.

Ericson, Leif, 4.

Erie Canal, 314.

Erskine treaty, 276.

Essex, cruise of, 290.

Everett, Edward, quoted, 387; nomi-
nated for Vice-President, 409.

Expunging resolution, 331.

Fair Oaks, battle of, 436.

Farragut, David G., 435, 436.

Federalist, the, 231.

Federalist party, 255 (see also Party) ;

downfall, 257.
Fessenden, William P., 461.

Field, James G., 520.

Fillmore, Millard, elected Vice-Presi-
dent, 374 ; President, 382-386 ; char-
acter, 382 ; nominated for President,
397.

Financial questions. See Currency,
Banks, Debt.

Fisheries, the, 486.

Five Nations, the. See Iroquois.

Florida, annexed, 302 ; admitted, 376 ;
joins Confederacy, 420 ; readmitted,
478 ; election of 1876 in, 495.

Florida, West, Spanish claim to, 213,
264 ; seized, 264.

Floyd, John B., 398, 413. .

Foote, Commodore, 430, 432.

Force bills, 485.

Fox, George, 108, 109.

France, in sixteenth century, 28 ; wars
with England, 117, 129-150, 271;
colonization, 130 ; claims Mississippi
Valley, 140 ; in eighteenth century,
144 ; alliance with, 204, 206 ; sends
Genet to America, 247 ; difficulties
with, 253-255, 273, 276. See also
New France.

Franklin, Benjamin, his plan of Union,
139; portrait, 162; birthplace, 162;
in France, 204 ; peace commissioner,
212 ; in Philadelphia convention,
224.

Frederick, King, 143.

Fredericksburg, battle of, 439, 440.

Free-soil party. See Party.

Frelinghuysen, Theodore, 355.

Fremont, John C, nominated for
President, 397, 461.

French and Indian War, 142-150; im-
portant results of, 148, 150.

French colonization, failure of, in
South, 29 ; success of, in North,
29; beginnings, 130; character,
136.

French decrees, 273, 277.

French explorers, 133.

Friends. See Quakers.

Frobisher, Martin, 31.

578

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Fugitive slave law, 381 ; violated, 393,
400.

Gadsden purchase, the, 369.

Gage, General, 192.

Gallatin, Albert, Secretary of the
Treasury, 261.

Garfield, James A., mentioned, 430;
elected President, 504; administra-
tion, 505-508 ; life and character,
505 ; assassinated, 507.

Garrison, William L., 342.

Gaspee, the, destroyed, 183.

Gates, General Horatio, 203; defeated
at Camden, 208.

Genet, Citizen, 247.

Geneva award, the, 486.

Geography, early knowledge of, 12.

George, Fort, 287.

George III, purposes of, 171, 184 ; hires
mercenaries, 193 ; loses America, 212.

Gcrmantown, battle of, 204.

Gerry, Elbridge, Commissioner, 254;
Vice-President, 285.

Gettysburg, battle of, 445.

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 32.

Gorges, Ferdinando, 89 ; grant to, 90.

Graham, William A., 385.

Granger, Francis, 338.

Grant, Ulysses S., quoted, 367, 459 ; in
civil war, 427, 430, 432, 434, 446,
452-455, 464, 465 ; elected President,
480; administration, 481-498; life
and character, 481 ; portrait, 482 ;
re-elected, 488.

Greeley, Horace, quoted, 424; nomi-
nated for presidency, 488.

Greenback party, the, 494.

Greenbacks, issued, 449; specie pay-
ment, 493, 504.

Greene, General Nathanael, in the
South, 210; portrait, 211.

Greenville, George, 175.

Greenville, treaty of, 249.

Greaham, Walter Q., 521.

Guilford, battle of, 210.

Gustavus Adolphus, 101.

Hale, John P., 385.

" Half-breeds," the, 506.

Halifax award, the, 487.

Halleck, General, 426, 427, 430, 433, 437.

Hamilton, Alexander, in Philadelphia
convention, 225 ; in New York
convention, 231 ; writes Federalist
articles, 231 ; Secretary of the Treas-
ury, 235-250; financial plans, 240-
242 ; portrait, 240 ; character, 268.

Hamilton, Andrew, 121.

Hamlin, Hannibal, elected Vice-Presi-
dent, 409, 410 ; mentioned, 462.

Hampton Koads, battle of, 434, 435.

Hancock, General W. S., nominated
for presidency, 504.

Harper's Ferry, seized by Brown, 408 ;
captured, 439.

Harrison, Benjamin, elected President,
514 ; administration, 515-520 ; por-
trait, 515; renominated, 519.

Harrison, William IL, at battle of Tip-
pecanoe, 279 ; at the Thames, 286;
nominated for presidency, 338, 346 ;
elected, 348 ; administration, 348,
349 ; death, 349.

Hartford convention, 291.

Harvard College founded, 84.

Harvey, Sir John, expulsion of, 49.

Hawaiian Islands, revolution in, 521 ;
annexed, 535 ; map of, 534.

Hawkins, John, 31.

Hayes, R. B., nominated for presi-
dency, 494 ; elected, 497 ; life and
character, 499 ; portrait, 499 ; ad-
ministration, 499-505 ; vetoes Bland-
Allison Bill, 501 ; opposed to riders,
503.

Hendricks, T. A., nominated for vice-
presidency, 494.

Henry, Fort, 430, 432.

Henry, Patrick, portrait of, 170 ;
speech in .parson's cause, 174 ; reso-
lutions, 177.

Herjulfsson, Bjarni, 4.

Herkimer, General Nicholas, 203.

Historical writing, 544.

INDEX.

579

Hobart, Garret A., elected Vice-Presi-
dent, 527.

Holland in seventeenth century, 97.

Holmes, O. W., 542.

Holy Alliance, the, 307.

Hood, General, 458, 460.

Hooker, General, 445, 448.

Houston, Samuel, 354.

Howe, General, 193, 198 ; failure, 199 ;
proceeds to Philadelphia, 204.

Howe, Richard, offers pardon, 198.

Hudson, Henry, 97.

Hull, Commodore Isaac, 284.

Hull, General William, 283.

Hutchinson, Anne, banished, 86.

Idaho admitted, 514.

Illinois admitted, 298.

Immigration, 299, 538.

Impeachment, of judges, 266 ; of Pres-
ident, 477 ; of Secretary of War, 491.

Implied powers, 242.

Impressment, 272, 281.

Income tax, 525.

Indented servants, 44, 153.

Independence, Declaration of, 194;
original draft, 195.

Independence Hall, view of, 215.

Independent Treasury, 341.

Indiana, admitted, 298.

Indians, the, groups of, 3 ; the five
nations, 4 ; at Plymouth, 74 ; the Pe-
quot War, 89; King Philip's War,
93 ; hostile, 248 ; defeated, 249 ; in
War of 1812, 278, 286 ; in Georgia,
318 ; removed to reservations, 318
note; Seminole War, 345.

Industrial conditions, 151-156, 158,
161, 220, 271, 274, 301, 331, 333, 336,
340, 383, 384, 403-407, 420, 448-451,
481, 492, 493, 522, 524; railroads,
315-317 ; strikes, 502, 524; labor or-
ganizations, 512 : changes of a cen-
tury, 536-540. See also West, The.

Ingersoll, Jared, 285.

Intercolonial wars, 117.

Internal improvements, 294, 314, 337.

Interstate Commerce Act, 512.
Intolerable acts, the five, 184.
Intolerance, in Massachusetts, 84, 86,

91 ; in England, 70.
Inventions, 270, 333, 353, 383.
Iowa admitted, 376.
Iroquois, character, 4; friends of the

Dutch, 100 ; foes of the French,

131 ; map of country, 132 ; defeated,

207. See also Indians.
Italy, trouble with, 518.

Jackson, Andrew, defeats Indians,
287 ; at New Orleans, 291 ; candi-
date for President, 310 ; elected
President, 320 ; portrait, 322 ; char-
acter, 322 ; President, 322-339 ; proc-
lamation, 328 ; vetoes Bank Bill,
329 ; withdraws deposits, 330.

Jackson, British minister, 276.

Jackson, Thomas J., 436, 438 ; por-
trait, 439.

Jacksonian era, characteristics, 334.

James I, 36, 48, 75.

James II, 94, 96, 102, 103.

Jamestown, Va., settlement of, 38;
early history, 39-41.

Jay, John, peace commissioner, 212;
writes in the Federalist, 231 ; por-
trait, 234; chief justice, 239; envoy,
249 ; his treaty, 250.

Jefferson, Thomas, quoted, 154, 261 ;
drafts Declaration of Independence,
196; peace commissioner, 213 ; sub-
mits ordinance of 1784, 223 ; Secre-
tary of State, 235, 242, 250 ; Vice-
President, 252 ; elected President,
258, 268 ; presidency, 260-275 ; char-
acter and principles, 260 ; portrait,
260 ; buys Louisiana, 262-265 ; em-
bargo policy, 274.

Johnson, Andrew, elected Vice-Presi-
dent, 462 ; President, 470 ; character,
470 ; administration, 469-481 ; im-
peachment of, 477 ; plans of recon-
struction, 472.

Johnson, Herschel V., 409.

580

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Johnson, Richard M., elected Vice-
President, 338.

Johnston, General A. S., 430 ; portrait,
430 ; killed, 433.

Johnston, General J. E., 423, 430, 437,
458, 464, 465 ; portrait, 424.

Joliet, his map, 134 ; on the Missis-
sippi, 135.

Jones, John Paul, 208.

Judiciary. See Courts.

Judiciary act, 265.

Julian, George W., 385.

Kansas, struggle in, 393-395, 401.

Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 389.

Kearny, General, 366.

Kearsarge, the, tight with the Ala-
bama, 457.

Kenesaw Mountain, battle of, 458.

Kentucky, admitted, 250; resolutions,
256 ; does not join Confederacy, 427.

King, Eufus, 224, 226, 268, 275.

King, William R., elected Vice-Presi-
dent, 385.

King George's War, 139.

King William's War, 138.

King's Mountain, battle of, 209.

Know-Nothing party, 392.

Knox, Henry, 237 ; portrait, 238.

Ku-Klux-Klan, 484.

Labor. See Industrial Conditions.
Labor organizations, 512.
Ladrone Islands, 532.
Lafayette, Marquis do, 205.
La Hontan's Map, 137.
Lake Champlain, battle of, 288.
Lake Erie, battle of, 286.
Lane, Joseph, 409.
La Salle, Robert de, 135.
Las Casas, mentioned, 16.
Laud, William, 75, 84.
Laurens, Henry, 213.
Lawrence, Captain, 287.
Lecompton Constitution, 402.
Lee, General Charles, treachery of,
206.

Lee, Richard Henry, 194.

Lee, Robert E., 437, 439, 445, 452-454,
464-465 ; portrait, 437.

Legal Tender Act, 449.

Leisler, Jacob, 103.

Lenox globe, 22.

Lewis and Clark, expedition of, 270.

Lexington, battle of, 190.

Lincoln, Abraham, debates with
Douglas, 402; elected President,
409, 410; administration, 417, 468;
life and character, 417 ; portrait,
417 ; tirst acts against secession, 428 ;
attitude toward emancipation, 441 ;
issues proclamation, 442 ; renomi-
nated and elected, 460-463 ; assassi-
nation, 469.

Lincoln, General Benjamin, 208.

Literature, American, 332, 542-545.

Livingston, Edward, 325.

Livingston, Robert R., 262.

Locke, John, 63.

Loco-foco party, 346.

Logan, John A., nominated for vice-
presidency, 509.

London Company, 36 ; grant under
charter of 1609, 40, 41 ; map of grant,
41 ; general courts, 45 ; loss of charter,
48.

Long Island, battle of, 198.

Lookout Mountain, battle of, 448.

Loudon, General, 146.

Louisiana, purchase of, 261-264 ; State
admitted, 297; State joins Confed-
eracy, 420 ; readmitted, 478 ; elec-
tion of 1876 in, 495.

Lovejoy, Elijah P., 343.

Lowell, James R., quoted, 365, 410 ;
mentioned, 542.

Lundy's Lane, battle of, 288.

Macdonough, Commodore, 288.

Macon Bill No. 2, 277.

Madison, James, in Philadelphia con-
vention, 224, 226 ; quoted, 218, 230 ;
writes in the Federalist, 231 ; op-
poses the bank bill, 241 ; writes the

INDEX.

581

Virginia resolutions, 256 ; Secretary
of State, 261 ; elected President,
275; administration, 275-295; char-
acter, 276 ; portrait, 276.

Magellan, Ferdinand, voyage of, 21.

Maine founded, 89 ; part of Massachu-
setts, 90, 96 ; admitted, 298.

Maine, the destruction of the, 530 ;
picture of the, 531.

Mandeville, Sir John, Voyage and
Travels of, 8.

Manifest destiny, 363, 387.

Manufactures, 539. See also Industrial
Conditions.

Marbury vs. Madison, 265.

Marcy, W. L., quoted, 324 ; Secretary
of War, 359.

Marietta, Ga., battle near, 458.

Marietta, Ohio, founded, 248 ; picture,
248, 321.

Marquette, 134, 135.

Marshall, John, commissioner, 253 ;
chief justice, 266 ; portrait, 266.

Maryland, early history, 54-61 ;
charter, 55 ; map of grant, 56 ; Tolera-
tion Act, 59 ; does not join the Con-
federacy, 420, 421.

Mason, George, 227^ 303 ; home of,
155.

Mason, John, 89 ; grant to, 90.

Mason, John Y., 387.

Mason and Dixon's line, 56.

Massachusetts Bay, Company of, 78 ;
the charter of, 78. See also Massa-
chusetts.

Massachusetts, settlement, 76 ; charac-
ter of settlers, 77 ; the land grant,
78 ; intolerance, 86, 91 ; representa-
tive government in, 82; towns, 83 ;
in confederation, 91 ; under Andros,
94; given new charter, 96; extent
of, 96; in eighteenth century, 119.

Maximilian, Archduke, 479.

Mayflower compact, the, 72.

McClellan,424, 436-439 ; portrait, 425 ;
nominated for presidency, 462.

McDowell, General, 424.

McKinley, William, his tariff measure,
517 ; elected President, 527 ; life,
528 ; portrait, 529 ; message on Cuba,
531.

Meade, General, 445 ; portrait, 444.

Mercator, map of, 24, 25.

Merrimac, the, 434.

Mexico, people of, 2 ; conquest of, 23 ;
trouble with Texas, 354 ; war with,
364-368 ; Maximilian in, 479.

Michigan in hands of British, 283 ; ad-
mitted, 336.

Military situation in civil war, 421, 422,
424, 427 ; in 1862, 430, 432, 440, 445 ;
in 1863, 453 ; in 1864, 452, 453, 457.

Mill Spring, battle of, 430.

Missionary Ridge, battle of, 448.

Mississippi admitted, 298 ; joins con-
federacy, 420.

Missouri, admitted, 298 ; does not join
Confederacy, 426.

Missouri compromise, 305-S07 ; map,
305; repealed, 388, 389; declared
unconstitutional, 399.

Mobile, capture of, 456.

Monitor, 434.

Monmouth, battle of, 206.

Monroe doctrine, the, 308, 479, 526.

Monroe, James, minister to France,
253 ; treaty with England, 274 ; Sec-
retary of State, 276 ; elected Presi-
dent, 295, 307 ; administration, 296-
311 ; portrait, 296 ; message of 1823,
308.

Montana, 514.

Montcalm, Marquis de, 145-148.

Montgomery, Richard, 194.

Moore's Creek, battle of, 194.

Mormons, the, 541.

Morris, Gouverncur, in Philadelphia
convention, 224, 226 ; portrait, 225 ;
quoted, 237.

Morris, Robert, services of, 200 ; por-
trait, 201.

Morris, Thomas, 355.

Morristown, suffering at, 208.

Morse, Samuel F. B., 353.

582

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Morton, Levi P., elected Vice-Presi-
dent, 514.
Motley, J. L., 544.
Moultrie, Colonel, 197.
Moultrie, Fort, 197.
Mound builders in North America, 3.
Murfreesborough, battle of, 434.

Napoleon, 271, 275 ; issues decrees, 274 ;
withdraws them, 277 ; confiscates
vessels, 277 ; helps bring on war,
277, 278.

Nashville, battle of, 460.

National Bank. See Bank.

Naturalization Act, 256.

Naval battles in War of 1812, 284, 287,
288, 290.

Navigation laws, the, 52, 172.

New England, map of, by John Smith,
68 ; confederation, 91 ; map of, 93 ;
early history, 67-97; character of
settlers, 77 ; in eighteenth century,
119, 120 ; condition of life, 156-160 ;
education, 159 ; towns, 157 ; indus-
tries, 158 ; religion, 159 ; conspiracy,
267.

New France, founded, 135 ; early his-
tory, 130-150; condition, 145; fall
of, 148.

New Hampshire founded, 89. See also
New England.

New Haven, 87.

New Jersey, early history, 104-107 ;
map of, 106 ; founded, 105 ; the
"Concessions," 105; divided, 105;
character, 106, 161 ; education in,
161.

New Netherlands, 98 (see New York) ;
map of, 99.

New Orleans, founded, 135 ; battle of,
291 ; capture of, 435.

New Sweden, 101.

New York, early history, 97-104; the
patroons, 100; taken by the Eng-
lish, 102; local government, 102,
165 ; character, 104 ; in eighteenth
century, 120, 121 ; condition, 160-163 ;

education in, 161 ; picture, 161 ; the
British attack, 197 ; map of, 198.

Niagara, 140, 143, 147.

Nicollet, Jean, 133.

Nominating convention, the first, 330.
See also Elections.

Non-intercourse, 275-278.

Norse ship, picture of, 5.

North Carolina, joins Confederacy, 420 ;
readmitted, 478. See also Carolinas.

North Dakota, admitted, 514 ; men-
tioned, 541.

Northeastern boundary dispute, 351.

Northmen, the, 4.

Nullification, 328. See Virginia and
Kentucky resolutions.

Oglethorpe, James, founds Georgia,

126.
Ohio settled, 248, 249 ; admitted, 261,

291.
Olney, Kichard, 525.
Orders in Council, 273, 281.
Ordinance of 1784, 223 ; of 1787, 223.
Oregon, 360 ; in election of 1876, 496.
Oriskany, battle of, 203.
Ostend manifesto, 387.
Otis, James, portrait of, 174 ; speech

on writs of assistance, 174.

Palmer, John M., 528.

Palo Alto, battle of, 365.

Pan-American Congress, 515.

Panic of 1819, 301 ; of 1837, 340 ; of
1857, 403; of 1873, 492; of 1893,
522.

Parkman, Francis, 544.

Parties, the beginnings, 242-245.

Party, the old Republican, 243 ; the
Federalist, 243, 245, 257, 259 ; the
National Republican, 312, 313 ; the
Democratic, 312, 313 ; the Demo-
cratic divided, 409; Anti-Masonic,
330 ; the Whig, 330, 373, 385 ; Loco-
foco, 346 ; the Liberty, 347 ; the Free-
soil, 374 ; the Republican, 391, 401 ;
American or Know-Nothing, 392 ;

INDEX.

583

Constitutional Union, 409 ; attitude
toward slavery, 373, 401, 403, 409;
Republicans and reconstruction, 471-
474,477; differences in Republican,
487, 506; The Liberal Republican,
488; the Prohibition, 494; the
Greenback, 494; Mugwumps, 509.

Patroons, 100.

Patroon war, 352.

Pemberton, General, 446.

Pendleton, George H., 462.

Peninsula campaign, 436.

Penn, William, purchases West Jer-
sey, 105 ; early life, 109 ; portrait,
110; acquires Pennsylvania, 110;
founder of colony, 111 ; purposes,
111 ; obtains Delaware, 113 ; makes
peace with Indians, 114 ; house,
115 ; death, 122.

Pennsylvania, early history, 110-115 ;
founded, 111 ; frame of government,
112; a proprietary colony, 113; in
eighteenth century, 122; democ-
racy in, 114, 162; education, 161;
local government, 165.

Pequot War, 89.

Perry, Commodore, 286.

Perry v ill e, battle of, 433.

Personal liberty laws, 400.

Peru, people of, 2 ; conquest of, 23.

Petersburg, 454.

Philadelphia, 161 ; the British enter,
204 ; evacuated, 206.

Philadelphia convention. See Con-
vention, Federal.

Philip, King, war with, 93.

Philippi, battle of, 422.

Philippine Islands, battle in, 532, 533.

Phips, Sir William, 138.

Pierce, Franklin, elected President,
385 ; administration, 386-398.

Pike, Zebulon M., 269.

Pilgrims. See Plymouth.

Pinckney, Charles C, 225 : minister
to France, 253 ; candidate for Presi-
dent, 268, 275.

Pitt, William, 146 ; quoted, 178.

Pittsburg Landing. See Shiloh.

Pizarros, 23.

Plymouth Colony, 70, 75 ; motives for
founding, 69-71 ; map of " New
England " by John Smith, 68 ; set-
tlement, 72 ; the Mayflower com-
pact, 72; flrst page of Bradford
manuscript, 73 ; added to Massa-
chusetts, 96.

Plymouth Company, 36.

Polk, James K., elected President,
354-358 ; administration, 360-375 ;
character, 359 ; plans, 360.

Polo, Marco, 8.

Ponce de Leon, 23.

Pope, General, 432, 438.

Popham Colony, 67.

Popular sovereignty, 372, 389-391,
393.

Population in the colonies, 153, 154,
156, 160 ; in the United States, 282,
383, 404, 493, 537 ; distribution of,
231, 299, 337, 405, 491, 537 ; center
of, 538.

Port Royal, 138.

Portuguese, the explorations of, 9.

Prescott, W. 1L, 544.

Presidential succession, 511.

Princeton, battle of, 200.

Providence. See Rhode Island.

Prussia, 143.

Ptolemy, Claudius, map of, 12.

Puerto Rico annexed, 532.

Puritans, the, 77.

Quakers, persecuted in Massachusetts,
91 ; in West Jersey, 105 ; origin of
sect, 107-109; their beliefs, 108-110.

Quebec, founded, 130; attacked by
English, 138; map, 148; falls, 148;
attacked by Americans, 194.

Queen Anne's War, 138.

Queenstown, battle of, 283.

Railroads, 315-317, 337, 492, 493.
Raleigh, Sir Walter, colonies of, 32, 66.
Randolph, Edmund, 237.

584

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Randolph, John, quoted, 293, 312 note,
319 ; portrait, 313.

Reconstruction, legal difficulties, 471 ;
Johnson's plans, 472 ; congres-
sional method, 473, 477, 478 ; condi-
tion of South during, 478, 483-485,
489 ; a continuing problem, 482, 487,
489 ; elections during, 497 ; troops
withdrawn, 500.

Redemptioner, 153.

Reed, T. B., Speaker, 516.

Reid, Whitelaw, 519.

Religious liberty, in Maryland, 54-59 ;
in the Carolinas, 65 ; in Pennsyl-
vania, 114.

Renaissance, the, 6.

Representation, in England and in
America, 169-171.

Republican party. See Party.

Resaca de la Palma, battle of, 365.

Resumption of specie payments, 493,
504.

Revolution, the, causes of, 169-188;
justice of, 187 ; beginning of, 189 ;
results of, 212, 215.

Rhode Island, founded, 85, 87 ; char-
ter, 92 ; in eighteenth century, 120.

Riboro, map of, 26.

Rich Mountain, battle of, 422.

Riders, 502.

Right of discovery, 116.

River Raisin, battle at the, 285.

Rosecrans, General, 447.

Sagas, Icelandic, 5.

St. Leger, Colonel Barry, 201 ; defeated,

203.
Salary grab, 491.
Sandys, Sir Edwin, 45.
Saratoga,surrender of Burgoyne at, 203.
Savannah taken by the British, 208.
Saybrook, 87.
Schools. See Education.
Scott, Winfield, portrait, 367 ; in War

of 1812, 287, 288 ; in Mexican War,

867 ; nominated for President, 385 ;

in civil war, 418, 424.

Seal fisheries, 524.

Secession, 326, 410, 415.

Sedition law, 256.

Seminole War, the second, 345.

Separatists, the, 70.

Seven days' battles, 437.

Sewall, Arthur, 528.

Seward, William H., portrait, 350;
speech in 1850, 380 ; mentioned,
386 ; quoted, 391, 403, 457 ; Secre-
tary of State, 418 ; assaulted, 469.

Seymour, Horatio, nominated for presi-
dency, 480.

Shays's rebellion, 220.

Sheridan, General, 455 ; portrait, 455.

Sherman Act, 517, 523.

Sherman, General, 448, 458, 464, 465 ;
march to the sea, 458 ; quoted, 452,
459 ; portrait, 459.

Shiloh, battle of, 433.

Ship of fifteenth century, 9.

Shipping, 158, 384.

Silver. See Currency.

Slavery, beginning of, 44 ; in Southern
colonies, 153 ; prohibited in North-
west, 223 ; discussion in Federal
Convention, 227, 303 ; extension,
300, 305, 371, 376-378, 388, 403 ; the
cotton gin, 300 ; the Missouri com-
promise, 305-307, 388, 389 ; opposed
by abolitionists, 343-345; the Wil-
mot proviso, 308 ; popular sovereign-
ty, 372 ; Calhoun's proposition, 373,
380 ; in 1850, 378-382 ; in Kansas,
395 ; Bred Scott case, 399 ; under-
ground railroad, 400; personal lib-
erty laws, 400 ; effects, 394, 404-407 ;
John Brown's raid, 407 ; cause of
the civil war, 416; abolishment of,
441 ; emancipation, 442-444 ; thir-
teenth amendment, 463, 464; cause
of Southern defeat, 466, 467.
Slave trade, 304.

Smith, Captain John, 38 ; portrait of,
39; explores New England, 67;
map, 68.
Southampton, Earl of, 45.

INDEX.

585

South Carolina, nullification in, 328 ;
secedes, 410; readmitted, 478; con-
dition during reconstruction, 484 ;
election of 1876 in, 496. See also
Carolinas.

South Dakota, 514, 541.

Southern colonies, condition of, 153-
156.

Soule\ Pierre, 387.

Spain, dominion, 23, 116; claims in
eighteenth century, 125; war with
England, 127 ; treaty with, in 1819
(see Treaty) ; misrule in Cuba, 530 ;
war with, 532.

Spaniards, the, 23.

Spanish colonization, character of, 23,
533.

Speaker, Clay the first great, 280 ;
power of the, 516.

Spoils system, the, 324, 506, 507.

Spots wood, Alexander, 122.

Spottsylvania, battle of, 452.

u Stalwarts," the, 506.

Stamp Act, the, 175 ; the Stamp Act
Congress, 177 ; repealed, 178.

Stanton, E. M., Secretary of War, 429 ;
portrait, 429 ; removed, 477.

Stanwix, Fort, 203.

Stark, John, 203.

Steamboat, Fulton's, 270; influence,
271, 299.

Stephens, Alexander, Confederate
Vice-President, 415.

Steuben, Baron, 205.

Stevenson, Adlai E., elected Vice-
President, 519.

Stony Point captured, 207.

Story, Joseph, 267.

Stowe, Mrs., writes Uncle Tom's Cabin,
384.

Strikes. See Industrial Conditions.

Stuyvesant, Peter, portrait, 103.

Sullivan, General John, 207.

Sumner, Charles, 386 ; portrait, 396 ;

assault upon, 396 ; opinions, 471.
Sumter, Fort, 413, 419.
Supreme Court. See Courts.

Surplus revenue, distribution of, 331 ;

reduction of, 508, 513, 514.
Swedes, the, settle in America, 101.

Talleyrand, Prince, 254, 255.

Taney, Roger B., 325.

Tariff, the first, 235 ; of 1816, 293 ; of
1824,' 309; of 1828, 319 ; of 1832, 328;
of 1833, 328; of 1842, 350; of 1861,
449 ; of 1890, 517 ; of 1895, 525 ; of
1897, 529 ; a party question, 505, 508,
513, 514, 517 ; opposition of the
South, 319, 325, 328.

Taylor, Zachary, 360; in Mexican
War, 363-365 ; nominated for Presi-
dent, 374; administration, 375-382;
character, 375 ; portrait, 375.

Tea Party, 184.

Tea tax, 184.

Tecumseh, 279, 286.

Telegraph, invention, 353; first mes-
sage, 358 ; the Atlantic cable, 479.

Tennessee admitted, 250; joins Con-
federacy, 420.

Tenure of Office Act, 476, 477.

Texas, 140 note, 353, 354 ; annexed,
356-358 ; map, 357 ; bounds, 358, 361,
364, 370 ; joins Confederacy, 420.

Thames, battle of, 286.

Thomas, General Lorenzo, 477.

Thomas, George H., 430, 447, 448, 460 ;
portrait, 447.

Thompson, Jacob, 413.

Thurman, Allen G., 513.

Ticonderoga, taken by English, 147 ;
taken by Americans, 191 ; taken by
Burgoyne, 201.

Tilden, S. J., nominated for presi-
dency, 494 ; portrait, 495.

Tippecanoe, battle of, 279.

Tobacco, cultivation of, 43.

Tompkins, D. D., elected Vice-Presi-
dent, 295.

Toscanelli, letter of, 13 ; map of, 14.

Towns in New England, 83, 157, 163.

Townshend acts, the, 180; modifica-
tion of, 181.

586

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION.

Treaty, the American, of 1670, 125;
of Utrecht, 138; of 1763, 148; of
1783, 213 ; not fulfilled, 218, 246 ; of
1794, 250; of 1806, by Monroe, 274;
of 1814, 291 ; of 1842, 351 ; the Ore-
gon, 361 ; the Mexican, 369; of Wash-
ington, 486 ; with Spain, 302, 533.

Trent affair, the, 429.

Trenton, battle of, 200.

Tyler, John, character, 346 ; nominated
for Vice-President, 346; President,
349-358 ; and Texas, 354-357.

Tlncle Tom's Cabin, 384.

Underground railroad, 400.

Union, plans of, 103, 104, 139 ; the New

England confederation, 91.
United States, boundaries of original,

213 ; development of, 536-547. See

also Annexation.
United States bank. See Bank.
Utah mentioned, 541.

Valley Forge, 205.

Van Buren, Martin, Secretary of State,
325 ; Vice-President, 330 ; elected
President, 338 ; administration, 339-
348 ; in 1844, 354, 355 ; nominated
for President, 374.

Venezuelan dispute, 525.

Vermont admitted, 250.

Verrazano, 29.

Vespucius, Americus, voyages of, 20 ;
America named from, 21.

Vicksburg, capture of, 446.

Vikings, the, 5.

V inland, 5.

Virginia, early history, 32-54 ; charter,
first, 1606, 36; map of grant, 35;
second, 1609, 40; map of grant, 41 ;
third, 1612, 45; Great Charter, 1618,
46 ; House of Burgesses, establish-
ment of, 46 ; becomes a royal colony
48 ; character, 53 ; in eighteenth cen-
tury, 122-124 ; life in, 154-156 ; edu-
cation, 156 ; local government, 164 ;
joins Confederacy, 420.

Virginia and Kentucky resolutions,
256.

Walker, Eobert J., 359.

Wall Street, 236.

Walpole, Horace, quoted, 148.

War, intercolonial, 1 27, 128-138 ; Revo-
lutionary, 189-215 ; of 1812, 281-291 ;
effect of, 292 ; with Mexico, 362-369 ;
the civil, 418-468 ; with Spain, 531-
533.

Washington admitted, 514.

Washington city, the capital, 241, 257
note ; taken by British, 289.

Washington, George, portrait, frontis-
piece ; meets the French, 140 ; at
Braddock's Field, 142; made com-
mander, 191 ; character, 191, 251 ; de-
fends New York, 197 ; retreats across
New Jersey, 199; at Trenton and
Princeton, 200 ; his skill, 200 ; given
authority, 200 ; at Brandy wine, 204 ;
at Germantown, 204 ; at Monmouth,
206 ; at Yorkto\vn,211 ; his accounts,
214; in Philadelphia convention,
224; President, 233-252; farewell
address, 251 ; Trenton reception, 259.

Watcrtown remonstrance, 81.

Watson, Thomas E., 528.

Wayne, General Anthony, 207 ; defeats
Indians, 249.

Weaver, James B., 520.

Webster, Daniel, quoted, 224, 542 ; en-
ters Congress, 279 ; opposed to tariff,
293; reply to Hayne, 327; portrait,
327 ; in Tyler's Cabinet, 350 ; makes
treaty, 351 ; 7th of March speech,
379 ; death, 385.

West, the, migration to, 297-300 ; prog-
ress of, 249, 336, 541.

Western land claims, 221 ; given up,
221 ; map, 219.

Western reserve, 222.

West India Company, 98.

West Virginia admitted, 422.

Wheeler, W. A., elected Vice-Presi-
dent, 494, 497.

INDEX.

.87

Whig party (see Party) ; named, 330 ;
divided on slavery question, 373.

Whisky rebellion, 245.

Whisky ring, the, 490.

White, John, 77.

White Plains, battle of, 199.

Whittier, J. G., 542.

Wilderness, battle of, 452.

Wilkinson, General J., 269, 288.

William and Mary College, view of,168.

William III, 95, 138.

Williams, Roger, 84, 85.

Wilmot proviso, the, 3G8.

Wilson, Henry, elected Vice-President,
488.

Wilson, James, portrait, 224 ; in Phil-
adelphia convention, 224, 226.

Winsor, Justin, 544.

Winthrop, John, portrait of, 81.
Winthrop, John, Jr., portrait of, 87.
Wisconsin admitted, 376.
Wolfe, General James, 147, 148.
World's Fair, the, 523, 545, 546 ; view

at, 547.
Writs of assistance, 173.
Wyatt, Sir Francis, 47.
Wyoming, massacre of, 207.
Wyoming admitted, 514; mentioned,

541.

X Y Z affair, 254.

Yeardley, George, 46.
Yorktown, surrender at, 211.

Zenger, John, tried for libel, 121.

(2)

THE END.

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