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MANUAL 
 
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 UNITED STATES HISTORY, 
 
 FROM 1492- TO 1850. 
 
 / 
 
 By SAMUEL ELIOT, 
 
 AUTHOR OF A HISTORY OF LIBERTV, AND PROFESSOR OF UISTORY AND 
 LITERATURE IN TRINITY COLLEGE. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 HICKLING, SWAN, AND BROWN, 
 
 1856. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 
 
 HiCKLiNG, Swan, and Brown, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 
 
 
 ELECTROTYPED AT THE 
 BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY. 
 
PEEFACE. 
 
 I HAVE written this book to supply a want felt by 
 otliers, as well as by myself. We have looked in vain 
 for a work, of moderate extent, in which the leading 
 principles and the leading facts of our history are set 
 forth side by side. To provide such a volume for the 
 reader and the student is the object of the following 
 
 Manual. 
 
 In writing it, I have endeavored to observe the proper 
 proportions. The same space is not given to every period 
 or to every transaction. On the contrary, events are 
 narrated at greater or less length according to their im- 
 portance—a few days occupying as many pages in some 
 parts of the volume as a long series of years in others. 
 By thus making inferior matters subordinate, I trust that 
 I have done more justice than might be anticipated from 
 the appearance of the book to the great passages in our 
 histoiy. It is nowhere, however, a book of details. I 
 have confined myself intentionally to outlines — endeav- 
 oring to sketch these in such a way as to suggest com- 
 
 (iii) 
 
iv PREFACE. 
 
 prehensive conceptions of tlie whole, rather than complete 
 views of any single part. 
 
 In the last division of the work, I have entered upon 
 dangerous ground. Party feelings are still active in rela- 
 tion to many of the movements and many of the men 
 described in my later chapters. It is vain to hope that 
 the views which I have taken will be every where accept- 
 able. But I can conscientiously say that I have written 
 of the latest, as of the earliest occurrences, without a 
 sensation of partisanship, or of devotion to any cause less 
 universal than the cause of truth. 
 
 The character of the publication not admitting frequent 
 notes or large citations, it is right for me to state that, 
 while I have principally relied upon original authorities, 
 I have also followed later writers to a considerable degree. 
 To some works — Irving's Columbus, O'Callaghan's and 
 Brodhead's Histories of New York under the Dutch, 
 Sparks's Appendixes to the Writings of "Washington, Los- 
 sing's Field Book of the Revolution, Duyckinck's Cyclo- 
 paedia of American Literature, and Hildreth's History of 
 the United States — I am under obligations which duty 
 and inclination alike compel me to acknowledge. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 OCCUPATION. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EuaOPE BEFORE 1492. 
 
 Europe — Acti\ity there — Material movement, 3. Intellectual move- 
 ment—Moral movement, 4. General elevation — Monarchy in Europe 
 — Discovery of America, 5. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Columbus. 
 
 Early life — Project of discovery, 7. His motives, 8. Voyage of dis- 
 covery — The west the possession of Spain, 9. Other voyages of Co- 
 lumbus, 10. His spirit — Name of America — A new world, 11. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Spanish Settlements. 
 
 Spanish adventures — Ponce de Leon in Florida — Various expedi- 
 tions, 13. Luis de Cancello — Melendez, 14. De Espejio and Vizcaino — 
 Motives, 15. Institutions — Circumstances— Extent of Spanish claims, 
 16. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 , Erench Settlements. 
 
 New France— Carolina: Fate of its Huguenots, 17- Expedition to 
 avenge them— Acadie and Maine: De Mouts and De Saussayc, 18. 
 a* (v) 
 
Vi CONTENTS. 
 
 Canada: Champlain — Collisions ■^^'ith the English, 19. Priests and 
 missionaries — Other settlers — Institutions — Circumstances, 20. Ex- 
 tent of French claims, 21. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 English Settlements. 
 
 Section 1. — Early movements — England and Columhus — Voyages of 
 the Cabots, 22. Interval: Gilbert and Drake, 23, Raleigh — Failures 
 of his colonies, 24. Gosnold and others — 111 success of the English, 2-5. 
 Section 2. — Companies — Organized efforts, 25. Patent of Virginia, 26. 
 London Company : Members and colonists — Jamestown — New charters, 
 27. Fortunes of the colony — Institutions, 28. An infant colony — Fall 
 of the company, 29. Virginia a royal province — Growth of the colony, 
 30. Pl}inouth Company : Members — Colonization attempted, 31. Va- 
 rious proprietors and companies — Settlement of Plymouth, 32. Its dis- 
 tinction in history, 33. Political forms — Spirit, 34. Grants — Attempt 
 at general government — Chaos, 35. New Hampshire and New Somerset- 
 shire — Cape Ann and Salem, 36. Company of Massachusetts Bay — 
 Boston, 37. Increase and independence — Charter government, 38. Pu- 
 ritan principles — External relations — Internal relations, 39. Connecti- 
 cut, 40. Providence and Rhode Island — Dissolution of the council, 41. 
 End of companies — Position of New England — Thomas Morton, 42. 
 Section 3. — Proprietors — Grant of Maryland, 43. A proprietary gov- 
 ernment — Religious liberty — Troubles, 44. Other proprietors — Con- 
 clusion- — English motives, 45. Institutions — Circumstances — English 
 names, 46. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Dutch Settlements. 
 
 Group of traders — Spirit in Holland — Dwindled in America — Hud- 
 son's voyage, 47. Company of New Netherland, 48. Proposals of the 
 Plymouth Puritans — West India Company — Walloon colony, 49. New 
 Amsterdam — Patroons, 50. English claim^s, 51. Trade of the colony, 52. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 S-svEDiSH Settlements. • 
 
 Idea of Gustavns Adolphus — Oxenstiern calls in Germany — Results, 
 54. Opposing claims, b5. 
 
CONTENTS. Vii 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Indian Races. 
 
 European races — Indian races — Names and numbers, 56. Algon- 
 quins — Iroquois, 57. Mobilians — Customs and institutions, 58. In- 
 fluence upon the European — Counter influence upon the Indian, 59. 
 African race — The country, 60. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Europe from 1492 to 1638. 
 
 The great change — Its cause and character — Luther's course, 61. 
 Divisions — A crisis of good and evil, 62. Religious consequences — 
 Political consequences — Spain, 63. France — Holland, 64. Sweden 
 and Germany — England, 65. Intellectual expansion, 66. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 ENGLISH DOMINION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 England and France from 1638 to 1763. 
 
 Question of precedence — Reign of Louis XIV. — The monarchy, 69. 
 The church — The nation, 70. Reaction — The English nation — Pe- 
 riods of trial — Revolution of 1688, 71. Aristocracy in power — Eng- 
 lish progress, 72. England and France, 73. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Thirteen Colonies. 
 
 Old and new colonies — Plymouth annexed — Maine annexed, 74. 
 New Hampshire — Massachusetts, 75. Connecticut — Rhode Island — 
 Four colonies in New England, 76. Virginia — Maryland, 77. Caro- 
 lina, North and South, 78. New York, 79. New, Jersey, 80. Pennsyl- 
 vania, 81. Delaware — Georgia, 82. Aspect of the thirteen, 84. 
 
vjii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Colonial Relations. 
 
 Races — Classes, 8-5. Of the old world, 86. Institutions belong to the 
 freemen — English law, 87. Colonial governments, 88. Towns, 89. 
 Assemblies, 90. Churches — Persecution in Massachusetts: Child, 91. 
 Baptists, 92. Saltonstall's remonstrance — Dunster of Harvard College, 
 93. Quakers, 94. Witches, 95. Persecution elsewhere, 96. Save in 
 Rhode Island, 97. Inter-colonial difficulties — Shaworaet and Massachu- 
 setts, 98. United Colonies of New England, 99. Treatment of Rhode 
 Island — Disagreements, 100. Dissensions elsewhere — Penn and Balti- 
 more, 101. Relations to the mother country — The crown — Charles II. 
 and Massachusetts, 102. Loss of the Massachusetts and other charters — 
 Parliament, 104. Navigation acts — Duties, 105. Royal governors — 
 Berkeley in Virginia — Bacon's rebellion, 106. Andros in New England, 
 107. Revolution — But not liberty, 108. Fletcher in New York, 109. 
 General strictness, 110. Perils of the frontier, 111. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Indian Wars. 
 
 Spirit of the Indians — Spirit of the English, 112. Missionary labors 
 
 — The Mayhews aud Eliot, 113. Supports — Results, 114. Wars in 
 Virginia and Maryland, 115. Pequot war — Narragansets, 116. King 
 Philip, 117. War throughout New England — Destruction of the Nar- 
 ragansets, 118. Of Philip — Peace, 119. Abenakis in arms — Peace in 
 the centre and south — War in North Carolina, 120. In South CaroHna 
 
 — With Cherokees — With western tribes, 121. Pontiac's war — Indians 
 in Pennsylvania, 122. Other wars, but the issue decided — Later mis- 
 sions, 123. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Dutch Wars. 
 
 Wars -SA-ith Indians, 125. Effect upon New Nethcrland — Intcmal re- 
 strictions, 126. Religious persecution — Subjection of New Sweden, 127. 
 New Amstel — English aggressions, 128. War : Loss of the province — 
 Recovery and final loss, 130. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Spanish Wars. 
 
 Spanish race — Its colony — Collisions with the English, 131. Effect 
 on the colony — War: Attacks on St. Augustine and Charleston, 132. 
 
CONTENTS. ix 
 
 Treaty of Utrecht — Second war : Descents on Florida — Third war : 
 Georgia and Florida, 133. Fourth war : Cession of Florida, 134. Spain 
 in Louisiana and California — Character of the Spanish wars, 135. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 French Possessions. 
 
 French race — New France — System of government, 136. Relations 
 with Indians and English, 137. Acadie, including Maine — Canada, 
 including New York, "Wisconsin, Michigan, 138. The Mississippi : Illi- 
 nois— Louisiana, 139. French dominion — Colony in Texas, 140. Col- 
 ony in Mississippi — Colony in Alabama — Grant to Crozat, 141. "West- 
 ern settlements: Indiana — Loss of Acadie — Forts: Pennsylvania and 
 Ohio, 142. Mississippi Company : Nev/ Orleans — Missouri : the thirteen 
 of France — Vastness and weakness, 143. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 French Wars. 
 
 Wars with Indians in the north — In the south — Strife between the 
 French and the English, 144. Indecisive wars — King William's war, 
 145. Its character and course, 145. Religious differences — Queen 
 Anne's war, 147. Collision in the west, 148. And in the east — King 
 George's war, 149. Blood shed in Nova Scotia, 150. The Ohio Com- 
 pany — Blood shed in Pennsylvania: George Washington — The final 
 struggle, 151. Extent, 152. Losses of the English — Their subsequent 
 victories, 153. Conclusion of the Avar — The French retire, 154. French 
 and English compared, 155. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Colonial Development. - 
 
 Development of territory — Of occupation, 156. Of habits of life — 
 Of education, 157. Colleges — Of the press, 158. Official interference, 
 159. Editions of the Bible' — Intellectual development: In action, 160. 
 In literature — In science, 161. In art, 162. Influences from abroad — 
 Liberality in religion, 163. Church of England, 164. Project of bishops, 
 165. Classes : The slaves, 166. Colonies : Union, 167. Contributions 
 to Boston, 168. 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The Mothku Country. 
 
 Views of the mother country — Board of trade, 169. African Com- 
 pany, 170. Colonial governors, 171. Cornbmy in New York — Burnet 
 and Belcher in Massachusetts, 172. Clinton's appeal, 173. Parliamen- 
 tary interference — Commercial rule, 17-i. Military rule — Impressment 
 at Boston — A commander-in-chief of the colonies, 175. Judicial ten- 
 vire — "Writs of assistance, 176. English dominion, 177. Effects on the 
 colonies — Upon the mother country, 178. Temporary unity, 179. 
 
 PART III. 
 
 THE INFANT NATION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Provocations. 
 
 Old troubles extended — Parties in the mother country, 183. Views 
 of the colonies — Parties in the colonies, 184. The two sides — Minis- 
 tries of the period — Point of taxation, 185. Discussion — Sugar act, 186. 
 Stamp act — Resistance, 187. Congress — Declaration of rights and lib- 
 erties, 188. Effect, 190. Riots — Non-importation and non-consump- 
 tion, 191. Repeal of stamp act, 192. American rejoicings — New acts — 
 Resistance again, 193. Massachusetts convention, 194. Act concerning 
 trials in England, 195. Colonial divisions — Boston massacre, 196. 
 Other disturbances, 197- Additional act concerning trials' — Tea de- 
 stroyed in Boston, 198. And elsewhere — Slave trade, 199. Chastise- 
 ment of Massachusetts and Boston, 200. Quebec act — Conventions and 
 Provincial Congress in Massachusetts, 201. National spirit — Continental 
 Congress, 202. Its work — American Association, 203. Petition and 
 addresses — Peace or Avar, 204. Preparation, 205. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 War. 
 
 Arming of Massachusetts — Not unprovoked or unanticipated, 206. 
 Arming of other colonies — Course of Parliament, 207- First collision, 
 208. Its significance — Lexington and Concord, 209. Effect: Meek- 
 
CONTENTS. xi 
 
 lenburg declaration, 210. "War in Massachusetts — Ticonderoga and 
 Crown Point — Proceedings in Congress, 211. Washington appointed 
 oommander-in-chief, 212. Bunker Hill -^ Washington at the head of the 
 army, 213. Difficulties — Siege of Boston, 214. General government, 
 215. The thirteen complete — Militai'y operations, 216. Loyalists — 
 Great Britain determined, 217. Washington before Boston — Recovery 
 of the town — The victory, 218. Increasing perils, 219. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Declaration of Independence. 
 
 Transformation of colonies to states — Idea of independence, 220. 
 North Carolina and Virginia — Congress — Hesitation, 221. Lee's reso- 
 lution — Debate, 222. Committee on declaration — Resolution adopted, 
 223. And the declaration — The United States, 224. Plan of confedera- 
 tion — Unity in Congress — State constitutions, 225. Divisions amongst 
 the people, 226. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 War, continued. Second Period. 
 
 Three periods — Characteristics of the second period — Reception of 
 the declaration, 227. Defence of Charleston — Loss of New York, 228. 
 Loss of Lake Champlain and the lower Hudson — Loss of Newport, 229. 
 Defence of New Jersey, 230. Organization of anny, 231. Dictatorship 
 — Paper money, 232. Arrival of Lafayette, 233. Defeat of Burgoyne, 
 234. Loss of the Hudson Highlands — Loss of Philadelphia, 235. 
 Washington's embarrassments — Loss of the Delaware, 236. Wickes's 
 cruise — Cabal against Washington, 237- Army quarrels, 238. Army 
 sufferings — Aspect of Congress, 239. Treaty with France — British 
 conciliation, 240. Recovery of Philadelpliia, 241. Possession of Illi- 
 nois — End of the period, 242. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 War, continued. Third Period. 
 
 Characteristics — Failure to recover Newport, 243. British and Indian 
 ravages, 244. Decline of American affairs, 245. Loss of Georgia — 
 Defence of Charleston, 246. Failure to recover Savannah — Invasion of 
 Virginia — Operations in the north, 247. Jones's cruise, 248. Spain in the 
 war, 249. Loss of South Carolina — Failure to recover it, 250. Abandon- 
 ment of the south — Its defence — Darkness in the north, 251. Light in 
 
xii CONTENTS. 
 
 the south, 253. Holland in the war — Final adoption of the Confedera- 
 tion, 254. Its inefficiency, 255. Defence of the Carolinas, 256. The 
 central states in danger, 257. Crisis — American preparations, 258. De- 
 feat of Cornwallis, 259. Effect — Prospects, 260. Evacuation of the 
 "^outh — The European combatants, 261. Cessation of hostilities — He- 
 lease of prisoners, 262. Treaties of peace, 263. Evacuation of the north — 
 Troubles in the American army, 264. Disbanding — Government of the 
 nation, 265. Washington's counsels, 263. And prayers, 267. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Constitution. 
 
 Foreign sjonpathy — Lafayette's visit, 268. "VYants of America — Organ- 
 ization, 269. The states : Internal troubles, 270. Dismemberments — 
 Case of Vermont, 271. Disputes between state and state — General 
 government, 273. Organization of the north-west territory, 274. Difhcul- 
 ties with Spain, 275. And Great Britain, 276. Dark times — Old foun- 
 dations — Recent superstructures, 277. Heligious privileges, 278. Ec- 
 clesiastical organizations — Suggestions of a national Constitution, 279. 
 Conventions at Alexandria and Annapolis — Action, of Virginia, 280. 
 Of other states and of Congress, 231. Opening of the Convention — 
 Aspect, 282. Plans of a constitution, 283. Question of powers, 284. 
 A national sj'stem adopted — Parties: Small states and large states — 
 Views of state government, 285. Votes of states, 286. Agitation, 287. 
 Parties : North and south — Apportiomnent of representation — The slave 
 trade, 288. Details and discussions, 289. Adoption of the Constitution — 
 Opposition in the nation, 290. Constitutional writings, 291. Adoption 
 by the states, 292. Character of the transaction, 293. Sympathy for 
 mankind — Literature of the revolution and the Constitution, 294. The 
 music of Billings, 295. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Washington's Administration. 
 
 Washington president, 296. Organization of government — Solem- 
 nity of the Avork, 297. W"ashington to his fellow-Christians — The na- 
 tion, 298. Work of Congress: The departments and the judiciary — 
 Amendments to the Constitution, 299. Kcvcnue — Credit, 300. Man- 
 ner of decision, 301. National bank — Parties, 302. Especially north 
 and south — Points concerning slavery, 303. As to the territories, 304. 
 Starting point of future strife, 305. Presidential tours — Work of the 
 states — New states — Dependence upon Washington, 306. Animosity 
 of parties — Insurrection in Pennsylvania, 308. Indian wars, 309. In- 
 dian interests, 310. Heckewelder, the missionary — Tribute to Algiers, 
 
CONTENTS. xiii 
 
 311. Foreign relations — Commercial treaties, 312. Treaty with Spain 
 — Relations with Great Britain and France, 313. Parties thereupon, 
 314. Washington proclaims neutrahty — Point proposed — Mission of 
 
 Genet, 315. Great Britain and France invade American neutrality 
 
 Threatened war with Great Britain, 317. Mission of Jay, 318. His 
 treaty, 319. Opposition — Ptatification — Continued opposition, 320. The 
 point gained, 321. Continued embarrassments : From abroad, 322. And 
 at home, 323. Abuse of Washington, 324. His retirement — Lafayette, 
 325. 
 
 PART lY. 
 
 THE GROAVINO NATION. 
 
 CHAPTER, I. 
 
 FoKEiGx Aggressions. 
 
 Party administrations, 329. Parties amongst the people — Parties in 
 relation to foreign aggressions, 330. Missions to France — Arming of 
 the United States, 331. War — Strain upon the nation, 332. Nullifica- 
 tion, 333. Another mission to France, 334. Death of Washington, 335. 
 The French mission — Difficulties with Spain, 336. Mississippi Territory : 
 Slavery under debate — Territory of Indiana : Slavery again, 337. War 
 Anth Tripoli — Acquisition of Louisiana, 338. Troubles abroad and at home 
 — Chief point involved in the acquisition, 339. Organization of Louis- 
 iana territories, 340. Other territorial and state organizations — Burr's 
 projects, 341. Difficulties with Great Britain — Mission, 342. Affair of 
 the Chesapeake, 343. Aspect of Great Britain and France, 344. British 
 and French aggressions, 345. The administration against war — Em- 
 bargo, 346. Succeeding acts, 347. Opposition, 348. Indian hostilities, 
 349. Louisiana and Florida — Warlike preparations against Great Brit- 
 ain, 350. Termination of preceding strifes, 351. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 "War t;\'ith Great Britain. 
 
 Declaration — Cause of the United States, 353. A party cause, 354. 
 As such opposed, 355. War at home, 356. Means for the war, 357. 
 Position of Great Britaia — Of France — The war: Losses on north- 
 b 
 
 \ 
 
xiv CONTENTS. 
 
 « 
 
 western frontier, 358. Perry's \'ictory on Lake Erie, 359. Operations on 
 New York frontier, 360. Actions on Niagara frontier, 3G2. Defence of 
 Lake Champlain — British superiority — Successes at sea, 363. Subse- 
 quent reverses, 364. Losses upon the coast — Loss of north-eastern 
 coast — Capture of Washington and Alexandria, 365. Defence of Balti- 
 more — Indian foes, 366. National straits, 367. Party controversies, 368. 
 Hartford Convention — Charges of disunion, 369. Proceedings of the 
 Convention, 370. Results — Nullification in Connecticut and Massachu- 
 setts, 371. Defence of Louisiana, 372. Martial law at New Orleans, 373. 
 Reappearance of the navy, 374. Peace preliminaries — Treaty of Ghent, 
 375. Protection of foreigners, 376. Indian treaty — Algerine treaty, 
 377. Exhaustion of the nation, 378. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Missouri Compromise. 
 
 Foreign aiFairs —Domestic affairs, 379. Administrations — Seminole 
 war, 380. Acquisition of Florida, 38L New states — Proposal of Mis- 
 souri — Question of slavery, 382. Constitutional argument, 383. Two 
 sides — Intense agitation, 384. Maine seeks admission — The compro- 
 mise, 385. Different interpretations, 386. Admission of Missouri — 
 Slave trade, 387. Visit of Lafayette, 388. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Monroe Doctrine. 
 
 Relations with Central and South America — Monroe doctrine, 389. 
 Purpose, 390. Congress of Panama — An American league, 391. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Taripf Compromise. 
 
 Administrations — Question before the country — Georgia controversy, 
 392. Tariffs, 393. Nullification at the south — Removals from office, 395. 
 Concessions to Georgia, 396. Tariff questions — Foot's resolution : De- 
 bate, 397. Revision of tariff, 398. Nullification in South Carolina — 
 Secession, 399. Resolution of South Carolina, 400. Resolution of gov- 
 ernment, 401. Resolution of states — Tariff compromise, 402. Decision, 
 403. On the great question, 404. 1 
 
 i 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Financial Disorders. 
 
 National finance — "Veto of United States Bank charter, 405. Re- 
 moval of deposits, 406. Agitation, 407. Money troubles — Surplus 
 revenue — Abolitionism, 408. Indian wars, 409. Disturbed foreign rela- 
 tions — Especially with France, 410. Parties, 411. Commercial crisis, 412. 
 Independent treasury, 413. Insolvency of states, 414. Repudiation in 
 Mississippi, 415. National credit, 416. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Annexation of Texas. 
 
 Recognition of Texas — Settlement of that state, 417. Revolution — 
 Project of annexation, 418. Texas refused admission, 419. Relations 
 ^A-ith Great Britain, 420. Treaty of Washington, 421. Landmark in 
 our history — Sedition in Rhode Island : Approach, 422. Outbreak, 423. 
 Civil war, 424. New states and territories — Movements concerning 
 Texas, 425. Question of slavery — A compromise, 426. Consequences, 
 427. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 War with Mexico. 
 
 Causes of War : Mexican — American, 428. Boundary of Texas, 429. 
 Mission from United States — Hostilities, 430. Disparity of combat- 
 ants — Oregon controversy, 431. Settlement, 432. Conquest of north- 
 east of Mexico, 433. Conquest of Chihuahua, 434. Conquest of New 
 Mexico — Conquest of California, 435. Operations in Gulf of Mexico — 
 March upon city of Mexico, 437. Battles on the way — In valley of 
 Mexico, 438. Last actions, 439. Composition of United States forces — 
 Forced supplies, 440. Peace: First steps — Next steps, 441. Treaty, 
 442. Character of the war, 443. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Compromise of 1850. 
 
 New territory, 444. Difficulties — Old questions subsiding, 445. Or- 
 ganization of old territory — Organization of new territory — Slavery 
 question, 446. Convention of southern members of Congress, 447. The 
 territories declare against slavery, 448. Clay suggests compromise — 
 Webster in debate, 449. Report of compromise, 450. Its adoption — 
 Continued controversy, 451. 
 
xvi CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 National Development. 
 
 Development of Territory — Of population, 4-52. Of occupation, 453. 
 Of investments — Of communications, 454. Of education, 455. National 
 institutions — Exploring Expedition, 456. The press — Libraries, 457. 
 Literature: Political — Theological, 458. Legal — Historical, 459. Sci- 
 entific — Belles lettres — Fiction, 460. The drama — Poetry, 461. Art 
 — Religious development, 462. Charities, 463. Conclusion : The past 
 and the present, 464. Part of the nation in human history, 465. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 European Sovereigns, 467 
 
 American Authorities, 468 
 
 Presidents of Continental Congress, 468 
 
 National Administrations, 468 
 
PAET I. 
 
 OCCUPATION. 
 
 1492-1638. 
 
 (1) 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 Europe before 1492. 
 
 The history of the United States begins in 
 Europe. £y^,^pg^ There the movements, there the men 
 arose, appqmted to prepare the way for a new nation 
 on the earth. 
 
 ActiTity If we look over the century, or the half century, 
 there. preccduig 1492 in Europe, we are struck by the 
 numerous signs of change and of growth. Many countries, 
 it is true, appear to be unmoved ; perhaps the few alone 
 seem to be really sharing in the activity of the period. But 
 the activity is all the more remarkable in being confined to 
 a portion only of the European races. It both seems and 
 is a strange thmg that three or four nations, not closely 
 united with one another or amongst themselves, should all 
 at once put forth their energies, and lift the world, as it 
 were, into a wider and a loftier sphere. 
 
 The great material movement of the age was m 
 move-' maritune discovery. An instinct to search over 
 '"^''*- unknown seas for unknowm shores led to many an 
 adventure and many an acquisition. No people was more 
 distinguished in these enterprises than the Portuguese, 
 whose navigators made their way to the Madeiras (1418-20) 
 and the Azores (1432-57) on the west, then on the south, 
 along the African coast, to and beyond the Cape of Good 
 Hope, (1486-97.) The cliief prize at which the adven- 
 turers were aunmg lay in the East, amongst the lands 
 
 (3) 
 
4 , PAET I. 1492-1638. 
 
 embraced under the common name of tlie Indies. But a 
 golden hue of weakh and of fame was spread over all the 
 seas and all the shores within the reach of the Europeans. 
 int There was also a great intellectual movement. 
 
 u;ii move- The invention of printing, (1440-50), followed by 
 the revival of ancient learning, awakened the'scholar 
 from a long-enduring trance. He found more to learn, 
 more to teach, and above all, a larger circle by whom his 
 studies would be encouraged and his teachings received. 
 The poet and the artist imbibed fresh inspiration from the 
 increasing culture of the times ; whatever was the vocation 
 of the mind, it was at once enlarged and ennobi,ed. If this 
 were the proper place to cite examples, we should turn to 
 Italy, whose scholarship, whose poetry, and whose art never 
 shone out together with greater lustre than during the 
 fifteenth century. The glow spread to other nations in 
 their turn. 
 
 Moral ^^^^ great moral m.ovement of the period was the 
 
 move- most wondcrful of all. For ages, the spirit of man 
 ^^^ ' seemed to have ceased to act, except in the narrow 
 and darksome limits prescribed by authority. Here and 
 there an individual had appeared to plead for the freedom 
 and the faith of the Christian, but never with permanent 
 success, often with immediate failure. At the later time of 
 which we speak, there was a spiritual restlessness, too general 
 and too strong to be repressed. Men tore the bandages 
 from their eyes ; they shook the shackles from their arms ; 
 and though long submission had rendered them incapable 
 of effective exertion, they did not exert themselves m vain. 
 At the end of the century, a reformer appeared in Italy, 
 close to the centre of Christendom at Rome, in the person 
 of the friar Savonarola, (1452-98,) whose rebukes of cor- 
 ruption and of oppression were forerunners of the greater 
 reformation that was to come. 
 
EUEOPE BEFOUE 1492. 
 
 If there is any single impression to be derived 
 eieva- from movements so various, it is that of the! eleva- 
 *'°°' tion of classes hitherto feeble and degraded. The 
 voyagers, ihe students, and above all, the earnest be- 
 lievers of the period, sprang, in many cases, from what 
 were called the lower orders ; and back upon the same 
 orders, in all cases, descended more or less of the benefits 
 resultmg from the deeds that were achieved. But we are 
 not to suppose that human nature was changed, or that the 
 improvement in men, in their character or their condition, was 
 mstantaneous. The work now going on had been begun, so 
 far as its higher elements were concerned, ages and ages 
 before. It would require ages and ages to come before it 
 could be in any degree completed. 
 
 Another movement of the tunes was more limited 
 chyT in its relations and its eflects. This was the rising 
 Europe. ^|. ^j^g modern monarchies from out the strife, direct 
 and indirect, in which they had long been engaged with the 
 Papal authority. The monarchical power, at first nothing 
 more than the' substitution of one oppressive dominion in 
 the place of another, or in the place of another combined 
 with itself, of course affected Its possessors rather than its 
 subjects. But as the preparatory process by which more 
 liberal constitutions might be ultimately reared, the inde- 
 pendence of the European monarchies was the great polit- 
 ical revolution of the period. Prominent amongst the 
 individual figures of sovereigns were Louis the Eleventh 
 of France, (1461-83,) Ferdmand and Isabella of Spain, 
 (1479-1506,) and Henry the Seventh of England, (1485- 
 
 1509.) 
 
 Amid these changing systems, these varying 
 
 Srof" efforts, the middle ages passed away, and the 
 America. ^^^|gj,^^ j^g^g ^^egan. If there is any occurrence 
 to stand as the first upon the newly-opened rolls, it is that 
 
 1* 
 
6 PART I. 1492-1638. . 
 
 which came in season at once to profit by the time and to 
 quicken its advance. Had the event taken place before, or 
 long before, it would have been lost in the silence and the 
 stagnation that had prevailed ; had it not taken <place when 
 it did, or soon after, many of the desires to which men were 
 freshly stirred, many of the resources with which they were 
 freshly provided might have failed for want of object and of 
 development. The event of so much significance was the 
 discovery of America in 1492. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Columbus. 
 
 Early CnRiSTOPHER CoLUMBUS * WRS born in Genoa, 
 
 li^''- about the year 1435. Following the sea from the 
 age of fourteen, he was attracted, some twenty years after- 
 wards, to Lisbon, then the centre of maritime enterprise. 
 There Columbus married the daughter of an ItaHan naviga- 
 tor in the service of Portugal ; there he renewed the 
 studies and the experiences of earlier manhood ; there, 
 after a residence in one of the Madeira Islands, far out in 
 the Atlantic, he made known his project of crossing the 
 entire ocean. He was then close upon the age of forty, 
 (1474.) 
 
 Both reflection and tradition suggested the possi- 
 
 ProiGct 
 
 of dis- bihty of reaching the farther East across the west- 
 covery. ^^.-^ ^^^^^ j^ report among the northern nations 
 told of voyages from Iceland to Greenland, and thence to 
 Vinland, the Land of the Vine, where settlements had been 
 made, but abandoned. Still more familiar were the trav- 
 ellers' tales of Marco Polo, the Venetian, (1295,) f and of Sir 
 John Mandeville, the Englislmian, (lo64,)t who painted in 
 glowing colors the provmces and the islands, the cities and 
 the palaces of the Grand Khan of Tartary upon the east- 
 ern shores of Asia. It was to seek these realms, with the 
 
 * In Italian, Coloraho ; in Spanish, Colon. 
 t Dates of their return. 
 
 (7) 
 
8 PART I. 1492-1638. 
 
 magnificence of which all Europe had long been ringing, 
 that Columbus proposed to sail westward. But, however 
 supported by rumor or by argument, his plans met with no 
 encouragement. Their rejection by the Portuguese court 
 (1484) threw him back upon his native Genoa, then upon 
 other states, and finally upon Spain. Eighteen years m all 
 of rebuff and of hostility had been endured, when Isabella 
 of Castile yielded to the earnestness and lofty visions of the 
 Italian, already an elderly man, (April 17, 1492.) 
 His mo- The mere fact of his age prevents our ascribing 
 tivcs. selfish or covetous motives to Columbus. Doubt- 
 less he had his schemes of achieving fame and fortune, as 
 well for himself as for the sovereigns by whom he was sus- 
 tained. The compact w^ith Ferdinand and Isabella pro- 
 vided that Columbus should bear and bequeath to his heirs 
 the titles of Admiral and Viceroy of all the lands discov- 
 ered by him, together vdtli the right to one tenth of the 
 revenues expected from the same. But there were higher 
 ends to which he more ardently aspired. The journal of 
 his voyage begins Vvdth reminding Ferdinand and Isabella, 
 to whom it is addressed, of their determination to send him 
 to " the lands of India," and to " a prince ^ho is called the 
 Grand Khan," " to see the said prince and the people and 
 lands, and discover the nature and disposition of them, and 
 the means to be taken for the conversion of them to our 
 holy faith." * He elsewhere repeats an assurance that he 
 had made in presence of the sovereigns : " Whatever I gain 
 from this enterprise of mine shall be expended in the con- 
 quest of Jerusalem." The conversion of the unbelievers, 
 succeeded by the rescue of the holy sepulchre from the 
 hands of those still unconverted, fill in the background of 
 the design which Columbus had conceived, the foreground 
 
 * Mr. Irving's translation in his Life of Colunibus, Book III. Chap. I. 
 
COLUMBUS. 9 
 
 alone being occupied by the land to which he was pointing 
 
 the way. 
 
 „ In this spirit Columbus set sail from Palos, with 
 
 Voyage ^ _ ^ 
 
 of dig- three small vessels and with one hundred and 
 covery. ^^g^ty companions, at dawn on Friday, August 3, 
 1492. Ten weeks afterwards, at dawn on Friday, October 
 12, he reached the shores of an island, of which, as soon as 
 he could disembark in solemn state, he took possession with 
 prayers and thanksgivings, under the name of San Stilvador, 
 or Holy Saviour. For nearly thi^ee months he cruised 
 amongst the Bahamas and the larger islands to the south- 
 west, one of wliich, Cuba, he supposed to be the continent 
 of Asia, while another, Ilispaniola, was taken to be an 
 island of great beauty and wealth described by Oriental 
 voyagers as lying off the Asiatic coast. Leaving a garri- 
 son on the latter island, and taking a few natives in his 
 train, Columbus retraced his course, arrivin2^ off the Tafyus 
 on the 4th, and at Palos on the loth of March, 1493. 
 He had found, as he thought, nothing more than he had 
 proposed, and the name of West Indies was therefore given 
 to his discoveries. 
 
 Although thus regarded as a part of the earth 
 
 The West . . 
 
 the pos- already visited by Europeans, the West Indies were 
 session more than sufficient to satisfy the discoverer and 
 
 of Spam. _ _ *' 
 
 his sovereigns. So favorable Y»Tre his accounts of 
 the route across the sea, and of the treasures to which it 
 led, in the form of precious metals, jewels, and spices, as 
 well as of beautiful and boundless lands, that all Spain was 
 stirred with wonder and exultation. The first thouirht with 
 the rulers was to make sure of their acquisitions, the more 
 so as Portugal was known to have an eye upon discoveries 
 in the same direction. Accordingly the Spanish sovereigns 
 had recourse to the Pope of Eome, who had previously 
 confirmed the claim of the Portuguese to the countries on 
 
10 PART I. 1492-1638. 
 
 and beyond tlie African coast. A Papal bull was issued, 
 declaring Portugal possessed only of what might be dis- 
 covered on the east of a Hne " from the north to the south 
 pole, a hundi'ed leagues to the west of the Azores," while 
 all to the west of the line was secured to the Spaniards. 
 In the following year (1494) the Portuguese acquiesced 
 in a division according to a line drawn, not one hundred, 
 but three hundred and seventy, leagues to the west of the 
 Azores, or Cape Verd Islands. Yet this did not prevent 
 them from pushing their discoveries northward ^and south- 
 ward within the limits of the Spaniards. Still less did the 
 award of Rome affect the enterprise of other nations, as 
 will be seen hereafter. 
 
 The Spaniards, however, were long the most ac- 
 voyages tivc in exploring and in occupying their Indies. 
 ofCoium- -^Qi iQ speak of many other expeditions, in which 
 all sorts of men took part, three more were con- 
 ducted by Columbus himself. On his second voyage 
 (1493-96) he founded the first town, and engaged in the 
 first war in which Europeans were concerned on the western 
 shores. The town, named Isabella, was in Hispaniola ; 
 the war was waged with the natives of the same island. 
 It was at the end of this voyage that the first slaves from 
 America were taken to Europe. His third voyage (1498— 
 1500) brought Columbus to the continent, which he sup- 
 posed himself to have reached on the shore of Cuba, but 
 which he did not see until near the Island of Trinidad, 
 off the northern coast of South America, (1498.)* He 
 soon became involved in the first serious dissensions 
 amongst the Europeans' in the Indies, and was sent home 
 from Hispaniola in chains. It was not long after that 
 the first negro slaves from Spain f were transported to 
 
 * The Cabots reached the continent in l-tOT. See Chapter V. 
 t The first from Africa did not go before 1511. 
 
COLUMBUS. 11 
 
 the Spanish colonies, (1502,) but not by Columbus. He, 
 liberated by the sovereigns, made his fourth and last 
 voyage, (1502-4,) during which he attempted the first 
 colony upon the continent near the River Belen, on the 
 Isthmus of Panama. He had met with far more nu- 
 merous failures than successes, when he returned to- Spain 
 after an almost uninterrupted service of thirteen years. 
 Others, following in liis steps, had met with greater 
 rewards than he ; but the dreams of the voyagers and of 
 then* countrymen were still to be fulfilled. 
 His spir- Infirm and injured as he was and as he had been, 
 ^*- Columbus never lost heart. Even when just set 
 
 free from his fetters, at the end of his third voyage, he had 
 written to the Spanish sovereigns and to the Roman pontiff 
 of his unshaken determination to extend the Christian faith 
 and to recover the sepulchre at Jerusalem. The same 
 objects were commended in his will to his posterity. In- 
 deed, it seems as if he clung to Ms rehgious purposes the 
 more earnestly as his worldly projects failed. A few months 
 passed after his final return, and the aged discoverer sank 
 to rest, seventy years old, (May 20, 1506.) 
 ^^^ His spirit, so free from irresolution and from 
 
 of Amer- worldly pride, has descended in part, it is to be hoped, 
 upon the lands to which he led the way. But they 
 bear another name. Amei'igo Vespucci, a native of Flor- 
 ence, but a resident in Spain at the time of Columbus's dis- 
 covery, subsequently sailed to the west in the service of 
 Spain, and then of Portugal. His descriptions of the con- 
 tinent which he reached, and which he portrayed as possess- 
 ing all the attributes of a newly-discovered one, induced a 
 German geographer to coin the name of America about 
 the time that Columbus died, (1507.) 
 A new Vespucci was far from conceiving or conveying 
 world. ^i^Q truth concerning America. Voyages in the 
 
12 PART I. 1492-1638. 
 
 north, to which we shall revert, had already (1497-98) be- 
 irun to reveal the real character of the new shores. But it 
 was some years before Cuba was found to be merely an 
 island, (1508,) and it was still longer before the Pacific was 
 reached across the isthmus in the centre, (1513,) and 
 through the straits on the south of the continent, (1520.) 
 Slowly and wonderingly it was learned that Columbus had 
 discovered a new world. 
 
Spanish 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Spanish Settlements. 
 
 Fkom almost every point hitlierto gained in 
 adven- America, as well as from the shores of Spain, ad- 
 f ' ventures, some great, some small, some national, 
 some individual, were urged by the Spaniards in all du*ec- 
 tions. The West Indies, at first the whole, soon became 
 the mere centre of the Spanish possessions. 
 Ponce de ^^^ -^^'^^ ^^ reach the territory of the present 
 Leon in United Statcs was Ponce de Leon, a companion of 
 
 Columbus. Long visited by dreams of riches, and 
 latterly, in his advancing age, excited by rumors of a foun- 
 tain in which youth might be renewed, Ponce set sail from 
 Porto Rico in search of the treasures in the north. On 
 Easter Sunday, — in the SjDanish calendar Pascua Florida, 
 — he descried a land to which, in his mingled visions of 
 resurrection and of abundance, he gave the name of Florida 
 or Flower-land, (1512.) Nine years later, with a com- 
 mission from the Spanish crown, as governor of Florida, 
 Ponce returned to conquer and to colonize his discovery. 
 But driven off by the natives of the coast, the old adven- 
 turer left Florida to return no more, (1521.) 
 Various ^ scrics of expeditions had already begun to 
 expedi- scour the Atlantic coast. The Portuguese Cor- 
 
 tereal had led the way, twenty years before, in a 
 cruise towards the north, (1501.) A Ime of Spanish ad- 
 ventui'ers, intent upon treasure and conquest, succeeded. 
 2 (13) 
 
14 . PAUT I. 1492-1638. 
 
 Vasquez de Ayllon twice made descents upon Cliicora, tlie 
 later Carolina, (1520-24.) Gomez sailed farther to the 
 north in quest of a western passage to richer lands, (1525.) 
 Pamphilo de Narvaez tried his fortune in Florida, (1528,) 
 whither also De Soto directed his greater expedition, and 
 pursued his wanderings northward and westward (1539-43) 
 with no greater reward than the discovery of the Mississippi, 
 (1541.) At the same time, Vasquez Coronado was pene- 
 trating from Mexico high up into the interior, (1540-42,) 
 while De Cabrillo (1542) was coasting the Pacific shore, 
 and, though dying on the voyage, leaving his pilot, Ferrelo, 
 to ascend as far as Oregon, (1543.) Of these western ex-< 
 •plorations there were few if any results to satisfy the 
 explorers. Nor were the adventurers in the east better 
 contented ; the only ones to gain any thing being those who 
 laded their ships with slaves. The natives had been pressed 
 into bondage almost from the moment when they were first 
 seen in the West Indies. 
 
 Luisde A figure of more Christian aspect appears in 
 Canceiio. j^^[^ ^[q Cauccllo, a Dominican friar. Obtaining 
 an order from Spain that all the slaves from the northern 
 shore of the Gulf of Mexico should be returned, he set 
 sail with such as he could collect. Instead of proposing to 
 conquer the natives, he went with the hope of converting 
 them to a religion of peace. But in his first interview with 
 them on the coast, he and two priests accompanying liim 
 were slain, (1549.) 
 
 Helen- Nearly twenty years elapsed, and our soil was 
 
 <^ez- still unoccupied by the Spaniards. At length a 
 veteran commander, Melendez de Avilez, engaged to com- 
 plete the conquest and to commence the colonization of 
 Florida, with a train of soldiers, priests, and negro slaves. 
 He was of a stern temper, without a vision of romance or a 
 touch of sensibility to turn him from the severe enterprise 
 
SPANISH SETTLEIVIENTS. 15 
 
 which he had assumed. He began with the foundation of St. 
 Augustine, (September 8, 1565,) the oldest town in the 
 United States. Then he routed and slew some French 
 settlers who had lately encamped upon the ground claimed 
 by Spain,* and whose destruction had been one of the great 
 incentives to his expedition. Where they fell most thickly, 
 the conqueror marked out the site of a Chi'istian church. 
 The colony thus resolutely founded brought none of the rich 
 retui-ns that had been looked for ; but it was not abandoned. 
 Fifteen years afterwards, the expeditions from 
 j^oTnT" Mexico were renewed by Euiz (1580) and De 
 Yizcaino. Egp^jjo^ (1581,) the latter of whom, followed by 
 soldiers and Indians, marched northward, until he named 
 the country New Mexico, and founded the settlement of 
 Santa Fe, the second town of the United States in point 
 of age. Twenty years later, (1602,) a squadi'on under Se- 
 bastiano Vizcaino explored the Californian shore, bestow- 
 ing upon its headlands and its bays many of the names 
 which they still bear. Jt was Vizcaino's hope to colonize 
 the coast, but he died in the midst of his schemes, (1608.) 
 
 The motives of the Spanish settler, as we per- 
 ^''*'^''' ceive, were partly of a high and partly of a low 
 nature. Devoted to great aims and to generous deeds, he 
 encountered, as Luis de Cancello did in Florida, the perils 
 of an unknown shore, in order to impart to others the faith 
 in which he lived and for which he was wilUng to die. But 
 in another aspect the Spanish character grows dark and 
 threatening. Men, lilae the greater part of those who have 
 been mentioned, sought our land for gold or for dominion ; 
 sometimes, uideed, with a national object, but more gener- 
 ally for merely selfish ends. Motives of this sort led to 
 scenes of cruelty and of carnage, on which it is, fortunately, 
 unnecessary to dwell. 
 
 * See the next chapter. 
 
16 PART I. 1492-1638. 
 
 Institu- 
 tions. 
 
 The institutions of Spain were those of an abso- 
 lute monarchy. They lent but little aid to the devel- 
 opment of the better elements in the national charac- 
 ter. Indeed, they rather encouraged the opposite elements, 
 both before and after the colonies of the nation were 
 founded. A military rule was the only political institution 
 of Florida. It was in the hands of a few officials, whose 
 authority was kept up at the sacrifice of the general prog- 
 ress of the settlements. A rigid system of trade, uphold- 
 ing a monopoly in favor of the government, or of the 
 capitalists dependent on the government at home, increased 
 the obstacles with which the colony had to contend. 
 
 Coming with these motives and under these insti- 
 Circum- ^^^ions, the Spaniards found themselves in cii'cum- 
 
 stances. ^ ^ 
 
 stances of similar tendency. Choosing the south 
 for their first, and, as it proved, their only settlements, from 
 its promising the richest harvest, they met the influences 
 springing from the air above them and from the earth 
 beneath them. The habits of indulgence and of repose 
 which ensued were any thing but favorable to character or 
 to prosperity. 
 
 Few and far between were the Spanish settle- 
 Spanish ments. But the Spanish claims were universal, 
 c amis, j^ ^^ ^^^^ place, there was the papal bull of 1493, 
 
 conveying a right to all America. In the next place, there 
 were the successive discoverers from Ponce de Leon to 
 Vizcaino, whose labors had won the continent anew. The 
 name of Florida was stretched from'the Gulf of Mexico to 
 the Gulf of St. Lawrence ; that of New Mexico was made 
 equally extensive in the interior and on the west. Could 
 names, and deeds, and papal bulls have sufficed to support 
 the Spanish claim, it would have prevailed throughout the 
 United States. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 French Settlements. 
 
 j^Tg^ The approaclies of France to our country were 
 
 France, made, first by fishermen, (1504,) and then by navi- 
 gators. A Florentine, Verrazzani, in the French ser- 
 vice, sailing along the coast from Florida to Newfound- 
 land, was not deterred by any previous discoveries from 
 giving to the continent the name of New France^ (1524.) 
 Ten years after, the Frenchman Cartier renewed the name 
 in voyages in and about the Gulf of St. Lav/rence, 
 (1534-42.) 
 
 Nothing, however, was done in a persevering 
 Tate of its "^^y to fix the name upon the territory, until Admi- 
 Hugue- pr^i j)(3 Coligny conceived the idea of a colony to 
 which his brother Protestants, the Huguenots, might 
 repair for refuge agamst persecution in France. After 
 failing to make a settlement in South America, De Coligny 
 despatched a party to the northern coast, where a fort, 
 named Carolina in honor of the French king, Charles, was 
 erected near Port Boyal in the present South Carolina, 
 (1562.) This settlement likev/ise falling through, another 
 was made upon the St. John's in Florida, where a second 
 Fort Carolina was reared, (1564.) The mutinous dispo- 
 sitions of the colonists had already begun to threaten the 
 existence of the settlement, when it was annihilated by the 
 Spanish force under Melendez de Avilez, (1565.) Such 
 of the French as did not escape or fall in battle were put 
 2 * (17) 
 
18 PART I. 1492-1638. 
 
 to death by the Spaniard and the Catholic, " not as French- 
 men," he is said to have declared, "but as Lutherans." 
 Such was the unhappy fate of the first fugitives from the 
 old world to the new. Objects at once of religious and of 
 national animosity, they were pursued $y enemies enlisted 
 against them as on a crusade. The passions of Europe 
 obtained fresh space in America ; the feeble fell, the strong 
 triumphed as they had done in older lands. 
 
 But there was something inspiring, after all, in 
 tion V the associations of the western shore. If the fugi- 
 avenge ^jygg thither were murdered by their foes, they were 
 
 them. , 
 
 not forgotten by their friends. Three years after 
 their victory, the Spaniards were surprised on the same 
 ground by a French expedition under De Gourgues, a sol- 
 dier of Gascony, who had sold his estate in order to avenge 
 his fallen countrymen. He took the Spanish forts, and 
 hung his prisoners, with the inscription above them, " Not 
 as Spaniards or Mariners, but as Traitors, Robbers, and 
 Assassins." Thus was our soil a second time darkened 
 with the slaughter of strangers. Without waiting an attack 
 from the Spaniards at St. Augustine, De Gourgues sailed 
 home, the last of the French to attempt the possession of 
 Florida or of Carolina, (1568.) 
 
 A long period elapsed before the French reap- 
 and peared, except as fishermen or as traders, in any 
 Maine. j^j.|. q£ America. At leno;th, a arrant of all the 
 
 De Monts ^ & 5 fe 
 
 and Do territory from Pennsylvania to New Brunswick, 
 Saussaye. ^j-^^^j^. ^^iQ name of Acadie, was made by Henry 
 
 IV. of France to the Sieur de Monts, (IGOo,) one of whose 
 officers, Poutrincourt, made the first permanent settlement 
 of Frenchmen in America at Port Royal, (1604,) since 
 Annapolis. A plan of De Monts to make a settlement 
 upon Cape Cod, though twice attempted, was given up on 
 account of the hostiUty of the natives, (1605-06.) Some 
 
FRENCH SETTLEMENTS. 19 
 
 years afterwards, one or two Jesuit missionaries crossed 
 over from that part of Acadie wliich wa? occupied, to a 
 part as yet unoccupied, within the limits of the present 
 Maine, (1612.) They were followed the next yeai', by De 
 Saussaye, the agent of Madame de Guercheville to whom 
 the earlier grant to De Monts was now reconveyed; the 
 limits being extended so far as to reach from Florida to the 
 St. Lawrence. De Saussaye, accompanied by a few Jes- 
 uits, began the colony of St. Sauveur upon Mount Desert 
 Island, off the coast of Maine, (1613.) It was hardly be- 
 gun, however, before it was broken up by an attack from 
 an English armed vessel belonging to the then rising colony 
 of Virginia. 
 
 _, , Meantime the banners of France had been car- 
 
 Canada. 
 
 Cham- ried up the St. Lawrence. Champlain, the greatest 
 ^ ^"" leader whom the French had as yet followed to the 
 west, laid the foundations of Quebec in the heart of the 
 province of Canada, (1608.) The next year, forming an 
 alliance with the Algonquins, then at war with the Iroquois 
 or Five Nations of New York, he marched southward to 
 the lake which bears his name, (1609.) Six years later, 
 he took the lead in another foray which penetrated the 
 forests on the southern shore of Lake Ontario, (1615.) 
 A new way appeared to be open to French settlements in 
 the United States. 
 
 Collisions But nothing followed. The English arms, after 
 with the r^Yi interval of several years, were carried ao;ainst 
 
 English, J ' n ^ 
 
 the northern settlements of the French. Acadie, 
 already made the subject of an English grant, and Canada 
 were conquered, but restored, (1628-32.) Then the French 
 came down in their turn, and drove the English from the 
 trading posts established by the Plymouth colony on the 
 Mame coast, (1631-35.) The attempts to repel them 
 were in vain ; on the contrary, they forbade the English to 
 
20 PABT I. 1492-1638. 
 
 pass Pemaquid, a point midway between the Kennebec and 
 the Penobscot. The interior was at the same time in the 
 occupation of the French priests, if of any Europeans. 
 
 The priests and the missionaries of France were 
 and mis- the most prominent amongst her settlers. They 
 came full of adventure as of faith, hesitating at no 
 danger, shrinking from no sacrifice. That there should be 
 some less worthy amongst the number was a matter of 
 course. It was equally natural that, among the most wor- 
 thy, there should be many to magnify their work, to count 
 their converts too freely, and to oppose their antagonists too 
 fiercely. But taken all in all, the French missionaries have 
 hardly received the place that they deserve in our history. 
 What they were and what they did will appear more 
 clearly at a later period. 
 
 other With the priest came the soldier, the explorer, 
 
 settlers, j^j^^j ^]^g trader, all animated by the love of enter- 
 prise, to say nothing of its rewards in fame or in riches. 
 They form a less sinister group than the Spanish settlers, 
 more supple, more gay, though by no means more gallant 
 or more adventurous. 
 
 institu- Much of the difference may be ascribed to the 
 tions. influence of the French institutions. These, at the 
 time in question, were the institutions of a comparatively 
 limited monarchy. If there were arbitrary influences in 
 the government, sufiicient, as we shall hereafter observe, to 
 oppress its subjects and its colonies, there was also some- 
 thing of a more generous nature, by which the devotedness 
 of the missionary, the bravery of the soldier, and the zeal 
 of the adventurer were sustained. 
 
 Circum- The circumstanccs in which the French settlers 
 stances. y^Q^Q placed tended to confirm all their enterprise 
 and all then* fortitude. Abandoning the southern CaroHna 
 and di'awing in the limits of Acadie on the south, they were 
 
FRENCH SETTLEMENTS. 21 
 
 for a long time concentrated upon northern shores and in 
 northern valleys. In these lands, adventure was not to be 
 pursued, nor was sustenance to be obtamed, without energy 
 and hardihood. 
 _ , , ^ In following the French into Acadie and Canada, 
 
 Extent of ^ ^ ^ ' 
 
 French wc havc gonc far beyond the limits of the United 
 claims, g^g^^gg^ j^^t i]jQJj. Acadie embraced our Maine, or 
 
 a large portion of it ; their Canada comprehended our Ver- 
 mont and our New York, or large portions of them ; not to 
 speak of the western regions afterwards included in the 
 same province. We shall return to the- French at the 
 epoch -of their later acquisitions. For the present, we 
 leave the name of New France, bestowed by Yerrazzani 
 and* Cartier in their voyages, and confirmed by Poutrm- 
 court, Champlain, and De Saussaye, in their settlements, 
 extending in immense proportions along the seaboard and 
 in the interior. It was a title to be set against the Florida 
 and the New Mexico of Spain. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 English Settlements. 
 
 Sectiox I. — Early Movements. 1492 to 1606. 
 The Eno-lisli were first connected with America 
 
 England '^ 
 
 and Co- througli Coliimbus. When his plans of discovery 
 lumbus. ^^,gj.g (leclined by the Portuguese court, he sent his 
 brother Bartholomew to make the same offers to Henry 
 VII. of England, (1484,) Bartholomew, long upon his 
 way and upon his return, was bringing back some favorable 
 proposals from the English king just as Christopher was 
 returning from his first voyage, (1493.) It was too late 
 for England to obtain the services of Columbus. 
 
 But it was iust in time for England to profit by 
 
 Voyages '* , . . 
 
 of the his discoveries. Both the king and his subjects, at 
 Cabots. j^^g^ those of his subjects who were interested in 
 navigation, seem to have cauglit the impulse naturally 
 springing from such an enterprise as had been achieved. 
 Within three years from the first return of Columbus, Henry 
 authorized a Venetian then belonging to Bristol, John 
 Cabot, with liis three sons, to start an expedition at their 
 own expense, in order to do whatever they could for them- 
 selves, and at the same time to set up the banners of the 
 English monarch, as his vassals and deputies, upon the 
 lands supposed to exist northward of those discovered by 
 Columbus, (1496.) The Cabots, setting sail in the follow- 
 ing year, (1497,) reached a shore called by them Prima 
 
 (22) 
 
ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS. 23 
 
 Vista, the First View, since known by the name of 
 Labrador. It was more than a year before the contment 
 was gained by Columbus. Another voyage, made a year 
 later (1498) by Sebastian Cabot, the second son of John, 
 and a native of England, was directed along the coast of 
 the new continent from the latitude of Labrador to that of 
 the Chesapeake. 
 
 So successful a beginning augured great ends. 
 GUbert ^^ut there ensued a long interval, in which none but 
 ^^^ isolated and remote adventures towards the west 
 
 Drake.; 
 
 were undertaken in England. The fisheries of the 
 north were for many years the only objects of attraction in 
 the du'ection of America. Then the opening of hostilities, 
 at first rather of a private or piratical than of a national 
 character, against Spain,* di'ew the English toAvards^ the 
 southern regions. But the central territories, those of 
 the present United States, were long unvisited except for 
 some passing purpose. More than three quarters of a cen- 
 tury had elapsed since the coasting voyage of Sebastian 
 Cabot, and both the Spaniards and the French had several 
 times seized upon the shores discovered by the English 
 navigators, when a new permission to possess and settle the 
 western lands was given by Queen Elizabeth to one of her 
 noblest subjects, Sir Humplu-ey Gilbert, (1578.) At the 
 same period, wliile Sir Francis Drake, the half hero, half 
 freebooter of the English navy, was on Ms voyage of ad- 
 venture and plunder round the world, he gave the name of 
 New Albion to the coasts of California and Oregon. Thus 
 gaming a foothold on the western as well as on the eastern 
 side of the continent, England was recalled, at a moment 
 of general activity throughout the nation, to her interests in 
 America, 
 
 * Beginning about 1570, though there was no formal war until 1585, 
 
24 PART I. 1492-1638. 
 
 Sir Humphrey Gilbert perislied in the course of 
 
 Raleigh. i J r ^ 
 
 a second attempt to reach his American possessions, 
 (1583.) But his claims were immediately transferred to 
 his half brother, Walter Raleigh, the courtier and the 
 cavalier of the age in England, (1584.) A voyage of 
 exploration was immediately made under his directions to 
 the coast of our North Carolina, of which so flattering an 
 account was returned to him and to his sovereign, that the 
 name of Virginia, from the virgin Queen Elizabeth, was 
 not thought too great for the new land. 
 
 In the following year, (1585,) Sir Richard Gren- 
 of his ville, one of the chief commanders of the time, left 
 coomes. ^ golony of onc hundred and eighty persons at 
 Roanoke Island ; but such were the hardships which they 
 encountered, that they were only too well satisfied to be 
 taken home by Sir Francis Drake a year afterwards. 
 They had scarcely gone when Grenville returned with 
 supplies for them, and he, unv/illing to have the colony 
 abandoned, left fifteen of liis mariners to keep possession 
 until they could be reenforced, (158G.) The little band 
 was gone, murdered, it was believed, by the natives, when, 
 in the next year, (1587,) a fresh party of one hundred 
 and seventeen arrived. Soon after they came, the first 
 English child to see the light in America was born. She 
 vfas the daughter of Ananias Dare, and the granddaughter 
 of John White, the leader of the expedition, who gave her 
 the name of Virginia. But the presence of the infant 
 brought no better fate to the colony than had befallen its 
 predecessors. The one hundred and eighteen disappeared, 
 and though sought for at various times, were never heard 
 of more. Raleigh lost heart as well as means. He made 
 over his patent to a number of persons, (1589,)^ who, with 
 less enterprise than he, met with still less success. North 
 
ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS. 25 
 
 Carolina was but a waste as far as English settlements 
 were concerned, and Virginia but a name. 
 
 Many years passed before any further attempts 
 and were made to occupy the American coast. The 
 ^^^' cessation of hostilities with Spain* at length re- 
 opened the way to commercial and colonial enterprise. 
 Bartholomew Gosnold, after landuig on Cape Cod, sailed 
 thence to Buzzard's Bay, where, on EHzabeth's Island, 
 named after his queen, he commenced, but soon abandoned, 
 a settlement, (1602.) The adjoining coasts were revisited 
 the next year (1603) by Martin Pring, and again, the next 
 year but one, (1605,) by George Weymouth, both, like 
 Gosnold, commanders of distinction. The prepai^ation for 
 settlements was decidedly resumed. 
 
 It was high time. The Spaniards had their St. 
 
 Ill SUC" 
 
 cess of Augustine and their Santa Fe, the French their 
 the Eng- Pq^^ Royal, though this was beyond the Kmits of 
 our United States. But the English, the first to 
 discover the coast, were still without a single foothold upon 
 it. Wherever they had gained one, it had slipped from 
 beneath them., 
 
 Section II. — Com2-)anies. 1606 to iSsS. 
 
 Organ- 
 
 Hitherto the efforts of the English in exploring 
 ized and m settlmg the American shore had been those 
 e or s. ^^ individuals. No one, indeed, unless it were 
 those who went on voyages for fishery or for trade, at- 
 tempted his enterprise without the formal countenance of 
 the sovereign. But there had been no organized efforts 
 such as were now prepared. 
 
 * 1604. But it was some time since the war had been generally car- 
 ried on. 
 
 3 
 
26 PART I. 1492-1638. 
 
 Patent of A. year or two after James I. succeeded to the 
 Virginia. English throne, he issued the patent of Virginia. 
 This was a twofold grant of the American territory 
 from what is now North Carolina to what is now Maine. 
 Of this vast tract, the southerly half* was appropriated to 
 the First Colony, and the northerly f to the Second Colony, 
 each colony to be founded and governed by a separate 
 council, to which the grant was made. The council or com- 
 pany, as it is generally styled, of the First Colony went by 
 the name of London, from the residence of its prominent 
 members. For a similar reason, the name of Plymouth 
 was given to the council or company of the Second Colony. 
 The great point, however, is this, that the parties to the 
 patent were not colonists, but capitalists, not adventurers, 
 but speculators, who, in their respective corporations in 
 England, not in America, were declared possessors of the 
 best portion of the American territory. At the same time, 
 the companies were invested with ample powers to settle 
 "colonists and servants," to impose duties, and to coin 
 money. Their obligations, in return, w^ere to pay over to 
 the crown a share of their profits,! and to support the laws 
 and the church of England. To exercise- some sort of 
 supervision over so great corporations as these, a council 
 for Virginia was instituted by the king, who, to complete 
 his work, put forth a code of laws and regulations for the 
 direction of the various bodies which he had created. 
 
 * From lat. 34° to lat. 38°, vnth a right, if first in the field, to make 
 settlements as far north as 41°. 
 
 t From lat. 41° to lat. 45°, -with a right, if first in the field, to make, 
 settlements as far south as 38°. 
 
 + One fifth of the gold and silver, and one fifteenth of the copper, that 
 might be found. 
 
ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS. 27 
 
 THE LONDON COMPANY. 
 
 The moving spirit of the London Company ap- 
 and pears to have been Richard Hakhiyt, prebendary 
 CO onis .. ^^ ]3ristol, afterwards of Westmmster, who had been 
 interested in American colonization from the time of Ra- 
 leigh's 'expeditions. Around him were gathered many 
 eminent and energetic men, among them Sir George Cal- 
 vert, the future founder of Maryland, but none of greater 
 promise, in relation to the work before them, than Barthol- 
 omew Gosnold, the settler of Elizabeth's Island, and John 
 Smith, a hero in the east long before he turned his face 
 westward. Gosnold and Smith were both amongst the first 
 colonists. 
 
 James- ^^ "^^^^ in midwinter, (December 19, 1606,) that 
 town. ^jj expedition, one hundred strong, set out from 
 England. A feeble band as regarded their individual re- 
 sources, they were sti"ong in the company by which they 
 were sent to stranger shores. The voyage was long, by 
 the common route of the West Indies, but Virginia was 
 reached at last. The spring (May 13, 1607) saw the 
 beginning of the first English town in America. Its royal 
 name of Jamestown is now a name alone. 
 i^ew The company had hardly begun its work when 
 
 charters. {^ sought ucw powcrs. Three years after the 
 patent, a second charter was framed, giving additional 
 authority to the English company, and extending the 
 American limits to the latitude of Philadelphia, (1609.) 
 Three years later, (1612,) a third charter vested the powers 
 of the company in a General Court of the members, and 
 added the Bermuda Islands to their domains. If charters 
 were all that the company needed m order to flourish, it 
 bade fair to be great and enduring. 
 
 The fortunes of the colony were less promising. Some- 
 
28 PART I. 1492-1638. 
 
 times at peace, sometimes at war * with tlie natives, 
 of the sometimes contented, sometimes despairing amongst 
 CO ouy. tiiejjiselves, the colonists went through great vicis- 
 situdes. One cause of feebleness is plain enough ; it is the 
 entire dependence of the colony upon the company and the 
 company's representative^. Another cause of equal mo- 
 ment was the variety of rank and of character in the 
 colony. The gentleman and the felon, the ardent seeker 
 after adventure and the patient toiler for subsistence, the 
 freeman, the apprentice, and the slave,t made up a com- 
 munity too mixed to possess any steadiness of growth. 
 The three first years, (1G07-9,) the colonists hung upon 
 John Smith, who had become their president in the year 
 followinof the settlement of Jamestown. It is curious to 
 see how he led, rebuked, supported them ; he, as the strong 
 man, guiding them, as feeble children. One year, (1610,) 
 the colony is all but abandoned; another, (1613,) it is 
 strong enough to make the attack already mentioned upon 
 the French settlements in the north. But the tendency to 
 increase, though interrupted, continues, and not without 
 support from the company in England, 
 institu- The first step to raise the colonists from a state 
 tions. of niere vassalage was the grant of an estate to 
 each settler, (1G15.) The progress from the landholder 
 to the freeman followed. The colony had been bound, 
 as has been stated, to maintain the church of England. 
 Its civil authorities consisted, first of the English crown 
 and Parliament, then of the English council, then of 
 the English company, by which, according to the various 
 charters, the local officers were appointed. These were, in 
 the beginning, a council, with a president ; but in a year or 
 two from the beginning, a governor and suite, at first with- 
 
 * The Indian wars are related in Part II. Chapter lY. 
 
 t A Dutch man of war brought the first negro slaves, in 1620. 
 
ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS. 29 
 
 out and afterwards with, a council. At length, under the 
 government of Sir George Yeardley, the freemen of the 
 colony, representing eleven corporations or plantations, 
 were called, as burgesses, to a General Assembly, to take 
 the matter of taxes, besides other affairs of importance, 
 into their own hands, (1619.) This was the system of 
 the colonial constitution granted by the company two years 
 afterwards, (1621.) In other words, the executive author- 
 ity was in the hands of a governor, the judicial in those of 
 a governor and a council, with an appeal to an Assembly, 
 and the legislative in that of a governor, a council, and an 
 Assembly, all subject to the company, which, of course, 
 was subject to the laws and the authorities of England. 
 An in- ^® ^^^ ^P^ *^ exaggerate the importance of the 
 fant English settlements, in comparison with those of 
 CO ony. ^^^ French or the Spanish, or any other nation in 
 our country. The truth is, that Virginia, like most of the 
 settlements which we shall find in the north, was but an 
 infant colony, unable to regulate its trade ©r its education, 
 its habits of life or of thought, except in submission to 
 external authorities. One or two examples, occurring under 
 the company's jurisdiction, illustrate the dependence of the 
 colony during the entire period of which we are now treat- 
 ing. A design of a college for native as well as English 
 youth, started in England with large subscriptions, found 
 no fulfilment in Virginia, (1619-21.) Even the want of 
 wives was met, not by individual devotion, but by a com- 
 pany speculation ; a large number of young women of good 
 character being transported to be sold for a hundred and 
 twenty, or even a hundred and fifty pounds of tobacco (at 
 three shillings a pound) to the lonely settlers, (1620-21.) 
 Fall of Nothing, however, marks the utter dependence 
 
 the com- of the colony so plainly as its inactivity during the 
 ^^^^'. troubles in which the company became involved. 
 3* 
 
30 PAKT I. 1492-1638. 
 
 Dissensions amongst the members, and jealousies amongst 
 those who were not members, led to the royal interference ; 
 the result being the fall of the company, with all its expen- 
 ditures* heavy on its head, (1G24.) The colony at tliis 
 time immbered about two thousand, the relics of nine thou- 
 sand who had been sent out. Yet for all the two thousand 
 did to prove their existence or their independence, the 
 colony might have been supposed to be the company's 
 shadow, too unsubstantial to support or to oppose the 
 power to which it owed its being. 
 ,,. . . Viroinia became a royal province. The governor 
 
 Virginia ^ J i. o 
 
 a royal and the council received their appointment from the 
 province. ].jj-^g^ ||jg freemen continuing to elect their Assem- 
 bly. It was a national government, uistead of a corpora- 
 tion system, and as such it seemed to relieve the Virginians. 
 At any rate, they grew so much in spirit as to make a stand 
 against the royal grant of what they considered their terri- 
 tory to the proprietor of Maryland. Their governor, John 
 Harvey, not taking part with them as they wished, they 
 deposed him, and sent him virtually a prisoner to England, 
 (1635.) The king, of course, restored the governor, but 
 without reducing the colony to silence or to retribution, 
 (1636-37.) The spirit of dependence, howevQj', lingered. 
 But the principles of growth and of independence 
 of the were at work. Among the earliest settlers were 
 CO ouy. j^^^^ ^^ culture and of earnestness, men who, like 
 Alexander Whitaker, " a scholar, a graduate, and a preach- 
 er," devoted themselves to the elevation of the colony. 
 Among the earliest governors were Lord De la Ware, 
 (1611,) and Sir George Yeardiey, (1619-21,) both of 
 strong character and of strong influence. Around such 
 individuals as these there would naturally gather an in- 
 
 * From £100,000 to £150,000. 
 
L 
 
 ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS. , 81 
 
 creasing number and a higlier stamp of colonists. The 
 interest of the mother country in the colony would natu- 
 rally be extended when the dissolution of the company 
 opened the way to general emigration and general enter- 
 prise. The development of Virginia seemed sure. 
 
 THE PLT3I0UTH C03IPANY. 
 
 Mem- Among the members of the Plymouth Company 
 
 bers. were many personages of distinction. The lord 
 chief justice of England, Sir John Popham, the governor 
 of Plymouth, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and two Gilberts, 
 kinsmen and successors of Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Sir 
 Walter Raleigh, all engaged in the enterprise. The 
 higher the rank, however, of individual members in any 
 association, the more likely, in most cases, are clashing 
 pretensions and menacing divisions. The Plymouth Com- 
 pany never held together m such a way as to carry out 
 any effective operations. 
 _, , . A few members made the first move by sending 
 
 Colon iza- •' o 
 
 tion at- out a colony of forty-five persons, who encamped 
 emp e . ^^^^ ^^^^ brief year upon an island at the mouth of 
 the Kennebec, (1G07-8.) Some tinle elapsed before any 
 new expedition was undertaken. Nor would any, it is 
 probable, have been undertaken then, but for the active 
 agency of John Smith, who, four or five years after his 
 return from Virginia, entered the service of the Plymouth 
 Company. A careful voyage from the Penobscot to Cape 
 Cod impressed him so favorably, that he gave the country 
 the name of New England, obtaining for himself the title 
 of its admiral, (1614.) But his persevering exertions to 
 discharge his cfiice and to colonize Ms chosen land were 
 in vain ; nor was any thing more attempted by the com- 
 pany until it was transformed by a new charter into the 
 
32 PART I. 1492-1638. 
 
 Council of Plymouth for New England, with the right 
 to all the territory from the latitude of Pliiladelphia to 
 that of Chaleur Bay, (1620.) 
 
 Various Even then,. the Council for New England set on 
 proprie- foot no colouization of its own. Its energies 
 
 tors and . , . . 
 
 compa- seemed to be spent ni makmg grants to mdividuals, 
 nies. — some of them its members, — or to associations, 
 by whom the settlement of New England was to be 
 accomplished. Singular enough, considering that it was 
 New England, a large proportion of these subordinate 
 agencies was directed to the establishment of what may 
 be called a number of lordly domains upon the soil. In 
 following this succession of proprietors and of companies, 
 we lose sight of the Council for New England. 
 
 One settlement, originally made without a grant 
 ment of fi'om the couucil, was by much the most important 
 riym- fQj. many years. It was on no large scale. One 
 hundred and two passengers in the Mayflower 
 landed at a place already called New Plymouth, (Decem- 
 ber 11, 1620.) They were a band of Puritans, whose 
 extreme principles had led to their exile, first from Eng- 
 land to Holland, (1608,) and then from Holland to 
 America. Obtaining a grant from the London Company, 
 they set sail for Virginia, but landed to the north of that 
 province, in the limits of New England. The year follow- 
 ing, they procured a patent from the Council for New 
 England, (1621.) But not in their own name; the grant 
 being made to one of a company of London merchants, 
 with whom they had formed a partnership before saihng 
 to the west. The Londoners, holding then' title under the 
 council, thus constituted a sort of company within a com- 
 pany. Nor was it until after six years, marked by many 
 troubles and by many injuries, that the colonists extricated 
 themselves from this twofold dependence by the payment 
 
ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS. 33 
 
 of a large sum to the London merchants, (1626.) The 
 difficuhies with the merchants had been the least of the 
 trials of the Plymouth settlers. Half of the one hundred 
 and two of the Mayflower died within a year from the 
 landing. " In the time of most distress," says the histo- 
 rian of the settlement, Governor Bradford, " there were 
 but six or seven sound persons." After disease came 
 want ; " all their victuals were spent, and they were only 
 to rest on God's providence ; at night not many times 
 knowing where to have a bit of any thing the next day." 
 When a sliip load of fresh immigrants arrived nearly two 
 years after, " the best dish they," the earlier comers, " could 
 present their friends with, was a lobster or a piece of fish, 
 without bread or any thing else but a cup of fair spring 
 water." Nevertheless the Pilgrims, as they were called, 
 sustained and extended their settlements. A second patent 
 from the council was obtained for the country near the 
 mouth of the Kennebec, where a trading post was presently 
 established, (1628.) The whole extent of settlements, 
 both at Plymouth and on the Kennebec, was included in 
 a tliird patent, two years afterwards, (1630.) 
 
 One who reads the history of these times with- 
 tinction ^ut pcrsoual or . national prepossessions will not 
 in his- £j;jf| j^^y thing of a very extraordinary character 
 
 tory. p 
 
 in the settlement of Plymouth. They who came 
 thither, braving the perils of the unknown sea and the 
 unknown shore, were but doing what had been done by 
 their countrymen in Virginia, and by others in other settle- 
 ments in America. Solemnity is certainly imparted to 
 their enterprise by the reflection that they came to main- 
 tain the doctrines and laws v/liicli their consciences ap- 
 proved, but which the authorities of England j)roscribed. 
 Yet the Huguenots of Carolina had done the same thing 
 more than half a century before. The true distinction 
 
34 PART I. 1492-1638. 
 
 of the Puritans of Plymoutli is this, that they relied 
 upon themselves, that they adopted theu' own institutions 
 and developed their own resources, of course in a feeble, 
 but not the less in a manly manner. Before they landed, 
 they " covenant and combine themselves together into a 
 civil body politic, to enact such just and equal laws as shall 
 be thought most convenient for the general good of the 
 colony." The state thus founded was continued in entire 
 independence of external authority, except in so far as its 
 territory was held by grants from the Council for New 
 England. 
 
 Political The political forms of Plymouth were singu- 
 forms. larly simple. Every settler of good character 
 — that is, of the faith of the colony, and not an apprentice 
 or a servant — was a freeman, a member of the body by 
 which all affairs were administered or directed. An as- 
 sembly of a representative character was not held for 
 nearly twenty years, (1639.) Out of the freemen a 
 smaller body was taken to exercise the every-day func- 
 tions of government. It was composed merely of the 
 governor and his assistants, or council, of which he was 
 simply the presiding officer vv^ith a double vote. The first 
 governor was John Carver; the second- was William Brad- 
 ford, who retamed the post, with a few interruptions, for 
 thirty-six years. It marks the simplicity, not to say the 
 distastefulness, of these offices, that there should have 
 been a law subjecting a man not having served the pre- 
 ceding year, and yet refusing to be governor, to a fine 
 of twenty pounds, equivalent to a much larger amount 
 in our day. A military body was headed by Miles Stan- 
 dish, the hero of the settlement. 
 
 But the spirit beneath these forms is of more 
 
 Spirit. . ^ 
 
 importance than the forms themselves. The ear- 
 nest faith of the Puritans was at once the source from which 
 
ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS. 35 
 
 the colony sprang, and the strength by which it grew. But 
 it was also the principle of harsh and arbitrary measures. 
 It transformed the exiles into persecutors, many of whose 
 companions found themselves again exiles, escaping from 
 the mother country only to be thrust out from the sandy 
 coasts and chilly hovels of the colony. 
 
 Meantime New England was portioned out un- 
 Attempt der various names. The secretary of the council, 
 ^^f^- John Mason, called his OTant Mariana, stretchina; 
 
 eral gov- ■' ~ ' o 
 
 ernment. from Salcni Rivcr to the head of the Merrimac, 
 (1621.) The lands between the Merrimac and the 
 Kennebec were presently combined as Laconia, in a grant 
 made to Mason in company with Sir Ferdinando Gorges, 
 (1622.) The first settlement, however, in that neighbor- 
 hood was made by some fishermen on the shore near 
 Monhegan Island, beyond the Kennebec, and therefore 
 independently of Mason and Gorges, (1622.) The next 
 year the sites of the later Portsmouth and Dover were 
 occupied, each under a separate association, to which the 
 two proprietors had partially transferred their claims, 
 (1623.) Meanwhile the Council for New England had 
 been attempting great things, commissionmg Captain Fran- 
 cis West as " Admiral of New England," Captain Robert 
 Gorges as " Governor General," and the Rev. WilHam 
 Morrell as " Overseer of Churches." The last named was 
 a clergyman of the English church. " He had,'" says 
 Governor Bradford, " I know not what power and author- 
 ity of superintendency over other churches granted him, 
 and sundry instructions for that end, but he never showed 
 it or made any use of it." " It should seem," says the 
 stout Puritan, " he saw it was in vain ; he only spoke of 
 it to some here at his going away." The governor general 
 and the admiral cut no better figure. The council, as if 
 disgusted by the fate of their general officers, surrendered 
 
36 PART I. 1492-1638. 
 
 their domains to chaos. New grants, within as well as 
 without the limits of those already made, were issued by 
 the council, or by members of the council ; the whole 
 coast from Plymouth to the Penobscot being cut up with 
 dividing and intersecting lines. 
 
 Order began to be evolved. The partnership 
 Hamp- between Mason and Ferdinando Gorges being dis- 
 and New ^^^"^^^^^5 (1629,) cacli obtained a new grant for him- 
 Sonicr- self. Masou gave the name of New Hampshire to 
 the tract between the Merrimac (afterwards be- 
 tween the Salem) and the Piscataqua Pivers. The dis- 
 trict between the Piscataqua and the Kennebec was called 
 New Somersetshire by Gorges, who donned the title of 
 Governor General of New England. " There was a con- 
 sultation had," writes an Englishman at the time, " to send 
 him thither with a thousand soldiers." The scheme of a 
 general government was not yet abandoned, (1634.) 
 
 ' A company of Puritans in England had some 
 
 Aun and time before acquired a fishing station of the Plym- 
 K.aiem. ^^^-^ colony at Cape Ann, (1624.) Thither a few 
 settlers were sent ; Poger Conant being soon after invited 
 to be the governor, (1625.) He was a man of great 
 spirit, who had found it prudent to leave Plymouth in 
 consequence of his too hberal Puritanism, and who now 
 sustained the puny colony on the cape by his courage and 
 his judgment. Perceiving a much better position at Naum- 
 fceag, he removed thither, (1626,) and there held the 
 ground with a few dispirited adherents until, in accord- 
 ance with his recommendation, nearly a hundred settlers 
 arrived from England under the conduct of John Endicott, 
 (1628.) Endicott took the direction of the colony as the 
 agent of a new company, by which a grant of the tract 
 between the Charles and the Merrimac Rivers had been 
 procured irom the Council for New England. The name 
 
ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS. o7 
 
 of Naumkeag was changed to Salem in the ensuing year, 
 
 (1629.) 
 
 New associates having joined the enterprise, — 
 of SsJ- John Winthrop, Isaac Johnson, and others of note 
 chxisetts fi-oixi Boston, — a royal charter was procured for 
 ^''^* "The Governor and Company of the Massachu- 
 setts Bay in New England." A governor, deputy govern- 
 or, and eighteen assistants or councillors, were appointed 
 to hold monthly courts and to conduct the affairs of admin- 
 istration. The members at large vrere to be convened 
 from time to time in general courts, by which officers were 
 to be chosen and laws enacted, subject only to the condition 
 of conforming to the laws of England. No mention of 
 religion or of religious liberty Avas made, it being out of 
 the question for the Puritans to obtain the formal recog- 
 nition of their ov/n faith. Thus going behind the gi'ant 
 of the Council for 'New England, the Massachusetts associ- 
 ation obtained an independent position, in the same char- 
 acter that belonged to the council itself, as an English 
 corporation. But four months after the date of the char- 
 ter, it was decided, on the proposal of the governor, 
 Matthew Cradock, "to transfer the government of the 
 plantation to those that shall inhabit there," (July 28, 
 1629.) This at once changed the corporation from an 
 En.2;lish to a colonial one. 
 
 Eeenforcements had been sent out to the colony 
 at Salem, (1629.) But the accessions to the list 
 were now so great as to suggest the mcrease of settlements. 
 The appointment of Jolm Winthrop as governor, under the 
 transfer of the charter to the colony, was followed by " the 
 great emigration," so called, of about one thousand, who, 
 after tarrying at Salem and the neighboring Charlestown, 
 voted " that Trknountain shall be called Boston," (Septem- 
 ber 7, 1630,) and there took up their position at the centre 
 4 
 
 Boston. 
 
38 PAPtT I. 1492-1G38. 
 
 of Massachusetts Bay. The first General Couii; was held 
 soon after, (October 19,) and from that time Boston took 
 the lead of Massachusetts and of New England. It was 
 entitled to do so in Massachusetts by the rank, the educa- 
 tion, and the devotion of its settlers. It was entitled to do 
 so in New England as the chief place in Massachusetts, 
 then, and for many years after, the most important of all 
 the English settlements. 
 
 The new colony arrew apace. All around Bos- 
 
 Increaso ./ o x 
 
 and inde- tou there Sprang up towns, some on spots previous- 
 
 pendencc. ■, •ti •t-ii 'i -• ^ . 
 
 ly occupied by individuals or by parties, but many 
 in districts hitherto unvisited. Each new settlement con- 
 tributed to the increase and the independence of the colony. 
 So independent in some respects did its position become, 
 that the Council for New England, sometimes as a body 
 and sometimes through its individual members, began to 
 dread and to resist the rising power. There was full 
 enousjh in the attitude of the Massachusetts colonists to 
 warrant the suspicion of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, " that 
 they would in short time wholly shake off the royal juris- 
 diction of the sovereign magistrate." 
 
 No colony certainly had ever been endowed with 
 govern- similar powers. Charter government had hitherto 
 
 been confined to companies in England. It was 
 first inspired with all its vitality in Massachusetts. As the 
 government, not merely of a corporation, but of a state, it 
 invested its holders with an authority independent of all 
 besides a mere alleffiance to the crown and the law of the 
 
 O 
 
 mother land. The officers elsewhere, as in the royal prov- 
 ince of Virginia, appointed in England, were here elected 
 on the spot, and by those over whom they were to preside. 
 Governor, council, and assembly, all belonged to and pro- 
 ceeded from the freemen. With them resided every form 
 of authority, save only the distant and the indefinite shapes 
 of royal and parliamentary supremacy. 
 
ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS. 39 
 
 ^ .^ It by no means followed that tlie ffovernment 
 
 Puritan *' *^ 
 
 princi- was a liberal one. ^^^latever it might appear to 
 ^ ^''' be in the abstract, its operation was rigidly con- 
 trolled by Puritan principles. These narrowed its sphere 
 and stiffened its action. An early vote declared no one a 
 freeman under the charter who was not a church member, 
 (1631.) As but a small proportion of the inhabitants were 
 church members, there were less freemen than non-free- 
 men. The privileges of the charter being thus restricted 
 to the pale of the church, the church and the state became 
 virtually one. The elders of the church, clerical and lay, 
 were as much magistrates as the magistrates themselves. 
 External Sucli a systcm favorcd the independence of the 
 relations, coloiiy in its relations with the mother country; 
 indeed, in all external relations. It made the colony 
 strong in itself, relying upon its own resources, providing 
 for its own wants. The villages of Massachusetts were 
 hardly begun, its fields vv^ere hardly turned up by the 
 plough, when the General Court " agree to give four liun- 
 di*ed pounds towards a school or college," (IG06.) This 
 was subsequently located at Cambridge, and named after 
 its first private benefactor, John Harvard, a clergyman of 
 Charlestown, (1638.) The same year of the grant from 
 the court, when such a sacrifice for the future must have 
 strained the entire colony, the offer of certain noblemen to 
 join the settlers, on condition of preserving their hereditary 
 honors, was rejected, (1636.) All the while the colony 
 was contending against the machinations of its adversaries 
 in and out of the Council for New England. The charter, 
 threatened again and again, was at length demanded back ; 
 but the men of Massachusetts stood firm, and it was spared, 
 (1634-38.) 
 
 Internal The internal relations of the colonists were by 
 relations, ^q means equally seciu-e. The system that cut 
 
40 PART I. 1492-1638. 
 
 down tlie cliarter itself was not likely to respect the devel- 
 opment of the individual. The very members of the 
 ruling class were under the most rigid restraint. John 
 EUot, afterwards the missionary to the Indians, was obliged 
 to retract the censures which he passed upon the magis' 
 trates for making an Indian treaty without consulting the 
 freemen, (1634.) Israel Stoughton, a deputy, Avho ven- 
 tured to write against the pretensions of the magistrates to 
 a negative upon the General Court, was forced to ask that 
 his manuscript " be burned as weak and offensive," and 
 was then excluded from office for three years, (1G35.) 
 Roger Williams, denying the power of the magistrates 
 to compel attendance upon their form of service, or to 
 bind the conscience by human lav»^s, v/as driven into exile, 
 (1635.) It marks the spirit of the place, that even Roger 
 Williams, the professed advocate of religious libert}^, should 
 have transgressed the very principle which he advocated, 
 by forbidding his wife to pray with him because she would 
 not join his scission from the church at Salem. These 
 were all individual instances. There presently arose a 
 party in opposition to the dominant system. It was led by 
 a woman, Anne Hutchinson ; but many of the principal 
 men united with her in setting up what they termed a 
 " covenant of grace " against the " covenant of Avorks " 
 upheld by the Puritan rulers. The leaders of the party 
 \YGve all banished, (1638.) One cannot wonder that Wil- 
 liam Blackstone, an early settler, who first invited the 
 Massachusetts emigrants to settle at Boston, should retire 
 before them, exclaiming, " I left England because I liked 
 not the lord bishops, and now I like not the lord brethren." 
 Connec- The Massacliusctts people were already emigrat- 
 ticut. ij3g^ j^ neighlioring territory, conveyed by the Coun- 
 cil for New England to the Earl of Warwick, passed into 
 the hands of Lord Say and Seal, Lord Brook, and others, 
 
ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS. 41 
 
 (1632.) Upon their domain, a party from Plymouth 
 estabhshed a trading post, (1633,) while another and 
 a larger company from Massachusetts founded actual 
 settlements at Windsor and Hartford, together called the 
 Connecticut colony, (1635.) Jolm Wmthrop, son of the 
 Massachusetts governor, and afterwards governor of Con- 
 necticut, led the first expedition on the part of the proprie- 
 tors, and began a settlement at Saybrook, (1635.) A third 
 colony was begun, a year or two later, by emigrants from 
 England under the lead of John Davenport and Theophilus 
 Eaton, who, intending to settle in Massachusetts, were 
 driven by the dissensions of that colony to 'New Haven, 
 (1638.) 
 
 ProTi- Connecticut was not the only colony to profit by 
 
 dence the Strifes in Massachusetts. Roger Williams, tlie 
 Rbodo exile, began the plantation of Providence, (1636.) 
 Island, ^g ^|-^g founder of a colony, with the consent of the 
 natives, to whom, as well as to his f)ersecuting countrj^men, 
 he was a faithful friend, Williams deserves a far higher 
 fame than he would ever have won as an agitator. He 
 was followed by some of the Hutchinson exiles, who began 
 a second colony on the northern shore of the island since 
 called Rhode Island, (1638.) They, like Williams, ob- 
 tained their lands from the natives. 
 
 The Council for New England, with or without 
 tion of whose patents so many settlements had been made, 
 tiic coun- ^^g j^Q^y jjQ more. Opposed by. the advocates of a 
 free fishery and a free trade, it had lately met with 
 fresh assaults from those who regarded the churches of 
 Plymouth and of Massachusetts as the offsj)ring of schism 
 and of sin. The council was weary of itself. Its efforts 
 after a general government of the colonies had miscarried. 
 Its grants had ceased to be in demand ; indeed, in an 
 honest point of view, there were no more t-o be made. Its 
 4* 
 
42 PART I. 1402-1638. 
 
 • 
 members, however, thought differently, and having once 
 more parcelled out the territory of New England amongst 
 themselves, they surrendered their patent to the crown, 
 (1635.) 
 
 End of Thus ended the companies created by the patent 
 compa- of Virginia. One, lasting but eighteen years, be- 
 gan the single colony of Virginia. The other, con- 
 tinuing eleven years more, did not found a solitary settle- 
 ment. It saw, however, quite a number of settlements 
 made by others under its grants or upon its lands. The 
 only office that either company had fulfilled, was to clear 
 the way for individual enterprise. This done, both fell, 
 and without a regret from any side. 
 
 Position When the Virginia Company came to an end, its 
 of New colony was declared a royal province. No such 
 ° ' change ensued upon the dissolution of the Council 
 for New England. Massachusetts, the chief settlement in 
 the territory, was already provided with a royal charter. 
 The other settlements were too insignificant to attract legis- 
 lation, even if they attracted attention from England. Many 
 of them, like Plymouth, were able to govern themselves. 
 The rest would be provided for in time. 
 Thomas I^ ^"^'^^ plain, howcvcr, that the New England 
 Moitou. colonies needed some other system than they had 
 to establish their relations amongst themselves. An in- 
 stance in point occurs in the case of Tiiomas Morton " of 
 Clifford's Inn, gentleman," as he called himself. Taking 
 the lead of a few settlers encamped at Mount Wollaston, 
 near Boston, he gave the hill the name of Mare-Mount, 
 of which he styled himself " Mine Host," (1626.) The 
 use of the church liturgy and the confidence of the Indians, 
 whom he employed as his huntsmen, gave great umbrage 
 to the neighboring colonists, the more so that he led a free 
 and easy, perhaps a sensual, life upon his mount, and thus 
 
ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS. 43 
 
 attracted numbers from the surrounding settlements. A 
 sort of crusade was started by " the chief of the strajjdino- 
 jilantations," as Governor Bradford of Plymouth describes 
 them ; Plymouth, at their request, assuming the lead, and 
 sending a party under Miles Standish to take Morton 
 prisoner. He was sent to England, (1628.) As he had 
 the audacity to return, he was apprehended by the authori- 
 ties of the infant colony of Massachusetts Bay, whose char- 
 ter covered his territory. The court ordered him to " be 
 set in the bilboes, and after sent prisoner to England," his 
 goods being seized and his house burned for wrongs, it was 
 alleged, that had been done to the Indians, (1630.) After 
 appealing to the privy council by petition, and to the Eng- 
 lish nation in a work called " New English Canaan," Mor- 
 ton returned again to encounter fine and imprisonment, 
 (1643,) and to die in poverty, (1646.) Whatever were 
 his faults, wdiether " the lord of misrule," as his adversaries 
 represented him, or not, Thomas Morton w^as certainly 
 handled by his fellows-colonists in a way the most opposed 
 to justice and to peace. 
 
 Section III. — Vroprietors. 1G30 to 1638. 
 
 Grant of ^ ^^^ ^*^^'^ ^^ grant appears. Hitherto, the 
 Mary- individual obtaining possession of territory pro- 
 cured it, like Mason or like Gorges, from a com- 
 pany to whose authority the acquisition was subject. It 
 was by a patent from the crown that Sir George Calvert, 
 Lord Baltimore, was made " lord and proprietor " of a 
 tract between the Potomac Eiver and the latitude of Phila- 
 delphia, (1632.) To this he gave the name of Maryland, 
 and thither, to a settlement named St. Mary's, his son, after 
 the father's death, led a band of two hundi-ed, (1634.) 
 Thus was constituted a proprietary government. The 
 
44 PART I. 1492-1638. 
 
 . proprietor held an authority that was supreme, save 
 
 A propri- re j jt ^ 
 
 etui y gov- in its Subordination to the sovereim from whom it 
 emanated. He directed the administration and the 
 legislation of the colony, appointing the executive officers, 
 the governor, especially, as his representative, and control- 
 ling the proceedings of the colonists in their assemblies. 
 To him likewise belonged the quitrents, or taxes upon 
 occupied lands, in addition to the general taxes for the 
 support of the government. The colonists, on their part, 
 — that is, " the freemen of the province," — were to have 
 their assembly, in which their " advice, consent, and appro- 
 bation " might be given or withheld in relation to the 
 course of the proprietor. 
 
 Ee!ii?ious ^^ witli otlicr Settlements, so with Maryland, 
 ii])erty. there are exaggerations in some of the histories. 
 A vast deal of fine writing has been devoted to the magna- 
 nimity with which the Maryland charter provided for 
 religious liberty. The instrument makes no mention of 
 tlie subject, or of the establishment of religion, except to 
 leave the matter to the proprietor, subject on this point, as 
 on others, to the laws of England. The Calvert family, 
 being Roman Catholic, could not make their own faith 
 paramount, nor would they, perhaps, have done so, even if 
 they could. They wanted settlers of all creeds, whose 
 numbers and whose energies alone could give real value 
 to their domains. It was simply a matter of policy, there- 
 fore, with the proprietary family, to let the question of 
 religion rest exactly where it w^as left by the charter. We 
 may hope that they were not merely politic enough, but 
 generous enough, even in an age which kncAV little of 
 generosity, to throw open their province to Christians, with- 
 out any limitation in favor of one branch or of another. 
 Trou- The colony, young as it was, fell into troubles. 
 
 ^^^^* Its assembly began to make laws without waiting 
 
ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS. 45 
 
 for the proprietor's legal initiative. At tlie same time, 
 both proprietor and assembly were involved in disturbances 
 excited by a member of the Virginia council, William 
 Clayborne. Virginia herself took it ill that her territory 
 should be invaded even by royal grants. Clayborne con- 
 ceived his rights to be assailed, inasmuch as he, individual- 
 ly, had established trading posts within the Maryland limits. 
 Taking up arms against the colony, he was overpowered, 
 and sent back to Virginia, (1635.) 
 
 ^ , Other proprietors, besides those of Maryland, 
 
 propris- were in the field. Sir Robert Heath, attorney 
 general to Charles I., obtained the patent of a 
 vast region on the south of Virginia, and as far as the Gulf 
 of Mexico. This he called Carolana., (1630.) Another 
 tract, called New Albion, and including the present New 
 Jersey, was conveyed in an irregular instrument from the 
 viceroy of Ii-eland to Sir Edward Plowden, as an earl 
 l^alatine, (1636.) These were but grants, not settlements, 
 yet significant of the gro^\dng pretensions of England to 
 the soil of America. 
 
 No other nation of Europe, it need hardly be 
 sion. suggested, had made any settlements, individual, 
 English associated, or national, at all comparable to those 
 
 motives. 
 
 of the English. Nor had there been any such 
 definite purposes of settlement, separate from mere adven- 
 ture, on the part of any other race. The English settler 
 was emphatically a settler, rather than a treasure seeker or 
 a conqueror, a missionary or a trader. Not that he shrank 
 from other enterprises, but that his main motive was to 
 gain a home, and an abiding one, in the western world. 
 Acting in harmonj^ vritli this were the desire to escape from 
 oppression or from want, the yearning after a new faith or 
 a new life, the various impulses that have appeared, it is 
 
46 PART I. 1492-1638. 
 
 hoped, in the preceding pages. That there were baser 
 instincts tending to the same end has also appeared, 
 institu- The institutions of the Enghsh were favorable to 
 tions. their purposes as settlers. The subjects of a limit- 
 ed monarchy, they brought with them the habits and the 
 laws of comparative freemen. That they might have been 
 freer in their political principles, needs not to be suggested 
 anew. But in their varying charters, in their varying 
 magistrates and tribunals, even in the least liberal, the 
 English colonists possessed privileges to which neither the 
 Frenchman nor the Spaniard in their neighborhood had 
 ever actually aspired. 
 
 Circum- Of an equally encouraging description were the 
 stances, circumstanccs of the English. The seaboard was 
 theirs, all at least that they could immediately occupy. 
 The portion which they possessed was partly in the north 
 and partly in the south, provided, therefore, with the re- 
 sources of both regions, at the same time that it was not 
 exposed either to the indulgence of the extreme south or 
 to the privation of the extreme north. "Within opened an 
 interior region rich in its streams, its fields, its forests, its 
 mountains ; without lay the broad sea, accessible at a hun- 
 dred harbors. "VVli^tever mere position could effect was 
 promised to the English settlers. 
 
 jhigiish As yet they had but begun the work before 
 names, them. Tlicir humble towns on the coast, their 
 humbler villages and hamlets in the country, gave small 
 token of their destinies. But the names of their territories 
 were full of strength and of grandeur. There was New 
 Albion on the Pacific, New Albion on the Atlantic. There 
 was the land of Queen Elizabeth — Virginia ; there was 
 the land of the nation — New England. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Dutch Settlements. 
 
 Group of A LATER group of settlei's comes forward. It is 
 traders, coiiiposed iiot SO mucli of settlci's, however, as of 
 traders, who, to carry out their commercial operations, hiy 
 the foundations of a state, and give it the name of their 
 nation. 
 
 Spirit ill The spirit of the preceding h.alf century in IIol- 
 iioiiaud. |,^j^^| j^^^ been that of a people rescuing themselves 
 from a foreign dominion and building up a power of their 
 own. Europe has nothing so brilliant upon its records at 
 the time as the war of independence vvhich the Nether- 
 lands waged, and waged successfully, against Spain. It 
 miirht have been argued that such a nation would have 
 surpassed all others in America. 
 
 Dwindled "^^'^ '^^ ^"^^ ^^^^ ^^' "^^^^ Dutcli camo late upon 
 in Ameri- the sccuc. Tlicy camc, morcovcr, not with the 
 spirit or the law of their nation so much as with 
 those of the commercial companies by which they were 
 sent out or controlled. The story of their settlements is 
 therefore an anomaly in the history of American coloni- 
 zation. The fire of the mother-land languishes in the 
 colony. It is because the colony is not a national, but a 
 corporate settlement, from its beginning to its end. 
 Hudson' '^^^"^ very year in which Holland became inde- 
 voyage, pendent, (1609,) Henry Hudson, an Englishman 
 
 m Dutch employ, sailed in search of a northern passage to 
 
 (47) 
 
48 PAET I. 1492-1638. 
 
 the Pacific. Shut out by the ice from his projected course, 
 he steered westward, and reaching the coast of Maine, 
 cruised southward as far as Virginia, giving to Cape Cod, 
 on the way, the name of New Holland. As he returned 
 towards the north, he discovered Delaware Bay, and entered 
 the River of the Mountains, as he called the stream since 
 known by his own name. These waters, first visited, per- 
 haps, by Cabot in the English, (1498,) then by Verrazzani 
 in the French, (152-1,) and then by Gomez in the Spanish 
 (1525) service, were now more thoroughly explored by 
 Hudson. As their discoverer, he returned to Holland, and 
 as their possessors, the Dutch sent out various vessels to 
 trade with the natives and to claim the shores, (1610-13.) 
 The earliest of the Dutch posts was on the Island 
 
 Company ^ 
 
 of New of Manhattan, (1613.) There the first craft of Eu- 
 iiud'^'" I'opean construction was built and launched by 
 Adrian Block, whose ship had been destroyed by 
 fire. In his Manhattan vessel, appropriately called the Rest- 
 less, Block Avent through Long Island Sound as far as Cape 
 Cod, then, leaving his name for Block Island, he returned 
 home, (161-4:.) The prospects of the new country looking 
 well, the association of Amsterdam and Hoorn merchants, 
 by whom Block and other explorers had been employed, 
 gave it the name of New Netherland, and applied to the 
 States General for protection in their enterprise. This 
 was obtained, in the shape of an exclusive right for three 
 years " to visit and penetrate the said lands lying in Ameri- 
 ca between New France and Virginia, whereof the coasts 
 extend from the fortieth to the forty-fifth degrees of lati- 
 tude ; " that is, from Delaware to Passamaquoddy Bay. 
 The association, taking the name of the United New Neth- 
 erland Company, set themselves to work, (1614.) A fort 
 was built at Manhattan ; a fortified trading post was estab- 
 lished up the river, near the present Albany, (1615.) 
 
DUTCH SETTLEMENTS. 49, 
 
 Meanwhile .the little Eestless, commanded by Cornelius 
 Hendi'icksen, was exploring the coast to the southward, 
 and ascending the Pelaware, then called the South River, 
 to distinguish it from the North, or Prmce Maurice's Eiver, 
 as the Hudson was variously styled. 
 
 The monopoly of the New Netherland Com- 
 of the pany expiring without their being able to ob- 
 piymouth ^^-j^ its renewal, other parties entered into the 
 trading operations of which the colony was the 
 centre. But the old company, or rather a portion of its 
 members, retained a sort of vantage ground. To them, ac- 
 cordingly, the Puritan exiles in Holland — the same who 
 settled Plymouth — addressed their proposals of emigrating 
 to New Netherland. The party to whom the application 
 was made petitioned the States General that the Puritans 
 mio-ht be taken under the national protection, in which 
 case the petition asserts " upwards of four hundred families " 
 *• from this country and from England " would settle in the 
 Dutch colony, (February, 1620.) The prayer of the pe- 
 titioners was refused. 
 
 The New Netherland Company had ceased to 
 
 West In- 
 dia Com- .be a body in which the nation confided. An old 
 
 ^'™^* project of a West Lidia Company was revived, and 
 
 a corporation of that name established, with power, not 
 
 only over New Netherland, but the entire American coast, 
 
 (1621.) It was some tune before the company began its 
 
 operations; but when it did begin, it was evidently in 
 
 earnest, (1623.) " 
 
 Walloon Ten years had elapsed since the trading post on 
 
 colony. Manhattan had been occupied, and there were still 
 
 none but trading posts in all New Netherland. Not a 
 
 colony worthy of the name as yet existed. The only plan 
 
 that had ever been formed of establishing one came from 
 
 the Plymouth Puritans, It is a singular coincidence that 
 
50 PART I. 1492-1638. 
 
 the first colony to be actually established was one of ref- 
 ugees, like the Puritans, from persecution. These were a 
 band of Protestant Walloons, from the Spanish Nether- 
 lands, who, after applying unsuccessfully to the London 
 Company of England, enlisted as colonists under the West 
 India Company of Holland. Sent out in the first expe- 
 dition of the company, they settled at Waal-bogt, or Wal- 
 loons' Bay, on the western shore of Long Island, (1623— 
 24.) Their settlement stands out amidst the surrounding 
 trading posts as the one spot of home life in New Nether- 
 land. But it was a feeble settlement, and. feeble it con- 
 tinued, although recruited by fresh fugitives from beyond 
 the sea. 
 
 New Am- The Company was by no means absorbed in its 
 sterdam. "VValloons. On the contrary, it was erecting forts, 
 one on the North River, another on the South, and pres- 
 ently, the chief of all on Manhattan Island, (1626.) Pur- 
 chasing the entire island from the natives for no less than 
 twenty-four of our dollars, Peter Minuit, the company's 
 director, commenced the erection of a fort, with some sur- 
 rounding dwellings, to which the name of New Amster- 
 dam was subsequently applied. This settlement was to 
 New Netherland the same principal place that it has since 
 become as New York to the United States. Other forts 
 were gradually raised ; that of Good Hope upon the Con- 
 necticut, and that of Beversrede upon the Schuylkill, 
 (1633.) The dominion of the company was in force upon 
 the soil not only of New York, but of Connecticut, New 
 Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, and all within ten 
 years of its first operations. 
 
 But upon this vast surface the company's settle- 
 
 ^ ^°^^^' ments were as dots. Several of them, indeed, had 
 
 been obUterated, and of those that remained, hardly one 
 
 besides New Amsterdam was any thing more than a sta- 
 
DUTCH SETTLEMENTS. 51 
 
 tion for trade. New Amsterdam itself was only a com- 
 mercial settlement. Other posts of the same character had 
 been begun, but the colony, as a whole, was in a languish- 
 ing condition ; the company, of course, being disappointed 
 in their expectations of rich returns. To advance their 
 interests, they oflfered a shce of territory and the title of 
 patroon to any one who, within a given period, would 
 settle a given number of colonists upon lands bought of the 
 natives, (1629.) This regard for the Indians was not the 
 only proof of liberality in the patroon system, as it may be 
 styled. The support of a clergyman and a schoolmaster, 
 with that of a " comforter for the sick," was especially en- 
 joined as one of the conditions to be fulfilled by the pa- 
 troons. But mixed up with the more generous provisions 
 were others of a very opposite nature. The fur trade, 
 the great attraction of New Netherland, was reserved ex- 
 clusively to the company. Pain of banishment was to de- 
 ter the colonists from "making woollen, linen, or cotton 
 cloths." " As many negroes as can be conveniently pro- 
 vided " were promised to the Dutch settlers. All the while, 
 the patroons were constituted a class of feudal lords, as 
 threatening to their superiors in the company as to their 
 inferiors in the colony. Large purchases were made by 
 individuals, (1629-31.) and some settlements were attempt- 
 ed, the chief being those of Rensselaerswyck, near Albany, 
 Pavonia, opposite Manhattan Island, and Swaanendael, on 
 the Delaware. Some of these reverted to the company ; 
 some disappeared. 
 
 English Spam and France, as we have read, had their 
 claims, pretensions to the soil of New Netherland. But 
 the only power to dispute the Dutch possession was Eng- 
 land. Tradition asserts that the same Captain Argal who 
 destroyed the French settlement in Maine visited the huts 
 on Manhattan Island, as he was returning to Virginia, and 
 
52 PART I. 1492-1638. 
 
 compelled the few Dutchmen whom he found there to ac- 
 knowledge the English supremacy, (1613.) This is un- 
 certain ; but it is certain that when the New Netherland 
 Company appealed to the States General in behalf of 
 the Plymouth Puritans, they represented the danger of 
 the colony's being surprised by an expedition sent to sup- 
 port the claims of England, (1620.) The Council for New 
 England was soon engaged in ajopealiug to the Privy 
 Council against what they deemed to be an invasion of 
 their territory. The appeal was received, and an order 
 of inquiiy into the cirgumstances went to the British 
 ambassador in Holland. He replied that there was as yet 
 no Dutch colony upon the soil, (1621.) But as time 
 passed, and colonies were founded, the suspicions of the 
 English, both m England and in America, were revived. 
 A correspondence, opened by Peter Minuit, director of 
 New Amsterdam, with William Bradford, governor of New 
 Plymouth, stirred the Englishman to ask that the Dutch 
 should trade no more in his neighborhood; and further, 
 that they should clear their title to trade or to settle in any 
 part of the country at all. No wonder that Minuit applied 
 to the company in Holland for forty soldiers, (1627.) On 
 his voyage home, a few years later, Minuit and his ship 
 were detained on touching at Plymouth in England, and 
 to the remonstrance of the Dutch embassy, the British 
 ministry formally opposed the title of Great Britain to 
 New Netherland, (1632.) It was soon after that the 
 English settlements in Connecticut began to crowd upon 
 the fort of the Dutch, (1633-38,) while a direct invasion 
 of Delaware was made from Virginia, (1635.) This was 
 repelled ; but the soil of Connecticut could not be retained. 
 Trade of "^^^^ colony was Still a colony of traders. No 
 thocoio- generous views, no manly energies, were as yet 
 
 ny- 
 
 excited amongst its inhabitants or its rulers. From 
 
DUTCH SETTLEMENTS. 53 
 
 fhe slave to the colonist, from the colonist to the patroon, 
 from the patroon to the director, and even from the direct- 
 or to the company, there was little besides struggling for 
 pecuniary advantages. It was esteemed a great era m the 
 colony when, after various dissensions, its trade was nomi- 
 nally thrown open. But the percentages to the company 
 were such as to prevent any really free trade, (1638.) 
 5* 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Swedish Settlements. 
 Last of all to claim a share as a nation in our 
 
 Idea of OP 
 
 Gusta- territory were the Swedes. Their far-sighted and 
 vus Adoi- large-hearted king, Gustavus Adolphus, the champi- 
 on of the Protestant cause in Europe, caught up the 
 idea of supporting the same cause in America. " It is 
 the jewel of my kingdom," he wrote just before he died, 
 concerning the settlement that was yet to be, (1632.) 
 
 The jewel of Gustavus received its setting from 
 B«era ^^^® regent of his infant daughter Christina, the 
 calls in ChauccUor Oxenstiern. With the same loftiness of 
 
 Germany. . . -, (^ ■, n 
 
 View, — preparmg a state that was to be oi benent to 
 " all Christendom," — Oxenstiern invited and obtained the 
 cooperation of Protestant Germany, (1634.) The Swedish 
 West India Company was to be the instrument by which 
 the north of Europe, as well as Sweden, was to be linked 
 to America. It was a design of greater ends and of broad- 
 er motives than had as yet been formed for the new 
 world. 
 Kesuits -^^^ ^^ results bore no proportion to the plans. 
 
 It was not to be expected that such colonists as 
 
 could be found in Sweden would embrace the same wide 
 
 objects as their regent or their king. They would enlist 
 
 only in an enterprise that promised personal as well as 
 
 national returns. Some years passed before any settlement 
 
 was attempted, and then a colony of only twenty-four, and 
 
 (54) 
 
SWEDISH SETTLEMENTS. 55 
 
 these cliiefly transported convicts, was established at Fort 
 Christina, near the present Wihnington in Delaware, 
 (1638.) The territory, which was purchased of the In- 
 dians, extended on either side of the fort, along the western 
 shore of Delaware Bay, and up the Delaware River as far 
 as Trenton, under the name of New Sweden. 
 Opposing To this the Swedes had been guided by Peter 
 claims. Minuit, lately of New Netherland. His recom- 
 mendation of lands previously purchased and occupied, 
 though just at this time unoccupied, by his countrymen, 
 involved the Swedish colony in immediate difficulties. A 
 remonstrance from the governor of New Netherland against 
 the invasion of his province was supported in Holland by 
 the seizure of a Swedish vessel touching at a Dutch port 
 on its way home. The English had their pretensions like- 
 wise to the lands appropriated by the new colony. On 
 each side were conflicting claims. With feeble numbers 
 and ^\^th scanty supplies, the Swedes would find it difficult 
 to keep their New Sweden. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Indian Races. 
 
 European The roll of European races establishing tliem- 
 races. selves independently upon our soil was filled up 
 by Spain, France, England, Holland, Sweden, and, with 
 Sweden, Germany. After the Swedish colony of 1638, 
 no national settlement was made by any nation not already 
 upon the scene. 
 
 Indian It is time, therefore, to take an account of the 
 races. raccs that occupied the country before any of those 
 from Europe entered upon their possessions. The share 
 of the Indians in our history endures, though theii' share 
 in our territory wastes away. 
 
 The idea of Columbus that he had merely redis- 
 
 Names ^ •' 
 
 andnum- covcrcd India gave the name of Indians to the 
 ^^^' existing inhabitants of the continent. Within the 
 limits of our country they were divided into four grand 
 divisions, as the Algonquins, the Ii'oquois, the Mobilians, 
 and the Dahcotas. The last name includes the tribes 
 west of the Mississippi, of which, in the early period, the 
 number could not have been at all considerable. Neither 
 were the three divisions lying east of the Mississippi by 
 any means numerous. The entire number is estimated to 
 have been under three hundred thousand, and perhaps not 
 above two hundi^ed thousand, at the time of the first Eu- 
 ropean settlements. Take from the whole the large part 
 
 which had little or no connection with any of the European 
 
 (56) 
 
INDIAN RACES. 57 
 
 races, and the Lidlan population dwindles to small propor- 
 tions. It seems strange that so few, and these few savages, 
 should have exercised so great an influence upon so many, 
 and these many civilized. But it will be accounted for 
 by a rapid survey of the Indian divisions and the Indian 
 resources. 
 
 Aigon- First of the Algonquins. The central tribe of 
 
 quins. ^j^'g ^^^^ ^^^q ^g^g ^j^g Lcnni-Lenapc, which, occu- 
 pying the shores of the Delaware, went by the name of 
 Delawares amongst the English. The name of Lenni- 
 Lenape, meaning Aborigines, is supposed to mark them as 
 the parent stock- of the Algonquins. The shoots of the 
 race were enormously spread. Starting far up in the north, 
 they stretch through New England, as the Abenakis, the 
 Pawtuckets, the Massachusetts, the Pokanokets, the Narra- 
 gansets, the Pequots, and the iMohegans. Thence they 
 may be traced as the Manhattans of New York, the Sus- 
 quehannas and the Nanticokes of Pennsylvania and Mary- 
 land, the Powhatans of Virginia, and the Pamlicos of South 
 Carolina. Towards the west they appear as the Ottawas 
 of Michigan, the Miamis of Ohio and Indiana, the Illinois 
 of Illinois, and the Shawanoes of Kentucky. Long as this 
 list is, it embraces but a portion of the names to be found 
 in any full record of the Algonquins. 
 
 Next of the Iroquois. The centre of this divis- 
 ion was among the lakes of "Western New York, 
 w^here the Five Nations of the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the 
 Onondagas, the Cayugas, and the Senecas established their 
 confederacy. To the west and north-west of the Five Na- 
 tions lay their conquests of after years, the lands of the 
 Eries, of the Hurons, and of other tribes. The prowess 
 or the intrigue of the Iroquois had already subdued the 
 great tribe of the Algonquins, the Lenni-Lenape. Far to 
 the south, partly in Virginia and partly in Carolina, were 
 
58 PART I. 1492-1638. 
 
 the Tuscaroras, who, at a later period, migrated to unite 
 with their brethren in the north, making six nations of 
 the five. 
 
 Lastly, of the Mobilian division. It was broken 
 
 Mobilians. ,^t p/^ • it»i-i 
 
 up amongst the i amassees oi (jreorgia ; the Musk- 
 hogees or Creeks of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida ; the 
 Seminoles of Florida, with the inland tribes of Catawbas 
 in South Carolina, Cherokees in Georgia and Alabama, 
 Choctaws, Natchez, and Chickasaws in Alabama and Mis- 
 sissippi. 
 ^ , There was but one line of wide distinction 
 
 Customs 
 
 and insti- amongst these various tribes. It separated those 
 " ^^^^' who lived by the chase alone from those who lived 
 not only by the chase, but by agriculture. The former 
 class, of course, was the ruder of the two ; yet the customs 
 and the institutions of both were much the same. The 
 Indian was every where a hunter, every where a warrior. 
 If he was any thing else, if he attempted agriculture or 
 trade, he seemed to be out of his element. The habits of 
 civilized life were a burden, sometimes a destruction to him. 
 This is true of all the tribes upon our soil ; the only cus- 
 toms to which they took, and by which they held, were 
 those of the wilderness, or, at the best, of the field. Their 
 institutions were comparatively advanced. Gathered with 
 his kinsmen in a totem or clan, then with other clans in a 
 tribe, then perhaps with other tribes in a confederacy, the 
 Indian was as much a member of a nation as the European. 
 , Above him were his chiefs, the hereditary sachems of peace, 
 and the chosen leaders of war. Their sway and his rights 
 rested together on laws, unwritten, but not undetermined. 
 The devotion shown to these relations and to these institu- 
 tions was that of true patriots, as well as true savages. It 
 sustained the Indians through trials under which more 
 civilized nations have much sooner succumbed. Had it 
 
INDIAN RACES. 59 
 
 been united with a civilization, or rather a rehgion, by 
 which the different tribes could have been blended in one, 
 beneath better statutes and hoUer influences, the Indian 
 race would have left no space for the European. 
 
 We can now appreciate the influence of the In- 
 upon^the ^^^ upou the European. Though far from being 
 i^uio- disciplined, though still farther from being concen- 
 trated, the natives of our soil would not encounter 
 an invader without leaving an abiding mark upon him and 
 upon his destiny. If not numerous in proportion to the 
 vast regions over which they were spread, they were mul- 
 titudinous in proportion to the scanty settlements of the 
 stranger. He, moreover, was in an untried land, they in 
 one which they had occupied from mfancy. 
 
 Had there been nothing else to make the Indians 
 influence formidable, the treatment which they received would 
 upon the havc bccu Sufficient. The white men came, if not 
 
 Indian. tit • . 
 
 to drag the red man into captivity, or to ransack 
 his stores, at any rate to occupy his lands. This was done, 
 sometimes with and sometimes without the show of justice. 
 If any nation deserves credit above another, it is not the 
 English, not their Puritan or their Quaker branches, as 
 frequently boasted, but the Dutch of New Netherland. 
 Nowhere, however, do we find more than the pretence of 
 even dealing with the natives. The intercourse thus opened 
 was continued in much the same fashion. The SjDaniards 
 and the French had greater numbers, proportionally, of 
 missionaries amongst the Indians ; the French, whether 
 missionaries or not, were on comparatively good terms with 
 many of the tribes about them. But there are no excep- 
 tions to the general course of the Indian from the time that 
 he encountered the European. Scorn, treachery, degrada- 
 tion, were his portion ; fury and savage warfare were his 
 revenge. Of the Indian wars we shall take notice here- 
 after. 
 
00 TART I. 1492-1G38. 
 
 African -^^ ^lic Indian drooped beneatli the blight of the 
 race. stranger, and became a dependant where his fathers 
 had been free and powerful, he came in contact with anoth- 
 er race also in dependence upon the European. This was 
 the African race, introduced into Virginia the same year 
 that the Puritans came to Plymouth, bondmen from the 
 beginning and until now. 
 
 The coun- And here, as we have completed the enumeration 
 *^y- of the races in the country, it behoves us to give a 
 
 glance at the country itself, varied and wide enough, as it 
 must have seemed, for many colonies, or many nations. 
 Although as yet the seaboard alone was occupied, the vast 
 reaches of the interior, the stretching plains, the penetrat- 
 ing rivers, were descried. Different prospects, different 
 attractions, different influences, opened in all directions, 
 betokening that the various races here thrown together 
 would have no want of development amongst themselves — 
 no want, it must be added, of strife wdth one another. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Europe from 1492 to 1638. 
 
 The great -^^ the discovcry of America, there was but one 
 chauge. church amongst the Christians of Europe. There 
 were several churches amongst them when America was 
 settled. It was the great change of the century and a half 
 that had passed away. 
 
 The reformation of the Catholic church, while 
 
 Its cause , 
 
 and char- under the supremacy of Rome, had been the prayer 
 of many a devout lieart. The more faithful the 
 churchman, the more sensitive he was to the corruption 
 and to the oppression existing in a body of which the liber- 
 ty and the purity were alike sacred in his eyes. But he 
 had nowhere conceived it necessary to break the church 
 asunder in order to reform it ; he was rather the champion 
 of a closer union than existed amongst Christians. The 
 rupture of the church was brought about, not by the re- 
 former, but by the anti-reformer. Every where opposed, 
 if not crushed, the reformers of successive periods met with 
 a fate that did but increase the tendency wliich it was in- 
 tended to arrest. The demand for reform became more 
 and more earnest, more and more imperative. Still refused, 
 still met by persecution, it was supported by sterner spirits 
 and by more violent deeds, until the crisis came, bringing 
 not only reformation, but division. 
 
 Luther's The course of things in general appears in the 
 course, experience of the individual who led the outbreak 
 6 (61) 
 
 \^ 
 
62 PART I. 1492-1638. 
 
 of the reformation, especially so called. When Martin 
 Luther, an Augustine monk of Wittenberg, in Saxony, 
 hung up on the church door a paper of niiiQty-live theses, or 
 propositions, against the doctrine of indulgence, that is, of 
 absolution without repentance, he was " a papist," as he him- 
 self said, "of the deepest dye," with no other object than 
 that of saving the church as it was, (1517.) But rejected, 
 buffeted, assailed in his purposes of reform, he threw olf 
 the yoke of Rome in three years' time, burning the papal 
 bull of excommunication, and dividing the Christian church 
 for ages, if not forever, (1520.) It was but a quarter of 
 a century from the discovery of America. 
 
 Once that the church was rent, divisions yaAvned 
 
 Divisions. . . '' 
 
 wide on all ■ sides. The point on which the refor- 
 mation concentrated itself was resistance to the Roman 
 sway, which was accordingly thrown oif by one state after 
 another. Some of the seceders in Germany, resisting the 
 measures of repression with which they were threatened, 
 made the protest from which came the name of Protestant, 
 (1529.) • Then Protestants against Protestants appeared. 
 The doctrines put forth by one party did not fay in with 
 those of another party in the same nation ; and as different 
 nations entered the arena, different lines of separation 
 arose between creed and creed, between form and form. 
 It was the reaction against ages of baffled desire and stifled 
 conscience. 
 
 ^ ^^..^.^ In presence of such dissensions amongst the be- 
 of good lievers in one Lord and one faith, there is surely no 
 
 room for exultation. To regard the reformation 
 merely as a triumph, without recognizing it as a trial of hu- 
 manity, is to shut one's eyes against some of the darkest pas- 
 sages in human history. That it was a crisis alike of good 
 and of evil, appears in its consequences, with which alone 
 wo are here concerned. 
 
EUROrE FROM 1492 TO 1638. 63 
 
 Take them, first, in a, reLVIoiis point of view. 
 
 Eeligious ' ' o 1 
 
 conse- To tliose wlio altogether refused to enter into the 
 quences. j.QfQj.j^^rj^|-JQj^ {^^ brought a deeper subjection to exist- 
 ing wrongs. To those who wholly entered into it, on the 
 other hand, who shrank from none of its extremes, it 
 brought the oppression of new errors, wilder at least, if not 
 more fatal, than any of the old. It was only on the middle 
 ground, between the reckless adherent and the dogged op- 
 ponent of the reformation, that they are to be found who 
 profited by it, who returned to the truth in its moderation 
 and its simplicity. Amongst these there was a reforma- 
 tion ; amongst the others — those of the extremes on either 
 side — there was rather a revolution, a convulsion. 
 
 So with the consequences in a political point of 
 conse- view. The ruling principle of European govern- 
 quence=. ^^gj^^g^ ^et it be remembered, Avas monarchy. It 
 had raised itself to its position, let it also be remembered, 
 by its successful strife with the papacy of Rome, of which, 
 however, it was no more the sovereign than it was the sub- 
 ject. It had simply gained the ground on which, consciously 
 or unconsciously, it might do its work of bringing forward, 
 or of suffering to be brought forward, the social and the 
 individual interests of the people. To maintain this place, 
 a temperate course amid the agitations of the times was 
 necessary. "Where men rushed madly into every new 
 scheme of government, there anarchy took the place of 
 monarchy. It was displaced by despotism at the other ex- 
 treme, where the subordination to the Roman see was un- 
 shaken. Why the state should be thus affected by move- 
 ments begun in the church, will not appear singular if we 
 reflect how similar was the necessity, how similar the 
 desire, for reform in both. 
 
 •But to leave these general observations for the 
 
 Spain. 
 
 examples of them to be found amongst the states of 
 
64 PART I. 1492-1638. 
 
 Europe, let us begin with the unchanging Spain, unchan- 
 ging, though not without her Protestants. Yet there w^as 
 no struggle between one cause and the other ; the decision 
 was sharp and resolute to the effect that the church should 
 undergo no alteration. Naturally, therefore, the monarchy 
 of Spain fell into a sort of dependence upon the central 
 power of the church to which it was thus devoted. The 
 monarch was the absolute sovereign, ruling for the priest- 
 hood, for the nobility, for himsClf of course, but not for his 
 people. Beneath such a king as Philip II., (1556-98,) in 
 Avhom the Spanish system, both in church and in state, 
 found its impersonation, the energies of the nation received 
 a blight from which they have never recovered. 
 
 The course, of France, alike on some points, was 
 
 France. 
 
 very different as a whole. She had her massacre 
 of St. Bartholomew, the bloodiest blow yet struck against the 
 reformers, (1572,) before the edict of Nantes gave liberty 
 of faith to her Protestants, the Huguenots, (1598.) But 
 from the latter date, at all events, the position of France 
 was that of a nation adhering to the Roman church, yet as 
 its ally, not its subject. It was the temperate state upon 
 the Roman side. Nowhere else did the church of Rome 
 appear to so great advantage as w^here it was thus estab- 
 lished in forbearance. Nowhere else was the state more 
 successfully administered than vv^here it w^as thus conducted 
 in liberality. Europe saw no truer monarch during the 
 period than Henry IV. of France, (1589-lGlO.) 
 
 Far on in the Protestant van was Holland. She 
 
 flung herself into the reformation with a frenzy no 
 doubt aggravated by her hatred for her mistress in Spain. 
 The results were soon visible in scenes of pillage and blood. 
 The Roman churches were violated; then the Protestant 
 churches were rent asunder. In the state there were better 
 signs. The heroic war of independence threw oflf the Span- 
 
EUROPE FROM 1492 TO 1638. 65 
 
 ish dominion, (1566-1609.) But to the hopes thus inspired 
 there came a rapid reverse, with the rise of Maurice of 
 Orange, to whom the best patriot of Holland, John Van 
 Olden Barneveldt, fell a victim, (1619.) The Protestant 
 extreme was quite as fatal as the Roman. 
 „ ^ Sweden and Protestant Germany were calmer 
 
 Sweden _ •' 
 
 and Ger- and happier. But the latter country was too much 
 laany. ij^oken up, while the former was too much confmed, 
 to take any position of enduring influence. It is the less to 
 our pm'pose to dwell upon their fortunes, inasmuch as they 
 had but little part in the fortunes of our own country. 
 
 Let us pass, therefore, to England, great in the 
 Protestant cause, because great in the moderation 
 by which the cause was sustained. The entrance of the 
 nation into the lists was discreditable enough, so far as it 
 was made at the dictates of Henry VIII., no earnest re- 
 former, but a swollen despot. . Once entered in, however, 
 the heart of the nation beat nobly and enduringly. It went 
 thi'ough few excesses. The passions of the early reform- 
 ers were those of mdividuals ; the austerities of the later 
 reformers were those of a few, compared with the many who 
 remained steadfast. The church of the reformation assumed 
 its gentler aspect in the church of England — the mean 
 between the extremes, alike of Protestantism and Roman- 
 ism. Nor did the state altogether fail to harmonize with 
 the church. The reign of Mary was an interruption ; but 
 that of her sister Elizabeth was more than a compensation, 
 (1558-1603.) England was stirred to new life. Physical- 
 ly and intellectually, as well as morally, the nation received 
 the impulse of the age, and bounded forward. Yet there 
 were serious trials to come ; the development that had been 
 begun could not go on uninterrupted, its very activity occa- 
 sioning retrocession at times, as well as advance. 
 
 AU Europe was growing in one direction. No country 
 6* 
 
66 PART I. 1492-1638. 
 
 1 11 ct- ^^^ ^^^ touched by an intellectual flame. Italy, far 
 uai ex- as slie was from the sea that led to the new world, 
 pansion. ^^ fi'om the agitation that led to the new life in 
 the old world, — even she was radiant with science, with 
 poesy, and with art. GaUleo uttered his wondrous revela- 
 tions ; Ariosto and Tasso composed their glowing poems ; 
 Palestrina breathed forth his solemn strains ; Michael An- 
 gelo and Raphael created their immortal forms. Spain, too, 
 otherwise so mute or so repulsive, rang out responsive with 
 her versatile Cervantes and her inexliaustible Lope de 
 Vega. England, in her activity, answered with the one 
 universal voice of Shakspeare. Bacon was the English, 
 Descartes the French philosopher, both, but especially the 
 latter, being at once deliverers and lawgivers to the human 
 intellect. It was for America as well as for Europe that 
 these marvellous works were wrought. 
 
PART II. 
 
 THE ENGLISH DOMINION 
 
 1638-1763. 
 
 (67) 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 England and Fra-nce from 1638 to 1763. 
 
 The two nations that were in the van of Europe 
 STrec" would inevitably lead the van in America. The 
 '^^''*'^- question of precedence between them was decided, 
 as that of their common precedence had been, in Europe. 
 Let us look thither in search of the controlling causes. 
 
 We shall see France submitting to the sceptre of 
 LolSr' a boy, Louis XIV., whose reign of nearly three 
 ^^'^- quarters of a century (1643 to 1715) determines the 
 point of French declme. We may call it decline, since this 
 was the result, ahhough the name of Great was then, and 
 has since been given to the king, as if his government had 
 been fruitful in grandeur and m beneficence. It was fruit- 
 ful in neither. Its grandeur consisted of a dazzling court 
 and a glittering army — elements of feebleness, as every 
 one knows, rather than of greatness. Its beneficence was 
 confined to courtiers and to commanders, to men not only of 
 high but of low estate, provided they ministered to the royal 
 wiU and to the royal luxury. But to be more definite. 
 The mon- The reign of Louis was hostile to the true princi- 
 archy. p^^ of monarchy ; that is, to the principle of ruling 
 for the good of a people. He used his power for selfish 
 ends, in striving after which he did far more to precipitate 
 than to secure the royal authority. If he made himself the 
 preeminent sovereign, he did not make liis nation the pre- 
 eminent nation in Europe. Nor was he himself supreme 
 
 (69) 
 
70 PART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 for any length of time. He saw his intrigues baffled, his 
 armies defeated, his conquests and his resources gone, his 
 court overshadowed, even before he ceased to rule. 
 TiiQ The one point, however, on which he failed most 
 
 church. Qf rJ^ll^ -^j^g ii^ relation to the national religion. He 
 found this, it will be remembered, a moderate form of 
 Romanism. He left it an extreme form. His displeasure 
 bore down the liberal Romanists.' His persecution crushed 
 the Protestants. The edict of Nantes, beneath which the 
 Protestants had found protection for nearly a century, was 
 revoked, not without previous outrages, (1G85.) Bigotry 
 and priestcraft triumphed, but in a manner that tended to 
 their overthrow, nay, to the jeopardy of the religion itself 
 which they professed to uphold. No crisis in French liis- 
 tory was more important than this. It changed the charac- 
 ter not only of the national religion, but of the national gov- 
 ernment — even of the nation. The signs of feebleness 
 within and of feebleness without in the administration, the 
 disunion and the degradation amongst the people, sprang 
 from no cause more clearly than from the transformation of 
 the French church into a church of subjection to Rome, and 
 of ferocity to all the world besides. It was thus chiefly that 
 Louis left France shaken to the centre and to the base. 
 The -^t. the same time, the development of the French 
 
 nation, nation, begun in previous years, was not stopped. 
 It was not even checked in some directions. Their chival- 
 rous natures could not be turned back upon themselves. 
 They were still the same ardent, the same generous race 
 that they had been, more generous and more ardent than 
 their king who was misleading them. Their higher minds 
 gazed upwards steadily, in defiance of the errors and the 
 wa-ongs around them. The names of Corneille the poet, of 
 Pascal the philosopher, of Fenelon at once the poet, the 
 philosopher, and the priest, bear witness to the aspirations 
 of the French nation. 
 
ENGLAND AND FRANCE FROM 1638 TO 1763. 71 
 
 Such an age as that of Louis XIY. was sure to 
 be followed by a reaction. The long reign of his 
 successor, Louis XV. (1715-74) was marked by almost 
 every sign of degeneracy. Profligacy rather than splendor, 
 sensuality rather than ambition, ruled at the court, while the 
 church sank into indiiFerence and infidelity. The people 
 beneath these decaying oppressions is represented by Vol- 
 taire and Rousseau, both defying the corruj)tions in high 
 places, yet neither believing in any principle that could 
 restore jourity or liberty. 
 „, ^ The En<2jlish nation had its difficulties. Li the 
 
 The Eng- ® 
 
 lish na- flrst placc, tlic pcoplc was but partially in existence. 
 Such men as pursued their callings at home, or 
 crossed the sea to the colonies, with any thing like independ- 
 ence of spirit, formed but a small class. The greater pro- 
 portion were of the dependent and the inefficient. In the 
 next place, a succession of struggles, was interfering with 
 all steadiness in the present, all security in the future, 
 rcriods First came the period of Charles I., when the 
 of trial, monarch excited liis subjects to rebellion, (1625-49.) 
 Next followed the period of the commonv/ealth, when the 
 fierce excesses of the people threatened general ruin, 
 (1649-59.) Then came the period of the restoration, 
 when the brothers Charles II. and James II. renewed the 
 arbitrary government of their father, the first Charles, with- 
 out any of his principle or enthusiasm, (1660-88.) These 
 periods Avere all of trial — trial to the church, trial to the 
 state. The monarchy was in danger of frilling, now into 
 anarchy, now into tyranny. The church was in peril at 
 one time of returning to the extreme of Romanism, and 
 at another of fall in sr into the extreme of Protestantism. 
 Eevoiu- From these trials it is common to say that the 
 tion of nation was saved by the revolution of 1 688. So 
 
 1688 
 
 far as this event brought the despotism and the 
 
72 PART II. 1G33-1763. 
 
 extreme Romanism of James 11. to an end, it did save Eng- 
 land. But it liad its own evil ctfects. It reduced both 
 church and state beneath an aristocracy whose jorinciples, 
 on many points, Avere utterly adverse to the true concerns 
 of either. There Avas no liberation, no elevation of the 
 people. To them the revolution was as little a matter of 
 interest as if it had occurred at the antipodes. The truth 
 is, that the revolution, in itself, was but a cessation of the 
 swayings to and fi"o of the preceding years. Inasmuch as it 
 brought some measure of stability, it was a national blessing. 
 . . , But the stability was the stability of the aristoc- 
 
 Aristoc- '^ •' 
 
 racy iu racy. The sovereigns sank to a secondary place. 
 P°^^^^- "William III., the hero of the revolution and the 
 successor of James, was one to follow events rather than to 
 lead them, (1688-1702.) His successors, Anne and the 
 first and second Georges, (1702-60,) had no decided influ- 
 ence upon the national destinies. The rulers of England 
 were its ministers and its Parliaments, turbid in them- 
 selves, yet the channels through which the stream was run- 
 ning before reaching its clearer and its wider course. The 
 monarchy necessarily continued limited. But the church 
 did not continue moderate, or even united. Its moderation 
 gave way to the conservative aristocracy, the lories ; its 
 union yielded to the anti-conservative wdiigs. When these 
 predominated, it was to the gain of Puritanism ; when the 
 lories got the upper hand, an extreme churchmanship pre- 
 vailed. 
 
 Engiisii Yet the star of England was not going down. 
 progress, -pj^g ygjy f^^^j-g ^f ^^ aristocracy and a Parliament 
 
 imply that a larger number were sharing in the national 
 power. A larger number also amongst the subject classes 
 Avas rising to culture and to influence. The grandeur of 
 such strains as Milton's, of such discoveries as Newton's, 
 and the gentleness of such meditations as Addison's, of such 
 
ENGLAND AND FRANCE FROM 1638 TO 1763. 73 
 
 creations as Goldsmith's, betoken Mader circles of intelli- 
 gence and of elevation. After all its humiliations, the 
 nation still stood erect, still struggled forward. 
 
 Here Ues the difference between Enc^land and 
 
 England _ ° 
 
 and France. The latter came out of her trials listless, 
 France. (,Qj,j^.yp|;^ unbcHeving. The former emerged in faith 
 and in activity, many of her best interests broken and 
 imperfect, but still capable of being restored, and to a 
 higher state than they had ever reached. To England, the 
 cycle of revolutions seemed closed for the time. To France, 
 it seemed to be but opened. The one nation was still on the 
 decline. The other had begun to rise. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Thirteen Colonies. 
 
 Old and ^^^ ^^^* vaHous colonies from England scattered 
 new coio- over the Atlantic coast. Of these, the three princi- 
 pal, Virginia, Massachusetts, and Maryland, were 
 portrayed with comparative detail. Besides these three, 
 several were mentioned as existing in New England, while 
 others were projected in New Jersey and Carolina. It is 
 the purpose of this chapter to show how the older colonies 
 were concentrated, while new colonies were founded and 
 extended. 
 
 Plymouth ^hc oldcst colony in New England — that of 
 annexed. Plymouth —maintained its independence for seventy 
 years. It was then annexed to Massachusetts, (1G91.) 
 Maine an- The name of New Somersetshire was changed to 
 iiexed. Maine at the same time that Sir Ferdinando Gorires 
 was constituted lord palatine of the province, (1639.) His 
 deputy presently appeared to hold a general court at Saeo, 
 (1640.) The grant to Gorges covered the district from the 
 Piscataqua to the Kennebec ; but within a very few years 
 one of the numerous patents, previously mentioned as con- 
 veying the same soil to different parties, was revived, and 
 the land between the Kennebec and the Saco became a dis- 
 tinct territory, as Ligonia, (1643.) Some time later the two 
 divisions were both annexed to Massachusetts, (1652-58,) 
 then separated, (1665,) then reannexed, (1668,) and at 
 
 length bought of the Gorges heirs by the colony of Massa- 
 
 (74) 
 
THE THIRTEEN COLONIES. 75 
 
 chusetts Bay, (1677.) East of the Kennebec, as far as 
 Pemaquid Point, there lay a tract belonging to the prov- 
 ince of New York, (1664,) but afterwards united with Mas- 
 sachusetts, to which the territory beyond Pemaquid, previ- 
 ously occupied by one or two French posts, was also 
 attached, (1691.) This eastern region was afterwards de- 
 tached by French conquest, (1696,) but was ultimately 
 reunited to Massachusetts by treaty with France, (1713.) 
 j^^^ Not quite so various "svere the fortunes of the New 
 
 iiamp- Hampshire settlements. Those at Dover, Ports- 
 mouth, and Exeter,* surrendering themselves to 
 Massachusetts, (1641-42,) left nothing but unsettled lands to 
 bear the name of New Hampshire. But on the revival of 
 the Mason claims to the territory east of the Merrimac, 
 New Hampshire was declared in England to be a royal 
 province, (1677-79.) The new government had been in 
 operation but a short and a troubled period, when the peo- 
 ple again united themselves to Massachusetts, (1690-92 ;) 
 and, though again disunited, they were once more rejoined 
 to that colony, at least so far as to be under one and the 
 same governor for nearly half a century, (1698-1741.) 
 Annexation did not prevent disturbance. New Hampshire 
 was still the object of suits and controversies on both sides 
 of the ocean, while the course of afKiirs amongst the inhab- 
 itants themselves was far from being peaceful. It fmally 
 became a separate province, (1741.) 
 
 Massachu- Massachusetts Bay was the thriving sister, as we 
 setts. ggg^ amongst the New England family. Her large 
 immigrations and her increasing resources gave her the sta- 
 bihty and the unity which her neighbors lacked. She did 
 not go without her trials. At the very time that Plymouth 
 and Maine were added to her domains, her independence of 
 
 * Founded by "Wheelwright, one of the Hutchinson exiles, in 1638. 
 
76^ PART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 government was reduced by a change in her charter, (1691,) 
 of which we shall take notice hereafter. The colony con- 
 tinued, however, to thrive. 
 
 Conuecti- ^^ the three settlements in Connecticut, two, 
 <="*• namely, Saybrook and Connecticut, were •^arly 
 united under the latter name, (1644.) For this colony a 
 royal charter was afterwards procured by John Winthrop, 
 the early governor, (1662.) The charter included the col- 
 ony of New Haven ; but to this community the provisions of 
 the instrument were so unacceptable that the union was not 
 consummated for two years, nor would it have been so soon 
 but for external circumstances, (1665.) While the Con- 
 necticut territory was thus rounded off, it was cut into by the 
 grant of Long Island to the province of New York, for 
 which, likewise, the main land was claimed as far as the 
 Connecticut River. But this claim was repelled. 
 Ehofie '^^^^ settlements of Providence and Rhode Island 
 
 Island, -were united under a single charter procured by 
 their founder, Roger Williams, from the croAvn, (1644.) 
 He went a second time to England to obtain its confirma- 
 tion during the commonwealth, (1651-52,) being elected 
 president of the colony on his return, (1654.) Suspended 
 at a later time, the charter was renewed by the royal gov- 
 ernment, (1663.) A portion of the territory supposed to 
 be covered by the charter, and lying to the west of the 
 Narraganset waters, was for a long period separated from 
 the colony, under the name of the King's Province, 
 (1665-1727.) 
 
 Thus were the various colonies of New England 
 colonies rcduccd to four — New Hampshire, Massachusetts, 
 m New Rhode Island, and Connecticut. A fifth colony, the 
 "° ' * later State of Vermont, was prepared by the Massa- 
 chusetts Fort Dummer, on the site of Brattleboro', (1724,) 
 and by the New Hampshire grants of townships, Benning- 
 
THE THIRTEEN COLONIES. 77 
 
 ton being the earliest, (1749.) But the four elder colonies 
 were all that enter into the list of the thirteen. 
 
 Virginia, the oldest of the colonies, was still the 
 irginia. ^^^^ extcnsivc in its limits. On the north, a bound 
 seemed to be set by the grant of Maryland. But on the 
 west and the south, Virginia stretched indefinitely, the grant 
 of Carolana existing only upon paper. The government of 
 the colony was frequently altered. Under the English 
 commonweahh, the governors were chosen by the colonial 
 assembly, (1652-60.) An earlier grant of the lands between 
 the Potomac and the Rappahannoc to Lord Culpepper and 
 his associates, (1649,) was afterwards revived, and extended 
 to a lease of the entire colony for thirty-one years, (1673.) 
 In vain did the Vii^inia assembly protest agmnst the pro- 
 ceeding; in vain did it demand a charter to protect it 
 against similar aggressions. Culpepper, buying out liis 
 associates and obtaining the appointment of governor for 
 life, (1675,) sported his authority in England for several 
 years before he made his appearance in Virginia, (1680.) 
 His own disappointment being quite as great as the discon- 
 tentment of his subjects, his authority over them was sur- 
 rendered, and the provincial government was restored, 
 (1684.) But, twenty years later, (1704,) a somewhat sim- 
 ilar system was established by the appointment of one Eng- 
 lish nobleman after another to be governor ; he, in his turn, 
 sending out his lieutenant governor to administer the colony 
 in his name. All the while the colony was increasing. On 
 the south,Jndeed, its territories were restricted by the crea- 
 tion of new colonies ; but on the west its settlers were cross- 
 ing the mountains and clearing the farther valleys. 
 
 The adjoining colony of Maryland underwent few 
 territorial changes. Its vicissitudes, like those ot 
 Virginia, consisted in its passing and repassing into new 
 
 hands. As Virginia changed from a province to a proprie- 
 
 7 * 
 
78 PART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 tary colony, so Maryland changed from a proprietary colony 
 to a province. After various disturbances, in none of 
 which, however, had the proprietor's power been actually 
 cast off, a convention of the Protestant settlers deposed the 
 proprietary officers, (1689,) and transferred the capital of 
 the colony from the Catholic St. Mary's to the Protestant 
 Annapolis, (1G94.) As the Protestant fervor in England 
 was just then at ^ts height, the proceedings of the colony 
 were confirmed by the crown. But the head of the propri- 
 etary family in the next generation, Benedict Leonard, 
 Lord Baltimore, becoming an English churchman, recov- 
 ered the possession of Maryland, (1715.) 
 
 The first of the new colonies amongst the thirteen 
 was Carolina. This was the territory included first 
 in the limits of Virginia, and then in those of Carolana by 
 royal patent. The patentee of Carolana had made no set- 
 tlement or grant ; but Virginia had granted at least a por- 
 tion of the territory by act of assembly, (1643.) Another 
 portion was occupied by a Massachusetts party settled near 
 the mouth of Cape Fear River, on land purchased from the 
 Indians, (1660.) Without regard to any of these claims, 
 eight persons of the highest rank, amongst them the Earl 
 of Clarendon, then prime minister, obtained a royal patent 
 for all the territory betvv^een Albemarle Sound and the St. 
 John's River, (1663.) A second charter extended the 
 northern boundary to Chowan River, and the southern to 
 below the Spanish St. Augustine, (1665,) while a third 
 charter annexed the Bahama Islands to the swollen prov- 
 ince, (1667.) 
 
 North and It was swollcu ouly ou the map. In reality, it 
 South. j-jj^^i ^^^^ Qj^g Qj. ^^^Q shrivelled settlemxcnts. The 
 
 nucleus of North Carolina was a Virginian settlement, not 
 included in Carolina until the second charter, (1665.) Tlie 
 Massachusetts colony formed the nucleus of South Caro- 
 
THE THIRTEEN COLONIES. 79 
 
 Una. Meeting vdth trials and desertions, this colony was 
 absorbed in, rather than strengthened by, a band from "Rar= 
 badoes. Other parties came from England, from New 
 England, and from New York ; with Presbyterians from 
 Scotland and Ireland, and Huguenots from France, 
 (1671-86.) Of the various settlements that arose, Charles- 
 ton took the lead, (1680.) Both North and South CaroHna 
 were organized as proprietary governments. Such, how- 
 ever, were the troubles ensuing beneath these forms, that 
 tlie Assembly of South Carolina, many years later, declared 
 the proprietors to have forfeited their dominion. Follow- 
 ing up a successful insurrection against the proprietary 
 officials by an appeal to England, the South Carolinians 
 obtained a provisional royal government, (1719-21.) Some 
 time after, the crown, by act of Parliament, bought out 
 seven of the eight proprietors, the eighth retaining his prop- 
 erty, but not his sovereignty, (1729.) A governor was 
 then appointed by the crown for North CaroUna, both divis- 
 ions being organized as royal provinces. Thenceforward, 
 the two pursued their destinies separately, 
 j^e^ The next year after the grant of Carolina, a new 
 
 York. grant w^as made in peculiar circumstances. New 
 Netherland, though still occupied by the Dutch, was, as 
 the province of a nation at war with England, conveyed 
 by Charles II. to his brother James, Duke of York and 
 Albany, as proprietor ; the limits of the province being ex- 
 tended from the Connecticut to, and presently beyond, the 
 Delaware, (1664.) In addition, the grant covered the 
 eastern part of Maine and the islands to the south and west 
 of Cape Cod, which the duke had obtained by transfer to 
 liim of early grants from the Council for New England.* 
 These portions, however, of his domain fell at a later time 
 
 * To Sir William Alexander, afterwards Earl of Stirling, in 1621-35. 
 
80 PART n. 1638-1763. 
 
 beneath the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, as has been ob- 
 served ; while much of the main province went to Connecti- 
 cut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. The seizure 
 of the province from the Dutch will be told in another 
 chapter. It continued under a proprietary form of govern- 
 ment until the accession of the proprietor to the throne of 
 England. It then became a royal province ; though, while 
 James II. ruled, it was more immediately dependent upon 
 the royal authority than was customary with the provinces 
 in general, (1685-88). 
 
 New Jer- Hardly had the Duke of York obtained the grant 
 sey. of his province, when he conveyed that portion of it 
 between the Hudson and Delaware Rivers to Sir George 
 Carteret and Lord Berkeley, both amongst the proprietors 
 of Carolina, (1G64.) A few hamlets of Dutch and English, 
 who had crossed from Long Island, were already sprinkled 
 upon the territory, when the first town under the new pro- 
 prietors was founded, and called Elizabethtown, (1665.) 
 The province was named New Jersey. As in Maryland 
 and Carolina, so in New Jersey, there soon arose dissensions 
 between the colonists and the proprietors. The proprietors 
 were changed. Berkeley sold out his half to certain Qua- 
 kers, who made a settlement at Salem, (1675.) In the fol- 
 lowing year, a formal separation of the province took place, 
 the settlement at Salem being situate in West, and that at 
 Elizabethtown in East New Jersey ; the latter division re- 
 maining with Carteret. A treaty with the Indians, under 
 the auspices of the Quakers, confirmed the rights of the 
 proprietors, (1678.) Soon after, a company, of which some, 
 but not all, the members were Quakers, made the purchase 
 of East New Jersey, (1682.) A large Presbyterian emi- 
 gration from Scotland then took place, (1685.) But the 
 growth of the province, as well as that of its western sister, 
 was greatly impeded, partly by domestic disputes between 
 
THE THIRTEEN COLONIES. 81 
 
 the proprietors and the settlers, and partly by contentions 
 with the officials of New York, who pretended to contn^ued 
 iurisdiction over the lands which had been separated from 
 that province. The Jerseys were finally surrendered by 
 their proprietors to the crown, (1702.) They were rt>e« 
 reunited as a royal province, for many years, (until 1/38,) 
 under the same governor as New York. 
 
 A Quaker, interested in both tlie Jerseys dunng 
 ''"'"""■ the Quaker possession, obtained the grant of the 
 
 vania 
 
 adjoining territory on the west. A royal charter constituted 
 William Penn proprietor of a district whose extent, though 
 uncertain, might have been described in general as lying 
 between New York, New Jersey, and Maryland. To t ns 
 the name of Pennsylvania was given by the crown, (1G81.) 
 A "rant from the Duke of York conveyed the territories on 
 the" lower shore of the Delaware to the same proprietor, 
 (1682 ) Of this wide domain, a variety of settlers, Dutcli, 
 Swedes, and English, were partially in occupation. To 
 take them beneath his rule, the proprietor sent out an agent 
 with conciliatory assurances, while, to introduce fresh bodies 
 of inhabitants, especially of his own persuasion, he fonned 
 an association in England. The first faiits were two clo- 
 nics, one led by three commissioners, in the year of the 
 charter (1081,) the other conducted by Penn himseh in 
 the following year, (1G82.) A convention of tlie different 
 settlers, new and old, presently accepted the proprietors 
 or..anization of the province, including the territories of 
 boUi the royal and the ducal grants, with their previous 
 inhabitants. Next followed a treaty with the natives, a 
 peaceful and a feeble tribe of Indians, whose acquiescence 
 iH his plans might have been disregarded by Penn without 
 any danger, had he not preferred to be just. The town ot 
 Philadelphia was then begun, and there the first Assembly 
 of Pennsylvania was soon convened, (1683.) With all 
 
82 PART II. 1GCS-I7G3. 
 
 Penn's care, and all liis frames of government, of which 
 there was a goodly number, the course of his proprietor- 
 ship did not run smooth. Troubles within the colony were 
 accompanied by troubles without ; the province being at 
 one time taken from liim by the EngUsh authorities, (1G92 
 -94.) Even after his restoration, he found matters so diffi- 
 cult to manage, that he at length proposed to cede liis sov- 
 ereignty to the crown, (1710.) He retained it, however, 
 and transmitted it to liis sons, to be much the same source 
 of struggle to them that it had been to him. 
 
 The territories, so styled, of Delaware, originally 
 
 Delaware. ^ . n ^ -rl ■, ' & ./ 
 
 a Swedish, afterwards a Dutch, possession, then an 
 appendage of New York, and then again annexed to Penn- 
 sylvania, became so far separate from the latter province 
 as to obtain a distinct assembly, though continuing to have 
 the same governor, (1702.) 
 
 Last of the thirteen was the colony of Georgia, 
 
 in founding which there were mingled purposes of 
 resistance to the Spaniards and the French in the south, 
 as well as of relief to the suffering in England. A mem- 
 ber of the House of Commons, James Edward Oglethorpe, 
 had been active in proposing and carrying out an inquiry 
 into the state of the prisons in Great Britain. The idea 
 of rescuing some of the prisoners from a state of degrada- 
 tion even greater than they could have fallen into by them- 
 selves, and of settling them in a colony, occurred to Ogle- 
 thorpe, as a philanthropist, while, as an officer in the royal 
 army, he was also sensitive on the point of defending the 
 colonial boundaries against the encroachments of other 
 powers in America. The purchase of the Carolinas by 
 the crown (1729) opened the way to the foundation of "a 
 colony to the south of the settlements already made ; and 
 for this a grant was obtained of the territory between the 
 Savannah and Altamaha Rivers, under the royal name of 
 
THE THIRTEEN COLONIES 83 
 
 Georgia, (1732.) The charter conveyed the land and the 
 dominion over it, not to colonists, nor yet to proprietors, but 
 to twenty-one trustees, who, though subject to the royal over- 
 sight, and to the obligations of the English law, were other- 
 wise clothed with full power for twenty-one years. A com- 
 mon council of thirty-four members, fifteen of whom were 
 named in the charter, and the rest appointed by the trustees, 
 were to act as a board of administration merely. The colo- 
 nial lands, it was further provided, were to be held by feudal 
 tenure ; that is, only by male heirs. A univei'sal interest 
 was excited by this novel scheme of colonization. General 
 .subscriptions poured in to aid the trustees in their half- 
 benevolent, half-patriotic plans, while Parliament made a 
 national grant of ten thousand pounds. First to enlist 
 personally, was a party of more than one hundred, whom 
 Oglethorpe himself led to the settlement, which he named 
 Savannah, (1733.) Everything seemed to bid fair; the 
 Indians were conciliated, the colonists were satisfied, the 
 nation was all alive with sympathy. Immigrants came 
 from afar ; Moravians from Germany ; Presbyterians from' 
 the northern mountains of Scotland ; the earnest and the 
 careless, the peasant and the prisoner, united in one people, 
 (1734-3G.) To the generous project of saving the convicts 
 of Britam was added the devoted hope of the Moravians 
 that the natives of America might be converted. But 
 there was a dark side to the scene from the first. The 
 character of the colonists, that is, of the main body from 
 England, w^as helpless enough, not to say corrupted enough, 
 to cause great difficulties both to themselves and to their 
 trustees. It will be seen hereafter that the military ser- 
 vice expected from the colony was pretty much a failure. 
 The colony soon became a royal province, (1754-55.) 
 
 Such were the thirteen colonies of England. Spread 
 out with indefinite borders and indefinite resources, they lay 
 
84 PART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 Aspect ^^^ niisty points along the Atlantic shore.. The 
 of the eye that saw them, separate and indistinct, as they 
 rose at the beginning, could catch no vision of the 
 broad fields and the fruitful vales that were to expand and 
 blend together in the future. As we look back ourselves, 
 we see few promises of development or of unity iu the early 
 days of the thirteen colonies. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Colonial Relations. 
 
 The tliirteen colonies were the colonies of Eng- 
 ^''''' land. But tliey were far from being settled exclu- 
 sively by Englishmen. The west, the centre, and the 
 south of Europe all sent forth emigrants in greater or less 
 numbers to people the American shore. Nor did these 
 come to the settlements of other nations, to those of the 
 Spaniards, the French, the Dutch, or the Swedes, alone, but 
 rather to the English colonies, whose praise it is to have 
 thus attracted and provided for the stranger. 
 
 As there were different races, so there were dif- 
 Classes. ^^^^^^ classcs. First came the gentleman, pecuHar- 
 ly so styled, of various look and of various spirit, according 
 to the respective colonies, but every where classified as of 
 « the better sort." This order was perpetuated by the law 
 of primogenitore, the eldest son receiving at least a double, 
 if not more than a double, share of liis father's estate. Next 
 were the people of " the poorer sort " - the lower orders, as 
 their name denotes. But by no means the lowest ; as 
 there were others beneath them in the scale. The mdent- 
 ed servants, or apprentices, constituted a class of temporary 
 bondmen. Sometimes exactly what their name suggests, 
 too young or too shiftless to be their own masters, the m- 
 dented were often men of a higher grade, the adherents, 
 in many instances, of a defeated party or of a persecuted 
 creed, who, faUing into the hands of their opponents, were 
 
86 PART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 sold for transportation to a market wliere they could be re- 
 sold at a profit. Such were the English royalists, taken 
 captive by the parliamentary forces; such the Roman 
 CathoHcs, conquered while fighting for their faith in Ireland. 
 Such, too, were many of the exiles from the continent. So 
 great were the numbers imported as to amount — and 
 in time of peace — to fifteen hundred a year in the 
 single province of Virginia. The little consideration that 
 there was for the class appears in the colonial codes.* 
 Lower still, however, were the slaves. The first of this 
 class were Indians, captured in wars or taken in snares, 
 sometimes bought of their parents, even of themselves. 
 Then came the negroes from Africa. These poor creatures 
 found little mercy in the colonial statutes. The English 
 law recognizing slavery declared the children of a free 
 father to be free. But the Virginian code declared a 
 child to follow the lot of the mother, (16G2.) The law of 
 England pronounced it felony to kill a slave. The laAV of 
 Virginia decided it to be none, (1667.)t 
 Of the old These classes were confined to no colony, and to 
 world. jiQ division of colonies. They existed amongst the 
 rigid settlers of the north as well as amongst the freer 
 
 * Maimed by a master, the servant is to be set free, (Mass. 1641 ; N. Y. 
 1665 ;) but any resistance on the servant's part entails an additional year 
 of servitude, (Va. 1705.) Such as escape from their bonds are to be given 
 up to their masters, or else their value is to be made up by those who 
 harbor them, (Va. 1661.) Poorly as the class was rated, there was that 
 about them, in their anger, which prompted the Virginians to make a 
 " perpetual holiday " of the day on which a conspiracy, detected amongst 
 their servants, was to have been executed, (1663.) 
 
 f The Virginia laws make it allowable to kill a fugitive, (1672,) forbid 
 the slave at any time to carry arms, (1682,) cut him off from trial by jury, 
 (1692,) and prohibit his manumission, except he is transported out of the 
 province, (1692,) or except the governor and council deem him worthy of 
 his liberty, (1724.) Other codes take much the same tone, without always 
 entering into the same details. The most rigid laws were those of South 
 Carolina, (1712-^0.) 
 
COLONIAL RELATIONS. 87 
 
 and easier planters of the south. But they were not of 
 colonial creation. They came from the old world, trans- 
 planted from its ancient lands to the virgin soil of America. 
 If they did not die, it was inevitable that they would take 
 root and grow up with renewed luxuriance. 
 institu- The sketch that goes before shows us that the 
 tions be- colonial institutions were not the institutions of all. 
 the free- They belonged to the freemen, so styled, " the bet- 
 ™^"- ter sort," with but a portion of " the poorer sort " 
 thrown in. Lidented servants and slaves, of course, had 
 no part in the poHtical or the social privileges of their supe- 
 riors. But besides the bondmen proper, there was a large 
 number not bondmen, and yet not freemen by the laws 
 of the colonies. " The people," says an early writer on the 
 Massachusetts system, " begin to complain they are ruled 
 like slaves." Actual restlessness was showing itself. " It 
 is feared," says the same writer, " that elections cannot be 
 safe there long, either in church or commonwealth, so that 
 some melancholy men think it a great deal safer to be in 
 the midst of troubles in a settled commonwealth, or in 
 hope easily to be settled,* than in mutinies there, so far off 
 from succors," (1641.) 
 
 English The institutions of the freemen sprang from the 
 law. English law. How far this extended over the colo- 
 nies was a vexed question. One class of jurists or of 
 statesmen in England maintained that America was a con- 
 quered country, a country wrested from the native or the 
 European races whom the English found in possession of it. 
 The deduction from this view was, that the institutions of 
 the country were at the pleasure of the crown or of the 
 Parhament of England. But another class held opposite 
 ground, asserting that the colonists were entitled, without 
 
 * Referring to the disturbances in England. 
 
88 PART n. 1638-1763. 
 
 any consent or dissent on the part of England, to all the 
 rights of Englishmen, inasmuch as the country was a dis- 
 covered, not a conquered one. Some persons held an in- 
 termediate opinion, denying the notion of conquest, and yet 
 denying the inherent claim of the colonists to English 
 privileges, making their rights depend on actual grants from 
 the sovereign power. So when the habeas corpus act, pro- 
 viding for the issue of a writ to produce the body of a prisoner, 
 was passed, (1 680,) it was said not to extend to the colonies, 
 because they were not specially mentioned in the bill. A 
 sunilar act, adopted by the Massachusetts General Court, 
 was annulled by the crown, (1692.) But the privilege 
 was afterwards tacitly, if not explicitly, allowed. The 
 liberal system of interpretation slowly prevailing, the Eng- 
 lish law was almost universally recognized to be the birth- 
 right of the colonies as truly as of the mother-land. 
 Colonial "^^^ governments of the colonies were variously 
 govern- organized. Those under charters were altogether 
 °^^" ^' in the hands of the colonists. The charter of Mas- 
 sachusetts, indeed, was so far altered in 1691 as to transfer 
 the appointment of the governor, lieutenant governor, and 
 secretary to the crown, and even to prescribe the conditions 
 on which the inhabitants should be admitted as freemen. 
 The charters of Connecticut (1662) and Rhode Island 
 (1644—63) left the entire administration to the colonists. 
 The seven colonies originally under proprietary govern- 
 ment — Maryland, the Carolinas, New York, New Jersey, 
 Pennsylvania, and Delaware — were of course subject to 
 the authority of their proprietors, but with many restric- 
 tions upon it in favor of the colonists. The Carolinas, 
 under the model of John Locke,* and New York, under 
 
 * John Locke, the great philosopher, was employed by the Carolinian 
 proprietors to embody their ideas — one cannot but think — rather than 
 his OAvn, in what was called " the grand model," or " the fundamental con- 
 
OOI.ONIAL RELATIONS. 89 
 
 the arbitrary rule of its ducal proprietor, who allowed no 
 Assembly till 1683, were not so favorably situated. Penn- 
 sylvania was subjected to claims asserted nowhere else, as 
 well as deprived of rights denied nowhere else, by two 
 peculiarities in the charter to William Penn ; one, the as- 
 sertion of the power of Parliament to tax the colony, the 
 other, the omission of the title of the colonists to the rights 
 of Englishmen. The record that four of the proprietary 
 governments were changed to royal governments, — the 
 Carolinas, New York, and New Jersey, — and all at the 
 desire of the colonists, bears witness against the institutions 
 of which proprietors were the chiefs. The royal provinces, 
 however, were organized on the same terms as the proprie- 
 tary colonies, except that, the king being at the head of 
 affairs, the institutions of the provinces were more uniform. 
 The number of provinces was seven : the four just men- 
 tioned, with the older Virginia and New Hampsliire and 
 the younger Georgia. 
 
 In some of the colonies, especially those in the 
 Towns. ' ^ ♦' 
 
 north, the tov/ns were at the centre of their organi- 
 zation. These were the primary bodies in which the colonists 
 
 stitutions." Of the system thus concocted, the primary element was 
 property, the scale of colonial dignities being graduated according to the 
 possessions of the colonist. Seigniories for the proprietors, baronies for 
 landgraves and caciques, colonies for lords of manors, or freeholders, 
 were the divisions of the soil. Authority was parcelled out amongst pala- 
 tine and other courts for the proprietors, a grand council for them and 
 their nobility, and a Parliament for the proprietors, the nobility, and the 
 lords of manors. As for those not wealthy enough for either of these classes, 
 they were hereditary tenants, or else slaves. The church of the colony 
 was to be the church of England, with a certain amount of toleration for 
 other creeds. This extraordinary mass of titles and of powers held to- 
 gether for just twenty-three years, (1669-1693,) but A\ithout ever getting 
 into actual operation. It was relinquished by the proprietors at the vmi- 
 versal desire of the colonists, who naturally preferred the simpler and the 
 freer institutions originally reared under the charter. 
 8* 
 
90 PART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 were grouped and trained as freemen. Their workings, 
 where they existed, are written on every page of the colo- 
 nial and the national annals. Where they did not exist, their 
 places were but poorly suj^plied by plantations or vestries. 
 An instinct, as it may be called, after the establishment of 
 towns, led the early legislators of Virginia into curious 
 expedients. At one time, the resources of the colony were 
 to be brought to bear on making Jamestown a city worthy 
 of the name, (1662 ;) at another, each county was directed 
 to lay out a town of its ov/n, (1680.) At length a new 
 capital was founded at Williamsburg, (1608.) 
 Assem- Ncxt to the town or its substitute, under every 
 Mies. form of government as ultimately established, there 
 was one and the same body. This was the assembly, the 
 same cherished institution to the colony that Parliament 
 was to the mother land. At first, in some places, com- 
 posed of all the freemen, then placed upon a representative 
 basis, and then divided into two houses, one of councillors 
 or assistants, the other of representatives or burgesses, the 
 assembly exercised all the functions of a legislature, sub- 
 ject, of course, to the law and the sovereign of England. 
 The House of Representatives, or of Burgesses, as the case 
 might be in the different colonies, constituted the popular 
 branch, so entirely in some instances as to go by the 
 name of the assembly, leaving the councillors or assistants 
 to appear, what they generally were, the officers of the 
 crown. But the assembly was by no means popular, ac- 
 cording to modern notions. A large amount of property, 
 real or personal, was usually essential as a qualification of 
 membership, the very voters being under some conditions 
 of the same nature. The sessions were oflen few and far 
 between ; in some colonies, and at some periods, not more 
 frequent than once in three years, or even more than three. 
 An assembly, moreover, would sometimes hold over beyond 
 
COLONIAL RELATIONS. 91 
 
 its lawful term, becoming as much of a burden to the colony 
 as it was intended to be an assistance. But when once 
 convened, at the proper season and in the proper sphit, the 
 assembly was a tower of strength to its people. 
 
 That which was most variable, not to say most 
 
 Churches. . „ . . . 
 
 ineffective, in the colonies, was the very thing that 
 should have been most stable and most powerful. The 
 church of Christ was rent with factions. The blessino;s 
 that might have issued from a common church, had it been 
 pure and true, have no place in our history. The church 
 of England was established in Virginia, Maryland, the 
 Carolinas, and Georgia. The Quakers and the Presby- 
 terians prevailed in the central colonies ; in the northern, 
 the Puritans carried all before them. Such divisions would 
 not merely prevent unity ; they would break up liberty. 
 Persecu- Amongst the harshest provisions of the Massa- 
 tion in chusctts systcm was that excluding all but church 
 chusetts. members from the rights of freemen. Against this, 
 Child. chiefly, was directed the petition of Dr. Robert 
 Child, and six others, some of them of the highest station, 
 church membership excepted, in the colony, (1646.) 
 Child was a young man, recently arrived in the country 
 with the purpose of making some scientific inquiry into its 
 mineral resources. At the time of his petition, he was on 
 the point of returning to England, but with the idea, ap- 
 parently, of coming back to Massachusetts, could he be 
 received on equal terms with the freemen of the colony. 
 Be this as it may, he and his fellow-petitioners asked for 
 admission to the privileges of Massachusetts, instead of 
 which they found themselves charged with " contemptuous 
 and seditious expressions," for which they were arraigned 
 and heavily fined. Thus treated, they set about preparing a 
 memorial, which Child Avas to convey to Parliament, and in 
 support of which, another document, praying " for liberty 
 
3^ PART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 of conscience, and for a general governor " from England, 
 was hastily got up amongst several of the non-freemen of 
 Boston and its neighborhood. Only a few signatures to 
 this paper were obtained, probably on account of the risk 
 which tlie signers ran ; one of the most active of their 
 number being put in irons, on the discovery of the affair 
 by the magistrates. Child himself, and some of his fellow- 
 memorialists, were also seized ; their papers were examined, 
 and their persons detained in custody until after the ship 
 in which they intended to take passage for England had 
 departed. A copy of their memorial reached London, but 
 was never acted upon. 
 
 " I have done too much of that work already," 
 
 Baptists. •' ' 
 
 John Winthrop, the governor for many years, is 
 reported to have said in his last hours, when urged to sign 
 an order of banishment against a believer" in a different 
 church than his own, (1649.) But he left others to carry 
 out the austerities from which the approach of death might 
 well recall a human spirit. Within two years, John Clarke, 
 a minister amongst the Baptist exiles of Rhode Island, 
 was arrested while preaching in a house at Lynn, (1651.) 
 " They more uncivilly disturbed us," said he, " than the 
 pursuivants of the old English bishops were wont to do." 
 Imprisoned with some of his fellow-Baptists in Boston, 
 Clarke did not give way, but demanded the opportunity of 
 proving, prisoner as he was, " that no servant of Jesus 
 Christ hath any authority to restrain any fellow-servant in 
 his worship, where no injury is offered to others." The 
 answer of the magistrates was, " Fined twenty pounds, or to 
 be well whipped." One of his comrades escaped with a 
 smaller fine, but another was whipped, while two persons 
 who showed compassion upon him were themselves arrested 
 and fined. Clarke, after paying his fine, would have sailed 
 to England. But not allowed even to do this, he made his 
 
COLONIAL RELATIONS. 93 
 
 way to New Amsterdam, where he met witli humaner treat- 
 ment, and found the means of crossing the sea. Arrived 
 in England, he published his " 111 News from New Eng- 
 land," " wherein is declared, that while old England is 
 becoming new,* New England is becoming old." " The 
 authority there established," he says, " cannot permit men, 
 though of never so civil, sober, and peaceable a spirit and 
 life, freely to enjoy their understandings and consciences, 
 nor yet to live or come among them, unless they can do as 
 they do, and say as they say, or else say nothmg ; and so 
 may a man live at Rome also," (1652.) 
 
 Clarke's case appears to have excited attention, 
 etaU's notwithstanding the late indifference in relation to 
 remon- Child and his fellow-petitioners. Such as were 
 
 strance. -r-» • 
 
 opposed to the Puritans did not stand alone in con- 
 demnmg their intolerance. One of their own number, an 
 early and a distinguished member of the I^Iassachusetts 
 Company, wrote to the elders, Wilson and Cotton, in terms 
 of sorrowful remonstrance. " It doth not a little grieve 
 my spirit to hear what sad things are reported daily of 
 your tyranny and persecution in New England, as that you 
 fine, whip, and imprison men for their consciences. . . . 
 These rigid ways have laid you low in the hearts of the 
 saints." Thus wrote Sir Hichard Saltonstall, a Puritan, 
 but not a persecutor, a lover of other men's liberty, as 
 well as of his own. 
 
 His letter was unheeded. Within a very brief 
 of Har- period, the first president of Harvard College, 
 vardCoi- Henry Dunster, a clergyman, a scholar, and a 
 
 true man, was tried, convicted, and obliged to 
 resign his office, on the charge of being a Baptist, (1654.) 
 " The whole transaction of this business," wrote he, " is 
 
 * In the time of the commonwealth. 
 
M PART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 such, which in process of time, when all things come to 
 mature consideration, may very probably create grief on 
 all sides ; yours subsequent, as mine antecedent. I am 
 not the man you take me to be." In the following year, 
 (1655,) the corporation of the college appealed to the 
 General Court to pay the amount still due to the deposed 
 president, as well as to allow him something additional, " in 
 consideration of his extraordinary pains." But so intem- 
 perate was the disposition of the authorities, as to refuse 
 not only the additional grant, but even the actual balance 
 of the president's account. The spirit of wisdom had not 
 yet descended either upon Harvard College or upon the 
 community by which it had been founded. 
 
 A new class of victims appeared. A few unhap- 
 
 Quakers. r\ i 
 
 py Quakers — the more unhappy, if guilty of the 
 fanatical excesses with which they were charged — came to 
 Boston, some of them to brave, all of them to encounter, per- 
 secution, (1G5G.) Brought immediately before the magis- 
 trates, they were first confmed, and then sent away beyond 
 the limits of the colony. Laws were at once passed, inflict- 
 ing a fine of one hundred pounds upon any master of a 
 vessel who brought a Quaker with him, and ordering im- 
 prisonment and scourging for any Quaker that might 
 appear. This not being deemed enough, a new batch of 
 statutes was prepared within the next two years, (1657-58,) 
 lining the spectator or the worshipper at a Quaker meeting, 
 the host of a Quaker, and threatening the Quaker himself 
 with loss of ears, mutilation of tongue, and, finally, if he 
 returned after being banished, with death. In these horri- 
 ble enactments, almost all New England, except Rhode 
 Island, coincided. They did not remain dead letters. One 
 of the oldest freemen of the colony, Nicholas Upsall, ac- 
 cused merely of kindness to the persecuted, was banished 
 for tliree years, and, on his return, was thrown into a two 
 
COLONIAL RELATIONS. 95 
 
 years' imprisonment, (1656-59.) Nor was tlils the only 
 case of the kind. As for the persecuted themselves, they 
 were fined, imprisoned, scourged, and at length hanged, 
 (1659-60.) Had it not been for the royal commands that 
 these outrages should cease, (1660,) there is no saying how 
 far they might have been carried. As it was, the persecu- 
 tion continued at intervals, until a fresh order came from 
 the king, requu'ing liberty of faith for all Protestants, 
 (1679.) 
 
 The saddest deeds of oppression in Massachusetts 
 
 Witches. ^ '■ 
 
 are yet to be told. It is accountable that the Puri- 
 tan authorities should be bitter upon those who opposed 
 their institutions or their creeds. But that they should 
 raise a hue and cry against those who had no thought of 
 opposing them, those against whom no charge could be 
 substantiated but that of feebleness, of age, or of deformi- 
 ty, seems inexplicable. An English law of older date than 
 any existing English colony, (1603,) by which witchcraft 
 was declared a capital crime, found a place amongst the 
 so-called liberties of Massachusetts, (1641.) Some years 
 elapsed before it was enforced, (1656;) nor did it then 
 seem to set so well upon the consciences of the rulers as 
 to make them desirous of keeping it in operation. A later 
 attempt at the same sort of thing in Pennsylvania resulted 
 in the acquittal of the unfortunate object of ill will, (1684.) 
 When all was quiet, and the troubles of witchcraft appeared 
 to have subsided forever, there was a sudden swell. A 
 witch, so styled and so condemned, was executed at Boston, 
 (1688.) One victim not being enough, others were soon de- 
 manded, and found at Salem village, now Danvers. The 
 magistrates of the colony had thrown a hundred persons 
 into prison, when the governor. Sir William Phips, arrived 
 from England to head the persecution. The lieutenant gov- 
 ernor, William Stoughton, presided at the judicial tribunals. 
 
96 PART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 • 
 
 Behind these official personages, several of the elders or 
 ministers, led by Increase and Cotton Mather, father and 
 son, urged on the ferocious pursuit. It lasted eight long 
 months, devouring twenty victims, torturing many others, 
 and threatening a still larger number, when the work of 
 blood was arrested, partly by interference from England, 
 and partly by accusations directed against some of the per- 
 secutors themselves, (1693.) "The Lord be merciful to 
 the country," exclaimed Chief Justice Stoughton, on find- 
 ing that he could sentence no more as guilty of witchcraft. 
 Years later, the letters of Kobert Calef, a merchant of 
 Boston, who wrote against the fierce delusion of his neigh- 
 bors, were burned in the yard of Ilarvard College by order 
 of the president. Increase Mather, (1700.) 
 
 We have lihgered lono; in Massachusetts. It is 
 
 Persecu- ° ^ 
 
 tion else- there that we find the most strikmg traces of that 
 ^ ^^'^" persecuting spirit of which almost every colony had 
 its share. New England, with one exception, occupied the 
 same ground as its principal colony. New York ordered 
 every Roman Catholic priest voluntarily entering the prov- 
 ince to be hanged, (1700.) Protestants were likewise visited 
 with penalties or with restrictions, unless they submitted to 
 the church of England, (1704.) Maryland began by an 
 act which proclaimed death to all who denied the Trinity, 
 and fine, scourging, imprisonment, and banishment, to all 
 who denied " the blessed Virgin Mary or the holy apostles 
 or evangelists," (1649.) Long after, the Roman Catholics 
 becoming, as has been mentioned, the objects of persecu- 
 tion, their public services were forbidden, and their offices 
 as teachers, both private and public, were suspended, 
 (1704.) Of all the colonies, however, none kept nearer to 
 Massachusetts in the race of persecution than Virginia, the 
 colony of the English, as Massachusetts was that of the 
 Puritan church. ' A few Puritans, who had found a corner 
 
COLONIAL RELATIONS. 97 
 
 in Virginia, invited some ministers from Massachusetts and 
 New Haven. Three came, but were ahnost immediately 
 warned by the government " to depart the colony with all 
 conveniency," (1642-43.) Another Puritan clergyman, 
 with many of his persuasion, was banished a few years 
 later, (1648-49.) The Puritans being disposed of, the 
 Quakers came in for attention. A law inflicted a hundred 
 pounds' fine upon the shipmaster who introduced, and 
 upon the colonist who entertained, a Quaker, the Quaker 
 himself being imprisoned until he gave security that he 
 would leave the colony never to return, (1660-63.) Bap- 
 tists were* provided for in another law, subjecting them to 
 a fine, (1662.) Thus the prey upon which the Puritan 
 magistrates pounced in the north was assailed by the 
 church of England authorities in the south. The same 
 spirit, suspicious and oppressive, was at work throughout 
 the land. 
 
 Save in ^^^Q in One nook, where liberality and confidence 
 Ehodo prevailed. In Rhode Island, the colony whose 
 people were twofold exiles, — exiles from England, 
 and exiles from New England, — persecution found no place. 
 The assembly, gathered under the charter of 1644, estab- 
 lished freedom of faith by legislative enactment, (1647.) 
 In petitioning for the charter of 1663, the Rhode Islanders 
 urged their " lively experiment that a most flourishing civil 
 state may stand and best be maintained with a full liberty 
 of religious concernments." Time and maturing wisdom 
 had taught Roger Williams to practise what he preached 
 in favor of liberty of conscience. Even the Quakers, 
 "whose doctrines he much disliked and opposed, found 
 refuge amongst his people, and so securely, that Rhode 
 Island refused to insist upon the oath of allegiance to the 
 crown, on account of the Quaker scruples to taking oaths 
 of any kiad. " The first liberty," wrote WiUiams, " is of 
 9 
 
OS -PART II. IG3S-1763. 
 
 our spirits, wliicli neither Old nor New England knows the 
 like, nor no part of the world a greater." He died, (1683 ;) 
 but so directly did his better spirit descend to those coming 
 after him, that with one exception bearing upon Roman 
 Catholics, then excluded from the privileges of all the colo- 
 nies, the laws of Rhode Island continued to bear and to for- 
 bear for generation after generation. 
 , , , The relations between one class and another 
 
 Inter-colo- 
 nial diffi- within the colony being such as have been described, 
 
 it may be inferred how uncertain were the relations 
 
 between colony and colony. Differences of origin and of 
 
 situation, enhanced by differences of creed, of policy, and of 
 
 interest, brought about divisions and hostilities. Nor were 
 
 these confined to colonies that were far remote from one 
 
 another in position or in character. On the contrary, the 
 
 instances to be mentioned are those of quarrels among 
 
 neighbors ; nay, even among allies. 
 
 „, , Samuel Gorton, a clothier from London, who 
 
 Shawomet ' ' 
 
 and Mas- found uo wclcomc in Boston, Plymouth, or even in 
 ■ the Rhode Island settlements, purchased, in the last- 
 named vicinity, some land from the Indians, and began the 
 little colony of Shawomet. He seems to have been a 
 sort of spiritualist, much given to rhapsody, if not blas- 
 phemy, but harmless, disposed to force his views upon 
 none, and ready to fly rather than to fight amidst the war- 
 ring parties of New England. But when pursued by his 
 old opponents of Massachusetts, on the gi'ound that the land 
 which his colony occupied was theirs by virtue of subse- 
 quent negotiations with the Indians, Gorton resolved to 
 make a stand, (1643.) It was in vain. The dozen men 
 whom he had with him could make no effectual defence 
 against the forty who came, with commissioners at their 
 head, from Massachusetts. A few of the Shawomet party 
 escaped ; but Gorton, with nine others, was transported as a 
 
COLONIAL RELATIONS. 99 
 
 captive to Boston. There he was put upon trial, partly for 
 rejecting the dominion, and partly for rejecting the creed 
 of his conquerors. Convicted, of course, he was set to work 
 in irons, most of his companions meeting the same fate. 
 But as they proved troublesome, especially by instilling 
 their doctrines into those around them, they were set free, 
 *' no more to come into the colony, upon pain cf death," 
 (1644.) Gorton at once repaired to England, where, from 
 the Earl of Warwick, then "governor-in-chief and lord 
 high admiral of all those islands and plantations within 
 the bounds and upon the coasts of America," he obtained a 
 patent for his colony as a part of the Providence Planta- 
 tions, the name of Shawomet being changed to that of its 
 protector — Warwick, (1647.) Not long after, Massachu- 
 setts attempted to get up another onslaught upon the War- 
 wick settlement, but was prevented, (1651.) 
 
 Massachusetts was at the head of a confederacy, 
 colonies of ^^^^ story of which will be found to throw much 
 New Eng- ijgi^t upou the relations of colony to colony. It 
 had been proposed, at an early date, (1637,) to 
 form a league amongst the New England settlements ; but 
 the project fell through, on account of the resistance of Con- 
 necticut to the demands of Massachusetts. Circumstances 
 induced Connecticut to give way, some time afterwards, 
 when a confederacy was formed, under the name of " The 
 United Colonies of New England," (1643.) Each colony 
 was to appoint two commissioners, who must be church 
 members, to conduct all matters of administration, to decide 
 upon questions of peace or war, to regulate the demand and 
 surrender of fugitive servants, slaves, or criminals ; but all 
 acts of the commissioners required ratification by the peo- 
 ple. In case of war, a certain number of troops was to be 
 furnished by the different members of the league. Massa- 
 chusetts, furnishing a double proportion, obtained the honor 
 
100 PART II. 1638-17G3. 
 
 of having the commissioners' annual session held twice as 
 often at Boston as at any other place of meeting. Indeed, 
 Massachusetts was the head and front of the whole con- 
 federacy. 
 
 The spirit of the league soon came out. Massa- 
 
 Treat- 
 
 meut of setts, (then including New Hampshire,) Plymouth, 
 Rhode c^Yid the two Connccticut colonies, being united, 
 
 Island. . 1 -mjT . -, -r>i T 1 1 -nr - 
 
 there remained Mame and Rhode Island. Maine 
 was too scantily settled, as well as too remotely situated, to 
 be taken into account; but Rhode Island, begirt by the 
 confederates, had some claims to consideration. At all 
 events, it asked admission to the union. The demand was 
 refused, except on condition that the colony would submit 
 itself as a dependent to Plymouth. One cannot but wonder 
 that, with such a temper, the league refrained from blotting 
 its independent neighbor out of existence. 
 Disagree- Things wcnt by no means smoothly amongst the 
 ments. confederates themselves. At one time, Connecticut 
 imposed a tax on river navigation, which acted adversely to 
 the interests of the town of Springfield, (1647.) Massachu- 
 setts, at first remonstrating, soon broke out with an impost 
 upon goods imported from the other three colonies of the 
 league, (1649.) Nor was this repealed until after a grave 
 protest from the commissioners, (1650.) A year or two 
 later, Connecticut desired war to be declared against the 
 Dutch and Indians. Perhaps it was a hasty project ; but it 
 found support from Plymouth. Massachusetts, however, 
 refused to enter into it, and by so doing, nearly broke up the 
 confederac}^, (1653.) When the confederates agreed, it was 
 often about such measures as those of persecution, to which 
 reference has been made, or those of warfare, to which 
 we shall arrive ere long. In fact, the United Colonies 
 were united chiefly in deeds of violence. In works of jus- 
 tice or of generosity, they generally broke asunder. When 
 
COLONIAL RELATIONS. 101 
 
 their union came to an end, after a feeble existence of half 
 a century, it was regretted by none. 
 
 The New England colonies were not alone in 
 
 Disseu- *=" 
 
 sions else- tlicsc disturbed relations. New York was long at 
 variance with Connecticut on one side, and with 
 New Jersey on the other. Pennsylvania had her com- 
 plaints against Virginia; Delaware hers against Pennsyl- 
 vania. Wherever there was a view from one colony to 
 anotlier, it seemed to open as frequently upon scenes of 
 controversy as upon those of peace. • 
 
 Leaving the colonies themselves, and turning to 
 
 Peun aud '^ ^ *-■ 
 
 Baiti- their proprietors, where they had any, we discover 
 ™°^^* the same disposition to strife. When William Penn 
 obtained the grant of his domain of Pennsylvania, he knew 
 that it encroached upon the claims of the Baltimore family 
 of Maryland. Tlieir title to the territory, as far north as 
 the fortieth degree of latitude, had been infringed upon, but 
 by foreigners — by the Dutch and by the Swedes. It was 
 reserved for a fellow-countryman to appropriate it to him- 
 self. Soon after the arrival of Penn in America, he met 
 Lord Baltimore at Newcastle, but without being able to 
 come to any agreement. This did not prevent the Quaker 
 from founding his City of Brotherly Love upon the land 
 claimed by the rival proprietor, (1682.) At another meet- 
 ing, in the following year, Penn consented to recognize the 
 Baltimore claim, but only on condition that a price should 
 be fixed for a portion bordering upon the Delaware, of 
 wliich he naturally wished to retain the sovereignty. But 
 as this offer was refused, wliile another mode of settlement, 
 proposed by Baltimore, was refused in turn by Penn, the 
 two proprietors again separated in anger. When Balti- 
 more renewed his demands, a few months after, Penn threw 
 himself upon the Dutch title, to which he claimed succes- 
 sion through the Duke of York, (1683.) After such a plea 
 9* 
 
102 PART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 as this, there was no hope of justice from Penn. Appeal 
 was made to EngUmd, where sentence was rendered against 
 Baltimore, without being actually executed, (1685.) It 
 was three quarters of a century before the boundary be- 
 tween Pennsylvania and Maryland was definitely deter- 
 mined. 
 
 The relations of the colonies to the mother coun- 
 to^the"'^^ try, that is, to England, so far as they depended 
 mother upon general principles, were brought forward in an 
 
 coiintrv. 
 
 earlier part of the chapter. It is time to take them 
 up with reference to the actual course of events. 
 The Allegiance to the crown was one of the inborn 
 
 crown, principles of the English colonist. It extended from 
 him to those Miio had come from other lands than Endand. 
 
 o 
 
 The King of England was the head of the church and the 
 head of the state — the supreme civil and mihtary power, to 
 whom all the magistrates, all the tribunals, all the laws, all 
 the proceedings of the colonies, were subject. Even in the 
 charter governments, the most independent of all, the royal 
 supremacy was universally recognized. At the same time, 
 the exact limits between the sovereignty of the king and 
 the independence of the colony were nowhere defined. In 
 the royal provinces, where the dependence upon the crown 
 was the greatest, the rights of the popular bodies were often 
 most pertinaciously asserted. 
 
 As striking an exhibition as any other of the rela- 
 ii.^and tioi^s of the colonies with royalty is to be found in 
 Massa- the tvventy-fivc years' controversy between Charles 
 
 clmsctts 
 
 II. and Massachusetts. When the restoration of 
 that monarch occurred, nearly a year was allowed to elapse, 
 after the certain intelligence of the event, without any proc- 
 lamation of the royal authority in Massachusetts. There 
 was a good deal, in fact, for the colony to do, in order to 
 make the proclamation satisfactory to all concerned. In the 
 
COLONIAL RELATIONS. 103 
 
 first place, she had to renounce all such theories as John 
 Eliot had propounded in his Christian Commonwealth, con- 
 cerning the superiority of the Mosaic over the English insti- 
 tutions. In the next place, she had " to reject, as an in- 
 fringement of right, any parliamentary or royal imposition 
 prejudicial to the country." So that, between her own 
 republicans on the one side, and the monarchists of England 
 on the other, there was some difficulty in steering a course. 
 At length, the king being proclaimed, John Norton and 
 Simon Bradstreet were sent as agents, with letters and 
 instructions half servile and half defiant, to seek the royal 
 presence and obtain a confirmation of the colonial institu- 
 tions, (1G62.) The king confirmed the charter, but added 
 requisitions that were likely to set the whole colony in an 
 uproar. All laws, he said, against the royal authority, must 
 be repealed ; the oath of allegiance to the crown must be 
 exacted ; the Book of Common Prayer must be tolerated, 
 and the sacraments administered to " all of honest lives ; '* 
 nay, the freeholders of the colony, if of suitable estate and 
 character, must be admitted as its freemen. Such was the 
 spite of Massachusetts men, in relation to the royal demands, 
 even against their own helpless agents, that the minister 
 Norton sank, it is said, under the general displeasure, 
 (1663.) The arrival of four royal commissioners, in the fol- 
 lowing year, was followed by a celebration of the church ser- 
 vice, and by a law from the assembly, declaring freeholders, 
 on certain conditions, to be freemen, (1664.) The next 
 proceedings of the commissioners resulted in the temporary 
 toleration of churchmen and Quakers, (1665.) It must 
 have seemed as if the very foundations of Massachusetts 
 had been thrown down. 
 
 Long years of controversy between the colony and the 
 king ensued. The departure of the commissioners was fol- 
 lowed by the almost immediate arrest of the changes 
 
104 PART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 ^ which they had introduced. A summons from the 
 
 Loss of •' 
 
 the Mas- king, Calling upon the colony to send representa- 
 sotts^aud ^^^^^ ^^ answer the charges against it, was diso- 
 other beyed, (16GG.)" Yet five years were allowed to 
 elapse before the contumacy of the Massachusetts 
 people was noticed, and then they were virtually passed 
 over as "almost on the brink of renouncing any de- 
 pendence on the crown," (1671.) Quite a considerable 
 interval succeeded, in which agents after agents upheld the 
 colony against its adversaries in England. Even bribes 
 were resorted to, the Province of Maine and two thousand 
 guineas being offered to the king himself. But it was too 
 late. The royal will was roused ; the warrant went forth 
 that the colony must submit, if it would have any charter 
 at all. The magistrates were for yielding; the representa- 
 tives — that is, the mass of the colonists — were for resist- 
 ing ; and while they clung to their charter, it was declared 
 to be forfeited, (1684.) The king immediately appointed a 
 governor for Massachusetts, Plymouth, Maine, and New 
 Hampshire ; but Charles dying, another official was sent 
 out by James II., bearing the title of president of the same 
 colonies, with the addition of the King's Province in Rhode 
 Island, (1685.) The same year, the Rhode Island and 
 Connecticut charters were put in abeyance. 
 Pariia- Ncxt to the crowu was the Parliament of the 
 meut. mother country. But this was by no means so 
 fully acknowledged in the colonies. "We have not ad- 
 mitted appeals to your authority," says the Massachusetts 
 General Court to Parliament, " being assured they cannot 
 stand with the liberty and power granted us by our char- 
 ter," (1646,) — a declaration which was followed up by 
 Edward Winslow, then the agent for Massachusetts in 
 England. "If the Parliament of England," he says, 
 " should impose laws upon us, having no burgesses in the 
 
COLONIAL RELATIONS. 105 
 
 House of Commons nor capable of a summons by reason of 
 the vast distance, we should lose the liberties and freedom 
 of Englishmen indeed." It was on these very grounds 
 that the sway claimed for Parliament was again and again 
 resisted. It was, however, again and again obeyed. 
 Naviga- Parliament asserted its powers at an early day. 
 tion acts. During the commonwealth, when it ruled supreme 
 over England, it stretched forth its sceptre over America 
 by an act requiring all colonial exports to England to be 
 shipped only in American or English vessels, (1651.) 
 This was extended by Parliament and the crown together, 
 after the restoration of royalty, in a second act, ordering 
 that most of the exports from the colonies should be shipped 
 only to England, or to an English colony, and in American 
 or Enghsh vessels, as before, (1660.) Two or three years 
 afterwards, it was enacted that almost ail imports into the 
 colonies should be shipped only from England or from an 
 English colony, and in American or English vessels, as by 
 the preceding statutes, (1663.) These were the famous 
 navigation acts, the first assertions of parliamentary au- 
 thority over the commerce of the colonies. How grievous 
 to these such restrictions were needs not to be dwelt upon. 
 Duties. They were followed up, at no long interval, by 
 
 duties upon the export and import of certain " enu- 
 merated articles " from one colony to another, (1 672.) This 
 was interfering, not only with the trade, but with the very 
 constitution of the colonies. It required a new body of of- 
 ficials in the shape of revenue officers, appointed, of course, 
 by the crown. Royal custom houses were also needed. It 
 was soon proposed to demand an oath from the governors 
 of New England — where trade was busiest, and discontent 
 rifest — that they would enforce the commercial restrictions. 
 But John Leverett, governor of Massachusetts, refused, 
 and the General Court of the same colony soon passed a 
 
106 PART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 resolution " that the acts of navigation are an invasion of 
 the rights and privileges of the subjects of his majesty in 
 this colony, they not bemg represented in the Parliament/' 
 (1G76-79.) A notice of the appointment of a collector 
 of the royal customs for Nev/ England was torn down in 
 Boston by order of the colonial magistrates, (1680.) But 
 it was in vain, as we shall soon find. Parliament had 
 adopted the principle of regulating the colonial trade, and 
 was not likely to yield to the ebullitions of Boston, or of 
 any other place in the colonies. 
 
 j^ The authority of the mother country, whether 
 
 govern- royal or parliamentary, was represented by a con- 
 ^^^' stantly increasing number of officials in the colonies. 
 Of these none were so prominent as the royal governors, 
 to whom we now arrive in pursuing the account of the 
 colonial relations. 
 
 Nowhere did things go worse than in Virginia, 
 in vir- of whicli Sir William Berkeley, a loyal cavaher, 
 ^^^^^' had been governor for more than twenty years.* 
 Under his influence, the very assembly of the province became 
 a burden, protracting its sessions and extending its preroga- 
 tives, providing a perpetual (so termed) instead of an annual 
 revenue for the royal officials, and appointing county courts 
 to levy certain imposts which were within its own province 
 alone. To these difficulties were added others arising from 
 the hostile bearing of the Indians, with whom the governor 
 was disposed to temporize far more than suited the ardent 
 Virginians, (1676.) 
 
 Bacon's All at oncc, the province rose. One of the coun- 
 rebeiiion. ^j]^ Nathaniel Bacon, being refused a commission 
 against the Indians, declared that he would take out a com- 
 mission of his own; at which the governor unseated him 
 
 * From 1641 to 1652, and again from 1660, 
 
COLONIAL RELATIONS. 107 
 
 and declared him a rebel. But he Avas not the only one to 
 be put down. William Drummond, the first governor of 
 North Carolina, and Richard Lawrence, both men of ener- 
 gy and of culture, came out at Jamestown on Bacon's side. 
 At their demand, supported by other colonists of influence, 
 the assembly by which the governor had been blindly sup- 
 ported was dissolved. Bacon, elected to a new assembly, 
 carried various measures of reform, besides obtaining a 
 commission of commanding officer against the Indians. 
 Again declared a rebel, he called a convention, who prom- 
 ised to stand by him while he proceeded against the foe 
 upon the frontier. But on the governor's taking the field 
 with armed servants and Indians, supported by some Eng- 
 lish men-of-war, Bacon and his party returned to meet 
 him. Berkeley retreated, Bacon fired Jamestown, and 
 soon after died. The cause which he had staked his all to 
 support soon fell to pieces, and his chief adherents, Drum- 
 mond amongst them, were hanged. Lawrence disappeared. 
 " That old fool," said the good natured Charles II., on hear- 
 ing of his governor's revenge, " has hanged more men in 
 that naked colony than I did here for the murder of my 
 father." Berkeley died of shame, it is said, in England. 
 He left Virginia crushed and desolate. 
 Andros Ncw England, consolidated into one province, 
 in New was givcu over to Sir Edmund Andros, formerly 
 °^*° ' governor of New York, (1686.) He made his ap- 
 pearance with troops, overthrowing the colonial assemblies, 
 if there were any left to overthrow, declaring the town 
 organizations at an end, prohibiting the printing press, and 
 threatening even the property of the colonists by requiring 
 them to take out new deeds of their estates from him. It 
 was a part of his commission to procure toleration, especial- 
 ly for the church of England. To do this in Boston, he 
 saw fit to seize upon one of the Puritan churches to celebrate 
 
 / 
 
108 PAUT II. 1638-1763. 
 
 the church service. Resistance was not attempted, and An- 
 dros and his council ruled supreme ; nor only over New 
 England, but likewise over New York and New Jersey, 
 both of which were attached to his government, (1688.) 
 In fact, he was on the high road to dominion over all the 
 colonies. The charters of the Carolinas and of Maryland 
 — that is, of every other colony which had a charter, 
 save Pennsylvania alone -r— were menaced, (1686-88.) 
 A waste of despotism seemed to be opening wherever 
 freedom had found a foothold. 
 
 Revohi- Just then came the news of the revolution in 
 tion. England, (1689.) It was welcomed by a revolu- 
 tion in America. Bost^i rose against Andros, deposing 
 him, and declaring Simon Bradstreet governor. The 
 reaction was by no means gentle. The churchmen, whom 
 Andros had favored, and who supported him, sent an 
 address to King William, bewailing the peril to them from 
 the returning " anarchy and confusion of government under 
 which this country hath so long groaned." Rhode Island 
 and Connecticut went farther than Massachusetts, and 
 resumed their treasured charters. New York took up 
 arms under Jacob Leisler and a committee of safety. 
 The other colonies, less sorely oppressed than those of 
 New England and New York, received the news in com- 
 parative tranquillity. A party in Maryland rose, but not 
 against oppression so much as for the sake of sedition. 
 The proprietary government fell, as has been told. 
 But not It soon appeared, however, that the English 
 liberty, revolution was not intended to be interpreted as 
 setting the colonies free. The charter of 1691 proved it 
 in Massachusetts. The execution of Jacob Leisler and 
 his son-in-law, Milbourne, in New York, by orders, how- 
 ever, of the new governor. Colonel Sloughter, rather than 
 by those of the king, was equally conclusive, (1691.) 
 
COLONIAL RELATIONS. 109 
 
 The appointment of Anclros — the same Sir Edmund who 
 had trampled upon both Massachusetts and New York — • 
 to the government of Virginia* was a still more stunning 
 demonstration, (1692.) 
 ^, , ^ A new attempt at colonial consolidation soon 
 
 Fletcher ^ 
 
 in New occurrcd. Colonel Benjamin Fletcher, a man of 
 far less character than Andros, was made gov- 
 ernor of New York and Pennsylvania, including Dela- 
 ware ; the proprietary government in the latter colonies 
 being then suspended, (1G92.) He was also declared 
 commander-in-chief of the Connecticut and the New Jer- 
 sey militia. Soon after taking possession of New York 
 and Pennsylvania, Fletcher proceeded to Connecticut to 
 take command of the militia. They assembled at his 
 orders ; but instead of listening to his commission, the 
 senior officer, Captain Wadsworth, cried, " Beat the 
 drums ! " On Fletcher's attempting to persevere. Wads- 
 worth exclaimed, " If I am interrupted again, I'll make 
 the sun shine through you in a moment," (1693.) Thus 
 baffled in his military functions, the governor returned to 
 his civil powers in New York and Pennsylvania. The 
 latter province, after resisting his demands for a grant of 
 money, yielded only on condition that it should be dis- 
 bursed by the provincial treasurer — a condition which 
 Fletcher would not, and, if obedient to his instructions, 
 could not allow, (1694.) New York itself was restive 
 under his control. A tax for the support of ministers 
 and the erection of churches had led to a debate between 
 the council and the assembly; the council proposing that the 
 governor should nominate the new clergy, but the assembly 
 opposing. " You take it upon you," declared Fletcher to 
 the assembly, " as if you were dictators ; " but the assem- 
 
 * He proved, however, to be a comparatively good governor there. 
 10 
 
110 PART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 bly stood fast, and soon carried their point, " that the 
 vestry and the churchwardens have a power to call their 
 own minister," a dissenter, if so they pleased, although 
 the governor was strong for the church of England, 
 (1695.) It had been proposed by a clergyman of this 
 church to combine New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, 
 and Rhode Island in a single province, with a bishop, 
 residing at New York, for its civil as well as ecclesiastical 
 head. But this, more naturally even than Governor 
 Fletcher's designs, came to nought. Fletcher himself, 
 falling into disgrace at home, was recalled, leaving his 
 attempts at consolidation an utter failure, (1698.) 
 „ , The troubles implied in the various colonial rela- 
 
 General '■ 
 
 strict- tions account for much that has been ascribed to 
 other causes. It has been so common to consider 
 the Puritan severity as a thing apart, that one does not 
 immediately seize upon the fact of the almost universal 
 strictness that prevailed. Virginia, for instance, gave no 
 harbor to Puritanism. Yet the Virginia code thunders 
 against "mercenary attorneys," (1643,) burgesses "dis- 
 guised with over much drink," (1659,) tippling houses, 
 (1676,) and Sunday travelling, (1692.) Maryland de- 
 clares with as much solemnity as Massachusetts against 
 profanity, (1642.) Nor were precautions of a different 
 nature neglected. Both Maryland (1642-1715) and New 
 York (1665) make it necessary to procure a passport be- 
 fore traversing or leaving the colonial precincts. It was 
 from a similar impulse that the " handicraftsmen " of Bos- 
 ton petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts to be 
 protected against " strangers from all parts " who w^ere 
 interfering with their trade, not to say their influence in 
 the community, (1677.) All over the colonies, there 
 reigned a spirit of watclifulness, perhaps more grim, but 
 certainly not more resolute, in one place than in another. 
 
COLONIAL RELATIONS. Ill 
 
 It miglit be increased or climinislied by the social or the 
 religious temper of the colonists ; the New Englander was 
 likely to be more upon liis guard than the Virginian. But 
 the spirit was the common growth of the new country, 
 •whose depths were still hid in the wilderness, whose borders 
 "were still bristling with the arrow or the steel. 
 ^ ., , The perils of the frontier are yet to be described. 
 
 Penis of ^ •' 
 
 the frou- All arouud the colonists, there extended a Ihie, or 
 rather a series of lines, one after another, of sus- 
 pected neighbors or of open foes. The Indian lay in 
 ambush on this side ; on that, the European, Swede, Dutch- 
 man, Spaniard, or Frenchman, stood in threatening attitude. 
 Nor was the land alone overspread with enemies ; the waters 
 swarmed with pirates and with buccaneers ; nay, the very 
 air seemed to be filled Avith ghostly shapes and with appall- 
 ing sounds. The world of spirits, as the colonists believed, 
 was agitated by the wars amongst the races of America. 
 
Spirit of 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Indian Wars. 
 
 It is not always that justice is clone to the spirit 
 the In- of the Indians. They are pitied when they are not 
 
 vihfied. Yet there are few passages in human his- 
 tory more indicative of native nobleness in man than those 
 which bring before us the trustful and the generous dealings 
 of the red men with the early adventurers to their shores. 
 " Welcome, Englishmen," cried the sagamore Samoset to 
 the Plymouth settlers, in words caught from English fisher- 
 men. The greater sachem Massasoit pledged his friendship 
 to the same colony by a formal treaty, (1621.) When the 
 tribe of Powhatan complained of the strangers in Virginia, 
 their chief replied, " They do but take a little waste land." 
 Even when the anger of Powhatan ^vas kindled, and so 
 strongly as to lead him to plan the destruction of the 
 English, beginning with their leader, John Smith, whom he 
 had taken captive, there Vv^as still the maiden Pocahontas 
 to plead for mercy and for peace, (1G07.) 
 <^-3irit of '^^^^ spirit of the English was generally very dif- 
 tiie Eng- ferent. Their ^vrath was ever easy to be inflamed, 
 
 ever difficult to be quenched. To most of them the 
 
 natives were outcasts, " of the cursed race of Ham," fit 
 
 to be deluded, insnared, enslaved, or exterminated. But 
 
 this was not the spirit of all. There were some to be 
 
 touched by the original confidence of the Indians, some to 
 
 repay it by trust and by charity. " Concerning the killing 
 
 (112) 
 
INDIAN WARS. 113 
 
 of those poor Indians," wrote John Robinson, the Puritan 
 minister, from Holland to his brethren at Plymouth, in 
 relation to the slaughter of several natives suspected of 
 conspiring against that settlement — " O, how happy a thing 
 had it been, if you had converted some, before you had 
 killed any. Besides, where blood is once begun to be shed, 
 it is seldom stanched of a long time after. . . . It is 
 also a thing more glorious in men's eyes than pleasing in 
 God's, or convenient for Chi'istians, to be a terror to poor 
 barbarous people," (1G23.) 
 ,^. . It was the idea of Kinji; James of En";land, in 
 
 Mission- '^ o 7 
 
 ary la- issuing the patent of Virginia, to civilize and con- 
 vert the natives of the country which he was giving 
 to his companies. The London Company, accordingly, in 
 conjunction with individuals both in England and in Amer- 
 ica, made some exertion to carry out the royal design. A 
 school for natives was planned, as has been mentioned, 
 but without being established. The colony of Plymouth, 
 listening to Robinson's appeal, recognized the possibility of 
 brotherhood with the Indians. Laws were formally enact- 
 ed to provide for the conversion of the natives to the Chris- 
 tian faith, (1636.) Elsewhere, likewise, the same views 
 found advocates ; and more than one colonist became the 
 friend, the teacher, nay, the martyr to the Indians. 
 _, ,, Obtaining an Encrlish errant of Martha's Vine- 
 
 The May- o o & 
 
 hews and yard, and then confirming his title by purchase 
 from the natives, Thomas Mayhew began almost 
 immediately to teach those who remained with him upon 
 the island, (1643.) A more active missionary, however, 
 was his son Thomas, who, after ten years' exertions, 
 perished on a voyage to England, whither he was going for 
 aid to his mission, (1657.) His father, and afterwards his 
 son, continued the work to which he had sacrificed himself. 
 Meanwhile John Eliot had begun his labors on the Massa- 
 
 10^^ 
 
114 PART 11. 1G38-1763. 
 
 chusetts mainland. Preparing himself by the study of the 
 Indian tongue, of which he afterwards composed a gram- 
 mar, he met a party of Indians, for the first time as their 
 preacher, at Nonantum. "Upon October 28, 164G," he 
 writes with touching simplicity, " four of us (having sought 
 God) went unto the Indians inhabiting our bounds, with 
 desire to make known the things of their peace to them." 
 Thenceforward Eliot went on founding and rearing Indian 
 churches, now travelling from the Merrimac to Cape Cod, 
 and now laboring at the translation of the Catechism, and 
 even of the Bible, into the language of his converts, 
 (1661-G3.) 
 
 Both Eliot and the Mayhews, as well as other 
 
 Supports. ... . 
 
 missionaries to the Indians, received their chief 
 encouragement from a Society " for Promoting and Propa- 
 gating the Gospel of Jesus Christ in New England," incor- 
 porated by act of Parliament, (1649.) Large collections 
 aided the labors and provided for the expenses of those 
 who engaged in the holy enterprise. " Right ' honorable 
 nursing fathers," is the address which Eliot uses in giving 
 the society an account of his labors. He writes to Pobert 
 Boyle, apparently the life and soul of the society, as his 
 " right lionorable, right charitable, and indefatigable nurs- 
 ing father." New England itself did comparatively little. 
 Massachusetts granted lands to the converted Indians, but 
 without much sympathy with them or with their teachers. 
 The w^ork, as a colonial one, languished. 
 _ , The results were therefore inconsiderable. What 
 
 Besults. 
 
 the Indians, or many of them, thought of the mis- 
 sions may be gathered from the answer of a Narraganset 
 sachem to the missionary Mayhew applying for perpiission 
 to preach among the tribe. " Go make the English good 
 first." What many of the English thought of the missions 
 may be gathered from the declaration of Daniel Gookin, 
 
INDIAN WARS. 115 
 
 superintendent of the converts, — " a pillar," pays Eliot, 
 " in our Indian work," — that he was " afraid to be seen 
 in the streets," at the time of much ill will against the 
 natives. Thirty years after the missionary enterprise be- 
 gan, there were nominally upM^ards of three thousand 
 converts, (1G73.) But the tirst church which Eliot found- 
 ed — that at Natick — was, a few years subsequent to his 
 death, but " a small church of seven men and three 
 women; their pastor, Daniel Tohkohwampait," (1G9S.) 
 Even before Eliot departed, he had seen his work declin- 
 ing. Endeavoring to get out a new edition of his version 
 of the Scriptures, he wrote, " I am deep in years, and 
 sundry say, if I do not procure it printed while I live, it 
 is not within the prospect of human reason whether ever, 
 or when, or how it may be accompUshed." Things must 
 have been low indeed, when the mere reprint of the Bible 
 was so difficult. But " his charity," to use Eliot's death- 
 bed words, " held out still," and all that he could do was 
 done when he died, (1690.) 
 
 Wars in The wars with the Indians were more effective. 
 Virginia Earliest of these was the war of Opechancanough, 
 Mary- Powhatan's successor, against the colony of Vir- 
 land. ginia. Provoked by the murder of one of their 
 warriors, the Indians suddenly fell upon the English settle- 
 ments, which, it seems, they would have utterly annihilated, 
 but for the warning given by a converted countryman of 
 theirs to a Jamestown settler, (1622.) Hostilities, con- 
 tinued at intervals for many years, were revived by a 
 second surprise of the colony by the Lidians, (1642.) 
 Opechancanough being taken prisoner and slain, his con- 
 federates made peace, giving up all the land between the 
 York and James Rivers, (1646.) In this latter war, Mary- 
 land had been involved. Thirty years later, the two colo- 
 nies were again united in repelling the Susquehannas, with 
 some other tribes, (1675-77.) 
 
116 PART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 Tequot Meanwhile, more dangerous conflicts had arisen 
 war. jj^ New England. The first actual war with the 
 Indians there occurred in consequence of some murders by 
 the Pequots and the Narragansets ; the latter tribe extend- 
 ing along the western shore of Narraganset Bay, the for- 
 mer stretchin!]r from the Thames to the Connecticut Rivers. 
 The Narraganset chief, Canonicus, making amends for his 
 followers, the expedition which Massachusetts equipped to 
 avenge the murdered was directed cliiefly against the 
 Pequots, with the result, however, of exciting rather than 
 punishing them, (163G.) They were on the point of per- 
 suading the Narragansets to make common cause with 
 them, when Roger Williams, at the peril of his life, sought 
 the wigwam of Canonicus, in order to avert an alhance 
 Vv^hich would have threatened Massachusetts, not to say 
 New England, with desolation. It was the return which 
 the exile made for the persecution from wliich he had but 
 just escaped. Instead of joining the Pequots, the Narra- 
 gansets sent their young sachem Miantonimoh to make 
 friends with the people at Boston. At about the same 
 time, the alliance of the Mohegans, a tribe of Northern 
 Connecticut, under Uncas, was secured by the Connecticut 
 colonists. As the spring opened, the colonial forces, 
 amounting in all to little more than one hundred, with 
 two or three hundred Indian allies, took the field, and in 
 four months swept the unhappy Pequots from the face of 
 the earth. Nearly a thousand of them were slain ; tlie 
 rest, whether men or women, old or young, being reduced 
 to captivity and slavery. Their territory was divided 
 between Massachusetts and Connecticut, (1637.) 
 Karra- Notwithstanding the alliance with Miantonimoh 
 
 pausi-ts. r^|-j,| ii^Q Narragansets, they were soon treated as 
 foes. Defeated by the Mohegans, with whom they went to 
 war, the Narragansets saw their chieftain a prisoner. He 
 
INDIAN WARS. 117 
 
 was saved by the interposition of his friend Gorton, the 
 founder of Warwick, only to be given up again by the 
 commissioners of the United Colonies to the Mohegan 
 Uncas, by whom he was immediately despatched. To 
 shield Uncas from the revenge of the Narragansets, the 
 colonies furnished him with a body guard, and even took 
 up arms, when Pessacus, the brother and successor of 
 Miantoniraoh, began war against his Mohegan enemies. 
 Nor did Pessacus avert the storm thus conjured up, but 
 by submitting to make amends to both the Mohegans and 
 the United Colonies, (1645.) The tribute which he then 
 consented to pay was afterwards wrenched from him by 
 violence, (1650.) 
 
 King ^ quarter of a century later, and the ill-treated 
 
 Philip, tribe of Miantonimoh and Pessacus were drawn 
 into the great war that goes by the name of I\jng Philip's. 
 He was Pometacum, the nephew and successor of Massa- 
 soit, with whom the Plymouth colonists had made an early 
 treaty, the chief of the Pokanokets or Wampanoags, a 
 tribe on the eastern shore of Narraganset Bay. Suspected 
 and assailed by the people of Plymouth, whose authorities 
 claimed jurisdiction over him, Philip (to call him by his 
 familiar name) was at length accused of hatching a gener- 
 al conspiracy amongst the Indians. The accuser, a native 
 of bad character, although professedly converted, was slain 
 by some of Phihp's men, three of wdiom were presently 
 hanged, without any actual proof of their being the mur- 
 derers, by orders of the court at Plymouth. Philip wept, it 
 is said, at the idea of warfare with the English. But he 
 could not keep peace with them ; and so began a war, by 
 far the most deadly of all between the English and the 
 Indians, (1675.) 
 
 Priven almost immediately from his domains about 
 Mount Hope, and soon afterwards from his retreats in 
 
118 PART 11. 1638-1763. 
 
 War 
 
 the Rhode Island swamps, Philip led his few war- 
 through- riors into the heart of Massachusetts, where the In- 
 cut New (Jijyis luxf] already risen in arms. Thence the circle 
 
 England. 
 
 of hostilities spread on all sides, to the tribes of the 
 Connecticut valley in the west, to those of the Merrimac 
 valley in the east, and farther still, to the Abcnalvis of 
 Maine — the latter, however, being engaged in warfare of 
 their own, unconnected with Philip and his allies. Against 
 these was arrayed the whole of New England. Rhode 
 Island, it is true, rather suffered than fought ; nor were 
 Maine and New Hampshire, tlien the dependencies of Mas- 
 sachusetts, able to take any active part. But the United 
 Colonies were all in arms. A few hundred combatants 
 were the most that could be mustered in any single battle ; 
 yet the strife was more than proportioned to the numbers or 
 the resources on either side. J^Ionth after month witnessed 
 scenes of ambush, assault, devastation, and butchery. The 
 work of blood was as savagely done by the English as by 
 the Indians. / 
 
 As winter drew nigh, the suspicions of the colo- 
 tiou of the ^^^^ were excited by Uncas, the Mohegan, against 
 Narragan- his old focs, the Narraganscts. They had given 
 
 Sets 
 
 pledges of peace at the beginning of the war ; nor 
 were there now any signs of hostility on their part, except 
 the shelter which they were charged with giving to the 
 broken Pokanokets. But the commissioners of the United 
 Colonies, the successors of those who had given up Mian- 
 tonlmoh and humbled Pessacus, declared war against the 
 Narraganscts and their chief, Canonchet. It took but a 
 few days to overrun the Narraganset territory, and to de- 
 feat the tribe in a fearful fight which cost the colonial forces 
 dear. Driven from their forests and their fastnesses, the 
 Narraganscts spread over the adjoining lands, and even as 
 far as within eighteen miles of Boston, " We will die to 
 
INDIAN WARS. 119 
 
 the last man," exclaimed Canoncliet, when taken in the 
 spring, "but not be slaves to the Englishman." He was 
 slain, and his nation laid low forever. 
 
 The fall of the Narragansets was accompanied by 
 ' that of the tribes within the limits of Massachusetts. 
 Most of the survivors turned their backs upon their ancient 
 hunting grounds in search of freedom in the north and west. 
 Philip, who had mourned over the beginning of the war, 
 was too strong in heart to ojtlive its close. He sought the 
 home of his fathers, and there, after losing his wife, his 
 child, and most of his few r.'maining warriors, he was shot 
 by a renegade Pokanoket. His boy, the last of his line, 
 was sold into slavery in Bermuda. His race was given 
 over to the executioner and the slave dealer ; his territory 
 went to Plymouth, and, half a century afterwards, to Rhode 
 Island. But it was no bloodless victory that the colonies 
 had won. " The towns are so drained of men," wrote Lev- 
 erett, governor of Massachusetts, in the thick of the contest, 
 " we are not able to send out any more." Six hundred of 
 the best colonists had perished ; ten times that number, and 
 more, had suiTered from the losses and the agonies which 
 befall even the survivors of a war. Six hundred dwellins^s 
 were burned ; many a town was partially, many a one totally 
 destroyed. The mere expenses of the war amounted to some- 
 thing enormous in comparison with the actual means of the 
 colonies. It is pleasant to meet with the record of a contri- 
 bution of five hundred pounds, collected by an elder brother 
 of Increase Mather, a Puritan minister in Dublin. The 
 war had lasted a little more than a year, (1G76.) 
 
 There still remained a few Indian war parties to 
 
 Peace. t , . . . 
 
 deal with in the Connecticut valley, as well as the 
 Abenaki tribes in Maine. The former were soon driven 
 off; but the latter kept to their arms until peace was liter- 
 ally bought of them by Sir Edmund Andros, the governor 
 
120 TART IT. 1G38-1763. 
 
 of New York, to which province, it may be remembered, 
 the eastern part of Maine then belonged, (1678.) 
 Abonakis The Abcnakis were soon in arms again. Enlisted 
 iu nuns, ^^j-^ ^\^q q[^q ^f ^jjg French in the wars to be related 
 by and by, the eastern tribes repeatedly laid waste the 
 English settlements. A quarter of a century (1689-1713) 
 did not still the passions thus excited. At a time of peace 
 between England and France, the colonists of the former 
 nation attacked the allies, nay, the very missionaries of tlu; 
 latter. Sebastian Rasles, the patriarch of a Norridgewock 
 village on the Kennebec, where he dwelt alone amidst his 
 savage converts, became the object of especial jealousy to 
 the government of Massachusetts. An armed expedition 
 failed in making him captive, (1722.) But a renewed 
 assault was more successful, the venerable priest being 
 slain, his chapel sacked, his village destroyed, (1724.) All 
 the tribes of the east entered into the war. The only ally 
 of Massachusetts was Connecticut; the efforts to obtain 
 support from the Mohawks being answered by the advice 
 that Massachusetts should do justice to her foes, (1722.) 
 Peace was made, after a five years' conflict. It was broken 
 more than once in the later French wars, (1744, 1754.) 
 But the Abenakis submitted at last, (1760.) 
 
 The central and southern colonies were for many 
 the ceil- years undisturbed by Indian wars. Treaties with 
 tie and {[^q Fivc Nations — the more easily made and kept 
 
 south. 1 ~ M • n • '11 
 
 as these tribes were contmually at enmity with the 
 French of Canada — protected the frontiers of the colonies 
 of the centre. Those of the south, for some time unassailed, 
 were at length overrun. 
 
 ^,^^ . North Carolina, after frequent aggressions on the 
 
 North part of her settlers, was swept by the Tuscaroras, 
 
 (1711.) The aid of South Carolina, with that of 
 her Lidian alUes, was called in, before peace could be re- 
 
INDIAN WARS. 121 
 
 stored, even for a brief period. Soon breaking out again, in 
 consequence of the continued injuries inflicted upon tha 
 Indians, the war grew so threatening as to require the inter- 
 position of Virginia as well as of South CaroUna. The 
 three colonies together forced the Tuscaroras to fly to their 
 kindred, the Fire Nations of New York, by whom, as was 
 formerly mentioned, they were received as a sixth tribe of 
 the confederacy, (1713.) 
 
 In South South Carolina, some time before involved in strife 
 Carolina, ^^j^ ^.j^g Indian aUies of the Spaniards in Florida, 
 was presently threatened with a more serious war. The 
 tribes of the south, especially the Yamassees, aggrieved by 
 the treatment which they received from the colonists, dashed 
 upon their plantations, and, with revenge and slaughter, 
 pressed northward towards Charleston. So great was the 
 peril, that the governor armed the slaves of the province, 
 besides obtaining a law from the assembly authorizing the 
 conscription of freemen. These means, backed by the re- 
 sources of North Carolina and Virginia, averted the ruin 
 that appeared to be approaching. The Yamassees, driven 
 back with their confederates, were forced to seek refuge in 
 Florida, (1715.) 
 
 ^.^j^ Nearly half a century elapsed before the Indians 
 
 Chero- took up the hatchct in the south. The Cherokees, 
 
 invaded fii'st by the forces of the Caix)linas and Vir- 
 ginia, and then by the royal troops, at that time carrying on 
 the last French war, retorted with sword and fire, (1759-60.) 
 But the English and the colonial soldiery together proved 
 too much for the Cherokees, who were soon reduced to 
 humiliating terms of peace, (1761.) 
 
 ^.^^ Meantime, the western settlements had begun to 
 
 western bear the brunt of Indian warfare. Pennsylvania 
 
 was attacked, just as the final contest with the 
 French began, (1755,) by the Delawares and Shawanoes, 
 11 
 
122 PART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 the former of whom hcod been infamously driven from their 
 land by the Pennsylvanians, or then- proprietors, many 
 years before. Other tribes, joining with these, spread 
 havoc along all the western borders of the colonies, until 
 peace was conquered, (1758.) 
 
 Poutiac's The French war over, (1763,) the same tribes, 
 war. ^yj^ji others of varied name and race, united under 
 the great Ottawa chieftain, Pontiac, in one simultaneous 
 attempt to clear the western country of the English inva- 
 ders. Such an onslaught, occurring at an earlier period, 
 might have driven the English, not only from the west but 
 from the east. But made against them when they had just 
 prevailed against the hosts of France, the attacks of the 
 Indians, though at first successful, were met and decisively 
 subdued, (1764.) ^ 
 ^ _,. Some sad and stransre events, in connection with 
 
 Indians ^ ^ 
 
 in Penn- the war thus closed, must be mentioned, for the sake 
 sy vania. ^^ ^j^^ illustration which they offer of the passions so 
 long dividing the English and the Indians. A number of 
 Pennsylvanians, opposed to their own authorities, and ex- 
 cited with suspicion and hatred against all of Lidian blood, 
 made such demonstrations asrainst the Indian converts of 
 the Moravian missionaries, for some time at work in Penn- 
 sylvania, that the assembly ordered the Indians to be 
 removed to Philadelphia. Hardly was this done, when the 
 settlers of Paxton, a frontier town, put to death a handful of 
 Indians lingering at Conestoga, pursuing and slaying some 
 who, for safety's sake, had been lodged in the Lancaster 
 jail. A force of from five to fifteen hundred borderers then 
 set out on a march against Philadelphia, where they intended 
 to seize the Indians transported thither, if not to make 
 themselves masters of the city and the province altogether. 
 
 * The extreme Avestem tribes remained in arms till 1765. 
 
INDIAN WARS. 12 
 
 Q 
 
 They were not without their sympathizers in Philadelphia ; 
 but those who were prepared to resist them took so deter- 
 mined a course as to avert the dangers of the insurrection. 
 The show of force in the city persuaded the borderers to 
 retire, (1763-64.) 
 
 The tomahawk was not yet buried in the west or 
 ^*j^^ but "1 the south. Year after year some party or some 
 the issue ^j^\yQ q£ Indians broke loose upon the frontiers. But 
 
 decided. t . t i i i i 
 
 the question had long been decided as to the hands 
 into which victory was to fall. The scattered tribes, ill 
 provided with arms or stores, with discipline or skill, had 
 fallen away, from the first, before the concentrated numbers 
 and accumulated resources of the colonists. Whatever indi- 
 vidual bravery could do, whatever the undying independ- 
 ence of any single tribe could achieve, was all in vain, 
 before the resistless advance of the English. Nay, not of 
 the English alone, but of the Indians themselves, allied with 
 the conquerors of their countrymen. But for such as joined 
 the stranger, the conquest would have been slower, although 
 none the less sure. 
 
 Later The Indian wars form by no means a bright chap- 
 
 missions. ^^j, [^ Q^J. ixj^^tory. But, as we found something to 
 light up the early, so we find something to light up the later 
 relations of the Indians and the EngHsh. The missions, 
 begun by the Mayhews and by Ehot, had never been aban- 
 doned in Massachusetts. As time passed, and the native 
 race grew thinner upon its former soil, new stations were 
 taken, to reach the remoter tribes. A mission at Stock- 
 bridge, at first in the charge of John Sergeant, afterwards 
 obtained no less a superintendent than Jonathan Edwards, 
 (1737-50.) A more radiant name is that of David Brain- 
 erd, of Connecticut, who, after laboring between Stockbridge 
 and Albany, turned southwards to Pennsylvania and New 
 Jersey, (1744.) The exertions of a few years so enfeebled 
 
124 PART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 him that he returned to the Connecticut valley only to die, 
 (1747.) His place was taken in Pennsylvania by Mora- 
 vian missionaries, (1748,) whose labors, protracted to a 
 much later period, came to such sad results as have just been 
 described. The missionary would convert the Indians ; the 
 colonist would hunt them to death. Alas, that so little was 
 wrought by the friend and the teacher, in comparison with 
 the vast achievements of the foe and the destroyer ! 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Dutch Wars. 
 _ Returning to trace the fortunes of the Dutch 
 
 War3 
 
 within- settlement of New Netherland, we immediately 
 diaus. ^^^ .^^ j.j^^ .^g English neighbors, at war with the 
 
 Indians, whom we may call Manhattans of the Algon- 
 quin race. Vexed by the traders, oppressed by the officials 
 of the colony, the Manhattans had provocation enough 
 to take up arms at an early period. But the vicinity of 
 their dreaded foes, the Mohawks of the Five Nations, who 
 were disposed to be friends with the Dutch, kept them at 
 peace until peace was impossible. The incursions of the 
 Indians into the Dutch settlements, and the horrid massa- 
 cres inflicted by the Dutch in return, were of the same 
 nature as the hostilities already described, (1640-43.) A 
 temporary truce was instantly broken by a general war, 
 spreading from the main land to the islands, and devas- 
 tating almost the whole of the colony. But for a company 
 of English settlers, just fresh from encounters with the 
 Indians, it would have gone hard with New Netherland. 
 As it was, the exhaustion of the colony was as great as 
 that of its foes, when a treaty terminated the war, (1 643-45.) 
 Thrice, however, within the next twenty years, the Indians 
 rose against the still oppressive Dutchmen, (1655, 1658, 
 1663.) 
 
 The increase of New Netherland was arrrested by 
 11 * (125) 
 
126 ' PART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 these repeated wars. A contemporary document* 
 upon (1644) dwells upon the favorable prospects of 
 Nether- the colouy after the fur trade was thrown open, 
 land. (1 638,) as previously mentioned. " At which time," 
 we are told, " the inhabitants there resident not only spread 
 themselves far and wide, but new colonists came thither 
 from fatherland, and the neighboring English, as well from 
 Virginia as from New England, removed under us." The 
 hopes thus inspired are expressly stated to have been 
 blasted by the Indian wars. 
 
 Had the wars never occurred, the colony would 
 
 Internal , ^ 
 
 rostric- have had no rapid progress. In itself it was divided 
 tions. ^^ what may be called castes. The patroons, for 
 instance, were an order by themselves, not necessarily hos- 
 tile to the authorities or unfriendly to the colonists, yet oft«n 
 proving to be one or both. Then the colony lay at the 
 mercy of the company and its director, whose supremacy 
 was shared by none but a few officials and councillors. 
 The attempts at representation on the part of the more 
 substantial colonists, were of no avail. Boards of twelve, 
 eight, and nine men were successively established, with the 
 director's consent, but without any power to restrain him or 
 to elevate themselves. It was at length resolved by the 
 nine men to draw up , a statement of tlieir grievances to be 
 laid before the government of the mother country. But 
 the member charged with preparing the document, Adrian 
 Van der Donck, was robbed of his papers, thrown into 
 prison, and expelled from the board of the nine men as well 
 as from the director's council, in which he had a seat, (1649.) 
 Liberated from his imprisonment. Van der Donck set sail 
 for Holland, with other representatives of the cause for 
 wliich he had suffered. His exertions there brought about 
 
 * In O'Callaghan's History of New Netherland, Appendix E. 
 
DUTCH WARS. 127 
 
 a provincial order from the States General, by wMch the 
 West India Company was directed to make some conces- 
 sions to the colony, (1650.) Two years elapse, and we 
 find Van der Donck still appealing to the States General for 
 justice, (1652.) The most that he procured was a municipal 
 government for the city (as it was styled) of New Amster- 
 dam, the first city of the United States. It was organized 
 in the following year, (1653,) with sheriff, burgomasters, 
 and judges, but all appointed by the director, Peter Stuy ve- 
 sant, who had carried on for several years a downright war 
 in defence of his prerogatives. In resentment against him 
 personally much of the vigor belonging to the liberal party 
 had been expended. He carried the day, it must be con- 
 fessed, notwithstanding the city charter, notwithstanding 
 also the remonstrances of a convention of eight towns held 
 the same year. 
 ^ ,. . The measure of arbitrary government was not 
 
 Keligious •' ^ 
 
 persecu- yet fuU. At the instance of two clergymen of the 
 Dutch church, a proclamation from the director ap- 
 peared, threatening fines upon all preachers and hearers of 
 unlicensed congregations, (1656.) The first to suffer were 
 Lutherans, who were not merely fined, but imprisoned ; then 
 some Baptists, who were not merely fined, but banished. 
 Soon after, a few Quakers fell into the hands of the per- 
 secutors, one of them being subjected to tortures as horrid 
 as any inflicted in the English colonies, (1657.) A few 
 years afterwards, the remonstrance of a Quaker, John 
 Bowne, who had been transported to Holland as a criminal, 
 brought upon Director Stuy vesant the censure of the com- 
 pany for his oppression, (1662-63.) 
 
 Despite all these drawbacks upon its strength, 
 tion of New Netherland was strong enough, with help from 
 deT ^"^ *^® company, to subdue its neighbor of New Swe- 
 den. That colony, though reenforced at times, con- 
 
128 PAllT II. 1G38-1763. 
 
 tinned in a precarious state, with few settlers and uncertain 
 resources. Protested against by the Dutch as interloping 
 within their territory, it had nevertheless invited Dutch 
 emigrants amongst its own settlers, (1G40.) But the New 
 Netherland authorities were on the alert. Partly in op- 
 position to a Connecticut settlement attempted on the Dela- 
 ware, but chiefly in resistance to the advances of the Swedes, 
 Stuyvesant built his Fort Casimir at the present Newcas- 
 tle, (1651.) A new governor, Pysingh, coming to the 
 Swedish colony, got j^ossession of the fort without difficulty, 
 (1654.) It cost him dear ; for Stuyvesant, with a force of 
 several hundred, principally sent from Holland for the pur- 
 pose, not only recovered Fort Casimir, but conquered Fort 
 Christina and the whole of New Sweden, (1655.) A few 
 Swedes swore allegiance to the Dutch ; the rest went home 
 or emigrated to the English colonies. The Swedish gov- 
 ernment protested against the conquest of its colony ; but 
 it had too much upon its hands in Europe to recover its pos- 
 sessions in America. So New Sweden came to an end ; 
 and the dream of the generous Gustavus Adolphus that he 
 was to found a place of refuge from persecution and from 
 corruption vanished forever. 
 
 New Am- The victorious West India Company hardly knew 
 stci. what to do with its conquest. It found a purchaser, 
 however, in the city of Amsterdam, which became the mis- 
 tress of what had been New Sweden, — portions of our Dela- 
 ware and Pennsylvania, — under the name of New Amstel, 
 (1656.) This was enlarged by a subsequent purchase so 
 as to embrace the Dutch possessions on both banks of the 
 Delaware ; in other words. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and 
 Delaware, (1663.) 
 _ ... But the dominions of the Dutch, whether West 
 
 English ' 
 
 aggres- India Company or Amsterdam city, were passing 
 into other hands. The claims of England to the 
 
DUTCH WARS. - 129 
 
 territory had been asserted, as mentioned in a former chap- 
 ter, from a very early period. They lost nothing, it may be 
 believed, of their force, as colonies multiplied and lands 
 were in continually increasing demand. An old grant from 
 the Council for New England* was made to cover Long 
 Island. Connecticut and Massachusetts pushed on towards 
 the Hudson. On the south, parties from Connecticut and 
 from Maryland threatened the domains upon the Delaware, 
 (1639-63.) Year after year, during a quarter of a century, 
 brought some fresh invasion of the Enghsh, exciting some 
 fresh remonstrance from the Dutch. " Those of Hartford," 
 runs one of the Dutch records, " have not only usurped and 
 taken in the lands of Connecticut, but have also beaten 
 the servants of their high mightinesses the honored com- 
 pany with sticks and plough staves, laming them," (1640.) 
 It is the tone of all the records, querulous and feeble, 
 the wail of a colony never numbering more than ten 
 thousand against its far more numerous neighbors. Nor 
 were its neighbors its only foes. Amongst its own people 
 was a large number of Englishmen, emigmnts from hostile 
 colonies, who naturally became hostile settlers. At one 
 time, some English villages of Long Island proclaimed " the 
 commonwealth of England and his highness the lord pro- 
 tector," (1655.) At another, the towns at the west end of 
 the island proclaimed the English king, (1663.) Finally, 
 the danger was so great that Peter Stuyvesant, the foe of 
 all liberal institutions, called a convention of his province. 
 It appears how far the English had pushed their aggressions 
 on scanning the meagre list of the towns or settlements 
 that were represented. New Amsterdam and Rensselaers- 
 wyck head the roll of twelve. The convention favored peace 
 with the Indians ; as for the English, why, the English hi 
 New Netherland alone were " six to one," (1664.) 
 
 * To the Earl of Stirling, (1635.) 
 
130 PART II. 1G38-1763. 
 
 ^^j.. Long as the dissensions between the English and 
 
 loss of the the Dutch had histed, neither the colonies nor the 
 mother countries had gone to war about them. A 
 war of two years (1G52-54) between the Dutch and the 
 English under Cromwell did not involve their American 
 settlements. When England came under Charles II., 
 another war with Holland was resolved upon, partly fronij, 
 commercial and partly from political motives, the " chief 
 of the latter being the intimate connection at that time 
 between the Dutch and the French. Before war was for- 
 mally declared, New Nelherland was surprised by an Eng- 
 lish fleet. It did not come as a national, but as an individ- 
 ual expedition. Charles II. had made a grant, as has been 
 narrated, of New Netherland to the Duke of York and 
 Albany. It had been the work of a few months only for the 
 duke to buy up other Enghsh claims, and collect commis- 
 sioners and troops to take possession of his new realms. 
 Accompanied by John Winthrop, governor of Connecti- 
 cut, who, though amiable and disinterested in most resj^ects, 
 was full of determination against the Dutch, the commis- 
 sioners, headed by Colonel Nichols, obtained possession of 
 the province without battle. The terms of the surrender 
 promised to the conquered their religion, their law of inherit- 
 ance, and their trade and intercourse with Holland, (1G64.) 
 The transaction, at first ^professedly discountenanced by 
 England, was afterwards sustained by her, and finally sub- 
 mitted to by Holland in the treaty of Breda, (16G7.) 
 
 On the outbreak of fresh hostilities between the 
 
 Kecovery 
 
 nnd final Same countrics, a few years later, (1G72,) New York, 
 as New Amsterdam was now called, received the 
 summons to capitulate to a Dutch squadron, (lG7o.) It did 
 Fo, and was held by the Dutch for upwards of a year, when 
 it was once more, and for the last time, surrendered by them, 
 (1G74.) Thus were the Dutch, and with them the Swedes, 
 brought beneath the English dominion. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Spanish Wars. 
 
 Spanish There Were other races, rivals of the English, 
 race. iggg easily to be reduced than the Dutch or the 
 Swedes. One upon the southern border bore the flag of 
 Spain, rent and dhn indeed, but still the flag of a great 
 nation. 
 
 Its col- Yet the colony of the Spaniards was far from 
 <^°y- being a great one. St. Augustine, eldest of the 
 permanent settlements upon United States soil, was amongst 
 the least active of them all. Half garrison, half mission 
 in its character, it formed a post where a few troops and a 
 few priests kept up the Spanish claim upon Florida. A 
 century after its foundation, it was nearly annihilated by 
 one of the buccaneering expeditions that were wont to 
 ravage the American coast. It rallied, however, especially 
 when a treaty between Spain and England put a stop to 
 the English commissions with which the buccaneers of the 
 time were generally provided, (1670.) 
 „ „. . But there was no e;ood will to speak of between 
 
 Collisions ^ '■ 
 
 with the Spain and England, or amongst their colonies. A 
 ^^ ^^ ' force from Florida was soon marcliing against the 
 newly-organized Carolina, a more flagrant incursion, in 
 Spanish eyes, upon the territory still claimed by Spain, 
 than any of the northern colonies had made. The expe- 
 dition was met and turned back by the resolute Carolinians, 
 
 (1672.) Some years after, another invasion of the Span- 
 
 (131) 
 
132 PATvT II. 1C38-1763. 
 
 iards effected the destruction of a Scotch settlement just 
 made near the Spanish border, (1G86.) These were not 
 wars so much as the chastisements inflicted or attempted 
 by Florida against its English trespassers. 
 j,^^^^ If there was any effect, it was not to dislodge the 
 
 on tho intruders, but rather to stimulate the intruded upon. 
 coony. ]?iQj.j(^g^ ^qqI^ jj fpesii start. St. Augustine awoke 
 
 from its slumber, brushed up its means of offence and 
 defence, and assumed a new attitude. The surrounding 
 country, still in the hands of the Indians, was dotted over 
 with forts and chapels, with soldiers and missionaries. On 
 the other side of the peninsula, u\)on the Gulf of Mexico, 
 Pensacola was reared with fortress and dAvellings, (1696.) 
 It seemed as if Spain was at last to occupy our soil wi^h a 
 colony worthy of bearing her great name. 
 War. Presently war broke out between England with 
 
 Attacks yai'ious allies on one side, and on the other 
 
 on St. ' 
 
 Angus- Spain and France,, (1702.) It was but just heard 
 Chades- ^^ ^^^ Soutli Carolina, when Governor Moore ob- 
 tou- tained the consent of the assembly to an attack upon 
 St. Augustine. With twelve hundred men, half of them 
 Indians, Moore was able to take the town, but not the fort, 
 from which he precipitately retreated on the arrival of 
 some Spanish men-of-war from Havana, (1702.) Poorly 
 as his expedition turned out, Moore, no longer governor, 
 headed a second, composed almost entirely of Indians, with 
 whom he made a foray amongst the missionary villages of 
 Northern Florida without any effective results, (1705.) 
 The next year, a naval attack by both French and Span- 
 iards upon Charleston was beaten off with great loss, three 
 hundred out of eight hundred assailants being killed or 
 captured, (1706.) This was the last event of the war, so 
 far as the colonies were concerned, although peace was not 
 made until seven years later by the treaty of Utrecht, 
 (1713.) 
 
SPANISH WARS. 133 
 
 Treaty of ^liis treaty is of moment in United States his- 
 utrecht. torj. The war, of which it was the conclusion, 
 arose from the attempt of Louis XIV. to seat a prince of 
 his own house upon the Spanish throne ; in other words, to 
 combine Spain and France in one vast kingdom. So 
 menacing was the attempt to Europe, that not England 
 alone, but Holland, Germany, both the Empire and Prus- 
 sia, Portugal and Savoy armed themselves against it. 
 The treaty of Utrecht decided that France and Spain must 
 remain separate. Had they been joined, the English colo- 
 nies upon our shores would have found it difficult to with- 
 stand their united foes. 
 
 Second Five years after, France was on the side of Eng- 
 ^'*'- land in a war with Spain, (1718.) It was caused 
 
 Descents , a \ / 
 
 onFior- principally by the refusal of Spain to fulfil the 
 Ida. Utrecht treaty so far as related to the empire of 
 
 Germany, with which power France and England, and 
 then Holland, all alHed themselves. Afterwards, Spain 
 and the Empire made peace together, while France, Eng- 
 land, and Holland formed a league against them, (1725.) 
 Little was done either in Europe or in America. Pensa- 
 cola was taken and retaken by the French, then m their 
 Louisiana settlements, (1719.) It was soon restored, 
 (1721.) A force of three hundred, } artly Indians, made 
 a sally from Carolina upon the Spanish and Indian villages 
 of Florida, (1725.) But the war was without interest or 
 effect, and peace returned with the treaty of Seville, 
 (1729.) 
 
 Third Then followed the settlement of Georgia, already 
 
 ^'^^- . described as intended to be an outpost agamst the 
 andlior- Spaniards, (1733.) Wliatever they thought of this 
 ^^^' fresh aggression upon their realm, they seem to 
 have said or done nothing for some time ; then General 
 Oglethorpe, the head of the Georgian colony, was sum- 
 12 
 
134 PART 11. 1638-1763. 
 
 « 
 
 moned to evacuate the territory, (17oG.) War being 
 declared by England against Sf)ain, chiefly in consequence 
 of Spanish depredations upon English commerce, Ogle- 
 thorpe received orders to invade Florida, (1739.) He 
 did so, with a force of twelve hundred men from both 
 the Carolinas and Virginia, as well as from his own prov- 
 ince, besides an equal number of Indians. With these, 
 and with trains and ships, he laid siege to St. Augustine ; 
 but being deserted by most of his Indians, and by many 
 of his volunteers, he was obliged to abandon the enterprise, 
 (1740.) A large expedition from England, recnforced, 
 jSrst and last, by upwards of four thousand colonial troops, 
 was equally unsuccessful against the Spanish strongholds 
 in the West Indies, (1740-41.) But the Spaniards them- 
 selves did no better in their invasion of Georgia, from 
 which they were repelled, partly by battle and partly by 
 fraud, Oglethorpe being still there, (1741.) After this, 
 the Spanish war subsided, nor did the French share in the 
 hostilities begin for three years to come, (1744.) Four 
 years later, the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle restored things 
 to their state before the war, (1748.) 
 
 Fourth ^^st as the last colonial war with France was 
 ^^^•. ending, the fourth and last colonial war with Spain 
 of Fioi-- began. This power came into the contest as the 
 Ida, ^iiy Qf France, in America even more than in 
 
 Europe, the object being to prevent the English expelling 
 the French from their American possessions, and then 
 turning against the Spaniards, as was apprehended, and 
 expelling them from theirs. But the French were already 
 driven out; and nothing interfered with a vigorous onset of 
 the English upon the Spaniards. New England and New 
 York contributed to the capture of Havana in the open- 
 ing year of the war, (1762.) The treaty of Paris, begun 
 upon in the same, though not formally completed till the 
 
SPANISH WARS. 135 
 
 following year, restored Havana to Spain. But it gave 
 an immense accession of territory to England and her 
 colonies. AVhat France surrendered will appear hereafter. 
 Spain ceded Florida, once the whole of North America, 
 but now little more than a peninsula of the southern coast, 
 (1763.) A royal proclamation of the same year gave 
 names and boundaries to East and West Florida, the latter 
 province embracing the French cessions east of the Missis- 
 sippi. Twenty years after, the Floridas reverted to Spain, 
 to be again separated from it at a later period. 
 
 To make some amends to Spain for her losses in 
 Louhiana attempting the rescue of France, the latter king- 
 andCaii- ^^^^ cjave up hcF colony of Louisiana. To this 
 
 fornia. "^ » i i • i i 
 
 we shall revert. At nearly the same time that the 
 Spaniards took possession of their acquisition in the east, 
 they extended their settlements in the west by establishing 
 missions at San Diego and Monterey, California, (17G9.) 
 
 But the Spanish wars, so far as our country was 
 
 Oil jn'ictcr 
 
 of the concerned, were over. They had never arisen, ex- 
 Spanish ^^^^^ -j^ ^j-^^ ^^gg ^f ^|^g ^^^^ brief war, from any 
 
 wars. ^ ^ _ ^ _ ^ "^ 
 
 consideration of American interests. Nor had they 
 called forth any development of American energies either 
 in crowded battles or extended campaigns. But they had 
 continued, if we date from the first encounters, for nearly 
 a century. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 French Possessions. 
 
 French TiiE great rival of the English race upon our 
 race. g^j^ reappears. It is time to turn back beyond 
 Spanish, Dutch, and Indian wars, nay, beyond the growth 
 of the English colonies, to trace the progress of the French 
 in America. No other nation, it will be found, not even 
 the English, asserted claims or projected achievements of 
 equal vastness. 
 
 New We left the French the masters of New France 
 
 France. — ^ name of vague extension originally, but subse- 
 quently confined, as will be remembered, to Acadie and 
 Canada. Acadie being itself shorn of its original dimen- 
 sions, the province of Canada remained the chief division 
 of New France. 
 ^ , The French, like the En2;lish colonies, were not 
 
 System ' '^ 
 
 of gov- always under the immediate government of the 
 cmmen . j^^Qj^j^gj, country. An intermediate authority, vested 
 in the Company of New France, prevailed for thirty-five 
 years, (1G27-62.) For twelve years more, a French West 
 India Company was commissioned to administer the aifairs 
 of the colony, (16G3-75.) But with these bodies were 
 associated some officers of royal appointment, so that there 
 was no time when the colony was wholly removed from 
 the oversight of the sovereign. Nor was the season during 
 which the two companies lasted by any means so long or 
 
 so decisive as the periods of the royal government. New 
 
 (136) 
 
FRENCH POSSESSIONS. 137 
 
 France, like Old France, was essentially a monarchy, and 
 a monarchy in which the monarch was growing out of all 
 proportion to the people. Its institutions were of the past. 
 A governor general, representing the monarch, with an 
 intendant for a prime minister, a council of notables for a 
 nobility, and a host of ecclesiastics, with a bishop at their 
 head, (from 1659,) constituted the authorities of the col- 
 ony. The ruling class amongst the people was that of the 
 seigneurs, or lords of the manor ; their tenants, called 
 habitans, holding land of them by feudal tenure. No 
 press was allowed ; no learning of a liberal nature was 
 encouraged. The education of the province was in the 
 hands of the religious orders, whose names and numbers 
 were almost as manifold as in the mother-land. Under 
 these influences, the colony could not but be greatly re- 
 stricted. The main body of the people were necessarily 
 dependent, unable to act for themselves or for their country, 
 the few alone having the will and the power to urge on the 
 work of colonization and of dominion. 
 
 Such were the internal drawbacks upon the prog- 
 within- ress 01 JNew 1< ranee. (Ji those which we may 
 dians and ^^^jj external, the chief were the relations of the 
 
 English. 
 
 French with the Indians and the Einglish. Those 
 with the Indians Avere of two kinds — with the friendly and 
 with the unfriendly tribes. Now it may seem that the 
 amicable intercourse of the French with the large propor- 
 tion of the natives around them must have been entirely 
 conducive to their prosperity. But it did not prove to be 
 so, on account, principally, of the tendency of the French 
 settlers to sink to the level of their Indian allies, rather 
 than to raise these to themselves. The Frenchman, wheth- 
 er missionary or soldier, explorer or trader, appeared to 
 find a fascination in savage life which he could not resist ; 
 and yet it was the vices rather than the virtues of the 
 12* 
 
138 PAET II. 1638-1763. 
 
 Indian character which he admired and imitated. He 
 became indolent, treacherous, morosely cruel, in many in- 
 stances far more of a savage than any Indian. As to the 
 hostile tribes, it is enough, at the present moment, to name 
 the Five Nations, with whom, as will appear hereafter, the 
 French were at war for a century. As to the English, it 
 must be left to the next chapter to set forth the obstacles 
 which they presented to French advancement. It is suffi- 
 cient to observe that these hinderances from without, joined 
 to those from within, formed a bristling barricade over 
 which all the ardor and all the discipline of the French 
 character would find it difficult to mount. The stronger 
 must have been the impulses to have extended the limits of 
 New France so far as we shall now find them. 
 . _,. The boundaries of Acadie stretched from the 
 
 Acadie, 
 
 including northern coasts, through all the east of Maine, as far 
 as the Kennebec, the French asserted ; as far as the 
 Penobscot, the English allowed. With the portions of the 
 province in the north we have no further concern than to 
 observe that they included all now called Nova Scotia, New 
 Brunswick, and Cape Breton, together with indefinite re- 
 gions beyond. Maine was but feebly held by the French. 
 Missions at the* mouth of the Penobscot and on the Kenne- 
 bec, with a post or two for trade, comprised all that could 
 be called settlements. But for the towns and forts of the 
 neighboring parts of Acadie, the east as well as' the west of 
 Maine would have fallen into English hands. 
 
 Passing over the cities and fortresses of Central 
 including Canada, as foreign to our soil, but not without re- 
 ^•^^ membering their importance, let us pursue the 
 Wiscon- Canadian settlements that were made or attempted 
 8in, Mich- ^ actual United States territory. The first to 
 
 igan. i *' 
 
 advance was, as usual, a missionary, Le Moyne, 
 who, with a few associates, labored amongst the Five Na- 
 
FRENCH POSSESSIONS. 139 
 
 tlons, then at peace. A colony was founded in Western 
 New York, but only to be abandoned on account of renewed 
 warfare between the French and Indians, (1656-58.) A 
 few years later, Allouez, another missionary, led the way 
 up the lakes, and founded the mission of St. Esprit, on the 
 southern shore of Superior, in the present Wisconsin, 
 (1666.) Two years after, Dablon and Marquette estab- 
 lished a mission at Sault Ste. Marie, in the present Michi- 
 gan, (1668.) Other missions arose in the adjoining forests 
 and on the contiguous shores. After the missionary came 
 the' trader, and after the trader generally the soldier; so 
 that to tlie mission house there were added dwellings, bar- 
 racks, and, in time, a fort, whose sounding title frequently 
 drowned the peaceful name of the mission. Thus was 
 Canada extended beyond the St. Lawrence and its tributa- 
 ries, beyond all neigliborhood of the English colonies, into 
 the valleys and the wildernesses of the west. 
 „^ ,,. Still more distant realms were reached. Father 
 
 The IMis- 
 
 Bissippi. Marquette, of the Michigan mission, hearing of a 
 great river towards the setting sun, resolved to find 
 and to explore it. Before he started, his brethren, Allouez 
 and Dablon, penetrated into the interior of Wisconsin and 
 Illinois, (1672.) Marquette, with a few companions, found 
 the Mississippi, as he had been directed by the natives, and 
 sailed upon its waters as far down as Arkansas, (1673.) 
 On his return, he established a new mission near the present 
 Chicago in Illinois. 
 
 The tidings from the Mississippi kindled new 
 
 Louisiana. i n , ^ •• r>-|.* rr^i* 
 
 plans 01 trade, new visions oi dominion, io begin 
 upon them, there soon appeared a Frenchman, La Salle, — 
 in youth a Jesuit, in manhood a trader and an adventurer of 
 the highest stamp amongst the colonists of New France. 
 Repairing to the French court, he obtained a commission to 
 complete the discovery of the great western river, in consid- 
 
140 TART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 eration of wliicli tlie monopoly of the fur trade was to be his 
 own, (1677.) He soon engaged in his enterprise; but four 
 years of exertion and of disappointment passed over him, 
 before he descended the Mississippi to its mouth and to the 
 adjacent coasts. It did not matter that the Spaniard De Soto 
 had been the discoverer of the river a century and a half be- 
 fore the French. They hailed themselves possessors of the 
 waters and of the shores, under the name of Louisiana, (1682.) 
 French Thus was Ncw France extended from north to 
 dominion. gQutli, and from east to west. While the Swedes 
 and the Dutch had yielded their hold upon our soil, while 
 the Spaniards had contracted theirs to the single corner of 
 Florida, while the English had only their New England, 
 New York, New Jersey, Marj'land, Virginia, and Carolina, 
 the whole together forming not much more than a broken 
 beach upon the Atlantic, the French dominion stretched 
 from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, over vale, and prairie, and 
 mountain, far round by the western waters, to the Gulf of 
 Mexico. It still needed time, vigor, wisdom, to make this 
 mighty em})ire a reality as well as a name. 
 Colony in ^0 time was lost in sending La Salle, who had 
 Texas. gone to Fraucc to tell his adventurous story, with a 
 colony of two hundred, to make a settlement in Louisiana. 
 Misshig the mouth of the Mississippi, the party were landed 
 on what is now the Texan shore, near the present Mata- 
 gorda, where they built a fort with the name of St. Louis, 
 (1685.) But things went hard with them, and when they 
 were reduced to less than a fifth of their original number. 
 La Salle found it time to seek relief in Canada. On his 
 way thitlici-, with half of his surviving comrades, he was 
 foully murdered by one of them, (1687.) The colony of 
 St. Louis soon vanished from the eartk 
 
 TavcIvo years passed before another trial to colonize 
 Louisiana. A twofold attempt was then made, one by the 
 
FRENCH POSSESSIONS. 141 
 
 . Endish and one by the French. The old grant of 
 
 Colony m ° -^ , <•• i i 
 
 Missis- Carolana having been bought up by one ot the later 
 eippi- -^Q^y Jersey proprietors, Coxe, he sent, under permis- 
 sion of his sovereign, a small squadron to take possession of 
 the Mississippi. One of the vessels, sailing up the river, 
 was met by a band of Frenchmen, who, by assuring the 
 Englishmen that they were in a part of Canada, and not in 
 Louisiana, prevailed upon them to turn about at a bend still 
 called the English Turn — Detour aux Anglais. So the 
 English retired, and the French held their own. They 
 were a pai'ty of two hundred in number, under Lemoine 
 DTberville, a Canadian of greater gallantry than prudence, 
 who, mtent upon mines and treasures rather than upon the 
 substantial resources of a colony, chose the sands of Biloxi, 
 in what is now Mississippi, for the site of his fort, (1699.) 
 The next year, an expedition in search of mines travelled 
 up the river as far as the Falls of St. Anthony, first visited 
 by some of La Salle's companions twenty years before. 
 Colony in The mincs receded ; the sands of Biloxi remained. 
 Alabama. DTbcrviUe, returning from France, whither he went 
 twice m quest of supplies, transferred the main body of the 
 settlers to Mobile, in the present Alabama, (1702.) But 
 DTberville, who, like La Salle, was the life and the soul of 
 his company, died, (1706,) and left the colony in a very 
 precarious condition. " Nothing," says the French chroni- 
 cler, " was more feeble." The truth was, that France was 
 at this time too much occupied in Europe, to say nothing 
 of the north of America, to rear a great colony in the wil- 
 derness of Louisiana. 
 
 Grant to -^t length the province, extending from the mouth 
 crozat. ^f ^j^g Mississippi to Lake Michigan, and from the 
 English Carolina and the Spanish Florida to the New 
 Mexico of Spain, was made over, for the term of fifteen 
 years, to Antoine Crozat, a French merchant prince. He 
 
142 PART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 was to receive a large sum every year from the royal treas- 
 m'y towards the expenses of the colonial government, besides 
 the monopoly of trade to and from the colony. In return, 
 he was to send a certain number of vessels and settlers, 
 year by yeai-, in order to keep up and to increase the colo- 
 nial settlements, (1712.) A faint flush of vigor seemed to 
 overspread the struggling colony. 
 
 Meanwhile the settlements in the north-west had 
 settle- b^cn extended. The missions of Kaskaskia, (about 
 ments. 1G95,) and Cahokia, (about 1700,) in our Illinois, 
 and the settlement of Vincennes, in our Indiana, 
 (about 1705,) had confirmed the occupation of that region. 
 A military post was planted at Detroit, the central point in 
 the great arc no v/ formed by the French possessions, (1701.) 
 Loss of Sut we have reached a period when the French 
 Acadio. possessions were beginning to be contracted. The 
 war in the north, to which we must recur, had ended with 
 the surrender, according to the treaty of Utrecht, of Acadie 
 to England, (1713.) What was thus cut off at the end of 
 the line was more than equal, in point of population and of 
 settlement, to all that had been added to the middle or to 
 the lower end. 
 
 Nor was there any reaction to compensate for the 
 Pennsyi- ^^^^s. Canada, it is true, roused herself, building 
 vaniaaud f^^.j^^ upon Ncw York territory, at Niagara, (172G,) 
 and Crown Point, (1731.) Western Pennsylvania 
 was dotted with fortifications, at the same time that others 
 were raised through the Ohio valley, (1753.) But the 
 most to be gained by these posts was a communication with 
 the valley of the Mississippi and with Louisiana, where 
 there was little to make the communication of any sensible 
 importance. 
 
 Louisiana, soon resigned by Antoine Crozat, had passed 
 under the control of the Company of the West, otherwiso 
 
FRENCH POSSESSIONS. 143 
 
 Mississip- known as the Mississippi Company, (1717.) Dur- 
 ^y.°™g^^'ing the frenzy of its speculations, both the colony 
 Oiieaivs. and the mother country were inflated, merely to 
 collapse with disappointment and disaster. Otherwise, the 
 only office rendered by the company to the colony was the 
 establishment of its capital at New Orleans, (1718-23.) 
 The company soon returned the colony upon the royal 
 hands, (1730.) 
 
 Our narrative ends with the final outbreak of hos- 
 tile tiiir- tilities between the French and the English in 
 teen of AmeHca, (1754.) Forty years had passed since 
 
 the treaty of Utrecht began the rupture of the 
 French possessions; but how much was there still left! 
 Beyond the limits of the United States the domains of the 
 French were far more valuable, within the same limits 
 they were far more extensive, than those of England. 
 Over and above the colonies and posts that have been men- 
 tioned, the first essays were made, at the epoch in question, 
 towards the occupation of our Missouri. Counting by the 
 states of a later period, we have thirteen of French * to 
 match with the thirteen of English parentage. 
 Tastness Enough has been said, however, to explain how 
 and weak- easily the French possessions were extended by ad- 
 
 venture, and yet how slightly they were either held 
 or developed by actual settlement. The French dominion 
 was as weak as it was vast. It spread over America like a 
 cloud brilliant with the morning sunshine ; but, unsubstan- 
 tial as a* cloud, it was swept by the breeze and rent asunder 
 by the storm. 
 
 * Three of each division were the same. The French list comprised 
 Maine, New York, and Pennsylvania, with Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, 
 Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Indiana, Ohio, and Missouri. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 French Wars. 
 
 The earliest wars in which the colonies of 
 with In- France engaged were those with the Indians. 
 dians in ^hey wcrc also the lon2;est. From the time 
 
 the north. *' ° 
 
 when Champlain headed a war party of Algon- 
 quins against the Five Nations of New York, (1609,) this 
 great confederacy was at war with the French, some inter- 
 vals of peace excepted, for more than a century. To 
 describe the descents upon the Canadian settlements, the 
 wild cries and the wilder deeds of battles, the waste and 
 the agony of homes, would be but to repeat our previous 
 sketches of Indian warfare. Not until the treaty of 
 Utrecht restored peace for a time between France and 
 Endand did the Five Nations, then the allies of the 
 English, bury the tomahawk that had so long gleamed 
 above the heads of the French, (1713.) 
 In the Later wars with Indians broke out in the 
 
 south. south. The Natchez were beaten, (1729-30,) but 
 the Chickasaws could not be subdued, (1736-40.) These 
 conflicts, however, were of moment chiefly to Louisiana. 
 They did not affect the destinies of the French possessions 
 generally. 
 
 Strife be- Exccpt tlic brief contest with the Spaniards of 
 tween the Florida, described in the last chapter but one, the 
 
 French ^ 
 
 and the French had no wars to conduct against any Euro- 
 Enghsh. pgrj^j^ Y^QQ besides the English in America. This, 
 
 (144) 
 
FRENCH WARS. 145 
 
 it is true, was. enough for the French to contend with. 
 Enemies for ages past in Europe, these nations turned to 
 America in rivalry and contention. It was to outvie each 
 other, in a great degree, that they made their settlements ; 
 claiming the same lands at the beginning, and extending 
 themselves in the same directions as time went on. The 
 strife between the two great combatants began at an early 
 period, as long ago related, when England, or rather Eng- 
 land's colony of Virginia, destroyed the French settlement 
 of St. Sauveur, (1613.) Continued by England herself, 
 (1628-30,) war produced no effect; her conquests, as was 
 mentioned, being surrendered, (1632.) 
 indeci- ^^^ ^'HTs of the uext half century were not a 
 eive wars, wliit more decisive. One, during the English com- 
 monwealth, (1652-56,) reduced Acadie for a time beneath 
 the sway of England. Another, after the restoration, 
 (1666-67,) brought about nothing except a proposal to 
 the New England colonies that they should conquer Can- 
 ada. Peace restored Acadie, as far as the Penobscot, to 
 France, leaving once more no results from the passion and 
 the hostiUty that had been aroused. 
 _. Acts of violence did not cease on either side. 
 
 King 
 
 William's An English trader on Lake Huron was seized, as 
 ^^^' a trespasser, by the French, (1687.) At the other 
 extremity of New France, the governor of New England, 
 Sir Edmund Andros, made an assault upon the trading 
 post of a Frenchman on the Penobscot, (1688.) Each 
 race was determined to hold, and, if possible, to increase 
 its own. A fresh trial of their strength — the fourth in all, 
 but the first in which the colonies of either nation took an 
 active part — began with the war called King William's 
 by the English colonists, (1689.) As far as concerned 
 England, then under William HI., the chief cause of the 
 war was the support given by Louis XIV. to the lately 
 13 
 
146 PART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 dethroned James II. But Louis had excited in one way 
 or another the greater part of Europe. England was sup- 
 ported by the German Empire, Holland, Spain, and Sa- 
 voy. From Europe the strife extended to Asia, as well as 
 to America. 
 
 The difference between the contendinoj parties in 
 
 Its char- _ ^ '■ 
 
 acterand America soon appeared. On one side was the 
 course. j^Q^j^g^. country rather than the colony, the strength 
 of France rather than the weakness of Canada and Acadie. 
 On the other side was the increasing vigor of New Eng- 
 land and New York, supported at one time by grants from 
 Maryland and Virginia, and thus presenting an array of 
 colonies, rather than a single mother-land. Both sides 
 were alike in the allies gathered from the forest and the 
 prairie ; the Indians of Canada, Acadie, and Maine follow- 
 ing the French, while the English were assisted by the 
 forays of the Five Nations along the Canadian lines. 
 Indeed, the war was more of an Indian than of a Euro- 
 pean one in character. It began with the descents of 
 French and Indian war parties upon Schenectady in New 
 York, Salmon Falls and Casco in New England, (1690.) 
 An expedition from Massachusetts against Acadie, and 
 another, partly from New England and partly from New 
 York, against Canada, were more regular operations, 
 (1690.) The latter scheme was prepared in a convention 
 of delegates from Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, 
 and New York, held in the last-named colony ; and al- 
 though Canada was not invaded, the plans all failing, the 
 colonies were united, at least for a season, by new bonds. 
 The Massachusetts force, under Sir "William Phips, suc- 
 ceeded in ravaging Acadie, and even in seizing the eastern 
 part of Maine, where a fort was presently constructed at 
 Pemaquid, (1692 ;) but this was retaken in a few years 
 by the French under DTberville, (1696,) the same who 
 
FRENCH WARS. 147 
 
 appeared in the south at a later time. Peace being made 
 between the French and the Five Nations, — who were 
 really far more formidable enemies than the English, — 
 while the Abenakis of Maine still swept the frontiers of 
 New England, a general invasion of the northern colonies 
 was planned by tlie French, (1G96-97.) But the appre- 
 hensions of the English were happily relieved by the 
 treaty of Ryswick between the mother countries, (1697.) 
 The war, though lasting eight years, had produced no 
 sensible effect upon the relative strength of the parties 
 eno-ao-ed in it, nor had it decided any of the differences 
 that had led to it, or that would lead to fresh strife in the 
 
 future. 
 
 One of these differences has not yet been brought 
 
 Religious - 
 
 differ- out as it sliould be. Between the French and the 
 ences. Ei^giigij there existed the widest and the deepest 
 gulf that ever opens between man and man or between 
 nation and nation. It was the" chasm between opposmg 
 creeds. Both professed to be Christians ; but the French 
 were Catholic, the English Protestant. To the former the 
 latter were heretics, the rightful objects of human- enmity 
 as of divine. To the English Protestant, on the contrary, 
 the French CathoHc was the minister of a superstition and 
 an oppression as hateful to God as to man. It may be 
 conceived how much these feelings contributed to whet the 
 swords and to blunt the sensibilities of the warriors on 
 either side. Sad, indeed, is the grouping of the two nations 
 upon the American page, staining it with the passions of 
 the old world, the more hateful in the new, because aUied 
 with the savage and the heathen. 
 
 No marvel, then, that warfare was soon renewed. 
 
 Queen n -rt ' ^ r\ 
 
 Anne's Four ycars after the peace ol Kyswick, (^ueen 
 ^^' Anne's war began, on account, as has been related, 
 of the designs of Louis XIV, upon the Spanish crown, 
 
148 PART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 (1702.) In America, the same Indian alliances were 
 formed, the same Indian hostilities were excited, as in the 
 preceding contest, except that the Five Nations did not 
 take up the hatchet against the French until tlie war was 
 two thirds over, (1709.) There were also the same attacks 
 upon the border settlements ; Deerfield (1704) and Haver- 
 hill (1708) being both wasted by the French, while the 
 French territory about the Penobscot was scoured by the 
 English, (1704.) But the war, as a whole, was character- 
 ized by greater and more decisive operations. Two expe- 
 ditions were directed from New England against Port 
 Royal; the first laying waste the adjoining country, (1707,) 
 the second capturing the town ; the very name of which 
 disappeared in that of Annapolis, (1710.) The first per- 
 manent settlement of the French, it was also the first per- 
 manent conquest from them by the English. Two expe- 
 ditions, likewise, were planned by New England, New 
 York, and New Jersey, against Canada; the first being 
 merely planned, (1709,) and the second, though attempted, 
 failino" through the inefficiency of the admiral conducting 
 the English force in aid of the enterprise, (1711.) As in 
 the last war, so in this, the northern colonies of England 
 were arrayed against France rather than her colonies. 
 The English colonies of the centre were inactive ; those 
 of the south were occupied at this period, as must be 
 remembered, with Spanish and Indian hostihties. Twelve 
 years having passed in warfare, peace was made at Utrecht, 
 and France surrendered Acadie to England, (1713.) The 
 war was the first of the five between the two nations to 
 make any change in their American possessions. 
 
 New points of collision were appearing in the 
 
 Collision ^ . . r» i i 
 
 in the west. As early as the begmnmg ot the last war, 
 ^®^*' a treaty with members of the Five Nations was 
 made the basis of an English claim to vast territories, 
 
FRENCH WARS. 149 
 
 (1701.) To explain the claim on any principles is not 
 very easy. It not only made out the Five Nations to be 
 the masters of the west, far beyond their own borders, but 
 also made out the English king to be the master of the 
 Five Nations. A quarter of a century afterwards, a new 
 treaty with the same tribes actually transferred to the 
 English a portion of the country claimed by them, (1726.) 
 Meanwhile the pretensions of the English to the entire 
 interior, from the coast on which their colonies were 
 planted to the Pacific, had never been abandoned. It was 
 their right, they alleged, to possess the western, if they 
 occupied the eastern shores. To aid the English advance 
 towards the west, a trading post had been established at 
 Oswego. It now became a fort, (1727.) But where it 
 stood, and where its range, so to speak, was meant to 
 extend, the French claimed the sovereignty. 
 j^^ ;n There were also difficulties, both old and new, 
 the east, arising in the east. The war between the English 
 and the Abenakis, in which French missions were assailed, 
 and a French missionary was murdered, threatened fresh 
 hostilities, (1724.) The French, on their side, exasperated, 
 perhaps, by the loss of Acadie, were inclined to mfringe 
 upon English rights. Acadie, they argued, was only the 
 peninsula, or what is now called Nova Scotia. But the 
 English replied with reason, that it was not only the penin- 
 sula, but the adjoining mainland, and even the surround- 
 ing islands. Yet to these the French held fast, especially 
 to Cape Breton, where stood their stronghold of Louisburg, 
 by far more important in their eyes, and in those of their 
 adversaries, than any of the inconsiderable posts upon the 
 territory that had been surrendered. 
 
 At length, after a third of a century of nominal 
 
 King o ' ^ -p n J 
 
 George's peace, war was renewed, (1744.) It was cailed 
 King George's by tlie English colonists, from 
 13* 
 
 vrar. 
 
150 PART II. 163S-1763. 
 
 George II. His interposition in favor of Austria and Sar- 
 dinia, then combined against France and Spain with other 
 powers, led to a French declaration of war ; Spain, as may 
 be recollected, being already at war with England. France 
 was now under Louis XV. The French being at peace 
 with the Five, now the Six Nations, and the Indians within 
 the English limits being much diminished in numbers and 
 in spirits, the European races fought their battles more by 
 tliemselves. An expedition, proposed by Massachusetts, 
 and supported by men from Connecticut, New Hampshire, 
 and subsequently Rhode Island, as well as by supplies from 
 New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, all under the 
 command of William Pepperell, of Maine, and all accom- 
 panied by a fleet from England, accomplished the reduction 
 of Louisburg in less than two months, (1745.) A still 
 more extensive campaign was projected for the following 
 year, when New England, New York, New Jersey, Mary- 
 land, and Virginia, with a grant from Pennsylvania, and an 
 armament from England, were to invade Canada ; but the 
 English force did not appear, and rumors of a French 
 descent upon New England broke up the colonial ranks, 
 (1746.) France did little of any kind. Her troops at 
 CroM^n Point made some incursions into Massachusetts 
 and New York, but the meditated invasion of New Eng- 
 land was an utter failure. The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle 
 closed the war, four years after its outbreak, restoring Cape 
 I^reton and Louisburg to France, (1748.) 
 
 Peace was soon broken. An attack upon the 
 sh'ed'iu Frcuch at Chignecto, on the Isthmus of Nova 
 Nova Scotia, caused the first blood to be shed, (1750.) 
 Forts rising in various places betokened additional 
 conflicts. It was evident that the troubles in the east were 
 far from being allayed. 
 
 Nor was the prospect calmer in the west. At the expi- 
 
FRENCH WARS. 151 
 
 The Ohio ration of the last war, a number of individuals, 
 Company, partly Englishmen and partly colonists, associated 
 as the Ohio Company, obtained a grant of half a million 
 of acres on the eastern bank of the Ohio River, (1749.) 
 Virginia, whose governor was interested in the enterprise, 
 took the lead in the treaties with the Indians and the nego- 
 tiations with the French required by the plans of the com- 
 pany. But the French were not to be made friends of on 
 that ground. They attacked an Indian settlement where 
 some Enghsh traders had found refuge, and seized them as 
 prisoners, (1752.) They then assailed the troops of the 
 Ohio Company. A Virginia party, sent to construct a fort 
 at the head of the Ohio, was driven back by a French 
 force, who completed the fortification, and called it Fort 
 Du Quesne, (1753-54.) 
 
 A larger band, already on the march from Vir- 
 file^na g^"^^ *^ ^^^ disputed territory, was soon engaged in 
 Peunsyi- battle with the French upon Pennsylvanian soil. 
 George The first encountcr between detachments from both 
 Washing- gijgg resulted in the defeat of the French ; but 
 the second, between the main bodies at the Great 
 Meadows, ended in the retreat of the Virginians. They had 
 been bravely led, their leader being George Washington. 
 An envoy of peace to the French before he thus appeared 
 as an officer in war, he was the same in character, if not 
 in experience, that he showed himself to be m after years. 
 He was now but twenty-two. 
 
 The final It was the final struggle that had thus begun on 
 struggle. ii^Q shores of Nova Scotia and in the forests of 
 Pennsylvania. The mother countries came into collision 
 in the following year, (1755.) Then the Enghsh fleet took 
 some French transports off Newfoundland, and followed up 
 the attack by scouring the seas. The land forces were 
 equally active. One army, partly of colonial and partly 
 
152 PAUT II. 163S-1763. 
 
 of English troops, marclicd under General Braddock to 
 defeat near Fort Du Qiiesne. Another, exclusively colo- 
 nial, first under General Lyman, and then under Sir Wil- 
 liam Johnson, with Mohawks in the train, routed the 
 French under Baron Dieskau at Lake George, and built 
 Fort William Henry. But they made no attempt at the 
 reduction of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, against which 
 they had originally started on their march. Another colo- 
 nial force under the English General Shirley, setting out 
 to reduce Fort Niagara, ventured no farther than Oswego. 
 The only expedition to succeed was one that even the 
 victors might afterwards wish to have failed. Not content 
 with forcing the French troops to evacuate their forts on 
 the Isthmus of Nova Scotia, which was done by a force 
 from Massachusetts, aided by a few hundred English sol- 
 diers, the conquerors decided to drive the entire population 
 of the territory into exile. Seven thousand miserable 
 creatures, separated from their families, and bereft of their 
 possessions, were thrown upon the charity of the English 
 colonies, where every association, religious and social, 
 national and individual, was against them. Thus opened 
 the war, (1755.) It was formally declared in the spring 
 of the following year, (1756.) 
 
 Like the last of the Spanish wars, which broke 
 
 Extent. . . . 1 , . T 1 . T-i 1 
 
 out m connection with this, the last Jbrench war 
 sprang from American causes, at least to a great degree. 
 Actual hostilities occurred in America near six years 
 sooner than in Europe. But Europe did not sit looking 
 across the seas. She armed herself for her Seven Years' 
 War, as it was styled. Prussia was on the side of England, 
 Austria on that of France. Russia and Sweden took 
 part against Prussia, rather than for England. After 
 Spain came in on the French side, Portugal declared in 
 favor of the English. Germany was the chief scene of 
 
FRENCH WARS. 153 
 
 action in Europe. Asia and Africa also furnished battle 
 grounds. 
 
 American operations were for some time yet 
 
 Losses ^ 
 
 of the more adverse to the Enghsh than those already 
 English. ^jgg^j,-|jg(j^ Niagara, Crown Point, and Du Quesne 
 continued the objects of attack and of defence ; but far 
 from being able to take them, the English were unable to 
 defend their own posts. The fort at Oswego yielded to the 
 Marquis of Montcalm the same year that war was declared, 
 (1756.) The next year, (1757,) Montcalm was the master 
 of Fort William Henry. Thus, after four campaigns, (1754 
 -57,) the English were retiring before the French. Yet 
 the resources of the English had been infinitely greater 
 than those of their foes. Canada, which bore the brunt of 
 war, did not contain more than twenty thousand effective 
 troops ; and even these were in danger of becoming ineffec- 
 tive by their isolation from the mother country, on wliich 
 the French colonists were ever wont to rely. 
 
 It was not surprising, therefore, that the renewed 
 Bubse- exertions of England, and above all of her colonies, 
 quent ^ \)y whicli alouc tAvcuty thousand men were now 
 
 A'ictories. 
 
 raised, should repair the losses of the precedmg 
 years. Louisburg was the first prize, the whole Gulf of 
 St. Lawrence being taken possession of immediately. Fort 
 Frontenac, on the northern shore of Ontario, and Fort Du 
 Quesne were found deserted. Amongst those who marched 
 against the latter fortress, only to see it in ruins, was Wash- 
 ington, then at the head of the Virginian forces. There, 
 where he had fought his first battles, where he had been 
 twice obliged to retreat, once in command and once in 
 Braddock's staff, he now made his last appearance in the 
 war. His strength was reserved for a greater conflict. 
 All these acquisitions of the English were made in one 
 year, (1758.) The next brought the abandonment of 
 
154: TART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and Niagara, and more mo- 
 mentous still, the surrender of Quebec, after the great 
 Montcalm's defeat by the troops whom the greater Wolfe 
 had led to amazing victory, (1759.) The two years, 
 together, decided the war. 
 
 Conciu- -^^^ ^^ continued a year or two to come. An 
 sion of attempt of the French to regain Quebec being 
 repulsed, Montreal soon after capitulated to the 
 English, who were acknowledged conquerors of Canada, 
 (17G0.) All but a few posts in the farther west were 
 surrendered to them within the following year, (1761.) 
 Meanwhile operations, previously commenced, were re- 
 newed against the French West Indies by an armament 
 composed in part of colonial troops ; the islands of the 
 Caribbean group being all captured, (1759-62.) There 
 was no such thing as fighting against reverses like these. 
 After twelve years of actual warfare, the French made 
 peace ; the treaty of Paris ceding to England all east of 
 the Mississippi save two little islands, St. Pierre and 
 Miquelon in the north, and New Orleans in the south ; 
 this last, with all west of the same river, being transferred 
 to Spain, whose part in the war has been previously 
 described, (1763.) 
 
 „j^ The French colonists were loath to give up the 
 
 French territory which their mother country had surren- 
 dered. Such of the western posts as were not 
 not already in possession of the English did not come 
 under their new masters for a year or two, (1765.) In- 
 deed, it was some months after the treaty that a French 
 party under Pierre Laclede established a new settlement 
 at St. Louis, in our Missouri, upon the lands ceded to Spain, 
 (1764.) Several years more passed before the Spaniards 
 installed themsehes in Western Louisiana, (1768.) But 
 the French nation had played its pai't as a power on United 
 
FRENCH WARS. 155 
 
 States territory. Not the less lasting, however, were the 
 influences that had arisen from its possessions and its wars 
 while they endured. 
 
 The issue of the French wars needs little com- 
 and Eng- mcnt after what has gone before. The English, in 
 lishcom- their compact colonies, resembled a man in full 
 
 pared. , ^ 
 
 armor, in contending with whom, the French, scat- 
 tered over their disjointed settlements, were like a knight 
 protected by nothing but fragments of his coat of mail. 
 The Englishman, moreover, stood strong in liimself, strong 
 in his colony even more than in his mother land ; but the 
 Frenchman leaned upon the distant France, with all liis 
 enterprise a dependent colonist, with all his gallantry a 
 submissive subject. So much for the causes and contrasts 
 that were at work in America. If we return to Europe, 
 we shall find France too much engaged in ambition and in 
 battle there to put forth her strength for the defence of 
 colonies as languishing in fact as they were magnificent 
 in form. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Colonial Development. 
 
 The English territory was immensely increased 
 mentof by the successful wars that have been described, 
 eiri ory. -^^^^ ^yerc its limits extended solely at the expense 
 of neighboring domains. Within the boundaries already 
 belonging to the colonies of England, there had been a large 
 accession to the lands formerly occupied. New fields were 
 brought into cultivation ; new towns were formed ; new 
 means of communication were opened between the old habi- 
 tations and the new. 
 
 Of occu- The development of territory arose chiefly from 
 pation. ^i^Q development of occupation. As the numbers 
 and wants of the colonists multiplied with time, they found 
 fresh ways of employing and of enriching themselves. The 
 seaboard was lined with merchants and traders ; the interior 
 was filled with farmers and planters ; while around them 
 all were clustered the artisans and the laborers whose ser- 
 vices were needed to complete the circle of toil. Few men, 
 or even women, in the early period, were without some 
 laborious pursuit ; few, as wealth increased and individuals 
 grew to be above the necessity of labor, laid aside industry 
 altogether. In one light, the entire people is seen exerting 
 itself to improve the soil, to build up the dwelling, to enlarge 
 the limits of commerce, of trade, and of manufacture. How 
 successful these exertions were, appears from the steady 
 
 growth of the colonies in resources and in possessions. 
 
 (156) 
 
COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT. 157 
 
 Of habits The habits of the colonists were long of the sim- 
 ofiife. plest nature. Little space for liberality or for lux- 
 ury could be found in a new land croAvded with its ever- 
 recurring demands for sobriety and for self-denial. Wher- 
 ever men lived, in the httle knot of cottages that was called 
 a town, in the scattered villages of the country, in the iso- 
 lated posts of the frontier, they had a narrow life before 
 them. Afterwards things changed, and in many a spacious 
 enclosure there arose dwellmgs of greater comfort and of 
 greater pretension. As the strict rules of the primitive 
 period were loosened, there was also more frequent and 
 more genial intercourse amongst men and amongst women. 
 Without falhng into extravagance, the wealthy found new 
 objects of expenditure. Without jdelding to idleness, the 
 poorer classes found new means of relaxation. The change 
 was for the better, physically and mentally. It relieved the 
 nerves that had been tightly strung. It enlarged the inter- 
 ests that had been closely confined. If it did away with 
 the primitive simplicity, it also did away with the primitive 
 ruggedness of life. Time was gained for thought, for cul- 
 ture, for expansion. 
 
 Ofeduca- The sources of education had been opened at an 
 tion. ej^piy period. The first laws of Massachusetts pro- 
 vided for the schoolmaster and the school, each township of 
 fifty families being bound to maintain a teacher of reading 
 and writing, while each of a hundred families was called 
 upon to set up a grammar school, (1645-47.) The exam- 
 ple was generally imitated throughout New England. 
 Some of the central colonies were equally on the alert, 
 Pennsylvania, especially, making provision from the first for 
 public schools, (1G85-80.) Maryland was much later in 
 the field, proposing schools long before she established them, 
 and laying them, when established, under the restriction of 
 beuig taught only by members of the church of England, 
 14 
 
158 TART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 (1723.) The southern colonies were rao.^tly behindhand 
 in the matter of education. South Carohna was amongst 
 the earhest to organize public schools, (1721;) but these, 
 hke the schools of almost all the country, were of a very 
 limited design. Private instruction being preferred by the 
 richer colonists, the schools were left to the middle and 
 lower classes, whose interest was not strong enough to sup- 
 port them. 
 
 The patronage of the upper classes turned to the 
 Colleges. ^.QJi^^ggg which began with Harvard, in Massachu- 
 setts. Virginia, after depending upon a Latin school at 
 New Amsterdam, bestirred herself to have a seminary of 
 her own. At the instance of the Bishop of London's com- 
 missary, — the ecclesiastical head of the province, — James 
 Blair, the long-sleeping project of a college was revived. 
 The aid of the king was invoked ; and he granted a charter, 
 with donations in money and lands, to create a corporation, 
 whose chief charge it should be to provide instruction for 
 such as proposed to take orders in the established church. 
 A department was also to be organized for the education of 
 Indians. The royal names of William and Mary, then king 
 and queen, were bestowed upon the rising institution, 
 (1G91.) Connecticut soon had her Yale College, (1700;) 
 New Jersey her College of New Jersey, (1738-46 ;) New 
 York her King's College, (1754;) and Pennsylvania her 
 Academy, (1750,) afterwards the University of Pennsyl- 
 vania. These institutions became the centres of quite an 
 amount of intellectual activity. 
 
 Of the The printing press had long been at work. The 
 
 press. ^j,gj. ^Q i^g gg^ yp ^y^g ^^ Cambridge in Massachu- 
 setts, (1639.) But it was under so much restraint that it 
 can hardly be said to have exerted any general influence. 
 The importation of books was under similar hinderances, 
 certain volumes being absolutely prohibited, (1654.) Not- 
 
COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT. 159 
 
 withstanding, the trade seemed to flourish, there soon being 
 as many as four bookstores in Boston, while Hbraries were 
 gathering on a small scale, (1686.) The first newspaper 
 of the colonies was a diminutive sheet, issued once a week, 
 under the title of the Boston News Letter, (1704.) No other 
 press kept pace with that of Massachusetts. The royal 
 governor of Virginia, Sir William Berkeley, made it a boast 
 that under him " there are no free schools nor printing." 
 *' God keep us," he profanely added, "from both !" (1671.) 
 Not many years after, the owner of a press introduced into 
 the colony was bound over to make no use of it until the 
 royal pleasure could be consulted. The royal pleasure 
 turned out to be, that the press and its proprietor should 
 leave Virginia, (1682-83.) 
 
 Official in- The increasing activity of the press is proved by 
 terfeieiice. nothing more clearly than the continued interfer- 
 ence to which it was subject from the colonial officials. In 
 time, the governors of the royal provinces were regularly 
 instructed to allow no printing without their special license, 
 (1702.) It was -virtually the same in all the colonies. In 
 Pennsylvania, a printer was called to account for one of his 
 pubhcations in such a way as to suggest a retreat to New 
 York, (1692.) Thirty years subsequently, the publisher of 
 the Philadelphia Mercury, the only newspaper out of Bos- 
 ton, was obliged to apologize for an article displeasing to 
 the governor and the council, (1722.) "I'll have no print- 
 ing of your address," says Governor Shute of Massachu- 
 setts to the House of Pepresentatives, on their remonstrating 
 against his proceedings ; " the press is under my control." 
 But he did not succeed in preventing the printing, or even 
 in bringing the printers to trial, (1719.) It was not because 
 the Massachusetts press was free. , Qn the contrary, within 
 a very few years, Benjamin Franklin, then a boy of seven- 
 teen, was admonished by a joint committee of the council 
 
160 TART 11. 1G38-17G3. 
 
 and the house for certain articles of his in his brother 
 James's paper, the New England Courant, James himself 
 being thrown into jail for a month in consequence of having 
 allowed Ben's animadversions upon " religious hypocrisy," 
 (1723.) Cosby, governor of New York, went farther than 
 Shute against the freedom of the press. His council, with 
 whom he was having a violent dispute, took to a newspa- 
 per, the Weekly Journal, of wdiich John Peter Zenger was 
 the publisher. The governor, although he had his organ in 
 the New York Gazette, determined tliat the council should 
 be deprived of theirs, and that Zenger should be punished. 
 After an imprisonment of eight months, Zenger \va3 tried 
 for libel, and escaped condemnation only by the exertions of 
 his counsel, Andrew Hamilton, of Pennsylvania. The little 
 sympathy that there was with Zenger on the score of a free 
 press may be conceived from the fact that, though acquit- 
 ted, he was left to bear the losses of his imprisonment, 
 (1732-33.) 
 
 Editions of It was a striking proof of advancing energies 
 the Bible. ^Yi^^ -^Ij^ Boston press gave in issuing an edition of 
 the Bible, the privilege of printing the English version 
 being a monopoly of the Universities of Oxford and Cam- 
 bridge. The Boston edition bore the imprint of the king's 
 printer in London, (about 1752.) A German Bible had 
 been already printed in German town, Pennsylvania, (1743.) 
 ii.tfiiHc- '-^^^^ intellectual development of the colonies was 
 t'l.u <ie- altogether of a grave cast. To trace it hi action, 
 nuMit: in ^^'^ ^^*G obliged to follow the men of the time into 
 .iction. circumstances where exertion, anxiety, and devour- 
 ing care exclude all lighter aspects. We seldom find the 
 graceful mind or the sportive spirit ; it is all solemn delib- 
 ei-ation, weighty argument, the natural methods of deaHng 
 with subjects so serious and relations so iiiomeiitous ag 
 those in which the colonists were involved. 
 
COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT. 161 
 
 lu litera- Pass from men of action to men of contemplation, 
 *"''^- and the same signs appear. The primitive writings 
 treat of matters of life and death to their authors. "Whether 
 it is the chronicler, like Governor Bradford, of Plymoutli, 
 or the traveller, like John Lederer, m Virginia, each 
 wears, a sober countenance and tells a sober story. If we 
 penetrate into the mazes of witchcraft literature, as much 
 of the early New England writings may be styled, we find 
 that what look to us like the wildest hallucinations then ap- 
 peared the sternest facts. Imagination, it is true, had much 
 to do with them ; but it was imagination excited to that 
 de2:ree in which the unreal seems more true than the real. 
 At a later time, the colonial literature assumed lighter 
 forms. There were writers of travels, of essays, even of 
 poems, to some of which we shall presently advert. But 
 the chief men of letters were still of grave mien ; indeed, 
 there was hardly one out of tlie clerical ranks. The influ- 
 ence of clergymen upon literature as upon life was very 
 sensible for many years beyond the period of which we 
 treat. At the head, perhaps, of the colonial writers, was the 
 theolotrlan and the metaphvsician Jonathan Edwards, a 
 native of Connecticut and a minister of Western Massachu- 
 setts, wliose treatise on the Liberty of the Will reads like a 
 plea for all the gravity of learning as well as for all the 
 severity of dogma then vanishing away. 
 In sci- Science found its earnest votaries. There was 
 
 cuco. Qy^Q^ indeed, whose inquiries were so resolute and so 
 brilliant as to throw lustre over the whole country. Benja- 
 min Franklin, a student and a writer from his early youth, 
 at the same time that he was a hard-working printer, solved 
 the mysteries of the thunder cloud, into which, fre(iuently 
 as it appeared, science had not then actually penetrated, 
 (1752.) Nor were his electrical discoveries the only re- 
 sults of his scientific attainments. A sometime neighbor of 
 14* 
 
162 PART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 Franklin, John Bartram, of Pennsylvania, wliom the great 
 Linna?us called " the first natural botanist in the world," 
 was the creator of a botanic garden near Philadelpliia, and 
 at the same time the explorer of the whole country from 
 Canada to Florida, (1751-66.) His son, WiUiam Bar- 
 tram, continued the work begun by the father, leaving an 
 account of his own journeyings as full of freshness as the 
 forests and the plains which he explored. Another branch 
 of science was nobly cultivated by John Winthrop, a de- 
 scendant of the Massachusetts governor, who occupied the 
 chair of mathematics and natural philosophy at Harvard 
 College. His astronomical observations, continued for many 
 years, (1740-79,) enlarged the sphere of knowledge in 
 Europe as well as in America. 
 
 Art, even in its lower forms, was hardly recog- 
 nized. The dramatic exhibitions, attempted at a 
 late day in Boston, were instantly interrupted by the Puri- 
 tan authorities, (1749.) In the towns and colonies more 
 tolerant of amusement, there was nothing better than a 
 strolling company, which was obliged to wander in turn 
 from Newport to Williamsburg, (1752.) The first dramatic 
 composition of the country was the Prince of Parthia, 
 (1759,) a tragedy by Tliomas Godfrey, a native of Phila- 
 delphia, whose poetic aspirations were much more success- 
 ful than those of his countrymen before him. A few mu- 
 sical instruments, a piece or two of ordinary sculpture, a 
 larger f)roportion of paintings, might be found in the more 
 relined mansions. The first organ for a church encountered 
 so great opposition in Boston that it remained unpacked for 
 several months after its arrival fi-om England, (1713.) 
 Thirty years afterwards, an organ of consideral)le excellence 
 was constructed in Boston itself by I'Mward Bromiield, 
 (1745.) The musical publications of the period, beginning 
 with " The Cantus or Trebles of tweiity-eight Psalms 
 
 5» 
 } 
 
COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT. 163 
 
 under tlie supervision of Rev. John Tufts, of Newbury, 
 (1710,) were chiefly conlined to psahnocly. Portrait paint- 
 ers were making their appearance ; the first two, Watson 
 and Sniybert, being both from Scotland. John Singleton 
 Copley, a native of Boston, and Benjamin West, a native 
 of Springfield, in Pennsylvania, gave better promise of the 
 art that was yet to walk in beauty through the nation. 
 inflnen- ^^'^ intellectual progress of the colonies was 
 cesfrom scusibly affected by influences from abroad. Not 
 merely that the literature, the science and the art of 
 other countries were within the reach of the new people, 
 but that they were actually brought to its door, so to speak, 
 by sojourners from beyond the sea. An English naturalist, 
 Mark Catesby, was a visitor to Virginia and South Caro- 
 lina, (1712-22.) A Swedish man of letters, Peter Kalm, 
 travelled through all the central colonies, (1748-51.) His 
 name still dwells amongst us in the kalmia, a genus of 
 plants embracing our beautiful mountain laurel. A group 
 of clerical visitors came at about the same time. Georsre 
 Berkeley, afterwards Bishop of Cloyne, spent some years 
 (1729-31) at Newport, spreading around him the influences 
 of a cultivated and a devout spirit. He tarried there on 
 the way to the Bermudas, w^here he hoped in vain to found 
 a college for the youth, Indian and English, of America. 
 Georgia was visited by the Wesleys, John and Charles, 
 (1736-37,) then just entering upon their efforts as reform- 
 ers in the English church. George Whitefield, at first the 
 churchman and then the sectary, traversed the whole land 
 from north to south ; his appeals to the people resulting in 
 revivals, as the phrase went, which were repeated until the 
 charm began to lose its power, but not before it had greatly 
 loosened the hold of ancient doctrines, (1738-70.) 
 Liberality Of all the progrcss that we have to notice, no 
 in religion, p^^^^ jg moxd remarkable than the increasing lib- 
 
164 PART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 orallty in religion. It was beginning to be seen that men 
 might be fellow-Christians without being fellow-churchmen 
 or fellow-Puritans. Dissenters found toleration in the 
 church-province of Virginia, (1698.) On the other hand, 
 the Puritan churches made peace with their antagonists. 
 Cotton Mather, preaching at the ordination of a Baptist, 
 expresses " our dislike of every thing which looked like per- 
 secution in the days that have passed over us," (1718.) 
 Churchmen in Massachusetts wero released from Puritan 
 tithes, (1727.) Baptists and Quakers were both released 
 from the same tithes in Massachusetts, (1728,) New Hamp- 
 shire, (1729,) and Connecticut, (1729,) the last colony, 
 however, continuing the restrictions upon separate places of 
 worship. Even the Roman Catholics had their crumb of 
 toleration. On their celebrating mass in Philadelphia, the 
 governor proposed to enforce the penalties of the English, 
 not the Pennsylvanian, law against them ; but the council 
 opposed the proceeding, on the ground that the Roman 
 Catholics were protected in the charter of the colony, 
 (1734.) The air seems to grow freer as we meet with such 
 a record. But it was not yet purified. Charles Carroll, a 
 Roman Catholic of Maryland, found himself so hemmed in 
 by illiberality, that he petitioned the French government 
 for a grant in Louisiana, (1751.) 
 
 Church of The church of England — the moderate church 
 En-land, ^f ^}^q reformation — was the mean, as formerly de- 
 scribed, between the extremes of the Roman and the Prot- 
 estant sides. But, as the Roman church was hardly repre- 
 sented in the colonies, the church of England appeared to 
 occupy, not so much a mean as an extreme position, the 
 opposite to the extreme of Puritanism. It was, therefore, 
 the great foe of Puritanism, just as Puritanism was its own 
 great foe. Both the churchman and the Puritan found it 
 hard to bear and to forbear with each other, the more so as 
 
COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT. 165 
 
 the cliurcli of England increased, and assumed the lead. 
 John Cheekley, preparing to be a church missionary, threw 
 the Puritan clergy of Boston into quite an excitement, by 
 taking upon himself to say that there could be " no Chris- 
 tian minister without episcopal ordination," (1724.) So, 
 when the Massachusetts ministers, headed by Cotton Mather, 
 petitioned the General Court that a synod of their churches 
 might be convened, as in former days, the church clergy 
 appealed to England for the suppression of the proposed 
 assembly, (1725.) It was not merely ill will that these 
 proceedings kindled ; it was apprehension of oppression. 
 Project of Dissenters generally, but with the Puritans still 
 bishops, jj^ ^]^g y^Yi, stood arrayed against a project in which 
 the church of England was deeply interested. As early as 
 the reign of Charles II., a bishop for Virginia had been 
 nominated at the instigation of the prime minister Claren- 
 don, (1672.) It proved merely a nomination. Thirty 
 years passed, when the Society for Propagating the Gospel 
 in Foreign Parts (1701) took up the matter, partly in con- 
 sequence of applications from the churchmen of the colonies, 
 (1703.) It was twelve years more before the society, after 
 petitions to and answers from Queen Anne, undertook " a 
 draught of a bill, proper to be offered to the Parliament, 
 for establishing bishops and bishoprics in America," (1715.) 
 The queen's death interfering with the execution of these 
 projects, they were laid aside, resuined, and then laid aside 
 again until some of the English prelates, members of the 
 society still, espoused the cause so full of interest to them 
 and to their church. Their plan, drawn up by Bishop 
 Butler, of Durham, was not one, it would seem, to provoke 
 opposition. It suggested the limitation of the episcopal 
 power to the clergy in orders, declaring, at the same time, 
 that " no bishops are intended to be settled in places where 
 the government is in the hands of dissenters, as in New 
 
166 PART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 England," &c. Sucli, however, were the difficulties attend- 
 ing the scheme, even in this modified form, that it failed, 
 (1750.) Its advocates, joined or succeeded by others, did 
 not give up the hope of carrying their point at a future 
 time. But the passions of the colonists, as well from politi- 
 cal as from religious causes, ran too high to admit of further 
 provocation. Nor were dissenters only arrayed against the 
 plan of the episcopate. Churchmen were almost equally 
 earnest, on account, chiefly, of the jealousy entertained in 
 relation to the mother country. So that when, at a later 
 time, the Bishop of London's commissary for Virginia 
 called a convention of his clergy, to discuss an address to 
 the king, " upon an American episcopate," certain clergy- 
 men, who protested against the proposal, received the 
 thanks of the House of Burgesses for their course, (1771.) 
 The clergy of Virginia, however, and the Burgesses had 
 long been on poor terms, in consequence of certain acts 
 passed by the latter to the detriment of clerical revenues, 
 indeed, to the violation of clerical rights, (1755-58.) The 
 church of England, it must be confessed, was far from being 
 a church of peace in the colonies. 
 
 Classes: The classcs in the colonies remained the same as 
 the slaves. ]^gj.g^QfQj.g^ But the relations between them were 
 
 varying with their members and their numbers. Amongst 
 the echoes from those distant years we catch the sounds of 
 sympathy for the enslaved. Some German, not English, 
 Quakers of Pemisylvania began by declaring against the 
 whole system of slavery, (1688.) An English Quaker of 
 the same colony was stirred to make the same declaration ; 
 but his remonstrance was mingled with fanaticism and sedi- 
 tion, (1692.) A few years later, Pennsylvania pronounced 
 against the importation of Indian bondmen, (1705.) Mas- 
 sachusetts passed a similar prohibition, (1712.) But when 
 Pennsylvania, or a portion of its people, petitioned for 
 
COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 167 
 
 the general emancipation of the slaves in the province, the 
 assembly rejected the proposal, (1712.) The slaves did 
 not every where sit still while the masters legislated. New 
 York was thrown into terror by a negro plot to fire the 
 city, (1712.) South Carolina was twice threatened by a 
 negro massacre, (1730, 1738.) It was not to be expected, 
 with all the advantages or all the alleviations of slavery in 
 the English colonies, that the system was to escape the 
 dangers and the wrongs to which it had led in every land 
 and in every age of its history. One earnest voice was 
 lifted up against it in the colonies by John Woolman, of 
 New Jersey, a Quaker of singukir refinement as well as 
 singular simplicity, who pubhshed Some Considerations 
 on the Keeping of Negroes, towards the close of the pe- 
 riod, (1753.) Woolman's Journal of his life and his devo- 
 tions should be mentioned as one of the most attractive 
 works in our early literature. 
 
 Colonies: Between colony and colony there were new bands 
 union, ^f* union. Suggestions of combining them in some 
 common organization had appeared from time to time. 
 The first project of the sort, on tlie part of the colonies, 
 was of William Penn's proposal. He urged a congress of 
 twenty members, to be elected by the colonial assemblies, 
 with a president appointed by the king. This body was to 
 keep the peace amongst the colonies, to regulate their com- 
 merce, and to secure their defence, (1697.) A quarter of a 
 century later, Daniel Coxe, of New Jer.-iey, brought forward 
 a plan of much the same nature, (1722.) Thirty years 
 lat#, the deputies of seven colonies — the four of New 
 England, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland — met 
 at Albany on the recommendation of the secretary of state 
 in England, (1754.) The subjects before this assembly 
 were the relations of the colonies with the Indians and with 
 one another, referring chiefly to the war then opening 
 between England and France. It was to promote the mil- 
 
168 TART II. 1G38-17G3. 
 
 itary rather than the civil union of tlie colonies, that Benja- 
 min Franklin, a deputy from Pennsylvania, laid his pro- 
 posals before the convention. He suggested a council of 
 forty-eight, apportioned to the contributions of each colony, 
 who were to conduct the affairs of Avar, and, to a certain 
 extent, the affairs of peace ; the members, chosen for three 
 years, by the colonial assemblies, to elect their own speaker, 
 but to be under a president, or governor general, nominated 
 by the crown. This system suited neither those who favored 
 nor those who opposed the interests of the colonies, the ap- 
 pointing power and the veto, with which the president was 
 armed, being deemed as unfavorable to colonial liberty as 
 the rights of the council were to royal prerogative. It was 
 at the same time that tlie king commanded one of his min- 
 isters, the Earl of Halifax, to prepare a plan of colonial 
 union. Each colony was to elect, by common consent of 
 assembly, council, and governor, a single commissioner to 
 a federal body, by which a revenue was to be raised and 
 the general defence assured. A commander-in-chief was 
 to be placed at the head of the government, which, as we 
 see, was a merely military organization. Union was not 
 to be achieved by a fluctuating succession of projects like 
 these. 
 
 ^ The sympathy existing amongst the colonies ap- 
 
 tions to pears on another record than that of systems or 
 ^°^*°"' assemblies. A great fire, breaking out in Boston, 
 caused immense loss and immense distress, (1760.) What 
 Boston itself could do was promptly done ; its people w^ere 
 not in the habit of giving up, however severe the^-ial. 
 But there came a large sum from New York, another from 
 Pennsylvania, besides one from Nova Scotia, and various 
 subscriptions from England. The colonial contributions to 
 Boston proved that there were bonds, if not yet drawn 
 together, still capable of being tightened, closely and last- 
 ingly, amongst the colonies. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 The Mother Country. 
 
 Views 
 
 As the colonies passed through the struggles of 
 
 views • /» . , ° ^^ — 
 
 Of the intancy into the promises of manhood, they wore a 
 Suntry. ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^he sight of the mother country. Some- 
 thing more than had been anticipated was to be 
 hoped, something more also was to be feared from them. It 
 seemed as if they might be able to contribute largely to the 
 resources of the mother-land ; and yet it seemed as if they 
 might think themselves able to withhold as well as to con- 
 tribute. Strange symptoms of insubordination had appeared. 
 The crown, the parliament, and the officials by which both 
 were represented, had been confronted, here and there, with 
 amazmg boldness. It was high time, so thought the English 
 rulers, to take the colonies m hand, to tighten the reins of 
 government, and to confine them to the course marked out, 
 as it was thought, by the interests of the mother country. 
 Board of Chief of the agencies put in operation was the 
 *^^^«- board of trade, consisting of a president and seven 
 members, entitled the Lords Commissioners for Trade and 
 Plantations, (1696.) To this body were committed the 
 functions hitherto exercised by committees of the privy 
 council, but now magnified into large powers of administra- 
 tion. It was intrusted with the execution of the navigation 
 acts, to which were at this time appended fresh and oppres- 
 sive provisions of colonial Courts of Admiralty. It was also 
 empowered to carry out the new acts by which not merely 
 
 15 (169) 
 
170 PART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 the trade but the admmlstratlon of the colonies was to be 
 brought under stricter control. The royal approval of all 
 colonial governors, and the conformity of all colonial laws 
 to the statutes of Parliament, were amongst the first steps to 
 be taken. The board entered heartily into its mission. It 
 proposed the appointment of a captain general with abso- 
 lute power to levy and to organize an army without refer- 
 ence to any colonial authority, (1697.) It laid a prohibition 
 upon the exportation of colonial woollens, even from one 
 colony to another, (1698.) It actually went so far as to rec- 
 ommend the resumption of the charters that remained to 
 some of the colonies, (1701.) Time and again, a bill was 
 brought into Parhament to declare the charters void ; but, 
 for one reason or another, the design was postponed. The 
 board of trade, approving itself by its zeal, became a sort of 
 ministerial body on being attached to a secretary of state as 
 its chief, (1714.) Its course, however, was not improved. 
 The secretary longest in office (1724-48) — the Duke of 
 Newcastle — supposed New England to be an island. The 
 board of trade acted as if they thought all the colonies a 
 broken cluster off the British coast. 
 
 African About the samc time that the board of trade was 
 Company, organized, the Royal African Company, previously 
 a monopoly, was so enlarged as to allow general participa- 
 tion in its operations. What these were appears from its 
 name. But the name gives no indication of the near con- 
 nection of the company with the American colonies, of 
 their restiveness, and of its oppressiveness. " Give due 
 encouragement," say the royal instructions of Queen Anne 
 to the governor of New York and New Jersey, " to mer- 
 chants, and, in particular, to the Royal African Company," 
 (1702.) " The slave trade," reechoes Parliament, half a 
 century afterwards, in making the trade independent of the 
 African Company, " is very advantageous to Great Britain," 
 
THE MOTHEE COUNTRY. 171 
 
 (1750.) It was, in fact, a cardinal point in the treaties of 
 England with the European powers. The treaty of Utrecht 
 contained a contract on the part of Spain that her colonies 
 should be provided with slaves by Great Britain alone, 
 (1713.) The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was followed by a 
 convention indemnifying Great Britain, to the amount of a 
 hundred thousand pounds, for relinquishing the monopoly 
 of the slave trade with the Spanish colonies, (1750.) The 
 closer was the gripe upon the English colonies. Vainly 
 did Virginia and South Carolina, for instance, lay a prohib- 
 itory duty upon the importation of slaves ; their acts were 
 annulled by the royal command. And by what reasoning, 
 it will be asked, were the advantages of the traffic upheld 
 in the mother country? The answer is simple. In the 
 first place, the profits of the African Company and of the 
 private slave traders were enormous. In the second place— 
 the dependence of the colonists in agriculture, manufacture, 
 and trade, as well as in government, was assured, so long 
 as they were kept to slave labor. This was openly avowed 
 in England ; so that, resist as they would, the colonies were 
 at the mercy of the Royal African Company as long as it 
 endured. 
 
 Colonial ^^^ boards and companies of the mother country 
 govern- found congenial instruments in the governors of the 
 various colonies. All but those whom the colonists 
 were able to elect for themselves, as in Connectilit and 
 Rhode Island, may be said, as a general remark, to have 
 been the main stays of the policy pursued by the Enghsh 
 authorities. A needier, greedier set of men was never sent 
 forth to rule than the spendthrift courtiers, the broken- 
 down officials, and the cringing colonists, who successively 
 appeared in the scramble after colonial spoils. 
 
 An illustration offers itself in the career of Edward 
 Hyde, Lord Cornbury, grandson of the great Earl of Clar- 
 
172 PART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 Cornbury ^'^'^OTi, and cousin to Queen Anne, by whom he was 
 in New appointed governor of New York, (1702.) His 
 arrival was greeted with delight by a faction then 
 suffering from the reaction consequent upon Leisler's cruel 
 fate, ten years before. The party opposed to Leisler and 
 his adherents, now getting the upper hand, voted an enthu- 
 siastic grant to his lordship the governor, and doubled his 
 salary besides. He was not contented ; but, on the vote of 
 a large sum, in the ensuing year, for the fortification of the 
 Narrows, he appropriated it to himself without leave or 
 license. This drove the assembly to insist upon having a 
 treasurer of its own — a demand that was afterwards allowed 
 by the queen, (1705.) Cornbury became more and more 
 odious to those who had w^elcomed him with rapturous 
 obedience. One assembly after another was dissolved for 
 jiot meeting his multiplied requisitions. Two Presbyterian 
 missionaries fi'om England were prosecuted by him on no 
 other charge than their creed, but were triumphantly ac- 
 quitted by the jury, (1707.) His course was much the 
 same in New Jersey, then under the New York governor, 
 where, after violent assaults upon the political and religious 
 privileges of the colony, he was met face to face in the 
 assembly by charges of oppression and corruption, (1707.) 
 Such proceedings as Cornbury's were too wanton to be tol- 
 erated even in England. He was recalled, but without any 
 other nmends besides the recall, for the indignities from 
 which New York and New Jersey had suffered during 
 seven bitter years, (1709.) 
 
 Burnet Somc ycars pass, and the then governor of New 
 and York, Colonel Cosby, complains to the board of 
 in^MaTsa- trade of "the example of the Boston people," 
 chusetts. (^1732.) With his views and with the views of the 
 board there was ample motive for complaint. William 
 Burnet, formerly governor of New York, now of Massa- 
 
THE MOTHER COUNTRY. 173 
 
 chusetts, had made it a point, from his first entrance upon 
 his new government, to obtain a permanent salary, (1728.) 
 The House of Representatives would not hear of such a 
 thing, much preferring their usual mode of a yearly vote. 
 This the governor scorned, and hinted at the loss of the 
 charter in case he was denied his will. A town meeting; 
 of the Bostonians sustained the house with so much effect 
 that Burnet held the next General Court at Salem. Bos- 
 ton is the proper place for our sessions, declared the sturdy 
 representatives. " Then meet in Cambridge the next time,'* 
 rejoined the governor, (1729.) Burnet dying, one of the 
 agents sent to complain of him in England, Jonathan 
 Belcher, was appointed liis successor. But the colonist was 
 soon involved in the same disputes as the Englishman, both, 
 in the present case, obeying instructions rather than follow- 
 ing their own desires. After a two years' controversy. 
 Belcher obtained leave from England to accept a salary for 
 the year, (1731.) Even this was cut off, on his opposing, 
 as he was instructed to do, the further issue of paper money, 
 already a sore subject in Massachusetts. Belcher wrote to 
 the board of trade that a crisis was at hand. The house, 
 on the other side, wrote to request the king to recall the 
 governor's instructions, (1732.) On the king's refusal, the 
 agents of the house made the same request to Parliament. 
 " This is a high insult," replied that body, " uponr his majes- 
 ty's government, and tending to shake off the dependency 
 of the colonies," (1733.) The House of Representatives 
 restored the salaries which it had suspended; but some 
 fresh disputes arising, the removal of Belcher was asked 
 for and obtained, (1740.) 
 
 Clinton's A few years later, and Governor Clinton of New 
 appeal. York, failing to obtain a grant for five years, ap- 
 pealed to the secretary at the head of the board of trade 
 " to make a good example for all America," (1748.) What 
 15* 
 
174 PART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 his idea was, appeared more clearly when he begged that 
 Parliament would impose certain taxes to provide "the 
 civil list,'* (1750.) It was the natural result of the exac- 
 tions and the clamors of the previous half century. But 
 even before the half century began, Clinton's appeal had 
 been anticipated by a scheme of parliamentary taxation, 
 brought forward at the time when the board of trade was 
 entering upon its career, (1696.) 
 
 Meantime Parliament had not left the adminis- 
 
 Parlia- 
 
 nientary tration of tlic colonics entirely in other hands. It 
 interfer- extended the post office of Great Britain to Amer- 
 
 ence. 
 
 ica, (1710.) It regulated the system of naturaliza- 
 tion, until then different in the different colonies, by requir- 
 ing a probation of seven years, and an oath of allegiance, 
 together with the profession of some form of Protestantism, 
 (1740.) It interfered with questions of currency and of 
 banking,* in which, indeed, the colonies had got far beyond 
 their depth, (1740-51.) 
 
 Coramer- -^^l ^hc wliilc, Parliament maintained its author- 
 ciai rule, jty ovcr the colonial trade. Never, in truth, had it 
 gone so far as when it passed what was called the " molasses 
 act,'* laying duties on molasses, sugar, and rum imported 
 from any but the British West India Islands, (1733.) " It 
 is divesting the colonists," said the agent of New York in 
 England, " of their rights as the king's natural born sub- 
 jects and Englishmen, in levying subsidies upon them 
 against their consent." Parliament was also extending its 
 interference with manufactures in the colonies. It crowned 
 its acts on this score by prohibiting the exportation of hats, 
 (1732,) and the erection of mills for slitting or rolling iron, 
 and of furnaces for making steel, (1750.) The commer- 
 
 * It was the way with most of the colonies, beginning Anth South 
 Carolina, (1712,) to issue bills which were loaned to individuals as a 
 borrowed capital. 
 
THE MOTHER COUNTRY. 175 
 
 cial rule, commenced by the navigation acts of a century 
 before, was thus approaching its completion, 
 jyjjijtary Another rule was beginning to appear. The 
 ^^^- wars in which the colonies were involved led to 
 their subordination beneath the military and naval com- 
 manders of the mother country. It was inevitable that 
 the English officers should assume a superiority which 
 would be felt, not merely in the field, but in the town — not 
 merely amongst the soldiers, but amongst the citizens of 
 the colonies. 
 
 Wild work was that which Commodore Knowles 
 
 Impress- i i • 
 
 ment at made in undertakmg to fill up his fleet by the im- 
 Boston. pj,gssment of Bostonians. The people seized his 
 officers who happened to be on shore, and, retaining them 
 as hostages, took such an attitude of fury and of strength, 
 that Governor Shirley withdrew to the Castle in the harbor. 
 Knowles threatened the bombardment of the town. The 
 upper classes, through their representatives in the house, 
 and in a town meeting of their own, abjured all connection 
 with the so-called populace. But they who had risen for 
 the sake of saving their brothers and their neighbors from 
 outrage, though wholly deserted, were not wholly unsuc- 
 cessful. The greater part of the men who had been 
 pressed were surrendered by the commodore, and peace 
 ensued. Yet there was more parade at the return of the 
 governor than at the rescue of the artisans and the sailors 
 of the town from their captivity, (1747.) 
 
 Clouds were "fathering heavy with menace and 
 
 A com- c o V 1 1 T 
 
 mander- with ruin. An order went forth from the board 
 oTthf of trade to the colonial governors, directing them 
 colonies, ^q j.^ige a fund for the general expenses of the 
 colonies, then driving, with the mother country, into the 
 fiercest of the wars with France. At the same time, the 
 mutiny act, providmg for the discipline and the quarters 
 
176 PART II. 1638-1763. 
 
 of the English army, was extended to the colonies, (1754.) 
 The next year (1755) brought over the Earl of Loudoun, 
 governor of Virgmia, and commander-in-chief of the whole 
 thirteen. As the general fund to support his authority did 
 not appear. Parliament addressed the colonial assemblies 
 with the assertion that " the claim of right in an assembly 
 to raise and apply public money by its own act alone is 
 derogatory to the crown and to the rights of the people of 
 Great Britain," (1757.) Both the property and the free- 
 dom of the colonists were thus involved in the establish- 
 ment of a military rule. 
 
 Judicial The signs were dark in all directions. Most of 
 tenure, tjjg colonial judges had long been appointed by the 
 crown, or by its representatives the governors ; but once 
 appointed, they were independent, as they held office dur- 
 ing good behavior. But Chief Justice Pratt, of New 
 York, received a commission to continue only " at the 
 king's pleasure." In vain he remonstrated with the gov- 
 ernor of the province ; in vain the governor supported the 
 remonstrance in an appeal to the board of trade. " Your 
 good behavior," answered the board, " is a pernicious prop- 
 osition." So the secretary at the head of the board main- 
 tained, in instructing the colonial governors to issue no 
 commissions " but during pleasure." All this was stranger 
 and more threatening tlian any previous act of the powers 
 in Enghmd. New York showed its sense of the danger 
 by refusing any salary to the chief justice. He, however, 
 procured from the board of trade a grant, to be paid out 
 of the royal quitrents of the province, (1761-62.) 
 Writs of With all the game now in view, the authorities 
 assist- still stuck to tlicir " acts of trade." Francis Ber- 
 nard, lately governor of New Jersey, and at present 
 of Massachusetts, had but just assured the latter colony of 
 the " blessings from then* subjection to Great Britain," 
 
THE MOTHER COUNTRY. 177 
 
 when they were throT\Ti into alarm by an application of 
 the custom house officials to the Superior Court for writs 
 of assistance, authorizing search after merchandise import- 
 ed in defiance of the acts of trade. The hearing came on 
 before Chief Justice Hutchinson, who was also the lieu- 
 tenant governor. All that legal skill, as well as official 
 influence, could do to obtain the writs, was done ; but the 
 counsel whom the Boston merchants had retained stood out 
 to the last — Oxenbridge Thacher, "soft and cool;" James 
 Otis, " a flame of lire." " Every man," says one who was 
 present, " of an immense crowded audience appeared to 
 me to go away as I did, ready to take up arms against 
 writs of assistance." Of course, the writs were granted, 
 but they were little used, (1761.) The same spirit that 
 had resisted them broke out against the schemes of taxa- 
 tion with which the acts of trade were now connected. 
 " Government," argued James Otis, " must not raise taxes 
 on the property of the people without the consent of them 
 or their deputies." It was not the plea of the politician 
 alone. " I do not say," exclaimed the Boston clergyman 
 Jonathan Mayhew, " our invaluable rights have been struck 
 at; but if they have, they are not wrested from us," 
 (1762.) 
 
 English It was amidst these controversies that the French 
 dominion, ^gj-e conquered, and the English dominion rose to 
 its height in America. In the north, it extended over the 
 three provinces of St. John's, or Newfoundland, Nova 
 Scotia, and Quebec, the new name for Canada. In the 
 centre, it embraced the thirteen colonies, in which had lain 
 the germ of its present growth. In the south, it compre- 
 hended the two provinces of East and West Florida, 
 together with a large portion of the West Indies. So 
 vast an empire overtopped all other dominions in the 
 western world. 
 
178 PArwT II. 1638-1763. 
 
 Effects ^^^ ^^^' ^ i^i^i'k the effects of the victories upon 
 on the the victors. First, upon the colonists. They had 
 
 colonies. i .1 i • - j.' r i o 
 
 passed through agonizing times, when losses or 
 friends and of resources weighed upon almost every house- 
 hold, when alternations of grief and of revenge racked 
 almost every breast. As a community, likewise, each 
 colony had met its trials and its reverses. Notwithstand- 
 ing the reimbursements received from England, the colo- 
 nies were in debt to the amount of more than ten million 
 dollars, one quarter of which stood against Massachusetts 
 alone, at the expiration of the last war with France. 
 Debts, however, were nothing compared to the diminution 
 of the means of paying them, or of gathering new resources. 
 The sacrifices of warfare are not to be measured by any 
 single schedule ; roll after roll must be inscribed with -^ 
 
 losses, and even then the losses of the future, if they can 
 be calculated, remain to be appended. On the other hand, 
 the colonists w^ere not without their compensations. They 
 had rid themselves of an enemy whose neighborhood had 
 been a constant source of peril, both from French and from 
 Indian warfare, for a century and a half, (1613-1763.) 
 They had proved their strength in repeated efforts and 
 repeated successes. Better still, they had proved their 
 union amongst themselves, especially in the final conflict 
 which brought every colony of the thirteen shoulder to 
 shoulder. Best of all, they had proved their patriotism, 
 their love of their own land, hitherto overpowered by the 
 affections that bound them to the other side of the sea, but 
 now rising in solemn strength from out the battles and the 
 agonies by M'hich they had defended their country, and 
 made it the first object of their devotion. 
 u on the ^^xt, to tracc the effects of victory upon the 
 mother mother country. Here we find the marks of sor- | 
 
 *^"^ '■y- i-Q^y and of calamity, but they are lost in the blaze 
 
THE MOTHER COUNTRY. 179 
 
 of glory which seemed to have been kindled. " England," 
 the king is said to have exclaimed, " never signed such a 
 peace before." The king was George III., then in the 
 third year of his reign. The aristocracy, still in power, 
 thought with the king. They were dazzled by their suc- 
 cess. It made them believe that their sway was irresisti- 
 ble, that their colonies were to be ruled, burdened, and 
 crushed as they pleased. Only a few, of keener vision 
 and of truer principle, saw that the conquest of the French 
 colonies, if resulting in the issues to which it seemed to be 
 leading, would entail the loss of the English colonies. 
 
 Tempo- -^"^ ^^^ *^^® moment, the English of England 
 rary and the English of America were one. The exul- 
 ° ^' tation of triumph over a common foe, the assurance 
 of prosperity under a common king, just risen in his youth 
 to the throne, blended with the ties of a common law, a 
 common literature, and a common ancestry. New hopes 
 for both were appearing in the west. The Indian humbled, 
 every race from Europe conquered, the English were the 
 undisputed possessors of the far-stretching, the rich-prom- 
 ising land. 
 
PART III. 
 
 THE INFANT NATION. 
 
 1763-1797. 
 
 16 (181) 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 Provocations. 
 The old troubles between the mother country 
 
 Old trou- •' 
 
 Lies ex- and the colonies remained. They were now ex- 
 tended. To enforce the commercial rule of Great 
 Britain, her fleet upon the American coast was turned into 
 a revenue squadron. To keep up the military rule, the 
 colonies were organized in divisions, with British command- 
 er-in-chief, British officers, and British troops ; in short, a 
 standing army. To maintain the whole system, commercial 
 and military, the authorities of the mother country soon 
 lent themselves to graver measures. 
 
 The great majority of the British people regard- 
 
 T^flf I IPS 
 
 in the ^^ ^hc American colonists as countrymen, who could 
 mother j^qj; suffer without their suffering, or prosper without 
 
 country. 
 
 their prospering. But the majority of the people 
 w^as powerless, or comparatively so. The dominion over 
 the mother country, as well as over her colonies, was with 
 the aristocracy, with men who, whether liberal or not, 
 — according to the phrase, — whether whig or tory, were 
 of almost one and the same mind in regarding the colonists 
 as their subjects. So thought the king, at this time the 
 head of the aristocracy rather than the sovereign of the 
 nation. So thought the Parliament, at this time the repre- 
 sentative assembly of the aristocracy rather than of the 
 nation. So thought the successive ministries, the common 
 
 representatives of the king and of the Parliament, to whom 
 
 (183) 
 
184 ^ PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 attached the credit or the discredit of any general course 
 or of any particular measure that might be adopted in the 
 councils of Great Britain. Thus it was but a portion of 
 the nation — and this the smaller, although the more pow- 
 erful portion — which was prepared to deal rigorously with 
 the colonies. 
 
 So the colonies perceived. If they had thanks 
 
 Views ^ '' 
 
 of the to offer for occasional acts of liberality, they gave 
 them to the nation, knowing that in any liberal 
 measures the nation must be united. But if there were 
 complaints to make, if there were outcries of indignation 
 and agony to utter, the object of them was not the nation. 
 The colonies knew that the nation, as a whole, was on 
 their side, and that it was the king, the Parliament, or the 
 ministry who alone, as a general rule, deserved reproach. 
 Hence the emphasis upon the word ministerial in relation 
 to the system upheld in Britain, and opposed in America. 
 _ _^. The colonies themselves were not a unit. Even 
 
 Parties 
 
 in the the old thirteen, with which we are concerned, pre- 
 sented by no means an unbroken front. The very 
 number of their inhabitants — near two millions (1763) 
 — implied differences and separations. A considerable 
 part consisted of slaves and of servants scattered in vary- 
 ing proportions amongst the various colonies. Of the free- 
 men themselves, a very considerable proportion was more 
 accustomed to subjection than to independence. There 
 were certainly many who were wholly unfit to defend their 
 liberty, many more who were wholly unfit to raise it to a 
 position of security. Happily there was a large and an 
 increasing body of men, women, and children, whose na- 
 tures and whose principles were of a higher stamp. On 
 these the colonies relied as much against the weaknesses 
 that were within, as against the oppressions that were 
 without. The same class was prominent in the pre- 
 
PROVOCATIONS. 185 
 
 ceding period; here, more than ever, is it in the fore- 
 ground. 
 
 The two Thus, then, in the story of the provocations divid- 
 eides. ing the mother country and the colonies, we have 
 not England, not Great Britain, pitted against America, 
 but the rulmg class in the mother country opposed to the 
 better class in the colonies. The distinction is important. 
 Nothing else could explain the amount of blundering on 
 one side, or the amount of wisdom, comparatively speaking, 
 on the other. Nor could any thing else so clearly indicate 
 the difference between the principles at stake — the princi- 
 ples of an old aristocracy on the. one hand, and on the 
 other those of a young commonalty, all fervent with vigor 
 
 and with hope. 
 
 The ministers representing the British side may 
 
 Ministries -r-. i ^ ■»-» , 
 
 of the be noted in this place. The Earl of Bute, prune 
 period, jjjijjig^gj, at the beginning of the period, (1763,) 
 was succeeded by George Grenville in the same year; 
 then by the Marquis of Kockingham, (1765 ;) then by 
 William Pitt, made Earl of Chatham, (1766;) then by the 
 Duke of Grafton, (1768;) and then by Lord North, 
 (1770.) The Rockingham and Chatham ministries alone 
 were comparatively liberal, not even these bemg liberal 
 in the true sense of the term. 
 
 Eno-land was laboring under the increased debts 
 
 Point '-' 
 
 oftaxa- occasioned by the late war with France. It was 
 *'"''• not her part, argued the aristocracy, to bear them 
 alone ; they had been incurred, in a great degree, on ac- 
 count of the colonies, and the colonies should bear their 
 share. The argument proceeded upon a strange forgetful- 
 ness of the fact that the colonies were already bearing 
 their share, and more than their share, of debts and diffi- 
 culties in consequence of the war. Not the less deter- 
 mined to increase the burdens of America, the authorities 
 16* 
 
186 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 in England cast about for the means of accomplishing their 
 purpose. There was but one, and this taxation. Now, 
 taxation of a certain sort was nothing new to the colonies. 
 They had long borne with taxes for the so-called regulation 
 of trade. But the ministry and their supporters, not con- 
 tent with the old taxes, were for raising new ones — taxes 
 for revenue as well as for regulation of trade. Substantial- 
 ly, there was no difference ; taxes were taxes, whether laid 
 upon imports or upon any thing else ; but the colonies 
 were persuaded at the time, and for some time after, that 
 there was a difference, and a vital one. 
 Discus- When, therefore. Parliament voted, in the begin- 
 sion. jjjjjg Qf ^}jg year, (1764,) that it had "a right to 
 tax the colonies," implying in any way whatever, the colo- 
 nies took alarm. The Massachusetts House of Represen- 
 tatives ordered a committee of correspondence with the 
 other colonies. James Otis, in a pamphlet on the Rights 
 of the British Colonies, exclaimed, " that by this [the 
 British] constitution, every man in the dominions is a free 
 man ; that no part of his majesty's dominions can be taxed 
 without their consent." " The book," said Lord Mansfield, 
 chief justice of the King's Bench, " is full of wildness." 
 But it did not satisfy many of the colonists, and wilder 
 still, as the chief justice would have said, became their 
 assertions of independence. It was not long before the 
 right of Parliament to lay any taxes whatsoever was 
 discussed and denied. 
 
 Sugar ^^^^ for the moment, the colonies were willing to 
 
 ^^^' bear with taxation under one name, provided it was 
 
 not levied under another. The ministry, however, adopted 
 the very style which the colonies disliked, and passed an 
 act laying duties upon sugar and other articles of colonial 
 import, with the i2xpressed understanding that " it is just and 
 necessary that a revenue be raised in America for defray- 
 
PROVOCATIONS. 187 
 
 ing the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing the 
 same." In other words, both the commercial and the mih- 
 tary sway over the colonies was to be supported and carried 
 out by a course of taxation. Thus decided George Gren- 
 ville and his party by the sugar act of 1764. It was a 
 momentous decision. 
 
 stamp The earnest remonstrances of the colonies, es- 
 
 ^*- pecially of New York and Rhode Island, produced 
 no effect, except to precipitate measures in England. Ten 
 months after the sugar act, a series of acts far more deci- 
 sive was passed. A stamp act, proposed some time before, 
 was enacted without any other serious opposition than that 
 of English merchants in the American trade. By this act, 
 all business papers and certificates, as well as newspapers, 
 required a stamp, similar to that already used in Great 
 Britain. At the same time, the jurisdiction of the Admi- 
 ralty Court was extended, to the exclusion, therefore, of 
 juries in many cases previously brought before them. 
 Together with these new burdens upon the colonies, an 
 old one was revived in the quartering act, by which 
 quarters and various suppUes were demanded from the 
 colonies for the British troops amongst them. But neither 
 the provisions for the troops nor those for the admiralty 
 had any significance to be compared with the stamp duties, 
 so unwonted and so unbearable, (1765.) 
 Resist- They roused the colonies with a general start, 
 
 ance. a This unconstitutional method of taxation," was 
 the comment of George "Washington, who, for the last six 
 years, had been a burgess of Virginia. " That parliamen- 
 tary procedure," was the subsequent language of Jonathan 
 Mayhew, of Boston, " which threatened us and our pos- 
 terity with perpetual bondage and slavery." Virginia was 
 the first to speak out, as a colony, in resolutions proposed 
 by Patrick Henry. " Those Virginians," responded Oxen- 
 
188 PAUT III. 1763-1797. 
 
 bridge Thaclier, of Massachusetts, the associate of Otis in 
 opposing the writs of assistance, — " those Virginians are 
 men." The response of Massachusetts, as a colony, was 
 the vote of her representatives, on the proposal of James 
 Otis, that the colonies should be invited to send committees 
 of their representatives or burgesses to meet at New York. 
 South Carolina, led by Christopher Gadsden, was the fii^st 
 to appoint a committee to the proposed assembly. 
 
 The first congress of the colonies met on the 
 
 Congress. ^ 
 
 7tli of October, 1765. South Carolina, Massa- 
 chusetts, Khode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and 
 Maryland sent committees of their respective assemblies, 
 according to tlie original plan ; the committees of New 
 York, New Jersey, and Delaware being otherwise appoint- 
 ed. New Hampshire and Georgia, without sending com- 
 mittees, promised to adhere to the decisions of the congress. 
 Virginia and North Carolina were absent and silent, but 
 not from want of sympathy. Timothy Ruggles, of Massa- 
 chusetts, an officer in the late war with France, was chosen 
 president ; amongst the members were James Otis and 
 Christopher Gadsden, the two prime movers in the creation 
 of tlie congress. Otis, like the other Massachusetts mem- 
 bers, came instructed by the House of Representatives " to 
 insist upon an exclusive right in the colony to all acts of 
 taxation." This instruction sounds like the key note of 
 tlie congress. 
 
 Beciaia- ^^^ otlicr doIngs of the body, whether petition 
 tion of iq kinn^ or addresses to Lords and Commons of 
 
 rights ^ . . 
 
 and liijer- Great Britain, sink into comparative insignificance 
 ties. ^j ^|-^g g'^lg ^^ ^ declaration of rights and liberties. 
 Tills document, acknowledging the allegiance due by the 
 colonies to the crown, dwells with peculiar emphasis upon 
 their claim " to all the inherent rights and liberties of 
 natural born subjects within the kingdom of Great Britain." 
 
PROVOCATIONS. 180 
 
 The rights especially demanded by the colonies are those 
 of taxation by their own assemblies, and of trial by their 
 own jm-ies ; the two, as will be remembered, assailed by 
 the stamp act. The injustice and impoUcy of the recent 
 proceedings in the mother country are pointed out, with an 
 earnest demand that all the obnoxious statutes should be at 
 once repealed. The importance of the declaration must be 
 evident. Preferring no claim to independence, it preferred 
 claims to privileges which, in the existing relations between 
 the colonies and the mother country, could not be secured 
 without independence. The Declaration of Rights, dated 
 the 19th of October, 1765, foretells the birth of the new 
 nation as near at hand.* 
 
 * With the exception of a few lines in the preamble, here follows in 
 full the 
 
 DECLARATION OF RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES. 
 
 The members of this congress esteem it our indispensable duty to make 
 the folloA\-ing declaration of our humble opinion respecting the most 
 essential rights and liberties of the colonists, and of the grievances under 
 which they labor by reason of several late acts of Parliament. 
 
 I. That his majesty's subjects in these colonies owe the same alle- 
 giance to the CYOwa of Great Britain that is owing from his subjects born 
 within the realm, and all due subordination to that august body, tlie 
 Parliament of Great Britain. 
 
 II. That his majesty's liege subjects in these colonies are entitled to 
 all the inherent rights and liberties of his natural born subjects within 
 the kingdom of Great Britain. 
 
 III. That it is inseparably essential to the freedom of a people, and 
 the undoubted right of Englishmen, that no taxes be imposed on them 
 but with their own consent, given personally or by their representatives. 
 
 IV. That the people of these colonies are not, and, from their, local 
 circumstances, cannot be represented in the House of Commons in -Great 
 Britain. 
 
 V. That the only representatives of the people of these colonies are 
 persons chosen therein by themselves, and that no taxes ever have -been 
 or can be constitutionally imposed on them but by. their respective legis- 
 latures. 
 
 VI. That all supplies to the crown being free gifts of the people, it is 
 
190 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 Effect. ^^^ declaration was not made by every colony. 
 
 But though signed by the representatives of only 
 six colonies,* it was virtually the act of all but two, Vir- 
 ginia and North Carohna ; and as such, it went forth to 
 convince the mother country, nay, the colonies themselves, 
 
 unreasonable and inconsistent wath the principles and spirit of the British 
 constitution for the people of Great Britain to grant to his majesty the 
 property of the colonists. 
 
 VII. That trial by jury is the inherent and invaluable right of every 
 British subject in these colonies. 
 
 VIII. That the late act of Parliament entitled " An act for granting 
 and applying certain stamp duties and other duties in the British colonies 
 and plantations in America," &c., by imposing taxes on the inhabitants 
 of these colonies, and the said act, and several other acts, by extending 
 the jurisdiction of the Courts of Admiralty beyond its ancient limits, have 
 a manifest tendency to subvert the rights and liberties of the colonists. 
 
 IX. That the duties imposed by several late acts of Parliament, from 
 the peculiar circumstances of these colonies, will be extremely burden- 
 some and grievous, and, from the scarcity of specie, the payanent of them 
 absolutely impracticable. 
 
 X. That as the profits of the trade of these colonies ultimately centre 
 in Great Britain, to pay for the manufactures which they are obliged to 
 take from thence, they eventually contribute very largely to all supplies 
 granted there to the crown. 
 
 XI. That the restrictions imposed by several late acts of Parliament 
 on the trade of these colonies will render them unable to purchase the 
 manufactures of Great Britain. 
 
 XII. That the increase, prosperity, and happiness of these colonies 
 depend on the full and free enjoyments of their rights and liberties, and an 
 intercourse with Great Britain mutually affectionate and advantageous. 
 
 XIII. That it is the right of the British subjects in these colonies to 
 petition the king or either House of Parliament. 
 
 Lastly. That it is the indispensable duty of these colonies, to the best 
 of sovereigns, to the mother country, and to themselves, to endeavor by a 
 loyal and dutiful address to his majesty, and humble applications to both 
 Houses of Parliament, to procure the repeal of the act for granting and 
 applying certain stamp duties, of all clauses of any other acts of Parlia- 
 ment whereby the jurisdiction of the admiralty is extended as aforesaid, 
 and of the other late acts for the restriction of American commerce. 
 
 * Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, 
 and Delaware. 
 
PRO VOCATIONS 191 
 
 that they were no longer separate settlements, but a single 
 country. So bold was the whole course of the congress, so 
 starthng the effect, m English eyes, that the Lord Chancel- 
 lor Northington exclaimed, " I declare as a lawyer, they 
 have forfeited all their charters.'* It was all done in a 
 thi'ee weeks' session. 
 
 Thus far the colonies appear to have met their 
 provocations with all the composure of men who 
 knew the right to be upon their side. But it was not 
 always so. When one of the New Jersey representatives, 
 who had dechned signing the acts of the congress, returned 
 home, he was hanged and burned in ei^gj by his constituents. 
 The mob spirit had shown itself, months before, in Boston 
 and in Providence, where effigies were paraded and houses 
 sacked amidst violence the most abhorrent to all the better 
 class of the townspeople. When the stamp act went into 
 operation, just after the close of the congress, a great riot 
 broke out in New York, although there, as elsewhere, not a 
 stamp officer remamed to execute the provisions of the act. 
 It is wiser to pass by such things with regret than to pause 
 over their details as if they were the deeds of heroes. 
 They sprang from strong feehngs, we must allow, but not 
 from strong principles ; and so far from aiding the colonies 
 in obtaining justice, did more than any thing besides to in- 
 crease the oppressiveness of the mother country. Bitterly, 
 therefore, were they deplored by men like those who met 
 in the congress or approved its acts of magnanimity. But 
 such is ever the effect of oppression. It overturns the 
 reason of the feeble ; it overthrows the influence of the 
 strong. 
 
 Non-im- ^^^ Outbreak , in New York led to one result of 
 portation valuc. An agreement to suspend importations from 
 consumi)- Glreat Britain was fortified by the resolution to en- 
 tion. courage manufactures at home, even by such means 
 
192 PART III. 17G3-1797. 
 
 as eating no lamb or mutton, so that there might be wool 
 enough for the country. All this being communicated by a 
 committee of correspondence to the other colonies, there 
 ensued a general, though not a universal, abstinence from 
 British goods. Non-importation and non-consumption be- 
 came the watchwords of the colonies ; and though broken 
 again and again, they were again and again- renewed during 
 the ensuing years. The great change that resulted in the 
 outward looks of society harmonized with the transforma- 
 tion of feelings which was going on every where. 
 ^ Meanwhile the want of stamp officers, and the 
 
 of stamp indisposition of the colonial authorities to enforce 
 ^ ■ the stamp act by themselves, had left it in a lifeless 
 condition. Demands that it should be put out of existence 
 altogether came, not from the colonies alone, but from a 
 large number of merchants in England. Pitt and Burke, 
 the greatest of English statesmen at the time, took up the 
 opposition ; and as the act had but augmented the expendi- 
 tures of the kingdom without increasing its revenues,* the 
 ministry, then professing to be a liberal one, listened to the 
 general clamor for repeal. Amidst the throngs of trades- 
 men and merchants, politicians and statesmen, discussmg 
 the question, we see the colonial agents all alive to the 
 interests with which they were charged. Foremost stood 
 Benjamin Franklin, for several years t the agent of Penn- 
 sylvania, and now called before the House of Commons, 
 where he assured his questioners that the colonies would 
 never submit to the stamp act, nor to any similar statute, 
 however much they might yield upon the point of duties 
 to regulate commerce. The repeal was carried, accom- 
 
 * It had cost the treasury £12,000, of which but little more than a 
 twelfth part was returned from duties levied in Newfoundland, Nova 
 Scotia, Quebec, Florida, and the West Indies. 
 
 t Since 17C7, but with an interval. 
 
PROYOCATIONS. 193 
 
 panied, however, by a declaratory act, "for tlie better 
 securing the dependency of his majesty's dominions in 
 America upon the crown and Parliament of Great Britain 
 in all cases whatsoever." This was the answer of England 
 to the congress of America ; the stamp act was laid aside ; 
 but the power of taxation was more tightly grasped than 
 ever. 
 
 American It was now the Spring of 1766. And never had 
 rejoicings, ^jj^^j. ggason been so full of bloom as in the gladness 
 which it now brought to the colonies. The fact that their 
 rejoicings over the repeal of the stamp act were unmingled 
 with any apparent misgivings as to the purpose of the de- 
 claratory act, shows the warmth of their attachment to the 
 mother country. Statues to Pitt and to the kmg, with in- 
 demnities tx> those who had suiFered from the riots of the pre- 
 ceding year, were voted amidst a turbulence of congratula- 
 tion such as no event had ever occasioned in America. 
 
 Forebodings returned with the following year. 
 The Parliament of 1767 created a board of revenue 
 commissioners for America; passed a tea act, by which 
 duties were imposed upon tea and other imports into the 
 colonies, for the purpose not only of providing for troops as 
 before, but of securing fixed salaries for the royal governors 
 and the royal judges ; then pronounced the New York 
 assembly incapable of legislation until the quartering act 
 of 1765 was obeyed by that body, hitherto resisting its exe- 
 cution. Here were three measures more comprehensive 
 and more oppressive than any parliamentary legislation had 
 as yet been. 
 
 Resist- They were met as might have been expected. 
 
 ance " Let US complain to our parent," wrote John Dick- 
 °' ' inson, a native of Maryland, and a representative of 
 Pennsylvania, in his Letters from a Farmer, " but let our 
 complaints speak at the same time the language of affliction 
 17 
 
194 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 and veneration,'* (1767.) The beginning of the next year 
 (1768) brought out the sterner voice of Massachusetts 
 through her representatives, inveighing against all the enact- 
 ments of Parliament, and calling upon the colonies to join 
 in one firm front of resistance. This measure the next 
 house was called upon to rescind, and by no less an author- 
 ity than that of the ministry ; but in vain. The same spirit 
 showed itself in all classes. The students of Harvard Col- 
 lege declared the proceedings of their tutors unconstitu- 
 tional, and called a tree by the name of Liberty. The 
 Boston Cadets — a volunteer guard of the governor — re- 
 fused to appear if the revenue commissioners, who had their 
 head quarters at Boston, were invited to join a procession. 
 The commissioners were soon flying from a riot occasioned 
 by the seizure of John Hancock's sloop for a fraudulent 
 entry at the custom house. Such was the prevailing con- 
 fusion, that British troops were ordered to the town, (1768.) 
 This was too much for Boston. A town meeting 
 chusetts called upon the governor to convene the General 
 conven- (Jourt. On liis refusal, the meetinci; advised the 
 
 tion. , ° 
 
 people to get their arms ready, on account, it was 
 said, " of an approaching war with France ; " then summoned 
 a convention from all Massachusetts. This gathered, and 
 again requested the governor to summon the legislature. 
 He again refused, and hinted at treason in the convention, 
 with reason, indeed, considering the entire novelty of such 
 a body to him and to the colony. The convention, not very 
 full of fire, deprecated the displeasure of the governor, and 
 addressed a petition to the king. Just as the convention 
 was separating, the troops arrived, but without finding the 
 quarters that were demanded for them from Boston, sturdier 
 as a town than Massachusetts as a colony. " O my coun- 
 trymen ! " exclaimed Josiah Quincy, Jr., one of the truest- 
 hearted young men of Boston ; " what will our children say 
 
 Hi 
 
PROVOCATIONS. 195 
 
 when they read the history of these times, should they find 
 we tamely gave away, without one noble struggle, the most 
 invaluable of earthly blessings ? " This was no appeal to 
 violence. "To banish folly and luxury," continued the 
 Christian patriot, "correct vice and immorality, and stand 
 immovable in the freedom in which we are free indeed, is 
 eminently the duty of each individual at this day," (1768.) 
 
 The new year (1769) began with a new provoca- 
 cernino- tion, in the shape of an act directing that all cases 
 trials in ^f treason, whether occurrinor in the colonies or not, 
 
 England. ' '=' m, • 
 
 should be tried in the mother country. This was 
 worse than any taxation, worse than any extension of ad- 
 miralty courts, any demand for quarters, any creation of 
 revenue commissioners, any suspension of assemblies; it 
 struck a blow at the safety of the person as well as the free- 
 dom of the subject. The planter at Mount Vernon, hitherto 
 calm, exclaims with indignation that " our lordly masters in 
 Great Britain will be satisfied with nothing less than the 
 deprivation of American freedom." " That no man," he 
 writes, " should scruple or hesitate a moment to use arms in 
 defence of so valuable a blessing, is clearly my opinion. 
 Yet arms, I would beg leave to add, should be the last re- 
 source." The Virginia assembly, of which Wasliington 
 was still a member, passed resolutions of kindred spirit. 
 Massachusetts was more than ready to follow. The Suffolk 
 grand jury indicted the governor of Massachusetts, the 
 commander-in-chief of the colonies in general, with the rev- 
 enue commissioners and officers of the customs, for libelling 
 the province to the ministry. Joseph Hawley, representa- 
 tive from Northampton, declared in the house that he knew 
 not " how Parliament could have acquired a right of legis- 
 lation over the colonies." Thus for every fresh provoca- 
 tion was there a fresh resistance, denying more and more 
 of the power that was more and more oppressive. 
 
196 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 Colonial The Ncw York assembly now made its submis- 
 divisions. gjQjj ^^ ^j^g quartering act. In doing so it gave 
 great offence to many of the people, one of whom was 
 thrown into prison for his violent denunciation of the assem- 
 bly. Neither he nor the assembly showed much wisdom in 
 thus contending at a time when union was so much required. 
 But there were parties amongst the colonists, just as there 
 had been, indeed, from the beginning, but now more distinctly 
 marked and more widely separated. No less than five 
 divisions existed, the central and the most substantial being 
 that of the class already mentioned as chief in the colonies. 
 This was flanked, on one side, by two orders more or less 
 inclined to submit to the mother country, and on the other 
 side by two orders more or less inclined to defy the mother 
 country. To begin with the royalists, their name explain- 
 ing itself; then came the neutrals, as they may be styled, 
 neither precisely royalist nor precisely colonist; next the 
 colonists proper, in their close and resolute ranks — the men 
 on whom the issue depended more than on any others ; and 
 after them the more excited parties, first of the Sons of Lib- 
 erty, as they called themselves,* and second of the rioters. 
 Thus, with royalists and neutrals on one wing, and with 
 Sons of Liberty and rioters on the other, the main body of 
 the colonists had but a weary and an anxious march. 
 Boston The difficulties of the case were nowhere more 
 
 massacre, apparent than in Boston. A constant tendency to 
 riot on the pai-t of a portion of the townspeople required as 
 much energy on the part of the better class as any provoca- 
 tions from abroad against which they were contending. 
 AVliile the wiser Bostonians were endeavoring to procure 
 
 * From the words of Barre's famous speech of 1765. Many of the 
 original Sons of Liberty were of the class described as the better one of 
 the time ; but, at the present period, the order was made up of the more 
 turbulent spirits, yet not the most turbulent of all. 
 
PROVOCATIONS. 197 
 
 the withdrawal of the troops quartered amongst them, a 
 jmrty of men and boys involved themselves in a quarrel 
 with the soldiers, the end of which was blood. This Boston 
 Massacre, as it was called, did but add to the burden of the 
 moderate and the effective citizens. The soldiers who had 
 fired upon the people required to be defended upon a charge 
 of murder ; the authorities in England required to be con- 
 vinced that the violence of the populace was as much de- 
 plored as the musketry of the soldiery. It marks the 
 increasing passions of the times, that the two advocates 
 retained by the English officer in command on the night of 
 the affray, though they were no less tried patriots than 
 John Adams and Josiah Quincy, Jr., should have fallen 
 under censure for undertaking the defence. Happily for 
 the fame of Boston, they secured the safety of the accused, 
 only two out of nine being brought in guilty, and those of 
 manslaughter alone, for which they were branded in the 
 hand and then discharged, (1770.) 
 _ ^, Boston was not alone in these disturbances. North 
 
 other 
 
 disturb- Carolina saw a large portion of her interior settlers 
 banded together as Regulators * against the colonial 
 government ; nor were they brought to reason without a 
 battle, in which they were defeated by a volunteer force 
 from the orderly portion of the colony, (1771.) In the 
 north, again, the burning of storehouses at Portsmouth, and 
 the destruction of the revenue schooner Gaspe in Narra- 
 ganset Bay, kept up the flames of rashness and of outrage, 
 (1772.) The Gaspe, or its officers, however, had done all 
 that was possible to provoke its doom. 
 
 The mother country had been pursuing a comparatively 
 gentle course. The repeal of the duty upon many arti- 
 
 * A name first applied in South Carolina to a party undertaking to 
 execute the laws for themselves j in modern phrase, Lynch-law men. 
 
 17*- 
 
198 PART III. 17G3-1797. 
 
 cles imported into the colonies showed a disposition 
 aiact con-*^ Conciliate, (1770.) Two years passed before any 
 cerning ^ct appeared in relation to the colonies ; nor could 
 
 that then enacted be called a provocation. In con- 
 sequence of the occurrence at Portsmouth, a bill passed 
 Parliament to secure the trial in England of any incendia- 
 ries of the royal stores or ships in America, (1772.) It did 
 not please the colonists, not even the great party of modera- 
 tion, to think that they had brought this sentence upon 
 themselves. The truth was, that the less moderate the 
 course of things, the fewer moderate men there were to 
 bring things back to moderation. What was done only by 
 the violent was upheld in many instances by the jDrudent ; a 
 common sympathy was fast fusing all parties. So Boston 
 now held its town meeting, and put forth its memorial not 
 only against the acts of which it had to complain, but 
 against those which it seemed to have to apprehend. 
 „ ^ The next year showed how fast the colonies were 
 
 Tea de- •' 
 
 stroyed in driving ou. It began with resolutions from Vir- 
 gmia, where a committee was appomted to corre- 
 spond with the other colonies. To the closer union thus pro- 
 posed, Rhode Island was the first to adhere, but without 
 immediate results. Yet, as the year advanced, the colo- 
 nists found themselves the better prepared to combine in 
 resistance to the introduction of large quantities of tea, still 
 subject to duty. It was the plan partly of the East India 
 Company and partly of the ministry ; the former hoping to 
 dispose of their swollen stock, the latter to obtain some of 
 the taxes that appeared to have been levied in vain upon 
 the colonies. Philadelphia was the first to take the field by 
 town meeting against tea and taxation. Boston soon fol- 
 lowed ; and when the proceedings of town meetings, both 
 ordinary and extraordinary, came to nought, as the governor 
 Stood fast for the East India Company and the ministry, 
 
PROVOCATIONS. 199 
 
 the three vessels that had come in with tea were boarded, 
 and their cargoes thrown into the dock. It was a sad event 
 for many even of the more resolute citizens ; but the ma- 
 jority, under the lead of Samuel Adams, was now composed 
 of the rash as well as the resolute ; a party from the country 
 having been most active in the destruction of the tea, (De- 
 cember, 1773.) A few weeks later, a smaller quantity of 
 tea, imported to private order, was also destroyed at Boston, 
 (February, 1774.) 
 
 And else- The samc thing happened at New York and An- 
 where. napolis. But the larger portion of the tea received 
 at New York, and all received at Philadelphia, was swiftly 
 returned to England. This returning the tea, or the stor- 
 ing it where it would soon lose its virtue, as in Charleston, 
 was a far wiser course than destroying it. The process of 
 destruction was also the less bold. It was effected by men 
 disguised, or else so maddened as to scorn disguise. 
 Slave It has already appeared how small a part of the 
 
 trade. provocatious to the colonies consisted in mere meas- 
 ures of taxation. A signal instance of the comprehensive 
 inflictions from the mother country came up in the midst of 
 the transactions lately occurred. The repugnance of the 
 colonies to the slave trade, reviving in these times of strug- 
 gle, brought out renewed expressions of opposition and 
 abhorrence. Virginia attempted by her assembly to lay 
 restrictions on the traffic ; but the royal governor was at 
 once directed by the authorities at home to consent to no 
 laws affecting the interests of the slave dealers, (1770.) 
 The efforts of other colonies met with similar obstacles. 
 Bills of assemblies, petitions to the king, called forth by 
 the startling development of the trade,* were aUke ineffect- 
 
 * In less than nine months, 6431 slaves were imported into the single 
 colony of South Carolina, from Africa and the "West Indies. 
 
200 * PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 ual. "It is the opinion of this meeting," — thus ran the re- 
 solves of the county of Fairfax, George Washington chair- 
 man, — " that during our present ditficulties and distress, no 
 slaves ought to be imported into any of the British colonies 
 on this continent ; and we take this opportunity of declaring 
 our most earnest wishes to see an entire stop forever put to 
 such a wicked, cruel, and unnatural trade," (1774.) 
 
 Provocations were gathering heavily and rapidly. 
 ment of Massachusetts and Boston, foremost m the tea trou- 
 Massa- i^jgg c^riA qqqh after, in the disturbances occasioned 
 
 cause tts ' ^ ' 
 
 and Bos- by royal salaries to the governors and judges of the 
 colonies, were singled out for peculiar chastisement. 
 The Boston port bill closed the harbor of that town to all 
 importation and exportation. Then General Gage, com- 
 mander-in-chief of the British forces in the colonies, was 
 appointed governor of Massachusetts. Not content with 
 creating this state of siege, the ministry brought in a bill 
 for the better regulating the government of Massachusetts 
 Bay, by Avhich the colony was virtually deprived of its 
 charter. The councillors and superior judges were all to be 
 appointed by the crown ; the inferior judges and other offi- 
 cers being left to the nomination of the governor, who was 
 invested with a sort of absolute authority. No town meet- 
 ings were to be held, except for elections, unless the gov- 
 ernor saw fit to make any further exceptions. No juries 
 were to be summoned, except by the sheriffs, that is, by the 
 officers of the governor. To crown the whole, a third bill 
 provided that persons charged with murder in sustaining 
 the government, should be sent to another colony or to Eng- 
 land for trial — a shrewd precaution, considering the cer- 
 tainty of collision between the people and the government 
 under the system about to be enforced. Such were the 
 measures by which Massachusetts was to be crushed and 
 her sister colonies overawed. The crisis had come with 
 the spring and summer of 1774. 
 
PROVOCATIONS. 201 
 
 Quebec Another proceeding of the same period was in- 
 ^^^- tended to separate the thirteen colonies from their 
 neinrhbors on the continent. The French settlers in the 
 west had shown some signs of sympathy with the English 
 colonies, not, indeed, by any direct cooperation, or even 
 intercourse, but by the same irrepressible instincts after 
 liberty. When their petition for a form of government in 
 which they could have some share was met by a system in 
 which none but the -royal officials had any part, the French 
 in the Illinois country protested against it with all the fer- 
 vor of their nature, (1773.) To keep such spirits down, 
 especially to keep them from combining with the kindred 
 spirits of the English colonies, seems to have been the main 
 object of the Quebec act, by which that province, extended 
 from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Mississippi, was 
 placed under a government mostly of royal officials. At 
 the same time, the French were conciliated by the restora- 
 tion of their law and of their church, (1774.) 
 
 Thus cut off from their northern and western 
 
 onven- jjeisjlibors, the inhabitants of the thirteen colonies 
 
 ProTin- gathered together against the mother-land. A cir- 
 
 gress ia cular froui Bostou to the towns of Massachusetts 
 
 Massa- called upon them to make common resistance to the 
 
 chusetts. 
 
 recent acts. Several of the towns, or rather coun- 
 ties met by delegates in convention at Boston to resolve 
 upon measures of defence, amongst which "the military 
 art" and "a Provincial Congress" were prominent. A con- 
 vention of IMiddlesex county at Concord resolved that " to 
 obey them," that is, the acts of Parliament, " would be to 
 annihilate the last vestiges of liberty in this province," 
 (August,) Ten days after, (September,) a convention of 
 Suffolk county at Milton recommended that the detested 
 acts " should be rejected as the attempts of a wicked admin- 
 istration to enslave America," The next month, (October,) 
 
202 PART III. 17G3-1797 
 
 the House of Representatives voted itself a Provincial Con- 
 gress. This was decisive. But that it was done, must be 
 ascribed not merely to the inherent independence of Massa- 
 chusetts, but to the pervading sympathy of the sisler 
 colonies. 
 
 National " Has not tliis," wrotc Washington, nearly three 
 Bpirit. months before, in relation to the acts of Parliament 
 and the proceedings of Governor General Gage, — " has not 
 this exhibited an unexampled testimony of the most despotic 
 system of tyranny that was ever practised in a free govern- 
 ment ? . . . Shall we supinely sit, and see one prov- 
 ince after another fall a sacrifice to despotism? . . . 
 My nature recoils at the thought of submitting to measures 
 which I think subversive of every thing that I ought to hold 
 dear and valuable.'* Such was the tone of every true voice, 
 the feeling of every true heart. A national spirit was 
 aroused. 
 ^ ,. More than a year previously, Benjamin Franklin 
 
 Coutinen- ^ i j t o 
 
 tai Con- — now agent not only for Pennsylvania, but for 
 giess. Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Georgia — wrote 
 officially to the Massachusetts ' House of Representatives, 
 recommending a General Congress, (1773.) But it was not 
 until ten months afterwards that the project was taken up, 
 and then not in Massachusetts, but in Rhode Island. Yir- 
 ghiia followed close, recommending that the Congress sh^ld 
 be annual, and voting that " an attack upon one colony was 
 an attack upon all British America," (May, 1774.) Rhode 
 Island was the first to ap2:>oint delegates ; Massachusetts 
 doing the same almost immediately, and the other colonies, 
 Georgia excepted, imitating these examples. The method 
 of appointment varied from choice by the assembly, or by a 
 convention of the whole colony, to choice by committees, 
 county and town, or by a single committee. It was a noble 
 body that met at Philadelphia on the 5th of September, 
 
PROVOCATIONS. 203 
 
 1774. Samuel Adams and John Adams were there from 
 Massachusetts ; John Jay from New York ; John Dickin- 
 son from Pennsylvania ; George Washington, Patrick 
 Henry, and Kichard Henry Lee, from Virginia; Christo- 
 pher Gadsden and John Rutledge from South Carolina. 
 " If you speak of eloquence," said Patrick Henry, on being 
 asked about the greatest man in Congress, " Mr. Rutledge 
 is by far the greatest orator ; but if you speak of solid in- 
 formation and sound judgment, Colonel "Washington is 
 unquestionably the greatest man on that floor." It needed 
 all that the leaders, all that the members as a body, could 
 command, to meet the exigencies of the time. The Congress 
 that met to reject the stamp act, nine years before, had but 
 child's play to go through, compared with the work of the 
 present Congress — the Continental Congress, as it was 
 called. 
 
 Taxation had been the substance of three acts of 
 
 Its work, -r^ , . 
 
 Parliament, or, at the most, of four.* There were 
 twice or thrice that number f upon other points to be op- 
 posed. Against all these provocations the Continental Con- 
 gress put forth their declaration of colonial rights. In this, 
 much the sanie ground as to the allegiance and the general 
 rights of the colonies was taken as had been held by the 
 earlier Congress. It is therefore a document of secondary 
 importance in the progress of our history. 
 
 American "^^^ ®^ ^^® American Association. This was a 
 
 Associa- body of articles, by which a stop was to be put, after 
 
 certain dates, to all importation from or exportation 
 
 * The sugar, the stamp, and the tea acts, with the act creating rev- 
 enue commissioners. 
 
 t The quartering acts, the act suspending the New York assembly, 
 the acts concerning trials for treason and incendiarism, the three acts 
 against Massachusetts, the Quebec act, besides those portions of the stamp 
 and tea acts relating to Admiralty Courts and royal salaries. 
 
204 PAKT III. 1763-1797. 
 
 to Great Britain and its dependencies, so long as the op- 
 pressive acts of Parliament were not repealed. " We will 
 neither import nor purchase any slaves imported after the 
 first day of December next," was one of the articles ; " after 
 which time we will neither be concerned ui it ourselves, nor 
 will we hire our vessels, nor sell our commodities or manu- 
 factures, to those who are concerned in it." Thus humane 
 as well as bold, considerate for their inferiors as well as res- 
 olute towards their superiors, or those claiming to be such, 
 the members of the Continental Congress signed the Amer- 
 ican Association. The date was October 20, 1774. It was 
 the birthday of the nation. • 
 
 Toorether with the Association and the declara- 
 
 Petition ® 
 
 and ad- tiou, there came from Congress a joetition to the king 
 and addresses to the people of Great Britain, Brit- 
 ish America, and Canada, besides letters to Newfoundland, 
 Nova Scotia, and the two Floridas. These various docu- 
 ments being adopted, and the debates on all the stirring 
 questions of the time being concluded, not . altogether with 
 unanimity. Congress separated, (October 26,) having pro- 
 vided that another Congress should be convened, if neces- 
 sary, in the ensuing spring. 
 
 Peace or " Morc blood," wrotc Washington, during the ses- 
 ^^' sion of Congress, " will be spilled on this occasion, 
 if the ministry are determined to jDush matters to extremity, 
 than history has ever yet furnished instances of in the annals 
 of North America." "After all," wrote Joseph Hawley from 
 Massachusetts to John Adams in Congress, — " after all, we 
 must fight." Adams read the letter to liis colleague from 
 Virginia, the fervid Patrick Henry, who burst out with the 
 exclamation, " I am of that man's mind ! " It was not the 
 opinion of every one. Richard Henry Lee parted from 
 Adams with the assurance that " all the offensive acts will 
 be repealed. . . . Britain will give up her foolish project." 
 
PROVOCATIONS. 205 
 
 Prepara- Come peace or come war, the Americans, as they 
 tion. are hereafter to be called, were prepared. Not, it 
 is true, with armies or fortresses, not with the material 
 resources which they seemed to require, but with the spirit 
 that was of far greater importance, the source of all outward 
 strength and success. This spirit was not without its sup- 
 ports, intellectual or physical. The struggles with the 
 mother country had called out orators and statesmen, whose 
 minds were daily making some fresh contribution to the 
 thought and the power of humanity. Physically, the 
 Americans were increasing their stores and extending their 
 domains. The road to the great west was opened with the 
 first settlement made in the present Tennessee, (1768.) If 
 old weaknesses lingered, if the disputes between colony and 
 colony continued, now on a question of boundary, now on 
 one of doctrine, they were lost in the union that had been 
 achieved, in the nation that had been bom. 
 
 18 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 War. 
 
 Armino- ^^^ verj day that the Continental Congress 
 of Massa- separated, — October 26, 1774, — the Provincial 
 Congress of Massachusetts took a step decisive of 
 war. This was the organization of the mihtia, consisting 
 of all the able-bodied men of the colony, one fourth of 
 them being constituted minute men, bound to take uj) arms 
 at a minute's warning. Soon afterwards, provision was 
 made for supplying the equipments and munitions of an 
 army. The whole was placed under the direction of a 
 committee of safety, with John Hancock for a chairman. 
 
 The armhig of the colony had not been unpro- 
 provokeci vokcd. Two montlis before, General Gage, the 
 or uiian- commander-in-chicf and the governor, had beofun 
 
 ticipated. p .^ fes ? o 
 
 to fortify the land approach to Boston. He had 
 also seized upon some stores of powder belonging to the 
 province at Cliarlestown. Such was the temper excited 
 'against him, that Christopher Gadsden, the representative 
 of South Carolina in the Continental Congress, proposed an 
 immediate attack upon the British head quarters in Boston. 
 Neither was the arminof of Massachusetts altojrether unan- 
 ticipated. No colony, indeed, had gone so far ; but many 
 a town, many a band of individuals, was prepared for con- 
 flict. A rumor that Boston was bombarded by the British 
 brought out numbers of the Connecticut militia to the 
 
 rescue of their countrymen. Years before, when the stamp 
 
 (206) 
 
WAR. 207 
 
 act was rousing the land to resistance, some ardent New 
 Yprkers had voted "to march with all despatch . . . 
 to the reUef of those who should or might be in danger 
 from the stamp act or its abettors," (1765.) The juncture 
 thus prepared for arrived when Massachusetts armed her- 
 self. From that day, war was inevitable. The British 
 authorities would never sit by while such things were going 
 on, nor could they attempt any measures of repression 
 without arousing the colonists to use the weapons which 
 they had assumed. 
 
 The example of Massachusetts was soon followed. 
 
 Arming ^ 
 
 of other Far and near, the colonies, by act of assembly, or 
 ^ " of convention, or of individual resolution, took up 
 the posture of defence. All the while, the national spirit 
 v/as sustained by the American Association, and by the 
 committees appointed to enforce it. Though not universally 
 prevalent, the Association had extended itself more widely 
 and more deeply than any previous bond of union amongst 
 the colonies. Earnest to maintain their ties and their 
 rights, the Americans drew out their lines. It was no 
 great show in a military point of view. Li point of 
 courage, of sacrifice, it was sublime. 
 
 Course of ^^^^ J^^^^ ^^^^ closing in England with a ncAV 
 Tariia- Parliament, in which the majorities for the ministry 
 were irresistible. Amongst the members was a 
 native of New York, Henry Cruger, who, having settled 
 as a merchant at Bristol, was elected mayor, and returned 
 to Parliament. In the prime of manhood, flushed with 
 generous emotion for the country of liis birth, although 
 opposed to its revolutionary courses, he rose to make his 
 maiden speech against the severities with which the minis- 
 try was threatening America. " Can it be believed," he 
 cries, " that Americans will be 'dragooned into a conviction 
 of this right of parliamentary taxation ? " The plea was 
 
208 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 taken up by men of greater influence. As tlie new year 
 (1775) opened, Chatham and Burke devoted themselves to 
 obtaining justice for America. In vain ; the petition of the 
 Continental Congress to the king was refused a hearing ; 
 rebellion was declared to exist in Massachusetts, and to be 
 abetted by other colonies. The " New England restraining 
 act " cut off the New England colonies from the fishery and 
 from all trade, save to Great Britain, Ireland, and the Brit- 
 ish West Indies. The })rohibition was soon extended to 
 the other colonies ; New York, North Carolina, and Georgia 
 being spared on account of their expected submission. At 
 the same time. Lord North, the prime minister, brought out 
 •what he called a conciliatory proposition, to the effect that 
 the colonies should not be taxed by Parliament, if they 
 would tax themselves, and therewith raise the sums which 
 Parliament should deem necessary. " They complain," 
 was the decisive reply of Edmund Burke, " that they are 
 taxed without their consent ; you answer that you will fix 
 the sum at which they shall be taxed. That is, you give 
 them the very grievance for the remedy." The proposition, 
 thus clearly seen tlu-ough by an Englishman, was not likely 
 *to blind Americans. Out of Parliament, there were few to 
 take any active part in relation to America. TVe should 
 not, however, pass over the suggestion of Dr. Tucker, Dean 
 of Gloucester, that Parliament should declare the colonies 
 separated from the mother country until they humbled 
 themselves to ask for forgiveness and for restoration. Had 
 the dean's idea'been adopted, how much wrong, how much 
 blood, might have been saved ! 
 
 pji-gt But the Americans and the British were now to 
 
 collision, meet in arms. A party of one hundred and fifty 
 troops, sent from Boston to seize some cannon at Salem, 
 not finding it there, marched, on towards Danvers. On their 
 way, they came to a bridge, occupied at first by a few coun- 
 
WAR. 209 
 
 try people, but presently by a company of militia under 
 Colonel Pickering. As the draw was up, the British at- 
 tempted to cross the stream in boats, and in doing so, used 
 their bayonets freely enough to wound the men who kept 
 the boats from them. A serious conflict would have en- 
 sued but for the mediation of Mr. Barnard, a clergyman 
 of Salem, who prevailed on the British officer. Lieutenant 
 Colonel Leslie, to return in case the troops were allowed 
 to cross the bridge. This was agreed to on the American 
 side ; the troops crossed, advanced a few rods, then faced 
 about, and retired without the cannon of which they had 
 come in search. The date was February 26, 1775. 
 Its si"'- The collision is memorable as the first of the 
 nificance. -^r^j.^ j^ jg q\qq ^q \)q remarked as strikingly sig- 
 nificant of the collisions that followed. The same paucity 
 of numbers, the same restriction of movements, the same 
 ineffectiveness of results, characterize the whole strife be- 
 tween Great Britain and America. Wc must be prepared 
 for operations on a small scale, and with a small effect, each 
 taken alone. Taken together, however, the operations of 
 the war bear a nearer proportion to the greatness of the 
 stakes at issue. 
 
 T . The next encounter was more serious. It took 
 
 ton iui:i place in the early morning of April 19. A force 
 of eight hundred troops, marching from Boston to 
 Concord, for the purpose of destroying the military stores 
 collected in that place, met not quite a hundred minute 
 men at Lexington. The British fired ; the minute men 
 returned the fire, but, of course, retreated, leaving a few 
 of tlieir number killed and wounded. The men of Concord 
 retired before the troops without attempting resistance ; but 
 from the surrounding towns there came other minute men 
 so numerous and so spirited as to engage with the British, 
 and compel them to retreat. The retreat became a flight ; 
 18* 
 
210 PART III. 1703-1797. 
 
 nor would the fugitives have escaped but for the reenforcc- 
 ments which met them at Lexington. The number of the 
 Americans being also on the increase, the retreat, resumed 
 at Lexmgton, proved very difficult. Had it been protract- 
 ed, the arrival of fresh parties of minute men would have 
 cut it off altogether. As it was, the British, out of seven- 
 teen hundred troops, lost nearly three hundred in killed, 
 wounded, and prisoners. The Americans, amounting in all 
 to several hundred, lost less than one hundred. 
 
 " An inhuman soldiery," wrote Joseph Warren, 
 Meckien- President of the Provincial Congress, to the com- 
 burg dec- mittees of safety throughout Massachusetts, " en- 
 raged at being repulsed from the field of slaughter, 
 will, without the least doubt, take the first opportunity in 
 their power to ravage this devoted country with fire and 
 sword. We conjure you, therefore, that you give all assist- 
 ance possible in forming an army." Massachusetts voted 
 that at least thirty thousand men ought to be raised by 
 NcAv England, herself furnishing nearly half the number: 
 Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire soon re- 
 sponded, iDut not quite so liberally as the sister colony had 
 desired. Out of New England, the agitation was the same. 
 " The once happy and peaceful plains of America," wrote 
 Washington from Philadelphia, " are either to be drenched 
 with blood or inhabited by slaves. Sad alternative ! But 
 can a virtuous man hesitate in his choice ? " The news, 
 travelling slowly, reached the town of Charlotte, Mecklen- 
 burg county, North Carolina, where a county convention 
 was in session. It lent resolution to the delegates, who 
 soon declared their independence of " the authority of the 
 king and Parliament . . . and the former civil consti- 
 tution of these colonies,"* (May.) The declaration of 
 
 * Two sets of resolutions exist, one much stronger than the other, but 
 both equally strong upon the point of independence. The dates likeAAise 
 vary, but both profess to have been adopted in the latter half of May, 177'5. 
 
WAR. 211 
 
 Mecklenburg county was communicated to the Provincial 
 Congress of the colony, without, however, obtaining the 
 sympathy of that assembly. It was also forwarded to the 
 North Carolina representatives in the Continental Congress ; 
 but so little did it move them, that they did not even lay it 
 before their colleagues. 
 ^ . The troops of New Enoland were o;athering 
 
 War m • ^ ° o o 
 
 Massa- about Bostou. The people of Massachusetts sent 
 an address to the people o# Great Britain. "Ap- 
 pealing to Heaven," they declared, " for the justice of our 
 cause, we determine to die or to be free." Repelling a 
 Connecticut offer of mediation between herself and her 
 governor, General Gage, Massachusetts voted him " an 
 unnatural and inveterate enemy " — a compliment which he 
 afterwards returned by pronouncing the Massachusetts 
 people " rebels and traitors." The breach yawned wide, 
 and wider still, as the passions and the outrages of war 
 poured in. 
 
 So far the Americans had acted oi> the defensive. 
 o.!-?.?,.,7' But now a band of volunteers from Connecticut 
 Crown and the Green Mountains, led b}^ Ethan Allen and 
 
 Point. 
 
 Seth Warner, with whom went Benedict Ai-nold, 
 under a Massachusetts commission, surprised the small gar- 
 risons at Ticonderoga and Crown Point, (May 10-12.) 
 Descending thence against various places on Lake Cham- 
 plain, the adventurous band secured a large booty, and then 
 separated, leaving a considerable portion of their number 
 in possession of the Point and Ticonderoga. 
 
 The spirit aroused in action appeared in delibera- 
 ings in tion likewise. When the new Congress assembled 
 Congress. ^^ pi^jiadelphia in the spring, (May 10,) it began 
 upon measures more determined by far than those of the 
 former body. The members were mostly the same ; but 
 the circumstances in which they met were as different as 
 
212 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 peace and war. Massachusetts opened the way to new res- 
 olutions, by recommendrng the creation of -an American 
 army, and by asking instruction as to the form of govern- 
 ment under which she should place herself. Congress an- 
 swered the request by advising the election of a council and 
 an assembly, who should administer the colony by them- 
 selves, until a governor should appear to take his part ac- 
 cordins; to the charter of 1691. Soon afterwards, the Pro- 
 vincial Congress of Massachusetts gave way to a General 
 Court or assembly. The recommendation of an army was 
 followed by Congress in adopting the troops before Boston 
 as the American continental army. To this were also 
 summoned a few companies of riflemen from the southern 
 colonies. 
 
 Washing- The Creation of an army required the creation 
 ton ap- Qf 2^, commander. No act of Congress could be 
 
 pointed 
 
 commanci- morc important, none proved more successful, than 
 er-m.chief. ^^^ appointment of Colonel George Washington, 
 rejiresentative from Virginia. " We, the delegates of the 
 United Colonies," — thus runs the commission of Washing- 
 ton, — " reposing special trust and confidence in your patriot- 
 ism, conduct, and fidelity, do by these presents constitute 
 and appoint you to be general and commander-in-chief of 
 the army of the United Colonies. . . . And you are 
 hereby vested with full power and authority to act as you 
 shall think for the good and welfare of the service." Rapid 
 as these outlines of events must be, they will bear repeated 
 testimony to the unequalled, indeed the liitherto unconceived 
 devotion of Washington to the cause of his country. His 
 acceptance of the commission, itself the greatest act of sac- 
 rifice that he could make, was accompanied by the refusal 
 of all pecuniary compensation for his services. It was a 
 memorable day when this devoted career began — June 15, 
 1775. 
 
WAR. 213 
 
 Bunker As if to do honor to the general thus given them, 
 ^^11- the New England troops, just declared the conti- 
 nental army, furnished a detachment of one thousand, under 
 Colonel Prescott, to take possession of Bunker's Hill, a 
 point of great importance to the hnes around Boston. He, 
 thi-ough a mistake assisted by the ardor of his character, 
 threw up his redoubt upon Breed's Hill, an eminence con- 
 siderably nearer to the town. Reenforced by a thousand 
 men, the party completed their fortifications in tiine to re- 
 ceive the three thousand British troops assailing them from 
 Boston. Twice was the advance of the enemy repelled ; 
 but the failure of ammunition obliged the Americans to 
 retreat, leaving one of their most heroic hearts, President 
 and Major General Joseph Warren, dead upon the field. 
 Four hundri'd and fifty of them in all were kiUed or wound- 
 ed ; the British losing more than twice that number. The 
 battle of Bunker Hill, as it was afterwards called, has beea 
 greatly magnified beyond the importance attached to it at 
 the time. But there can be no question of its having done 
 much to mortify the British, who had always boasted that 
 the Americans would fiy before them, as well as much to 
 elate the Americans, although they had always boasted that 
 they would resist their foes, (June 17.) 
 
 . Washington heard of the battle at New York, on 
 
 ton at the his way to the army. Hastening his journey, he 
 t^hTarmy ^^'^''^^'-^^ ^^ Cambridge, which was to be his head 
 quarters, and assumed the command. On the next 
 day, July 4, he issued an order to the forces. " The Con- 
 tinental Congress," he proclaimed, " having now taken all 
 the troops of the several colonies, which have been raised 
 or which may be hereafter raised for the support and de- 
 fence of the liberties of America, into their pay and service, 
 they are now the troops of the United Provinces of North 
 America ; and it is hoped that all distinctions of colonies 
 
214 PART III. 17G3-1797. 
 
 will be Laid aside, so that one and the same spirit may ani- 
 mate the whole. . . . The general requires and expects 
 of all officers, not engaged on actual duty, a punctual attend- 
 ance on divine service, to implore the blessings of Heaven 
 upon the means used for our safety and defence." Thus 
 appealing to the love of country and to the fear of God, 
 Washington called upon his countrymen to do their duty in 
 the war. 
 
 Difficui- Not every one was disposed to hear him. In- 
 ties. • (Jeed, there were but few who came up to the stan- 
 dard of their chief, either as soldiers or as men. When we 
 read of their deficiencies and of his embarrassments, we 
 must remember that he and those like him were the repre- 
 sentatives of the better class of Americans, already described 
 as most prominent and most wise during the struggles of 
 the preceding years. They, on the other hand, who fell 
 short of the demands upon them, were of the other classes, 
 the rash or the timid, the too presumptuous or the too sub- 
 missive. 
 
 Siege of Washington at once determined to lay regular 
 Boston, siege to Boston. His first object Avas merely to 
 shut up the British in the town, (July.) Presently, he 
 tried to bring on an attack from the enemy against the 
 American lines, (August.) This failing, he formed the f)ur- 
 pose of attacking the British in their own lines, (Septem- 
 ber.) He deferred to the objections of his officers, and put 
 off the assault, without, however, abandoning his designs. 
 All the while, he had no arm's, no ammunition, no pay for 
 his troops from Congress ; no general support from his offi- 
 cers or men ; no obedience even, at times, from the soldiers 
 or from the crews of the armed vessels acting in concert 
 Vv^th the army. It was very difficult to fill the ranks to any 
 degree at all proportioned to the operations of the siege. 
 " There must be some other stimulus," he writes to the 
 
WAR. 215 
 
 president of Congress, " besides love for their country, to 
 make men fond of the service." " Such a dearth of public 
 spirit," he laments to a personal friend, " and such want of 
 virtue, such stockjobbing and fertility to obtain advantages 
 of one kind and another, I never saw before, and pray 
 God's mercy that I may never be witness to again. . . . 
 I tremble at the prospect. . . . Could I have foreseen 
 what I have experienced and am likely to experience, no 
 consideration upon earth should have induced me to accept 
 this command." Such were the circumstances, and such 
 the feelings, in which the commander-in-chief found himself 
 conducting the great operation of the year. 
 G nerai "^^ *^^^^ time there was not only an army, but a 
 govern- government of America. The Continental Con- 
 ^^^ ' gress, declaring themselves to be acting " in defence 
 of the freedom that is our birthright," took all the meas- 
 ures, military; financial, and diplomatic, which the cause 
 appeared to require. The organization of the army was 
 continued; that of the militia was attempted. A naval 
 committee was appointed, and a navy — if the name can be 
 used on so small a scale — was called into existence. Hos- 
 pitals were provided. Several millions of continental cur- 
 rency were issued, and a treasury department created. A 
 post office was also organized. Several of the colonies who 
 had applied for advice upon the point were recommended to 
 frame governments for themselves. The Indian relations 
 were reduced to system. A last petition to the kin^, with 
 addresses to Great Britain and London, Ireland and Ja- 
 maica, was adopted. More significant than all else was the 
 appointment of a committee of secret correspondence with 
 Europe. In short, the functions of a general government 
 were assumed by Congress and recognized throughout the 
 colonies. 
 
 At the beginning of August, Georgia signified her acces- 
 
216 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 m,. x^- sion to the other colonies, thus completing the thir- 
 
 The thir- ^ ^ ° 
 
 teen com- tecD. A fourteenth offered itself in Transylvania, 
 ^ ^ ^' the present Kentucky, where one or two small set- 
 tlements had just been made. But Congress could not 
 admit the delegate of a territory which Virginia claimed as 
 under her jurisdiction. The nation and the government 
 remained as the Thirteen United Colonies. 
 Military Military oj)erations, apart from the siege of Bos- 
 operatioiis. ^q^-^^ were imnicrous, if not extensive. The landing 
 of a British party at Gloucester ^vas repelled. The fort 
 near Charleston was seized by the Americans, wdio also 
 drove the British ships out of the harbor. Norfolk, for 
 some time in the hands of the British, w^as recovered after 
 a gallant action. On the other hand, Stonington, Bristol, 
 and Falmouth were not saved from bombardment, Fal- 
 mouth (now Portland) being nearly anniliilated. The 
 Americans, in return, sent out their privateers ; those com- 
 missioned by "Washington, especially his " famous Manly," 
 as he called one of his captains, doing great execution in 
 Massachusetts Bay. Offensive operations were pursued on 
 land. A projected expedition against Nova Scotia was 
 given up, chiefly on account of the friendly feeling of that 
 province. But a tvrofold force, partly from the New York 
 and partly from the IMaine side, marched against Canada. 
 St. John's and Montreal were taken by the Americans under 
 General Montgomery, who fell in an assault on Quebec the 
 last day of the year. Arnold, the same who had gone 
 against Crown Point and Ticonderoga, kept up the show of 
 besieging Quebec through the winter, but in the spring the 
 Americans retreated within their own borders. One of the 
 most successful operations of the period was towards the 
 close of winter, when fifteen hundred Highlanders and Reg- 
 ulators, who had enlisted under the royal banner in North 
 Carolina, w^ere defeated by two thirds their number of 
 
WAR. 217 
 
 Americans, under Colonel Moore. It saved tlie province 
 to the country. 
 
 The mention of those enlisted in the royal cause 
 
 Loyalists. . .-,... 
 
 suggests the nicreasmg divisions amongst the Amer- 
 icans. A large number, who had looked on or even joined 
 in the proceedings of former days, drew off, if they did not 
 take a hostile j)osition, in these days of war. Companies 
 and regiments of royal or loyal Americans began to abound. 
 Some of these loyalists, as they were styled, were roughly 
 handled by their indignant neighbors, who spared neither 
 person nor property. One of the New York Sons of Lib- 
 erty, Isaac Sears, impatient at the moderate course pursued 
 by the committee of safety, brought in an armed band from 
 Connecticut, to destroy the press of Rivington's Gazetteer, 
 a journal in the British interest. Such doings were more 
 likely to introduce dissensions amongst the patriots than to 
 subdue the loyalists. But when did riot fail to go hand in 
 
 hand with w^ar ? 
 
 Great Britain, on her part, was united. Few 
 
 Britain ^^d faint wcrc the voices raised in defence of the 
 
 deter- Americans, since the news of Lexincjton and Bun- 
 mined. ^ ° 
 
 ker Hill. Edmund Burke and one or two of the 
 
 same spirit continued to plead for the American cause, but 
 all unavailingly. Tlie last petition of Congress to the king 
 was rejected. A bill of confiscation, as it may be called, 
 was passed against the trade, the merchandise, and the ship- 
 ping of the colonies ; Avhatever crews might be captured 
 were to be impressed into the British navy. The army in 
 America was augmented to forty thousand, partly by British 
 and partly by German troops. In fine, the reduction of the 
 colonies was the one great object with the larger part of the 
 people, as with the rulers of Great Britain. 
 
 AU the while, Washington was before Boston. But his 
 attention was not wholly concentrated there. On the con- 
 
 19 
 
218 PART III. 17G3-1797. 
 
 ^ , . trary, his voice was to be heard in all directions, on 
 
 Washing- J ' ' 
 
 ton beiiire the march to Canada, in the posts of New York, on 
 board the national cruisers, at the meetings of com- 
 mittees and assemblies, in the provincial legislatures, within 
 Congress itself, every M^here pointing out what was to be 
 done, and the spirit in which it was to be done. They Avho 
 doubt his military ability or his intellectual greatness will 
 do well to follow him through these first months of the war ; 
 if they do it faithfully, they will doubt no more. The 
 activity, the judgment, the executive power, and above all 
 the moral power of the great general and the great man 
 are nowhere in history more conspicuous than in those 
 rude lines before Boston. 
 
 To add to the difficulties of the sieo-e, the army 
 
 Recovery ^ ^ ^ 
 
 of the went through a complete process of disbanding and 
 recruiting, on account of the general unwillingness 
 to serve for any length of time. Without men and without 
 munitions, Washington sublimely kept his post, until, after 
 months of disappointment, he obtained the means to take 
 possession of Dorchester Heights, whence the town was 
 completely commanded. The enemy, under General Howe, 
 had long meditated the evacuation of the place ; and they 
 now the more readily agreed to leave it on condition that 
 they should be unmolested. The 17th of March, 1776, 
 eight months and a half from the time that Washington 
 undertook the siege, his generalship and his constancy were 
 rewarded with success. 
 
 The Vic- ^^ was Certainly an amazing victor}^ " I have 
 *o^y- been here months together," he wrote to his brother, 
 " with what will scarcely be believed, not thirty rounds of 
 musket cartridges to a man. . . . We have maintained 
 our ground against the enemy under this want of powder, 
 and we have disbanded one army, and recruited another, 
 within musket shot of two and twenty regiments, the flower 
 
WAR. 219 
 
 of the British army, whilst our force has been but little, if 
 any, superior to theirs ; and, at last, have beaten them into 
 a shameful and precipitate retreat out of a place the strong- 
 est by nature on this continent, and strengthened and forti- 
 fied at an enormous expense." Such being the result of 
 the only operation in which the Americans and the British 
 met each other as actual armies, there was reason for 
 Washington and his true-hearted countrymen to exult and 
 to hope. 
 
 lucreas- ^^^ the country was in danger. An attack was 
 iiig perils, feared at New York ; another at Charleston : the 
 whole coast, indeed, lay open and defenceless. The year 
 of warfare ended in greater apprehensions and in greater 
 perils than those in which it began. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Declaration OF Independence. 
 
 Transfer- The coloiiies werc fighting at a disaclvantage. 
 
 0^00^0^ Not only were their resources, in a mihtary point 
 
 nies to of view, inferior to those of their great antagonist ; 
 
 this was but a minor consideration with them. They 
 
 were taxed with rebelhon ; they Avere branded with the 
 
 name of rebels by their enemies, nay, by those of their 
 
 own people who opposed the war. On many, these epithets 
 
 made no impression ; they were rather acceptable than 
 
 otherwise to the more ardent and the more violent. But 
 
 to the moderate and to the calm, it was intolerable to be 
 
 charged with mere sedition. They to whom the nation 
 
 owed all that was prudent, as well as vahant in its present 
 
 situation, were men of law and order in a peculiar degree. 
 
 The earliest care with those of Massachusetts, after the 
 
 affixir of Lexington, had been to prove that the British 
 
 troops were the first to fire ; in other words, that the people 
 
 were defending, and not transgressing, their rights. So 
 
 now it became a matter of the highest interest to set the 
 
 war in its true light, by raising the Americans from the 
 
 position of subjects to that of a nation. There was but 
 
 one Avay, and this the transformation of the colonies into 
 
 states. 
 
 The idea of independence, however, was of slow 
 
 indcpend- growtli. The Mccklcnburg declaration, as we have 
 
 ^^'^^' read, found no favor. The general, if not the 
 
 (220) 
 
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 221 
 
 universal, sentiment was still in favor of reconciliation. 
 " During the course of my life," said John Jay in later 
 years, " and until after the second petition of Congress in 
 1775, I never heard an American of any class or of any 
 description express a wish for the independence of the 
 colonies." But when that petition of Congress to the king 
 was rejected, when the English government, in consequence, 
 j)ledged itself to continue its system of oppression, then the 
 resolution of the colonies rose, all the more determined for 
 having been delayed. 
 
 Nearly a year had elapsed since the North Caro- 
 Caroiina lii^i^i^s of Mcckleuburg county made their declara- 
 and vir- tiQi^i^ wlicu tlic Nortli CaroHuians of the entire 
 colony united in authorizing their delegates in Con- 
 gress to concur with those of tl\e other colonies in declaring 
 independence, (April 23, 177G.) A few weeks afterwards, 
 (May 15,) the Virginians instructed their delegates to 
 propose a declaration of independence to Congress. 
 
 Congress had already committed itself. Its rec- 
 ' ommendations of the year previous to some of the 
 colonies, that they should set up governments for them- 
 selves, had just been extended to all. It had also voted 
 " that the exercise of every kmd of authority under the 
 crown should be totally suppressed," (May 15.) Wliat 
 else was this than to pronounce the colonies. independent 
 states ? Subsequent resolutions and declarations were but 
 the carrying out of the decision already made, 
 iicsita- I*ut as it had not been made, so it was not car- 
 tiou. y[q^ q^^|. without hesitation. More than one earnest 
 mind, bent upon independence in the end, considered the 
 course of things thitherward to be. much too hurried. " My 
 countr3^men," wrote Washington, (April 1,) "from their 
 form of government, and their steady attachment hereto- 
 fore to royalty, will come reluctantly into the idea of inde- 
 
 19* 
 
222 PART III. 1703-1797. 
 
 pendence ; but time and persecution bring many Tvonderful 
 things to pass." He was right ; the spirits and numbers 
 of those resolved upon immediate independence increased 
 apace 
 
 Lee's res- The instructions of Virginia were soon obeyed, 
 oiution. Upon the journals of Congress, under date of June 
 7, there occurs an affecting entry of " certain resolutions 
 respecting independency being moved and seconded." No 
 names are mentioned, no words of the resolutions are 
 recorded. It is as if Congress had felt its own feebleness 
 in comparison with the solemnity of the cause, and so 
 deeply, as to hold its breath and give no sign of Avhat was 
 passing. The mover was Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, 
 the seconder John Adams, of Massachusetts ; and the reso- 
 lution was, " That these United Colonies are, and of right 
 ought to be, free and independent states ; that they are 
 absolved from all allegiance to the British crown ; and that 
 all political connection between them and the state of Great 
 Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." 
 
 Opposition was immediate and resolute. At its 
 head stood John Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, whose 
 ten years' championship of colonial rights was assurance 
 of his present faithfulness. The ground common to him 
 and to the other opponents of the resolution was simply the 
 prematureness of the measure. Nor does it seem that they 
 were altogether mistaken. Whatever was urged by the 
 advocates of the resolution, there were but seven colonies, 
 the barest possible majority, to unite in favor of a proceed- 
 ing so decisive, (June 10.) Instead of pressing their views, 
 the party in favor of the resolution were Avise enough to 
 postpone its final disposition for several weeks. On the 
 other side, the opposing party, so for from exciting the 
 country against the resolution, appear to have decided that 
 it should have a fair consideration, and that if the colonies 
 
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 223 
 
 rejecting it could be brought to favor it, tliey would be 
 satisfied by the delay that had been interj)osed for delib- 
 eration 
 
 At the same time, a committee was apjiointed to 
 tee on prepare a declaration according to the tenor of the 
 deciara- resolution. Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia, John 
 
 tion. ^ _ ^ . 
 
 Adams, Benjamin Franklin, of Pennsylvania, Roger 
 Sherman, of Connecticut, and Robert R. Livingston, of Ncav 
 York, constituting the committee, united upon a draught by 
 Jefferson. "Whether I had gathered my ideas," he said 
 at a later time, " from reading or reflection, I do not knoAV. 
 I know only that I turned to neither book nor pamphlet 
 while writing it. I did not consider it as any part of my 
 charge to invent new ideas altogether, and to offer no senti- 
 ment which had never been expressed before." Truth to 
 be told, there was neither originality nor novelty in the 
 production. Its facts, so far as they related to the course 
 of Britain or of the British king, were peculiar to the 
 cause at issue. But the principles of human and of colo- 
 nial rights were substantially such as Englishman after 
 Englishman, as well as American after American, had 
 asserted. The merit of the document was its appropriate- 
 ness, its harmony with the ideas of a people who had risen 
 to defend their birthright, rather than to win any thing not 
 already theirs. The committee reported the declaration to 
 Congress, (June 28.) 
 
 Resohi- -^^^ adoption depended upon the adoj)tion of the 
 tion resolution of which it was but the expression. The 
 
 resolution was therefore called up, (July 1.) A 
 day's debate ensued; nor was the decision unanimous. 
 Four delegations hung back ; one, New York, because it 
 had received no instructions to vote upon so grave a ques- 
 tion ; the other three, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and South 
 Carolina, on account of their OAvn reluctance. The South 
 
224 PART III. 17G3-1797. 
 
 Carolinians asked the postponement of a definitive vote 
 until the next morning. When the morning came, they 
 withdi-ew their opposition. The Pennsylvanian and Dela- 
 ware delejzates — some members retirinfjr and others com- 
 ins: in — save their voices likewise to the resolution. It 
 thus received the unanimous vote of all the colonies. New 
 York excepted, and she only for a few da}^s, until her dele- 
 gates could be instructed to concur with their colleagues, 
 (July 0-15.) It was the 2d of July, 177G, the true date 
 of American independence.* 
 . , „ The declaration followed as a matter of course. 
 
 Ami the 
 
 deciara- It was delayed only to receive a few amendments, 
 *'°°" when it was adopted by the same vote as the reso- 
 lution, (July 4.) 
 
 Thus were the colonies of Great Britain trans- 
 
 The 
 
 United formed into the United States of America. " As 
 free and independent states," were the words of the 
 declaration, " they have full power to levy war, conclude 
 peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all 
 other acts and things which independent states may of right 
 do." Xo ioDgor the subjects of Great Britain, but an 
 equally independent nation, the United States were* no 
 longer open to imputations upon their course from abroad, 
 or to doubts of it amongst themselves. When Admiral 
 Lord Howe, and his brother, the general, commander-in- 
 chief of the British army, offered amnesty in the king's 
 name to all Americans who would return to their allegiance, 
 the offer was regarded as a national insult by Congress. 
 'VMiat had Great Britain to forgive, or who had asked for 
 forgiveness ? 
 
 The day after a committee had been appointed to draw 
 
 * As the utmost discrepancy exists amongst the later histories as to 
 these votes and dates, it seems ad\-isable to state that Jefferson and 
 Adams are the authorities followed in the text. 
 
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 225 
 
 „ up the declaration, another, and a larofer one, re- 
 
 Plan of ^ ' ' o ^ 
 
 confed- ceived the charge of preparing a plan of confedera- 
 eration. ^.^^^^ (June 12.) This was reported a week after 
 the adoption of the declaration, but no action was taken 
 upon it, (July 12.) Circumstances postponed any decision; 
 nor were the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual 
 Union, as they were styled, actually adopted by Congress 
 until more than a year later, (November 15-17, 1777,) 
 when they were recommended to the states for adoption. 
 A long time elapsed before all the states complied. 
 
 Meanwhile Con^i^ress continued to be the unitin<2; 
 
 Unity ^ _ *^ 
 
 in Con- as wcll as the governing authority. Its members, 
 e^'^ss. renewed from time to time by their respective con- 
 stituencies, met together as the representatives, not merely 
 of the different states, but of the common nation. It was 
 imperfectly, as we shall perceive, that Congress served the 
 purpose of a central power. Its treaties, its laws, its 
 finances, its armaments, all depended upon the consent and 
 the cooperation of the states. But it continued to be the 
 body in which the states were blended together, however 
 variously, in one. 
 
 stato' ^^^ States were every where forming govern- 
 
 constitu- ments of their own. Massachusetts took the lead, 
 as was observed, in the early summer of 1775. 
 Six or seven months afterwards. New Hampshire organized 
 her assembly and council, with a president of the latter 
 body, (177 G.) The same year brought about the estabUsh- 
 ment of state authorities in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
 Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North and vSouth Carolina. 
 Of the other states, Rhode Island and Connecticut were 
 naturally content with the liberal governments which al- 
 ready existed under their ancient charters. New York 
 and Georgia set up their governments a year subsequently, 
 (1777.) But the original forais underwent numerous and 
 
226 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 rej)eated modifications ; cacli state amending its constitution 
 
 or constructing a new one, according to its exigencies. As 
 
 a general thing, each liad a governor, with or without a 
 
 council, for an executive ; a council, or Senate, and a House 
 
 of Representatives, for a legislature ; and one or more 
 
 judicial bodies for a judiciary. Lideed, the states were 
 
 much more thoroughly organized than the nation. 
 
 Both constitutions and declarations had arisen 
 
 amongst amidst the most distracting divisions. The diifer- 
 
 thepeo ei^ces in Con<Tress, or amon^jst the leadinsr class 
 pie. o ' o o ^ 
 
 throughout the country, were trifling in comparison 
 with the factions of the people as a whole. On this side 
 were flaming patriots, who thought nothing done unless 
 outcry and force were employed ; on that were selfish and 
 abject spirits, thinking that nothing should be done at all. 
 Tories, or loyalists, abounded in one place ; in another, 
 rioters and marauders ; every where dark plots were laid, 
 dark deeds perpetrated. The greater was the work of 
 those, the few, the wise, and the devoted, who led the 
 nation through its strifes to independence. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 War, continued. 
 Second Period. 
 
 Xhree "^^^ "^^^^ ^^ independence naturally divides itself 
 
 periods. Jj^j^q three periods. Of these, the first has been de- 
 scribed in a preceding chapter, as beginning with the arm- 
 ing of Massachusetts, in October, 1774, and extending to 
 the recovery of Boston, in March, 1776 — a period of a 
 year and a half, of which something less than a year, dat- 
 ing from the aifrays at Lexington and Concord, was actually 
 a period of war. "VVe are now to go through the second 
 and third periods. 
 
 Char-ic- "^^^ sccoud period is of little more than two years 
 teristics — from April, 177G, to July, 1778. The chief 
 
 of th*-* SGC- 
 
 ond reri- poii^ts to characterize it are these, namely, that the 
 oti- main operations were in the north, and that the 
 
 Americans fought their battles without allies. 
 Rece tion "^^^^ Declaration of Independence was transmitted 
 of the Dec- to the commander-in-chief, with the request of Con- 
 gress to " have it proclaimed at the head of the 
 army." It was what both commander and army had been 
 waiting for. " The general hopes " — thus ran the order of 
 the day — " that this important event will serve as a fresh 
 incentive to every officer and soldier to act with fidelity and 
 courage, as knowing that now the peace and safety of his 
 country depend, under God, solely on the success of our 
 
 (227) 
 
228 PART III. 17G3-1797. 
 
 arms, and tliat he is now in tlie service of a state possessed 
 of sutHcient power to reward his merit and advance him to 
 the highest honors of a free country," (July 9.) On the 
 same day, Wasliington wrote to the })resident of Congress : 
 " I caused the Declaration to be proclaimed before all the 
 army under my immediate command, and have the pleasure 
 to inform Congress that the measure seemed to have their 
 most hearty assent ; the expressions and behavior, both of 
 officers and men, testifying, their warmest ajiprobation of it." 
 The adhesion of the army was one thing ; their obedience 
 to the inspiration which their commander suggested was 
 another. But, for the moment, a new impulse seemed to be 
 felt by all. 
 
 ^ A brilliant feat of arms had preceded the dec- 
 
 D^iencc of ^ 
 
 tiiaiies- laration. The anticii:)ated descent upon the south- 
 ern coast was made off Charleston, by a Britisli 
 force, partly land and partly naval, under the command of 
 General Clinton and Admiral Parker. The Americans, 
 chiefly militia, were under General Lee. Fort Sullivan,* a 
 few miles below Charleston, became the object of attack. 
 It was so gallantly defended, the fort itself by Colonel 
 IMoultrie, and an adjoining battery by Colonel Thomson, 
 that the British were obliged to abandon their expedition 
 and retire to the north, (June 28.) A long time passed 
 before the enemy reappeared in the south. 
 
 Meanwhile Washinsfton had transferred his quar- 
 
 Loss of o 1 
 
 New te<^ from Boston to New York, (April 13,) which 
 he was busy in fortifying against the expected foe. 
 Troops from Haliftix, under General Howe, joined by 
 British and Hessians under Admiral Howe, and by the dis- 
 comfited forces of the southern expedition, landed at various 
 times on Staten Island, to the number of between twenty 
 
 * Afterwards Fort Moultrie. 
 
WAil, CONTINUED. 229 
 
 and thirty thousand. The number of the Americans was 
 considerably less. After long delays, the enemy crossed to 
 Long Island, and routed the American detachments under 
 General Putnam, (August 27.) A speedy retreat to New 
 York Island alone saved the Americans from a surrender. 
 A fortnight after, the British crossed in pursuit, the ad- 
 vanced posts of the Americans actually flying before them, 
 (September 15.) The city of New York was at once evac- 
 uated by Washington, who led his forces towards the north. 
 " We are now encamped," he writes, " with the main body 
 of the army on the Heights of Haerlem, where I should 
 hope the enemy would meet with a defeat in case of an 
 attack, if the generality of our troops, would behave with 
 tolerable bravery. But experience, to my extreme afflic- 
 tion, has convinced me that this is' rather to be wished for 
 than expected." He did not write thus without good rea- 
 son. Little besides incompetency and desertion on the part 
 of his men had attended his vain attempt to save New 
 York. 
 
 j^^gg^j Loss succeeded loss. Two defeats on Lake 
 Lake Champlain di'ove the Americans, under Benedict 
 plain and Arnold, not only from the lake, but from the fortress 
 
 the lower of Crown Point, (October 11-14.) In the neigh- 
 Hudson. ^ ^ ^ c5 
 
 borhood of New York, Washington was obliged to 
 abandon one position after another ; the defeat of ^Tiite 
 Plains (October 28) making still farther retreat necessary. 
 The forts upon the Hudson were presently lost ; Fort Wash- 
 ington being taken with its garrison, (November 16,) and 
 Fort Lee being evacuated, (November 20.) With a di- 
 minishing army, in which, moreover, he had lost his confi- 
 dence, the commander-in-chief decided to fall back from the 
 banks of the Hudson into New Jersey. 
 Loss of At the same time that the Americans were re- 
 Kewport. treating from New York, another of then chief 
 
 20 
 
200 PART III. 17G3-1797. 
 
 towns upon the seaboard was captured. A large detacli- 
 ment from the British army took possession of Newport 
 without a blow, (December 8.) The island was overrun, 
 and Providence blockaded. 
 T. . f Losses increased defections. " Between you and 
 
 Do foil CO of •' 
 
 Now Jcr- me," writes Washington on his retreat, " I think our 
 ""^* affairs are in a very bad condition, — not so much 
 from the apprehension of General Howe's army, as from 
 the defection of New York, the Jerseys, and Pennsylvania. 
 In short, the conduct of the Jerseys has been most infamous. 
 . . . If every nerve is not strained, ... I tliink the 
 game is pretty nearly uji," (Decemb(!r 18.) Disheartening 
 as were the circumstances, he called around him his more 
 faithful olfu^ers, and with them planned an achievement 
 which seemed to require all the encouragements of pros- 
 perity and of sympathy. Followed by his handful of twen- 
 ty-four hundred, while other detachments failed to keep up 
 with him, he crossed the Delaware amid the ice and the 
 cold of Christmas night, and on the following morning took 
 a thousand Hessian prisoners at Trenton. The British 
 immediately advanced against him. He could not meet 
 them ; for it would bo destruction to his inferior numbers. 
 He would not retreat before them ; for it would be despair 
 to his gallant adherents. To avoid eitlier alternative, he 
 marched, after a slight engagement, round the flank and 
 upon the rear of the hostile army. Three hundred prison- 
 ers, the safety and the increased animation of his soldiers 
 and his countrymen, Avere his reward. The only drawback 
 was the loss of many brave spirits, amongst whom none was 
 braver than General Mercer. Had AVashington had but a 
 few hundred fresh troops, he would have pushed on to 
 Brunswick and destroyed the entire stores of the. enemy. 
 As it was, the rising of the militia, and the continued activity 
 of Washington, even in his winter quarters, cleared the 
 
WAR, CONTINUED. 231 
 
 state of the invaders, excepting at Brunswick and Aml>oy. 
 
 Six months after, it was totally evacuated, (June 30, 1777.) 
 
 All the time tliat Washinj'ton was thus retreating 
 
 Qrganiza- '^ '=' 
 
 tion of and advancing, he was enforcing the lesson of his 
 '^'^"^^' experiences upon the government. lie could do 
 comparatively little, as he repeatedly informed Congr(;ss, 
 for want of no less essential an instrument than an army. 
 The American forces, during the campaign, had consisted in 
 part of continental, or regular, and in part of militia troops, 
 all raised on different terms, — that is, by different bounties 
 and under different appointments, — by the different states. 
 What Washington wanted, what the country needed, was 
 an army recruited, officered, equipped, and paid upon a 
 national system. Nor was Congress insensible to the neces- 
 sity. Before the declaration of independence, a board of 
 war and of ordnance had been chosen from the members of 
 Congress, to direct the military affairs of the nation. After- 
 wards, when the calamities of the autumn were weighing 
 heavily, Congress ordered the formation of a continental 
 army. But the wants, thus attempted to be supplied, con- 
 tinued. It was left entirely to the states to raise the troops 
 and to appoint all but the general officers, while the pay 
 and the term of enlistment proposed by Congress were 
 wholly inadequate to the emergencies on which Washington 
 insisted. " The measure was not commenced," wrote he to 
 his brother, " till it was too late to be effected, and then in 
 such a manner as to bid adieu to every hope of getting an 
 army from which any services are to be expected." " The 
 unhappy policy of short enlistments," the need of " some 
 greater encouragement " in pay, " the different states' nomi- 
 nating such officers as are not fit to be shoeblacks," the 
 tendency of the states to fall back from regular troops upon 
 the militia, " a destructive, expensive, and disorderly mob," 
 — all these complaints from the commander-in-chief show 
 that there was still no organization of the army. 
 
232 PAKT III. 17G3-1797. 
 
 Dictator- Alarmed by the disasters of the time, Congress 
 ship. resolved, " that General Washington shall be, and 
 he is hereby, vested with full, ample, and complete powers " 
 to raise, oiBcer, and equip an army. To provide for its 
 necessities, he was authorized " to take, wherever he may 
 be, whatever he may want for the use of the army, if the in- 
 habitants will not sell it, allowing a reasonable price for the 
 same." He was also commissioned " to arrest and confine 
 persons who refuse to take the continental currency, or are 
 otherwise disaffected to the American cause," (December 
 27, 1776.) This commission of a dictatorship, the last 
 resort of the ineffective Congress, and yet one of that body's 
 wisest deeds, was to continue six months. It was after- 
 wards renewed in much the same terms. But the powers 
 were too dictatorial for such a man as Washington to exer- 
 cise fully ; nor did the partial use which he made of them 
 effect the object of so great importance in his eyes. The 
 war went on without any thing that could be called an actual 
 army on the American side. 
 
 Paper The want of an army sprang, to a great degree, 
 
 moDey. fj^om the want of a treasury. Congress, voting all 
 sorts of appropriations, had no way of meeting them but by 
 continued issues of paper money. These soon began to 
 depreciate ; the depreciation required larger amounts to be 
 put forth ; and then the larger amounts added to the depre- 
 ciation. When the value of the bills had sunk very low, 
 an attempt was made to restore the currency by recaUing 
 the old issues and sending out new ones ; but these, too, 
 depreciated fast. Then lotteries were resorted to, and 
 loans, both at home and abroad. The states were called in, 
 and taxes raised by them were substituted for the national 
 Jbills. But the embarrassments of the finances were irrepa- 
 rable. Every year added to the debt and to the poverty of 
 the nation. 
 
WAR, CONTINUED. 233 
 
 . . , In the midst of trials so various and so profound, 
 
 Arrival i ' 
 
 of Lafay- there was a thrill of hope. It was caused by the 
 arrival of a Frenchman, not yet twenty years old, 
 who came bearing the sympathies of the old world to the 
 new. " It was the last combat of liberty," wrote Lafayette, 
 as he afterwards recalled his early inspirations. While he 
 was hastening his departure from France, the news of the 
 defeats in New York arrived, to throw the American cause 
 into the shade, even in the eyes of the commissioners who 
 had been sent to seek supplies in France. They would 
 have dissuaded the young Frenchman from liis projects. 
 *' We must be of good cheer," he rej)lied ; " it is in danger 
 that I like best to share your fortunes." Escaping the jDur- 
 suit of the government, who would have prevented a man 
 of so high a rank as the Marquis de Lafayette from com- 
 promising them with the English by joining the Americans ; 
 tearing himself from a brilliant home, and a wife as young 
 in years as he, Lafiiyette crossed the sea in his own vessel, 
 and reached the coast of Carolina in safety. He hastened 
 to Philadelphia to offer his services to Congress, which, 
 more and more wont to be behindhand in its mission, gave 
 him a cold welcome throuo;li the committee of foreio-n 
 aflairs. " The coldness was such," he wrote, " as to amount 
 to a rejection ; but without being disconcerted by the man- 
 ner of the members, I begged them to return to the hall, 
 and to read the following note : ' After the sacrifices which 
 I have made, I have the right to demand two favors : one 
 is to serve at my own expense, the other to commence as a 
 volunteer.'" Congress was touched, and appointed the 
 generous stranger a major-general, (July 31, 1777.) He 
 found no hesitation in the welcome which he received from 
 "Washington on their first meeting. " Make my head quar- 
 ters your home," was the warm and appreciative greeting 
 from the commander-in-chief to the young major-general. 
 20* 
 
234 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 The army and the people imitated Washington's example, 
 and gave their confidence to the noble Frenchman, with joy 
 that their cause had attracted such a champion. 
 
 The spring of 1777 was marked only by some 
 of Bur- predatory excursions from the British side into Con- 
 ^°^"^' necticut, and from the American into Long Island. 
 The summer brought about the evacuation of New Jersey, 
 as has been mentioned. But the British retired only to 
 strike harder elsewhere. A well-appointed army under 
 General Burgoyne was already on its march from Canada 
 to Lake Champlain and the Hudson. As this descended, it 
 was the plan of the British in New York to ascend the 
 Hudson, meeting the other army, and cutting off the com- 
 munication between New England and her sister states. 
 It was a promising scheme, and the first movements in it 
 were successful. Burgoyne took Ticonderoga, and swept 
 the adjacent country, menacing Northern New York on his 
 riglit, and the Green Mountain region on his left. General 
 St. Clair, who had evacuated Ticonderoga, could make no 
 resistance ; nor was his superior officer. General Schuyler, 
 the commander of the northern army, in any position to 
 check the advance of the enemy. But Schuyler bore up 
 bravely ; and the officers under him did their part. A 
 British detachment against Bennington was defeated by 
 John Stark and his New England militia, (August 16.) 
 Fort Schuyler was defended by continental troops, the 
 British retiring on the approach of reenforcements under 
 Arnold, (August 22.) Just as these reverses had checked 
 the advance of Burgoyne, the gallant Schuyler was ousted 
 of his command to make room for General Gates, a very 
 inferior man, if not a very inferior general. He, profiting 
 by the preparations of his predecessor, met the British, and 
 defeating them in two actions near Saratoga, (September 
 19, October 7,) compelled them to surrender. Nearly six 
 
WAR, CONTINUED. 235 
 
 thousand troops laid down their arms ; but more than twice 
 that number were now collected on the American side, 
 (October 16.) 
 
 While this triumph was won, losses were still 
 the Hud- occurring elsewhere. The advance of the British 
 Bon High- fpom New York, after being strangely delayed, be- 
 gan with the capture of the forts which protected 
 the Highlands, (October 5-6.) But on proceeding some 
 way farther up the river, the enemy found it advisable to 
 return to New York. 
 _ , The main army of Great Britain was that which 
 
 Loss of '' 
 
 Phiiadei- Washington had to deal with in New Jersey and 
 ^ ^^' the vicmity. " If General Howe can be kept at 
 bay," wrote the commander-in-chief, " and prevented from 
 effecting his principal purposes, the successes of General 
 Burgoyne, whatever they may be, must be partial and tem- 
 porary." After much uncertainty as to the intentions of 
 the British general, he suddenly appeared in the Chesa- 
 peake, and landing, prepared to advance against Philadel- 
 pliia, (August 25.) Washington immediately marched his 
 entire army of about eleven thousand to stop the progress 
 of the enemy. Notwithstanding the superior number — 
 about seventeen thousand — opposed to him, Washington 
 decided that battle must be given for the sake of Philadel- 
 phia. After various skirmishes, a general engagement took 
 place by the Brandywine, resulting in the defeat of the 
 Americans, (September 11.) But so little were they dis- 
 pirited, that their commander decided upon immediately 
 fighting a second battle, which was prevented only by a 
 great storm. Washington then withdrew towards the in- 
 terior, and Howe took possession of Philadelphia, (Septem- 
 ber 26.) Not yet willing to abandon the city, Washington 
 attacked the main division of the British encamped at 
 Germantown. At the very moment of victory, a panic 
 
236 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 seized tlic Americans, and tliey retreated, (October 4.) 
 There was no help for Philadelj)hia ; it was decidedly lost. 
 The contrast between the defeat of Burgoyne 
 ton's em- ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ Philadelphia was made a matter 
 barrass- Qf rcproach to the commander-in-chief. Let him 
 
 ments. 
 
 make his own defence. " I was left," he says, " to 
 fight two battles, in order, if jDOSsible, to save Pliiladelphia, 
 with less numbers than composed the army of my antago- 
 nist. . . . Had the same spu'it pervaded the people 
 of this and the neighboring states, ... as the states 
 of New York and New England, ... we might be- 
 fore tliis time have had General Howe nearly in the 
 situation of General Burgoyne, with this difference — that 
 the former would never have been out of reach of his ships, 
 whilst the latter increased his danger every step he took." 
 More than this, "Washington conducted his operations in a 
 district where great disaffection to the American caUse cut 
 off supplies for the army, and intelligence of the enemy. 
 To have done what he did, notwithstanding these embar- 
 rassments, was greater than a victory. It was felt to be so 
 at the time. " Nothing," said the French minister, the 
 Count de Vergennes, to the American commissioners in 
 France, — " nothing has struck me so much as General 
 Washington's attacking and giving battle to General 
 Howe's army : to bring an army, raised within a year, 
 to this, promises every thing." 
 
 Loss of ^^^^ enemy were not yet secure in Philadelphia, 
 the Deia- tlic Delaware below the city being still in the pos- 
 session of the Americans. Nor did they give it up 
 without a struggle. Fort Mercer, upon the Jersey shore, 
 was gallantly defended under Lieutenant Colonel Christo- 
 pher Greene against a Hessian attack, (October 22 ;) 
 but when Fort Mifflin, upon an island in the river, gave 
 way after a noble struggle, under Lieutenant Colonel Sam- 
 
WAR, CONTINUED. 237 
 
 uel Smith, (NoTcmber 15,) Fort Mercer was evacuated, 
 and the Delaware was lost, (November 20.) Aii attack 
 meditated by the Americans upon Philadelphia, and one 
 attempted by the British upon the American camp at 
 Whitemarsh, (December 5-8,) resulted in nothing. The 
 operations of 1777 were ended. 
 
 wickes's One enterprise of the year is not to be passed 
 cruise, ovcr. Captain Wickes, of the cruiser Reprisal, 
 after distinguishing himself in the West Indies, sailed for 
 France in the autumn of 1776. Encouraged by his suc- 
 cess in making prizes in the Bay of Biscay, Wickes started 
 on a cruise round Ireland in the following summer, (1777.) 
 Attended by the Lexmgton and the Dolphin, the Reprisal 
 swept the Irish and the English seas of their merchantmen. 
 But on the way to America, the Lexington was captured, 
 and the Reprisal, with the gallant Wickes and all his crew, 
 was lost on the coast of Newfoundland. It was for the 
 navy, of which Wickes was so great an ornament, that a 
 national flag had been adopted in the summer of his cruise, 
 (June 14.) 
 
 " I see plainly," wrote Lafayette to Washington, 
 against ^^ ^^^ clpsc of the year, " that America can defend 
 Washing- herself, if proper measures are taken ; but I begin 
 to fear that she may be lost by herself and her own 
 sons. TVlien I was in Europe, I thought that here almost 
 every man was a lover of liberty, and would rather die 
 free than live a slave. You can conceive my astonishment, 
 when I saw that toryism was as apparently professed as 
 whiggism itself." " We must not," replied Washington, " in 
 so great a contest, expect to meet with nothing but sun- 
 shine." These mournful complaints, this cheerful answer, 
 referred to an intrigue that had been formed against Wash- 
 ington, for the purpose of displacing him from his com- 
 mand. Generals Gates and Mifflin, both members of the 
 
238 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 board of war, lately organized, with Conway, a foreign 
 general in the service, were at the head of a cabal, which 
 was secretly supported by some members of Congress. 
 Had their unworthy plots prevailed, had their anonymous 
 letters to the civil authorities, and their underhand appeals 
 to military men, succeeded, Washington would have been 
 superseded by Gates or by Lee, it was uncertain wliich, 
 botli of British birth, both of far more selfishness than 
 magnanimity, of far more pretension than power. Gates, 
 as we shall read hereafter, met the most utter of all the 
 defeats, Lee conducted the most shameful of all the 
 retreats, in which the Americans were involved. ILippily 
 for the strugghng nation, these men were not its leaders. 
 The cabal in which they were involved fell asunder ; yet 
 without crushing them beneath its ruins. They retained 
 their offices and their honors, as well as "Washington. 
 Army The army was full of quarrels. Sectional jeal- 
 
 quarreis. Qusics wcrc activc, the northern man distrusting the 
 southern, and the southern the northern. National jeal- 
 ousies were equally rife, the American officers opposing 
 the foreign, and the foreign officers the American. More 
 serious, because more reasonable, were the angry feelings 
 excited in the army against Congress, now for its inter- 
 ference, and now for its neglect. Much ill will on both 
 sides was excited by the question of half pay for life to the 
 officers ; it being opposed in Congress, and settled only by 
 a compromise of half pay for seven years after the conclu- 
 sion of the war. Washinsjton contended with all the intel- 
 lectual and moral strength of his nature against the jeal- 
 ousy which Congi'ess unhappily entertained of the army. 
 " The prejudices of other countries," as he says, " have 
 only gone to them [the troops] in time of peace. . . . 
 It is our pohcy to be prejudiced against them in time of 
 war ; though they are citizens, having all the ties and 
 interests of citizens." 
 
WAR, CONTINUED. 239 
 
 ^ ^ The experience of the past twelvemonth had 
 
 snfifer- given Washington more confidence in his soldiers, 
 ings. jj^ j^^^ j^^^l ^.^^^ ^^ learn their better points, their 
 
 enthusiasm, their endurance, their devotion. The winter 
 following the loss of Philadelphia was one of cruel suffer- 
 ings, and the manner in which they were borne formed a 
 new link between the troops and the commander. His 
 remonstrances against the jealousies of Congress are accom- 
 panied by representations of the agonies of the army. 
 " Without arrogance or the smallest deviation from truth, 
 it may be said that no history now extant can furnish an 
 instance of an army's suffering such hardships as ours has 
 done, bearing them with the same patience and fortitude. 
 To see men without clothes to cover their nakedness, with- 
 out blankets to lie on, without shoes, (for the want of 
 which their marches might be traced by the blood from 
 their feet,) and almost as often without provisions as with 
 them ; marching through frost and snow, and at Christmas 
 taking up their winter quarters within a day's march of the 
 enemy, without a house or hut to cover them, till they 
 could be built, and submitting without a murmur, is a proof 
 of patience and obedience which, in my opinion, can scarce 
 be paralleled." This story, at once so heroic and so sad, is 
 dated from Valley Forge. 
 
 Aspect Congress, meanwhile, though finding time to abet 
 
 of Con- the enemies of Washington, and to "suspect his faith- 
 ful followers, was far from active in promoting 
 the interests of the nation. Great changes had taken 
 place in the composition of the assembly. Many of the 
 earlier members had retired, some to the offices of their 
 respective states, some to the field, some to diplomacy, some 
 to private hfe. But a very small number attended the 
 sessions ; twenty-five or thirty making what was now con- 
 sidered quite a full Congress. " America once had a repre- 
 sentation," wrote Alexander Hamilton, one of Washington's 
 
240 TART III. 17G3-1797. 
 
 aids, from head quarters, " that would do honor to any age 
 or nation. The present falling off is very alarming and 
 dangerous." 
 
 The question of foreign alliances had been started 
 Avith at an early date. It met with very considerable 
 opposition. The more earnest spirits thought it 
 humiliating to court the protection of the European pow- 
 ers. They also thought it more likely to increase the dan- 
 gers than the resources of the country to be drawn into 
 the interests and the intrigues of the old world. But as 
 time passed, and the difficulties of the war increased, the 
 tendency to foreign connections grew stronger. Before 
 the declaration of independence, Silas Deane was sent 
 to France, as an agent, with hints of an alliance. Ere he 
 reached his destination, a secret subsidy had been promised 
 to the Americans. Meanwhile a committee of Congress 
 was appointed " to prepare a plan of treaties to be proposed 
 to foreign powers," (June, 177G.) Their plan being adopt- 
 ed, Deane, Benjamin Frankhn, and Arthur Lee, of Vir- 
 ginia, were appointed commissioners to France, (Septem- 
 ber ;) others being sent to Spain, Prussia, Austria, and 
 Tuscany, (December.) The French envoys, amongst 
 v/hom Deane gave place to John Adams, devoted quite 
 as much attention to their own disputes as to the negotia- 
 tions with which they were intrusted. But the disposition 
 of France against her old enemy of England was too 
 decided to require much diplomacy on the part of America. 
 After a year's delay, a treaty between the French king, 
 Louis XVI., and the United'States was made, (January 30, 
 February 6, 1778,) and ratified, (May 5.) 
 
 The ncAVS of the treaty broke like a thunderbolt 
 
 British *' 
 
 concilia- upou the British ministry. Three years had their 
 
 armies, superior both in discipline and in number, 
 
 contended against the so-called rebels ; and what had been 
 
 gained ? A few towns on the seaboard, New York, New- 
 
WAR, CONTINUED. 241 
 
 port, Phllaclelplila, tlie islands near New York, the island 
 on which Newport stands, the lower banks of the Hudson 
 and of the Delaware. This was all. Nothing had been, 
 nothing, it must have almost seemed, could be, gained ex- 
 cept upon the coast ; the interior was untenable, if not 
 unconquerable. And what had been lost ? Twenty thou- 
 sand troops, hundreds of vessels, millions of treasure ; to 
 say nothing of the colonial commerce, once so precious, and 
 now so worthless. It might well strike the ministry, that 
 they must win back their colonies by some other means 
 than war, especially if the French were to be parties in the 
 strife. Accordingly, Lord North laid before Parliament a 
 bill renouncing the purpose of taxing America, and another 
 providing for commissioners to bring about a reconciliation, 
 (February 17.) The bills were passed, and three commis- 
 sioners were appointed to act with the military and the 
 naval commanders in procuring the submission of the 
 United States. To their proposals Congress returned an 
 answer on the anniversary of Bunker Hill, refusing to enter 
 into any negotiations until the independence of the nation 
 was recognized. The commissioners appealed from Con- 
 gress to the states ; but in vain. Their mission was fruit- 
 less, except in proving that the United States would never 
 relapse into British colonies. 
 
 Desirous of concentratinsr his forces before the 
 
 Kocovory ~ 
 
 of Pbiia- French appeared in the field. Sir Henry Clinton, 
 ^ ^^ ^^' now the British commander-in-cliief, evacuated 
 Philadelphia, (June 18.) Washington instantly set out 
 in pursuit of the enemy. Coming up with them in a few 
 days, he ordered General Lee, commanding the van of the 
 army, to begin the attack in the morning. Lee began it 
 by making a retreat, notwithstanding the remonstrances of 
 Lafayette, who had held the command until within a few 
 hours. But for Washuigton's coming up in time to arrest 
 21 
 
212 PAllT III. 1763-1797. 
 
 the flight of the troops under Lee, and to protect the ad- 
 vance of his own soldiers, the army would have been lost. 
 As it was, he formed his line and drove the British from 
 the field of Monmouth, (June 28.) They stole away in the 
 night, and reached New York with still moi-e loss from de- 
 sertion than from battle. 
 
 At about the same time, a Virginia expedition, 
 siou of under the command of Major Clarke, surprised the 
 
 British garrison at Kaskaskia, (July 4,) and took 
 possession of the surrounding villages. The more important 
 post of Vincennes was afterwards secured by the aid of its 
 French inhabitants.* The country was organized as a part 
 of Virginia, under the name of Illinois county, 
 j,^^ ^ Thus the end of the period finds the Americans 
 the conquerors as well as the British. If the latter have 
 
 New York and Newport, with their neighborhoods, 
 the former are in jDOssession of Illinois. The main forces on 
 cither side are again where they were at the beginning of the 
 period, save that the British are now in New York, and 
 the Americans waiting their opportunity to retake the city. 
 " It is not a little pleasing, nor less wonderful to contem- 
 plate," wrote Washington from his camp at White Plains, 
 " that after two years' mana3uvring, and undergoing the 
 strangest vicissitudes that perhaps ever attended any one 
 contest since the creation, both armies are brought back to 
 the very point they set out from, and that the offending 
 party at the beginning is now reduced to the use of the 
 spade and pickaxe for defence. Tlie hand of Providence 
 has been so conspicuous in all this, that he need be worse 
 than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked that 
 has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations." 
 
 * It was subsequently surprised by a British party, but recovered by 
 Clarke in the beginning of the following year. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 War, continued. 
 Third Period. 
 
 Charac- The tliii'd and last period of the war extends 
 teristics. f^.^j^ July, 1778, to January, 1784, five years and a 
 half. Its characteristics are, the alliance of the French 
 with the Americans, and the concentration of the more 
 important operations in the Southern States. These points, 
 it is to be noted, are precisely the opposite of those which 
 characterized the preceding period. 
 
 The first minister of France to the United States, 
 
 Failure to 
 
 recover M. Gerard, came accompanied by a fleet and army, 
 Newport ^^^^^^ D'Estaing, (July.) "Unforeseen and unfa- 
 vorable circumstances," as Washington wrote, " lessened the 
 importance of the French services in a great degree." In 
 the first place, the arrival was just late enough to miss the 
 opportunity of surprising the British fleet in the Delaware, 
 not to mention the British army on its retreat to New York. 
 In the next place, the French vessels proved to be of too 
 great draught to penetrate the channel and cooperate in an 
 attack upon New York. Thus disappointing and disap- 
 pointed, D'Estaing engaged in an enterprise against New- 
 port, still in British hands. It proved another failure. 
 But not through the French alone ; the American troops 
 that were to enter the island at the north being greatly be- 
 hindhand. The same day that they took their place, under 
 
 (243) 
 
244 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 Sullivan, Greene, and Lafayette, the French left theirs at 
 the lower end of the island in order to meet the IJritish fleet 
 arriving from New York, (August 10.) A severe storm 
 prevented more than a partial engagement ; but D'Estaing 
 returned to Newport only to plead the injuries received in 
 the gale as compelling his retirement to Boston for repairs. 
 The orders of the French government had been peremjDtory 
 that in case of any damage to the fleet it should put into 
 port at once. So far was D'Estaing from avoiding action 
 on personal grounds, that when Lafayette hurried to Bos- 
 ton to persuade his countrymen to return, the commander 
 offered to serve as a volunteer until the fleet should be refit- 
 ted. The Americans, however, talked of desertion and of 
 inefhciency, — so freely, indeed, as to affront their faithful 
 Lafayette. At the same time, large numbers of them imi- 
 tated the very course which they censured, by deserting 
 their own army. The remaining forces retreated from their 
 lines to the northern end of the island, and, after an en- 
 gagement, withdrew to the mainland, (August 30.) It 
 required all the good offices of Lafayette, of Washington, 
 and of Congress, to keep the peace between the Americans 
 and their allies. D'Estaing, soothed by the language of 
 those whom he most respected, was provoked, on the other 
 hand, by the hostility of the masses, both in the army and 
 amongst the people. Collisions between his men and the 
 Bostonians kept up his disgust ; and, when his fleet was re- 
 paired, he sailed for the West Indies, (November.) 
 
 The summer and autumn passed away without 
 and nl- ^i^y further exertions of moment upon the American 
 dian lav- gj^|p^ Q^-^ ^|^g pj^j.j^ Qf tfie. British, there was nothing 
 
 attempted that would not have been far better unat- 
 tempted. Marauding parties from Newport went against 
 NeAv Bedford and Fairhaven. Others from New York 
 went against Little Egg Harbor. Tories and Indians — 
 
WAR, CONTINUED. 245 
 
 " a collection of banditti," as they were rightly styled by 
 Washington, descended from the northern country to wreak 
 massacre at Wyoming and at Cherry Valley. The war 
 seemed to be assuming a new character: it was one of 
 ravages unworthy of any cause, and most unworthy of such 
 a cause as the British professed to be. 
 ^ ,. , Affau*s were at a low state amongst the Ameri- 
 
 Decline of ^ 
 
 American caus. " The common interests of America," wrote 
 Washington at the close of 1778, "are mouldering 
 and sinking into irretrievable ruin." Was he who had 
 never despaired at length desj^airing ? There was reason 
 to do so. " If I were to be called upon," he said, " to draw 
 a picture of the times and of men, from what I have seen, 
 heard, and in part know, I should in one word say that idle- 
 ness, dissipation, and extravagance seem to have laid fast 
 hold upon most of them ; that speculation, peculation, and 
 an insatiable thirst for riches seem to have got the better 
 of every other consideration, and almost of every order of 
 men ; that party disputes and personal quarrels are the 
 great business of the day ; whilst the momentous concerns 
 of an empire, a great and accumulating debt, ruined finances, 
 depreciated money, and want of credit, which, in its conse- 
 quences, is the want of every thing, are but secondary con- 
 siderations, and postponed from day to day, from week to 
 week, as if our affairs wore the most promising aspect. 
 After drawing this picture, which from my soul I believe to 
 be a true one, I need not repeat to you that I am alarmed, 
 and wish to see my countrymen roused." This gloomy 
 sketch is of the government — Congress and the various 
 officials at Philadelphia. What was true of the govern- 
 ment was true of the people, save only the diminishing 
 rather tlian increasing class to which we have frequently 
 referred, as constituting the strength of the nation. 
 
 A border warfare had been carried on durmg two suc- 
 21* 
 
246 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 Loss of cesslve summers, (1777-78,) between East Florida 
 Georgia. ^^^ Georgia. The British authorities sent parties 
 fi'om their garrisons, on one side, and on tlie other, the 
 Americans, chiefly Georgians and CaroUiiians, mustered 
 their mihtia. Nothing, however, but alarm and bloodshed 
 had been accomplished, when, at the close of 1778, a serious 
 invasion of Georgia was planned by the British commander. 
 Twenty-five hundred troops from New York, under the 
 command of Lieutenant Colonel Campbell, landed near Sa- 
 vannah, liardly nine hundred Americans, under General 
 Howe, were there to oppose them ; and, after a short en- 
 counter, the town was taken, (December 29.) A few days 
 later, the only other strong place upon the seaboard. Sun- 
 bury, suFrendered to a force of two thousand British, ad- 
 vancing, under General Prevost, from Florida. Prevost, 
 takmg command of the united forces of the British, sent 
 Colonel Campbell against Augusta. The expedition, suc- 
 cessful at first, was soon so threatened by the operations of 
 various partisans, and by those of General Lincoln, the 
 commander of the continental troops, that Campbell evacu- 
 ated Augusta after a fortnight's possession. Prevost then 
 advanced from Savannah. An American force, under 
 General Ashe, was routed at Brier Creek, and Georgia Avas 
 lost, (March 4, 1770.) A few months later. Sir James 
 Wright, the royal governor at the beginning of the war, 
 returned and set up the provincial government once more. 
 
 The conqueror of Georgia aspired to become the 
 Charles- conqucror of Carolina. With chosen troops, and a 
 **^"" numerous body of Indians, Prevost set out against 
 Charleston. He was met before that town by the legion 
 under Count Pulaski, a Pole who had been in the American 
 service for nearly two years ; but Pulaski's men were scat- 
 tered, and Prevost pressed on. The militia, assembled for 
 the defence of the place, were under the orders of Governor 
 
WAR, CONTINUED. 247 
 
 Eutledge ; the continental troops under those of Charleston's 
 earlier defender, Moultrie. But the disparity of forces was 
 fearful, and proposals for surrender were under considera- 
 tion, when the approach of General Lincoln with his army 
 compeUed the British to retire, (May 12.) It was more 
 than a month, however, before they left the adjacent coun- 
 try. They then withdrew to Savannah and St. Augustine. 
 Failure to '^^^^^ Americans w^ere by no means disposed to 
 recover acquicscc in the loss of Georgia, On the reappcar- 
 Sr' ^"^^ ^^ ^'^^ French fleet, under D'Estaing, after a 
 
 successful cruise in the West Indies, he consented to 
 join General Lincoln in an attack on Savannah, (Septem- 
 ber.) But he was too apprehensive of being surprised by 
 the British fleet, as well as too desirous of getting back to 
 the larger operations in the West Indies, to be a useful ally. 
 The impatience of D'Estaing precipitated an assault upon 
 the town, in which Pulaski fell, and both the French and 
 the Americans suffered great loss, (October 9.) The 
 French sailed southward ; the Americans retired to the inte- 
 rior, leaving Savannah to the enemy. 
 
 Invasion I*i*eviously to the events last described, Virginia 
 ofvir- had been invaded. An expedition from New York, 
 ^^°^*' landmg at Portsmouth, plundered that town and all 
 the neighboring country. Not a blow was struck agamst 
 the foe. But booty rather than conquest being their ob- 
 ject, they withdrew, (May.) 
 
 Operations "^^^ Operations in the north during the year were 
 in the of altogether inferior importance. As the main 
 
 body of the British continued at New York, Wash- 
 ington kept his small army in that vicinity. But he had no 
 plans of decisive action. On making his preparations at 
 the beginning of the year, he resolved upon an offensive 
 course towards the Indians of Western New York, whose 
 repeated hostilities, in conjunction with the British, were 
 
248 PAUT III. 17G3-1797. 
 
 chastised by an American expedition under General Sulli- 
 van, (August and September.) In relation to the British, 
 Washington could liold only a defensive attitude. Yet, 
 when Stony Point and Verplanck Point were taken, to the 
 great peril of the Highland fortifications, as well as to the 
 great interruption of intercourse with New England, Wash- 
 ington decided upon striking a blow. A gallant party, 
 under the gallant Wayne, surprised the strong works which 
 the British had constructed at Stony Point, (July 15,) and, 
 though obliged to evacuate them, destroyed them, and re- 
 covered the Hudson, that is, the imrt which had been 
 recently taken from the Americans. The fortification of 
 West Point was undertaken, as an additional safeguard. In 
 other directions, beyond the immediate reach of Washing- 
 ton, although never beyond his interest and his influence, the 
 movements of the year were still less effective. Connecti- 
 cut was invaded by a British force from New York, 
 and great was the devastation, yet not without resistance, 
 (Jiily.) At the same period, a force from Massachusetts 
 assailed a post which the British had taken on the Penob- 
 scot, but with great loss. Some months later, apprehen- 
 sions of the French fleet mduced the British commander 
 to draw in his outposts on the Hudson and to evacuate 
 Newport, (October.) These movements, effected without 
 loss, or even collision, were the only ones of any strong 
 bearing upon the issue of the war. 
 
 Jones's Far away, upon the coasts of Great Britain itself, 
 
 cruises, ^j^g y^^y ^y^^ j^Q^y extended. Following in the track 
 
 of the brave Wickes, John Paul Jones sailed in the Ranger 
 from France to the coast of England and Scotland, entering 
 Whitehaven, where he took the fortifications and fired the 
 shipping of the fort. This was in the spring of 1778. In 
 the spring of the following year, Jones being then in 
 France, it was proposed that he should take the naval com- 
 
WAR, CONTINUED. 249 
 
 mand of an expedition in Mdiich Lafayette was to be the 
 general-in-cliief, the object being nothing less than the inva- 
 sion of England. This project failing, Jones got to sea in 
 summer, with a squadron of seven sail, from a French port. 
 Although much embarrassed by the insubordinate conduct 
 of one of his cliief officers, Jones pursued his cruise with 
 great success along the Scotch coast. Thence descending 
 on the eastern side of England, he encountered a fleet of 
 merchantmen, under convoy of two vessels of war. The 
 two were at once engaged — the larger, the Serapis, by 
 Jones's Bonhomme Richard, and the smaller, the Countess 
 of Scarborough, by the Pallas, under Captain Cottineau. 
 It was a fearful and a remarkable action. Jones was ex- 
 posed not only to the fire of his antagonist, but to that of one 
 of his own vessels, from the treachery or the incompetency 
 of its commander ; and so completely battered was his ship, 
 the Bonhomme Richard, that it went down sixteen hours 
 after the surrender of the Serapis. The other British ves- 
 sel also surrendered, (September 23, 1779.) The brave 
 victor made his way safely to Holland.* 
 Spain in The War was gathering fresh combatants. Spain, 
 the war. after vainly offering her mediation between Great 
 Britain and France, entered into the lists on the side of -the 
 latter power, (June, 1779.) There was no thought of the 
 United States in the transaction. John Jay, hastily ap- 
 pointed minister to Spain, (September,) could not obtain a 
 recognition of American independence. But the United 
 States hailed the entrance of a new nation into the arena. 
 It was so much against their enemy, however little it was 
 for themselves. 
 
 The beginning of 1780 beheld large detachments from 
 the British at New York, under Clinton, the commander-in- 
 
 * He did not return to America till the beginning of 1781. 
 
250 P-UIT III. 17o3-1797. 
 
 Loss of <^^i^^ himself, on tlieii- way soiitliw;vrJ. Charleston, 
 Sv>uth twice ahvady assailed in vain, was the tirst objeet- 
 ro ma. rj^^^ siege began with live thousand British against 
 fifteen hundred Americans, (April 11 :) the numbei-s at\er- 
 Avards inci'easing to eight thousand on the British side mid 
 three thousand on the American. The naval forces of the 
 attack and the defence were still more unequal. Lincoln, 
 yet in command of the southern army, made a bnive resist- 
 ance, but was of course overpowered. The loss of Charles- 
 ton (^lay 12) was followed by the loss of tlie state, or the 
 greater part of ir. Three expeditions, the chief under Lord 
 Cornwallis, penetrated into the interior without meeting any 
 repulse. So complete was tlie prostration of South Caro- 
 hna, that Clinton returned to iXew York, leavinir Cornwallis 
 to retain and to extend the conquest which had been made, 
 (June.) 
 
 Faiinreto A^ll was not yet lost. The partisans of South 
 recover Carolina, like those of Georgia, held out in the 
 upper country, whence they made frequent descents 
 upon the British posts. The names of Thomas Sumter 
 and Francis Marion recall many a chivalrous enterprise. 
 Continental troops and militia were marching from the north 
 under De Kalb, the companion of Lafayette in his voyage, 
 and under Gates, who assumed the command in North Car- 
 olina, (July.) Thence entering South Carolina in tlie 
 hope of recovering it from its conquerors. Gates encountered 
 Cornwallis near Camden, and. ahhough much superior in 
 numbers, was routed, — tlie militia of North CaroHna and 
 Virginia leaving the few continental troops to bear the 
 brunt of the battle in vain. The brave De Kalb tell a sac- 
 riiice upon the Held, (August 1C\) Two days at'terwanls, 
 Sumter Avas surprised by the British cavalry under Lieu- 
 tenant Colonel Tarleton, and his party scattered. M;u'ion 
 was at the smne time driven into North Carolina, 
 
WAll, CONTINt^ED. 251 
 
 .. , It seemod as if the south were friven up to the 
 
 nuiitof foe. So Httle exertion to defend it was made 
 1. .^^ ^j^^ other portions of the countr}^ that a rumor 
 gained ground of an intention to abandon South Caro- 
 Hna and Georgia ahogether. The French minister, De 
 La Luzerne, wrote home of still greater saeriliees in oon- 
 temphition. lie mentions the possibihty of a proposal from 
 the British that the other states, should be aekuowledged to 
 be independent if the Carolinas, both North and South, and 
 Georgia, were surrendered. Such a proposition was never 
 made ; but it must have been thouuht of and talked about. 
 Such, too, were the sectional divisions in ami out of Con- 
 gress, that there Avere some to whom the abandonment of 
 the south wore no look of horror or of wrong. 
 Its lie- Fortunately there were others, and a far greater 
 
 loiKv. number, who never hesitated at tiie necessity of de- 
 fending their southern brothers. AVashington, still on the 
 watch about Ncnv York, turned anxious glances to the oper- 
 ations at the south. " The ailairs of the Southern States," 
 he wrote to the president of Congress, " seem to be so ex- 
 ceedingly disordered, and their resources so nuich exhausted, 
 that whatever may be undertaken there must chiefly depend 
 on the means carried from hence. If these fail, Ave shall bo 
 condemned to a disgraceful and fatal inactivity." When 
 Gates proved incompetent to the work, AVashington ap- 
 pointed his best otiicer. Major General Greene, to save the 
 invaded states and to keep the country whole, (October.) 
 Piukness ^^ ^^ ^^* ^^ dark time, even in the north. Washing- 
 iii tiio ton had looked forward, at the opening of the year, 
 
 north. . .,11 /• 1 • 1 
 
 to an active campaign ; but the hopes oi Ins heart 
 died out one bv one. Lafavette, returning from a year's 
 absence in France, where he had been unwearied in uphold- 
 ing the interests of America, announced the coming of an 
 iu-mament, both land and naval, from his country. This 
 
252 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 arrived at Newport, (July,) and there it remained dur- 
 ing the rest of the year, blockaded by a British fleet. 
 Washington's plans of an attack with the French upon New 
 York fell through, to his great disappointment. What the 
 French thought of the state of things may be gathered from 
 a despatch of their commander, the Count de Rochambeau, 
 to the government. " Upon our arrival here," he writes, 
 " the country was in consternation. The paper money had 
 fallen to sixty for one. ... I landed with my staff 
 withouj: troops ; nobody appeared in the streets ; those at 
 the windows looked sad and depressed. . . . Send us 
 troops, ships, and money, but do not depend upon this peo- 
 ple or upon their means." ^ It was soon afterwards that 
 Washington wrote, " If either the temper or the resources 
 of the country will not admit of an alteration, we may ex- 
 pect soon to be reduced to the humiliating condition of 
 seeing the cause of America in America upheld by foreign 
 arms." " But I give it as my opinion," he wrote again, 
 " that a foreign loan is indispensably necessary to the con- 
 tinuance of the war." The autumn came, and Benedict 
 Arnold, one of the officers upon whom the military fortunes 
 of the nation had most depended, all but succeeded in 
 betraying West Point to the enemy, (September.) He 
 escaped, leaving Major Andre, with whom he had been 
 treating, to die the death of a spy. A descent, partly of 
 British, partly of loyalist Americans, and partly of Indians, 
 surprised the fortresses and devastated the fields of Northern 
 New York, (October.) Disaster was succeeding disaster, 
 when Congress, listening to the exhortations of the com- 
 mander-in-chief, again addressed itself to the organization 
 of an army. It proposed enlistments of soldiers to continue 
 
 * Mr. Sparks's translation, in Washington's Writings, vol. vii. pp. 
 504-506. 
 
WAR, CONTINUED. 253 
 
 during the war, and half pay of officers to continue after- 
 wards and for life ; but it was only a proposal. More effec- 
 tive were the exertions of the women of Pennsylvania, 
 under the guidance of Mrs. Reed, the wife of the Pennsyl- 
 vanian president, and those* of New Jersey, led by Mrs. 
 Dickinson, who raised generous subscriptions * to meet the 
 necessities of the American army. " The spirit that ani- 
 mated the members of your association," wrote Washington 
 to the ladies of Philadelphia on the death of Mrs. Reed, 
 " entitles them to an equal place with any who have pre- 
 ceded them in the walk of female patriotism. It embellishes 
 the American character with a new trait." 
 Li<-htiu Cornwallis, conqueror of South Carolina, pre- 
 tbe pared to march uj^wn North Carolina. To secure 
 the upper country, he detached a trusted officer, 
 Major Ferguson, with a small band of regular troops and 
 loyalists, in addition to whom large accessions were soon 
 obtained from the tory part of the population. These 
 recruits, like all of the same stamp, were full of hatred 
 towards their countrymen on the American side ; and fierce 
 were the ravages of the party as Ferguson marched on. 
 Aroused by the agony of the country, a considerable num- 
 ber of volunteers gathered, under various officers — Colonel 
 Campbell, of Virginia, Colonels Cleaveland, Sevier, and 
 Shelby, of North Carolina, and others. Nine hundred chosen 
 men hastened to overtake the enemy, whom they found en- 
 camped in security on King's Mountain, near the frontier of 
 South Carolina. The Americans never fought more resolute- 
 ly. Ferguson was killed, and his surviving men surrendered 
 at discretion, (October 7.) The march of Cornwallis was 
 instantly checked ; instead of advancing, he fell back. Nay, 
 
 * In paper money, upwards of $300,000 ; but in specie firom ^000 to 
 $7000, 
 
 22 
 
254 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 more ; a force which had been sent from New York to estab- 
 lish itself in Virginia was summoned by Cornwalhs to his aid. 
 The year had been marked by important move- 
 iu the ments in Europe. The Empress Catharine of Rus- 
 ^^^' sia put forth a declaration of independence, as it 
 may be styled, in behalf of the neutral states, by proclaim- 
 ing their right to carry on their commerce in time of war 
 exactly as in time of peace, provided they conveyed no con- 
 traband articles. Tliis doctrine was wholly at variance 
 with the rights of search and of blockade, as asserted by 
 England in relation to neutral nations. But it prevailed ; 
 and a league, by the name of the Armed Neutrality, soon 
 comprehended nearly the whole of Europe. Little, how- 
 ever, Avas effected by it; the Empress of Russia herself 
 called it her Armed Nullity. Yet the circle of hostility 
 against England went on widening. On the accession of 
 Holland to the Ai*med Neutrality, Great Britain, having 
 just before captured a minister to the Dutch from the United 
 States, — Henry Laurens, of South Carolina, — declared war 
 at the close of 1780. But Holland no more became an 
 ally of the United States than Spain had done, 
 rinai '^^® "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual 
 
 adoption Union between the States," adopted by Congress 
 Confed- towards the end of 1777, were still in abeyance, 
 eration. 'pjjg states to wliom they were sent for approval had 
 found many objections to the plan of union. Some of the 
 larger states disliked the right of the smaller states to an 
 equal vote with themselves in Congress. The smaller oy>- 
 posed the claims of the larger to the unoccupied lands of the 
 country, alleging that what was won by common exertion 
 should be turned to common advantage. One state — New 
 Jersey — had the wisdom to object that Congress, or the gen- 
 eral government, was not endowed with sufficient power, 
 especially on the matter of regulating the trade of the coun- 
 
WAR, CONTINUED 255 
 
 try. These and other difficulties were but slowly sur- 
 mounted When all the rest had been removed, the ques- 
 tion of the unoccupied lands was stUl a point upon which 
 the articles hung motionless. The magnanimity with wliich 
 this last obstacle was removed is a bright episode in the 
 history of the times. New Jersey was the first of the 
 smaller states to come into the Confederacy, relymg upon 
 he justice of her more powerful sisters, (November 20, 
 ins.) First of the landed states to cede her claims for 
 the general welfare was New York, (February 19, 1780 ) 
 Her generosity, and the confidence of such states a^ New 
 Jersey, induced the hitherto reluctant Maryland to waive 
 her objections and sign the Articles. The thirteen were 
 then complete, (March 1, 1781.) 
 
 fidctt Congratulations were general, and weU founded, 
 '■ so far as they related to the closer union of the 
 states. But notliing had been gained on the score of a na- 
 lonal government. On the contrary, sometlnng had been 
 lost; tlie powers of Congress being rather diminished than 
 increased under the Articles of Confederation. Before their 
 adoption a majority of states decided a question; now, nine 
 out of the thirteen must be united to carry any measure. 
 The half pay for Me, for instance, that had been voted to 
 the ^fficers of the army, was reconsidered and refused by 
 the Congress of the Confederation, for want of nine states to 
 vote i^.r Its fulfilment. All this had been foreboded and 
 lamented. "A nominal head, whicli at present is but an- 
 ther name for Congress, will no longer do," _ thus wrote 
 TV ashington. His aide-de-camp, Hamilton, wrote that Con- 
 gress must be clothed with proper authority, "by resuming 
 and exercising the discretionary powers originally vested ' 
 m them " or by calling immediately a convention of all 
 the states, with full authority to conclude finaUy upon a 
 general confederation," (1780.) Just before the adaption 
 
256 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 of the Articles, the legislature of New York presented a 
 Ibrmal memorial to Congress, saying, " We shall not pre- 
 sume to give our opinion on the question whether Congress 
 has adequate powers or not. But we will without hesita- 
 tion declare that, if they have not, they ought to have them, 
 and that we stand ready on our part to confer them." If 
 all these things could be said before the ratification of the 
 Confederation, they could of course be repeated with even 
 greater truth afterwards. A specimen of the inefficiency 
 of the government occurs in relation to a proposal of import 
 duties to be laid by Congress. Rhode Island refused to 
 grant the necessaiy power to the government, and Vii'ginia, 
 after granting it, retracted it, (December, 1782.) 
 ,, . In the mean time events were hasteninor to a crisis 
 
 Defence ° 
 
 of the in the field. General Greene, taking command of 
 ■ the southern army, with several American officers 
 and the Pole Kosciuszko in his train, determined to save 
 the Carolinas. He was confirmed in his purpose by his 
 brigadier. General Morgan, who, distinguished in various 
 actions, won a decisive victory over Tarleton at the Cow- 
 pens, in South Carolina, (January 17.) Two months later, 
 Greene and Morgan having retreated in the interval, the 
 main bodies of the armies, British and American, met at 
 Guilford, in North Carolina, (March 15.) Both retired 
 from the field ; the Americans first, but the British with the 
 greater loss. Cornwailis withdrew towards Wilmington, 
 pursued by Greene, who presently dashed into South Caro- 
 lina. There he was opposed by Lord Rawdon, who at once 
 defeated him in an engagement at Hobkirk's Hill, near 
 Camden, (April 25.) This was a cruel blow to Greene's 
 hopes of surprising South Carolina. " This distressed 
 country," he wrote, " cannot struggle much longer without 
 more effiictual support." But it was not in Greene's nature 
 to despair. Wliile he advanced against the stronghold of 
 
WAR, CONTINUED. 257 
 
 Ninety-Six, in South Carolina, lie detached a body of troops 
 under Lieutenant Colonel Lee to join a band of Carolinians 
 and Georgians who were besieging Augusta. The result 
 was the surrender of that town, (June 5.) But the fort at 
 Ninety-Six held out against repeated assaults, and Greene 
 was obliged to retire before the superior force which Raw- 
 don was leading to raise the siege, (June 19.) For a time, 
 the war subsided ; then Greene reappeared, and fought the 
 action of Eutaw Springs. He lost the field of battle, (Sep- 
 tember 8 ;) but the British, under Colonel Stuart, were so 
 much weakened as to give way, and retreat precipitately 
 towards Charleston. Thus from defeat to defeat, without 
 tlie intermission of a single victory, in the common sense, 
 Greene had now marched, now retreated, in such a brave 
 and brilliant way, as to force the enemy back upon the sea- 
 board. The successes of the mihtia and of the partisan 
 corps had been equally eifective. All the upper country, 
 not only of the Carolinas, but of Georgia, was once more 
 in the American possession. 
 „, At the time when thing's were darkest at the 
 
 The ,cen- o 
 
 trai states soutli, greater perils arose at the centre of the 
 anger, ^^q^j^^j.^^ Virginia was invaded in the first days 
 of 1781 by a formidable force, chiefly of loyalists under the 
 traitor Arnold. He took Richmond, but only to leave it 
 and retire to Portsmouth, where he bade defiance both to 
 the American militia and the French vessels from Newport, 
 (January.) Soon after, two thousand British troops were 
 sent from New York, under General Phillips, with direc- 
 tions to march up the Chesapeake against Maryland and 
 Pennsylvania, (March.) This plan embraced the twofold 
 idea of cutting off the Carolinas from all assistance, and 
 of laying the central states equally prostrate. At about 
 the same time, Cornwallis, baffled by Greene in North 
 Carolina, set out to join the forces assembled in Yii'ginia. 
 22* 
 
258 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 They, meanwliile, had penetrated the interior, swept the 
 plantations and the towns, and taken Petersburg, (April.) 
 The arrival of Cornwallis completed the array of the 
 enemy, (May.) The very heart of the country was in 
 danger. 
 
 " Our affairs," wrote Washington before the con- 
 centration of the enemy in Virginia, " are brought 
 to an awful crisis." " Why need I run into details," he 
 wrote again, " when it may be declared in a word, that we 
 are at the end of our tether, and that now or never our 
 deUverance must come ? " " But we must not despair," he 
 urged, as dangers accumulated ; " the game is yet in our 
 own hands ; to play it well is all we have to do, and I trust 
 the experience of error will enable us to act better in 
 future. A cloud may yet pass over us, individuals may be 
 ruined, and the country at large, or particular states, under- 
 go temporary distress ; but certain I am that it is in our 
 power to bring the war to a happy conclusion." 
 
 The nation was far from beino; up to the emer- 
 
 American o i 
 
 prcpara- gcncy. A Spirit of weariness and selfishness was 
 prevailing among the people. The army, ill disci- 
 plined and ill paid, was exceedingly restless. Troops of 
 the Pennsylvania and New Jersey lines had broken out 
 into actual revolt at the beginning of the year. The gov- 
 ernment was still ineffective, the Confederation feeble. Con- 
 gress inert, not to say broken down. When one reads that 
 this body stood ready to give up the Mississippi to Spain, 
 nay, to waive the express acknoAvledgment of American 
 independence as an indispensable preliminary to negotia- 
 tions with Great Britain, — when one reads these things, he 
 may well wonder that there were any preparations to meet 
 the exigencies of the times. The German Baron de Steu- 
 ben, collecting troops in Virginia at the time of the inva- 
 sion, was afterwards joined by Lafayette, whose troops had 
 
WAR, CONTINUED. 259 
 
 been clad on their march at his expense. By sea, the 
 French fleet was engaged in defending the coasts against 
 the invader. It seemed as if the stranger were the only- 
 defender of Virginia and of America. But on the south- 
 ern border was Greene, with his troops and his partisan 
 allies. At the north was Washington, planning, acting, 
 summoning troops from the states, and the French from 
 Newi^ort, to aid him in an attack upon New York, as the 
 stronghold of the foe, until, convinced of the impossibility 
 of securing the force required for such an enterprise, he 
 resolved upon taking the command in Virginia, (August 
 14.) Thither he at once directed the greater part of his 
 scanty troops, as well as of the French. The allied army 
 was to be strengthened by the French fleet, and not merely 
 by that of Newport, but by another and a larger fleet from 
 the West Indies. 
 ^ , ^ The British under Cornwallis were now within 
 
 Defeat 
 
 of Corn- fortified lines at Yorktown and Gloucester, (August 
 wa IS. i_22.) There they had retired under orders from 
 the commander-in-chief at New York, who thought both 
 that post and the Virginian conquests in danger from the 
 increasing activity of the Americans, and especially the 
 French. Little had been done in the field by Cornwallis. 
 He had been most gallantly watched, and even pursued 
 by Lafayette, whose praises for skill, as well as heroism, 
 ran Of far and wide. Washins-ton and the French General 
 Rochambeau joined Lafayette at Williamsburg, (Septem- 
 ber 14.) A great fleet under Count de Grasse was already 
 in the Chesapeake. As soon as the land forces arrived, 
 the siege of Yorktown was begun, (September 28.) The 
 result was certain. Washington had contrived to leave Sir 
 Henry Clinton impressed with the idea that New York was 
 still the main object. Sir Henry, therefore, thought of no 
 re enforcements for Cornwallis, until they were too late, 
 
260 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 until, indeed, they were out of the question in consequence 
 of the naval superiority of the French. In fact, an expe- 
 dition to lay waste the eastern part of Connecticut \va3 
 occupying Clinton's mind. He placed the loyalists and the 
 Hessians despatched for the purpose under the traitor Ar- 
 nold, who succeeded in destroying New London, (Septem- 
 ber.) Thus there were but seven thousand five hundi-ed 
 British at Yorktown to resist nine thousand Americans and 
 seven thousand French, besides the numerous fleet. In 
 less than three weeks, Cornwallis asked for terms, (October 
 17,) and two days afterwards surrendered. 
 
 The blow was decisive. The United States were 
 transported. Government, army, people were for 
 once united, for once elevated to the altitude of those noble 
 spirits, who, like Washington, had sustained the nation 
 until the moment of victory. " The play is over," wrote 
 Lafayette, " and the fifth act is just finished." " O God ! " 
 exclaimed the English prime minister, on hearing of the 
 event. " It is all over — all over ! " 
 
 It was Washin futon's earnest desire to avail of 
 
 Prospects. 
 
 the French fleet in an attack on Charleston. De 
 Grasse refused. Tlien Washington urged him to transport 
 troops to Wilmington. But De Grasse alleged his engage- 
 ments in the West Indies, and sailed thither. The French 
 under Rochambeau went into winter quarters at Williams- 
 burg, while the Americans marched, a part to reenforce the 
 southern army, and a part to the various posts in the north. 
 Prospects Avere uncertain. It was evident that the war 
 was approaching its close, but none could tell how nearly. 
 Washington implored his countrymen to be on the alert. 
 Again and again he rebuked the inaction into which they 
 were falling, as if their work was done. The British still 
 held their post by the Penobscot. They were still strong 
 at New York. Wilmington was evacuated by them -, but 
 
WAR, CONTINUED. . 26X 
 
 Charleston, the chief town of the soutli, and Savannah, 
 remained in their hands. Lafayette wrote from France, 
 whither he went at the close of the year, that " the evacu- 
 ation of New York and Chai'leston are as far from British 
 intentions as the evacuation of London." 
 
 It turned out differently. A vote of Parliament 
 
 Evacua- '' 
 
 tion of that the king be requested to bring the war to a 
 'close, (February 27, 1782,) led to a change of 
 ministry. Determining to recognize the independence of 
 the United States, and to concentrate hostilities against the 
 European powers, the new ministry sent out Sir Guy 
 Carleton as commander-in-chief, with instructions to evacu- 
 ate New York, Charleston, and Savannah ; in a word, the 
 entire seaboard. Savannah was evacuated in the summer, 
 (July 11,) Charleston in the early winter, (December 14.) 
 It was the result of past campaigns, not of any j^resent one. 
 The Americans were without armies, without supplies, at 
 least without such as were indispensable for any active 
 operations. When the French under Rochambeau reached 
 the American camp on the Hudson in the autumn, they 
 passed between two lines of troops clothed and armed by 
 subsidies from France. It was a touching tribute of grati- 
 tude, and an equally touching confession of weakness. All 
 but a single corps of the French embarked at the close of 
 the year. The remainder followed in the ensuing spring. 
 Peace was then decided, ui:>on. It had been 
 
 The Eu- , . , , , . ■,.-,, 
 
 ropean brought about by other operations besides those 
 combat- ^yliich havc been described. The contest in Amer- 
 
 ants. 
 
 ica, indeed, was but an episode in the extended 
 warfare of the period. Upon the sea, the fleets of Britain 
 hardly encountered an American man-of-war. ' The oppos- 
 ing squadrons were those of France and Spain and Hol- 
 land. By land, the French opposed the British in the 
 East Indies, upon the coast of Africa, and in the West 
 
2G2 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 Indies. Tbey also aided tlie Spaniards to conquer Minor- 
 ca, in the Mediterranean, and to assail, but in vain, the 
 great stronghold of Gibraltar. The Spanish forces were 
 also active in the Floridas. Holland, alone of the Euro- 
 pean combatants, made no stand against Great Britain. In 
 the Indies, both East and West, and in South American 
 Guiana, the Dutch were immense losers. What was gained 
 from them, however, did not compensate for what was lost 
 to others by the British. The preliminaries of peace, at 
 first with America, (November 30,) and afterwards with 
 the European powers, (January 20, 1783,) were signed to 
 the general contentment of Great Britain, of Europe, and 
 of America. 
 
 Hostilities soon ceased. In America, Sir Guy 
 
 Cessation ^ •' 
 
 of hostiii- Carleton proclaimed their cessation on the part of 
 the British, (April 8.) Washington, with the con- 
 sent of Congress, made proclamation to the same effect. 
 By a singular coincidence, the day on which hostilities were 
 stayed was the anniversary of that on which they were 
 begun at Lexington, eight years before, (April 19.) 
 
 Measures, already proposed by the British com- 
 of pris- mander, were at once taken on both sides for the 
 oners. release of prisoners. The treatment and the ex- 
 change of these unfortunate men had given rise to great 
 difficulties during the war. Even where actual cruelty did 
 not exist, etiquette and policy were too strong for humanity. 
 The horrors of the British jails and prison ships were 
 bywords, and when their unhappy victims were offered in 
 exchange for the better treated prisoners of the other side, 
 the Americans hesitated to receive them. The troops that 
 surrendered at Saratoga, on condition of a free passage to 
 Great Britain, were detained, in consequence of various 
 objections, to be freed only by desertions and slow ex- 
 changes after the lapse of years. In short, the prisoners 
 
WAR, CONTINUED. 263 
 
 of both armies seem to have been regarded in the light of 
 troublesome burdens, alike by those who had captured 
 them and those from whom they were captured. Individ- 
 ual benevolence alone lights up the gloomy scene. At 
 the close of the war, we find Congress, on the recommen- 
 dation of Washington, voting its thanks to Reuben Harvey, 
 a merchant of Cork, for his humane succors to the Amer- 
 ican prisoners in Ireland. 
 
 Treaties Negotiations for peace met with many interrup- 
 of peace, tions. So far as the United States were concerned, 
 the questions of boundary, of the St. Lawrence and New- 
 foundland fisheries, of indemnity to British creditors, as 
 well as to American loyalists, were all knotty points ; the 
 more so, that the four negotiators — Franklin, John Jay, 
 John Adams, and Henry Laurens — were by no means 
 agreed upon the principles by which to decide them. 
 Some of the envoys, moreover, were possessed of the 
 idea that France was disposed to betray her American 
 allies ; and so strong was this feeling that the consent of 
 the French government, the point which had been agreed 
 upon as the essential condition of making peace, was not 
 even asked before the signature of the preliminaries al- 
 ready mentioned. It was before the preliminaries were 
 signed that all these embarrassments appeared ; and they 
 continued afterwards. At length, however, definitive treaties 
 were signed at Paris and at Versailles between Great 
 Britain and her foes, (September 3.) * America obtained 
 her independence, with all the accompanying privileges 
 and possessions which she desired. She agreed, however, 
 against her will, to make her debts good, and to recommend 
 the loyalists, whose property had been confiscated, to the 
 favor of the state governments. Spain recovered the Flor- 
 
 * The treaty with Holland was not concluded until the following spring. 
 
264 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 idas. The other terms of the treaties — the cessions on one 
 side and on the other — do not belong to our history. The 
 treaty between Great Britain and the United States was 
 formally confirmed by Congress at the beginning of the 
 following year, (January 14, 1784.) 
 
 J, After long delays, the British withdrew from 
 
 tion of their post on the Penobscot. New York was evac- 
 ^^^^^ 'uated, (November 25, 1783,) and ten days later, 
 the remaininsf forces embarked from Staten Island and 
 Long Island, (December 4-6.) A few western posts 
 excepted, the territory of the United States was free. 
 
 The disposal of the American army had long 
 
 Troubles . . i /» ^i 
 
 iu the been a serious question. A year before, the army 
 American j^^q addi'csscd Congrcss on the subject of the pay, 
 then months, and even years, in arrears, (Decem- 
 ber, 1782.) Congress was powerless. The army was 
 incensed. When, therefore, anonymous addresses to the 
 officers were issued from the camp at Newburg, proposing 
 the alternative of redress or of desertion,* the worst con- 
 sequences appeared inevitable. The more so, tliat the 
 excitement was greatest amongst the better class of sol- 
 diers, the " worthy and faithful men," as their commander 
 described them, " who, from their early engaging in the 
 war at moderate bounties, and from their patient continu- 
 ance under innumerable distresses, have not only deserved 
 well of their country, but have obtained an honorable dis- 
 tinction over those who, with shorter times, have gained 
 large pecuniary rewards." Washington, and Washington 
 alone, was equal to the crisis. He had repelled with unut- 
 terable disdain the offer of a crown from certain individuals 
 in the army a year before, (May, 1782.) He now rebuked 
 the spirit of the Newburg addresses, and by his majestic 
 
 * "If peace [comes], that nothing shall separate you from your arms 
 but death ; if war, that . . you mil retire to some unsettled country." 
 
WAR, CONTINUED, 265 
 
 integrity, quelled the rising passions of those around him. 
 But he entered with all the greater fervor into the just 
 claims of the army. His refusal at the outset of the war, 
 renewed at the close,* to receive any compensation for his 
 services to the country, placed him in precisely the position 
 from which he could now appeal in behalf of his ofhcers 
 and soldiers to Congress and the nation. His voice was 
 heard. The army obtained a promise of its pay, including 
 the commutation to a fixed sum of the half pay for life 
 formerly promised to the officers at the expiration of the 
 war, (March, 1783.) All was not yet secure. But three 
 months later, and a body of Pennsylvanian troops marched 
 upon Congress itself in Philadelphia. Washington de-. 
 nounced the act with scorn. " These Pennsylvania 
 levies," he says, " wlio have now mutinied, are recruits 
 and soldiers of a day, who have liot borne the heat and 
 burden of the war." He at once sent a force to reduce 
 and to chastise them, (June.) 
 
 Disband- " It is high time for a peace," Washington had 
 ^^s- written some months previously. The army was 
 slowly disbanded, a small number only being left when the 
 formal proclamation of dissolution vras made, (November 
 3.) A few troops were still retained in arms. Of these, 
 and of his faithful officers, tlie commander-in-chief took his 
 leave at New York, (December 4.) Thence he repaired 
 to Annapolis, where Congress was in session, and there 
 resigned the commission which he had held, unstained and 
 glorious, for eight years and a half, (December 23.) 
 
 It seems as if he left no one behind him. The 
 ment of town and the state, each had its authorities ; but 
 
 the na- 
 
 nothin<2: more than the name of one. Yet the 
 
 the nation was without a government, at least with 
 
 tion. ° 
 
 o 
 
 * Just after resigning his commission, he declined the overtures of 
 Pennsylvania to propose a national remuneration for his sacrifices. 
 23 
 
Cl 
 
 GG TART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 need of a directing and a sustaining power bad never been 
 greater or clearer. If tbe war itself was over, its conse- 
 quences, its burdens, its debts, its wasting influences, were 
 
 but begun. 
 
 No one saw tins more plainly, no one felt it more 
 
 Washing- ^ '' ^ 
 
 ton's deeply, than the retiring commander-m-chief. At 
 counsels. ^^^ ^.^^^ j^^^^^| j^^ 1^^^^^^ absorbed in his military duties. 
 
 In his relations to Congress, to the states, even to the citi- 
 zens, as well as in those to foreigners, whether allies or 
 enemies, he had been almost as much the civil as the mili- 
 tary head of the country. The arm that had led the nation 
 through the field was now lifted to point out the paths that 
 opened beyond. " According to the system of policy the 
 states shall adopt at this moment," — thus Washington wrote 
 to the governors of the states, on disbanding the army, — 
 " they will stand or fall ; and by their confirmation or lapse, 
 it is yet to be decided whether the revolution must ultimate- 
 ly be considered as a blessing or a curse ; a blessing or a 
 curse, not to the present age alone, for with our fate will 
 the destiny of unborn millions be involved." " There are 
 four things," he continued, " which I humbly conceive are 
 essential to the well being, I may even venture to say, to 
 the existence, of the United States as an independent power. 
 
 " First. An indissoluble union of the states under one 
 federal head. 
 
 " Second. A sacred regard to public justice. 
 
 " Third. The adoption of a proper peace establishment. 
 And 
 
 " Fourth. The prevalence of that pacific and friendly 
 disposition among the people of the United States which 
 will mduce them to forget their local prt^udices and poli- 
 cies ; to make those mutual concessions which are requisite 
 to the general prosperity ; and in some instances, to sacri- 
 fice their individual advantages to the interest of the 
 community." 
 
WAR, CONTINUED. 267 
 
 j^jjfj " I now make it my earnest prayer," concluded 
 
 prayers, tj^e Christian hero, " that God would have you, and 
 the state over which you preside, in His holy protection ; 
 that He would incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate 
 a spirit of subordination and obedience to government, to 
 entertain a brotherly affection and love for (9PxQ anotlier, for 
 their fellow-citizens of the United States at large, and par- 
 ticularly for their brethren Avho have served them in the 
 field ; and finally, that He would most graciously be pleased 
 to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean 
 ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of 
 mind, which were tlie characteristics of tlie divine Author 
 of our blessed religion, and without a humble imitation of 
 whose example in these things we can never hope to be a 
 happy nation.'* 
 
. CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Constitution. 
 
 Foreign ^^^ loves to dwell upon the sympathy from 
 sympa- abroad for the infixnt nation. What had been 
 ^^' repressed while the states were 'still claimed as the 
 colonies of Great Britain broke forth after the claim was 
 set aside. From all parts of Europe, from ail parts of 
 Great Britain itself, there came congratulations and ap- 
 plauses. Even sovereigns did homage to the republic. 
 The King of France continued its friend. The King of 
 Spain,, recognizing its national existence, sent gifts and 
 compliments to its great leader, Washington. 
 
 No proof of regard was dearer to Yf ashington or 
 ette"s to the nation than one which came from the friend 
 and the champion of many years, the devoted 
 Lafayette. He had spent two years and a hah' in gener- 
 ous exertions at home, when he crossed the seas to join in 
 the American rejoicings at the definite establishment of 
 independence. The whole people welcomed hiim Divided 
 on many points, they were united in the grateful affection 
 which he had inspired. Soldiers and citizens, the wild 
 borderers and the plodding townspeople, the inhabitants of 
 every section, tlu'onged together with a common desire of 
 doing honor to Lafayette. He was feasted in all the prin- 
 cipal places. Congress gave him a public reception. Wash- 
 ington crowned him with love and parental gratitude at 
 
 Mount Vernon. After a six months' tour, he left America 
 
 (268) 
 
THE CONSTITUTION. 269 
 
 to share in the struggles of his native country, (August, 
 1784— January, 1785.) 
 
 Wants of He left the country of his adoption in the midst 
 America. q£ struggles of Its own. It was contending against 
 manifold wants, some common to any youthful nation, others 
 peculiar to itself, to a nation so unique in its history, and 
 especially in the history of the last twenty years. It 
 is to these wants, and to the manner in which they were 
 supplied, that we are to turn. 
 
 o.gan- Chief of them all, the one, indeed, in which they 
 
 ization. ^yjij |jg found to liavc bccu comprehended, like 
 segments in a circle, was organization. The sharp points, 
 the intersecting lines, the clashing forms of different dis- 
 tricts and of different institutions, needed to be reduced to 
 order within the curve, at once enfolding and harmonizing, 
 of a national system. There was hardly a political princi- 
 ple upon which the entire country agreed. There was not 
 one political power by which it was governed. Interests 
 Avere opposed to interests, classes to classes ; nay, men to 
 men. When the officers of the army, for instance, formed 
 into a society, under the name of the Cincinnati, for the 
 purpose of keeping up their relations with one another, and 
 more particularly of succoring those who might fall into 
 distress, a general uproar was raised, because the member- 
 ship of the society Avas to be hereditary, from father to son, 
 or from kinsman to kinsman. It v/as found necessary to 
 strike out this provision, at the first general meeting of the 
 Cincinnati, (1784.) Even then, though there remained 
 nothing but a charitable association, it Avas inAX'ighed 
 against as a caste, as an aristocracy ; as any thing, in short, 
 save Avhat it really was. It is easy to say that all this is a 
 sign of republicanism, of a dcA'oted anxiety to preserve the 
 institutions for Avhich loss and sufferings had been endured. 
 But it is a clearer sign of the suspicions and the collisions 
 23* 
 
270 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 which were rending the nation asunder. Tliere was but a, 
 single remedy. The people were to be united ; the country 
 was to be made one. 
 
 The states were absorbed in their own troubles. 
 
 The 
 
 states. The debts of the Confederation lay heavy upon 
 Internal them, in addition to those contracted by themselves. 
 
 troubles. ... . 
 
 Their citizens were impoverished, here and tliere 
 maddened by the calamities and the burdens, private and 
 public, which they were obliged to bear together. At 
 Exeter, the assembly of New Ilampsliire was assailed by 
 two hundred men with weapons, demanding an emission of 
 paper money. All day, the insurgents held possession of 
 the legislative chamber ; but in the early evening, they 
 were dispersed by a rumor that Exeter was taking up 
 arms against them, (1786.) The same year, the courts of 
 Massachusetts were prevented from holding their usual 
 sessions by bodies of armed men, whose main object it was 
 to prevent any collection of debts or taxes. So general 
 was the sympathy with the movement, not only in Massa- 
 chusetts, but in the adjoining states, that twelve or fifteen 
 thousand were supposed to be ready to do the same. 
 Nearly two thousand were in arms at the beginning of 
 the following year, (1787.) The horror excited in the 
 rest of the country was intense. Congress ordered troops 
 to be raised, but as it had no power to interfere with the 
 states, the pretext of Indian hostilities was set up. Massa- 
 chusetts was fortunate in having James Bowdoin for a 
 governor. Under his influence chiefly, — for the legislature 
 was partly paralyzed and partly infected, — the danger 
 was met. One or two thousand militia, under the command 
 of General Lincoln, marched against the insurgents, at the 
 head of whom was Daniel Shays, a captain in the continen- 
 tal army. Already driven back from Springfield, where 
 they had attacked the arsenal, the insurgents retreated to 
 
THE CONSTITUTION. 271 
 
 Petei*sliam, and were there put to rout. Of all the pi-Lson- 
 ers, fourteen alone were tried and condemned, not one being 
 executed. The insurrection had lasted about six months, 
 (August, 1786 — February, 1787.) 
 
 Dismem- ^01" Were sucli insurrections the only ones of the 
 beiments. time. A body of settlers in Wyoming, principally 
 emigrants from New England, held their land by grants 
 from Connecticut, long the claimant of the territory. AVhen 
 Connecticut gave way to Pennsylvania, and the latter state 
 insisted upon the necessity of new titles to the settlements 
 of Wyoming, the settlers armed themselves, and thr-eatencd 
 to set ftp a state of their own, (1782-87.) What was 
 threatened there was actually executed elsewhere. The 
 western counties of North Carolina, excited by being ceded 
 to the United States, organized an independent government, 
 as the state of Franklin or Frankland, (1781.) But the 
 people were divided, and the governor. Colonel Sevier, of 
 King's Mountain fame, was ultimately compelled to fly by the 
 opponents of an independent organization, (1788.) Mean- 
 while old projects of independence had been revived in the 
 Kentucky counties of Virginia. Petitions and resolutions 
 led to acts of the Yh^ginia legislature consenting to the 
 independence of Kentucky on certain conditions, (1785- 
 86.) Kentucky soon after petitioned Congress for admis- 
 sion to tlie Union, but without immediate effect, (1787-88.) 
 All these instances of dismemberment, proposed or accom- 
 plished, relate to frontier settlements, where independence 
 was suggested as much by the position as by the character 
 of the settlers. But the older districts were stirred in the 
 same way. Maine again and again strove to be detached 
 from Massachusetts, (1786.) 
 
 Case of The case of Vermont was one apart. It came 
 Vermout. yp j^^r^j. ^\^q beginning of the war, when the inhab- 
 itants of that district, then known as the New Hampshire 
 
272 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 grants, declared it tlie State of Vermont, (January, 1777,) 
 and asked admission to the Union, (July.) The request 
 was denied, on account of the claims of New York to the 
 territory. A number of towns in the valley of the Con- 
 necticut, and partly within the limits of New Hampshire, 
 afterwards formed themselves into the State of New Con- 
 necticut, (1779.) This soon fell through, leaving its prede- 
 cessor, Vermont, to be enlarged by the New Hampshire 
 towns on the eastern banks of the Connecticut, together 
 with the New York settlements as far as the Hudson, 
 (1781.) Overtures were then made to the British author- 
 ities in Canada, with whom the Vermonters might well 
 wish to be on good terms, so long as they were excluded 
 from the Union. Congress took alarm, as Vermont expect- 
 ed, and proposed to grant admission, provided the recent 
 annexations from 'Nqw Hampshire and New York were 
 surrendered. This was done ; but Congress still kept Ver- 
 mont at a distance, (1782.) A member of the body, James 
 Madison, explains the reasons why a propiise, so long de- 
 layed, was finally violated. The Eastern States, except New 
 Plampshire, and the Central States, except New York, 
 advocated the entrance of Vermont, while New York and 
 the Southern States opposed it, as Mr. Madison relates, 
 through " first, an habitual jealousy of a predominance of 
 eastern interests ; secondly, the opposition exj)ected from 
 Vermont to western claims ; thirdly, the inexpediency of 
 admitting so unimportant a state to an equal vote in decid- 
 ing a peace, and all the other grand interests of the Union 
 now depending ; fourthly, the influence of the example on 
 a premature dismemberment of the other states." So Ver- 
 mont remained aloof, contented, one may believe, to be free 
 from the troubles of the United States. 
 
 The strife exhibited in the case of Vermont was nothing 
 new or temporary. Disputes between state and state arose, 
 
THE CONSTITUTION. 273 
 
 as we have had occasion to observe, in the midst 
 between of war, and peace had not put them to rest. When 
 state and ^ly ]\ladison spcaks of sectional interests, he alhi{fes 
 
 StcltG. 
 
 to the varieties of occupation and of investment 
 which distinguished one state from another. Such things 
 could not but lead to different systems in different parts of 
 the country, the more so, especially in the north and in the 
 south, that there were differences of character, and even of 
 principle, to enliance the differences of pursuits or of pos- 
 sessions. The allusion to the western territory is to a 
 subject already noticed in our pages. Partially settled at 
 the tim.e when the Confederation was completed, the ques- 
 tion of the unoccupied lands was still undecided. It united 
 the smaller states, as a general rule, against the larger ones, 
 by whom the western regions were claimed. Besides these 
 great divisions between north and south, and between the 
 larger and the smaller states, there were others of more 
 limited nature. Boundary questions came up, some to be 
 determined, and others to be left undetermined, but none to 
 subside immediately. Variances as to the share of the 
 national debt, and more particularly as to the method of 
 meeting it, endured from year to year. In short, the thir- 
 teen states, instead of being intertwined, were set against 
 one another on almost every point of importance that arose 
 timongst them. 
 
 The o;eneral srovernment continued in the same fee- 
 General o to 
 
 govern- blc statc that has been repeatedly observed. If there 
 was any change, it was that the Confederation and 
 its Congress had sunk to a still lower degree of inefficiency. 
 There was even less attention to its Avants on the part of the 
 states ; its requisitions went almost unanswered, their obliga- 
 tions almost unregarded. The superintendent of finance, 
 Robert Morris, of Philadelphia, by whose personal exertions 
 and advances the country had been forced through the last 
 
274 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 years of the war, laid clown his oiTice in despair, after a 
 year of peace. His creation of a bank — the Bank of 
 North America (1781) — was recommended by Congress 
 to the states, with the request that brandies should be 
 established ; but in vain. Congress renewed its petition, as 
 it may be styled, for power to lay a duty on imports, if 
 only for a hmited period, (1783.) After long delay, a 
 fresh appeal was made with really piteous representations 
 of the national insolvency. New York refused to comply 
 upon the terms proposed, and Congress was again humili- 
 ated, (1786.) During its efforts on this point, Congress 
 had roused itself upon another, and asked for authority 
 over foreign commerce. Such v^'as the urgency of the 
 interests at stake, that Congress went so far as to appoint a 
 commission for the purpose of negotiating commercial trea- 
 ties with the European powers, (1784.)* But the suppli- 
 cations of Congress to the states were once more denied, 
 (1784-86.) 
 
 Or aui- ^^^ ^'^^ point alouc was Congress worthy to be 
 zatiou called a government. It organized the western 
 north- territory, after having prevailed upon the states, 
 v-est ter- or most of them, to abandon their pretensions to 
 regions so remote from themselves. Virginia hav- 
 ing followed the earlier example of New York, a plan was 
 brought forward by one of her delegates, Thomas Jefferson, 
 for the division and constitution of the western territory. 
 The plan, at first, embraced the organization of the entire 
 western territory, out of vv'hich seventeen states, all free, 
 "vvere to be formed. The proposed prohibition of slavery 
 was at once voted down ; otherwise the project was adopted, 
 
 * A treaty was made with only one of them, (Prussia,) but it contained 
 substance enough for a score of old treaties, in prohibiting privateering, 
 and sustaining the liberty of neutral commerce in case of war, (1785.) 
 See the next chapter. 
 
THE CONSTITUTION. 275 
 
 (April, 1784.) But the cessions of tlie states not yet cover- 
 ing the whole of the region thus apportioned, its organiza- 
 tion was postponed until the national title to the lands could 
 be made complete. Massachusetts (1785) and Connecticut 
 (1786) ceded their claims, the latter state, however, with a 
 reservation. Treaties with various tribes disposed in part 
 of the Indian titles to the western territories, (1784-86.) * 
 All these cessions completing the hold of the nation upon 
 the tract north-west of the Ohio,t that country was definite- 
 ly organized as the North-west Territory, by an ordinance 
 of Congress, (July 13, 1787 ) This intrusted the govern- 
 ment of the territory partly to officers appointed by Con- 
 gress, and partly to an assembly to be chosen by the settlers 
 as soon as they amounted to five thousand ; the inhabitants 
 and the authorities being alike bound to the observance of 
 certain articles of compact between the old states and the 
 new ones that might arise within the territory. These 
 articles provided for religious liberty ; for habeas corpus, 
 trial by jury, and kindred privileges ; for the encourage- 
 ment of religion and education, and for justice towards the 
 Indians ; for the equal rights and responsibilities of the 
 new states and the old ; for tlie division of the territory 
 into states ; and lastly, for the prohibition of slavery. 
 Under so liberal an organization, surveys, sales, and settle- 
 ments followed fast. A colony from Massachusetts was the 
 first to occupy Ohio, at Marietta, (1788.) 
 ^.rr 1 SiuQ-ular enouG:li, while Consrress was takin2: these 
 
 ties with stcps to prcscrvc the western domains, it was taking 
 ^'^''** others to endanger them. Eager to secure a treaty 
 
 *" It was many years before the Indian title was completely extin- 
 guished 
 
 f The south-west territory, though ceded in great part by the Indians, 
 was not yet ceded by the states on whose borders it lay. South Carolina 
 was the first to give up her claims, (August, 1787.) 
 
27G PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 of commerce with Spain, tlie Northern and Central States 
 assented to surrender the navigation of the Mississippi to 
 that power, (178G.) In this they had no less an authority 
 upon their side than Washington, who appears to have 
 attached more importance to internal communication be- 
 tween the west and the east alone than to that wider inter- 
 course which the west would possess by means of its mighty 
 river. Jefferson, then, the American minister at Paris, was 
 farther sighted. " The act," he wrote, " which abandons 
 the navigation of the Mississippi, is an act of separation 
 between the eastern and western country," (1787.) Sup- 
 pose the right to the Mississippi waived, even for a limited 
 period, and the probability is, that a large number of the 
 western settlers, conceiving themselves sacrificed, would 
 have separated from their coantrymen, and gained a passage 
 through the stream either in war or in alliance with Spain. 
 . - ]^elations with Great Britain were still more dis- 
 
 And 
 
 Great turbcd tlian those with Spain. Nor were they less 
 threatening to the west. The treaty of peace exact- 
 ed the surrender of the western j)osts by Britain. But 
 America was required at the same time to provide for the 
 debts of great magnitude due to British merchants. This, 
 however, was not done. Congress was unable, and the 
 states were umviiling, to effect any thing ; five states, 
 indeed, continuing or commencing measures to prevent the 
 collection of British debts. When, therefore, John Adams, 
 the first minister to Great Britain, entered into a negotia- 
 tion for the recovery of the posts which the British still 
 held, he was met at onee by the demand that the American 
 part in the treaty should be fulfilled, (1786.) The subject 
 of debts was not the only one on Avhich the states were 
 violating the treaty. But it was the chief infraction ; and 
 against it chiefly was directed a remonstrance which Con- 
 gress addressed to the states, altogether in vain, (1787.) 
 
THE CONSTITUTION. 277 
 
 Dark *' "^^^ consideration felt for America by Europe," 
 
 times. wrote Lafayette, " is diminishing to a degree truly 
 painful ; and what has been gained hj the revolution is in 
 danger of being lost little by little, at least during an inter- 
 val of trial to all the friends of the nation." " I am morti- 
 fied beyond expression," wrote Washington, " when I view 
 the clouds that have spread over the brightest morn that 
 ever dawned upon any country." 
 
 oidfoun- Amid this tottering of the national system, the 
 dations, q\^ foundations stood secure. The laws that had 
 been laid deep in the past, the institutions, political and 
 social, that had been reai'ed above them, remained to su[)- 
 port the present uncertainties. Every strong principle of 
 the mother country, every broad reform of the colonies, 
 contributed to the strength and the development of the 
 struggling nation. 
 
 Nor were recent superstructures wanting. The 
 fm^eT states, in forming and reforming their constitutions, 
 struc- set up many a great principle, undeveloped, if not 
 unknow^n, in earlier times. Nothing, for instance, 
 could be more novel, as well as more admirable, than the 
 indemnity * voted by Pennsylvania to the proprietary family 
 of which she had cast off the dominion. It was a recog- 
 nition of rights belonging to rulers, that had never been 
 made by subjects in a successful revolution. The law of 
 inheritance was another point of new proportions. The 
 claim of the eldest son to a double share of his fathf^r's 
 property, if not to all the prerogatives of primogeniture, 
 was gradually prohibited, Georgia taking the lead. Suf- 
 frage was extended in several states,t from holders of real 
 
 * £130,000 sterling, in addition to all the private domains of the 
 family. Maryland made no such indemnity; but the representative of 
 her proprietor was an illegitimate son. 
 
 t New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Delaware, South Carolina, and, par- 
 tially, North Carolina. ^. 
 
278 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 or personal 2)roperty to all tax-paying freemen. Personal 
 liberty obtained extension and protection. The class of 
 indented servants diminished. That of slaves disappeared 
 altosfether in some of the states. Massachusetts, declarinor 
 men free and equal by her Bill of Rights, was pronounced 
 by her Supreme Court to have put an end to slavery within 
 her limits, (1780-83.) Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, 
 Rhode Island, and Connecticut forbade the importation of 
 slaves, and the bondage of any persons thereafter born 
 upon their soil. Other states declared against the transpor- 
 tation of slaves from state to state, others against the 
 foreign slave trade ; all, in fine, moving with greater or 
 less energy in the same direction, save only South Carolina 
 and Georgia. Societies were formed in many places to 
 quicken the action of the authorities. In making exertions, 
 and in maintaining principles like these, the nation was 
 proving its title to independence. 
 
 Eeiisious Nothing, however, was more full of promise than 
 privileges. ^|jg religious privileges to which the states consented. 
 Rhode Island, who, as formerly mentioned, had no dispo- 
 sition to change her existing institutions, made one altera- 
 tion by striking out the prohibitory statute against Roman 
 Catholics, (1784.) But Rhode Island was no longer alone 
 in her glory. The majority of the state constitutions 
 allowed entire religious liberty. The only real restrictions 
 upon it were those to which the Puritan states still clung 
 in enforcing the pa^nnent of tax^es, and the attendance upon 
 services in some church or other; the old leaven not having 
 entirely lost its power. Particular forms of faith were here 
 and there required, if not from the citizens, at any rate 
 from the magistrates ; Roman Catholics being excluded 
 from office in several states of the north, the centre, and 
 the south. 
 
 As there was no single fold into which the Chiistians of 
 
THE CONSTITUTION. 279 
 
 the United States -would enter, it was of the highest 
 asticai importance that they* separate folds should be 
 orguniza- marked out and governed upon definite principles. 
 
 Nothing else was likely to prevent collision among 
 the more zealous, or straying away among the more luke- 
 warm. The American branch of the church of Enoland, 
 deserted by the loyalists, and suspected, if not assailed, by 
 the patriots, had but just survived the revolutionaiy strug- 
 gle. It obtained its first bishop, Samuel Seabury, by ordi- 
 nation in Scotland, (1784,) his first associates, Wliite and 
 Provoost, being consecrated in England, (1787.) A conven- 
 tion of several states at New York declared their church the 
 Protestant Episcopal church of the United States, (1784.) 
 The Methodist Episcopal church, strongest in the centre and 
 the south, obtained its fii'st bishop, Thomas Coke, (1784.) 
 Two years afterwards, the first Roman Cathohc bishop, John 
 CaiToll, was appointed to the see of Baltimore, (1786.) 
 The Presbyterians then formed their synods for the Central 
 and the Southern States, (1788.) In the north, the Presby- 
 terians and the Congregationahsts, uniting to a certain 
 degi'ee, continued theii* ancient institutions. All over the 
 coimtry, ecclesiastical systems were reducing themselves to 
 form and law. 
 
 Sugges- It was time for the nation to profit by the exam- 
 tions of pigg and the principles that have been enumerated, 
 
 a nation- . . 
 
 ai Consti- — time for it to guard against the conflicts and the 
 tution. pgj-iig that have been described. Alexander Ham- 
 ilton, as mentioned in a former chapter, conceived the idea 
 of a Convention for forming a national Constitution as early 
 as 1780. Other individuals advocated the same measure, 
 in private or in public. The legislature of New York 
 supported it in 1782. The legislature of Massachusetts 
 supported it in 1785. 
 
 In the spring of the same year, (1785.) a number of 
 
280 PART III. 17G3-1797. 
 
 commissioners from Maryland and Yironlnia assem- 
 
 Conven- _ '' ^ 
 
 tions at bled at Alexandria, ^or the purpose of regulating 
 driTand *^® navigation of the Chesapeake and the Potomac. 
 Annapo- They also met at Mount Vernon. James Madison 
 was one of their number, and he suggested the 
 appointment of commissioners with additional powers to 
 act, with the assent of Congress, in organizing a tariff for 
 the two states. This being recommended by the commis- 
 sion at Alexandria, the Virginia legislature enlai'ged the 
 plan, by appointing commissioners to meet others, not only 
 from Maryland, but from all the states, and " to take into 
 consideration the trade of the United States." Five states 
 were represented in a Convention at Annapolis in the 
 autumn of the following year, (1786.) They were wise 
 enough to see two things : one, that five states could not act 
 for the whole ; and the other, that the subject of trade was 
 but a drop in the ocean of difficulties with which the nation 
 was threatened. At the proposal of Alexander Hamilton, 
 one of the commissioners, and the same who had urged the 
 formation of a Constitution six years before, the Convention 
 at Annapolis recommended a national convention at Phila- 
 delphia in the ensuing month of May, " to take into consid- 
 eration the situation of the United States, to devise such 
 further provisions as shall appear necessary to render the 
 Constitution of the federal government adequate to the 
 exigencies of the Union, and to report such an act for that 
 purpose to the United States in Congress assembled, as, 
 when agreed to by them, and afterwards confirmed by the 
 legislature of every state, will effectually provide for the 
 same." 
 
 Action of The first to act upon this proposal from Annapo- 
 Virgiuia. jjg ^y^g ^j^g g^^j-g g^ QfiQ^ forcmost in the cause of 
 
 the country. Thus spoke Virginia : " The General Assem- 
 bly of this commonwealth, taking into view the actual 
 
THE CONSTITUTION. 281 
 
 situation of the Confederacy, . . • ca» no longer doubt 
 that the crisis is arriyed at which the good people of Amer- 
 ica are to decide the solemn question whether they will by 
 wise and magnanimous efforts, reap the just fruits of tlia 
 independence which they have so gloriously acquired and 
 of that union which they have cemented with so much of 
 their common blood, or whether, by giving way to unmmily 
 jealousies and prejudices, or to partial and transitory iMei-- 
 ests, they will renounce the auspicious blessmgs prepared 
 for fliem by the revolution. . . ■ The same noble and 
 extended policy, and the same fratcrna and affcctioiio^ 
 sentiments which originally determined the citizens of th » 
 commonwealth to unite with their brethren of the o he 
 states in establishing a federal government, cannot but be 
 felt with equal force now, as motives to lay aside every 
 inferior consideration, and to concur in such further conces- 
 sions and provisions as may be necessary to secure the 
 great objects for which that government was instituted and 
 to render the United States as happy in peace as they have 
 been glorious in war." Thereupon the legislature appomted 
 its deputies to join with those of the other states " mdevis- 
 in<..and discussing all such iterations and provisions as 
 
 , *„ -onrlov the Federal Constitution ade- 
 
 may be necessary to render tiic r eueiii ^ 
 
 quate to the exigencies of the Union." 
 
 The noble example thus set was at once followed 
 «f »"'»'■ by New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and 
 anTo'f Delaware. By the time these states declared them- 
 Congres,. ^^^^.^^ (February, 1787,) Congress, after many 
 doubts as to the propriety of the course, came out with a 
 caU of its own. Instead, however, of takmg the broad 
 .round on which AHrginia set herself, Congress limited 
 Tts summons to a convention "for the sole and express pur- 
 pose of revising the Articles of Confederation."^ The other 
 states, Rhode Island excepted, went on to appoint their del- 
 24 * 
 
282 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 egates. The credentials of some representations supported 
 the liberal views of Virginia ; those of others the narrower 
 purpose of Congress. Only one state, Delaware, laid its 
 representatives under a positive restriction, namely, to 
 maintain the right of the state, the smallest but one in the 
 Union, to an equal vote in any government that might be 
 framed. 
 
 The same hall in which the Declaration of Inde- 
 of the pendence had been adopted, more than eleven years 
 Conven- "before, and in which Cono-ress had continued to sit 
 
 tiou. ' ? . . . 
 
 during the greater part of the intervening period, in 
 the State House at Philadelphia, was chosen for the ses- 
 sions of the Convention. The day fixed for the opening 
 arrived. " Such members as were in town " — runs the 
 diary of Washington, who had consented, against his incli- 
 nation, to sit in the Convention — " assembled at the State 
 House ; but only two states being represented, namely, Vir- 
 ginia and Pennsylvania, agreed to meet to-morrow," (May 
 14, 1787.) It must have been with anxious thoughts that 
 the few who met found themselves obliged to separate day 
 after day, without being able to make so much as a begin- 
 ning in the work before them. At length, eleven days 
 after the appointed time, the representatives of seven states 
 — a bare majority — assembled and opened the Conven- 
 tion. As a matter of course, George TVashington was 
 elected president, (May 25.) 
 
 The United States of America never wore a more 
 
 majestic aspect than in the Convention, wdiich grad- 
 ually * filled up with the delegates of every state except 
 Rhode Island. The purpose of the assembly was sufiicient 
 to invest it "with solemnity. To meet in the design of 
 strengthening instead of enfeebling authority, of forming a 
 
 * New Hampshire was not represented till July 23. 
 
THE CONSTITUTION. 283 
 
 eoTemment which should enable the nation to fulfil, instead 
 of eluding its obhgations alike to the citi.en and the stran- 
 ger —to meet with these intentions was to do what the 
 world had never witnessed. It is scarcely necessary to say 
 that lower motives entered in ; that the interests of classes 
 and of sections, the prejudices of narrow politicians and of 
 selfish men, obtruded themselves with ominous strength. 
 Many of the members were altogether unequal to the na- 
 tional duties of the Convention. But they were surrounded 
 by others of a nobler mould -by the venerable Frankhn 
 lately returned from his French mission, the representative 
 oT ,he later colonial days; by various members of the 
 Stamp Act Congress, of the Congress that dec ared mde- 
 P ndence, and of the subsequent Congresses before and 
 urin. the Confederation ; by several representaUves of 
 he younger class of patriots, notably by Alexander Ham- 
 ilton arid James Madison, who had been consp.cuous m the 
 Lvements preliminary to the Convention; and by many 
 niore whose names do not depend upon a volume like the 
 T>resent for reverential recollection. 
 
 ^ The rules of the Convention ordered secrecy of 
 
 rr;;- debate and the right of each state to an equal vote 
 ,ut,„i. Governor Randolph, of Virginia, then opened the 
 deliberations upon a constitution by offering a series of res- 
 olutions proposing a national legislature of two branches, a 
 
 ionalLcutiv; and a national if^^y^^ ^'ZZ! 
 inferior tribunals. Charles C. Pinckney, of South Carolma, 
 offered a sketch of government, based on the same pri^ 
 eiples as Randolph's, but developed with g-ater de^. 
 Both the plans were referred to a committee of the whole 
 •but Randolph's, or the Virginia plan, as it -- "S^e 
 called, engrossed the debate. At the end of a fortnig^^t he 
 committee reported in favor of the Virginia ystem. 
 Things had not gone so far without opposition, to the 
 
284 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 ments of wliicii we will revert immediately. On the report 
 of the committee, a new plan was oftered by William Pat- 
 terson, of New Jersey, embodying the views of the Con- 
 necticut, New York, Delaware, and Maryland, as well as 
 the New Jersey delegations. This New Jersey plan, so 
 st3'led, proposed a government of much more limited powers 
 than that of the Virginia pattern. The two were referred 
 to a committee of the whole. Soon after, Alexander Ham- 
 ilton broached a plan of his own, going to the very opposite 
 extreme of the New Jersey system. He was for taking the 
 British constitution as " the best model the world has ever 
 produced," and for creating a national government, gf which 
 the executive and the higher branch of the legislature, as 
 well as the judiciary, should all be elected to serve during 
 good behavior or life. Hamilton presented his plan as an 
 exposition of his personal convictions rather than as a sub- 
 ject for debate, confessing that it was " very remote from 
 the idea of the people." The question, therefore, lay be- 
 tween the Virginia and the New Jersey plans. 
 Question Bnt there was another question to be previously 
 of powers, decided, if not by formal vote, at least by the course 
 of opinions. Doubt existed about the powers of the Con- 
 vention. Some insisted that it could do no more than 
 revise the Articles of the Confederation ; in other words, 
 tliat it might reform, but not displace, the existing govern- 
 ment. These members were of course the supporters of the 
 New Jersey plan. They called it by the name of federal, 
 ill opposition to the system, at the time styled anti-federal, 
 of their opponents. The anti-federal — that is, the national 
 men — maintained the necessity of a new government as 
 sufficient to authorize the Convention to frame one, even if 
 the power to do so had not been expressly given. They 
 urged this the more, in that the Convention would not 
 create the government, but simply recommend its creation 
 
THE CONSTITUTION. 285 
 
 to the nation. The difference between the two sides was, 
 as we see, immense. As the one or as the other prevailed, 
 so followed the fate not merely of the Virginia and the 
 New Jersey plans, but of the Constitution and the nation. 
 A national ^^ ^^'^^' therefore, a turning point in the move- 
 system ments of the Convention, when the committee of the 
 a opte . ^jj^ig reported once more in favor of the Virginia 
 plan. The labors of construction and of detail were all to be 
 gone through. But the one guiding and assuring principle 
 of a national system was gained, (June 29.) 
 
 Parties were by this time but too distinctly de- 
 ^ma?r' ^^^^^' The federal side was taken, as a general 
 states and rulc, by the representatives of the small states, the 
 states. national by those of the large. ^^Hiatever was up- 
 held by the large states, especially Massachusetts, 
 Pennsylvania, and, above all, Virginia, was, as if for this 
 simple reason, opposed by the small ones. There was a 
 constant dread of the dominion which, it v.^as supposed, 
 would be exercised by the superior states to the disadvan- 
 tage and the disgrace of those of inferior rank. Perhaps 
 the tone assumed by the large states was such as reasonably 
 to inspire suspicion. Certain it is, that the breach between 
 the two parties grew wider and wider, particularly when 
 the committee and the Convention pronounced in favor of 
 the national plan. Within ten days afterwards, Franklin, 
 shocked by the altercations around him, moved that prayers 
 should be said every morning. The motion was parried, 
 partly, it was said, to prevent the public from surmising the 
 divisions of the Convention. 
 
 Views of '^^^® starting point, so far as theory was con- 
 state gov- cerned, of the two parties, was the government by 
 states. In this, the federal members argued, re- 
 sides the only principle of sovereignty, and to this recourse 
 must be had for tlie life and breath of a government for the 
 
28 G PAUT III. 1763-1797. 
 
 nation. Hence tlie name of federal, imjjlj^ing the support 
 of a league — that is, a league between the states — as the 
 true form of a general government. All this the national 
 party opposed. We are not met, they reasoned, to fashion 
 a Constitution out of the states or for the states, but to 
 create a Constitution for the people ; it is the people, not 
 the states, who are to be governed and united ; it is the 
 people, moreover, from whom the power required for the 
 Constitution is to emanate. At the same time, the national 
 members, with a few exceptions, were far from denying the 
 excellence of state governments. These, they urged, are 
 precisely what we want to manage the local affairs of the 
 different portions of the country ; in this capacity, the states 
 will be truly the pillars of the Union. 
 
 Votes of These views had entered largely into the debates 
 states. already decided by the adoption of a national plan 
 for the Constitution. They were again brought forward, 
 and with renewed earnestness, in relation to a question now 
 coming up for decision. Before the Confederation, and 
 after it, the votes of the states in Congress had been equal, 
 each state having a single vote, and no more. This was 
 the rule, as has been mentioned, of the Convention. But 
 when the point was reached in the constitutional debates, 
 the national party insisted upon an entirely thfferent sys- 
 tem. The votes to be taken in the legislative branches of 
 the new government are not, it w^as asserted, the votes of 
 the states, but the votes of the people ; let them, therefore, 
 be given according to the numbers of the people, not of the 
 states. Not so, replied the federal members, — and they 
 had reason to be excited, for it was from apprehension on 
 this very point that they had opposed the national plan, — 
 not so, they replied, or our states, with their scanty votes, 
 will be utterly absorbed in the larger states. One of the 
 small states, Delaware, sent her representatives, as may 
 
THE CONSTITUTION. 287 
 
 be remembered, with express instructions to reserve her 
 
 equal vote in the national legislature. But the federal 
 
 i:)arty, already disappointed, found itself doomed to a fresh 
 
 disappointment. Abandoning, or intimating that it was 
 
 willing to abandon, the claim of an equal vote in both 
 
 branches of the legislature, it stood the firmer for equality 
 
 in one of the branches — the Senate of the Constitution. 
 
 Even this more moderate demand was disregarded by the 
 
 majority, intent upon unequal votes in both the branches. 
 
 Great agitation followed. " We will sooner sub- 
 Agitation. 
 
 mit to foreign power ! " cried a representative from 
 one of the small states. But for the reference of the 
 matter to a committee, who, at the instance of Franklin, 
 adopted a compromise, making the votes of the states equal 
 in the Senate, the work of the Convention would have come 
 to a sudden close. As it was, the report of the committee 
 hardly allayed the tumultuous passions that had been 
 aroused. It but partly satisfied the small states, while it 
 kindled the wrath of the large, secure as these thought 
 themselves, upon the point which they were now required 
 to yield. "If no compromise should take place," asked 
 Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts, " what will be the con- 
 sequence ? A secession will take place, for some gentle- 
 men seem decided on it." It was the federal party that 
 talked of secession. The nationnl party, no wiser, as a 
 whole, spoke of the dismemberment and absorption of the 
 smaller states, hinting at the sword. Two of the New 
 York delegation, incensed or dejected by the triumphant 
 course of the national members, deserted the Convention. 
 " We were on the verge of dissolution," said Luther Martin, 
 a member from Maryland, " scarce held together by the 
 strength of a hair." Fortunately, peace prevailed. The 
 compromise was accepted, and both national and federal 
 members united in determinmg on an equal vote in the 
 Senate and an unequal vote m the House that were to be. 
 
288 PART III. 17G3-1797. 
 
 „ ,. Another division besides that between the larffe 
 
 Parties : "^ 
 
 north and and the small states had now appeared. It sepa- 
 south. YQ^Q^ the north from the south. How many- 
 reasons there were for the separation has been remarked ; 
 but the reason of all, the one so strong as to lead men to 
 acknowledge that the division between the north and the 
 south was wider than any other in the Convention, — the 
 great reason w^as slavery. This system, pierced, if not 
 overthrown, in all the Northern and in some of the Central 
 States, was still cherished in the south. The scanty num- 
 bers of the free population in the Southern States seemed 
 to make slaves a necessity there. 
 
 The first struggle upon the point arose with re- 
 
 Appor- . „ • Ti. 
 
 tionment spcct to the apportionment oi representation. It 
 
 of repre- ^^^^ ^^ -^q fjecided liow the people were to be repre- 
 sentation. ^ ^ 
 
 sented, in what proportions, and in what classes. 
 
 Upon this subject all other questions yielded to one, 
 namely, whether slaves should be included with free- 
 men, not, of course, as voting, but as making up the num- 
 ber entitled to representation. The extreme party of the 
 south said that they must be, and on the same terms, being 
 equally valuable as the free laborers of the north. On the 
 other hand, the extreme party of the north declared that 
 slaves should never be taken into account until they were 
 emancipated, as they, ought to be. The necessity for com- 
 promise was again evident. The moderate members of 
 either side came together, and agreed that three fifths of 
 the slave population should be enumerated with the whole 
 of the white population in apportioning the representatives 
 anion 2:st the different states. 
 
 'O" 
 
 The slave -^ gravcr point was raised. In the draught of the 
 traJe. Constitution now under debate, there stood a clause 
 forbidding the general government to lay any tax or prohi- 
 bition upon the migrations or the importations authorized 
 
THE CONSTITUTION. 289 
 
 by the states. This signified that there was to be no inter- 
 ference with the slave trade. "It is inconsistent," ex- 
 claimed Martin, of Maryland, " with the principles of the 
 revolution, and dishonorable to the American character, to 
 have such a feature in the Constitution ! " " Religion and 
 humanity," answered John Rutledge, of South Carolina, 
 *' have nothing to do with this question. Interest alone is 
 the governing principle of nations. The true question at 
 present is, whether the Southern States shall or shall not 
 be parties to the Union." Charles C. Pinckney, calmer than 
 his colleague, took broader ground. " If the states be left at 
 liberty on this subject. South Carolina may perhaps by de- 
 grees do of herself what is wished, as Virginia and Maryland 
 have already done." The opposition to the claims of the 
 extreme south came from the Central States, especially from 
 Virginia, not from the north. The north, intent upon the 
 passage of acts protective of its large shipping interests, 
 was quite ready to come to an understanding with the 
 south. The consequence was that, instead of imitating the 
 example of earlier years and declaring the slave trade at an 
 end, the Convention protracted its existence for twenty 
 years, (till 1808.) At the same time, the restriction upon 
 acts relating to commerce was stricken from the Constitu- 
 tion. Dark as this transaction seems, it was still a com- 
 promise. To extend the slave trade for twenty years was 
 far better than to leave it without any limit at all. It was 
 at the close of these discussions that the draught of the clause 
 respecting fugitive slaves was intraduced, and accepted 
 without discussion. The word sluves, however, was avoided 
 here, as it had been in all the portions of the Constitution 
 relating to slavery. 
 
 Details There is no occasion in this place for dwelling 
 and dis- upou the details and the discussions of the Conven- 
 tion. Wherever there was a detail, there was al- 
 25 
 
 cussions. 
 
290 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 most invariably a discussion ; but tlie interest in the debates 
 generally was altogether subordinate to that excited by the 
 questions which have been mentioned. On these, as the 
 questions involving compromise, it was felt that the Consti- 
 tution depended. " The Constitution which we now pre- 
 sent " — thus ran the di'aught of a letter proposed to be ad- 
 dressed to Congress — "is the result of a spirit of amity 
 and of that mutual deference and concession which the 
 peculiarity of our political situation rendered indispensable." 
 " I can well recollect," said James Wilson to his constitu- 
 ents of Pennsylvania, " the impression which on many occa- 
 sions was made by the difficulties which surrounded and 
 pressed the Convention. The great undertaking sometimes 
 seemed to be at a stand; and other times its motions 
 seemed to be retrograde." 
 
 At length, after nearly four months' i^erseverance 
 of the' through all the heat of summer, the Convention 
 Constitu- agreed to the Constitution, (September 15.) As 
 
 soon as it could be properly engrossed, it was signed 
 by all the delegates, save Gerry, of Massachusetts, — who 
 hinted at civil war being about to ensue, — Randolph and 
 George Mason, of Virginia, (September 17.) As the last 
 members were signing, Franklin pointed to a sun painted 
 upon the back of the president's chair, saying, " I have often 
 and often, in the course of the session and the vicissitude 
 of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that sun 
 behind the president, without being able to tell whether it 
 was rising or setting ; but now, at length, I have the happi- 
 ness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun." 
 Opposition "^^^ dawn was still uncertain. Presented to 
 inthena- Congrcss, and thence transmitted to the states, to 
 
 be by them accepted or rejected, the Constitution 
 was received with very general murmurs. Even some 
 members of the Convention, on reaching home, declai-ed, 
 
THE CONSTITUTION. 291 
 
 like Martin, of Maryland, " I would reduce myself to indi- 
 gence and poverty, . . . if on those terms only I could 
 procure my country to reject those chains which are forged 
 for it." The words imply the chief cause of the opposition 
 excited throughout the nation. It was thought that the 
 Constitution was too strong, tliat it exalted the powers of 
 the government too high, and depressed the rights of the 
 states and the people too low. This was the opinion of the 
 anti-federalists — a name borne rather than assumed by 
 those who had constituted, or by those who succeeded to, the 
 federal party in the Convention. On the other side stood 
 the federalists, the national party of the Convention, with 
 their adherents throughout the country. But the names, 
 like most party names, rather obscured than explained the 
 relations of those to whom they were attached. The feder- 
 alists were no advocates of a simple league between the 
 states. Nor were the anti-federalists the opponents of such 
 a league, but, on the contrary, its supporters. They op- 
 posed, not the union, but what they called the subjection of 
 the states, proposed by the Constitution. 
 ^ ^., One who acted for the Constitution at the time, 
 
 Constitu- ' 
 
 tionai and who wrote of it in after years, — Jeremy Bel- 
 " ^°° * knap, then a clergyman of Boston, — tells a story 
 illustrating the changing tempers of the period. A man has 
 a new pair of small-clothes brought home to him. " It is too 
 small here, says he, and wants to be let out ; it is too big 
 here, and wants to be taken in. I am afraid there will be a 
 hole there, and you must put on a patch ; this button is not 
 strong enough — you must set on another." But, taking 
 his wife's advice, he tried on the garment, and found him- 
 self satisfied. The constitutional writings, as they may be 
 called, of the twelvemonth succeeding the Convention, were 
 far in advance of any preceding productions of America. 
 The greatness of the cause called forth new powers of 
 
292 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 mind, nay, new powers of heart. "Washington's letters 
 upon the subject overflow with emotions such as his calm 
 demeanor had seldom betrayed before. Under the signa- 
 ture of Pubhus, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and 
 John Jay united in the composition of the Federalist. It. 
 was a succession of essays, some profound in argument, 
 others thrilling in appeal, and all devoted to setting forth 
 the principles and foretelling the operations of the Consti- 
 tution. Under the signature of Fabius, John Dickinson — 
 the same whose Farmer's Lettei-s had pleaded for hberty 
 twenty years before — now pleaded for constitutional gov- 
 ernment. It was not merely the Constitution that was thus 
 rendered clear and precious. The subject was as wide as 
 the ri2:hts of man. 
 
 Adoption ^^ Strong and so wise exertion was not in vain, 
 by the State after state, beginning with Delaware, (De- 
 cember 7, 1787,) assented to the Constitution, some 
 by large, some by exceedingly small majorities. In most 
 of the bodies by which the ratification was declared, a series 
 of amendments was framed and passed. North Carolina 
 assented only on condition of her amendments being adopt- 
 ed. In one of the state Conventions, New York, the recom- 
 mendation of another general Convention was pressed upon 
 the nation. New York was the scene of more decided 
 demonstrations. The list of what can be called riots 
 throughout the country, at the time, begins and ends with a 
 collision between two bands of the rival parties, at Albany, 
 and the destruction of the type in an anti-fedei'tihst news- 
 paper establishment at New York, (July 4-27, 1788.) 
 The project of a second Convention found favor m Pennsyl- 
 vania. It was then taken up by the assembly of Virginia, 
 but after the Convention of that state had accepted the Con- 
 stitution. In seeing these states arrayed in greater or less 
 strength against the Constitution, one is struck by their 
 
THE CONSTITUTION. 293 
 
 being large states, to which the Constitution was supposed 
 to be particularly acceptable. The other of the largest 
 states, Massachusetts, had but a bare majority to give in 
 favor of the Constitution. On the other hand, several of 
 the small states were now the most earnest supporters of 
 federalist principles. The causes of this revolution were 
 chiefly local. But, actuated by different motives, the large 
 states, or rather the parties in the large states, opposing the 
 unconditional adoption of the Constitution, were unable to 
 combine with any effect. The generous impulses and the 
 united exertions of their opponents carried the day. Only 
 North Carolina and Rhode Island stood aloof, and the 
 former but partially, when Congress performed the last act 
 preliminary to the establishment of the Constitution, by 
 appointing days for the requisite elections and for the or- 
 ganization of the new government, (September 13, 1788.) 
 
 Thus was completed the most extraordinary 
 of the transaction of which merely human history bears 
 trausac- record. A nation enfeebled, dismembered, and 
 dispirited, broken by the losses of war, by the dis- 
 sensions of peace, incapacitated for its duties to its own citi- 
 zens or to foreign poAvers, suddenly bestirred itself and 
 prepared to create a government. It chose its representa- 
 tives without conflicts or even commotions. They came 
 together, at first only to disagree, to threaten, and to faih 
 But against the spells of individual selfishness and sectional 
 passion, the inspiration of the national cause proved potent. 
 The representatives of the nation consented to the measures 
 on which the common honor and the common safety de- 
 pended. Then the nation itself broke out m clamors. 
 Still there was no violence, or next to none. No sort of 
 contention arose between state and state. Each had its own 
 differences, its own hesitations ; but when each had decided 
 for itself, it joined the rest and proclaimed the Constitution. 
 
 25* 
 
294 . PART in. 1763-1797. 
 
 The work thus achieved was not merely for the 
 
 Sympa- -^ 
 
 thy for nation that achieved it. In the midst of their 
 man in . ^Qy|j|.g j^jjj their dangers, a few generous spirits, if 
 no more, gathered fresh courage by looking beyond the 
 limits of their country. Let Washington speak for them. 
 " I conceive," says he, " under an energetic general govern- 
 ment, such regulations might be made, and isuch measures 
 taken, as would render this country the asylum of pacific 
 and industrious characters from all parts of Europe," — "a 
 kind of asylum," as he says in another place, " for man- 
 kind." It was not, therefore, for America alone that her 
 sons believed themselves to have labored, but for the world. 
 It has already appeared that the writings of the sol- 
 of the diers and the statesmen of the period were, in many 
 tbnami instances, as important as their actions. There 
 the Con- "were other writers, who stood conspicuous, solely or 
 
 stitution. P 1 . T 
 
 almost solely, on account oi their literary exertions. 
 Such was Thomas Paine, an Englishman, whose pamphlet 
 of Common Sense (1776) had so great an effect that its 
 author, though then but a few months in the country, pre- 
 tended afterwards to have started the revolution. His 
 later pamphlets, issued during the war under the name of 
 the Crisis, were of equal power. Amongst the American 
 authors were John Trumbull, of Connecticut, whose poem 
 of McFingal (begun 1774) was a satire at once upon his 
 countrymen and upon their foes ; Francis Hopkinson, of 
 Philadelphia, who, after various productions in prose and in 
 rhyme relating to the war, came to the aid of the Constitu- 
 tion in an allegory entitled the New Roof; and Philip Fre- 
 neau, of New York, whose verses upon the battles of the 
 revolution were amongst the most popular and the most 
 artistic compositions of the times. The influence of such a 
 literature may be conceived. It spread the stirring spirit 
 of the camp and of the council around the fireside and 
 
THE CONSTITUTION. 295 
 
 witMn the closet, kindling sympathy, arousing action, and 
 thus contributing largely to the national redemption. 
 
 Nor should we forget, in this connection, the in- 
 
 The mu- ° 
 
 sic of Bii- fluence of the first of our composers, William Bil- 
 iings- lings, a Bostonian. Such was his enthusiasm at 
 once for his art and for his country, that, though almost 
 uneducated as a musician, he moved many a spirit by his 
 ardent strains. His melodies were heard on the march aild 
 on the battle field as well as in the choir ; such as his Inde- 
 pendence and his Columbia may be called psalms of the 
 revolution and of the Constitution. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 * Washington's Administration. 
 
 Washin The name of Washington was almost a part of 
 ton pres- tlie Constitution. " The Constitution would never 
 have been adopted," — thus Edmund Randolph, by 
 no means a strong adherent to Washington, wrote to him 
 afterwards, — " but from a knowledge that you had once 
 sanctioned it, and an expectation that you would execute 
 it." " The Constitution," Lafayette wrote at once from 
 Paris, " satisfies many of our desires ; but I am much mis- 
 taken if there are not some points that would be perilous, 
 had not the United States the happiness of possessing their 
 guardian angel, who will lead them to whatever still remains 
 to be done before reaching perfection." Such was the 
 universal voice of the nation, and of the nation's well 
 wishers. The presidential electors gave in their votes 
 without a single exception in favor of Washington ; and he 
 consented to what he had reason to call " this last great 
 sacrifice." " I bade adieu to Mount Vernon," he writes in 
 his diary, " to private life, and to domestic felicity ; and 
 with a mind oppressed with more anxious and painful sen- 
 sations than I have words to express, set out with the best 
 disposition to render service to my country in obedience 
 to its call, but with less hope of answering its expecta- 
 tions." 
 
 The two houses of Congress had been organized in New 
 
 (296) 
 
WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 2S7 
 
 York, after a montli's delay.* A day or two before 
 tioro?*" Washington's arrival, John Adams took his place as 
 goyem- y^^e president. The inauguration of the presi- 
 dent, postponed a few days after he was ready for 
 the ceremony, at length completed the organization of the 
 government, (April 30, 1789.) 
 
 It was one thincr for Washington to receive the 
 
 Solemni- ^ i • • x xi 
 
 ty of the homages of his countrymen, on his journey to the 
 ^'"'^' seat of government, and on his entrance mto office 
 there ; all this was smiling to the eye, and full of promise 
 to the ear. But it was another thing to remember the 
 weaknesses and the divisions of the nation ; to behold the 
 present sources of peril ; and to feel that the Constitution 
 was still an untried instrument, unmoved, perhaps unmov- 
 able. Whatever has been said of the solemnity of former 
 periods, or of former duties, must be repeated with stronger 
 emphasis of the work now before Washington and his 
 coadjutors. Of far greater difficulty than the formation of 
 the Constitution was the setting it in operation. Washing- 
 ton knew it all. And almost the first words which broke 
 from his lips, as president of the United States, were words 
 of prayer. " It would be peculiarly improper," he said at 
 the beginning of his inaugural speech, " to omit in this first 
 official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being 
 who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils 
 of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every 
 human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the 
 liberties and happiness of the people of the United States, 
 a government instituted by themselves for these essential 
 purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its 
 
 * March 4 being the appointed day; and the House not having a 
 quorum till March 30, the Senate none till April 6. 
 
298 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 administration to execute with success the functions allotted 
 to his charge.'* 
 
 Washing- In the same spirit Washington invoked the sup- 
 ton to his p^j^ Qf those around him, not merely as his fellow- 
 
 fellow- ^ / ^ 
 
 Chris- countrymen, but as his fellow-Christians. Among 
 tians. ^ij ^j^^ addresses hailing his accession to the presi- 
 dency, from political and industrial, from literary and scien- 
 tific bodies, none seemed to please him more than those 
 received from religious organizations. In his replies, he 
 remarks upon his need of their sympathies and prayers. 
 Convinced that nothing could so bind the nation together 
 as charity amongst the different branches of Christians, he 
 insists upon it Avith peculiar earnestness. In an address to 
 his own church, the Protestant Episcopal, he expresses his 
 joy " to see Christians of different denominations dwell 
 together in more charity, and conduct themselves in respect 
 to each other with a more Christian-like spirit, than ever 
 they have done in any former age or in any other nation." 
 To the church that had been an object of persecution 
 through the whole colonial period, the Roman Catholic, 
 the president wrote as follows : " I hope ever to see 
 America among the foremost nations in examples of justice 
 and liberality. And I presume that your fellow-citizens 
 will not forget the patriotic part which you took in the 
 accomplishment of their revolution, and the establishment 
 of their government." 
 
 The na- Thcsc principles, so far above any of a merely 
 tion. political character, were to be applied to a nation 
 now numbering nearly four millions.* This was the popu- 
 lation of all the thirteen states. The Constitution, as will 
 be recollected, went into operation with the assent of but 
 
 * The census of 1790 gave, whites, 3,172,464 ; free blacks, 59,466 ; 
 slaves, 697,897 : total, 3,929,827- 
 
WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 299 
 
 eleven. North Carolina acceded in eight months, (Novem- 
 ber 13 ;) Rhode Island in fifteen, (May 29, 1790.) 
 
 The great feature of the opening years of Wash- 
 Work of in^Qn's administration was the work of Congress, 
 
 Congress. o i j 
 
 The de- the body upon whose laws the government depend- 
 ments ed for movement, if not for life. The departments 
 and the ^^gpg organized ; one of state, one of the treasury^ 
 judiciary. ^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^ ^^^^^ heiYig uudcr the control of a 
 
 secretary. The three secretaries, with an attorney general, 
 constituted the cabmet of the president; the postmaster 
 general not being a cabinet officer until a later period. 
 Washington appointed Thomas Jefferson the first secretary 
 of state, Alexander Hamilton the first secretary of the ' 
 treasury, Henry Knox the first secretary of war, Ed- 
 mund Randolph the first attorney general, and Samuel 
 Osgood the first postmaster general, (September, 1789.) 
 At the same time, he made his appointments for the offices 
 of the judiciary; Congress having created a Supreme 
 Court, with Circuit and District Courts appended'. John 
 Jay was the first chief justice of the United States. 
 
 Congress had already launched into constitution- 
 menTs to al discussions. The amendments to the Constitu- 
 the Con- ^jojj, proposed by the different states, were numerous 
 Btitution. ^^^^gj^ _ g^^y ^^^ upwards — to call for early at- 
 tention. It was not suggested either by the states or by 
 their congressional representatives, to make any fundamen- 
 tal alterations in. the Constitution. The old federal, now 
 the anti-federalist party, from whom most of the amend- 
 ments came, asked for no subversion of the national system. 
 They were contented with a few articles, declaring the 
 ' states and the people in possession of all the powers and 
 all the rights not expressly surrendered to the general 
 government. These articles, to the number of ten, were 
 adopted by Congress, and accepted by the states. 
 
300 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 A far more vital matter was the revenue. To 
 
 Revenue. 
 
 this Congress addressed itself in the first weeks of 
 the session. The result of long and difficult debates was 
 the enactment of a tariff, intended to serve at once for 
 revenue and for protection of domestic interests. A ton- 
 nage duty, with great advantages to American shijDping, 
 was also adopted. Some time afterwards, indeed towards 
 the close of the first Congress, an excise was laid on domes- 
 tic spirits. These measures were modified at intervals. 
 But beneath them, in all their forms, there continued the 
 principle, that the duties upon imports were to provide for 
 government in the shape of a revenue, and for the nation 
 in the shape of protection. It was no time for free trade. 
 It fell to the first Confess, Hkewise, to provide 
 
 for the public credit. The debts of the Confedera- 
 tion amounted to fifty -four millions of dollars, or to eighty 
 millions if the debts of the states, incurred for general 
 objects, were added. It was the plan of Hamilton, secre- 
 tary of the treasury, that these debts should be taken as a 
 whole to be assumed and funded by the new government. 
 All sorts of opinions were started. Agreeing that the 
 foreign debt should be treated in the manner proposed, the 
 members of Congress were altogether at variance upon the 
 subject, first, of the domestic debt due from the Confeder- 
 ation itself, and second, of the debt due from the separate 
 states of the Confederation. On the first point, it was 
 argued by a large number, that the certificates of the 
 public debt were no longer in the hands of the original 
 holders, and that to fund them at their par value was 
 simply to put money into the pockets of speculators to 
 whom the first holders had transferred them at great sacri- 
 fices. On the second point, that of assuming the state 
 debts, the opposition was still more earnest, especially from 
 the representatives of those states whose exertions during 
 
WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 301 
 
 the war of the revolution had been comparatively limited. 
 It was a matter, moreover, to be supported or opposed 
 according to the various views of the state and the national 
 governments. They who, like the proposer of the system, 
 desired to see the national government strong, advocated its 
 being made the centre of the public credit ; while they 
 who inclined to the rights of the states, preferred to have 
 the debt remain in state rather than in national stocks. 
 
 The question was not decided upon any abstract 
 
 Manner ^ i j 
 
 of de- grounds. It had been a bone of contention where 
 the seat of the general government should be locat- 
 ed, some going for one place and some for another. When 
 the House of Representatives decided against assuming the 
 state debts, the advocates of the assumption hit uj)ou the 
 plan of securing the necessary votes from some of the 
 Virginian or Maryland members, by consenting to fix the 
 projected capital on the Potomac.'^ The bait was snapped 
 at, and a measure on which the honor of the states, if not 
 of the nation, depended, passed by means of unconcealed 
 intrigue. The state debts were then assumed, not in mass, 
 but in certain proportions. This being the chief object of 
 altercation, the funding of the domestic and foreign debt of 
 the general government was rapidly completed, (August 4, 
 1790.) The transaction was by no means to the satisfac- 
 tion of the entire nation. Even Virginia, whose represen- 
 tatives had voted for the scheme, considering their state to 
 be amply repaid by the location of the capital on the 
 Potomac, declared against the whole system, save only that 
 part relating to the foreign debt. The funding of the 
 general domestic debt was pronounced to be " dangerous to 
 the rights, and subversive of the interests, of the people ; " 
 while that of the state debts was " repugnant to the Consti- 
 tution." The opposition did not end here. 
 
 * Philadelphia to be the capital until 1800. 
 ' 26 
 
302 PART III. 17G3-1797. 
 
 National The piiblic creditors, on the otlier hand, were de- 
 tank, lighted. All the moneyed interests of the countr}-, 
 indeed, were quickened, the public bonds being so much 
 additional capital thrown into the world of industry and of 
 commerce, ^he creation of a national bank, with the design 
 of sustaining the financial operations of government, took 
 place in the early part of the following year, (1791.) On 
 the opening of the subscription books, a signal proof of the 
 confidence now placed in the national credit was given, the 
 whole number of shares offered being taken up in two 
 hours. At the same time, the number and the earnestness 
 of the party averse to these movements of the government 
 were increased by the success with which they were attended. 
 It had been made a question in the very cabinet of the pres- 
 ident, by Jefferson and Randolph, whether the charter of the 
 bank was not beyond the limits of the Constitution. Wash- 
 ington himself had hesitated to approve the act of Congress. 
 The construction of the Constitution was one of 
 
 Parties. . -, • •, 
 
 the pomts on which parties were now contending. 
 It was a natural principle with the federalists that the Con- 
 stitution should be interpreted freely; that is, in such a 
 way as to give the government the full measure of its 
 powers. On the other hand, the anti-federalists were for 
 limiting the provisions of the Constitution, if not as far as 
 possible, at least as far as they thought required by the 
 independence of the states and of the people. Every sub- 
 ject brought before Congress excited questions of congres- 
 sional powers. The organization of the government, the 
 creation of a tariff, of a national debt, and, as just men- 
 tioned, of a bank, all were argued for or against, according 
 to the different views of the work to be done by Congress. 
 Party spirit, however, was by no means confined to consti- 
 tutional arguments. It appeared on every occasion, charg- 
 ing the federahsts, now the dominant class, with monarchi- 
 
WASHINGTON'S ADIMINISTRATION. 303 
 
 cal schemes as their ends, and with corrupt dealings as their 
 means ; while the anti-federalists, who took the name of re- 
 publicans, were accused of tendencies to intrigue and to 
 sedition. So violent was the temper on both sides, that the 
 cry went up of separation from the Union. This, too, 
 when the Union was but just formed. 
 
 But of all the passions so prematurely exploding, 
 north and nouc wcrc SO threatening as those of the north and 
 ^^^ ' the south. The same division that had been ob- 
 served to be wider than any other before the Constitution, 
 continued wider than any still. Even the controversies 
 between the federalists and the republicans were not so 
 great or so absorbing as to crowd out the matters of dis- 
 sension between the Southern and the Northern States. 
 Nay, the divisions of the two portions of the country were 
 rather enhanced by those between the two parties; for 
 although there were many republicans in tlie north and 
 many federalists in the south, yet the south, as a general 
 rule, was republican, and the north federalist. This was 
 inevitable. The interests of the northern industry, its ship- 
 ping, its commerce, and its manufactures, called for a very 
 different policy on the part of the government from that 
 demanded by the southern agriculture. 
 
 The great line of distinction vras run by slavery. 
 
 Points 
 
 concern- The points of this thorny subject, so far from being 
 ing sia- smoothed by the compromises of the Constitution, 
 
 Very* 
 
 stood up as bristling as ever. In the very first year 
 of the new government, there came petitions from the 
 Quakers of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey, ask- 
 ing for the abolition of the slave trade. With this, as stated 
 in the account of the Convention, Congress had no power to 
 interfere for a period of twenty years. But the introduc- 
 tion of the subject brought up a storm, as it was called by 
 a member from Georgia, which lasted for days and even 
 
304 PAET III. 1763-1797 
 
 weeks, until tlie adoption of a committee's report that Con- 
 gress had no authority over the slave trade, except with 
 foreign countries, until 1808, the date prescribed by the 
 Constitution. At the same time, all pretensions to control 
 the treatment or the emancipation of slaves, in the states 
 where they existed, were expressly abjured by Congress. 
 This did not prevent an earnest Delaware Quaker from 
 petitioning some two or three years afterwards for the abo- 
 lition of slavery. The petition was returned to the peti- 
 tioner, (November, 1792.) A later memorial, (January, 
 1794,) from a convention of societies for the abolition of 
 slavery, held at Philadelphia, asking Congress to take such 
 measures as the Constitution allowed against the slave 
 trade, resulted in an act prohibiting the trade with foreign 
 lands. So far as relat'ed to the slave trade, there seems to 
 have been no opposition on the part of the Southern States 
 to its suppression. They were all moving more or less 
 actively in the same direction.* What they opposed was 
 the interference of Congress with slavery within the limits 
 of the country. 
 
 . ^^ On this particular point the opposing theories of 
 
 territo- after years were not yet distinctly formed. But 
 there was an evident foreboding of future divisions. 
 It was generally agreed that Congress had no power in 
 relation to slavery in the states. But it was generally 
 urged on one side, and by no means generally repelled on 
 the other, that the existence of slavery, as of any other sys- 
 tem, in the territories, did depend upon Congress. There 
 were the clauses of the Constitution — "The Congress 
 shall have power to dispose of, and make all needful rules 
 and regulations respecting, the territory or other property 
 
 *■ The traffic was prohibited in all the states by 1798. South Carolina, 
 however, revived it in 180i. 
 
WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 305 
 
 belonging to the United States ;" " New states may be admit- 
 ted by the Congress into this Union." On these the oppo- 
 nents of slavery relied, as empowering Congress to exclude 
 the system from any territories to be organized, or any 
 states to be admitted. The great precedent of the North- 
 west Territory, where slavery was expressly prohibited by 
 the Congress of the Confederation, was ratified by the first 
 Congress under the Constitution. It claimed — so the north- 
 ern men felt — to be not only ratified, but followed. That it 
 might be folio v/ed, was distinctly amongst the apprehensions 
 of the southerners, the more naturally from its having been 
 proposed by one of themselves, Thomas Jefferson, as we 
 have read, to exclude slavery from all the unsettled territo- 
 ries. When North Carolina ceded her western lands to the 
 Union, she did so on the express condition " that no regula- 
 tion made or to be made by Congress shall tend to the 
 emancipation of slaves," (1789.) 
 
 Here was the starting point of all future strife. 
 pltnt of I^ ^'^^ ^^ *^^ power of Congress to reject the pro- 
 luture posed Condition on the ground that its authority 
 
 strif© 
 
 over the territories was not thus to be trammelled. 
 Or it might have taken exactly the opposite ground, and 
 declared that it had no right to impose any conditions 
 upon the territories. Supposing either position to have 
 been taken permanently, the question of slavery in the ter- 
 ritories might have come up again. But the constitutional 
 principle on which it could be decided as often as it re- 
 curred, would have been established. Of all this there 
 seems to have been little or no perception. Not even 
 Washington — he who was so fixed against all sectional 
 divisions — exerted himself to close this prolific source of 
 bitterness and of contention. Congress accepted the cession 
 of North Carolina, and organized the district as the Terri- 
 tory South of the Ohio, (1790.) 
 
 26* 
 
306 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 Presiden- Meanwhile the unity of the country, despite its 
 tiai tours, parties and its broils, had been happily illustrated 
 in the tours of the president. He first visited the New 
 England States, Rhode Island excepted,* (October, No- 
 vember, 1789 ;) then Rhode Island, (August, 1790 ;) and, 
 lastly, the Central and Southern States, (April-June, 
 1791.) No earthly potentate had ever received such hom- 
 age as the republican magistrate, the revolutionary chief, 
 the Christian man, all blended in Washington. It was a 
 homage offered principally to the individual, but the light 
 which shone about him was diffused over the nation of 
 which he was the head and the representative. 
 ^ ^ , The states had not been idle. They were learn- 
 
 Work of '' 
 
 the ing their new relations to the general government, 
 
 and, through this, to one another. Within their 
 own borders, much was to be done to set up the law that 
 had been shaken and the order that had been disturbed for 
 the ten, twenty, or even thirty years before. Many of the 
 late Constitutions were remodelled, and some new ones 
 were framed. 
 
 New New states were presenting themselves for admis- 
 
 states. gJQjj jjj^Q ^-^Q jjjjg q£" ^Yie thirteen. The consent of 
 
 New York having been obtained, Vermont was admitted, 
 (March 4, 1791.) Provision was already made for the en- 
 trance of Kentucky in the following year, (June 1, 1792.) 
 The Territory South of the Ohio was subsequently admitted 
 as the State of Tennessee, (June 1, 1796.) 
 
 But the interest of the period was concentrated 
 ence upon ^'^ t^^G general government. By this, it was felt. 
 
 Washing- j^nd uot by any local authorities or any local move- 
 ton. 
 
 ments, the difficulties of the nation were to be met 
 
 and overcome. The general government itself was concen- 
 * Not then a member of the Union. 
 
WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 307 
 
 trated in Wasliington. They who deny him power of char- 
 acter, acknowledging his excellence and his judiciousness, 
 without acknowledging his inspiration of thought and his 
 energy of action, may turn to the group gathered at Phila- 
 delphia, the capital, and see the eyes of their heroes, fed- 
 eralist or republican, northerner or southerner, all fixed on 
 Washington for protection, especially as the four years of 
 his presidency drew to a close. Jefferson, the head of the 
 republicans, wi'ote to him, " The confidence of the whole 
 Union is centred in you. Your being at the helm will be 
 more than an answer to every argument which can be used 
 to alarm and lead the people in any quarter into violence or 
 secession. North and south "will hang together, if they 
 have you to hang on." " It is clear," wrote Hamilton, the 
 leader of the federalists, "that a general and strenuous 
 effort is making in every state to place the administration 
 of the national government in the hands of its enemies, as 
 if they were its safest guardians ; that the period of the 
 next House of Representatives is Mkely to prove the 
 crisis of its permanent character ; that, if you continue in 
 office, nothing materially miscliievous is to be apprehended 
 — if you quit, much is to be dreaded." Randolph, the 
 attorney general, — a sort of leader to a middle party, 
 neither wholly federahst nor wholly republican, — was 
 equally pressing. " The fuel," he wrote to Wasliington, 
 " which has been already gathered for combustion, wants 
 no addition. But how awfully might it be increased, were 
 the violence which is now suspended by a universal sub- 
 mission to your pretensions let loose by your resignation ! " 
 Thus urged, Washington could do no less than accept the 
 unanimous summons to another term of labor for his coun- 
 try. Adams was again chosen vice president, (1792-93.) 
 
 There was one thing over which Washington had no 
 influence. The animosity of parties had spared him, but 
 
308 PART in. 17G3-1797. 
 
 A imos- "without being checked "by him. He vainly exerted 
 ity of par- himself to keep the peace, even in his own cabinet. 
 
 Jefferson and Hamilton were at swords' points, and 
 at swords' points they remained until Jefferson retired, 
 (1794.) In Congress, all was uproar. The slightest ques- 
 tion sufficed to set the northerner against the southerner, 
 the federalist against the republican. Out of Congress, the 
 tumult was increasing. Influences to which we must revert 
 had swelled the dissensions of the nation with " very dif- 
 ferent views," as Washington wrote, " some bad, and, if I 
 might be allowed to use so harsh an expression, diabolical." 
 A new party, chiefly from the republican ranks, had gath- 
 ered, under the name of democrats, in societies of which 
 the model was taken from abroad, and which, as Washing- 
 ton wrote, might " shake the government to its foundation." 
 The fearful passion of the time at length broke 
 tion in out iu iusurrectiou. In consequence of the excise 
 Pennsyi- ^pQjj domcstic Spirits, some parts of the country 
 
 where distillation was common had been greatly 
 discontented. North Carolina and Pennsylvania, or rather 
 the interior counties of those states, had been agitated to 
 such a degree, that the president deemed it necessary to 
 issue a proclamation, calling upon his fellow-citizens to 
 support the laws, (1792.) The excitement gradually sub- 
 sided, except in Pennsylvania, where, after various acts of 
 violence, an armed convention, seven thousand strong, met 
 at Braddock's Field, (August, 1794.) The president of 
 this assembly was a Colonel Cook, the secretary, Albert 
 Gallatin, a Swiss emigrant ; and the commander of the 
 troops a lawyer named Bradford. Of course, the objects 
 of so large a body were various ; some being intent merely 
 upon suspending the collection of the excise, while others 
 meditated the possession of the country, and separation 
 from the Union. The president at once put forth a procla- 
 
WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 309 
 
 mation, " warning the insurgents to desist from their oppo- 
 sition to the laws." Commissioners were at the same time 
 appointed to proceed to the scene of disturbance, and per- 
 suade the actors to return to their duty. It being found, 
 however, that nothing but force, or the show of force, would 
 put down the insurrection, another proclamation was pub- 
 lished, announcing the march of fifteen thousand mihtia 
 from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia. 
 The president himself took the field for a few days; but 
 finding that the insurgents had disappeared before the 
 approach of his troojDS, he left his officers — General Henry 
 Lee, governor of Virginia, being commander-in-chief — to 
 complete the work that was no sooner begun than it was 
 ended. A considerable number of prisoners was taken ; 
 but no executions followed, (November.) Enough had 
 been done to decide " the contest," as Washington described 
 it,." whether a small proportion of the United States shall • 
 dictate to the whole Union." 
 
 Indian The same year (1794) witnessed the suppression 
 wars. Qf ^ danger, half domestic and half foreign — a 
 long-co.ntinued Indian war. It broke out, four years before, 
 on the attempt of various western tribes to recover the 
 country as far as the Oliio. A thousand men, partly United 
 States troops, and partly militia from Pennsylvania and 
 Kentucky, were sent into the heart of the hostile region. 
 Two detachments, under Colonel Hardin, fell into ambus- 
 cades ; while the main body, under General Harmer, 
 marched, countermarched, and at length retreated, (1790.) 
 The next year, after several incursions of volunteers into 
 the Indian territory, an army of some two thousand, under 
 General St. Clair, started, late in the autumn, to reduce the 
 enemy. Delayed by the construction of forts, the troops 
 were advancing but slowly, when they were surprised in 
 camp, and utterly routed by the Indians, (1791.) Two 
 
310 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 years passed in fruitless attempts at negotiation. An army 
 of three or four thousand, slowly enlisted under the com- 
 mand of General Wayne, the hero of Stony Point, at 
 length proceeded to more decisive measures. Spending the 
 winter and the spring in camp, Wayne took the field in the 
 following summer. Securing his rear by forts along the 
 route which he pursued, he overtook and completely van- 
 quished the Indians, driving them from their posts, and 
 laying waste their fields, (1794.) A treaty made with 
 Wayne a year afterwards (1795) renounced the claims 
 which had led the unhappy Indians into war. There still 
 remained upon the south-western borders the restless tribes 
 that had taken up arms from time to time during the war 
 with their brethren of the north-west. Peace with them 
 was made a year later, (1796.) In both treaties, the United 
 States took an attitude never before assumed by the whites, 
 ■ as a nation, towards the red man. The truth that the 
 Indians were not the aggressors so much as the borderers, 
 nay, the United States themselves, seems to have been 
 tacitly recognized by the indemnities to the conquered or 
 the pacified tribes. 
 
 Indian I^ was equally new in the history of the Indian 
 
 interests, ^ace, that the whitc men should unite nationally in 
 supplying their wants and improving their relations. No 
 part of Washington's administration, domestic or foreign, 
 was more original or more benign than the policy which he 
 constantly urged towards the Indians of the United States. 
 To save them from the frauds of traders, a national system 
 of trade was adopted. To protect them from the aggres- 
 sions of borderers, as well as to secure them in the rights 
 allowed them by their treaties, a number of laws were pre- 
 pared. " I add with pleasure," said the president in one 
 of his later addresses to Congress, " that the probability of 
 their civilization is not diminished by the experiments which 
 
WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 311 
 
 have been thus far made under the auspices of government. 
 The accompHshment of this work, if practicable, will reflect 
 undecaying lustre on our national character, and administer 
 the most grateful consolation that virtuous minds can know," 
 (December, 1795.) 
 
 Among the agents employed by the administra- 
 
 IlcckC" 
 
 welder, tion in dealing with the Indians was a remarkable 
 the mis- jjjr^Q^ John Hcckeweldcr, born in England, of 
 
 sionary. 
 
 German parentage, came to Pennsylvania in his 
 youth, and there in his early manhood became a missionary 
 of the United Brethren, or Moravians, amongst the Dela- 
 wares and the Mohegans, (1771.) His life thenceforward 
 was devoted to the Indians. He preached to them, that 
 they might be converted to God. He wrote of them, that 
 they might be respected of men. " I still indulge the 
 hope," he wrote in his old age, " that this work [for the 
 Indians] will be accomplished by a wise and benevolent 
 government." 
 „ ., ^ A far more savao-e foe than the Indian was 
 
 Tribute ^ 
 
 to Ai- appeased at the same period, but with much less 
 ^^^'^^' credit, it must be added, to the nation. This was 
 the Dey of Algiers, who, with a number of neighbors like 
 himself, was wont to SAveep the seas with piratical craft. 
 Singular to say, the sway of these buccaneering potentates 
 was acknowledged by the European states, who paid an 
 annual tribute on condition of their commerce being spared. 
 Ten years before the present date, the freebooters of the 
 Dey of Algiers had captured two American vessels, and 
 thrown their crews into bondage. He now (1795) consent- 
 ed to release his captives, and to respect the merchantmen 
 of the United States, on the reception of a tribute like that 
 received from the powers of Europe. Three quarters of 
 a million were paid down ; an annual payment of full 
 fifty thousand dollars being promised in addition. Other 
 
312 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 treaties of tlie same sort with Tripoli and Tunis were 
 tinder way. 
 
 rorei"-ii -J^he relations of the United States with civilized 
 relations, nations were hardly more satisfactory. The mon- 
 archies of Europe looked down, if they looked at all, upon 
 the infant republic, of which many of them really knew 
 almost nothing. What was of vast moment to a people 
 rising out of depression and of obscurity, was a trifle in the 
 eyes of old states, accustomed to deal with great interests 
 and with great resources. Their relations with America 
 were matters of little concern to them. On the other hand, 
 the relations of America to them, or to some of them, 
 formed the chief point of attention and of exertion with 
 the American nation for a quarter of a century. 
 Commer- ^^^ must go back to days over which we have 
 ciai trea- passcd, in order to see how the United States pre- 
 sented themselves to the older nations. " Our 
 fathers," said John Quincy Adams, himself a foreign min- 
 ister under Washington, " extended the hand of friendship 
 to every nation on the globe." Their first treaty, the one 
 with France, in which the affairs of commerce and of peace 
 were mingled with those of alliance and of war, was fol- 
 lowed by one with Prussia, (1785.) "This," remarked 
 Adams, " consecrated three fundamental principles of for- 
 eign intercourse. First, equal reciprocity and the mutual 
 stipulation of the commercial exchanges of peace ; second- 
 ly, the abolition of private war on the ocean ; and thirdly, 
 restrictions favorable to neutral commerce upon belligerent 
 parties with regard to contraband of war and blockades. 
 These principles were assumed as cardinal points of the 
 policy of the Union." It was a policy, however, in per- 
 petual collision with the usages and jDrerogatives of the 
 European powers ; so much so, that, though the young 
 nation held out an open hand, it was met by contracted 
 
WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 313 
 
 grasps. The state of things will appear as we go on to the 
 
 negotiations of Washington's administration. 
 
 „ , One of the first to come into more settled rela- 
 
 Treaty 
 
 with tions with the new government was Spain. That 
 ^^^°" power, through its colonial authorities in Florida, 
 had been supposed to be tampering with the southern 
 Indians. On the other hand, it was notorious that several 
 expeditions from the southern and western frontiers were 
 planned against the Spanish territory. All the while, the 
 dividing line between Florida and the United States was 
 unsettled, and the claim to the navigation of the Missis- 
 sippi undetermined. Finally, a special envoy, Thomas 
 Pinckney, was sent to Spain. It took him nearly a year 
 to bring about a treaty defirdng the Florida boundary, 
 and opening the Mississippi to the United States, (1795.) 
 Even then the Spaniards delayed to fulfil provisions in 
 which they took but small interest. 
 
 The relations with Spain were bad enough. But 
 
 Xi6l£LblOIlS 
 
 with those with Great Britain and France were worse. 
 Bdtain ^^ must spcak of these nations together, since it 
 and was their common, rather than theii* separate, influ- 
 ences which operated to the extent that is to be 
 described. Side by side, in the first place, were the feelings 
 of amity to France and of animosity to Britain ; the seeds 
 were planted in war, and their growth was not checked in 
 peace. Britain continued to wear the aspect of an antago- 
 nist, keeping her troops upon the United States territory 
 until her demands were satisfied, while on the other side 
 of the sea she laid one restraint after another upon com- 
 merce, as if she would have kept the Americans at a 
 distance from her shores. France, on the contrary, was 
 still the friend of the rising nation, and not only as its 
 patron, but as its follower. The same year that Washing- 
 ton entered the presidency, the French revolution began. 
 27 
 
314 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 Its early movements, professedly inspired by those that 
 had talven place in America, kindled all the sympathies of 
 American hearts. Hitherto, the bond between them and 
 the French was one of gratitude and of dependence ; now 
 it was one of sympathy and of equality. 
 ^ ,. But we are not to ima";ine our fathers to have 
 
 Parties ° 
 
 there- harmonized upon these points any more than upon 
 "^°^' the others that have been noticed. The nation was 
 by no means unanimous against Great Britain, by no means 
 unanimous for France. Deep, indeed, but still in action, 
 were the sentiments of former times when France was the 
 foe, and Britain the mother-land. To these a new impulse 
 was given by the early excesses of the revolution. With 
 their ideas of law and order, the Americans could not go 
 along with the French, rioters from the first, and soon 
 destroyei-s and murderers, rather than freemen. Many 
 paused, and turning with distrust from the scenes of which 
 France was the unhappy theatre, looked with kinder emo- 
 tions towards the sedater and the wiser Britain. It would 
 be too much to say that this led to a British party ; but it 
 did lead to a neutral one, while, on the other hand, a 
 French party, applauding the license as well as the liberty 
 of the revolution, clapped their hands the more enthusiasti- 
 cally as the spectacle became wilder and bloodier. This 
 party was the republican ; its more impetuous members 
 being the democratic republicans. Their opponents were 
 the federalists. The new dissensions came just in time to 
 keep up the division between the two. Mere federalist and 
 repubUcan questions might have waned ; they were already 
 less glowing than they had been. They were revived by 
 the strife of the French with the anti-French party. 
 
 Few had spoken of doing more than looking on at the 
 events in Europe. Yet there were some so excited, so 
 maddened, as to be ready for any extremities, especially 
 
WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 315 
 
 Wasiiino- ^'^^^ t^^ France whom they worshipped declared 
 ton pro- war against the Britain whom they abhorred. More 
 
 claims t • i i i i • • ■, 
 
 neutral- divided than ever, the nation was agam close upon 
 ^*y- the breakers, when Washington — never greater, 
 
 never wiser — issued his proclamation of neutrality, mak- 
 ing it known " that the duty and interest of the United 
 States require that they should with sincerity and good faith 
 adopt and pursue a conduct friendly and impartial towards 
 the beUigerent powers," (April 22, 1793.) It is a memo- 
 rable act in our history. 
 
 Point Its purpose is not always rightly estimated. 
 
 proposed. Look at the nation tasked to its utmost, one may 
 almost say, to subdue a few Indian tribes, obliged to pay 
 tribute to the Algerines, unable to keep the Spaniards to 
 their obligations, and we shall not behold a power that could 
 enter safely into European wars. If such a thing were 
 attempted, it would be at the hazard of the independence 
 that had been achieved. There were two risks ; one aris- 
 ing from the certainty that the United States must be a 
 subordinate ally in any war to which it became a party ; 
 and the other, — a still graver one, — that the passions 
 aroused by a foreign would find no vent but in a civil war. 
 It -wLas, as he said, " to keep the United States free," that 
 Washington proclaimed neutrality. 
 
 Mission The system was soon put to trial. France, hav- 
 of Genet, jj^g i)aptized herself a republic in the blood of her 
 king, Louis XAHL., sent a new minister to the United States 
 in the person of citizen Genet. An enthusiastic represen- 
 tative of his nation. Genet excited a fresh enthusiasm in 
 the French party of America. Feasted at Charleston, 
 where he landed, (April, 1793,) and at all the principal 
 places on the route northward, he was led to imagine the 
 entire country at his feet, or at those of the French repub- 
 lic. He began at Charleston to send out privateers, and to 
 
816 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 order that their prizes should be tried and condemned by 
 the French consuls in the United States. It was a part of 
 the treaty of commerce between the two nations, that the 
 privateers and prizes of the French should be admitted to 
 the American ports. But Genet was soon to be checked. 
 He had not merely a divided people to deal with, but a 
 government ; and although the government itself had its 
 divisions, it was so far accordant as to oppose the ambassa- 
 dor, to whom, on his arrival at Philadelphia, it stood ready 
 to declare that whatever the treaty provided for, it did not 
 provide for the commission of privateers or the condem- 
 nation of prizes within American limits. This is not the 
 place to describe the proceedings of so wild a personage 
 as Genet. He did battle for his privateers and his 
 courts ; appealed from the executive to Congress and 
 the people ; and pursued so extreme a course as to set his 
 supporters and his opponents bitterly at variance. The 
 French party now went openly for war against England. 
 " Marat, Robespierre, Brissot, and the Mountain," says Vice 
 President Adams, " were the constant themes of panegyric 
 and the daily toasts at table. . . . Washington's house 
 was surrounded by an innumerable multitude from day to 
 day, huzzaing, demanding war against England, cursing 
 Washington, and ciying, ' Success to the French patriots 
 and virtuous repubhcans.' Frederic A. Muhlenberg, the 
 speaker of the House of Representatives, toasted publicly, 
 The Mountain : may it be a pyramid that shall reach the 
 skies.* " " I had rather be in my grave," exclaimed Wash- 
 ington one day in great excitement, " than in my present 
 situation." He was equal, however, and more than equal, 
 to his duty and, supported by his cabinet, he sent to request 
 the reca^ of Genet, (August.) As the party by which 
 Genet had been commissioned had sunk to ruin, their suc- 
 cessors readily appointed a minister of their own — citizen 
 Fauchet. 
 
 i 
 
WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 317 
 
 Qreat ^^^ the troubles of the time were too compli- 
 
 Britain cated to be reached by a mere change of ministers. 
 
 and '' ° 
 
 France France had pronounced against the neutraUty of 
 invade America, — not, indeed, by direct menace or vio- 
 neutral- lencc, but by ordering that neutral vessels, contain- 
 * ^' ing goods belonging to her enemies, should be cap- 
 
 tured, (May 1, 1793.) An embargo was then laid upon 
 the shipping at Bordeaux. Both these measures were 
 decided violations of the treaty with America. The most 
 that France did, however, was as nothing compared with 
 the extremes to which her chief enemy. Great Britam, 
 resorted. France had ordered that the goods of an enemy 
 were liable to capture. Great Britain now ordered that 
 the goods of a neutral power, if consisting of provisions 
 for the enemy, were to be captured or bought up, unless 
 shipped to a friendly port, (June.) This was followed 
 by an order that all vessels laden with the produce of a 
 French colony, or with supplies for the same, were law- 
 ful prizes, (November ;) a decree so arbitrary that it was 
 soon modified by the nation that issued it, (January, 1794.) 
 Worse than all. Great Britain claimed the right to impress 
 into her service every seaman of British birth, wherever 
 he might be found ; so that the ships of the United States 
 would be stopped, searched, and stripped of their crews, 
 at the pleasure of the British cruisers. It often hap- 
 pened that American sailors, as well as British, were the 
 victims of this impressment. A thrill of indignation and 
 of defiance against such proceedings ran through the 
 Americans. They would have been less than freemen, 
 less, even, than men, to have borne with such injuries in 
 silence. 
 Threat- ^|^q coursc of Great Britain is easily explained. 
 
 ened war 
 
 with Its rulers regarded the United States merely as a 
 BrSain Commercial people who were contributing to the 
 
 27 * 
 
318 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 resources of the enemy. Did they look upon the nation 
 in any political light, they felt sure — thus Washington 
 was informed from London — " that there was a party so 
 decidedly in the British sentiment that bearing and forbear- 
 ing would be carried to any length." But they were mis- 
 taken. The very party most opposed to France were 
 earnest in sustaining the necessity of preparations for war, 
 defensive, indeed, but still war with Great Britain. A 
 temporary embargo upon the American ports was voted by 
 Congress, for the purpose of suspending commercial inter- 
 course, (March, 1794.) The House of Representatives 
 passed an act prohibiting all trade with Great Britain and 
 her colonies, until she redressed the wrongs which she had 
 perpetrated ; the act would have passed the Senate hke- 
 wise, but for the casting vote of the vice president, (April.) 
 The partisans of the French were all alive for further 
 action ; their opponents were hardly prepared to resist it. 
 One step on the part of the executive, one hint that Wash- 
 ington, the still trusted though still slandered magistrate, 
 was in favor of arming, and the nation would have armed. 
 With Great Britain, in all her might, for a foe, and with 
 France, in all her blood-red despotism, for an ally, what 
 would have been the war ! 
 
 Mission One of Wasliington's secretaries, Jefferson, had 
 of Jay. lately resigned his post, leaving his personal as well 
 as political opponent, Hamilton, the head of the cabinet. 
 To him, as the most eminent member of the administration, 
 the president would have confided the special mission which 
 it was proposed to send to Great Britain. But Hamilton, 
 as an extreme federalist, was too unacceptable to the great 
 body of Congress and of the nation to be employed upon a 
 service which of itself was an object of general distrust and 
 aversion. Washington therefore selected Chief Justice Jay, 
 (April, 1794.) It was a fitting choice, far more so than 
 
WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 319 
 
 that of Hamilton. The secretary would have been the rep- 
 resentative, not of the nation alone, but of the party which 
 acknowledged him as its leader ; he was always a party 
 man, whether in office or out of office. But the chief jus- 
 tice, though a federaUst, was no partisan. Amongst all the 
 prominent figures of the time, Jay's is almost, perhaps alto- 
 gether, the only one that stands close to Washington's, aloof 
 from the tarnishes and the coUisions of opposing parties. 
 No other man was so fit to join with Wasliington in rescu- 
 ing the nation from its present perils. 
 
 iiig Accordmgly, Jay proceeded to England, and, 
 
 treaty, ^ftcr somc months of anxious diplomacy, obtained a 
 treaty, (November.) It was not much to obtain. The 
 United States agreeing to indemnify their British creditors, 
 Great Britain consented to surrender the posts which she 
 had so long held in the west.* She also promised indem- 
 nity to the sufferers from her system of search and of cap- 
 ture ; yet the system itself, though partially modified, was by 
 no means renounced. A few concessions to the claims of 
 American commerce were also made ; but the rigid pohcy 
 of Britain, especially m relation to her colonial trade, was 
 strongly maintamed. In short, the treaty did not acknowl- 
 edge the rights of the Americans as neutrals, or their privi- 
 leges as traders; both matters of the highest importance to 
 their commercial interests. At the same time, the earlier 
 points of controversy were determined, and from the later 
 ones the sting was taken away, at least in some degree. So 
 Jay thought, so Washington, though neither considered the 
 treaty decidedly satisfactory. It was better, at any rate, 
 they reasoned, than war. Thus, too, reasoned the Senate, 
 who, convened in special session, advised the ratification of 
 the treaty, (June, 1795.) 
 
 * The surrender to take effect June 1, 1796. 
 
320 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 Opposi- Not thus, however, the nation. If the necessity 
 tiou. q£ ij^g treaty, even as it stood,- needed to be proved, 
 the proof was the general insanity which it provoked. 
 Meetings were held every where ; harangues were made, 
 resolutions passed; copies of the treaty were destroyed; Jay 
 was burned in effigy. The French and the American flags 
 waved together over these scenes ; while the British ensign 
 was draGTSfed throudi the dirt and burned before the doors 
 of the British representatives. 
 
 Katifica- ^^^ this, and more, if intended to intimidate gov- 
 tion. ernment, had a precisely contrary effect. " I have 
 never," wrote Washington, " since I have been in the ad- 
 ministration of the government, seen a crisis which is preg- 
 nant with more interesting events, nor one from which 
 more is to be apprehended." " Did the treaty with Great 
 Britain," he asked afterwards, " surrender any right of 
 Avhich the United States had been in possession ? Did it 
 make any change or alteration in the law of nations, under 
 which Great Britain had acted in defiance of all the powers 
 of Europe ? If none of these, why all this farrago ? " The 
 French party were of course the active leaders in all dis- 
 turbances. Their antagonists, certainly not a British party 
 now, kept themselves in the background at first, but pres- 
 ently rallied, not as a British, or even as an anti-French, so 
 much as an American party, to the support of the presi- 
 dent, assuring him and his government of the unabated con- 
 fidence of the nation. At the same time, Jefferson's succes- 
 sor, Randolph, being suspected of intrigue with the French 
 minister, resigned his office, and in the reaction thus excited 
 against the influence and the partisanship of France, the 
 cabinet advised the ratification of the British treaty. It 
 Avas done, (August.) 
 
 Contiuued Opposition continued. The Virginian legisla- 
 oiiposition. ^uj-g^ approving the stand of their senators against 
 
WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 321 
 
 the treaty, refused to pass a vote of undiminished confidence 
 in the president. If Virginia could thus turn away from 
 the son to whom she had hitherto clung with all a mother's 
 pride, the tone in other states may be conceived to have 
 been even more expressive of disapprobation. But Vir- 
 ginia was strongly republican and strongly French, conse- 
 quently strongly anti-British. So far did the legislature go 
 in its wrath, as to propose an amendment of the Constitu- 
 tion, to the effect of requiring the assent of the House of 
 Representatives before a treaty could be ratified, (Novem- 
 ber.) The example of Virginia was imitated even in Con- 
 gress, where the phrase of '' undiminished confidence " was 
 stricken from an address of the house to the president, 
 (December.) As the session progressed, a fierce struggle 
 arose with respect to the bills for carrying out the British 
 treaty. The opponents of the treaty made it their first 
 effort to obtain the papers relating to the- transaction, on the 
 plea that it lay with the House to consent or to refuse to ex- 
 ecute the provisions of the treaty. A three weeks' debate 
 terminated in a call upon the president for the specified 
 documents. He and his cabinet being alike of opinion that 
 the House had transgressed its powers, the call was refused. 
 The House took the denial w^ith a better grace than might 
 have been anticipated ; the leaders of the opposition now 
 throwing their whole weight upon the point of defeating the 
 bills on which the execution of the treaty depended. Nor 
 was it until after a fortnight's debate, in which Fisher 
 Ames distinguished himself above all his colleagues in 
 defending the treaty, that a vote, by a bare majority, deter- 
 mined that the House M'ould proceed to its duty, (March, 
 April, 1796.) By this time the frenzy out of doors had 
 died away. 
 
 The point Thus terminated the great event of Washington's 
 gained, administration. Its course, so far as he was con- 
 
322 PART III. 1763-1797. 
 
 cerned, followed precisely the principles with which he had 
 entered office. In face of the parties that divided the 
 country, in face of their feelings and their relations to Great 
 Britain and France, "Washington saw but one alternative — 
 peace or war. And not j)eace or war with the stranger 
 alone, but between citizen and citizen. Enough has been 
 already said on the interests and the dangers involved in 
 the decision. The proclamation of neutrality was the first 
 decisive step, the treaty with Great Britain was the second, 
 and, for the present, the last. The point thus gained may 
 be called the starting point of the infant nation in its foreign 
 relations. But hear Washington himself : "My ardent de- 
 sire is, and my aim has been, to keep the United States 
 free from political connections with every other country, to 
 see them independent of all and under the influence of none. 
 Li a word, I want an American character, that the powers 
 of Europe may be convinced we act for ourselves, and not 
 for others. This, in my judgment, is the only way to be 
 respected abroad and happy at home ; and not, by becoming 
 the partisans of Great Britain or France, create dissensions, 
 disturb the public tranquillity, and destroy, perhaps for- 
 ever, the cement which binds the Union." 
 Contini d Things were far, however, from going smoothly, 
 embarrass- What Washinsfton wrote a few months before was 
 from'' still true: "This government, in relation to France 
 abroad. ^^^^[ England, may be compared to a ship between 
 the rocks of Scylla and Charybdis." The treaty being rat- 
 ified, Charybdis was avoided. But Scylla rose the more 
 frowningly. If the French party of the United States, if 
 the minister of the United States to France, James Mon- 
 roe, were indignant at the British treaty, it was but natural 
 that France should be the same. The French government 
 announced to Mr. Monroe that they considered their alli- 
 ance with the United States to be at an end, (February, 
 
WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 323 
 
 1796.) The cliief reason was the treaty with Great 
 Britain ; but the list of grievances, then and afterwards 
 filled out, comprehended all the measures by which Ameri- 
 can neutrality had been sustained. To prove that they 
 were in earnest, the authorities of France, in addition to 
 their previous orders of capture and embargo, decreed 
 that neutral vessels were to be treated exactly as they were 
 treated by the British ; that is, stopped, searched, and 
 seized upon the seas, (July.) This was subsequently made 
 known to the United States by a communication from the 
 French envoy, Adet, (October,) who improved the oppor- 
 tunity by appealing to the people to take part with France 
 and against Great Britain, (November.) To restore mat- 
 ters, as far as possible, to a better position, Washington had 
 sent out Charles C. Pinckney as minister to France, in the 
 place of Monroe, '(September.) But the clouds that had 
 been dissipated on the side of Great Britain were more 
 than replaced by the ominous signs in the direction of 
 France. 
 
 And at I^ was Still worsc at home. The parties — north- 
 home. gj.jj Q^^ southern, federalist and republican, anti- 
 French and French — that racked the nation were never 
 so much agitated. " Until within the last year or two," 
 wrote Washington, " I had no idea that parties would, 
 or even could, go to the length I have been witness to." 
 Congress was a continual battle ground. The federal 
 party, falling into the minority in the House, and in danger 
 of losing their majority in the Senate, fought, it may be 
 literally said, on one side ; their opponents, the repubhcans, 
 animated with the hope of the superiority, being equally 
 pugnacious on the other. Newspapers, especially those 
 published at Philadelphia, carried the hostile notes from 
 Congress to the nation, and echoed them back to Congress. 
 It is difficult, without having room for extracts, to convey 
 
324 PART in. 1763-1797. 
 
 any idea of the virulence of political writing at the time. 
 Statesmanship disappears in partisanship, the love of coun- 
 try in the hatred of countrymen. All this, while it demon- 
 strated the wisdom of the administration or of its head, 
 rendered the course of the administration doubtful and 
 imperilled. In fact, both the administration and its head 
 were objects of the fiercest assault. 
 
 Abuse of Washington wrote with natural indignation of 
 Washing- the abusc which he, " no party man," as he truly 
 called himself, had received, " and that, too, in such 
 exaggerated and indecent terms as could scarcely be applied 
 to a Nero, a notorious defaulter, or even to a common pick- 
 pocket." It was amidst these outrages that Washington 
 sent forth his Farewell Address to the people of the United 
 States, (September 17, 1796.) Soon afterwards, Congress 
 came together, and showed that many of its members were 
 violent against the retiring president. On the proposal of 
 an address of grateful acknowledgments from the House 
 of Representatives, a man from Washington's own state, 
 William B. Giles, of Virginia, took exception to the more 
 expressive passages, saying, " If I stand alone in the opin- 
 ion, I will declare that I am not convinced that the admin- 
 istration of the government for these six years has been 
 wise and firm. I do not regret the president's retiring 
 from office." Giles was not alone. The same attitude was 
 taken by a considerable number, and amongst them Andrew 
 Jackson, of Tennessee, (December.) " Although he is 
 soon to become a private citizen," wrote Washington of 
 himself, (January, 1797,) "his opinions are to be knocked 
 down, and his character reduced as low as they are capable 
 of sinking it." Two months later, in the last hours of his 
 administration, he said, " To the wearied traveller, who sees 
 a resting place, and is bending his body to lean thereon, I 
 now compare myself ; but to be suffered to do this in peace, 
 
WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 325 
 
 is too mucli to be endured by some." If Wasliington could 
 thus excite animosity and wrong, what must it have been 
 with ordinary men ? The country seemed unwilling to be 
 pacified, unwilling to be saved. 
 
 Washington retired. He had done even greater 
 
 Kg tiro- 
 
 meiit of things at the head of the government than he had 
 Washing- ^Q^^Q ^^ ^j^g ]^g^(j ^£ ^|jg army. But it was beyond 
 
 his powder to change the character of the nation. 
 He left it as he found it — divided and impassioned. Yet 
 he left it as he had not found it — wdth a Constitution in 
 operation, with principles and with laws in action — on 
 the road to increase and to maturity. " I can never be- 
 lieve," were almost his last words as president, " that Prov- 
 idence, which has guided us so long, and through such a 
 labyrinth, will withdraw its protection at this crisis." The 
 day after writing this, he saw his successor, John Adams, 
 inaugurated, (March 4, 1797.) 
 ^ ^ ^, One who had hailed the administration at ♦its 
 
 Lafayette. 
 
 beginning was not amongst those to behold its 
 close. Lafayette was a prisoner at Olmutz, under the 
 power of Austria. But he was not forgotten. It is refresh- 
 ing amidst the angry chaos of foreign controversies and of 
 domestic struggles, to encounter Washington, not as the 
 president, but as the American, writing his " private letter," 
 as he termed it, to the Emperor of Germany, " to recom- 
 mend Lafayette to the mediation of humanity," and "to 
 entreat that he may be permitted to come to this country," 
 (May, 1796.) The effect of the appeal is not known ; but 
 Lafayette was liberated not long afterwards. 
 28 
 
 m 
 
« 
 
PART IV. 
 
 THE GROWING NATION. 
 
 1797-1850. 
 
 (327) 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 Foreign Aggressions. 
 The contrast between the administration of 
 
 Party aa- 
 
 ministra- "Washington and the administrations of his succes- 
 *'°"^" sors is as wide as that between a nation and a 
 party. He was the head of the nation ; they have been 
 the heads of parties, as well as of the nation. First comes 
 John Adams, the federalist, (1797;) then Thomas Jefferson, 
 the republican, (1801 ;) then James Madison, likewise the 
 repubhcan, (1809.) Not one of these chief magistrates, it 
 is true, was a mere partisan. Adams, the early champion 
 of independence, was faithful to his principles of national- 
 ity ; but he found himself dependent, not on the nation, but 
 on a party, for support, and shaped his administration, as 
 of necessity, by party lines. Not confining himself so 
 strictly to these as the more ardent federalists demanded, 
 they turned against him, and as the nation would not rally 
 to his defence, he lost his reelection. Jefferson, vice presi- 
 dent under Adams, was much more of a party leader. He 
 had generous theories, indeed, but his practices did not 
 always conform to them ; and though he began his admin- 
 istration by declaring that " we are all republicans, all 
 federalists," he never proved himself a federalist, nor did 
 the federalists become republicans. Madison was a much 
 less enthusiastic politician than his predecessors. He bowed 
 to the signs of the times, and became not so mucli a party 
 leader as a party follower. The point with all the three 
 28 * (329) 
 
330 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 was, that they were chiefs of but a part of the nation, not 
 of the whole. 
 
 In this they were in harmony with those over 
 amongst whom they were called to rule. The people were 
 the peo- divided into parties. So they had been under 
 Washington ; but while he conducted affairs, there 
 was at least one in power to whom patriotic men could look 
 up without party feelings. With his successors, the case 
 was different ; and though there might be a number in one 
 place, or a number in another, whose sympathies were with 
 the nation, rather than with any party, there was no one to 
 be their representative or their example. The large major- 
 ity, more deeply interested in political affairs than most 
 men of the present day, broke up into divisions, full of 
 earnestness for their own doctrines, full of wrath against 
 all besides. 
 ^, ,. The natural consequences followed. Even in 
 
 Parties ^ 
 
 in reia- relation to the foreign aggressions — which we shall 
 foreign ^^^^ ^^ tracing — parties will be found to have 
 aggres- existcd in all their force. If one nation dealt a 
 
 sions. 1 1 . 1 • 1 1 
 
 blow agamst the country, it was sure to be excused 
 by one party ; if another did the same, there was another 
 party to explain away the wrong. On the other hand, 
 there were always some to censure every act of one power, 
 and others to denounce every measure of another power. 
 So strong did these feelings become, that the subjects which 
 called them forth took precedence of all others in the con- 
 troversies of the time. Perhaps it was natural for the 
 young nation to be more excited by the vast interests of its 
 elders, than by its own comparatively petty concerns. At 
 any rate, it was what foreign powers were doing, rather 
 than what the United States had to do, which formed the 
 staple of political action for the fifteen years (1797-1812) 
 following}; the retirement of Washino;ton. 
 
FOREIGN AGGRESSIONS. 331 
 
 Missions Chief amongst tlie combatants in Europe, and 
 to France, ^j^g. aggressors against America, were Great Britain 
 and France. For the moment, the relations Avith France 
 occupied the foreground. Charles C. Pincknej, accredited 
 by Washington to negotiate with the French government, 
 was refused an audience at Paris ; and not only that, but 
 was ordered to def)art the French territory, (December, 
 1796 — Febr^ry, 1797.) Notwithstanding this, notwith- 
 standing the -rapidly following decrees against American 
 ships and American crews. President Adams sent out a 
 new mission, consisting of Pinckney, John JMarshall, and 
 Elbridge Gerry, with moderate instructions, which, how- 
 ever, availed nothing. Pinckney and Marshall, incensed 
 by the intrigue as well as the insolence of which they Avere 
 the objects, (October, 1797— April, 1798,) shook off the 
 dust of France from their feet, being followed in a few 
 months by Gerry, who had undertaken to do alone what 
 he had not been able to do with his colleajrues. 
 
 Before the withdrawal of Pinckney and Mar- 
 of the ° shall, the intelligence of their treatment had thrown 
 United i\^Q United States into a srreat excitement. The 
 
 states. . ' . *= 
 
 republicans taunted their opponents with the failure 
 which they said they had predicted for the French missions. 
 All the more bitter were the federalists, who inveighed 
 against the venality of the French government, some even 
 going so far as to call for a declaration of war. The presi- 
 dent leaned to the side of his party. He had no mind to 
 declare war, but he recommended Congress to put the 
 country in a state of defence, (March, 1798.) The recom- 
 mendation was at once opposed by the republican leaders. 
 According to Vice President Jefferson, indeed, the president 
 was aiming at a dissolution of the Union or at the establish- 
 ment of a monarchical government. But the federalists 
 upheld the president, and carried a series of measures pro-^ 
 
332 PART rv. 1797-1850. 
 
 viding for the organization of a provisional army, as well 
 as of a naval department, by which the existing navy might 
 be more efficiently managed, (May.) Orders were issued, 
 directing the national ships to seize all armed vessels 
 engaged in hostile acts against American shipping ; while 
 merchantmen were authorized to arm themselves, and cap- 
 ture their assailants upon the seas. But to prevent hostili- 
 ties, as far as possible, commercial intercourse with France 
 and her colonies was formally prohibited, (June.) Soon 
 after, Washington was appointed to the command of the 
 provisional army, (July.) The United States were fairly 
 in arms. 
 
 War followed at sea. No declaration was made ; 
 
 War. 
 
 the most that was done benig to proclann the trea- 
 ties with France void, and then to authorize the president 
 to send out national and to commission private vessels for 
 the purpose of capturing any armed ships of the French, 
 whether participating or not in hostilities, (July.) The 
 seas were at once overrun with American ships, by which 
 the French privateers were taken or driven from the coast. 
 No actual engagement between national vessels, however, 
 occurred, until the beginning of the following year, when 
 Commander Truxtun, in the Constellation, forced the French 
 frigate LTnsurgente to strike, (February, 1799.) Hostili- 
 ties were continued chiefly by privateers, the profits to 
 whose owners were the principal results of the war. Still 
 it pleased the party by whom it was favored. " A glorious 
 and triumphant Avar it was ! " exclaimed Adams, in after 
 years. " The proud pavilion of France was humiliated." 
 „^ . But a<>;ainst the deeds of battle must be set the 
 
 strain ^ 
 
 upon the measures of government. These alone show the 
 
 strain upon the nation. To provide ways and means, 
 
 stamp duties and taxes on houses and slaves were voted, 
 
 besides the loans that were procured. To keep down party 
 
FOREIGN AGGRESSIONS. 333 
 
 opposition, alien and sedition acts, as they were called, were 
 passed. The first authorized the president to banish all 
 aliens suspected of conspiracy against the United States. 
 This was more of a party manoeuvre than appears on the 
 face of it ; inasmuch as many of the most ardent spirits of 
 the republicans, especially the democratic republicans, were 
 aliens. The sedition act denounced fine and imprisonment 
 upon all conspiracies, and even all publications, " with 
 intent to excite any unlawful combination for opposing or 
 resisting any law of the United States, or any lawful act 
 of the president." Both these acts, however, were to be 
 but temporary.* It was at midsummer that party spirit 
 rose so high as to demand and to enact these urgent laws, 
 (June — July, 1798.) The alien act was never put in 
 operation. But the sedition act was again and again 
 enforced, and almost, if not altogether invariably, upon 
 party grounds. It may safely be said that the nation was 
 straining itself too far. 
 
 Nuiiifi- So thought the party opposing the administration 
 
 cation, f^i-jd ^}jg yxiXY. Strongest in the south and in the 
 west, the rei3ublican leaders threw down the gauntlet to 
 their opponents, nay, even to their rulers. The legislature 
 of Kentucky, in resolutions drawn up for that body by no 
 less a person than Vice President Jefferson, declared the 
 alien and sedition laws " not law, but altogether void and 
 of no force," (November, 1798.) The note thus sounded 
 was taken up in the Virginia legislature, v/hose resolutions, 
 draughted by James Madison, declared the obnoxious laws 
 "palpable and alarming infractions of the Constitution," 
 (December.) Both sets of resolutions, as they came from 
 the hands of their framers, were stronger still. Jefferson 
 
 * The alien to be in force for two years, the sedition until March 4, 
 1801, the end of Adams's administration. 
 
334 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 had written, " ^Yliere powers are assumed which have not 
 been delegated, a nulUfication of the act is the right rem- 
 edy, and every state has a natural right, in cases not within 
 the compact, [the Constitution,] to nullify of their own 
 authority all assumptions of power by others within their 
 limits." Madison, after stating " that in case of a deliber- 
 ate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of other powers not 
 granted by the compact, the states, who are the parties 
 thereto, have the right, and are in duty bound, to inter- 
 pose for correcting the progress of the evil, and for main- 
 taining within their respective limits the authorities, rights, 
 and liberties appertaining to them," had made his resolu- 
 tions declare the acts in question " null, void, and of no 
 force or effect." But it was an early day for nullification ; 
 and neither Kentucky nor Virginia went the length pre- 
 scribed for them. They went far enough, as has been seen, 
 to excite very general opposition from their sister states, 
 especially those of the centre and the north, where legisla- 
 ture after legislature came out with strong and denuncia- 
 tory denials of the right of any state to sit in judgment upon 
 the national government. 
 
 Thin2:s were in this seethino; state, the factions on 
 
 Another *^ . 
 
 mission to both sides being at the height of their passions, 
 France, ^^lew the president nominated a minister to France 
 in the person of William Van Murray, to whom he after- 
 wards joined Oliver Ellsworth, then chief justice, and Wil- 
 liam E. Davie, as colleagues, (February, 1799.) The 
 reason assigned for a fresh attempt at negotiation was the 
 assurance that had been received through Van Murray, 
 then minister at the Hague, of the willingness of the French 
 government to treat with a new mission. The instructions 
 subsequently drawn up for the three envoys directed them 
 to pursue a more decided course than had been enjoined 
 upon their predecessors ; they were to insist upon redress 
 
 \ 
 
FOREIGN AGGRESSIONS. 335 
 
 for the decrees and the captures of the French ; yet, unless 
 received on their arrival at Paris, they were not to linger, 
 but to demand their passports and abandon the mission. 
 Li all tliis, one finds it difficult to detect any thing unworthy 
 of the nation. But the din upon the nomination of the em- 
 bassy was tremendous. All the more active federalists, 
 conspicuous amongst whom were the principal members of 
 the cabinet, Timothy Pickering and Oliver Wolcott, cried 
 out against the treachery of the president. It was treach- 
 ery against their party rather than against their country, 
 even in their own eyes ; but they were blinded by the polit- 
 ical animosity that dazzled and bewildered almost all 
 around them. The president himself was suspected of urg- 
 ing the mission, in some degree, out of spite against the fed- 
 eral party, by whom, or by vrhose extreme members, he 
 considered himself badly used. " The British faction," he 
 wrote afterwards, " was determined to have a war with 
 France, and Alexander Hamilton at the head of the army, 
 and then president of the United States. Peace with 
 France was therefore treason." "This transaction," he 
 exclaimed in relation to the appointment of a new mission, 
 " must be transmitted to posterity as the most disinterested, 
 prudent, and successful conduct in my whole life ! " 
 Death of '^^ ^^^® closc of the year — it was also the close 
 Washing- of the ccntury which he adorned — Washington 
 died, (December 14, 1799.) His retirement, to 
 which he had looked forward so longingly, had been dis- 
 turbed. He had been greatly occupied with the organiza- 
 tion of the pro\dsional army, of which he had been appointed 
 chief — the last of his many services to his country. He 
 had been still more harassed by the party passions of the 
 time ; himself inclined to the support of federalist prin- 
 ciples, he had been to some degree drawn into the whirl of 
 political movements. Perhaps it was not too soon for his 
 
336 PAKT IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 peace or for his fame that he was taken away. Beside his 
 grave his countrymen stood united for an instant ; then 
 returned to their divisions and their strifes. His memory 
 continued to plead, and not unavaiHugly, for love of country 
 and of countrymen. 
 
 ^•^g The envoys to France reached their destination 
 
 French in the beginning of the following year, (1800.) 
 They found Napoleon Bonaparte first consul. With 
 his government, after some difficulty, they concluded a con- 
 vention, jDroviding in part for mutual redress, but leaving 
 many of the questions between the two nations for future 
 settlement, (October.) When brought before the Senate 
 of the United States, the convention was modified by can- 
 cellmg the provision for additional negotiations. This was 
 assented to in France, on condition that the claims for 
 indemnities on either side should be abandoned. The 
 effect was soon seen in claims for French spoliations pre- 
 sented to the government of the United States. But the 
 treaty sufficed to restore peace. 
 
 Difficui- France was not the only foreign power with 
 ties with wliich there had been difficulties. Spain, aggrieved, 
 ^^^^' as she professed herself to be, by the same British 
 treaty that had offended France, regarded the United States 
 not only as an unimportant but as an untrustworthy ally. 
 The former troubles in connection with the Florida terri- 
 tory continued, especially uf)on the subject of a boundary 
 between it and the United States. New troubles, too, 
 arose. Vague projects to get possession of the Mississippi 
 valley, by dint of intrigue amongst the western settlers, 
 were ascribed, and not ^vithout reason, to the Spaniards. 
 Thus, on both sides there were suspicions, on both con- 
 tentions. 
 
 The country at which Spain appeared to be aiming was 
 rapidly organized by the United States. The Mississippi 
 
FOREIGN AGGRESSIONS. 337 
 
 .i. . . . Territory was formed, includlnp; at first the lower 
 
 Mississippi *' ' *^ 
 
 Territory: part of the present Alabama and Mississippi, 
 under^de- (1798.) This organization excited a debate con- 
 i>*t^- cerning slavery, which, as the organizing act pro- 
 vided, was not to be prohibited in the territory. Here was 
 no such plea as had existed in the case of the Territory 
 South of the Ohio. No cession from a state, no conditions 
 laid any restraint upon Congress. Yet but twelve votes 
 were given in favor of an amendment proposed by George 
 Thacher, of Massachusetts, prohibiting the introduction of 
 slavery into the territory. The most that Congress would 
 agree to, was to forbid the importation of slaves from 
 abroad ; a concession, inasmuch as the slave trade, it will 
 be remembered, was still allowed by the Constitution. So, 
 for the second time, and this time without its being required 
 by terms with any state,* the decision of the national gov- 
 ernment was given in favor of slavery. Let it be borne in 
 mind, when we come to the controversies of later years. 
 
 But Congi'ess took the other side, likewise. The 
 
 Territory 
 
 of Indiana: western portion of the North-west Territory soon 
 slavery needed to be set off as the Territory of Indiana, 
 
 again. _ -^ 
 
 embracing the present Indiana, Illinois, and Michi- 
 gan, (1800.) There slavery was already prohibited. But 
 this went against the interests of the mhabitants, as they 
 thought, and they petitioned Congress, within three and 
 again within seven years after the organization of the terri- 
 tory, to be allowed to introduce slaves amongst them. Once 
 a committee of Congress reported adversely ; but twice a 
 report was made in favor of the petition. Reports and 
 
 * The part of the territory at this time organized was claimed by the 
 United States as a portion of the old Florida domain. Georgia likewise 
 claimed it as hers ; and when she surrendered what was allowed to be 
 hers, that is, the upper part of the present Alabama and Mississippi, she 
 made it a condition that slavery should not be prohibited, (1802.) 
 
 29 
 
338 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 petitions, however, were alike fruitless. Congress would 
 not authorize slavery where it had been prohibited. 
 War ^vith JefFerson's administration opened with fresh ag- 
 Tiipoii. gressions from abroad. The Bey of Tripoli — a 
 treaty with whom had been purchased under Washington's 
 administration — now declared war, undoubtedly for the 
 purpose of exacting larger tribute, (1801.) The war con- 
 tinued for four years, with many gallant actions on the part 
 of the American navy, but without any important results. 
 Peace was made, with an exchange of f)risoners, and, as the 
 American prisoners were more numerous, with a ransom to 
 the Tripolitan goveniment, (1805.) 
 
 Much nearer home were the continued difhculties 
 
 Acqtiisi- 
 
 tionof with Spain. The Spanish transfer to France of 
 
 Louisiana. -|- • • J.^ j. -i i n ^ • J.^ 
 
 JLouisiana — the vast and undenned region on the 
 west of the Mississippi — aggravated the inflamed relations 
 between Spain and the United States, (1800.) It was 
 while the province was still held by the Si^anish authorities, 
 that the Americans were excluded from New Orleans as a 
 depot for the commerce of their western country, (1802.) 
 Apprehensions were felt that the west itself was again in 
 danger, and not merely from the designs of Spain, but still 
 more from those of France. A proposal for seizing New 
 Orleans was brought up in the United States Senate ; but 
 it was determined to intrust the matter to the executive. 
 The plan was to purchase that portion of Louisiana wliich 
 included New Orleans, together, perhaps, with a part or the 
 w^hole of the Floridas, then supposed to be included in the 
 Spanish cession. But the envoys to France — Robert K. 
 Livingston and James Monroe — finding the French gov- 
 ernment disposed to part with the whole of their recent 
 acquisition, decided to take it all for fifteen millions of dol- 
 lars, one quarter of the sum to be paid to American suffer- 
 ers by French spohations, (April 30, 1803.) 
 
FOREIGN AGGRESSIONS. 339 
 
 Spain protested against the transaction immedi- 
 abroad atelj, and subsequently took up arms to maintain 
 and at jj^r boundaries, threatened, as she considered, by 
 
 home. . 
 
 the Americans both on the side of Florida and on 
 that of Mexico. The United States would have ended the 
 disputes about Florida by purchasing that province; but 
 Spain refused to part with it, and the two nations continued 
 on uncertain terms for many years. Far more alarming 
 were the controversies excited by the acquisition of Louisi- 
 ana within the United States themselves. The republican 
 chief magistrate, with his theories of a hmited general gov- 
 ernment, had made use of a power far beyond any claimed 
 by the federahsts for his predecessors. Jefferson himself 
 allowed it to be "an act beyond the Constitution," and 
 hinted at " an act of indemnity," that is, a constitutional 
 amendment to authorize his proceedings. The Senate 
 ratified the purchase, (October 20.) But loud and angry 
 was the clamor of the opposition, although the opposition, 
 had they been true to their professions, should have been 
 the first to applaud a measure so much after their own sys- 
 tem. The party bitterness of the time is almost incredible. 
 Not content with the old divisions, men entered into new 
 ones ; the dominant party, the republican, being divided 
 and subdivided. Nor were partisans satisfied with speak- 
 ing, writing, or acting against one another ; they shot down 
 their antagonists in duels and murderous affrays. It was 
 amidst these troubles abroad and at home, while Spain was 
 excited, and the parties of the United States inflamed, that 
 the acquisition of Louisiana was completed. 
 
 The possession of the Mississippi to its mouth, 
 involved ^^^ ^^^® Consequent security of the western terri- 
 intheac- tory, wcre the principal points insisted upon by 
 
 quisition. .^ 
 
 those who supported the acquisition. With those 
 who opposed it, the enlargement of territory and the viola- 
 
340 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 tion of the Constitution were the great arguments. Neither 
 party laid much if any stress upon the point which we of 
 the present day can see to have been the chief one involved 
 in the whole transaction. This was the extension of sla- 
 very, not, as in the cases previously noticed, by the organi- 
 zation of the national territory, but by the annexation of a 
 foreign region already containing upwards of fifty thousand 
 slaves, and open, of course, to fifty times as many in the 
 progress of years. Of what depended upon this we shall 
 see more hereafter. 
 
 The immense region thus acquired was divided 
 tion of i^^to two portions, (1804.) The southern, in which 
 Louisiana r^u i\^q Settlements of any importance were included, 
 
 territories. 
 
 was called the Territory of Orleans. It compre- 
 hended the present State of Louisiana, but with very indefi- 
 nite boundaries on the west. North of this lay the District 
 of Louisiana, embracing the present Arkansas and Mis- 
 souri, with as much more as could be brought within its 
 elastic limits on the north and west, its principal settlement 
 being St. Louis. This district was made a part of the same 
 jurisdiction with the Lidiana Territory, from which, how- 
 ever, it was- soon detached, (1805.) At the same time, the 
 provisions for the Territory of Orleans, complained of by 
 some of the inhabitants, were rendered more liberal. The 
 terms of the treaty concluding the purchase had been these : 
 " The inhabitants of the ceded territory shall be incori)o- 
 rated in the Union of the United States, and admitted as 
 soon as possible, according to the principles of the federal 
 Constitution, to the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages, 
 and immunities of citizens of the United States ; and in the 
 mean time shall be maintained and protected in the free 
 enjoyment of their liberty, property, and the religion which 
 they profess." Treaties of this kind were not every-day 
 occurrences with Napoleon. 
 
FOREIGN AGGRESSIONS. 341 
 
 The new State of Ohio was already admitted to 
 rrLrthe Union, (November 29, 1802.) New territo- 
 ami state ^.^g__j^.^l^.g^n (1805) and lUmois (180 J) — 
 tSs""" were subsequently formed from out of the Indiana 
 Territory. The signs of expansion wefe written every 
 where, but nowhere so strikingly as along the western 
 
 ^ ^''^^* There they were such as to kindle projects of a 
 p.7ects. new empire. Aaron Burr, vice president during 
 Jefferson's first term, but displaced in the second term by 
 Geor<^e Clinton, (1805,) - branded, too, with the recent 
 murder of Alexander Hamilton in a duel, — was generally 
 avoided amongst his old associates. Turning his face west- 
 ward, he there drew into his net various men, some of posi- 
 tion and some of obscurity, with whose aid he seems to have 
 intended making himself master of the Mississippi vaUey, or 
 of Mexico, one or both, (1806.) Whatever his schemes 
 were they miscarried. A handful only of foUowers were 
 gathered round him on the banks of the Mississippi, a 
 hundred miles or more above New Orleans, when he sur- 
 rendered himself to the government of the Mississippi Ter- 
 ritory, (January, 1807.) Some months afterwards he was 
 brou-ht to trial for high treason before Chief Justice Mar- 
 shall° of the Supreme Court, with whom sat the district 
 iud-e for Virginia; the reason for trying Burr in that state 
 being the fact that one of the places where he was charged 
 with having organized a military expedition was withm 
 the Virginian limits. The trial, like every thing else m 
 those days, was made a party question; the administration 
 and its supporters going strongly against Burr, while its 
 opponents were disposed to take his part. He was acquit- 
 ted for want of proof; and for the same reason he was 
 again acquitted when tried for undertaking to invade the 
 Spanish territories. 
 
 29^^ 
 
342 PART IV. 1797-1850 
 
 Frowning high above all these domestic events 
 ties with werc tlio aggressions from abroad. If they sank in 
 Great one direction, they seemed sure to rise the more 
 
 Britain. • i • -i t ^ r> 
 
 threatenmgly m another. It was now the turn ot 
 Great Britain. That state, however, had never ceased to 
 make such use or abuse of its strength as it pleased — not 
 even after the treaty under Washington's administration ; 
 the treaty, as formerly mentioned, having left many matters 
 of controversy undecided. The system of impressment, for 
 instance, though protested against by the United States, 
 had never been renounced by Great Britain. On the con- 
 trary, it had been extended even to the American navy, of 
 which the vessels were once and again plundered of their 
 seamen by British men-of-war. Another subject on which 
 Great Britain set herself against the claims of the United 
 States, was the neutral trade, of which the latter nation en- 
 grossed a large and constantly increasing share during the 
 European wars. After various attempts to discourage 
 American commerce with her enemies. Great Britain un- 
 dertook to put it down by condemning vessels of the United 
 States on the ground that their cargoes were not neutral 
 but belligerent property ; in other words, that the Ameri- 
 cans transported goods which were not their own, but those 
 of nations at war with Great Britain. It must be allowed 
 that the American shippers played a close game, importing 
 merchandise only to get a neutral name for it, and then ex- 
 porting it to the country to which it could not be shipped 
 directly from its place of origin. But the sharper the prac- 
 tice, the more of a flworite it seemed to be. A cry went 
 up from all the commercial towns of the United States, ap- 
 pealing to the government for protection, (1805.) 
 
 Government could do but little. It passed a law 
 
 Mission. ... . . . . 
 
 prohibiting the importation of certain articles from 
 Great Britain ; the prohibition, however, not to take immor 
 
FOREIGN AGGRESSIONS. 343 
 
 diate effect. This, it was thouglit, would so far intimidate 
 the British authorities as to produce a suspension of their 
 high-handed proceedings. At the same time, a mission, 
 consisting of James Monroe and William Pinkney, was 
 sent to London, to negotiate a new treaty, in which the dis- 
 puted points should be included, (April, 1806.) " I hope," 
 wrote Jefferson to Monroe, " that the ministry will come to 
 just arrangements. No two countries upon earth have so 
 many points of common interest and friendship ; and their 
 rulers must be bunglers indeed, if ^\'ith such dispositions 
 they break them asunder." But the mission proved a total 
 failure. In the first place, the envoys could obtain no sat- 
 isfaction on the subject of impressment, and next to none on 
 that of the neutral trade. In the next place, the treaty 
 which they signed, notwithstanding these omissions, was at 
 once rejected by President Jefferson, without even a refer- 
 ence to the Senate, (March, 1807.) The tumult of party 
 that ensued was immense. The president was charged with 
 sacrificing the best interests of the country, as well as with 
 violating the plainest provisions of the Constitution. Was 
 it he alone who held the treaty-making power, — he, too, 
 the republican, who had insisted upon restraining the powers 
 of the executive? But looking back upon the action of Jef- 
 ferson, we see little in it to have provoked such outcries. 
 He sent envoys to form a new treaty ; they had merely 
 reformed an old one. It might be rash to sacrifice the ad- 
 vantages which they had gained ; but might it not be igno- 
 minious to surrender the claims which they had passed by ? 
 , ^ . ^ If the nation needed to be convinced of the neces- 
 
 Affair of 
 
 the chesa- sity of somc definite understanding w^ith Great Brit- 
 pea.ce. ^.^ ^^ ^|^^ subjccts Omitted in the rejected treaty,*it 
 soon had an opportunity. The American frigate Chesa- 
 peake, sailing from Hampton Roads, was hailed off the 
 capes of Chesapeake Bay by the British frigate Leopard, 
 
S44: PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 the captain of wliicli demanded to search the Chesapeake 
 for deserters from the service of Great Britain. Captain 
 Barron, the commander of the Chesapeake, refused ; 
 whereupon the Leopard opened fire. As Barron and his 
 crew were totally unprepared for action, they fired but a 
 single gun, to save their honor, then, having lost several 
 men, struck tlieir flag. The British commander took those 
 of whom he was in search, three of the four being Ameri- 
 cans, and left the Chesapeake to make her way back 
 dishonored, and the nation to which she belonged dishon- 
 ored likewise, (June 22, 1807.) The president issued a 
 proclamation, ordering British men-of-war from the waters 
 of the United States. Instructions were sent to the envoys 
 at London, directing them, not merely to seek reparation 
 for the wrong that had been done, but to obtain the renun- 
 ciation of the pretensions to a right of search and of im- 
 pressment, from which the wrong had sprung. The British 
 government recognized their responsibihty, by sending a 
 special minister to settle the difficulty at Washington. It 
 was four years, however, before the desired reparation was 
 procured, (1811.) Tlie desired renunciation was never 
 made. One can scarcely credit his eyes, when he reads 
 that the affliir of the Chesapeake was made a party point. 
 But so it was. The friends of Great Britain, the capitalists 
 and commercial classes, generally, murmured at the course 
 of their government, as too. decided, too French, they some- 
 times called it ; as if the slightest resistance to Great Britain 
 were subordination to France. 
 
 Aspect of The aspect of the two nations was very much 
 Great changed of late years. Bonaparte, the consul of 
 a* the French republic, had become Napoleon, the 
 
 France, cmpcror of the French empire. Regarded by his 
 enemies as a monster steeped in despotism and in blood, he 
 excited abhorrence, not only for himself, but for his nation, 
 
FOREIGN AGGRESSIONS. 345 
 
 amongst a large portion of the Americans. On the other 
 hand, Great Britain, formerly scouted at as the opponent 
 of liberty, was now generally considered its champion in 
 Europe. There was but a faint comprehension of the prin- 
 ciples involved in the struggle between Great Britain and 
 France, of the real attitude taken by the former in warring 
 against the chosen sovereign of the latter, or of the remorse- 
 less ambition by which the one government was quite as 
 much actuated as the other. But there was still a very 
 considerable number in America to sympathize with France, 
 if with either of the contending powers. To these men, 
 the aggressions of Great Britain were intolerable ; while to 
 the supporters of the British, the French||aggressions were 
 far the more unendurable. 
 
 British Botli parties had their fill. Before the attack 
 and Qjj ^^Q Chesapeake, the lists had been opened 
 aggres- between France and England, to see, not merely 
 ^lo'is- iiow much harm they could do to each otlier, but 
 how much they could inflict upon all allied or connected 
 with each other. Connected with both were the Americans, 
 who were now assailed by both. Great Britain led off by 
 declaring the French ports, from Brest to the Elbe, closed 
 to American as to all other shipping, (May 16, 1806.) 
 France retorted by the Berlin decree, so called because 
 issued from Prussia, prohibiting any commerce v/ith Great 
 Britain, (November 21.) That power immediately forbade 
 the coasting trade between one port and another in the 
 possession of her enemies, (January 7, 1807.) Not satis- 
 fied with this, she went on to forbid all trade whatsoever 
 with France and her alHes, except on payment of a tribute 
 to Great Britain, each vessel to pay in proportion to its 
 cargo, (November 11.) Then followed the Milan decree 
 of Napoleon, prohibiting all trade v^^hatsoever with Great 
 Britain, and declaring such vessels as paid the recently 
 
S4G PART IV. 1707-lGoO. 
 
 demanded tribute to be lawful prizes to the French marine, 
 (December 17.) Such was the series of acts thundering 
 like broadsides against the interests of America. It trans- 
 formed commerce from a peaceful pursuit into a warlike 
 one — full of peril, of loss, of strife. It did more. It 
 wounded the national honor, by attempting to prostrate the 
 United States at the mercy of the European powers. 
 The ad- Tlicrc was but one of tw'O courses for the United 
 minit'tra- States to take — ■ peace or preparation for -war. 
 against War itsclf was impossible in the unprovided state 
 '"^^' of the country ; but to assume a defensive, and if 
 need were, to get ready for an oitensive position, was per- 
 fectly practicably. Jefferson thought it enough to order an 
 Pvdditional number of gunboats — very different from the 
 gunboats of our time, and yet considered by the administra- 
 tion and its supporters to constitute a navy by themselves. 
 The president did not favor any thing that looked like war. 
 He had come into office Avith denunciations of the proceed- 
 ings of the Adams administration against France ; nor 
 did the circumstances in which the nation was now situated 
 smooth the way to hostilities with any foreign power. " In 
 the present maniac state of Europe," Ite wrote a little later, 
 " I should not estimate the point of honor by the ordinary 
 scale. I believe we shall, on the contrary, have credit with 
 the world for having made the avoidance of being engaged 
 in the present unexampled war our first object. Yiav, how- 
 ever, may become a less losing business than unresisted 
 depredation." There remained the alternative of peace. 
 
 To preserve it, the president hit upon the most 
 self-denying of plans. The aggressions of the Euro- 
 pean powers were directed against the commerce of Amer- 
 ica, the rights of owners and of crews. That these miglit 
 be secured, the president recommended, and Congress 
 adopted, an embargo upon all United States vessels, and 
 
FOREIGN AGGHSSSIONS. 347, 
 
 upon all foreign vessels with cargoes slilpped after tlie 
 passage of the act in United States ports, (December 22, 
 1807.) * In other words, as commerce led to injuries from 
 foreign nations, commerce was to be abandoned. There 
 was also the idea that the foreign nations themselves would 
 suffer from the loss of American supplies and American 
 prizes. It was a singular way, one must allow, of preserv- 
 ing peace, to adopt a measure at once provoldng to the 
 stranger, and destructive to the citizen. The latter eluded 
 it, and it was again and again enforced by severe and even 
 arbitrary statutes. The former laughed it to scorn. France, 
 on whose side the violent federalists declared the embargo 
 to be, answered by a decree of Napoleon's from Bayonne, 
 ordering the confiscation of all American vessels in French 
 ports, (April 17, 1808.) Great Britain soon after made 
 her response, by an order prohibiting the exportation of 
 American produce, whether paying tribute or not, to the 
 EurojDean continent, (December 21.) So ineffective abroad, 
 so productive of discontent at home, even amongst the sup- 
 porters of the administration, did the embargo prove, that 
 it was repealed, (March, 1809.) 
 
 Succeed- Thus neither preserving peace nor preparing 
 ing acts, f^^ ^^^^ Jeffcrsou gavc up the conduct of affairs to 
 his successor, Madison, who kept on the same course. In 
 place of the embargo were non-intercourse or non-importa- 
 tion acts in relation to Great Britain and France, as restric- 
 tive as the embargo, so far as the designated nations were 
 concerned, but leaving free the trade with other countries. 
 These successors of the embargo, however, were nowise 
 more effectual than that had been. They were reviled and 
 violated in America ; they were contemned in Europe, 
 
 * The date shows that the embargo was laid before the news of the 
 last \-iolent decrees of France and Great Britain. 
 
n 
 
 348 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 The administration amused itself with suspending the 
 restrictions, now in favor of Great Britain, (1809,) and 
 now in favor of France, (1810.) hoping to induce those 
 j)owers to reciprocate the compliment by a suspension of 
 their own aggressive orders. There was a show of doing 
 so. Napoleon had recently issued a decree from Rambouil- 
 let, ordering; the sale of more than a hundred American 
 vessels as condemned prizes, (March 23, 1810.) But on 
 the news from America, willing to involve the young nation 
 in hostilities with C4reat Britain, he intimated his readiness 
 to retract the decrees of which the United States com- 
 plained. But he would not do so, he made known, except 
 on one of two conditions ; either the British orders must be 
 recalled, or else, in case of their not being recalled, the 
 claims of the United States must be enforced against them. 
 To all this. Great Britain replied, that when the French 
 decrees were actually, and not conditionally, revoked, her 
 orders should be revoked likewise. It was but a mockery 
 on both sides ; and America, mortified, but not yet enlight- 
 ened, returned to her prohibitions. They were scoffed at 
 by her own people. 
 
 Oppo- It. is not so difficult to describe as to conceive the 
 
 sition. i^yg ^y^([ QYj^ ^^ ^|^g ^c^j,^ ^f ^i^q opposition, against 
 
 the embargo and the subsequent acts. Whatever discon- 
 tent, whatever nullification had been expressed by the 
 republicans against the war measures of Adams, was 
 rivalled, if not outrivalled by the federalists against the 
 so-called peace measures of Jefferson and Madison. Town 
 meetings, state legislatures, even the courts in some places, 
 declared against the constitutionality and the validity of 
 the embargo statutes. The federalists of Massachusetts 
 were charged with the design of dissolving the Union. It 
 w^as not their intention, but their language had warranted 
 its being imputed to them. " Choose, then, fellow-citizens," 
 
FOREIGN AGGRESSIONS. 349 
 
 their legislature exclaimed, " between the condition of a 
 free state, possessing its equal weight and influence in the 
 general government, or that of a colony, free in name, but 
 in fact enslaved by sister states." 
 
 Indian While affairs, domestic and foreign, were thus 
 
 bostiii- agitated, there came a fresh outbreak of Indian 
 hostilities. It was under Jefferson that the plan of 
 removing the Lidians to the west was begun, (1804.) Of 
 this the main object was to secure the continuance of peace, 
 it being at that time comparatively unimportant to extend 
 the national domains. But it was this very plan, though as 
 yet imperfectly developed, that led, at least in part, to 
 renewed warfore. Two chiefs of the Shawanoes, Tecum- 
 seh and his twin brother, styled the Prophet, for some time 
 settled on the Tippecanoe River, in the Indiana Territory, 
 had set themselves at the head of a sort of confederacy 
 amongst the western races. But for the profane pretensions 
 of the Prophet, and the unscrupulous intrigues of Tecum- 
 seh, the principles of the league would have deserved 
 success. One great point was the title of the Indians, as 
 a whole, to the lands of which the wliites were getting 
 possession, by bargains with individuals or with individual 
 tribes. Another was the prohibition of the ardent spirits 
 with which the traders w^ere destroying the Indians, body 
 and soul. But to support these principles, the confederates, 
 or their leaders, relied upon treachery and terror, super- 
 stition and blasphemy. The governor of Indiana Terri- 
 tory, WilHam H. Harrison, marched against them with a 
 force of a few hundred. Tecumseh was absent at the time, 
 but his brother and his confederates were overtaken. To 
 the last, they professed peace, then fell upon the camp of 
 the Americans. They were expected, however, and were 
 routed, (November 7, 1811.) 
 
 The steel was ghstening upon the southern frontier. An 
 30 
 
350 FART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 Louisi- insurrection against the Spanisli autliority in "West 
 ana and Florida had been followed by a presidential procla- 
 mation declaring the territoiy on the east bank of the 
 Mississippi a portion of Louisiana, (October, 1810.) Soon 
 after, (January, 1811,) Congress authorized the acquisition 
 of the entire province of Florida, provided either that Si)ain 
 consented to it, or that any other power attempted to take 
 possession. Without any actual collision, the Spanish gar- 
 risons and the American troops were too near one another 
 to favor peace. It did not lessen the excitement in that 
 quarter, when Louisiana, with a large portion of Florida, 
 according to the Spanish claim, was admitted a state, (April 
 8, 1812.) The District of Louisiana in the north then 
 took the name of Missouri. Another slice of Florida was 
 annexed to the Mississippi Territory, while an insurrection 
 within the remaining Florida limits was stimulated by an 
 American functionary; a demonstration being made against 
 St. Augustine. This was promptly disavowed by the gov- 
 ernment at Washington ; but the troops from the states 
 were not withdrawn until the following year, nor then 
 entirely. Mobile being retained by w^ay of compensation 
 for what was surrendered, (1813.) 
 
 Li both the Florida and the Lidian difficulties, 
 
 "Warlike . , , • 
 
 prepara- British agcncy was suspected and inveighed agamst 
 tions -^ ^YiQ excited Americans. The anorry feelinpjs 
 
 against •^ c^ j o 
 
 Great bctAvcen the two nations had received a further 
 stimulus from an encounter of the American frigate 
 President with the British sloop of w^ar Little Belt, in 
 which the latter suffered severely ; the only reason alleged 
 by either of the vessels for firing being an informality in 
 hailing, (May, 1811.) It was plain that war was becoming 
 popular in the United States. As for that, it had always 
 been so ; when Washington opposed it, he was abused ; 
 wdien Adams favored it, he was extolled ; when Jefferson 
 
FOREIGN AGGRESSIONS. 351 
 
 avoided it, lie risked even his immense influence over the 
 nation. Congress now took up the question, and voted one 
 measure after another, preparatory to hostihties with Great 
 Britain, (December — March, 1812.) The president hesi- 
 tated. He was no war leader by nature or by principle ; 
 the only tendency in that direction came to him from party 
 motives. His party, or the more active portion of it, was 
 all for arms; when he doubted, they urged; when he 
 inchned to draw back, they drove him forward. It being 
 the time when the congressional caucus was about to nom- 
 inate for the presidency, Madison received the intimation 
 that if he was a candidate for reelection, he must come out 
 for war. Whether it was to force or to his own free will 
 that he yielded, he did yield, and sent a message to Con- 
 gress, recommending an embargo of sixty days. Congress 
 received it, according to its intention, as a preliminary to 
 war, and voted it, though far from unanimously, for ninety 
 
 days, (April 4, 1812.) 
 
 It was the natural termination of the precedmg 
 tionof strifes, continued nov/ for twenty years. What 
 ^^g'"'^" Washington had been able to suppress, because he 
 strifes. g|.(^Q(j ^^|3Qye mere party motives, that neither Adams, 
 nor Jefferson, nor Madison had been able to meet. They 
 yielded, more or less, but all in some degree, to party what 
 they should have maintained for the nation. From the 
 very beginning, when Adams held office, the result was war 
 with France ; the result of the controversies under Jeffer- 
 son and under Madison was war with Great Britain. Nor 
 let it be set down as an exaggeration, that war should be 
 thus attributed to party movements at home, rather than to 
 the national aggressions from abroad. The latter, it is true, 
 were the material upon which parties and administrations 
 acted; but what would have become of the material, had 
 
352 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 parties and administrations been at jicace ? "Would any 
 foreign power have so assailed the nation, had it been 
 united ? Or would it, if assailed, have borne its injuries 
 so long, that there remained no alternative but arms ? It 
 is an impressive lesson of the effects of disunion. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 War with Great Bhitain. 
 
 Dcciara- A MESSAGE from tliG president called tlie atten- 
 *^°"- tion of Congress to the relations with Great Britain 
 and with France. The former power, violating all individ- 
 * ual rights by its impressments, and all national ones by its 
 blockades, its orders against neutrals, and its captures, was 
 virtually at war Avith the United States. Nor could France 
 be said to be at peace, while she continued her seizures of 
 American vessels, notwithstanding the repeal of the decrees 
 asrainst neutral commerce. With her, however, there was 
 some hope of successful negotiation ; m fact, conferences 
 were now going on at Paris. But with Great Britain, the 
 message implied little prospect of coming to terms. Con- 
 gress took up the subject. Motions to include France in 
 the course proposed with respect to Great Britain -Wctq 
 made, but lost. Against Great Britain, war was voted by 
 Congress, (June 18,) and declared by tlie president, (June 
 19, 1812.) 
 
 The United States went to war for two gi^eat 
 of the principles ; one, the rights of neutrals, the * other, 
 United ^j-^g riorlits of scamcu ; both involvino; the honor and 
 
 States. _* ' ^ o 
 
 the independence of the nation. To admit the 
 necessity of the principles, however, is not to admit the 
 necessity of the war as the means of sustaining them. 
 France having again — and this time unconditionally — ■ 
 repealed her aggressive decrees, Great Britain withdrew 
 30 * (353) 
 
354 PAliT IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 her arbitrary orders in council just as the war was declared, 
 (June 23.) One of the chief grounds for'hostilities, there- 
 fore, fell through. The other remained, but only, it was 
 insisted by Great Britain, until the United States would 
 take some measures to prevent British seamen from enlist- 
 ing in the American service, Avliich being done, there would 
 be no need of search or of impressment by the navy of 
 Great Britain. This very thing was begun upon, though 
 not until several months after the outbreak of war.* At 
 the beginning, the American minister at London was in- 
 structed to propose an armistice, on condition that the 
 claims of impressment and of .neutral subjection were 
 waived. The British government rejected the proposal, 
 principally on the score of impressment, which they would 
 not yield or even suspend during negotiation. For the 
 reason that they would not do so, their proposals of an 
 armistice, through their commanders in America, were 
 rejected by the United States, (June — October.) AYe 
 must fight, cried the war party, if it is only for our seamen ; 
 six thousand of them are victims to these atrocious imj)ress- 
 ments. The British government had admitted, the year 
 before, that they had sixteen hundred Americans in their 
 service. But your six thousand, retorted the advocates of 
 peace, are not all your own ; there are foreigners, British 
 subjects, amongst them ; and will you fight for these ? We 
 will, was the reply — and here the sympathy of every 
 generous heart must be theirs, so far as they were sincere 
 — the stranger who comes to dwell or to toil amongst us is 
 as much our own as if he were born in America. * 
 
 A party ^^t the causc of the United States cannot be 
 cause. gr^jj ^Q Imve been so broad or so noble as the 
 
 * But the prohibition of foreign enlistments was made to depend upon 
 certain conditions, which were not fulfilled. 
 
WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 355 
 
 protection of those who had sought an asylum in the land. 
 It was not even the cause of the nation itself, to judge by 
 the way in which it was maintained. It was what might 
 have been expected from the movements leading to it — 
 the cause of a party, nominally headed by Madison, the pres- 
 ident, by James Monroe, the secretary of state, by Albert 
 Gallatin, (the same who appeared in the Pennsylvania insur- 
 rection of Washington's time,) the secretary of tlie treas- 
 ury, and by others, officers or supporters of the administra- 
 tion, both in and out of Congress ; but the real leaders of 
 the war party were younger men, some risen to distinction, 
 like Henry Clay, speaker of the House of Representatives, 
 and John C. Calhoun, member of the same body, but many 
 more aspiring to place in the council or in the camp, to 
 place any where, so that there was an opening to the fame 
 or to the emolument for which they variously yearned. 
 As such The party support which the war received ex- 
 opposed. plains the party opposition which it encountered. 
 The signal, given by a protest from the federahst members 
 of Congress, was caught up and repeated in public meetings 
 and at private hearth-stones. Even the pulpit threw open 
 its doors to political harangues, and those not of the mildest 
 sort. " The alternative then is," exclaimed a clergyman at 
 Boston, " that if you do not wish to become the slaves of 
 those who own slaves, and who are themselves the slaves of 
 French slaves, you must either, in the language of the day, 
 cut the connection, or so far alter the national Constitution 
 as to secure yourselves a due share in the government. 
 The Union has long since been virtually dissolved, and it is 
 full time that this portion of the United States should take 
 care of itself" This single extract must stand here for a 
 thousand others that might be cited. Coming from the 
 source that it did, it is a striking illustration of the section- 
 ality, nay, the personal vindictiveness, with which the oppo- 
 
o5G TART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 sition was animated. Strongest in New England, where 
 alone the federalist party still retained its power, the hos- 
 tility to the war spread through all parts of the country, 
 gathering many of otherwise conflicting views around the 
 banner that had so long been trailing in the dust. If we 
 cannot sympathize with the party thus reviving, we need 
 not join in the tumult raised against it on the score of 
 treachery or dishonor. The federalists opposed the war, 
 not because they were anti-national, but because they 
 thought it anti-national. 
 
 War at Tiic War began at home. The office of a federal- 
 
 Lome, j^^ paper, the Federal Republican, conducted by 
 Alexander Hanson, at Baltimore, was sacked by a mob, 
 who then went on to attack dwellings, pillage vessels, and, 
 finally, to fire the house of an individual suspected of par- 
 tialities for Great Britain, (June 22, 23.) A month later, 
 Hanson opened another office, and prepared to defend it, 
 with the assistance of his friends, against the assault which 
 he felt sure his boldness would provoke. The mob came, 
 and, after a night of horror, forced the party in the office to 
 yield themselves prisoners on a charge of murder. The 
 next night the prison was assailed ; Hanson and his friends, 
 excepting some who escaped, being beaten and tortured 
 with indescribable fury. General Henry Lee, a revolu- 
 tionary hero, who had taken the lead in the measures of 
 defence, was injured for life. Another soldier of the revo- 
 lution. General Lingan, was actually slain ; a fate which 
 would have been shared by many, but for the exhaustion 
 of the destroyers, (July 26, 27.) All this was done with 
 nothing more than the show of interference on the part of 
 the authorities. Even at the subsequent trial of the ring- 
 leaders in the mob, they were acquitted. Hanson kept up 
 his paper only by removing to Georgetown. 
 
 Such being the passions, such the divisions internally, the 
 
WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 357 
 
 Means for nation needed more than the usual panoply to pro- 
 thewar. ^^^^ j^self extemallj. But it had less. The col- 
 onies of 1775 did not go to war more unprepared than the 
 United States of 1812. There was no army to speak of. 
 Generals abounded, it is true, Henry Dearborn, late secre- 
 tary of war, being at the head of the list ; but troops were 
 few and far between, some thousands of regulars and of 
 volunteers constituting the entire force. As to the militia, 
 there were grave differences to prevent its efficient employ- 
 ment. In the first place, there was a general distrust of 
 such bodies of troops. In the next place, there were local 
 controversies, between certain of the state authorities and 
 tJie general government, as to the power of the latter to call 
 out the militia in the existing state of things.* If the army 
 was inconsiderable, the navy was hardly perceptible, em- 
 bracing only eight or ten frigates, as many more smaller 
 vessels, and a flotilla of comparatively useless gunboats. 
 The national finances were in a correspondingly low con- 
 dition. The revenue, affected by the interruptions to com- 
 merce durmg the preceding years, needed ail the stimulants 
 which it could obtain, even in time of peace. It was wholly 
 inadequate tathe exigencies of war. Accordingly, resort 
 was had to loans, then to direct taxes and licenses, (1813.) 
 But the ways and means fell far short of the demands upon 
 them. In fine, whether we take a financial or a military 
 point of view, we find the country equally unfitted for hos- 
 tilities. It might rely, indeed, upon its own inherent ener- 
 gies, the energies of six millions of freemen ; f but even 
 these were distracted, and to a great degree paralyzed. 
 
 * The Constitution autliorizing Congress " to provide for calling forth 
 the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and 
 repel invasions," 
 
 t The census of 1810 gave a total of 7,239,814, of which 1,191,364 were 
 slaves. 
 
358 PART IV. 1797-18,50. 
 
 Position Fortunate, therefore, was it that Great Britain 
 of Great was occ'Lipicil, it may be said absorbed, in Europe. 
 Her mighty struggle with Napoleon was at its 
 height when the United States declared war. To British 
 ears the declaration sounded much the same as tlie wail of a 
 child amidst the contentions of men. Very little heed was 
 paid to it, the retraction of the orders in council being con- 
 sidered as likely to end it altogether. But to the astonish- 
 ment of the British government the Americans persisted. 
 Let them wait, was the tone, until Bonaparte is crushed, 
 and they shall have their turn. 
 
 The charge fell again and agahi upon the United 
 
 Of France. „ , . . . p . , . 
 
 ibtates admmistration, trom its opponents, that it 
 was entering into war as the ally, or rather as the minion, 
 of France. The charge was unfounded. Even had it been 
 intended by the war party to go to the aid of Napoleon, 
 they would have been stopped, partly by his utter indiifer- 
 ence at the time, and partly by his declining fortunes m the 
 months that ensued. He and liis nation had no mind to 
 look beyond their own vicissitudes. 
 _, Notwithstandinsj tlie almost entire want of means, 
 
 Tlie war. o j 
 
 Losses on the United States government determined to carry 
 western ^^^^ ^ar into tlic cncmy's country. For this purpose, 
 frontier. "VYiHiam Hull, general and governor of Michigan 
 Territory, crossed from Detroit to Sandwich, in Canada, with 
 about two thousand men, (July 12.) In a little more than a 
 month, he had not only retreated, but surrendered, without 
 a blow, to General Brock, the governor of Lower Canada, 
 (August IG.) The British, already in possession of the 
 northern part of Michigan, were soon masters of the entire 
 territory. So far from being able to recover it. General 
 Harrison, who made the attempt in the ensuing autumn 
 and winter, found it all he could do to save Ohio from fall- 
 ing with Michigan. A detachment of Kentuckians yielded 
 
WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 359 
 
 to a superior force of Britisli at FrencMown, on the Eiver 
 Eaisin, (January, 1813 ;) whereupon Han-ison took pos 
 by the Maumee,at Fort Meigs, holding out ^-e against 
 the British and their Indian allies, (April, May.) The 
 same fort was again assailed and again defended General 
 Clay bein- at that time in command, (July.) Fort Steven- 
 Snf on th: Sandusky, was then attacked, hut ^ef^^^ed with 
 .reat spirit and success by a small gamson under Major 
 Croghan, (August.) Tet Ohio was still in danger. 
 
 It was rescued by different operations from those 
 ^Sjonas yet described. Captain Chauncey, afler gather- 
 ^»''« "^""-in- a little fleet on Lake Ontario, where he achieved 
 some successes, appointed Lieutenant Oliver H. Perry to 
 the command on Lake Erie. Perry's first duty was to pro- 
 vide a fleet ; his next, to lead it, when provided, against he 
 British vessels under Captain Barclay. At length the 
 squadrons met oif Sandusky, the British to suffer total de- 
 feat, the Americans to win complete victory, (September 
 10 1813.) It was in more than official language that the 
 president communicated this .achievement to Congress. 
 " The conduct of Captain Perry," he said, " adroit as it was 
 darin.., and which was so well seconded by his comrades, 
 iustl/entitles them to the admiration and gratitude of their 
 country, and will fill an early page in its naval annals with 
 a victory never surpassed in lustre, however much ,t may 
 have been in magnitude." It was a victory on a small 
 scale Yet its importance immediately appeared, iakmg 
 on board a body of troops from Ohio and Kentucky, under 
 Ilprri'^on, Perry transported them to the neighborhood ot 
 Sandwich, on the Canada shore, the same spot against 
 which Hull had marched more than a twelvemonth before. 
 The British having retired, Harrison crossed to Detroit. 
 Recro^sing, he advanced in pursuit of the much less numer- 
 ous enemy, whose rear and whose main body were routed 
 
360 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 on two successive clays, (October 4, 5.) The latter action, 
 on the bank of the Thames, was decisive ; the British Gen- 
 eral Proctor mailing his escape with but a small portion 
 of his troops, while his Indian ally, Tecumseh, was slain. 
 Ohio was thus saved, and Michigan recovered ; though not 
 entirely, the British still holding the northern extremity of 
 the territory. 
 
 All along the frontier between New York and 
 ou New Canada, there had been from the first some scat- 
 ^'^^'^ tered forces, both American and British. The 
 
 frontier. ■ ^^ . 
 
 former pretended to act on the offensive, but amidst 
 continual failures. Chief of these movements without inter- 
 est and without result, was an attack against Queenstown, 
 on the Canada shore of the Nia2:ara River. Advanced 
 parties gained possession of a battery on the bank, but there 
 they were checked, and at length obliged to surrender, for 
 want of support from their comrades on the American side. 
 General Van Rensselaer was the American, General Brock 
 the British commander; tlie latter fidling in battle, the 
 former resigning in disgust after the battle was over, (Octo- 
 ber 13, 1812.) In the following spring. General Dearborn 
 and the land troops, in conjunction with Chauncey and the 
 fleet, took York, (now Toronto,) the capital of Upper Can- 
 ada, burning the Parliament House, and then proceeding 
 successfully against the forts on the Niagara River, (April, 
 May, 1813.) At this point, however, affairs took an unfa- 
 vorable turn. The British mustered strong, and, though 
 repulsed from Sackett's Harbor by General Brown, at the 
 head of some regular troops and volunteers, they obtained 
 the command of the lake, making descents in various places, 
 and reducing the American forces, both land and naval, to 
 comparative inactivity, (June.) Months afterwards, the 
 land forces, now under the lead of General Wilkinson, 
 Started on a long-pro^^osed expedition against Montreal; 
 
 n 
 
WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 361 
 
 but encountering resistance on the way down the St. Law- 
 rence, went straight into winter quarters within the New 
 York frontier. A body of troops under General Hampton, 
 moving in the same direction from Lake Champlain, met 
 with a feint of opposition, rather than opposition itself, from 
 the British ; it was sufficient, however, to induce a retreat, 
 (November.) Both these armies far outnumbered the 
 enemy, Wilkinson having seventy-five hundred, and Hamp- 
 ton forty-five hundred men under them. On the western 
 border of New York, things went still worse. General 
 M'Clure, left in chai-ge of the Niagara frontier, was so 
 weakened by the loss of men at the expiration of their 
 terms of service, and at the same time so pressed by the 
 enemy, as to abandon the Canada shore, leaving behind him 
 the ruins of Fort George and of the village of Newark. 
 The destruction thus wreaked by orders of the government 
 was avenged upon the New York borders. Parties of Brit- 
 ish and Indians, crossing the frontier at different places, 
 took Fort Niagara, at the mouth of the river, and swept 
 the adjacent country with fire and sword as far as Buffalo, 
 (December.) Glutted with success, the invaders retired, 
 save from Fort Niagara, which they held until the end of 
 the war. In the following spring, (March, 1814,) General 
 Wilkinson emerged from his retreat, and, with a portion of 
 his troops, undertook to carry the approaches to Canada 
 from the side of Lake Champlain. But on coming up with 
 a stone mill held by British troops, he abruptly withdrew. 
 A more helpless group than that of the Americans, wheth- 
 er commanders, officers, or soldiers, on the New York 
 frontier, cannot well be conceived. There were exceptions, 
 of course, as in the fleets of Ontario, and especially of Erie ; 
 but on shore there was almost unbroken imbecility. The 
 secretary of war himself. General Armstrong, had been 
 upon the ground ; he but confirmed the rule. 
 
 31 
 
362 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 Cn Niagara As the war, tlius pitiably prosecuted, entered 
 ion lor. .^^^ .^^ third year, (1814,) a concentration of 
 efforts, both American and British, took place upon the 
 Niagara frontier. General Brown, the defender of Sack- 
 ett's Harbor, obtaining the command, and with such 
 supporters as General Scott and other gallant officers, 
 resolved upon crossing to the Canada side. There, with 
 an army of some thirty-five hundred men, he took Fort 
 Erie, (July 2,) gained the battle of Chippewa, (July 5,) 
 and drove the enemy, under General Hiall, from the fron- 
 tier, save from a single stronghold. Fort George. The 
 British, however, on being reenforced, returned under Gen- 
 erals Riall and Drummond, and met the Americans at 
 Bridgewater — the most of an action that had as yet been 
 fought during the war. It was Avithin the roar of Niagara 
 that the opposing lines crossed their swords and opened 
 their batteries. Begun by Scott, in advance of the main 
 body, which soon came up under Brown, the battle was 
 continued untif midnight, to the advantage of the American 
 army, (July 25.) But they were unable to follow up or 
 even to maintain their success, and fell back upon Fort 
 Erie. Thither the British proceeded, and after a night 
 assault, laid siege to the place, then under the command of 
 General Gaines. As soon as Brown, who had Avithdrawn 
 to recover from his wounds, resumed his command at the 
 fort, he at once ordered a sortie, the result being the raising 
 of the siege, (September 17.) He was soon after called 
 away to defend Sackett's Harbor, the enemy having the 
 upper hand on the lake. His successor in command on the 
 Niagara frontier, General Izard, blew up Fort Erie, and 
 abandoned the Canada shore, (November.) 
 
 Meanwhile the American arms had distinguished them- 
 selves on the side of Lake Champlain. Thither descended 
 the British General Prevost with tv/elve thousand soldiers, 
 
WAR YvT:Tn GREAT BRITAIN. 363 
 
 lately arrived from Europe, his object being to 
 of LaS carry the American works at Plattsburg, and to 
 Cham- drive the American vessels from the waters. He 
 ^^^'''' was totally unsuccessful. Captain McDonough, 
 after long ex<?rtions, had constructed a fleet, with which 
 he now met and overwhelmed the British squadron. The 
 land attack upon the few thousand regulars and militia 
 under General Macomb was hardly begun before it was 
 given over in consequence of the naval action, (September 
 11.) No engagement in the war, before or after, was more 
 unequal in pohit of force, the British being greatly the 
 superiors ; yet none was more decisive. 
 
 The British superiority observable at Lake Cham- 
 superi- plain and elsewhere requires a word of explanation. 
 *'"*^* Napoleon, fallen some months before, had left the 
 armies and fleets of Great Britain free to act in other 
 scenes than those to which they had been so long confined. 
 The war with the United States had acquired no new 
 importance in sight of the British authorities ; but it was 
 time to crush the adversary that had dared to brave them. 
 The troops transported to America — some to Canada, as 
 we have seen, some to other places, as we shall soon see — 
 were superior to the Americans generally in numbers, and 
 always in appointments and in discipline. They were the 
 men to whom France had succumbed ; it must have seemed 
 impossible that the United States should resist them. 
 Successes The apprehensions of the enemy, aroused by some 
 at sea. of the operations on land, had been highly excited 
 by some of those at sea. Before the gallant actions upon 
 the lakes, a succession of remarkable exploits had occurred 
 upon the ocean. It had been the policy of the republican 
 administration to keep down the navy which their federalist 
 predecessors had encouraged. But the navy, or that frag- 
 ment of one which remained, returned good for evil. The 
 
3G4 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 frigate Essex, under Captain Porter, took the sloop of war 
 Alert off the northern coast, (August 13, 1812;) the frigate 
 Constitution, Captain Isaac Hull, took the frigate Guerriere 
 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, (August 19 ;) the sloop of 
 war Wasp, Captain Jones, took the brig FA)lic, both, how- 
 ever, falhng prizes to the seventy-four Poictiers, not far 
 from the Bermudas, (October 13 ;) the frigate United 
 States, Captain Decatur, took the frigate Macedonian off the 
 Azores, (October 25 ;) and the Constitution again, now 
 under Captain Bainbridge, took the frigate Java off Brazil, 
 (December 29.) This series of triumphs was broken by 
 but two reverses, the capture of the brig Nautilus by the 
 British squadron, and that of the brig Yixen by the British 
 frigate Southampton, both off the Atlantic coast. Nothing 
 could be more striking than the effect upon both the nations 
 that were at v/ar. The British started with amazement, 
 not to say terror, at the idea of their sliips, their cherished 
 instruments of superiority at sea, yielding to an enemy. 
 The Americans were proportionately animated ; better still, 
 they were for once united in a comnK)n feeling of j^ride and 
 national honor. 
 
 Here, however, the impulse ceased, or began to 
 qiicnt cease. The navy was too inconsiderable to con- 
 tinue the contest, the nation too inactive to recruit 
 its numbers and its powers. The captures of the succeed- 
 ing period of the war, though made with quite as much 
 gallantry, were of much less importance ; while one vessel 
 after another, beginning with the frigate Chesapeake, off 
 Boston harbor, (June 1, 1813,) was forced to strike to the 
 enemy. Many of the larger ships were hemmed in by the 
 British blockade, when this, commencing with the war, was 
 extended along the entire coast. The last glimmer of naval 
 victory for the time was the defeat of the sloop of war 
 Avon by the Wasp, Captain Blakely, off the French coast, 
 
WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 365 
 
 (September 1, 1814.) But a few weeks later, the Wasp 
 was lost with all its crew, leaving not a single vessel of the 
 United States navy on the seas. Every one that had 
 escaped the perils of the ocean and of war was shut up m 
 port behind the greatly superior squadrons of Great Britain. 
 The coast, from the first blockaded, and occa- 
 upon'the sionally visited by invading parties of the British, 
 "°^'*- was in an appalling state, (1814.) Eastport was 
 taken; Castine, Belfast, and Machias were seized, with 
 claims against the whole country east of the Penobscot; 
 Cape Cod, or some of the towns upon it, had to purchase 
 safety; Stonington was bombarded. Fortifications were 
 hastily thrown up wherever they could be by the Ameri- 
 cans ; the militia Avas called out by the states, and the 
 general government was urged to despatch its regular 
 troops to the menaced shores. It was officially announced 
 by the British Admiral Cochrane that he was imperatively 
 instructed " to destroy and lay waste all towns and districts 
 of the United States found accessive to the attack of 
 British armaments." This was not war, but devastation. 
 Capture The Chesapeake, long a favorite point for the 
 of Wash- British descents, was now occupied by a large, 
 'audTiex- indeed a double fleet, under Admirals Cochrane 
 andria. ^^^j Cockburn, with several thousand land troops 
 and marines under General Eoss. This body, landing 
 about fifty miles from Wasliington, marched against that 
 city, while the American militia retreated hither and 
 thither, making a stand for a few moments only at Bladens- 
 burg, (August 24.) On the evening following this rout, 
 the British took possession of Washington, and next day 
 proceeded to carry out the orders announced by the admiral. 
 Stores vrere destroyed ; a frigate and a sloop were burned ; 
 the pubUc buildings, includmg the Capitol, and even the man- 
 sion of the president, were plundered and fired. Against 
 31 ■^- 
 
SGG PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 this " unwarrantable extension of the ravages of war," as 
 it is styled by a British writer, the United States had no 
 right to complain, remembering the burning of the Parlia- 
 ment House at York, or the destruction of Newark, in the 
 preceding year, although both these outrages had been 
 already avenged on the New York frontier. A few hours 
 were enough for the work of ruin at Washington, (August 
 25,) and the British returned to their ships. The same 
 day (August 29) some frigates appeared off Alexandria, 
 and extorted an enormous ransom for the town. Every 
 thing on the American side was helplessness and submis- 
 sion. The president and his cabinet had reviewed the 
 troops, which mustered to the number of several thousands ; 
 generals and officers had been thick upon the field ; but 
 there was no consistent counsel, no steadfast action, and 
 the country lay as open to the enemy as if it had been 
 uninhabited. 
 « „ It is a relief to turn to Baltimore. Fresh from 
 
 Defence 
 
 of r.aiti- their marauding victories, the British landed at 
 "^°^^* North Point, some miles below that city. They 
 were too strong for the Americans, who retired, but not 
 until after a bravely contested battle, in which the British 
 commander. General Ross, was slain, (September 12.) As 
 the army advanced against the town, the next day, the fleet 
 bombarded Fort McHenry, an inconsiderable defence just 
 below Baltimore. But the bombardment and the advance 
 proving ineffectual, the invaders retreated. They had been 
 courageously met, triumphantly repelled. North Point and 
 Fort McHenry' are names which shine out, like those of 
 Erie and Champlain, brilliant amidst encompassing dark- 
 ness. 
 
 Indian -^.s if ouc War wcrc not enough for a nation so 
 
 foes. hard pressed, another had broken out. The Indians 
 on the north-west, the followers of Tecumseh, and others 
 
WAR WITH GHEAT BRITAIN. 367 
 
 besides, were but the allies of the Britisb. Independent 
 foes, fighting altogether for themselves, uprose in the Creeks 
 of the ]Viississippi Territory, where they surprised some 
 hundreds of Americans at Fort Mimms, (August, 1813.) 
 Numerous bodies of border volunteers at once started for 
 the haunts of the enemy, chief amongst the number being 
 the troops of Tennessee, under General Jackson. Pene- 
 trating into the heart of the Creek country, after various 
 bloody encounters, Jackson at length routed the main body 
 of the foe at a place called Tohopeka, (March 27, 1814.) 
 A few months after, he concluded a treaty, by which the 
 Creeks surrendered the larger part of their territory. 
 National Enougli remained, as has been seen, to keep the 
 straits, nation in sad straits. There were various causes to 
 produce the same effect. To raise the very first essential 
 for carrying on a war, a sufficient army, had been found 
 impossible, notwithstanding all sorts of new provisions to 
 facilitate the operation. It was in vain to increase the 
 bounties, in vain even to authorize the enlistment of minors 
 without the consent of their parents or masters ; * all allure- 
 ments failed. The chief reliance of the government was 
 necessarily upon the militia, about which the same contro- 
 versies continued as those already mentioned between the 
 federal and the state authorities. Yet, to show the extent 
 to which the opposition party indulged itself in embarrass- 
 ing the government, an alarm was sounded against the 
 national forces, small though they were, as threatening the 
 liberties of the country. But the army was not the only 
 point of difiiculty. To prevent supplies to the forces of 
 the enemy, as well as to cut him off from all advantages of 
 commerce with the United States, a new embargo was laid, 
 
 * Rejected, when first proposed to Congress, but afterwards carried, 
 (December, 1814.) 
 
368 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 (December, 1813.) So severe were its restrictions, affect- 
 ing even the coasting trade and the fishery, that Massachu- 
 setts called it another Boston port bill, and pronounced it, 
 by her legislature, to be unconstitutional. It was repealed 
 in a few months, and with it the non-importation act, which, 
 in one shape or another, had hung upon the commercial 
 interests of the nation, for years, (April, 1814.) 'More 
 serious by far were the financial embarrassments of the 
 government. All efforts to relieve the treasury had been 
 wholly inadequate. Loan after loan was contracted ; tax 
 after tax was laid, until carriages, furniture, paper, and even 
 watches, were assessed, while plans were formed for other 
 means, such as the creation of a national bank, the earlier 
 one having expired according to the provisions of its char- 
 ter. But the state to Avhich the finances at length arrived 
 was this, that while eleven millions of revenue were all to 
 be counted upon, — ten from taxes, and only one from cus- 
 tom duties, — fifty millions were needed for the expendi- 
 tures of the year, (1815.) It did not ease matters when a 
 large number of the banks of the country suspended specie 
 payments, (August, 1814.) 
 ^ , The opposition to the war had never ceased. It 
 
 Tarty ^ i 
 
 coutro- rested, indeed, on foundations too deep to be lightly 
 moved. Below the points immediately relating to 
 the M'ar itself, were the earlier questions arising during the 
 operation of the government, nay, the still earlier ones, that 
 arose with the government — the questions of the Constitu- 
 tion. All these had been brought out into contrast and into 
 collision by the conflict with Great Britain. Such old top- 
 ics as the relations of the national and the state govern- 
 ments came up for fresh controversy. " The government 
 of the United States," declared the federalist chief magis- 
 trate of Massachusetts, "is founded on the state govern- 
 ments, and must be sui)ported by them." There might be 
 
WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 369 
 
 a change of sides ; federalists might stand where republicans 
 had stood, and republicans where federaHsts had done ; but 
 the divisions were the same. Even those between the north 
 and the south reappeared, and with wider lines, in the midst 
 of the war, which, as a general rule, the south supported 
 and the north opposed. 
 
 Hartford "^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^ Convention of the party, or, as the 
 Conven- phrasc ran, of the states opposing the war, was 
 started in Massachusetts. So little countenance did 
 it receive, as to be dropped for several months, when 
 increasing trials led to increasing struggles. It v/as then 
 renewed, but in the more modest guise of " a conference 
 between those states the affinity of whose interests is closest, 
 and whose habits of intercourse from local and other causes 
 are most frequent ; " in other words, the New England 
 States ; but action upon subjects of a national nature was 
 to be left, should the conference deem it expedient, " to a 
 future convention from all the states in the Union." The 
 Massachusetts legislature appointed twelve delegates to 
 represent her in the conference, and invited her sister states 
 of New England to do likewise, (October, 1814.) Con- 
 necticut responded by appointing seven delegates, and desig- 
 nating Hartford as the place for the conference to meet. 
 Ehodc Island appointed four delegates ; tAvo counties in 
 New Hampshire and one county in Vermont, one delegate 
 each. Twenty-six were chosen, all but two of whom were 
 present on the opening of the conference at Hartford, 
 (December 15.) The other two afterwards appeared, con- 
 stituting, with the secretary, an assembly of twenty-seven. 
 Charges of So Small was the body to which an immense 
 disunion, importance was attached at and after the time, but 
 rather by its opponents than its adherents. The latter re- 
 garded it just as it was, a meeting of men to whom the 
 greater part of New England was glad to intrust its shat- 
 
370 PART IV. 1797-1 850. 
 
 tcred interests, but without any deop-seated expectation of 
 succor, so strong against them was the majority of the 
 nation. To this majority, however, or to its mouthpieces, 
 tlie assembly at Hartford wore a different aspect. It was 
 the last desperate stake, the administration party urged, of 
 the opposition ; lost or won, it hastened the issue of disunion 
 so long suspected as prepared. Whatever extremes the fed- 
 eralists may have fallen into, there is no proof of their 
 intending to separate from their countrymen. The call of 
 the Massachusetts authorities for this very conference at 
 Hartford proposed such deliberations and such measures, 
 only, as were " not repugnant to their obligations as mem- 
 bers of the Union." That they were in earnest appears 
 from the proceedings of the conference, or the Convention, 
 as it is generally called. 
 
 The Convention, of which George Cabot, of IMas- 
 iuf's of the ^^chusetts, was the president, and Harrison Gray 
 Conveu- Qtis, also of Massachusetts, the leading member, 
 addressed itself to its work with prayer. It found 
 two classes of " dangers and grievances," as it entitled them, 
 to be considered: one which required present relief, the 
 other which might be left for future redress. Of the first, 
 the chief were the illegal course of the government in rela- 
 tion to the militia and the destitution of all defensive re- 
 sources in which New England was left. To meet tliese 
 difficulties, the Convention suggested that the New England 
 States might be allowed to assume their own defence, and, 
 further, that a reasonable portion of the taxes assessed upon 
 them by the general government should be retained by 
 them to cover the expenses of defending themselves. As 
 to the second class of complaints, embracing most of the 
 matters that had been urged against the republican admin- 
 istrations by the federalists, the Convention set forth seven 
 amendments to the Constitution. These were all prohib- 
 
WAE, WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 371 
 
 itory : one against any representation of slaves ; another 
 against any embargo of longer duration than sixty clays ; 
 three others against any law of non-intercourse, any war, 
 unless it were defensive, any admission of a new state, ex- 
 cept by a two thirds vote in Congress ; a sixth against the 
 eligibihty of persons " hereafter to be naturalized " to Con- 
 gress or to any civil office under the United States ; and a 
 seventh against the reelection of a president, or the election 
 of two successive presidents from the same state. In pro- 
 posing these amendments, the Convention declared " that no 
 hostiUty to the Constitution is meditated." After providing 
 for a second Convention at Boston, in case ''peace should 
 not be concluded and the defence of these states should be 
 rejected," the Convention adjourned, having been three 
 weeks in session, (January 5, 1815.) 
 
 The results were almost null. They might be 
 said to have been altogether so, but for a law passed 
 by Congress without any apparent reference to the Con- 
 vention, ordering that militia should " be employed in the 
 state raising the same or in an adjoining state, and not else- 
 where, except with the assent of the executive of the state 
 so raising the same," (January.) Otherwise, nothing fol- 
 lowed the much dreaded Convention. The commissioners 
 appointed to apply to the general government on the part 
 of Massachusetts, for leave to carry out the recommenda- 
 tions of the Convention touching the self-defence of the 
 states, found the war at an end when they reached Wash- 
 ington. The constitutional amendments were rejected by 
 the states to which they were proposed. 
 
 Meanwhile proceedings on which far less stress 
 
 Nullifica- . ^ ® 
 
 tion in has been laid than upon those of the Hartford Con- 
 Conuecti- ygntion, had occurred in Connecticut-and Massachu- 
 
 cut .and ' 
 
 Massachu- sctts. The legislatures of those states passed acts 
 in dii-ect conflict with a recent statute of the United 
 
372 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 States regarding the enlistment of minors. So far was tliis 
 contradicted by the measures in question, that the parties 
 engaged in enhsting minors were subjected to fine and 
 imprisonment, (January, 1815.) It was not the first time 
 that these states had set themselves against the Union. 
 Both had taken ground against the embargo, Connecticut 
 by statute and Massachusetts by her judicial tribunals. 
 Massachusetts had more lately resisted the measures of the 
 government, as we shall see, in relation to British prison- 
 ers. Nullification was far beyond the doctrines of the Con- 
 vention. That body had declared itself in this wise : " That 
 acts of Congress in violation of the Constitution are abso- 
 lutely void is an undeniable position. It does not, however, 
 consist with the respect and forbearance due from a confed- 
 erate state towards the general government, to fly to open 
 resistance upon every infraction of the Constitution." But 
 passions were high, and nullification came naturally to New 
 England. 
 
 Deftnce of From tlicsc Strifes let us return to the less serious 
 Louisiana, qj^qq ^f ^]^g battle field. Late in the summer pre- 
 ceding the Hartford Convention, a British party landed at 
 Pensacola, whose Spanish possessors were supposed to be 
 inclined to side against the United States. An attack, in 
 the early autumn, upon Fort Bowyer, thirty miles from 
 Mobile, was repelled by the small but heroic garrison under 
 Major Lawrence, (September 15.) A month or two after- 
 wards, General Jackson advanced against Pensacola with a 
 force so formidable that the British withdrew, Jackson then 
 resigning the town to the Spanish authorities, and repairing 
 to New Orleans, against which the enemy was believed to 
 be preparing an expedition, (November.) There he busied 
 himself in raising his forces and providing his defences, 
 until the British arrived upon the coast. After capturing a 
 feeble flotilla of the Americans, they began their advance 
 
WAR WITH GEE AT BRITAIN. 373 
 
 against the capital of Louisiana, (December.) They were 
 ten thousand and upwards ; the Americans not more than 
 half as numerous. Jackson, on learning their approach, 
 marched directly against them, surprising them in their 
 camp by night, and dealing them a blow from which they 
 hardly seem to have recovered, (December 23.) They 
 soon, however, resumed the offensive under Sir Edward 
 Pakenham, advancing thrice against the American Hues, 
 but thrice retreating. The last action goes by the name of 
 the battle of New Orleans. It resulted in the defeat of the 
 enemy, with the loss of Pakenham and two thousand be- 
 sides, the Americans losing less than a hundred, (January 
 8, 1815.) The British retired to the sea, taking Fort 
 Bowyer, the same that had resisted an attack the autumn 
 before, (February 12.) Louisiana had been noblj'- de- 
 fended, and not by the energy of Jackson alone, nor by the 
 resolution of her own people, but by the generous spirit 
 v/ith which the entu'e south-west sent its sons to her 
 rescue. 
 ,r ^. , Jackson had hesitated at nothinp; in dcfendinoj 
 
 Martial ° _ _ ^ 
 
 lav/ at New New Orleans. Upon the approach of the British, 
 r eans. j^^ proclaimed martial law ; he continued it after 
 their departure. The author of a newspaper article reflect- 
 ing upon the general's conduct was sent to prison to await 
 trial for life. The United States district judge was arrested 
 and expelled from the city for having issued a writ of 
 habeas corpus in the prisoner's behalf; and on the district 
 attorney's appljdng to the state court in behalf of the judge, 
 he, too, was banished. On the proclamation of peace, mar- 
 tial law was necessarily suspended. The judge returned, 
 and summoning the general before him, imf)osed a fine of 
 one thousand dollars. The sum was paid by Jackson, but 
 was offered to be repaid to him by a subscription, which 
 
 32 
 
374 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 proved public opinion to sustain his determined course.* 
 It was characteristic of the man and of his adherents in 
 after years. 
 
 While these events were G;oinp; on by land, the 
 
 Reappear- o o j 
 
 anco of sea was for a time abandoned, at least by all na- 
 ^'^'''^^* tional vessels. Privateers continued their work of 
 plunder and of destruction — a work which, however miser- 
 able to contemplate, doubtless had its effect in bringing the 
 war to a close. But the navy of the nation had disappeared 
 from the ocean. It presently reappeared in the shape of its 
 pride and ornament, the Constitution, which, under her new 
 commander, Stewart, got to sea from Boston, (December, 
 1814.) The President, Hornet, and Peacock did the same 
 from New York, the President being immediately captured, 
 though not without a severe combat, by the British cruisers, 
 (January, 1815.) Her loss was avenged by the sister ves- 
 sels ; the Constitution taking two sloops of war at once — 
 the Cyane and the Levant — off Madeira, (February 20 ;) 
 the Hornet sloop taking the Penguin brig off the Island of 
 Tristan d'Acunha, (March 23 ;) and the Peacock sloop 
 taking the Nautilus, an East India Company's cruiser, off 
 Sumatra, (June 30.) f All these actions were subsequent 
 to a treaty of peace. 
 
 The war had not continued a year when the administra- 
 tion accepted an offer of Russian mediation, and despatched 
 
 * Refusing to receive the subscription, he was reimbursed, near thirty 
 years afterwards, by order of Congress. 
 
 f "Thus terminated at sea," says the British historian Alison, towards 
 the close of an account by no means partial to the American side, " tliis 
 memorable contest, in which the English, for the first time for a century 
 and a half, met with equal antagonists on their own element ; and in re- 
 counting which, the British historian, at a loss whether to admire most 
 the devoted heroism of his own countrymen or the gallant bearing of 
 their antagonists, feels almost equally wanned in narrating either side of 
 the strife." 
 
WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 375 
 
 envoys to treat of peaee. The chief points to be 
 
 Peace pre- •' ^ ... 
 
 liinina- provided for, according to the instructions, were, 
 "''^* first, impressments, of which, it will be remembered, 
 the settlement had been facilitated by an American law 
 prohibiting the enhstment of British seamen in the service 
 of the United States, and next, the matter of blockades, the 
 only part of the anti-*neutral system vrhich had not been 
 abandoned by the British, (March, 1813.) Great Britain 
 declined the mediation of Russia, but offered to enter into 
 negotiations either at London or at Gottenburg. The 
 American government chose the latter place, and appointed 
 five commissioners — John Quincy Adams, James A. Bay- 
 ard, Henry Clay, Jonathccn Russell, and Albert Gallatin — 
 to negotiate a treaty, under much the same instructions as 
 before, (January, February, 1814.) • But on the news of 
 the triumph of Great Britain and her allies over Napoleon, 
 the demands of the United States were sensibly modified. 
 The opposition alleged it to be from fear of the foe, whose 
 power was so much increased by the issue of the European 
 war. But the administration and its party declared that 
 the pacification of Europe did away with the very abuses 
 of which America had to complain ; in other words, that 
 there would be no blockades or impressments in time of 
 peace. At all events, the envoys were directed to leave 
 these points for future negotiation, confining themselves at 
 present to the conclusion of a general treaty. They were 
 also authorized to treat at London, if they thought the 
 arrival of British commissioners at Gottenburg was likely 
 to be delayed, (June.) The new instructions found the 
 commissioners of both nations in session at Ghent, (Au- 
 gust 8.) 
 
 Treaty of ^our mouths and a half elapsed before coming to 
 Ghent, terms.' The British demands, especially on the 
 point of retammg the conquests made during the war, were 
 
1 
 
 o 
 
 7G PAr.T IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 altogetlier inadmissible. Fortunately, tliey were yielded ; 
 the disposal of the American question being desirable in 
 the uncertain state of European affairs. A treaty was con- 
 sequently framed, restoring the conquests on either side, 
 and providing commissioners to arrange the boundary and 
 other minor questions between the nations, (December 24.) 
 The objects of the war, accordhig to the declarations at its 
 outbreak, Avere not mentioned in the articles by which it 
 was closed ; yet the United States did not hesitate to ratify 
 the treaty, (February 18.) Within a week afterwards, the 
 president recommended " the navigation of American ves- 
 sels exclusively by American seamen, either natives or such 
 as are already naturalized ; " the reason assigned being " to 
 guard against incidents which, during the periods of war in 
 Europe, might tend to interrupt peace." What could not 
 be gained by treaty might be secured by legislation. 
 
 Though much was waived for the sake of peace, 
 tion of one principle, if no more, had been maintained for 
 foieign- ^^^j^. country. In the first year of the war, the 
 British had set out to treat some Irishmen taken 
 while fighting on the American side, not as ordinary pris- 
 oners of war, but as traitors to Great Britain. On their 
 being sent to be tried for treason in England, Congress 
 aroused itself in their behalf, and authorized the adoption 
 of retaliatory measures. An equal number of British cap- 
 tives was presently imprisoned, and when the British 
 retorted by ordering twice as many American officers into 
 confinement, the Americans did the same by the British 
 officers in their power. / The British government went so 
 far as to order its commanders, in case any retaliation Avas 
 inflicted upon the prisoners in American hands, to destroy 
 the towns and their inhabitants upon the coast. It was at 
 this juncture that Massachusetts, as already alluded to, 
 appeared in the lines of nullification. All along, there had 
 
WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 377 
 
 been very little sympathy, among the opposition, for the 
 humane professions of defending the sailor and the stranger, 
 upon which the administration party were apt to discourse, 
 rather than to act. The federalist majority in Massachu- 
 setts, caring little for the fate of the Irish prisoners, forbade 
 the use of the state prisons for the British officers now 
 ordered to be confined, (February, 1814.) The matter 
 was set at rest by the retraction of the British government, 
 wlio consented to treat the Irishmen as prisoners of war. 
 Proclamation was made pardoning all past offences of the 
 sort, but threatening future ones with the penalties of trea- 
 son ; a threat that was never attempted to be fulfilled, 
 (July.) So the Americans gained their point, a point for 
 which the early settlers had labored, and for which the true 
 men of the revolution had struggled — the protection of 
 foreigners. 
 
 Indian Souic moutlis after the treaty of Ghent, a treaty 
 
 treaty, -^yas made with the Indians of the north-west. Such 
 as had been at war agreed to bury the tomahawk, and to 
 join with such as had been at peace in new relations with 
 the United States, (September.) 
 
 A]"-erine Another treaty had been made by this time. It 
 treaty, ^r^g ^^|^ ^\^q Y)qj ^f Algiers, who had gone to war 
 with the United States in the same year that Great Britain 
 did. The United States, however, had paid no attention to 
 the inferior enemy until relieved of the superior. Then 
 war was declared, and a fleet despatched, under Commodore 
 Decatur, by which captures were made, and terms dictated 
 to the Algerine. The treaty not only surrendered all 
 American prisoners, and indemnified all American losses in 
 the war, but renounced the claim of tribute on the part of 
 Algiers, (June.) Tunis and Tripoli being brought to terms, 
 the United States were no longer tributary to pirates. 
 32* 
 
378 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 Exhaus- There had been strength enough to deal the blow 
 tion of the against Algiers. But the nation was in a state of 
 nearly complete exhaustion. This remark is not 
 meant to apply to individual cases of embarrassment and 
 destitution produced by the war ; for wliile many had lost, 
 as many more had gained a competence or a fortune. But 
 the nation, as a whole, was, for the moment, exhausted. 
 Madison had been reelected president, with Elbridge Gerry 
 as vice president, in the first year of the war with Great 
 Britain. If he really consented to war as the jDrice of his 
 reelection, he had had his reward. The difficulties of his 
 second term, more serious than those of any other adminis- 
 tration in our history, weighed upon him, crushed him. He 
 welcomed peace, as his party welcomed it, — in fact, as the 
 whole nation welcomed it, — with the same sensations of 
 relief that men would feel in an earthquake, when the 
 earth, yawning at their feet, suddenly closed. To see from 
 what the government and the nation were saved, it is 
 sufficient to read that systems of conscription for the army 
 and of impressment for the navy were amongst the projects 
 pending at the close of a war which had increased the 
 public debt by one hundred and twenty milhons. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Missouri Co:sipromise. 
 
 Foreign TiiE idea tliat the United States emerged from 
 affairs. ^]^q contest with Great Britain as a new nation, its 
 citizens self-satisfied, and strangers applauding, is certainly a 
 grateful one. But it is difficult to find the authority upon 
 which it rests. To begin with foreign powers, and with the 
 one most likely to be impressed with American grandeur 
 — Great Britain ; she apf)ears absorbed in other interests 
 of much larger importance in her eyes. A commercial 
 convention was framed in the summer following the peace ; 
 but it left many matters undetermined, many unsatisfactorily 
 determined. As for the negotiations ordered by the treaty 
 of Ghent, they were begun upon, yet so idly, that conclu- 
 sions were not reached for years and years. Other nations 
 showed even less inclination to come to terms. France, 
 Spain, Naples, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden 
 were all in arrears on the score of indemnities for spoliations 
 upon American commerce ; and most of them remained in 
 arrears until a subsequent period. An act of Congress 
 invited maritime powers to abandon the restrictions hitherto 
 placed upon commerce ; but the invitation was by no means 
 generally accepted, (March, 1815.) 
 
 Domestic -^^ homc, affairs were in an equally unsettled 
 affairs, state. The war establishment was lowered ; a new 
 tariff was adopted at once, to increase the revenue of the 
 government, and to encourage the industry of the people ; 
 
 (379) 
 
o80 PART lY. 1797-1S50. 
 
 tlie system of taxation was reformed by the gi'adual aboli- 
 tion of direct and Internal taxes. To aid in restoring the 
 currency, and in directing the finances generally, a new 
 Bank of the United States was chartered, (March, 1816.) 
 All this was not done in a day ; nor was there any instanta- 
 neous revival of commerce and of Industry. On the con- 
 trary, periods of depression recurred, in which individual 
 fortunes vanished and national resources failed. But the 
 general tendency was towards recovery from the disorders 
 into Avhicli the country had been plunged by the recent war. 
 Aiiminis- Madlson's troubled administration came to an 
 tmtions. ^j-jj^ James Monroe was the president for the next 
 eight years, (1817-25,) with Daniel D. Tompkins as vice 
 president. Monroe, once an extreme, but latterly a moder- 
 ate republican, so far conciliated all parties as to be reelect- 
 ed with but one electoral vote against him. Old parties 
 were dying out. The great question of the j^eriod, to be 
 set forth presently, vras one with which republicans and 
 federalists, as such, had nothing to do. 
 
 Seminole The ncw administration had but just opened, 
 ^'^^- when the Seminole war, as it was styled, broke 
 out with the Creeks of Georgia and Florida. Conflicts 
 between the borderers and some of the Indians lingerinEr in 
 the territory ceded several years before, led to a determina- 
 tion of the United States government to clear the country 
 of the hostile tribes, (November, 1817.) A Avar, of course, 
 ensued, beginning with massacres on both sides, and ending 
 with a spoiling, burning, slaying expedition, half militia 
 and half Indians, under General Jackson, the conqueror 
 of the Creeks in the preceding war, (March, 1818.) On 
 the pretext that the Sj)anish autliorities countenanced the 
 hostilities of the Indians, Jackson took St. IMark's and Pen- 
 sacola, not without some ideas of seizins; even St. Au2;us- 
 tine. He also put to death, within tlic Spanish limits, two 
 
MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 381 
 
 British subjects accused of stimng up the Indians, (March, 
 May.) So that the war, though called the Seminole, might 
 as well be called the Florida war. The Spanish minister 
 protested against the invasion of the Florida territory, of 
 which the restitution was immediately ordered at Washing- 
 ton, though not without approbation of the course pursued 
 by Jackson. 
 
 Florida was a sore spot on more accounts than 
 
 Acquisi- '- 
 
 tion of one. The old trouble of boundaries had never 
 ^" ^' been settled ; but that was a trifle compared with 
 the later troubles arising from fugitive criminals, fugitive 
 slaves, smugglers, pirates, and, as recently shown, Indians, 
 to whom Florida furnished not only a refuge, but a starting 
 point. The Spanish authorities, themselves by no means 
 inclined to respect their neighbors of the United States, 
 had no po\Ver to make others respect them. " This coun- 
 try," said President Monroe, referring to Florida, " had, in 
 fact, become the theatre of every species of lawless adven- 
 ture." Matters there were not improved by the uncertain 
 relations still continuing between the United States and 
 Spain. Former difficulties, especially those upon American 
 indemnities, were not settled ; while new ones had gathered 
 in consequence of South American revolutions, and North 
 American dispositions to side with the revolutionists. The 
 proposal of an earlier time to purchase Florida was renewed 
 by the United States. Its acceptance was impeded chiefly 
 by differences on the boundary between Louisiana and the 
 Spanish Mexico, but this being settled to begin at the 
 Sabine River, a treaty was concluded. On the payment 
 of five millions by the American government to citizens 
 who claimed indemnity from Spain, that power agi'eed to 
 relinquish the Floridas, East and West, (February 22, 
 1819.) It was nearly two years, however, before Spain 
 ratified the treaty, and fully two before Florida Territory 
 formed a part of the United States, (1821.) 
 
382 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 New The State of Connecticut, liitlierto content with 
 
 states. i^Q^, charter government, at length adopted a new 
 constitution, in which there was but httle improvement upon 
 the old one, except in making suffrage general and the sup- 
 port of a church system voluntary, (1818.) New constitu- 
 tions and new states were constantly in process of forma- 
 tion. Indiana, (December 11, 1816,) Mississippi, (December 
 10, 1817,) Illinois, (December 3, 1818,) and Alabama,* (De-' 
 cember 14, 1819,) ail became members of the Union. 
 
 Before the definite accession of Alabama, Mis- 
 
 Proposal ' 
 
 of Mis- souri was proposed as a candidate for admission. It 
 was a slaveholding territory. But Avhen the pre- 
 liminary steps to its becoming a state were begun upon in 
 Congress, a New York representative, James W. Tall- 
 madge, moved that no more slaves should be brought in, 
 and that the children of those already there should be lib- 
 erated at the age of twenty-five. On the failure of this 
 motion, another New York representative, John W. Taylor, 
 moved to prohibit slavery in the entire territory to the 
 north of latitude 36° 30'. This, too, v/as lost. A bill set- 
 ting off the portion of Missouri Territory to the south of 
 the line just named, as the Territory of Arkansas, was 
 passed. But nothing was done towards establishing the 
 State of Missouri, (February, March, 1819.) 
 Question Nothing, unless it were the debate, in which the 
 of Kiavory. question at issue became clear. There were two 
 reasons, it then appeared, for making Missouri a free state ; 
 one, that it was the turn for a free state, the last (Ala- 
 bama) t having been a slave state ; while, of the eight 
 admitted since the Constitution, four had been free and four 
 
 * The eastern half of the Mississippi Territory became the Territory of 
 Alabama in 1817. 
 
 f Not yet actually admitted, but authorized to apply for admission in 
 the usual way. 
 
MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 383 
 
 slave states. Another and a broader reason was urged, to 
 the effect that slavery ought not to be permitted m any state 
 or territory where it could be prohibited. On this, the 
 northern views were the more earnest, in that the nation 
 had committed itself by successive acts to a course too to - 
 erant, if not too favorable, towards slavery. First, it will 
 be recollected, came the organization of the Territory South 
 of the Ohio; next, that of the Mississippi Territory; and 
 afterwards, the acquisition and the organization of Louisi- 
 ana. All these proceedings were national, and all either 
 acknowledged or extended the area of slavery. Kentucky 
 had been admitted a slave state as a part of Virginia ; J.^is- 
 sissippi and Alabama as parts of the Mississippi Territory. 
 To carry out the same course would have insured the ad- 
 mission of Missouri as a part of the Louisiana acquisition ; 
 and on this the southern members strongly insisted. To 
 this on the contrary, the north demurred, determined, if 
 possible, to stop the movement that had thus far prevailed. 
 A good deal of discussion arose on the point of 
 Sr^aT- the treaty by which Louisiana had been acquixed. 
 gament. rj.j^.^^ argucd oue party, by investing the inhabitants 
 of the Louisianl Territory with all the rights of United 
 States citizens, secures their privileges as slaveholders ; a 
 position, of course, opposed by northern men. But much 
 greater stress was laid on the constitutional argument 
 hinted at in a former connection. The proposal to obhge 
 Missouri to become a free state, said the advocates of sla- 
 very is a violation of the Constitution. That sovereign 
 authority, they declared, leaves the state itself in all cases 
 to settle the matter of slavery, as well as all other matters 
 not expressly subjected to the general government. To 
 this a twofold answer was returned: first, that Missouri 
 was not a state, but a territory, and therefore subject to the 
 control of Congress; and, second, that even if regarded as a 
 
384 PART IV. 1707-1850. 
 
 state, she would not be one of the original thirteen, to which 
 alone belonged the powers reserved under the Constitution. 
 Therefore Congress could deal with her as it pleased. It 
 was moreover argued that Congress ought to arrest the 
 progress of slavery, as a point upon which the national wel- 
 fare was staked ; a point, therefore, to which the authority 
 of the general government was expressly and indispensably 
 applicable according to the Constitution. 
 
 Arguments so divergent, and principles so ojipo- 
 ' site, as those which have been sketched, show that 
 there were two sides in the controversy. Other considera- 
 tions were urged. One in particular was brought forward 
 by the slave state party, that the slaves, as well as the free- 
 men of the nation, were entitled to profit by its increase ; in 
 short, that humanity reo^uired the extension of slavery. 
 Equally extreme opinions were preferred on the opposing 
 side. In thus stating the various turns given to the ques- 
 tion, we have gone somewhat beyond the limits of the ori- 
 ginal debate. It was not till a later time that many of the 
 positions were so decisively taken as has been described. 
 But the points involved in them were clear from the 
 beginning. 
 
 Intense Had it bccn an outbreak of hostilities, had it been 
 agitation, r^ march of one half the country against the other, 
 there could hardly have been a more intense agitation. 
 The attempted prohibition of slavery was denounced in 
 Congress as the preliminary to a negro massacre, to a civil 
 war, to a dissolution of the Union. Out of Congress, it pro- 
 voked such language as that used by the aged Jefferson : 
 " The Missouri question," he wrote, " is a breaker on which 
 we lose the Missouri country by revolt, and what more 
 God only knows. From the battle of Bunker's Hill to the 
 treaty of Paris, we never had so ominous a question." 
 Public meetings were held ; those at the south to repel the 
 
MISSOURI COMPROMISE. ^ 385 
 
 interference of the north, those at the north to rebuke the 
 pretensions of the south. The arguments of Congress, 
 repeated again and agam, kept up the ferment. It was not 
 the mere agitator, however, whether poHtician or philan- 
 thropist, who took the lead ; grave men, men of years and 
 of honors, entered into the lists on both sides. The dispute 
 extended into the tribunals and the legislatures of the states, 
 the northern declaring that Missouri must be for freemen 
 only, the southern that it must be for freemen and for 
 slaves. 
 
 Maine ^^ ^^^^^ *^^ matter as the year drew to a close 
 
 seeks ad- and Congress reassembled. A new turn was then 
 given to the question, by the application of Maine 
 to be received as a state, Massachusetts having consented to 
 the separation. Here, then, is the free state to match with 
 Alabama, exclaimed the partisans of slavery in Missouri ; 
 now give us our slave state. But the opponents of slavery 
 did not yield ; they had planted themselves on principles, 
 they said, not on numbers. At this the south Avas naturally 
 indignant. It had been a plea all along that a free state 
 was due to the north ; and now, when one was forthcoming, 
 two were claimed. If the reply was made that Maine, 
 being but a division of Massachusetts, was no addition to 
 the northern strength, this did not content the south. Feel- 
 ings of bitterness and of injustice were aroused between 
 both parties ; both drew farther apart. If peace did not 
 come, war would, and that soon. 
 
 The com- The Senate united Maine and Missouri in the 
 promise, g^j^g ^^^n g,^^ ^^ ^j^^ g^^^^^ terms, that is, without 
 
 any restriction upon slavery. But a clause, introduced on 
 the motion of Jesse B. Thomas, of IlHnois, prohibited the 
 introduction of slavery into any portion of the Louisiana 
 Territory as yet unorganized, leaving Louisiana the state 
 and Arkansas the territory, as well as Missouri, just what 
 33 
 
386 . PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 tliey were, that is, slaveholding. This was the Missouri 
 Compromise. It came from the north. On the part of the 
 north, it yielded the claim to Missouri as a free state ; on 
 the part of the south, it yielded the claim to the immensely 
 larger regions which stretched above and beyond Mis- 
 souri to the Pacific. The line of 36° 30', proposed the 
 year before, was again proposed, save only that Missouri, 
 though north of the line, was to be a Southern State. Thus 
 the Senate determined, not without opposition from both 
 sides. The House, on the contrary, adopted a bill admit- 
 ting Missouri, separately from Maine, and under the north- 
 ern restriction concerning slavery. Words continued to run 
 high. Henry Clay, still in the House, wrote that the sub- 
 ject " engrosses the whole thoughts of the members, and 
 constitutes almost the only topic of conversation." But the 
 proposal of the Compromise augured the return of tranquil- 
 lity. A committee of conference between the two branches 
 of Congress led to the agreement of both Senate and House 
 upon a bill admitting Missouri, after her constitution should 
 be formed, free of restrictions, but prohibiting slavery north 
 of the line of 36° 30', (March 3, 1820.) Maine was ad- 
 mitted at the same time, (March 3-15.) 
 
 The Compromise prohibited slavery in the desig- 
 interpre- natcd region forever. This was the letter; but it 
 a ions. ^^^^^ under different interpretations. When Presi- 
 dent Monroe consulted his cabinet upon the question of 
 approving the act of Congress, all but his secretary of state, 
 John Quincy Adams, inclined to read the prohibition of 
 slavery as applying only to the temtories, and not to the 
 states that might arise within the prescribed boundaries. 
 This was not a difference between northern and southern 
 views, but one between strict and liberal constructions of 
 the Constitution ; the strict construction going against all 
 power in Congress to restrict a state, while the liberal took 
 
MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 387 
 
 the opposite ground. So with others besides the cabinet. 
 Amongst the very men who voted for the Compromise 
 were many," doubtless, who understood it as applying to ter- 
 ritories alone. The northern party, unquestionably, adopted 
 it in its broader sense, preventing the state as well as the 
 territory from establishing slavery. That there should be 
 two senses attached to it from the beginning was a dark 
 presage of future differences. 
 
 ^ Present differences were not yet overcome. Mis- 
 
 sion of souri, rejoicing in becoming a slaveholding state, 
 issomi. ^^Qp^g^j g^ constitution which denied even free ne- 
 groes the rights of citizens. On this being brought before 
 Congress towards the close of the year^, (1820,) various tac- 
 tics were adopted ; the extreme southern party going for 
 the immediate admission of the state, while the extreme 
 northern side urged the overthrow of state, constitution, 
 and Compromise, together. Henry Clay, at the head of 
 the moderate men, succeeded, after long exertions, in carry- 
 ing a measure providing for the admission of Missouri as 
 soon as her legislature should solemnly covenant the rights 
 of citizenship to "the citizens of either of the states," 
 (February, 1821.) This was done, and Missouri became a 
 state, (August 10.) 
 
 Slave The United States, as a nation, were far from 
 
 trade. inscnsiblc to the evils of slavery. Domestic slave 
 trade was permitted and extended. But foreign slave trade, 
 reviving to such a degree that upwards of fourteen thousand 
 slaves were said to have been imported in a single year, 
 (1818,) provoked general indignation. An act of Congress 
 declared fresh and severer penalties to attach to the slave 
 dealer, while to his unhappy victims relief was offered in 
 provisions for their return to their native country, (1819.) 
 Another act denounced the traffic as piracy, (1820.) The 
 same denunciation was urged upon foreign governments, 
 
388 PART IV. 1797-18-50. 
 
 one of wliich, Great Britain, prepared to enter into a con- 
 vention for the purpose ; but the convention fell through, 
 (1823-24.) 
 
 Visit of 111 the midst of its dissensions and its weaknesses, 
 Lafayette, ^j^g nation was cheered by a visit from Lafayette. 
 He came in compliance with a summons from the govern- 
 ment to behold the work which he had assisted in begin- 
 ning, near half a century before. From the day of his 
 landing (August 16, 1824) to that of his departure, (Sep- 
 tember 7, 1825,) a period of more than a year, he was, as 
 he described himself, " in a whirlwind of popular kindnesses 
 of which it was impossible to have 'formed any previous 
 conception, and in which every thing that could touch and 
 flatter one was mingled." " A more interesting spectacle, 
 it is believed," said President Monroe, "was never wit- 
 nessed, because none could be founded on purer principles, 
 none proceed from higher or more disinterested motives." 
 To make some amends for his early sacrifices, pecuniary as 
 well as personal, in the American cause, Congress voted 
 Lafayette a township of the public domain, and a grant of 
 two hundred thousand dollars. He deserved all that could 
 be bestowed. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Monroe Doctrine. 
 
 Keiations I^ was time for the nation to assume a more 
 withCen- elevated attitude. No longer the sohtary republic 
 scttr'^ amidst encompassing domains of distant monarchies, 
 America, ^j^^ United States now formed one of a band of 
 independent states, stretching from Canada to Patagonia. 
 The others were the Central and South American colonies 
 of Spain, which had spent years in insurrection and in war, 
 before their independence was recognized by their elder 
 sister of the north, (1822.) Ministers plenipotentiary were 
 at the same time appointed to Mexico, Colombia, Buenos 
 Ayres, and Chili. 
 
 ,r . As if to make amends for its delay, the adminis- 
 
 doctrine, tration resolved upon stretching out an arm of 
 defence between the nascent states of the south and the 
 threatening powers of Europe. The purpose of the Euro- 
 pean aUies, France, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, to come 
 to the assistance of Spain, in subduing her insurgent colo- 
 nies, was well known, when President Monroe, in his 
 seventh annual message, (December 2, 1823,) announced 
 that his administration had asserted in negotiations with 
 Russia, " as a principle in which the rights and interests of 
 the United States are involved, that the American conti- 
 nents, by the free and independent position which they have 
 assumed and maintained, are henceforth not to be considered 
 as subjects for future colonization by any European poAy- 
 33* 0*^89) 
 
390 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 ers." "We owe it," continued the president, "to candor 
 and to the amicable rektions existing between the United 
 States and those powers, to declare that we should consider 
 any attempt on their part to extend their system to any por- 
 tion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and 
 safety. With the existing colonies or dependencies of any 
 European power we have not interfered, and shall not 
 interfere. But with the governments who have declared 
 their independence, and maintained it, and whose independ- 
 ence we have on great consideration and on just principles 
 acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for the 
 purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other 
 manner their destiny by any European power, in any other 
 light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition 
 towards the United States." Such was what has since been 
 called the Monroe Doctrine, though the author is known to 
 have been the secretary of state, John Quincy Adams, 
 rather than the president. 
 
 Its purpose was evidently twofold, directed gen- 
 Purpose. gj,r^iiy against any interference with the American 
 continents on the part of Europe, except where Europe 
 already possessed a foothold, and more particularly against 
 the interference with which Europe, or a portion of it, was 
 then menacing the republics of Central and Southern 
 America. But far from its being intended to make the 
 United States themselves the guardians or the rulers of 
 America, the doctrine, as expounded by its real author, 
 Adams, proposed ^' that each [American state] will guard 
 by its own means against the establishment of any future 
 European colony within its borders," The declaration of 
 the president was designed simply to show that the nation 
 undertook to countenance and to support the independence 
 of its sister nations. As such, it was an honorable deed. 
 " The tone which it uttered," said Daniel Webster, in the 
 
THE MONROE DOCTRINE. 391 
 
 House of Eepresentatives, two years afterwards, "found a 
 corresponding response in the breasts of the free people of 
 the United States." Congress, however, dechned to sustain 
 it by any formal action. 
 
 Congress Somc time afterwards, when the author of the 
 of Pan- Monroe Doctrine had risen to the presidency, an 
 invitation was received by the government from 
 some of the Central and South American states to unite in 
 a congress at Panama. The objects, rangmg from mere 
 commercial negotiations up to the Monroe Doctrine, were 
 rather indefinite ; but Adams appointed two envoys, whom 
 the Senate confirmed, and for whom the House made the 
 necessary appropriations, though not without great opposi- 
 tion, (December, 1825 — March, 1826.) One of the en- 
 voys died, the other did not go upon his mission ; so that 
 the congress began and ended without any representation 
 from the United States, (June — July.) It adjourned to 
 meet at Tacubaya, near Mexico, in the beginning of the 
 following year. The ministers of the United States repaired 
 to the appomted place, and at the appointed time, but there 
 was no congress. 
 
 ^^ Thus terminated the vision of an American 
 
 American league. We can hardly estimate the consequences 
 " ■ of its having been realized — on one side, the 
 perils to which the United States would have been exposed, 
 and on the other, the services which they might have 
 rendered, amongst such confederates as those of Central 
 and of South America. 
 
Admin- 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Tariff Compromise. 
 
 John Quincy Adams, the son of the second 
 istra- president, was elected by the House of Represen- 
 tatives — the electoral colleges failing to make a 
 choice — to succeed Monroe, (1825.) Andrew Jackson, a 
 rival candidate, was chosen by the people at the next elec- 
 tion, (1829.) John C. Calhoun was vice president under 
 both. Two men more unlike than Adams and Jackson, in 
 associations and in principles, could hardly have been found 
 amongst the politicians of the period. They resembled 
 each other, however, in the resolution with which they met 
 the dangers of their times. 
 
 Question ^^^^ great question before the country for several 
 i).fon» the years was one as old as the Constitution ; older, 
 '^' even, inasmuch as it occupied a chief place in the 
 debates of the Constitutional Convention. It was the 
 subordination of the state to the nation. 
 Georo-ia '^^^^ ^^'"^^ occasion to rcvivc the question, and to 
 contro- invest it with fresh importance, was a controversy 
 between the national government and the govern- 
 ment of Georgia. Many years had passed since that state 
 consented to cede her western lands, including the present 
 Alabama and Mississippi, on condition that the government 
 would extinguish the Indian title to the territory of Georgia 
 itself. Of twenty-five millions of acres then held by the 
 Creek nation, fifteen had b(ien bought up by the United 
 
 (392) 
 
TARIFF COMPROMISE. 393 
 
 States, and transferred to Georgia. Half of the remaining 
 ten millions belonged to the Cherokees, and half to the 
 Creeks, a nominal treaty with the latter of whom declared 
 the United States possessors of all the Creek territory with- 
 in the limits both of Georgia and of Alabama, (1825.) This 
 treaty, however, agreed to by but one or two of the chiefs, 
 provoked a general outbreak on the part of the Creeks. 
 To pacify them, or rather to do common justice to them, the 
 government first suspended the treaty, and then entered 
 into a new one, by which the cession of land was confined 
 to the Georgian territory. A longer time was also allowed 
 for the removal of the Indians from tlie ceded country, 
 (April, 182G.) What satisfied the Creeks dissatisfied the 
 Georgians or their authorities. Governor Troup accused 
 the administration of violating the law of the land, in the 
 shape of the earlier treaty, liinting at anti-slavery motives 
 for the course that had been taken, and calling upon the 
 adjoining states to " stand by their arms." Not confining 
 himself to protests or defensive measures, Troup sent sur- 
 veyors intp the Indian territory. President Adams com- 
 municated the matter to Conncress, assertino^ his intention 
 " to enforce the laws, and fulfil the duties of the nation by 
 all the force committed for that purpose to his charge." 
 Whereat the governor wrote to the secretary of war, 
 " From the first decisive act of hostility, you will be con- 
 sidered and treated as a public enemy," (1827.) Fortu- 
 nately, the w^inds ceased. The state that had set itself 
 against the nation more decidedly than had ever yet been 
 done returned to its senses. As for the unhappy Indians, 
 not only the Creeks, but all the other tribes that could be 
 persuaded to move, were gradually transported to more 
 distant territories in the west. 
 
 Other causes were operatinj^ to excite the states. 
 
 Tarififs. n 
 
 or some of them, against the general government. 
 
394 TART IV. 1797-18-30. 
 
 Amidst the vicissitudes of industry and of trade tlirongh 
 wliieli the nation was passing, repeated attempts were made 
 to steady affairs by a series of tariffs in favor of domestic 
 productions. Tlie first measure, intended to serve for pro- 
 tection rather than for revenue, was adopted at tlie begin- 
 ning of the period embraced in a previous chapter, (181(3.) 
 It was a duty, principally, upon cotton fabrics from abroad. 
 Some years afterwards, a new scale was framed, with pro- 
 vision against foreign woollens, as well as cottons, (1824.) 
 This not turning out as advantageous to the home manufac- 
 tures as was anticipated, an effort for additional protection 
 was made ; but at first in vain. On one side were the 
 manufacturers, not merely of cotton and of woollen goods, 
 but of iron, hemp, and a variety of other materials, clus- 
 tered in the Northern and Central States. On the other 
 were the merchants, the farmers, and the artisans of the 
 same states, with almost the entire population of the agri- 
 cultural south. A convention of the manufacturing inter- 
 ests, attended by delegates from New England, the Middle 
 States, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky, was held 
 at Ilarrisburg, in Pennsylvania. " We want protection," 
 was the language used by the delegates, " and it matters 
 not if it amounts to prohibition ; " in which spirit they 
 pressed what they called the American System upon the 
 federal government, (July — August, 1827.) The admin- 
 istration, by the report of the secretary of the treasury, 
 commended the subject to the favorable attention of Con- 
 gress. That body took it up, and after protracted discus- 
 sions, consented to a tariff in which the system of protec- 
 tion was carried to its height. Its adversaries called the 
 bill a bill of abominations, many of which, however, were 
 introduced by themselves, with the avowed intention of 
 making the measure as odious and as short lived as possible, 
 (December, 1827 — May, 1828.) 
 
Nullifica- 
 tion at 
 
 TARIFF COMPROMISE. 395 
 
 All tlie interests of the north were by no means 
 consulted by the recent tariff. Meetings had been 
 the" iield to prevent its passage ; nor was it received, 
 '°"*^' when passed, without murmurs and remonstrances. 
 But it was in the south that the flames burst forth most 
 violently. State rights, the relations of master and slave, 
 as well as the cotton market, — principles and inter- 
 ests of every sort were declared to be threatened. While 
 the tariff was in abeyance, South Carolina instructed her 
 representatives to oppose the bill, taking care that " the 
 state should appear as a sovereign, not as a suppliant." 
 After the bill became a law, South Carolina pronounced it 
 unconstitutional ; so did Georgia ; so did Virgmia ; in fact, 
 it was a trial among the states which should precipitate 
 itself the deepest into nullification. The administration 
 stood firm. " To the voice of just complaint," the president 
 had said, " from any portion of their constituents, the repre- 
 sentatives of the states and people will never turn away 
 their ears. But so long as the duty of the foreign shall 
 operate only as a bounty upon the domestic article, the 
 planter, and the merchant, and the shepherd, and the hus- 
 bandman will not denounce, as violations of the Constitution, 
 the deliberate acts of Congress to shield the native industry 
 
 of the Union." 
 
 Jackson came into office to devote himself at first to 
 vXfrom those who had elected him. Never before had the 
 °®'^- nation been under so professedly a party rule. Its 
 subjection was proved by the removals from office of such 
 as had served under the previous administrations. In all 
 the forty years that had elapsed since the opening of the 
 government, the successive presidents had removed just 
 sixty-four public officers, and no more. Jackson turned out 
 the servants of government by the hundred. This imprint- 
 ing a partisan character upon the administration was far 
 
39 G TART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 from being unacceptable to the majority of the nation. It 
 was but just, they argued, that the inferior officers should 
 be of the same views as the superior ; otherwise there 
 could be no harmony. A great deal of stress, moreover, 
 was laid upon the necessity of reforming the administra- 
 tion ; the alleged extravagance of Adams's time having been 
 sounded all over the land by the partisans of Jackson. 
 The clamor of the opposition against either cause of 
 removal can be conceived. 
 
 Conces- "^^^^ great question between the power of the 
 sious to state and the power of the nation was still oj^en. 
 ^^"* Jackson entered into it with concessions to the state. 
 When the Creeks of Georgia were disposed of, there still 
 remained the Cherokees of the same and the neighboring 
 states. This tribe, far from being inclined to leave its 
 habitations, was so much inclined to settling where it w^as, 
 as to adopt a formal constitution, (1827.) At this, Georgia 
 lost patience, and asserted her jurisdiction over the Chero- 
 kees, at the same time dividing their territory, and annex- 
 ing it in portions to the counties of the state, (1828-30.) 
 Much the same- course was taken by Alabama and 
 Mississippi in relation to the Indians within their borders, 
 (1829-30.) In these circumstances, the position of the gen- 
 eral government was this — that it had always undertaken 
 to treat with the Indians, to protect or to molest them, as 
 the case might be ; but in no event leaving them to the 
 action of any separate part of the nation. Instead of 
 maintaining this position in relation to the southern Indians, 
 the president, supported by Congress, yielded it altogether, 
 upon the ground that the Cherokee constitution was the 
 erection of a new state within the limits of Georgia and 
 Alabama. It would have been well had Georgia contented 
 herself with the Indians thus surrendered to her. But she 
 must needs interfere with the whites, the very missionaries 
 
TARIFF COMPHOMISE. 397 
 
 of the Indian territory, and imprison them in her peniten- 
 tiary for not taking the oath of allegiance which she de- 
 manded, (1831.) Their case was carried before the United 
 States Supreme Court, which decided against the course of 
 Georgia with regard to both missionaries and Indians, 
 (1832.) But the Indians obtained no redress ; nor did the 
 missionaries, until they abandoned their proceedings against 
 the sovereign state, (1833.) 
 
 ^^^.g, More serious points in relation to the question 
 
 ques- between the states and the general government had 
 arisen. The first message of President Jackson 
 (December, 1829) suggested a modification of the tariff 
 adopted the year before. It was another concession, on his 
 part, to the state claims. But it was not made without 
 cause. The system of protection, once opposed and favored 
 by the north and by the south together, had come to be a 
 favorite of the north, and an object of opposition to the 
 south. Emigration from the older to the newer states, 
 followed by a depreciation m the value of the lands long 
 settled, had greatly affected southern interests, much more 
 so than the tariff, to which every reverse was apt to be 
 ascribed. But the apparent cause was just as effectual in 
 kindling excitement as if it had been the real one. The 
 south and the north were set against each other ; it was a 
 fresh strife of sections, full of peril to the nation. Presi- 
 dent Jackson adverted to it in recommending a considera- 
 tion of the tariff. At once the questions of the former 
 administration revived. But the result for the present, so 
 far as the tariff was concerned, consisted in a few unimpor- 
 tant modifications, (May, 1830.) 
 
 At the same time, a resolution before the Senate 
 
 Pool's 
 
 resoiu- was indefinitely postponed, after having elicited a 
 tion: remarkable debate upon the points at issue before 
 the country. It had been brought forward by Sen- 
 34 
 
398 PART IV. 1737-1850. 
 
 ator Foot, oi Connocticut, just at the close of the previous 
 year, (December 29, 1829,) with a view to some arrange- 
 ment concerning the sale of the jjublic lands. But the 
 public lands were soon lost sight of in a discussion involv- 
 ing the relative powers of the states and the national gov- 
 ernment. Robert Y. Hayne, a senator from South Carolina, 
 took the ground that a state possessed the right of nullify- 
 ing any act of Congress which it should consider unconsti- 
 tutional, inasmuch as the government, whereof Congress 
 was a part, resulted from a compact amongst the states. 
 The opposite theory, that the government was established 
 by the people of the United States as a whole, and not by 
 the states as separate members, was taken chiefly by Daniel 
 Webster, some years before a representative of his native 
 New Hampshire, at present a senator from his adopted 
 Massachusetts. The great speech of Webster (January 
 2G-27, 1830) was, without contradiction, the ablest jjlea 
 that had ever been made for the national character, as well 
 as the national government. It decided the fact, so far as 
 argument in the Senate chamber could do, that the general 
 government, in its proper functions, is independent of all 
 local institutions. As a necessary consequence, the claim 
 of a state to nullify an act of Congress fell to the ground. 
 The same doctrine was advocated by Madison, first amongst 
 the survivors of those who had framed the Constitution, 
 (August.) " I trust," said Webster, near the beginning of 
 the following year, " the crisis has in some measure passed 
 by." It was not the last time, however, that he had to 
 raise his powerful voice in the defence of the Constitution. 
 Revision -^ year or more elapsed before the subject of the 
 of tariff. i^Yiff was Called up again. It was then decided by 
 Congress and the president to revise the provisions against 
 Avhich the south was still contending. Without abandoning 
 the protective system, which, on the contrary, was distinctly 
 
TARIFF COMPROMISE. 399 
 
 » 
 
 maintained, the duties upon many of the protected articles 
 were reduced, in order to satisfy the opponents of protec- 
 tion, (July, 1832.) 
 
 Far from diverting the storm, the action upon the 
 ?aUon' tariif did but hasten its approach. The South 
 in South Carolina members of Congress addressed their con- 
 
 Carolina. . , . . ,, k n • .i • 
 
 stituents m this wise: "After expressmg their 
 solemn and deliberate conviction that the protecting system 
 must now be regarded as the settled policy of the country, 
 and that all hope of relief from Congress is irrecoverably 
 gone, they leave it with you, the sovereign power of the 
 state, to determine M'hether the rights and liberties which 
 you received as a precious inheritance from an illustrious 
 ancestry shall be tamely surrendered without a struggle, or 
 transmitted undiminished to your posterity." The tempest 
 that ensued was prodigious, considering the limited sphere 
 through which it had to sweep. The legislature of South 
 Carolina summoned a convention of the state, which met at 
 Columbia, under the presidency of Governor Hamilton, 
 (November 19.) A few days sufficed to pass an ordinance 
 declaring " that the several acts, and parts of acts, purport- 
 ing to be laws for the imposing of duties on importation . . . 
 are unauthorized by the Constitution of the United States, 
 and violate the true intent and meaning thereof, and are 
 null and void, and no law, nor binding upon the State of 
 South Carolina, its officers and citizens ; . . . and that 
 it shall be the duty of the legislature to adopt such measures 
 and pass such acts as may be necessary to give full effect 
 to this ordinance, and to prevent the enforcement and arrest 
 the operation of the said acts, and parts of acts, of the 
 Congress of the United States within the limits of the 
 state," (November 24.) 
 
 In all this there was nothing new to the nation. 
 " From the time when Kentucky and Virginia began 
 
400 TART lY. 1797-1850. 
 
 upon a similar course, from the time when Massachusetts 
 and Connecticut continued it, down to the more recent acts 
 of Georgia and of South Carohna herself, nullification, in 
 nominal if not in actual existence, had stalked throu":hout 
 the land. A state that felt itself aggrieved by the general 
 government was very apt to take to resolutions, often to 
 positive statutes, against the laws or the measures of the 
 Union. But South Carolina went further than any of her 
 predecessors. " We, the people of South Carolina," con- 
 cluded the ordinance of the convention, " do farther declare 
 that we will not submit to the application of force, on the 
 part of the federal government, to reduce this state to 
 obedience, but that vfc will consider the passage by Con- 
 gress of any act ... to enforce the acts hereby de- 
 clared to be null and void, otherwise than through the civil 
 tribunals of the country, as inconsistent v/ith the longer 
 continuance of South Carolina in the Union ; and that the 
 people of this state . . . will forthwith proceed to 
 organize a separate government." This was something 
 more than nullification ; it was secession. 
 Ecsoiu- It has been very common to exclaim against the 
 Suuth conduct of South Carolina. But with the principles 
 Carolina, wliicli slic profcsscd. Supporting the claims of the 
 state to be a sovereign member of a national confederacy, 
 it is difficult to see how she could have acted otherwise. If 
 we would censure any thing, it must be the principles which 
 led to nullification and to secession, rather than these, the 
 mere and the inevitable results. In itself, as an instance 
 of resolution against what was deemed injustice and oppres- 
 sion, the attitude of South Carolina is no object of indigna- 
 tion. On the contrary, there is something thrilling in the 
 aspect of a people perilling their all to sustain their rights, 
 even though tlicy were mistaken as to Avhat their rights 
 really were " The die has been at last cast," the governor 
 
TARIFF COMPROMISE. 401 
 
 informed the legislature, assembled a day or two after the 
 adoption of the ordinance by the convention, " and South 
 CaroHna has at length appealed to her ulterior sovereignty 
 as a member of this confederacy. . . . That it brings 
 up a juncture of deep and momentous interest, is neither to 
 be concealed nor denied." The legislature unhesitatingly 
 responded to the convention in a series of acts prohibiting 
 the collection of duties, and providing for the employment 
 of volunteers, or, if need were, of the entire militia, in the 
 defence of the state. 
 
 If the state was resolute, the general government 
 tion of ^^^^ ^o less so. The president was in his element. 
 goveiu- A crisis which he was eminently adapted to meet 
 had arrived. It called forth all his independence, 
 all his nationality. Other men — more than one of his pred- 
 ecessors — would have doubted the course to be pursued ; 
 they would have staid to inquire into the powers of the 
 Constitution, or to count the resources of the government ; 
 nay, had they been consistent, they would have inclined 
 to the support, rather than to the overthrow, of the South 
 Carolina doctrine. Jackson did not waver an instant. He 
 took his own counsel, as he was wont to do, and declared 
 for the nation against the state ; then ordered troops and a 
 national vessel to the support of the government officers in 
 South Carolina. " No act of violent opposition to the laws 
 has yet been committed, " — thus the president declared in 
 a proclamation ; " but such a state of things is hourly appre- 
 hended ; and it is the intent of this instrument to proclaim 
 not only that the duty imposed on me by the Constitution, 
 to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, shall be 
 jDerformed, . . . but to warn the citizens of South Car- 
 olina . . . that the course they are urged to pursue is 
 one of ruin and disgrace to the very state whose right they 
 affect to support," (December.) The appeal to the South 
 
 34* 
 
402 PART IV. 1797-18dO. 
 
 t 
 
 Carolinians was the more forcible in coming from one of 
 themselves, as it were; Jackson being a native of their 
 state. Addressing Congress in an elaborate message, (Jan- 
 uary 16, 1833,) the president argued down both nullifica- 
 tion and secession, maintaining that " the result of each is 
 the same ; since a state in which, by a usurpation of power, 
 the constitutional authority of the federal government is 
 openly defied and set aside, wants only the form to be inde- 
 pendent of the Union." He then proceeded to recount the 
 measures which he had taken, and to pro^aose those which 
 he considered it necessary for Congress to take. Congress 
 responded, after some delay, by an enforcing act, the pri- 
 mary object of which was to secure the collection of the 
 customs in the South Carolina ports. Thus united stood 
 the government in sustaining itself against the state by 
 which it was defied. 
 ^ , Nor did it stand alone. One after another, the 
 
 Resolu- ... . 
 
 tion of states, by legislative or by individual proceedings, 
 states. (jg^j^e Qut in support of the national principle. The 
 principle of state sovereignty, that might have found sup- 
 port but for the extremity to which it had been pushed, 
 seemed to be abandoned. South Carolina was left to her- 
 self, even by her neighbors, usually prone to take the same 
 side. Only Virginia came forward, appealing to the gov- 
 ernment as well as to South Carolina to be done with strife. 
 As if to shov^r her sympathy for the cause of the state, Vir- 
 ginia appointed a commissioner to convey her sentiments to 
 the people of South Carolina. Otherwise the states ranged 
 themselves distinctly, though not all actively, on the side of 
 the nation. 
 „ .^ But on one point there was a decided reservation 
 
 Tariff ^ 
 
 compro- with many of the states. The tariff was oj)enly 
 ^^^^' condemned by North Carolina, Alabama, and 
 Georgia; the last state proposing a southern convention, to 
 
TARIFF COMPROMISE. 403 
 
 take some measures of resistance to the continuance of a 
 system so unconstitutional. It became plainer and plainer, 
 that if South Carolina was to be brought to terms by any 
 other way than by force, or if her sister states of the south 
 were to be kept from joining her sooner or later, it must be 
 by some modification of the tariff. A bill was brought for- 
 ward in the House, but without any immediate result. 
 Henry Clay took the matter up in the Senate. He had 
 distinguished himself as the advocate of the Missouri Com- 
 promise. He was the author, in consultation with others, 
 of the tariff compromise. This proposed that the duties on 
 all imports exceeding twenty per cent, should be reduced 
 to that rate by successive diminutions through the next ten 
 years, (tiU June 30, 1842.) " I wish," said Clay, "to see 
 the tariff separated from the politics of the country, that 
 business men may go to work in security, with some pros- 
 pect of stability in our laws." Had there been no other 
 motive for his course, this would have been enough to 
 stamp it with wisdom. Others felt as he did. Unlike the 
 [Missouri question, the tariff question was disposed of with- 
 out protracted struggles. The advocates of protection 
 wrangled against the compromise, as a matter of course ; 
 but the measure was supported by very general approval, 
 not excepting the representatives of South Carolina, at the 
 head of whom was Calhoun, lately surrendering the vice 
 presidency in order to represent his state in the Senate. In 
 fact, the impossibility of restoring peace by any other means 
 was palpable. The compromise became a law, (March 2,) 
 and South Carolina returned to her allegiance. "The 
 lightning," as one of Clay's correspondents wrote to him, 
 was " dra-uTi out from the clouds which were lowering over 
 the country." 
 
 Like all other compromises, the tariff compro- 
 
 ]^6cisioD* 
 
 mise did not brin<2; about an absolute decision of the 
 
404 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 points of coiitroversj. To the opponents of protection it 
 abated the amount of protection. To the champions of the 
 protective system it secured the right of laying duties, but 
 at the same time decided against the expediency, if not the 
 riglit, of excessive duties. In other words, perhaps it may 
 be said that the compromise gave up prohibition, but re- 
 tained protection. It was not enough to settle the question 
 in detail ; yet it was enough to settle the question on broad 
 principles. 
 
 ^^^ ^^^^ As for the subject that lay behind the tariff, not 
 
 great couccalcd, but ovcrtoppiug it by an immensity of 
 qucs ion. j^gjg|-^|^ ^j^-^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ decided in the same general 
 
 Avay. The subordination of the state to the nation was not 
 defined. But it was established on principles which no 
 nullification could disturb, and no secession break asunder, 
 except in national ruin. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Financial Disorders. 
 
 National ^EW matters are more important to a nation — 
 finance, especially to a money-making nation — than its 
 finance. This being in a sound condition, the course of 
 government and of the people is so far smoothed and se- 
 cured. But if it is disturbed, either by those in authority 
 or by those engaged in speculations of their own, the whole 
 country suffers. Time and again had these things been 
 proved in the United States ; a fresh and a fearful proof 
 was soon to occur. 
 
 The administration of Jackson had but just be- 
 
 Veto of T , • i p 
 
 United gun, (1829,) when an attempt was made to mterterc 
 Ba^nk ^'it^^ *^^® appointments in the United States Bank, 
 charter. The resistance of the bank is supposed to have ex- 
 cited the displeasure of the president, who, at all events, 
 took occasion in his first message to throw out suggestions 
 • against the renewal of the bank charter, although this was 
 not to expire for six or seven years to come. Congress, 
 instead of complying with the presidential recommendation, 
 showed a decided determination to sustain the bank. The 
 next Congress voted to renew the charter, but the president 
 immediately interposed with a veto, (July, 1832.) Amidst 
 many sound objections on his part was mingled much that 
 must be set down as prejudice, not to say extravagance ; he 
 even went so far as to suppose the bank to be dangerous 
 
 " to our liberty and independence." 
 
 (405) 
 
406 PART IV. 1797-1 8d0. 
 
 Removal ^^^ Content with opposing the recliartering of 
 ofiiopos- the bank, the president determined to humble it 
 
 its 
 
 before its charter expired. To tliis, it must be con- 
 fessed, he was in some degree goaded by the unsparing bit- 
 terness with which his veto had been assailed. On the 
 other hand, the triumphant reelection of Jackson to the 
 presidency, with his right hand man, Martin Van Buren, 
 for vice president, assured him of a support which would 
 not fail him in any measures he might })ursue. In his next 
 message, (December, 1832,) he recommended the removal 
 of the treasury deposits from the custody of the bank, but 
 without obtaining the cooperation of Congress. Things 
 went on as they were until the early autumn of the follov/- 
 ing year, when (September, 1833) the president announced 
 to his cabinet his resolution to remove the deposits on his 
 own responsibility, assigning for his principal reasons the 
 electioneering procedures against his administration, of 
 which the bank was suspected, and the necessity of provid- 
 ing for some new method of managing the public revenue 
 before the expiration of the charter incapacitated the bank 
 from serving as it had hitherto done. The terms of the 
 charter provided that the power of recalling the deposits 
 lay with the secretary of the treasurj^, subject to the condi- 
 tion of acquainting Congress with the proceeding — a con- 
 dition which the party of the bank interpreted as subjecting 
 the question of removal to the a])proval or disapproval of 
 the legislature. The administration and its supporters, on 
 the other hand, contended that the power of the secretary 
 in the matter did not depend upon the will of Congress,- but 
 rested with himself, of course under the directions of the 
 president. This, however, did not smooth the way; for 
 the secretary then in office, William J. Duane, declined to 
 have any thing to do with the removal. Two days after- 
 wards, he was displaced to make room for Roger B. Taney, 
 
 n 
 
FINANCIAL DISORDERS. 407 
 
 then attorney general, and subsequently chief justice of the 
 United States. The new secretary, not sharing the scruples 
 of his predecessor, issued the proper order for the removal 
 of the deposits at the time indicated by the president, (Oc- 
 tober 1.) 
 
 Of the agitation attending these events it is diffi- 
 Agitation. ^^j^ to conccivc at this distance of time. If we 
 account for the suspicions of the president against the bank, 
 there still remain the accusations from the bank and from 
 its friends against the president to be explained. Had 
 Jackson declared himself the lord and master of the United 
 States, there could scarcely have been a greater uproar. It 
 vented itself in meetings and in legislative bodies, as usual. 
 It broke forth in Congress, especially in the Senate, where, 
 at the instigation of Henry Clay, the recent competitor of 
 Jackson for the presidency, a resolve was adopted, " That 
 the president, in the late executive proceeding in relation to 
 the public revenue, has assumed upon himself authority and 
 power not conferred by the Constitution and laws, but in 
 derogation of both," (March, 1834.) The same day Daniel 
 Webster remarked, " If this experiment of the executive 
 government is suffered to go on, it will bring us to conse- 
 quences nearly touching the powers and continued action 
 of this government. . . . Let all who mean to die as 
 they live, citizens of a free country, stand together for the 
 supremacy of the laws." Against the sentence of the Sen- 
 ate, passed upon him without a hearing, the president issued 
 a protest, as a " substitute for that defence which," said he, 
 " I have not been allowed to present in the ordinary form," 
 (April.) So one extreme led to another, until, near three 
 years later, it was made a party measure to expunge from 
 the records of the Senate the resolution of censure, (Jan- 
 uary, 1837.) 
 
 As for the bank itself, it " waged war," said the president 
 
408 PART IV. 1707-1850. 
 
 Money afterwards, " upon the people, in order to compel 
 troubles, them to submit to its demands." It certainly ap- 
 peared to do so ; but the course taken by it was quite us 
 much a defensive as an offensive one. The loss of the de- 
 posits involved a contraction of loans. These contractions 
 affected other banks, which were obliged to curtail their 
 own operations, until credit sank, capitalists failed, and 
 laborers ceased to be employed. All this increased the 
 excitement, at first depending upon party statements and 
 constitutional theories. The sufferers turned against both 
 sides ; a part against the bank, which was represented as a 
 monstrous despotism, a part against the president, who was 
 represented as an equally monstrous desjDot. We seem to 
 read of a nation gone wild, in reading of these things as 
 they are told by their contemporaries. 
 
 Surplus While individuals were suffering, the government 
 revenue, ^yr^g jj^ ^ State of rcplctiou. Not Only was the pub- 
 lic debt entirely paid off, (1835,) but a large balance was 
 left in the banks to w^hich the public moneys had been 
 transferred from the United States Bank. It was resolved 
 by the administration to deposit, as the phrase went, all but 
 a reserve of five milhons with the states, to be used accord- 
 ing to their different circumstances, (1836.) A sum of 
 twenty-eight millions was thus distributed, the states gener- 
 ally understanding that the share which each received was 
 its own, not merely to be employed, but to be retained, 
 (1837.) Nothing was ever recalled by the government, 
 great as its embarrassments soon became. 
 Abolition- I'^^o the old fissurc between the north and the 
 ism. south a new wedge was driven during the present 
 period. The action, hitherto confined to meetings and me- 
 morials, extended itself in publications, pamphlets, and 
 newspapers', of which the movements were no longer occa- 
 sional, but continuous and systematic, (1832.) This was 
 
 I 
 
FINANCIAL DISORDERS. 409 
 
 abolitionism, so called from its demands that slavery should 
 be abolished, and this immediately, without reference to the 
 Constitution or the institutions of the south, to the claims of 
 the master or the fortunes of the slave. Whatever its mo- 
 tives, its course was professedly unscrupulous, sparing neither 
 the interests against which it was directed nor those which 
 it was intended to sustain. An immediate reaction arose in 
 the north. Meetings were held, mobs were gathered against 
 the places where the abolitionists met and the offices whence 
 they issued their productions, (1834.) Then the tumult 
 spread to the south. The mails thither were burdened 
 with papers intended to excite a general insurrection, or at 
 least a general alarm. As a natural consequence, the post 
 offices were broken into, and the obnoxious publications 
 destroyed, (1835.) • That portion of the south which had 
 begun of its own accord to move towards the abolition of 
 slavery, was at once arrested; while that other portion, 
 always attached to slavery, began to talk of non-intercourse 
 and of disunion. The matter was taken up by govern- 
 ment, beginning with the president, who recommended a 
 law to prohibit the use of the mail for the circulation of 
 incendiary documents. 8o imbittered did Congress be- 
 come, as to refuse to receive memorials upon the subject of 
 slavery, a subject often before provocative of angry pas- 
 sages, but never until now considered too delicate to be 
 approached, (1836.) Abolitionism had resulted in con- 
 servatism, and that of a stamp as yet unknown to the most 
 conservative. 
 
 Indian Relations with the Indians were frequently dis- 
 
 •wars. turbed. The process of removing them to the west 
 of the Mississippi continued a cause of disorder and of 
 strife. A war with the Sacs and Foxes, under Black 
 Hawk, broke out on the north-west frontier, but was soon 
 brought to an end by a vigorous campaign on the part of 
 
 35 
 
410 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 the United States troops and the militia, under Generals 
 Scott and Atkinson, (1832.) Anotlier war arose with the 
 Seminoles, under their chief Osceola, in Florida. It w^as 
 attended bj serious losses from the beginning, (1835.) On 
 the junction of the Creeks with the Seminoles, affairs grew 
 still worse, the war extending into Georgia and Alabama, 
 (1836.) The Creeks were subdued under the directions of 
 General Jessup ; but the Seminoles continued in arms 
 amidst the thickets of Florida for many years. 
 ^. , , , Occasional disturbances occurred in foreisri rela- 
 
 Distnrbed ^ 
 
 foreign tious, especially respecting the indemnities still duo 
 
 relations. . c t x* r a 
 
 on account of spoliations oi American commerce. 
 These were gradually arranged; Denmark (1830) and 
 Naples (1834) meeting the claims of long standing against 
 them ; the more recent demands against Portugal and 
 Spain being also satisfied, though not by immediate pay- 
 ments, (1832, 1834.) 
 
 The relations with France were more precarious. 
 
 Especially ^ 
 
 with After twenty or thirty years' unavailing negotiation 
 ■with the governments of Napoleon and his Bourbon 
 successors, a treaty was concluded Avith the government of 
 Louis Philippe, acknowledging the American claims to the 
 amount of about five million dollars, (July, 1831.) Three 
 years afterwards, the French Chambers rejected the bill for 
 the execution of the treaty, (1834.) Meantime the United 
 States government had drawn a draft for the amount of the 
 first instalment proposed to be paid by France, but only to 
 have the draft protested. Thus doubly aggrieved, the ad- 
 ministration proposed to Congress the authorization of 
 reprisals upon French property, in case immediate provision 
 for the fulfilment of the treaty should not be made by the 
 French Chambers, (December, 1834.) The mere proposal, 
 though unsupported by any action of Congress, was received 
 as an affront in France ; the French minister at Washing- 
 
FINANCIAL DISORDERS. 411 
 
 ton being recalled, and the American minister at Paris 
 being tendered his passports. The Chambers, however, 
 voted the appropriations required by the treaty, subject to 
 the condition that the president's proposals to Congress 
 should be satisfactorily explained, (1835.) "Does France," 
 asked the president, in a special message on the subject, 
 (January, 1836,) " desire only a declaration that we had no 
 intention to obtain our rights by an address to her fears 
 rather than her justice ? She has already had it. . . . 
 Does France want a degrading, servile repetition, in terms 
 which she shall dictate, and which will involve an acknowl- 
 edgment of her assumed right to mterfere in our domestic 
 councils ? She will never obtain it." The alternative su^^- 
 gested to Congress was " prohibiting the introduction of 
 French products and the entry of French vessels," or " the 
 interdiction of all commercial intercourse." At this crisis 
 Great Britain offered her mediation. It was accepted; 
 but, without waiting for its exercise, the French government 
 resolved to execute the treaty. The news soon came that 
 the five millions were paid, (May, 1836.) ' 
 Parties. ^^® nation was united in supporting the adminis- 
 tration against France and the stranger generally. 
 But on the score of domestic relations there were wide 
 divisions. Party spirit, dying out under Monroe, and after- 
 wards revivmg with respect to men rather than to princi- 
 ples, w^as soon excited concerning both. Jackson had 
 drawn around him the most devoted adherents, devoted at 
 once to him and to his system. On the other hand, the 
 character of the administration and of its chief were most 
 earnestly opposed by a party formed of those who had once 
 followed after the president, as well as of those who had 
 always been in opposition. This, after various changes of 
 name, became the whig party ; the supporters of the admin- 
 istration forming the democratic party. 
 
412 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 Commer- The financial disorders of tlie time came to a 
 ciai crisis, head dircctly after Martin Van Buren succeeded Ms 
 chief in the presidency, (March, 1837,) when the banks, 
 first of New York, and then of other cities, suspended specie 
 payments, (May.) A committee from New York, ap- 
 pointed to urge the president to suspend the requirement 
 of payments in specie to the treasury, and to call an extra 
 session of Congress, stated in their address " that the value 
 of their real estate [in New York alone] had, within the 
 last six months, depreciated more than forty millions of 
 dollars ; that within the preceding two months there had 
 been more than two hundred and fifty failures of houses 
 engaged in extensive business ; that within the same period 
 a decline of twenty millions had occurred in their local 
 stocks ; . . . that the immense amount of merchan- 
 dise in their warehouses had fallen in value at least thirty 
 per cent. ; that within a few weeks not less than twenty 
 thousand individuals, depending upon their daily labor 
 for their daily bread, had been discharged by then- em- 
 ployers." To this sad statement, and to other representa- 
 tions of similar character, the president, after some hesita- 
 tion, responded by convening Congress on the first Monday 
 in September. He then sent in a message, explaining the 
 general distress on grounds very different from those taken 
 by most of the distressed. He spoke of the increase of 
 banking capital, of bank notes and bank discounts, within 
 the last year or -two, showing its enormous extent.* " The 
 consequences of this redundancy of credit," pursued the 
 
 * In 1834 the capital was about $200,000,000 ; in Januar)', 1836, about 
 $250,000,000. In 1834, bank notes in circulation were about $95,000,000 ; 
 in 1836, about $140,000,000. In 1834, bank loans were about $325,- 
 000,000 ; in 1830, about $460,000,000. Another estimate shows that the 
 bank notes in circulation in January, 1837, exceeded those of 1830 by 
 eighty-eight millions ! 
 
FINANCIAL DISORDERS. 413 
 
 president, « and of tlie spirit of reckless speculation engen- 
 dered by it, were a foreign debt contracted by our citizens, 
 estimated in March last at more than thirty millions of dol- 
 lars; ... the investment of thirty-nine and a half 
 millions in unproductive public lands, in the years 1835 and 
 1836, while in the preceding year the sales amounted to 
 only four and a half millions; ... the diversion to 
 other pursuits of much of the labor that should have been 
 applied to agriculture, thereby contributing to the expendi- 
 ture of large sums in the importation of grain from Europe, 
 . . . in the first two quarters of the present year in- 
 creased to more than two millions; and finally, without 
 enumerating other injurious results, the rapid growth among 
 all classes, and especially in our great commercial cities, of 
 luxurious habits, founded too often on merely fancied 
 wealth, and detrimental alike to the industry, the resources, 
 and the morals of the people.'* 
 
 _ , , The president expressly disclaimed any susro^es- 
 enttreas- tions for relieving the embarrassments that had 
 '^' thus arisen. " Such measures," he remarked, "are 
 not within the constitutional province of the general govern- 
 ment." But he advocated the adoption of some system to 
 relieve the government, which, since the suspension of 
 specie payment by the banks, had had serious difficulties of 
 its own. In the first place, the banks failed to restore 
 the deposits of the treasury, and, in the second place, indi- 
 viduals were unable, for want of specie, if not for want of 
 any funds whatsoever, to pay their debts to the nation. A 
 temporary relief, both to the treasury and to its debtors, 
 was proposed in the issue of treasury notes. But the great 
 tiling with the president was to make some lasting provision 
 against the recurrence of similar deficiencies in the govern- 
 ment revenues. He therefore proposed the organization of 
 an independent treasury, — its opponents called it a sub- 
 
 05 
 
414 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 treasury, — -^n order to do away with banks, both national 
 and state, as keepers of the public moneys, and substituting 
 a number of offices in the principal cities, under the control 
 of the administration. That tliis scheme, as the president 
 afterwards remarked, "should have given rise to great 
 diversity of opinion, cannot be a subject of surj)rise. After 
 the collection and custody of the public moneys had been 
 for so many years connected with and made subsidiary to 
 the advancement of private interests, a return to the simple 
 and self-denying ordinances of the Constitution could not 
 but be difficult." Herein, however, the opposition differed 
 from the chief magistrate. "The project," said Clay, in the 
 Senate, " is neither desirable nor practicable, nor within the 
 constitutional power of the general government, nor just ; it 
 is contrary to the habits of the people, and dangerous to 
 their liberties." The majority was on this side ; nor did 
 the independent treasury find favor enough with Congress 
 to be established until nearly three years after its proposal, 
 (July, 1840.) It was repealed the very next year, (Au- 
 gust, 1841,) but reestablished five years later, (1846.) 
 
 ^ , While the national finances were slowly recover- 
 
 in soiven- *' 
 
 cy of ing themselves, the state finances, with some excep- 
 tions, appeared to be on the brink of ruin. "What- 
 ever might be the cause, — whether the excess of specula- 
 tion, as the administration argued, or the administration 
 system itself, as the opposition maintained, — certain it is 
 that the states had run a race of extravagance and hazard 
 unparalleled in our history. In the two years preceding 
 the commercial crisis, the issue of state stocks — that is, the 
 amount of money borrowed by the states — was nearly one 
 hundred millions of dollars. The inevitable consequences 
 followed. While such as had any thing to support their 
 credit were deeply bowed, those that had nothing — those 
 that had borrowed not so much to develop their resources 
 
FINANCIAL DISORDERS. 4l5 
 
 as to supply the want of resources — fell, collapsed and 
 shattered. Some states — Maryland, (January, 1842,) and 
 Pennsylvania, (August, 1842) — paid the interest on their 
 debts only by certificates, and by those only partially. 
 Others — Lidiana, (July, 1841,) Arkansas, (July, 1841,) 
 and Illinois, (January, 1842) — made no payment at all. 
 Two — Michigan, (January, 1842,) and Louisiana, (Decem- 
 ber, 1842) — ceased not merely to pay, but in part to ac- 
 knowledge their dues, alleging that the frauds or failures of 
 their agents, from which they had unquestionably suffered, 
 released them from at least a portion of their obligations. 
 
 But in this, as in every other respect, in extent 
 
 Eeputlia- . . .' n • -, 
 
 tion iu as well as m priority of insolvency, Mississippi took 
 Missis- ^^iq lead. As carlv as January, 1841, Governor 
 McNutt suggested to the legislature the " repudiat- 
 ing the sale of five millions of the bonds of the year 1838, 
 on account of fraud and illegality." These bonds had been 
 issued in support of the Union Bank, which began to show 
 very decided signs of instabinty the year preceding the 
 governor's suggestion. The fraud that was so great as to 
 require the repudiation of the bonds, consisted chiefly in 
 the fact that they had been sold on credit, or, as the gov- 
 ernor insisted, below par, against a sale of which sort there 
 was a particular reservation in the charter of the bank. 
 Even if the sale was a fraudulent one, which many in as 
 well as out of Mississippi denied, the penalty attached not 
 to the bondholders, who had paid their money in good faith 
 that it would be returned to them, but to the bank commis- 
 sioners by whom the bonds were sold, or to the bank itself, 
 by which the commissioners had been appointed. Not thus 
 reasoned Governor McNutt, who, to the remonstrance of a 
 foreign house holding a large portion of the bonds, replied, 
 " This state will never pay the five millions of dollars of 
 state bonds issued in June, 1838, or any portion of the 
 
416 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 interest due, or to become due tliereon," (July, 1841.) This 
 was written in spite of the resolutions of the Mississippi 
 legislature to stand by their bonds, the resolutions having 
 been passed some months before. But in the interval, a 
 change had taken place in the opinion of the state, partly 
 from motives of expediency, but partly, also, from constitu- 
 tional scruples, caused by a provision in the constitution 
 that the assent of two successive legislatures, with public 
 notice intervening, was necessary to the use of the state 
 credit — a provision not complied within the issue of the 
 bonds in question. At all events, the next session of the 
 legislature proved that the governor was supported in his 
 position. Mississippi deliberately repudiated her debts, 
 (1842.) Her example was imitated at the same time by 
 the neighboring territory of Florida. 
 
 Kationai Eight statcs and a territory were thus sunk into 
 credit. bankruptcy, some of them into what was worse than 
 bankruptcy. It was not, of course, without dishonor or 
 without injury to the Union of which they were members. 
 When a national loan was attempted to be effected abroad, 
 not a bidder could be found for it, or for any part of it, in 
 all Europe, (1842.) This was but a trifle, however, amid 
 the storm of reproach that swelled against the United States. 
 " I do not wonder," wrote the Boston clergyman William 
 Ellery Channing, " that Europe raises a cry of mdignation 
 against this country ; I wish it could come to us in thun- 
 der." Nor did it seem undeserved by the nation, as a 
 whole, when Florida, still repudiating its debt as a territory, 
 was admitted as a state, (1845.) Against this sign of 
 insensibility on the part of the nation, there were happily 
 to be set some proofs of returning honor on the part of the 
 states, Pennsylvania taking the lead in wiping away her 
 debts and her stains, (1845.) 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Annexation of Texas. 
 One of the later communications of President 
 
 Recog- 
 nition of Jackson to Congress had been upon the subject of 
 
 Texas and its independence. He was decided in 
 
 recommending caution, for reasons which will presently 
 
 appear, (December, 1836.) But Congress declaring its 
 
 recognition of the new state, Jackson assented in the last 
 
 moments of his administration. 
 
 A quarter of a century before, parties from the 
 
 meutof United States began to cross over to join in the 
 
 ^ ^^^- ]\Xexican struggle against Spain, (1813.) It was 
 
 then uncertain whether Texas formed a part of Mexico or 
 
 of Louisiana, the boundary being undetermined until the 
 
 time of the treaty concerning Florida, (1819-21.) At that 
 
 time, Texas was distinctly abandoned to Spain, from whose 
 
 possession it immediately passed to that of her revolted 
 
 province of Mexico. Soon after, on Mexican invitation, a 
 
 number of colonists from the United States, under the lead 
 
 of Stephen F. Austin, of Missouri, undertook to settle the 
 
 still unoccupied territory, (1821.) It was no expedition to 
 
 plunder or to destroy, but what it professed to be — to 
 
 colonize. Notv,dthstanding the difficulties of the enterprise 
 
 itself, as well as those created by the continual changes in 
 
 the Mexican government, it prospered to such a degree, 
 
 that several thousand settlers were gathered in during the 
 
 ten years ensuing. 
 
 (417) 
 
418 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 Revoiu- Strong 111 tlieir numbers, stronger still in their 
 tion. energies, the Texans aspired to a more definite 
 organization than they possessed. Without any purpose, at 
 least professed, of revolution, they formed a constitution, 
 and sent Austin to ask the admission of Texas, as a sepa- 
 rate state, into the Mexican republic, (1833.) This was 
 denied, and Austin thrown into prison. But no outbreak 
 followed for more than two years. Then the Mexican gov- 
 ernment, resolving to reduce the Texans to entire submis- 
 sion, despatched a force to arrest the officers under the state 
 constitution, and to disarm the people. The Texan Lexing- 
 ton was Gonzales, where the first resistance was made, 
 (September 28, 1835.) The Texan Philadelphia was a 
 place called Washington, where a convention declared the 
 independence of the state, (March 2, 1836,) and adopted a 
 constitution, (March 17.) The Texan Saratoga and York- 
 town, two in one, was on the shores of the San Jacinto, 
 where General Houston, commander-in-chief of the insur- 
 gents, gained a decisive victory over the Mexican president, 
 Santa Anna, (April 21.) Six months afterwards, Houston 
 was chosen president of the republic of Texas, (October.) 
 In his inaugural speech, he expressed the desire 
 of annex- of the pcoplc to join the United States. Nothing 
 ^ ^^^' could be more natural. With few exceptions, they 
 were emigrants from the land to which they wished to be 
 reunited. It was but natural, for the same reason, that a 
 large number of those whom they had left behind them 
 should wish their return, partly from old associations, and 
 partly from the new ones connected with their revolution. 
 Then there were other motives to produce the same inclina- 
 tion. The cession of the Louisiana claims to Texas in the 
 Florida treaty had been vehemently opposed by many wlio 
 would therefore be earnest to recover the tei-rltory then sur- 
 rendered. Again and again was the effoi:t made by the 
 
ANNEXATION OF TEXAS. . 419 
 
 United States to get back from Mexico what had been ceded 
 to Spain, (1825-35.) With a very considerable party 
 in the south, there was an additional incentive to regain 
 Texas, in the congeniality of its climate, its resources, and 
 its customs, especially the establishment of slavery. But 
 the very fact that slavery existed in Texas was a strong 
 reason with another considerable party in the north to 
 oppose its admission to the Union. The same party, more- 
 over, would have little desire to recover the Texan territory, 
 even admitting that it had ever been surrendered, as well 
 '•as little sympathy with the character or the history of the 
 Texans, who, in their eyes, seemed a wild and lawless set, 
 unfit to share in the estabhshed institutions of the United 
 States. To these objections must be added one, confined to 
 no single portion of the Union, but very generally enter- 
 tained, on account of the claim of Mexico to the Texan 
 territory. Upon this point, the message of President Jack- 
 son, alluded to at the beginning of the chapter, dwelt with 
 emphasis. He stated plainly that the acknowledgment of 
 Texan independence was the acknowledgment of the Texan 
 title to the territory, in contradiction to the Mexican asser- 
 tion of sovereignty. It was the more delicate a question on 
 account of the differences existing between the governments 
 of Mexico and of the United States. The former com- 
 plained of continued invasions of her territory, in violation 
 of all amity and neutrality. The latter demanded redress 
 for spoliations of property and injuries to persons from the 
 time that Mexico became independent. Notwithstanding 
 these various complications, the independence of Texas was 
 recognized by the United States, as has been mentioned, 
 leaving the project of annexation to the future. 
 Texas When Texas, soon after the opening of Van 
 
 refused Burcn's administration, presented herself for admis- 
 Eion. sion to the Union, her offers were declined, and then 
 
^ 
 
 420 TART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 Avitlidrawn, (1837.) The next year, "William C. Preston, 
 a senator of South Carolina, brought forward resolu- 
 tions in favor of the proposed annexation ; but they were 
 rejected. 
 
 The attention of the country was turned in an- 
 with other direction. An insurrection in Canada was 
 
 immediately supported by American parties, one 
 
 Great 
 1. 
 
 of whom, in company with some Canadian refugees, 
 after pillaging the New York arsenals, seized upon Navy 
 Island, a British possession in the Niagara River. The 
 steamer Caroline, engaged in bringing over men, arms, and 
 stores to the island, w^as destroyed, though at the time on 
 the American shore, by a British detachment, (December, 
 1837.) The deed was instantly avowed by the minister of 
 Great Britain at Washington as an act of self-defence on 
 the British side. Three years afterwards, (November, 
 1840,) one Alexander M'Leod, sheriff of Niagara, in Can- 
 ada, and as such a participator in the destruction of the 
 Caroline, was arrested in New York on the charge of njur- 
 der, an American having lost his life when the steamer 
 was destroyed. The British government demanded his 
 release, in doing which they Avere sustained by the United 
 States administration, on the ground that M'Leod w^as but 
 an a2;ent or soldier of Great Britain. But the authorities 
 of NcAV York held fast to their prisoner, and brought him 
 to trial. Had harm come to him, his government stood 
 pledged to declare war ; but he was acquitted for want of 
 proof, (1841.) Congress subsequently passed an act requir- 
 ing that similar cases should be tried only before United 
 States courts. The release of M'Leod did not settle the 
 affair of the Caroline ; this still remained. There were, or 
 there had been, other difficulties upon the Maine frontier, 
 where the boundary line had never yet been run. Col- 
 lisions took place, and others, between the Maine militia 
 
ANNEXATION OF TEXASv 421 
 
 and the British troops, had been but just prevented, (1839.) 
 Nor was this all. Far away, upon the African coast, 
 British cruisers were claiming a right to visit American 
 vessels, in carrying out the provisions for the suppression 
 of the slave trade. The right was asserted in a quintuple 
 treaty, to which Great Britain, France, Austria, Prussia, 
 and E-ussia were parties, (October, 1841 ;) but the United 
 States denied it altogether. 
 
 ^^^^^ Meanwhile William Henry Harrison, the choice 
 
 of Wash- of the whig party, had succeeded to the presidency, 
 (March, 1841.) On his death, a month after, John 
 Tyler, vice president, became president. His secretary of 
 state, Daniel Webster, proposed to the British minister at 
 Washington to take up the question of the north-eastern 
 boundary. The offer led to the appointment by the British 
 government of a special envoy in the person of Lord Ash- 
 burton, to whom was committed the negotiation upon the 
 boundary, and upon various other points of controversy. 
 Soon after his arrival in Washington, (April, 1842,) con- 
 ferences were opened between him and the American secre- 
 tary ; commissioners from Maine and IMassachusetts being 
 consulted upon all subjects pertaining to the boundary. The 
 treaty of Washington, ratified by the Senate four months 
 afterwards, (August 20,) embraced almost every subject of 
 dissension with Great Britain. It settled the north-eastern 
 boundary ; it put down the claim to a right of visit, and in 
 such a way as to lead to the denial of the claim by Euro- 
 pean j)owers who had previously admitted it. Such were 
 the advantages gained by the United States on both these 
 points, the leadmg ones of the treaty, that it was styled in 
 England the Ashburton capitulation. The treaty also pro- 
 vided for the mutual surrender of fugitives from justice ; 
 an object of great importance, considering the recent expe- 
 riences on the Canada frontier. For the affair of the Caro- 
 36 
 
422 TART IV. 1797-18<30. 
 
 line, an apology, or -what amounted to one, was made by the 
 Britisli minister. Even the old quarrel about impressment 
 was put to rest, not by the treaty, but by a letter from 
 TVebster to Ashburton, repeating the rule originally laid 
 down by Jefferson, " that the vessel being American shall 
 be evidence that the seamen on board are such," adding, as 
 the present and future principle of the American govern- 
 ment, that " in every regularly documented American mer- 
 chant vessel, the crew who navigate it will find their protec- 
 tion in the flag which is over them." In short, every 
 difficulty with Great Britain was settled by the treaty, or 
 by the accompanying negotiations, except one, the boundary 
 of Oregon, on which no serious difference had as yet 
 appeared. 
 
 " I am willing," said- "Webster in the Senate, 
 mark in nearly four years subsequently, " to a^ipeal to the 
 our lus- pi^iijiic i^^ei-i of tii(3 r^crc whether, in 1842, and in the 
 
 tory ^ _ ^ ^ 
 
 city of Washington, something was not done for the 
 supjiression of crime, for the true exposition of the princi- 
 ples of public law, for the freedom and security of com- 
 merce on the ocean, and for the peace of the Avorld." He 
 might have made an even broader appeal. The treaty of 
 Washington raised the growing nation to its place as a fore- 
 most power on the earth. Compare it with all previous 
 treaties with Great Britain, compare it with even the recent 
 treaty with France, which had done much to elevate the 
 national position of the United States, and we find that the 
 treaty of Washington is a landmark in our history. 
 
 To return to internal relations. The eye is at 
 
 Sedition 
 
 in Rhode oucc cauglit by straugc and threatening movements 
 Island, jjj Rhode Island. That state, still under its charter 
 
 Approach. 
 
 government, now a century and three quarters old, 
 had long been agitated by efforts to change its ancient insti- 
 tutions. It must be acknowledged that these admitted of 
 
ANNEXATION OF TEXAS. 42 
 
 Q 
 
 improvement, both on the score of suffrage, to which none 
 but freeholders * and their eldest sons were entitled, and on 
 that of representation, the freeholders themselves bein"- 
 very unequally represented, in consequence of changes in 
 the population of the towns, a town of former importance 
 enjoying a larger representation than one that had latterly 
 become its superior. New constitutions were twice pro- 
 posed, (1824, 1834;) but in vain. At length, a Suffrage 
 Association, as it was styled, spread itself, with meetings, 
 processions, and badges, over the state, calling upon the 
 people, without regard to the legal voters or the legal 
 authorities, to unite in a convention, and organize a new 
 constitution, (1840.) 
 
 Outbreak. ^^^^ Sedition thus prepared broke out with the 
 meeting of the convention, (October, 1841.) A 
 constitution, establishing universal suffrage and equal repre- 
 sentation, was adopted, and submitted to the popular vote. 
 Before the vote was taken, another constitution, of very 
 nearly the same tenor,t was begun upon by a convention 
 called by the legislature, according to the forms of law, 
 (November.) The first constitution, called the People's, 
 was adopted by a nominal vote of fourteen thousand, the 
 whole number of voters in the state being twenty-two thou- 
 sand ; but as the people's party never again mustered eight 
 thousand votes, it is fair to conclude — as was proved, 
 indeed, by depositions at the time — that the fourteen thou- 
 sand were the results of deception, (December.) The 
 Landholders' Constitution, as the second instrument was 
 styled, on being completed, (February, 1842,) and submitted 
 
 * Of an estate valued at $Ui, or renting for seven dollars. This was 
 the rule of 1798. 
 
 t The chief differences being in the length of residence entitling a 
 native to vote, and in the requirement by the second constitution that a 
 naturalized citizen must be a freeholder before he could vote. 
 
424 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 not merely to tlie freeholders, but to the citizens at large, 
 was rejected, chiefly because the party in favor of retaining 
 the charter government united with the people's party in 
 opposition, (March.) This left the charter and the People's 
 Constitution face to face, the former being the law of the 
 state, the latter the law of a faction. To sustain the law of 
 the state, the legislature declared fine and imprisonment the 
 penalties of presiding at illegal meetings or of figuring upon 
 illegal tickets, — in other words, of taking part in the elec- 
 tions under the law of the faction. A call for aid was at 
 the same time made upon the president of the United States 
 by the governor of Rhode Island. President Tyler replied 
 that aid should be forthcoming upon the commission of any 
 act of violence by the faction. This body, nowise intimi- 
 dated by either state or national authorities, went on with 
 its elections, choosing its leader, Thomas W. Dorr, to be 
 governor of Rhode Island, (April.) 
 
 War soon followed. Dorr organized his govern- 
 
 Civil war. . . , p t -r> • i 
 
 ment m the midst oi armed men at 1 rovidence, 
 while at Newport Governor King, surrounded by the con- 
 stituted authorities, renewed his summons for assistance 
 from the nation. United States troops were moved to 
 Newport, (May.) On the 18th of the same month, 
 Dorr, at the head of an armed force, made an ineffectual 
 attempt to get possession of tlie Providence arsenal, defended 
 as it V\^as by braver men than he or his soldiers. At this, 
 ail the better men of his faction, including most of his legis- 
 lature and state ofiicers, abandoned his cause, while he fled 
 tlie state. But it was only more decisively to try his for- 
 tunes ill the field. A month had hardly passed when news 
 came that Dorr, with two or three hundred followers, was 
 throwing up intrenchments at Chepachet, a village about 
 ten miles from Providence. It took but a week for three 
 thousand volunteers to come together and march against the 
 
ANNEXATION OF TEXAS. 425 
 
 post of the insurgents, which was found abandoned. There 
 ended the civil war, (June 27.) Three months later a con- 
 vention of the state adopted a new constitution, providing 
 for the reforms which Dorr and his party had sought 
 through sedition and strife, (September.*) 
 
 Other states were organizing themselves more 
 states peaceably. Arkansas, the first state admitted since 
 andterri- Missouri, (Junc 15, 1836,) was followed by Michi- 
 
 toriGS 
 
 gan, (January 26, 1837.) Wisconsin, organized as 
 a single territory, (1836,) was presently divided as Wiscon- 
 sin and Iowa, (1838.) Then Iowa was admitted a state, 
 (March 3, 1845,t) and at the same date Florida became a 
 member of the Union. 
 
 All the while, Texas remained the object of desire 
 ments ^^^ ^^ debate. The administration continued its 
 concern, negotiations, now with Mexico, deprecating the con- 
 ' tinuance of hostilities with Texas, and then again 
 with Texas itself, proposing new motives of alliance and 
 new means of annexation with the United States. Presi- 
 dent Tyler was strongly in favor of consummating the 
 annexation. In this he was supported by a stronger and 
 stronger inclination to the same end on the part of the south. 
 But the north was growing more and more adverse to the 
 plan. The old arguments were mingled with new ones. A 
 great deal of stress was now laid on the danger of Texas 
 throwing itself into the arms of another nation, of Great 
 Britain, for instance, or of France ; the idea being that the 
 United States would suffer from having upon their frontier 
 a state in foreign dependence. But the main dispute as to 
 Texas came from the question of slavery. 
 
 * Accepted in November, and put in operation in the following May, 
 (1843.) It was similar in its provisions to the Landholder's Constitution 
 of a few months before. 
 
 t Again in 1846, but not actually entering until 1848. 
 
 36* 
 
426 TART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 Question " Fcw Calamities," wrote Abel P. Upshur, then 
 of slavery, secretary of state, "could befall this country more 
 to be deplored than the abolition of domestic slavery in 
 Texas," (September, 1843.) Some months later, he wrote 
 to Texas to the effect that she could not possibly keep up 
 slavery without the aid of the United States, (January, 
 1844.) All this was based upon the supposition that Eng- 
 land was endeavoring to get Texas under her control, and 
 then to clear the state of its slaves. It was afterwards 
 stated by no less an authority than General Houston, that 
 the supposition was totally groundless. But, however this 
 may have been, the point is plain that the annexation of 
 Texas was regarded as necessary to the interests of slavery, 
 both in that country and in the United States. The reason 
 why it was so with the United States is ' evident enough ; 
 not only was an immense market for slaves closed, but an 
 immense refuge for slaves was opened, in case Texas 
 should cease to be slaveholding. "Annexation," wrote 
 John C. Calhoun, then secretary of state, " was forced on 
 the government of the United States in self-defence," (April, 
 1844.) Such, then, was the motive of the secretaries and 
 the president, all southern men, and devotedly supported 
 by the south, in striving for an addition to the slaveholding 
 states in the shnpe of Texas. The more they strove on. this 
 ground, the more they were opposed in the free states. It 
 was the Missouri battle over again. Nay, it was more than 
 that ; in that, said the north, we contended against the ad- 
 mission of one of our own territories, but in this contest we 
 are fighting against the admission of a foreign state. 
 A com- Like all the other great differences of the nation, 
 
 promise, ^j^jg difference concerning Texas was susceptible of 
 compromise. At first, the administration attempted to 
 escape it, preparing a treaty which declared Texas a mem- 
 ber of the Union, (April 12, 1844.) The treaty was 
 
ANNEXATION OF TEXAS. 427 
 
 rejected by the Senate ; but the nation sustained the project 
 of annexation ; and in the next session of Congress botli 
 Senate and House united in joint resolutions of the same 
 purport as the rejected treaty, (March 1, 1845.) Here, 
 however, there was a compromise. The resohitions pro- 
 vided that the Texan territory, when sufficiently peopled, 
 might be divided into five states. "• Such states," it was 
 added, " as may be formed out of that portion of said terri- 
 tory lying south of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north 
 latitude^ commonly known as the Missouri Compromise 
 line, shall be admitted into the Union with or without sla- 
 very, as the people of each state asking admission may 
 desire ; and in such state or states as shall be formed out of 
 said territory north of said Missouri Compromise line, 
 slavery or involuntary servitude (except for crime) shall be 
 prohibited." Texas assented to the terms of the resolu- 
 tions, (July 4,) and was soon after formally enrolled amongst 
 the United States of America, (December 29.) 
 Conse- The democratic party, espousing the project of 
 
 quences. annexation before it was fulfilled, carried the elec- 
 tion of James K. Polk as president and George M. Dallas 
 as vice president. " Well may the boldest fear," said the 
 new president ii:<|^is inaugural address, " and the wisest 
 tremble, when incurring responsibilities on which may 
 depend our country's peace and prosperity, and in some 
 degree the hopes and happiness of the whole human fam- 
 ily," (March, 1845.) He found tlie annexation of Texas 
 accomplished. But the consequences were yet to be seen 
 and borne. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 War with Mexico. 
 
 Causes of Mexico had all along declared the annexation 
 war: of Texas by the United States would be an act of 
 hostility. As soon as Congress resolved upon it, 
 the Mexican minister at Washington demanded his pass- 
 jiorts, (March G, 1845,) and the Mexican government sus- 
 pended intercourse Avitli the envoy of the United States, 
 (April 2.) " AYar " — so the Mexicans persisted — " was 
 the only recourse of the Mexican government." The cause 
 was the occu]:)ation of a state which they still claimed as a 
 l^rovince of tlieir own, notwithstanding it had been inde- 
 pendent now for nine years, and as such recognized by 
 several of the European powers in addition to the United 
 States. 
 
 Ameri- With the United States, the preservation of 
 
 can. Texas was not the only cause oW^^ar. Indeed, for 
 the time, it was no cause at all, according to the adminis- 
 tration. If there was any disposition to take up arms, it 
 came from wliat the president styled " the system of insult 
 and spoliation " under which Americans had long been suf- 
 fering ; merchants losing their property, and sailors their 
 liberty, by seizures on Mexican waters and in Mexican 
 ports. In spite of a treaty, now fourteen years old, (1831,) 
 the wrongs complained of had continued, until President 
 Jackson, in the last month of his administration, (February, 
 
 1837,) thought it best to recommend demands for justice 
 
 (•128) 
 
WAR WITH MEXICO. 429 
 
 " from on board one of our vessels of war on the coast of 
 Mexico." After some delays, the Mexican government en- 
 tered into a convention, (1839,) by which a commission 
 was appointed to examine the American claims, (1840.) 
 The term of the commission having expired before more 
 than a third of the claims had been examined, (1842,) the 
 United States pressed the appointment of a new commission ; 
 but in vain. Instead, however, of dealing harshly with the 
 Mexicans, the amounts acknowledged by them to be due to 
 Americans were paid, so far a*? paid at all, by the United 
 States government, their payment by the Mexican govern- 
 ment being postponed, (1843.) All this, it is plain, would 
 never have brought about war, had there been no other 
 exciting cause. 
 
 Boundcary This causc was close at hand. In annexing Texas, 
 of Texas. ^]^g United States government understood the terri- 
 tory to extend as far as the Rio Grande. For considering 
 this the boundary there were two reasons ; one, that the 
 Texans had proclaimed it such, and the other, that it was 
 apparently implied to be such in the treaty ceding the 
 country west of the Sabine to Spain, a quarter of a century 
 before. Accordingly, American troops were moved to Cor- 
 pus Christi, (August, 1845,) and, six months afterwards, 
 (March, 1846,) to the Rio Grande, with orders " to repel 
 any invasion of the Texan territory which might be at- 
 tempted by the Mexican forces." On the other side, 
 Mexico protested altogether against the line of the Rio 
 Grande. The River Nueces, according to Mexican au- 
 thority, was the boundary of Texas. Even supposing 
 Texas surrendered by the Mexicans, which it was not, they 
 still retained the territory between the Nueces and the Rio 
 Grande — a territory containing but few settlements, and 
 those not Texan, but purely Mexican. In support of this 
 position, the Mexican General Arista was ordered to cross 
 
430 PAUT IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 the Rio Grande and defend the country against the invader, 
 (April, 184G.) 
 
 Mission During these movements a mission was sent from 
 from Unit- the United States to Mexico, (November, 1845.) 
 The minister went authorized to propose and to 
 carry out an adjustment of all the difficulties between the 
 two countries. But he was refused a hearing ; the Mexican 
 government, fresh from one of its revolutions, insisting that 
 the question of Texas must be disposed of, and on Mexican 
 terms, before entering upon*any general negotiations. The 
 bearer of the olive branch was obliged to return, (March, 
 184G.) 
 
 iiostiii- -A-s the American troops, some three thousand 
 *^^^- strong, under General Taylor, approached the Rio 
 Grande, the inhabitants retired ; at one place. Point Isabel, 
 burning their dwellings. This certainly did not look much 
 like being on American or on Texan ground. But Taylor, 
 obedient to his orders, kept on, until he took post by the 
 Rio Grande, opposite the Mexican town of Matamoras, 
 (March 28, 184G.) There, about a month later, (April 
 24,) he was thus addressed by the Mexican .General Arista: 
 *' Pressed and forced into war, we enter into a struggle 
 which we cannot avoid without being unfaithful to what is 
 most sacred to men." A Mexican force was simultaneously 
 sent across the stream, to what the Americans considered 
 their territory. Some collisions had already taken place ; 
 but the first act to begin hostilities occurred on the same 
 day of the Mexican movements, when a squadron of dra- 
 goons, sent by Taylor to reconnoitre the Mexicans, fell in 
 with a much superior force, and, after a skirmish, surren- 
 dered. The next day but one, Taylor, as previously author- 
 ized by his government, called upon the states of Texas and 
 Louisiana for five thousand volunteers. As soon as the 
 news reached Washington, the president informed Congress 
 
LWAR WITH MEXICO. 431 
 
 that " war exists, and exists by the act of Mexico herself," 
 (May 11.) Congress took the same ground, and gave the 
 president authority to call fifty thousand volunteers into the 
 field, (May 13.) It was ten days later, but of course before 
 any tidings of these proceedings could have been received, 
 that Mexico made a formal declaration of war, (May 23.) 
 The question as to which nation began hostilities, must for- 
 ever depend upon the question of the Texan boundary. If 
 this was the River Nueces, the United States began war 
 the summer before. If, on the contrary, it was the Rio 
 Grande, the Mexicans, as President Polk asserted, were 
 the aggressors. But there is no possible way of deciding 
 which river it was that formed the actual boundary. The 
 assertion of Mexico, that it was the Nueces, is as reason- 
 able as the declaration of Texas, supported by the United 
 States, that it was the Rio Grande. 
 
 The forces between which hostilities commenced 
 
 Disparity 
 
 of com- were both small, the United States army being the 
 smaller of the two. But this disparity was as noth- 
 ing compared Avith that between the nations. The United 
 States went to war with Mexico very much as they would 
 have gone to war with one or more of their own number. 
 Mexico, broken by revolutions, had neither government nor 
 army to defend her ; there were officials, there were sol- 
 diers, but there was no strength, no efficiency in either. 
 Doubtless Mexico trusted to the divisions of her enemy, to 
 the opposition which parties in the United States would 
 make to the war. But the parties of the United States 
 were one, in contrast with the parties of Mexico. 
 
 On another point, the Mexicans could build ui) 
 
 Oregon r 7 i 
 
 coutro- better founded hopes. At the very time that hostili- 
 ties ojDened between the United States and Mexico, 
 there was serious danger of a rupture between the United 
 States and Great Britain. It sprang from conflicting claims 
 
432 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 to the distant territory of Oregon. Those of the United 
 States were based, first, upon American voyages to the 
 Pacific coast, chiefly upon one made by Captain Gray, in 
 the Columbia, from which the great river of the north-west 
 took its name, (1792 ;) secondly, upon the acquisition of 
 Louisiana with all the Spanish rights to the western shores, 
 (1803 ;) and thirdly, upon an expedition under Captain 
 Lewis and Lieutenant Clarke, of the United States army, 
 by whom the Missouri was traced towards its source, and 
 the Columbia descended to the Pacific Ocean, (1803-6.) 
 Against these, the British government asserted various 
 claims of discovery and occupancy. Twice the two nations 
 agreed to a joint possession of the country in dispute* 
 (1818, 1827 ;) twice the United States proposed a dividing 
 line, once under Monroe, and again under Tyler. The 
 rejection of the latter proposal had led to a sort of war cry, 
 during the presidential election then pending, (1844,) that 
 Oregon must be held. President Polk renewed the offer, 
 but on less favorable terms, and it was rejected, (1845.) 
 Agreeably to his recommendation, a twelve months' notice, 
 preliminary to the termination of the existing arrangements 
 concerning the occupation of Oregon, was formally given 
 by the United States government, (1846.) IMeanwhile 
 emigration to Oregon had been proceeding on so large a 
 scale during the few years previous, that there were some 
 thousands of Americans settled upon the territory. It was 
 a grave juncture, therefore, that had arrived. 
 Settle- ^ut it Avas happily terminated on proposals, now 
 
 ment. emanating from Great Britain, by which the line of 
 forty-nine degrees was constituted the boundary ; the right 
 of navigating the Columbia being secured to the British, 
 (June 15, 1846.) Thus vanished the prospect of a war 
 with Great Britain, in addition to the war with Mexico. 
 But its existence, if only for a time, explains a part at 
 
WAR WITH MEXICO. 433 
 
 least of the confidence with which the Mexicans entered 
 into the strife. It does awaj, on the other hand, with the 
 apparent want of magnanimity in the Americans to measure 
 themselves with antagonists so much their inferiors. 
 Conquest ^^"^ Mexican General Arista commenced the 
 of north- bombardment of the American position, afterwards 
 Mexico. ^^"^^ ^«i'^ ^I'own from its gallant defender, Major 
 Brown, (May 3.) General Taylor was then with 
 the bulk of his troops at Pomt Isabel. Having made sure 
 of that post, he marched back to the relief of Fort Brown, 
 and on the way engaged with the enemy at Palo Alto,' 
 (May 8,) and at Resaca de la Palma, (May 9.) With a 
 force so much inferior, that the most serious apprehensions 
 had been excited for its safety, the Americans came off 
 victors ni both actions. Such was the effect upon the Mex- 
 icans, that they at once recrossed the Rio Grande, and even 
 retreated to some distance on their side of the river. Tay- 
 lor followed, carrymg the war into the enem/s country 
 and occupying Matamoras, (May 18.) A long pause 
 ensued, to wait for reenforcements, and indeed for plans • 
 the war being wholly unprepared for on the American side.' 
 But the news of the first victories aroused the whole nation 
 Even the opponents of the war yielded their principles so 
 far as to give their sympathies to the brave men who had 
 carried their arms farther from the limits of the United 
 States than had ever before been done by an American 
 army. Volunteers gathered from all quarters in numbers 
 for which it was positively difficult to provide. At length 
 with considerably augmented forces, Taylor set out a-ain' 
 supported by Generals Worth and Wool among many o'ther 
 emment officers. Monterey, a very important place in this 
 pai^ of Mexico, was taken after a three days' resistance 
 under General Ampudia, (September 21-23.) An armis 
 tice of several weeks followed. Subsequently, Taylor 
 
 37 
 
434 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 marched soutliward as far as Victoria ; but on the recall of 
 a portion of his troops to take part in other operations, he 
 fell back into a defensive position in the north, (January, 
 1847.) There, at Buena Vista, he was attacked by a com- 
 paratively large army under Santa Anna, then generalis- 
 simo of Mexico, who, deeming himself secure of his prey, 
 sent a summons of surrender, which Taylor instantly 
 declined. The dispositions for the battle had been made 
 in great part by General Wool, to whom, with many of the 
 other officers, the victory achieved by the Americans de- 
 serves to be ascribed, as well as to the resolute commander. 
 It was a bloody engagement, continuing for two successive 
 days, (February 22, 23.) Taylor was never more truly 
 the hero than when he wrote to Henry Clay, whose son had 
 fallen in the fight, that, in remembering the dead, " I can 
 say with truth that I feel no exultation in our success." 
 Santa Anna, meanwhile, was in full retreat, leaving the 
 Americans in secure possession of all the north-eastern 
 country. Six months later, Taylor sent a large number of 
 his remaming men to act elsewhere, (August ;) then, leav- 
 ing General Wool in command, he returned to the United 
 States, (November.) 
 
 Soon after the fall of Monterey, a force under 
 
 Conquest ♦' ' 
 
 of Chi- General Wool was detached to penetrate into the 
 northern province of Chihuahua. It did not go by 
 any means so far. But at about the same time, an expe- 
 dition from the north, headed by Colonel Donij)han, 
 marched down upon the province, taking ^Dossession first 
 of El Paso, (December 27,) and then, after a battle with 
 the Mexicans, under Ileredia, at the pass of Sacramento, 
 (February 28, 1847,) of Chihuahua, the capital, (March 
 1.) Doniphan presently evacuated his conquest, (Ai^ril.) 
 Early in the following year, Chihuahua became the object 
 of a third expedition, under General Price, who, coming 
 
WAR WITH MEXICO. 435 
 
 from the same direction as Doniphan, again occupied the 
 town, (March 7, 1848,) defeating the Mexicans at the 
 neighboring Santa Cruz de las Rosales, (March 16.) The 
 whole story of the Chihuahua expeditions is that of border 
 forays rather than of regular campaigns. 
 ^ ^ Both Doniphan and Price made their descents 
 
 Conquest ^ 
 
 of New from New Mexico, which had been taken possession 
 of by the Americans under General Kearney in 
 the first months of the war, (August, 1846.) So scanty 
 and so prostrate was the population as to offer no resistance, 
 not even to the occupation of the capital, Santa Fe, (Au- 
 gust 18.) But some months after, when Kearney had 
 proceeded to California, and Doniphan, after treating with 
 the Navajo Indians, had gone against Chihuahua, an insur- 
 rection, partly of Mexicans and partly of Indians, broke 
 out at a village fifty miles from Santa Fe. The American 
 governor, Charles Bent, and many others, both Mexicans 
 and Americans, were murdered ; battles, also, were fought, 
 before the insurgents were reduced, by Price, (January, 
 1847.) 
 ^ , Ere the tidinf>:s of the v\'-ar reached the Pacific 
 
 Conquest * 
 
 of Caii- coast, a band of Americans, partly trappers and 
 partly settlers, — "a curious set," says an English- 
 man Miio saw them, — declared their independence of 
 Mexico at Sonoma, a town of small importance not far from 
 San Francisco, (July 4, 1846.) The leader of the party 
 was John C. Fremont, a captain in the United States 
 Engineers, who had recently received instructions from his 
 government to secure a hold upon California. A few days 
 after their declaration, Fremont and his followers joined 
 the American Commodore Sloat, who, aware of the war, 
 had taken Monterey, (July 7,) and entered the Bay of San 
 Francisco, (July 9.) Sloat was soon succeeded by Com- 
 modore Stockton ; and he, in conjunction with Fremont, took 
 
436 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 possession of Ciudad de los Angeles, the capital of Upper 
 California, (August 13.) All this was done without oppo- 
 sition from the scattered Mexicans of the province^ or from 
 their feeble authorities. But some weeks later, a few 
 braver spirits collected, and, driving the Americans from 
 the capital, succeeded likewise in recovering the greater 
 part of California, (September, October.) On the approach 
 of General Kearney from New Mexico, a month or two 
 afterwards, he was met in battle at San Pasqual, (Decem- 
 ber 6,) and so hemmed in by the enemy as to be in great 
 danger, until relieved by a force despatched to his assistance 
 by Commodore Stockton. The commodore and the gen- 
 eral, joining forces, retook Ciudad de los Angeles, after two 
 actions with its defenders, (January 10, 1847.) A day or 
 two later, Fremont succeeded in bringing the main body of 
 Mexicans in arms to a capitulation at Cowenga (January 
 13.) California was again, and more decidedly than before, 
 an American possession. Its conquerors, having no more 
 Mexicans to contend with, turned against one another, and 
 quarrelled for the precedence as vigorously as they had 
 struggled for victory. Lovv^er California was afterwards 
 assailed, but under different commanders. La Paz and 
 San Jose, both inconsiderable places, were occupied in the 
 course of the year. On the opposite shore, Guaymas was 
 taken by a naval force under Captain Lavalette, (October,) 
 and Mazatlan by the fleet under Commodore Shubrick, 
 (November.) From time to time the Mexicans rallied 
 against the invaders, but without success. It was all a 
 series of skirmishes, fought in the midst of lonely mountains 
 and on far-stretching shores, rather than of ordinary battles, 
 that had reduced California beneath the American power. 
 
 And now to return to the eastern side. From the first, a 
 blockade of the ports in the Gulf of Mexico was but poorly 
 maintained. Then the American fl:eet embarked upon vari- 
 
WAR WITH MEXICO. 437 
 
 ous operations. Twice was Alvarado, a port to the 
 tioas in soutli of Vera Cruz, attacked by Commodore Con- 
 Gulf of jjgj.^ j^^^ twice it was gallantly defended, (August 7, 
 October 15, 1846.) Then Commodore Perry went 
 against Tobasco, a little distance up a river on the southern 
 coast ; but, though he took some prizes and some hamlets, 
 he did not gain the town, (October 23-26.) The only 
 really successful operation was the occupation of Tampico, 
 which the Mexicans abandoned on the approach of their 
 enemies, (November 15.) 
 
 March Early in the following spring the fleet and tlie 
 
 upon city army combined in an attack upon Vera Cruz. An- 
 'ticipations of success, however high amongst the 
 troops and their officers, were not very generally enter- 
 tained even by their own countrymen, Vera Cruz, or its 
 castle of San Juan d'Ulloa, having been represented over 
 and over again, in Europe and in America, as impregnable. 
 Nevertheless, a bombardment of a few days obliged the 
 garrison, under General Morales, to give up the town and 
 the castle together, (March 23-26, 1847.) Once masters 
 there, the Americans beheld the road to the city of Mexico 
 lying open before them ; but here, again, their way was 
 supposed to be beset by insurmountable difficulties. They 
 pressed on, nine or ten thousand strong. General Scott at 
 their head, supported by Generals Worth, Pillow, Quitman, 
 and Twiggs, with many officers of tried and of untried rep- 
 utation. However skilful the leaders, or however valiant 
 the men, it was a daring enterprise to advance upon the 
 capital. In other directions, along the northern boundary, 
 the war had been carried into remote and comparatively 
 unpeopled portions of the country. Here the march lay 
 through a region provided with defenders and with defences, 
 where men would fight for their homes, and where their 
 homes, being close at hand, would give them aid as well as 
 
 37* 
 
438 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 inspiration. The march upon Mexico was by all means 
 the great performance of the war. 
 
 Battles on I^s difficulties soou appeared. At Cerro Gordo, 
 the way. gixty milcs from Vera Cruz, Santa Anna posted 
 thirteen thousand of his Mexicans in a mountain pass, to 
 whose natural strength he had added by fortification. It 
 took two days to force a passage, the Americans losing 
 about five hundred, but inflicting a far greater loss on th^r 
 brave opponents, (April 18-19.) Here, however, they 
 paused ; a part of the force Vv^as soon to be discharged, and 
 Scott decided that he would make his dismissals and wait 
 for the empty places to be filled. He accordingly advanced 
 sloAvly to Puebla, while the Mexicans kept in the back- 
 ground, or appeared only as guerillas, (May 28.) The 
 guerilla warfare had been prognosticated as the one insuper- 
 able obstacle to the progress of the American army ; it 
 proved harassing, but by no means fatal. During the delay 
 ensuing on land, the fleet in the gulf, under Commodore 
 Perry, took Tuspan and Tobasco, both being but slightly 
 defended, (April 18 — June 15.) At length, reenforcements 
 having reached the army, making it not quite eleven thou- 
 sand strong, it resumed its march, and entered the valley 
 of Mexico, (August 10.) 
 
 In valley There the Mexicans stood, Santa Anna still at 
 of Mexico, their head, thirty-five thousand in their ranks, 
 regular troops and volunteers, old and young, rich and 
 poor, men of the professions and men of the trades, — all 
 joined in the defence of their country, now threatened at its 
 very heart. They wanted much, however, that was essen- 
 tial to success. Hope was faint, and even courage sank 
 beneath the errors and the intrigues of the commanding 
 ofiicers, to whom, speaking generally, it was vain to look 
 for example or for guidance. Behind the army was the 
 government, endeavoring to unite itself, yet still rent and 
 
WAR WITH MEXICO. 439 
 
 enfeebled to the last degree. Even the clergy, chafed by 
 the seizure of church property to meet the exigencies of the 
 state, were divided, if not incensed. It was a broken nation, 
 and yet all the more worthy of respect for the last earnest 
 resistance which it was making to the foe. Never had 
 armies a more magnificent country to assail or to defend 
 than that into which the Americans had penetrated. They 
 fought in defiles or upon plains, vistas of lakes and fields 
 before them, mountain heights above them, the majesty of 
 nature every where mingling with the contention of man. 
 Fourteen miles from the city, battles began at Contreras, 
 where a Mexican division under General Valencia was 
 totally routed, (August 19-20.) The next engagement 
 followed immediately, at Churubusco, six miles from the 
 capital, Santa Anna himself being there completely defeated, 
 (August 20.) An armistice suspended further movements 
 for a fortnight, when an American division under Worth 
 made a successful assault on a range of buildings called 
 Molino del Rey, close to the city. This action, though the 
 most sanguinary of the entire war, — both Mexicans and 
 Americans surpassing all their previous deeds, — was with- 
 out results, (September 8.) A few days later, the fourth 
 and final engagement in the valley took place at Chapulte- 
 pec, a fortress just above Molino del Rey. Within the 
 lines was the Mexican Military College, and bravely did 
 the students defend it, mere boys outvying veterans in feats 
 of valor. In vain, nevertheless ; the college and the fortress 
 yielded together, (September 12-13.) The next day Scott, 
 with six thousand five hundred men, the whole of his army 
 remaining in the field, entered the city of Mexico, (Septem- 
 ber 14.) 
 
 Last Santa Anna retired in the direction of Puebla, 
 
 actions, -vyluch he Vainly attempted to take from Colonel 
 Childs. The object of the Mexican general was to cut off* 
 
440 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 the communication between Scott and the seaboard ; but he 
 did not succeed. A few last actions of an inferior charac- 
 ter, a few skirmishes with bands of partisans, and the war 
 was over in that part of the country. The American gen- 
 erals betook themselves to quarrels and arrests ; Scott being 
 some months afterwards superseded by General Butler, 
 (February, 1848.) 
 
 Now that their exploits have been described, the 
 
 Compcsi- i ' 
 
 tion of United States armies are to be understood for what 
 gjjfgg they were. It was no regular force, prepared by 
 forces. years of discipline to meet the foe, that followed 
 Taylor, Scott, and the other leaders, to the field. The few 
 regiments of United States troops were lost, in respect to 
 numbers, though not to deeds, amid the thousands of volun- 
 teers that came swarming from every part of the Union. 
 To bring these irregular troops into any effective condition 
 was more difficult than to meet the Mexicans. On the 
 other hand, there was an animation about them, a personal 
 feeling of emulation and of patriotism, which made the vol- 
 unteers a far more valuable force than might have been 
 supposed. After all, however, it was to the officers, to the 
 pupils of West Point, to the intelligent, and, in many cases, 
 devoted men, who left their occupations at home to sustain 
 what they deemed the honor of their country abroad, that 
 the successes of the various campaigns are chiefly to be 
 ascribed. The effect of the war was to give the nation a 
 much more military character than it had hitherto sustained, 
 even in its own eyes. 
 
 Forced One point in tlie American conduct of the war is 
 
 supplies, yet to be noticed. As early as the fifth month of 
 hostilities, (September, 1846,) the secretary of war in- 
 structed General Taylor to " draw supplies from the enemy 
 without paying for them, and to require contributions, if in 
 that way you are satisfied you can get abundant supplies." 
 
WAR WITH MEXICO. 441 
 
 4i 
 
 The same instructions were sent to General Scott in the 
 following spring. But both the generals declined the at- 
 tempt of raising forced supplies. After the occupation of 
 the capital, however, Scott exacted several large contribu- 
 tions from the conquered country. Anotlier form of levy- 
 ing money was in the duties imposed upon all merchandise 
 admitted into the Mexican ports occupied by the Ameri- 
 cans. This, as the government allowed, " was, in effect, the 
 seizure of the pubhc revenues of Mexico;" the object 
 being, as in the other cases, " to compel the enemy to con-.t 
 tribute, as far as practicable, towards the expenses of the 
 
 war." 
 
 Peace: The War had not continued three months, when 
 
 first steps. ^]-^g United States made an overture of peace, (July, 
 1846.) It was referred by the Mexican administration to 
 the National Cono;ress, and there it rested.^ In announcing: 
 to the American Congress the proposal which he had made, 
 President Polk suggested the appropriation of a certain 
 sum, as an indemnity for any Mexican territory that might 
 be retained at the conclusion of the war. In the debate 
 which followed, an administration representative from Penn- 
 sylvania, David Wilmot, moved a proviso to the proposed 
 appropriation: "That there shall be neither slavery nor 
 involuntary servitude in any territory on the continent of 
 America, which shall hereafter be acquired by or annexed 
 to the United States by virtue of this appropriation, or in 
 any other manner whatsoever." The proviso was hastily 
 adopted in the House ; but it was too late to receive any 
 action in the Senate before the close of the session, (Au- 
 gust.) In the following session the proviso again passed 
 the House, but was abandoned by that body on being 
 rejected by the Senate. 
 
 Next Provided with the sum which he thought neces- 
 
 steps. g^Yj iq insure negotiation. President Polk appointed 
 
44:2 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 # 
 N. P. Trist, chief clerk of the state department, a commis- 
 sioner to take out the plan of a treaty, requiring Mexico to 
 cede a portion of her territory, but promising her some 
 remuneration, (April, 1847.) It was several months after 
 the commissioner's arrival at the American head quarters 
 that he obtained an interview with any commissioners on 
 the part of Mexico. He then met them several times, pro- 
 posing his project and receiving theirs, the two being very 
 far apart. The Mexicans were reluctant to yield any terri- 
 tory, even that beyond the Rio Grande, which had been 
 claimed as a part of Texas. It went especially against 
 their inclinations to open it to slavery ; the instructions of 
 the commissioners being quite positive on the point that 
 any treaty to be signed by them must prohibit slavery in 
 the ceded country. " No president of the United States," 
 replied Commissioner Trist, "would dare to present any 
 such treaty to tne Senate." Nor was there any obstacle 
 stronirer than this acrainst the aorreement of the neojotiators. 
 They separated, without having accomplished any thing, 
 (August, September.) 
 
 Trist was recalled, apparently for not pressing 
 the claims of his government with greater vehe- 
 mence. But he took it upon himself to remain where he 
 was, and to treat with new commissioners, two months after 
 the entrance of the American army into the city of Mexico, 
 (November.) The result of battles rather than of negotia- 
 tions was a treaty signed at Guadalupe Hidalgo, a suburb 
 of the capital. By this instrument Mexico ceded the whole 
 of Texas, New Mexico, and Upper California, while the, 
 United States agreed to surrender their other conquests, 
 and to pay for those retained the sum of fifteen milhons, 
 besides assuming the old claims of their own citizens against 
 Mexico to the amount of more than three millions, (Feb- 
 ruary 2, 1848.) The treaty contained other provisions, 
 
WAR AVITH MEXICO. 443 
 
 some of which were modified at "Washington, and altered 
 accordingly at Queretaro, where the Mexican Congress was 
 called to ratify the peace. Ratifications were finally ex- 
 changed at Queretaro, (May 30,) and peace proclaimed at 
 "Washington, (July 4.) The Mexican territory — that is, 
 •the portion which remained — was rapidly evacuated. 
 ^^ ^ Thus ended a conflict of w^hich the motives, the 
 
 Character ' 
 
 of the events, and the results have been very variously 
 ^^' estimated. But this much may be historically said, 
 that on the side of the United States the war had not 
 merely a party, but rather a sectional character. "What 
 sectional causes there were to bring about hostilities, we 
 have seen m relation to the annexation of Texas. "What 
 sectional issues there were to proceed from the treaty, we 
 have yet to see. " It is a southern war," was the express 
 statement of a v.Titer of South Carolina. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 * 
 Compromise of 1850. 
 
 New ter- WiTHiN the limits of Texas, New Mexico, and 
 ritory. California, there lay a vast region, containing up- 
 wards of eight hundred thousand square miles. All the 
 United States, previously, comprehended but little beyond 
 two millions. An addition, therefore, of considerably more 
 than one third of the territory existing before the annexa- 
 tion of Texas had been brought to pass. Extraordinary as 
 was this acquisition in extent, it was still more extraordi- 
 nary in character. Not to dwell upon the variety of cli- 
 mate, of scenery, of soil, and of production, which it com- 
 prehended, there was within the limits of California a 
 region of surpassing value. • Just before the treaty with 
 Mexico, (January, 1848,) the erection of a mill upon a 
 branch of the Sacramento revealed the existence of gold, 
 which was soon discovered in other places. To cover the 
 soil with gold diggers, and to arouse the rest of the country 
 to emigration, or to speculation, or at least to wondering 
 interest, were the almost instantaneous consequences. 
 " The acquisition of California," exclaimed President Polk, 
 placing that district first upon his list, " and New Mexico, 
 the settlement of the Oregon boundary, and the annexation 
 of Texas, extending to the Rio Grande, are results which, 
 combined, are of greater consequence, and will add more to 
 the strength and wealth of the nation, than any which have 
 
 preceded them since the adoption of the Constitution." 
 
 (444) 
 
COMPROMISE OF 1850. 445 
 
 Difli. There was another side, nevertheless, even to the 
 
 cuities. president. In communicating the exchange of ratifi- 
 cations between the United States and Mexico, he addressed 
 Congress in this wise : " There has perhaps been no period 
 since the warning so impressively given to his countrymen 
 by Washington, to guard against geographical divisions and 
 sectional parties, which appeals with greater force than the 
 present to the patriotic, sober-minded, and reflecting of all 
 parties and of all sections of our country. As we extend 
 the blessings of the Union over new regions, shall we be so 
 unwise as to endanger its existence by geographical divis- 
 ions and dissensions ? " This was written amid a perfect 
 tumult of congressional and of popular discussions. The 
 canvass for a presidential election had begun, with whig 
 and democratic candidates, in addition to whom were soon 
 brought forward the candidates of a free-soil party, so called 
 from its insisting upon the exclusion of slavery from the 
 recently acquired territories. All the signs of the time 
 pointed to a wide and a grave division between northern 
 and southern opinions. It was a more serious strife than 
 that between the United States and Mexico, from which, 
 directly speaking, it had sprung. 
 
 Old questions were subsidinof. The tariff, twice 
 
 Old ques- i o ' 
 
 tionssub- rcviscd witliiu the last few years, (1842, 1846,) had 
 ^^ ^^^' been framed in such a way as to determine the 
 abandonment of the protective system. Former differences 
 with regard to the tenure and the' sale of the public lands 
 were put to rest, at least for the time. The system of inter- 
 nal improvements, long vexed and still undecided as to 
 points of detail, was settled on general principles, establish- 
 ing the policy of national though not of local enterprises at 
 the charge of the federal government. Financial difficulties 
 were also adjusted. The country acquiesced in renouncing 
 a national bank and in supporting a national treasury. 
 38 
 
44G PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 Though the public debt was largely increased by the 
 expenses of the Mexican war, it occasioned no burdens, 
 no altercations ; there was no division as to its management, 
 no doubt as to its ultimate payment. All these questions 
 had ceased to excite, if not to interest the nation. 
 
 Nor was there any substantial difference upon 
 
 0rgani7.a- ♦' ^ 
 
 tionofoki the orGfanization of the old territories. Wisconsin 
 ^^^^ '^^^' came in quietly as a state, (May 20, 1848.) Ore- 
 gon was established as a territory, with some debate upon 
 the exclusion of slavery ; but in this the south as well as 
 the north were of much the same mind, the line of the Mis- 
 souri Compromise being held to extend to the Pacific. A 
 trouble of quite a different sort broke out in connection with 
 Oregon ; the Indians of that territory taking up arms, to 
 the great peril of its settlers, in the year of its organization, 
 (1848.) The next year another territory M^as peaceably 
 organized in Minnesota, (1849.) 
 
 The more tranquil the nation on these points, the 
 tion^of^^" i^ore irritable it seemed to be upon the points relat- 
 new teni- ing to the rcccnt conquests. California and New 
 Mexico required to be organized. The boundary 
 between New Mexico and Texas, a subject on which Texan 
 claims were very extensive, needed to be defined. Rela- 
 tions with the Indian tribes in all the new territory also 
 demanded attention. Yet there was no such thinsf as 
 deciding any of these matters while they were enveloped in 
 the mists of the slavery question. 
 
 Slavery Tliis qucstion had never assumed vaster propor- 
 quostion. ^ions. The annexation of Texas, followed up by 
 the war with Mexico, had been regarded, all over the 
 country, as committing the nation, more decisively than 
 ever before, to the support of slavery. The reasons f#r this 
 view, whether well founded or not, stirred up the northern 
 sentiment to undo what had been done, at the same time 
 
COMPROMISE OF 1850. 447 
 
 that the southern feeling was equally aroused in carrying 
 out the measures which had been begun. The idea at the 
 north was this : that the south had gained, in Texas, an 
 immense accession of strength, to which no addition was to 
 be made, nay, from which, if possible, something was to be 
 taken, either by the curtailment of the Texan boundary, or 
 by preventing the entire Texan territory fi-om being peo- 
 pled by slaveholders ; at all events. New Mexico and Cali- 
 fornia must be free. From the south, on the other hand, 
 there came the demand, first, that Texas must be respected, 
 and, next, that the other territories, acquired even more by 
 southern exertions than by northern, must be left at liberty 
 to choose whether they would or would not hold slaves. It 
 was beginning to be known that neither Cahfornia nor New 
 Mexico was likely to be slaveholding. But this did not 
 diminish the irritation in respect to them. The south was 
 naturally disappointed that acquisitions from which they 
 had looked for encouragement to their peculiar interests 
 did not preserve the original look of promise ; while the 
 north, for the same cause, as naturally indulged in a certain 
 exultation. This exultation on one side, and this disap- 
 pointment on the other, fomented the strife between the 
 contendmg parties. 
 
 Congress showed a disposition to more decided 
 tiou of action against slavery than it had ever done before. 
 southern j^gtead of confiniuo; themselves to the oro^anization 
 
 members ^ '=' 
 
 of Con- of the territories, some members suggested the abo- 
 giess. ij^JQji Qf the slave trade, others that of slavery itself, 
 in the District of Columbia. Alarmed by these demonstra- 
 tions, the southern members met in convention, (December 
 23,) and appointed a committee to report upon certain resolu- 
 tions in relation to the existing difficulties. Calhoun, still a 
 senator, laid an address of the southern delegates to their 
 constituents before an adjourned meeting of the convention. 
 
448 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 (January 15, 1849.) The document inveighed against the 
 aggressions of the north, particularly its evasion of the fugi- 
 tive slave law, and its abolitionism. " "We ask not," was 
 the language of the address, " as the north alleges we do, 
 for the extension of slavery. That would make a discrimi- 
 nation in our favor as unjust and unconstitutional as the 
 discrimination they ask against us in their favor. . . . 
 What, then, we do insist on is, not to extend slavery, but 
 that we shall not be prohibited from immigrating Vvith our 
 property into the territories of the United States because 
 we are slaveholders." In conclusion, 'an earnest appeal 
 was made to the south to be united. John M. Berrien, a 
 senator from Georgia, proposed an address to the people 
 of the United States instead of one to the south alone ; but 
 the original address was adopted, (January 22.) Congress, 
 meantime sat by, proposing and discussing much, but doing 
 nothing beyond extending the revenue laws to California. 
 The teni- ^^^^ whigs had elected the new president, who soon 
 toriesde- appeared in the person of the successful general, 
 aoSnst Zachary Taylor, (March.) He took the only step 
 slavery, in his powcr towards organizing the new territories, 
 by instructing the officers stationed in them to encourage 
 the people to organize themselves. The first to adopt his 
 recommendations were the people of Deseret, the western 
 part of California, since called Utah, where a number of 
 Mormons had established their settlements. Next came 
 the settlers of Sante Fe county, in New Mexico. But the 
 only regular organization was that of the Californians, who 
 met in convention and adopted a state constitution, (Sep- 
 tember, October, 1849.) Every one of these territories 
 went against slavery, California expressly prohibiting it in 
 her constitution. The north became exultant, the south 
 defiant, as the issue of the strife drew nigh. 
 
 Congress met again, to be agitated from the very begin- 
 
COMPROMISE OF 1850. 449 
 
 ning of the session. Three weeks elapsed before 
 gests com- the House of Representatives could even choose 
 piomise. ^jjgjj. speaker, (December.) Very soon afterwards, 
 Senator Foote, of Mississippi, introduced a bill for the 
 organization of the territories, (January 16, 1850.) This 
 was followed by a series of resolutions proposed by Henry 
 Clay, leader in the Missouri and the tariff compromises, 
 and now urging a new compromise upon the present diffi- 
 culties. " Disappointed as he had been in his political hopes, 
 a candidate for the presidency for a quarter of a century, 
 and though warmly, yet never successfully supported, the 
 fervor of his ambition and of his patriotism had never died 
 out. He came forward with proposals of concession on 
 both the contending sides. The resolutions promised the 
 north that the slave trade in the District of Columbia 
 should be abolished, and on the other hand assured the 
 south that slavery in the District should be maintained for 
 the present ; they pledged the north to the restitution of 
 fugitive slaves, the south to the admission of California as a 
 free state ; while both north and south were to agree in 
 organizing the territories, and in deciding the boundary 
 between Texas and New Mexico, (January 29.) Weeks 
 passed away in vain discussions. The suggestions of com- 
 promise pleased neither party, and neither laid aside its 
 arms. 
 
 Webster What had been discussed with comparatively 
 m debate, little powcr now became the subject of grave and 
 massive appeals. The extreme views of the south found 
 vehement support, chiefly from Calhoun, who"ad led in 
 the same cause for years. On the other side, the extreme 
 tiews of the north were but faintly and feebly urged. The 
 great leader of that section aspired to be the great leader 
 of the country as a whole. " I speak," said Webster in the 
 Senate Chamber, " not as a Massachusetts man, nor as a 
 38* 
 
450 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 northern man, but as an American, and a member of the 
 Senate of the United States." " I speak," he added, " for 
 the preservation of the Union." After adverting to the 
 question of slavery in general, and dej)loring the vehe- 
 mence with which it was supported at the south, Webster 
 passed to the consideration of the territories. Texas, he 
 averred, was a slave state by the terais of annexation ; 
 New Mexico and California, on the other hand, were to be 
 free states, both by the will of their inhabitants and by the 
 nature of their climates and their soils. " The whole terri- 
 tory Avithin the former United States," said Webster, " or 
 in the newly acquired Mexican provinces, has a fixed and 
 settled character, now fixed and settled by law which can- 
 not be repealed ; in the case of Texas, without a violation 
 of the public faith, and by no human power in regard to 
 California or New Mexico." It was useless, therefore, and 
 worse than useless, he argued, to be wrangling about pro- 
 visos of Congress to admit or to prohibit slavery. Recur- 
 ring to the subject of slavery, especially to that in the Dis- 
 trict of Columbia, and to the provisions of the law concerning 
 fugitive slaves, Webster deprecated the denunciations and 
 the menaces of the north as earnestly as he did the passion- 
 ate ideas of the south. Men differ as to their estimate of 
 the compromise, but none doubt the influence of Webster 
 in promoting its adoption. From , the day that he spoke as 
 has been described, (March 7,) the compromise was secure. 
 ^ ^ „ But not without continued bitterness in both 
 
 Report of 
 
 cornpro- brai^hes of Congress. The Senate finally appoint- 
 ^^^°' edlrcommittee of thirteen. Clay being chairman, by 
 whom the compromise of 1850, as it is styled, was reported 
 in three bills. The first admitted California as a state, 
 organized New Mexico and Utah as territories without any 
 provision for or against slavery, and arranged the disputed 
 boundary between New Mexico and Texas by a large 
 indemnity to the latter. The second provided for the 
 
COMPROMISE OF 1850. 451 
 
 recovery of fugitive slaves. The third abolished the slave 
 trade in the District of Columbia. The report of the com- 
 promise (May 8) was instantly followed by the most 
 impassioned debates. It seemed as if there could be no 
 conciliation between parties so diverse and so inflamed. 
 Its adop- -A-t the height of the controversy, President Tay- 
 tion. Iqj. sickened and died, (July 9.) He was suc- 
 ceeded by the vice president, Millard Fillmore, who called 
 about him a new cabinet, Webster at the head, and threw 
 the whole weight of the administration in favor of the com- 
 promise. It was at first rejected. But, on the substitution 
 of separate bills for each of the measures proposed, they 
 were successively adopted by both houses. California was 
 admitted a state ; New Mexico and Utah were constituted 
 territories, and the payment of ten millions to Texas, on con- 
 sideration of the boundary and other questions, was voted ; 
 all on the same day, (September 9.) Nine days after, the 
 fugitive slave bill became a law, (September 18 ;) and two 
 days later still, the slave trade in the District of Columbia 
 was suppressed, (September 20.) So ended, as far as legis- 
 lation was concerned, a strife begun with the proviso of 
 David Wilmot, more than four years before, and kept up 
 during the whole of the intervening period, in Congress and 
 throughout the nation. 
 ^ ,. , It did not yet cease. The president met Con- 
 
 Continuea '' ^ 
 
 contro- gress at the close of the year with the assurance 
 ^^^^^' that "we have been rescued from the wide and 
 boundless agitation that surrounded us, and have a firm, 
 distinct, and legal ground to rest upon." Yet, on the floor 
 of Congress, in all pubHc places, at the tribunal and in the 
 pulpit, as well as in private, around the table and at the 
 hearth, the nation was disputing both about the points 
 disposed of and about the manner in which they had been 
 disposed. Unlike the compromises of earlier years, the 
 compromise of 1850 did not bring peace. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 National Development. 
 ^ , The accession to the national territory follow- 
 
 Develop- *' 
 
 mentof ing the annexation of Texas and the war with 
 v^iri ory. jy^g^j^^^ ^las been described. Vast as it was, it 
 
 was much less than the increase which had already taken 
 place. At the close of the revolution, the United States, 
 not then extending to the Mississippi, embraced upwards of 
 eight hundred thousand square miles. There were nearly 
 four times as many, or upwards of twenty-nine hundred 
 thousand, at the period which we have reached. Of the 
 twenty-one hundred thousand thus added to the original 
 eight, nearly nine came with Louisiana, (1803,) nearly one 
 with Florida, (1819,) more than three with Oregon, (1846,) 
 making thirteen, in addition to which were the "three of 
 Texas, (1845,) and the five of Mexico, (1848.) 
 Ofpopuia- The increase of population was still more re- 
 tion. markable. It did not spring from the extension of 
 territory. All the twenty-nine hundred thousand square 
 miles, just mentioned, contained not two hundred thousand 
 whites, even including the natives of the United States, 
 who, as in Texas and Oregon, were but brought back to the 
 fold of the nation. Yet the numbers of the United States 
 had now swelled to upwards of twenty-three millions from 
 the three millions at the end of the revolutionary period. 
 Of the twenty-three millions, three were slaves, or five times 
 as many as there were in 1783. The free population was 
 
 (452) 
 
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 453 
 
 not merely five times, but eight times as numerous ; twenty- 
 four hundred thousand in 1783, and in 1850, full twenty 
 millions. Of this great number, less than an eighth were of 
 foreign birth, but of the other seven-eighths and more, a 
 large number were children of foreign born parents. Immi- 
 gration had added immensely to the pojDulation, especially 
 in the last quarter of a century. In ten years of the pre- 
 ceding centuiy, (1790-1800,) there were but fifty thousand 
 aiTivals ; in one year of the present period, (1849-1850,) 
 there were two hundred and eighty thousand. In summino- 
 up the population, we must add to the twenty-three millions, 
 abe'ady stated, about four hundi'ed thoiisand as the number 
 of the Indians within the country. Rather less than half of 
 these were dwellers in the more recently acquired territories ; 
 rather less than a fourth probably were the descendants of 
 those in the United States just after the revolution. To the 
 east of the Mississippi, none but a few scattered famihes of 
 the aboriginal race remained. 
 
 Ofoccu- With such an expansion in population, and in 
 pation. territory, there was of necessity an expansion in oc- 
 cupation. Old pursuits were embraced by greater numbers, 
 and followed out with greater resources to greater results. 
 Such inventions as Eli Whitney's cotton gin, to separate 
 cotton from the seed, (1793,) or Cyrus H. McCormick's 
 reaper, to gather in a crop, (1847,) in ways no manual 
 labor could compete with, enlarged the sphere of agricultural 
 production. The earliest cotton mills were those of Rhode 
 Island, (1790,) the earliest woollen, in which the power 
 loom was used, vrere those of Massachusetts, (1807 ;) the 
 beginniiigs of the manufactures that became a great political 
 as well as industrial interest at a later time. The chief 
 occupation of the early time was still chief; out of six 
 millions free males above fifteen years old, two millions and 
 a half were now engaged in agnculture and its kindred 
 
4e54 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 labors. To this number must be added the larger propor- 
 tion of the nearly one million slave males above fifteen, em- 
 ployed in the same way. Next to agriculture came the 
 trades and the manufactures, employing not far from two 
 millions. A million and a half remained for other occupa- 
 tions, including those of commerce, wliich, like agriculture 
 and manufacture, was greatly extended beyond its former 
 limits. Of the class set down as professional or educational, 
 tlie numbers were estimated at from two to three hundred 
 tliousand ; an immense increase, compared with the numbers 
 of the past. New pursuits blended in with the old. There 
 was a constant trial of means as yet untried, a constant 
 striving after ends as yet unattained. Inventions multi- 
 plied, labors expanded ; and not in any one dh'cction, but on 
 all sides. 
 
 Of invest- Increased toils led to increased returns, and these 
 ments. ^^ increased investments in the various branches of 
 industry. To measure the investments by the annual re- 
 sults, we find the products of agriculture for a single year 
 estimated at thirteen hundred millions of dollars. The 
 total return for trades and manufactures was ten hundred 
 millions. Commercial statistics exhibit imports to the value 
 of above one hundred and seventy-five, and exports to that 
 of above one hundred and fifty millions. Such figures are 
 confusing from their very vastness. Nor are they altogether 
 safe as indications of the actual capital in the country. No 
 people ever trusted so little to capital and so much to credit, 
 as the grovving nation of the United States. 
 ^„ To make the resources and the exertions of the 
 
 Ofcom- 
 
 iiiuuica- nation efiective, there had come into use new meth- 
 ods of communication. The early canals, of little 
 extent or importance, were followed by a series of very re- 
 markable works, foremost amongst Avhicii were the Erie 
 Canal of New York, (1825,) and the Ohio Canal from Lake 
 
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 455 
 
 Erie to the Ohio, (1832.) The first steamboat, the Cler- 
 mont, the work of Robert Fulton, appeared upon the 
 Hudson in 1807. After a long interval, the passage of the 
 Atlantic was made by the Savannah steamer, (1819.) 
 First of our railways was the Quincy in Massachusetts, a 
 single track of between three and four miles, to transport 
 granite from a quarry to the water's edge, (1827.) The 
 first locomotive was used upon the Hudson and 3Iohawk 
 Railroad, (1832.) More recently, the invention of the elec- 
 tric telegraph, first constructed between Washington and 
 Baltimore, by Samuel F. B. Morse, (1844,) completed the 
 means of communication. At the close of the period, there 
 were in operation twenty thousand miles of telegraphic wires, 
 sixteen thousand of railways, four thousand five hundred of 
 canals, to say nothing of the countless spaces trsj^ersed by 
 the steamers of our rivers, our lakes, and our seas. 
 Of educa- So much physical development was not unattended 
 tion. ]^j development of a higher sort. The system of 
 public schools had extended from the places where the first 
 were founded throughout most, but not all of the country. 
 A national provision for their support in the new states of 
 the west and the south was made by the appropriation of 
 lands in every township of the ^public domain; a total of 
 nearly fifty millions of acres being thus divided amongst 
 the states and territories. Of the older states, the larger 
 number had their school funds devoted to the same great 
 object. The number of schools grew to be nearly one 
 hundred thousand; that of their teachers was about the 
 same. Private schools and colleges kept pace with the 
 general increase ; the former amountmg to upwards of six 
 thousand ; the latter, including professional and scientific 
 schools, to several hundred. Nor was it only in point of 
 numbers that educational institutions were growing. They 
 gave much better proof of progress in their studies and their 
 
456 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 methods of instruction ; not, indeed, that these reached the 
 true standard of the scholar, biit that they were much less 
 remote from it than the schools and the colleges of older 
 times. 
 
 National ^^^ nation had its institutions. A IMilitary 
 iiistitii- Academy, first suggested by Washington, was es- 
 "''"'• tabUshed at West Point, (1802.) A Naval Acad- 
 emy, recommended by Jolm Quincy Adams, was opened 
 long afterwards at Annapolis, (1845.) All the commenda- 
 tions of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and the second 
 Adams, upon the subject of a national university, were 
 fruitless. But much that would have been accompUshed by 
 such an institution was done at the offices of observation and 
 of publication connected with the academies just mentioned, 
 and with 4he various departments at Washington. A large 
 bequest from James Smithson, of London, was received, 
 and several years later, (1846,) applied by the United 
 States, as the testator had directed, " to found at Washing- 
 ton, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an 
 establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge 
 amongst men." 
 -, , . One enterprise of the 2;overnment for the advance- 
 
 Explonng ^ o 
 
 Expedi- ment of knowledge is to be gratefully recorded. An 
 Exploring Expedition, consisting of several vessels 
 under the command of Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, attached 
 to whom was a body of scientific men, sailed (1838) on an 
 extended cruise through the Antarctic and Pacific Oceans. 
 The chief discovery of the expedition was that supposed to 
 have been made of an antarctic continent ; but this was 
 not entirely confirmed. More certain, therefore, were the 
 results derived from the precise investigations of sea and 
 shore, including races and productions, wherever the ex- 
 plorers passed. A voyage of nearly four years ended with 
 honor to them, and advantage not only to their country, but 
 to the world, (1842.) 
 
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 457 
 
 The press. -^^^^^^J ^^^ nowhere more marked than in the 
 press. Where a few movements, sluggish in them- 
 selves, and broken by interference from without, had been 
 perceptible, there now prevailed an activity only too rest- 
 less. The department of newspapers was become perhaps 
 the busiest of all. The enterprise of theu^ publishers and 
 their editors was something remarkable even in the land of 
 enterprise ; nor was that of their readers less remarkable, one 
 may say, considermg the number of papers required to satisfy 
 an individual. The number of newspapers — thirty-five at 
 the begmning of the revolution — amounted at last to be- 
 tween twenty-five hundred and three thousand. It mio-ht be 
 sujDposed that other pubhcations would suffer; but not so. 
 Ahnost as many books as journals issued from the press, some 
 foreign, others original pubhcations, on every sort of subject, 
 and in every sort of form. Amongst the most characteristic 
 as well as the most serviceable inventions of the time was 
 that of a printing press by wliich thousands of impressions 
 could be taken in an hour ; the inventor was Richard M. 
 Hoe, (1847.) Other contrivances added to the facility of 
 printmg, so much so, that what was a work of years, the 
 century before, was now the work only of days. In all this 
 multiphcation of methods and of results, good and evil were 
 necessarily blended. The number of publications proves 
 development in one way ; but whether there was develop- 
 ment in another and a higher way, depended on their char- 
 acter. Every one knows how various this was, how various 
 it is still. 
 
 . Publications uicreasing, libraries increased. The 
 
 Libranes. ^' 
 
 scanty repositories of a hundred years previous were 
 augmented or succeeded by far more numerous and far more 
 valuable collections. Private libraries became compara- 
 tively general ; public ones comparatively universal. From 
 the university collection of thousands down to the Sunday 
 39 
 
458 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 school case of fifty or a hundi'ed volumes, the number of 
 public libraries is estimated to have been more than fifteen 
 thousand. Of course, there was the utmost diversity in 
 point of importance ; some libraries, enumerated in the list, 
 being totally undeserving of the name. None, not even the 
 largest, compared with the great libraries of Europe, where 
 books had been accumulating for centuries, and where ample 
 endowments kept up the increase year by year. Nor, to 
 speak generally, did the character of our libraries correspond 
 with that of an equally large number of books in a Euro- 
 pean collection ; ours being too often filled by purchases or 
 by donations made at random. A new era in American libra- 
 ries began not so much with the foundation, as with the 
 formation of the Astor Library in New York, at the very 
 close of the period comprehended in this volume. The col- 
 lection of books commenced there for the benefit alike of the 
 most contemplative and the most practical student, rather 
 than of the mere reader, may well serve as an example to 
 the nation. 
 
 Litera- ^^® branch of the national literature has been 
 
 ture: po- touclicd upou and quoted from in the preceding 
 pages. The political writings of the time, constitu- 
 tional and administrative, belong too much to the world of 
 action to be viewed merely as works of thought. Few of 
 them, indeed, bear marks of lofty contemplation, or of ab- 
 stract reasoning ; the greater number, absorbed in fleeting 
 circumstances, show little sensibility to the broad relations 
 and the enduring principles of government. Such produc- 
 tions as those of Webster and Calhoun are rare exceptions. 
 If we see the dust of the day's strife upon them, it does 
 not lie thickly enough to obscure the solemnity or the bril- 
 liancy, as the case may be, of the cause for which they plead. 
 Theoiogi- Theological literature maintained its hold ; and 
 cai. move naturally now that it comprehended the 
 
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 459 
 
 writings of various churches, instead of being confined to 
 the one or two of the colonial period. Chief amongst the 
 successors of the early churchmen was John Henry Hobart, 
 Bishop of New York, in whom earnestness and learning 
 were remarkably combmed. At the head of those succeed- 
 ing the early Puritans were Moses Stuart and William 
 Eilery Channing, the former the leader of the old school, 
 the latter of the new or liberal one. Both were men of 
 great research and of great power. Both went beyond the 
 limits of theological writings, especially Channing, whose 
 works on education and on the great interests of humanity 
 are more likely to endure than those upon points of theol- 
 ogy. The Presbyterians had their expositor in Archibald 
 Alexander, the Methodists theirs in Stephen Olin. Amongst 
 the Roman Catholics, the principal theologian was John 
 England, Bishop of Charleston. 
 
 Allied by its gravity to the productions that have 
 ^^*' been mentioned was the legal literature of the 
 period. The laws of the United States were expounded by 
 James Kent and Joseph Story ; those of nations by Henry 
 Wheaton. Of the large number distinguished in one walk 
 or another of jurisprudence, Edward Livingston, the author 
 of a system of a penal code for the State of Louisiana, and 
 subsequently of a system of penal laws for the United 
 States, and Hugh Swinton Legare, not so much a writer as 
 a jurist, were both eminent. 
 
 Histor- Omitting the works of the living, little remains to 
 
 icai. constitute a historical literature during the period. 
 Jeremy Belknap's History of Nev>r Hampshire and Abiel 
 Holmes's American Annals are the only productions that 
 merit especial mention. Both appeared near the beginning 
 of the period ; a long interval elapsed without producing 
 any histories worthy of the name. 
 
 Scientific works were more numerous. John Picker- 
 
460 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 . ing and Albert Gallatin took the lead in philology, 
 
 particularly in the Indian languages ; both being 
 eminent for other studies. Alexander Wilson, a Scotch- 
 man by birth, published an American Ornithology, after- 
 wards continued by another foreigner, Charles Lucien Bo- 
 naparte. John James Audubon, born in Louisiana long 
 before its acquisition by the United States, was the author 
 of the Birds of America, and subsequently, in conjunction 
 with his sons, of the Quadrupeds of America. Higher 
 than any other name of the time m science, stands that of 
 ISTatlianiel Bowditch, the translator and the commentator 
 of the Mecanique Celeste of Laplace, the great astronomer 
 and mathematician of France. 
 
 Belles While such were the graver studies of men, oth- 
 
 lettres. gj.g ^f g^ lighter character were not neglected. In 
 the cultivation of the belles lettres, a growing number was 
 interested. Touching, we may say, are the accounts of the 
 associations formed at the opening of the period, to fan the 
 few sparks of general scholarship that then existed. Soon 
 individuals appeared, some collecting, others composing 
 books upon the subjects that they loved. A more graceful 
 aspect was thus given to the intellectual pursuits of the 
 nation. Towards the close of the period we find Richard 
 Henry Wilde, a native of Dublin, devoting his fine powers 
 to the memory of the Italian poets, while the English 
 authors, Shakespeare and Wordsworth especially, received 
 the tributes offered them by the pure taste and the pure 
 heart of Henry Reed. 
 
 Fiction had its votaries. Charles Brockden 
 Brown began upon his romances at the close of the 
 eighteenth century. He dealt with unnatural occurrences 
 and exaggerated emotions, — the groper, as it were, into 
 the realms which no one of his nation had entered before 
 liim. Twenty years later, James Fenimore Cooper 
 
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 461 
 
 brought out the earliest of that remarkable series of novels 
 in which the Indian character was portrayed. He then 
 turned to the sea, describing its wonders and its heroes. 
 Not his own country alone, but other countries, welcomed 
 the master, the fii'st of all Americans to be acknowledged 
 such in the world of imagination. A later novelist, and 
 one of a very different mould, appeared in William Ware, 
 whose Letters from Pahnyra, or Zenobia, transported the 
 reader from the freslmess of the present to the decaying 
 grandeurs of antiquity. 
 
 The James A. Hillhouse v/as the ideal dramatist, 
 
 drama, joi^ Howard Payne the real. The former wrote 
 his Percy's Masque from an English ballad, his Hadad 
 from scriptural associations ; the latter sought the materials 
 of his Brutus and his Clari amidst the copies and the tin- 
 sels of the stage. Hillhouse deserves the name of poet. 
 He was one of the first, the very first, of the present period 
 to form a drama as one would form a poem, lofty and serene. 
 The staple literature of the drama was like Payne's produc- 
 tions, fit for the glare of the theatre, and fit for that alone. 
 
 Poetry was beginning to find a place in Ameri- 
 Poetry. ^^^ literature. Maria Brooks, the unpassioned au- 
 thor of Zophiel, was a very different creature from the 
 poets or poetesses of colonial times. Quite as imaginative, 
 and far more delicate, was the fancy of Joseph Rodman 
 Drake, who died so young that the poems he left were but 
 the signs of what he might have done. A longer life was 
 given to James Gates Percival, whose occasional pieces are 
 full of rhythmic inspiration. Above them all, in point of 
 purity and of devotion, if not of imagination, was William 
 Croswell. His poems are but the flowers dropped along 
 the path of priestly offices. Yet had they, and not the 
 offices, been Ms work of works, he would not have lived in 
 vain. Almost the same words may be written of Andrews 
 
 39* 
 
462 PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 Norton, whose little cluster of hymns will move many and 
 many a heart beyond the reach of the theological and crit- 
 ical compositions in which he spent his days. 
 
 In art, likewise, the nation was rousing itself. 
 
 Art 
 
 Gilbert Stuart was the great portrait painter of his 
 day. John Trumbull, if not a great historical painter, was 
 more than equal to the majority then engaged in that 
 branch of art. Then came Washmgton Allston, at once the 
 historical and the portrait painter, the landscape and the 
 ideal artist, in whom sublimity and delicacy, the grandeur 
 of spirit and the accuracy of detail, all found expression. 
 It seemed as if it must have been some other laud than 
 ours, so material, so absorbed in the interests and in the 
 strifes of outward life, that gave Allston being. But he 
 came ; and after him there has come a line of painters and 
 sculptors who look back to Allston as to their leader and 
 their head. Of these, it becomes us to mention only the 
 departed. But the names of Tliomas Cole, the painter, a 
 native of England, and of Horatio Greenough, the sculptor, 
 are such as to stand with honor for the living as well as for 
 the dead. 
 ^ ,. . Of the relimous development of the nation it is 
 
 Eeligious ^ '■ ^ ^ 
 
 develop- difficult to take any suitable notice in limits so con- 
 fined as these. From one point of view, that of the 
 strict schools, — no matter to what church they belonged, — 
 there was a retrocession rather than an advance in religious 
 interests. From the opposite point of view — that of the lib- 
 eral schools — the advance was pronounced incomparable 
 and irresistible. Between these contradictory opinions the 
 truth lay. Religion was not more widely or more truly, but 
 more mildly, professed. Its followers, with few exceptions, 
 had put off their armor. Persecution, it is true, was not 
 wholly abandoned ; if it did not wear its ancient forms, it 
 came forth from time to time in unmistakable reality, some- 
 
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 463 
 
 times on religious, sometimes on political or on social 
 grounds. But there was no longer the same strife that 
 there had been amongst creeds and forms. The very mul- 
 tipHcity of these was enough to distract the champions who 
 would fain do violence in behalf of their own cause. So 
 many, indeed, were the adversaries outside of any single 
 church, that men turned against one another on the inside, 
 the bitterest contentions arising between different parties 
 within the same fold. In point of mere names and num- 
 bers, the churches of the early time retained much the same 
 relative position in the later period. If any had altered in 
 this respect, it was the Roman Catholics, to whom large 
 accessions had been made by immigration ; but they still 
 formed a small proportion of the mass of Christians. On 
 the Protestant side, the Protestant EjDiscopal church re- 
 sumed its earlier station between the Roman Catholics and 
 other denominations. Amongst the later additions to the 
 sects was the Mormon community, wliich, after various 
 migrations, settled in Utah Territory, (1847.) 
 
 No clearer proof of the national development, 
 
 Charities. -, i • , n 
 
 both spiritual and physical, could appear than in the 
 charities of the time. The extent to which these were car- 
 ried, especially towards the close of the period, shows all 
 the increase of resources, all the expansion of principles, 
 that had come to pass. The sums expended by the state 
 and town authorities for the support of paupers alone 
 amounted to three million dollars by the year. To this 
 must be added the much larger sums devoted by associa- 
 tions and by individuals for the relief of almost every form 
 of want and of crime. All this was the more generously 
 expended in being expended to a great degree for the ben- 
 efit of foreigners, who constituted a large portion of the 
 wretched, and by far the largest portion of the wretched of 
 the lowest order. Besides the succor thus given to the 
 
464: PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 most pressing necessities, the circle of charity embraced 
 many enterprises of a higher character. The insane, first 
 cared for in the Lunatic Asylum of Williamsburg, Vir- 
 ginia, (1773,) became the objects of charitable action 
 throughout the country. The Friends' Lunatic Asylum 
 was opened near Philadelphia, (1817;*) the American 
 Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb in Hartford, (1807;) the 
 Perkms Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the 
 Blind in Boston, (1832 ;) the Massachusetts School for 
 Idiotic and Feeble-minded Youth, also in Boston, (1848 ;) 
 all these being pioneers in labors greatly extended after- 
 wards. Another class of charities is represented by the 
 associations for the improvement of prisons and the refor- 
 mation of prisoners; the Philadelphia societies (1776-87) 
 leading the way. In tliis connection may be mentioned the 
 abolition of imprisonment for debt, begun upon by Congress 
 at an early date, (1792,) and afterwards generally carried 
 out by state legislation. Religious and missionary bodies 
 were also active in the cause of charity. The Pennsyl- 
 vania Bible Society (1808) and the American Board of 
 Foreign Missions (1810) were followed by a long line of 
 associations intent upon saving the souls of men. 
 
 c nciu- Kemembering aU that has gone before, the fee- 
 Bion: the blcucss, the Strife, the continued errors of the earlier 
 tho pres- ®^% "^^ shall uot be likely to fall into the vein of 
 ent. overvaluing it, or of undervaluing the succeeding 
 era. Nor, on the other hand, remembering the later events 
 of our history, shall we imagine that the present puts the 
 past to shame. Both periods have their virtues ; both their 
 vices. If the past is to be regretted, it is only because its 
 
 * Lunatics were received in the Pennsylvania Hospital from 1752. 
 
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 465 
 
 power to do evil was less ; if the present bears away tlie 
 palm, it is only because its power to do good is greater ; the 
 increased resources and the increased responsibilities of the 
 later period constituting the real distinction between it and 
 the earher. It is the distinction between every preceding 
 and every succeeding epoch, the only true progress of 
 humanity. 
 
 The same truth will help us to estimate the part 
 the nation ^^ the nation in human history, that is, its relation 
 in human to Other nations and to the common destinies of 
 mankmd. We are not to suppose the United States 
 in the front of the universe, nor, on the contrary, place 
 them in the rear, simply because they are young and free. 
 Youth implies both vigor and immaturity, and when a 
 nation possesses not only youth but freedom, the certainty 
 of its being both vigorous and immature is confirmed. 
 Such is our position ; we are strong, but we are unformed. 
 If we are younger than other countries, it is not altogether 
 to our advantage ; there may be the "more for us to learn 
 and to do before we become a complete nation. So, too, 
 in being freer than other nations, we are exposed to dan- 
 gers from which they are sheltered by their very bondage. 
 The tendencies to lawlessness and to disunion are written 
 in men's actions all around us. Tlieymust be met,' checked, 
 and subdued, before our republic is safe in itself or noble in 
 the eyes of the stranger. On both grounds, therefore, — on 
 that of youth and that of freedom, — we are under responsi- 
 bilities that sometimes seem greater than the accompanying 
 privileges. At the same time, there is no doubt that we are 
 the gainers by coming late and by coming free upon the 
 stage of history. We have been animated by the great- 
 ness, warned by the weakness, of earlier times. Their bur- 
 dens are not upon our shoulders, their bonds are not upon 
 our limbs ; what has been is not perpetually clashing with 
 
4G6 'PART IV. 1797-1850. 
 
 what is, or with what ought to be. Great, indeed, are our 
 lessons, and great our resources ; great, therefore, should be 
 our deeds. If they are not so, our rank, historically, sinks 
 to insignificance. But if they are, if the deeds bear full 
 proportion to the resources and the lessons, then, and then 
 only, the part of the nation in human history will rise to 
 majesty. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 I. 
 
 EUROPEAN SOVEREIGNS, 
 
 AT ANY TIME RULING, OR CLAIMING RULE, OVER ANY PART OF THE 
 
 PRESENT UNITED STATES. 
 
 Spain. 
 
 England. 
 
 1492. Ferdinand and Isabella. 
 
 1492. Henry VII. 
 
 1504. Ferdinand, Philip, and Jo- 
 
 1509. Henry VIII. 
 
 amia. 
 
 1547. Edward VI. 
 
 1516. Charles I., (the Fifth of 
 
 1553. Mary. 
 
 Germany.) 
 
 1558. Elizabeth. 
 
 1556. Philip II. 
 
 1603. James I. 
 
 1598. Philip III. 
 
 1625. Charles I. 
 
 1621. PhUip IV. 
 
 [1649. Commonwealth." 
 
 1665. Charles II. 
 
 1660. Charles IL 
 
 1700. PhihpV. 
 
 1685. James II. 
 
 1746. FerdmandVI. 
 
 1689. Wilham and Mary. 
 
 1759. Charles III. 
 
 1702. Aime. 
 
 1788. Charles IV. 
 
 1714. George I. 
 
 1808. Joseph Napoleon. 
 
 1727. George IL 
 
 1814. Ferdinand Vn. 
 
 1760. George in. 
 
 France. 
 
 Holland. 
 
 1515. Francis I. 
 
 Stadtholclers and Captains Gen 
 
 1547. Henry II. 
 
 eral. 
 
 1559. Francis II. 
 
 1584. Maurice of Orange. 
 
 1560. Charles IX. 
 
 1625. Frederic Henry. 
 
 1574. Heniylll. 
 
 1647. WnUam H. 
 
 1589. Henry IV. 
 
 [1650. Commonwealth.] 
 
 1610. Louis XIII. 
 
 1674. WilUam IH. 
 
 1643. Louis XIV. 
 
 
 1715. Louis XV. 
 
 Sweden. 
 
 1774. Louis XVI. 
 
 
 "1792. Revolution.] 
 
 1609. Gustavus Adolphus. 
 
 1804. Napoleon. 
 
 1632. Christina. 
 
 (467) 
 
468 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 II. 
 
 AMEEICAN AUTHORITIES. 
 
 I. Presidents op the Continental Congress. 
 
 1774. 
 
 1775. 
 
 1777. 
 1778. 
 1779. 
 1781. 
 
 1782. 
 1783. 
 1784. 
 1786. 
 1787. 
 1788. 
 
 Peyton Randolph, 
 Henry Middleton, 
 Peyton Randolph. 
 John Hancock, 
 Henry Laurens, 
 John Jay, 
 
 Samuel Huntington, 
 Thomas McKean, 
 John Hanson, 
 Elias Eoudinot, 
 Thomas Mifflin, 
 Richard Heiuy Lee, 
 Nathaniel Gorham, 
 Arthur St. Clair, 
 Cyrus Griffin, 
 
 of Virginia. 
 
 " South Carolina. 
 
 " Massachusetts. 
 
 " South Carolina. 
 
 " New York. 
 
 " Comiecticut. 
 
 " Delaware. 
 
 " Maryland. 
 
 " New Jersey. 
 
 " Pennsylvania. 
 
 " Virginia. 
 
 *' Massachusetts. 
 
 " Pemisylvania. 
 
 «« Virginia. 
 
 n. National Administrations. 
 
 1. 1789-97. 
 
 President, 
 George Washington. 
 
 Vice President. 
 John Adams. 
 
 Secretaries of State. 
 
 1789. Thomas Jefferson. 
 
 1794. Edmund Randolph. 
 
 1795. Timothy Pickering. 
 
 Secretaries of the Treasury. 
 
 1 1789. Alexander Hamilton. 
 1795. Oliver Wolcott 
 
 Secretaries of War. 
 
 1789. Henry Knox. , 
 
 1795. Timothy Pickering. 
 
 1796. James McHcnry. 
 
 Postmasters General. 
 
 1789. Samuel Osgood. 
 
 1794. Timothy Pickering. 
 
 1795. Joseph Habersham. 
 
 Attorneys General. 
 
 1789. Edmund Randolph. 
 
 1794. WiUiam Bradford. 
 
 1795. Charles Lee. 
 
 Chief Justices. 
 
 1789. John Jay. 
 
 1796. WilHam Gushing. 
 Ohver Ellsworth. 
 
 Speakers of the House of Repre- 
 
 seiitatives. 
 
 1789. Frederic A. Muhlenberg. 
 1791. Jonathan Trumbull. 
 1793. Frederic A. Muhlenberg. 
 1795. Jonathan Dayton. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 469 
 
 2. 1797-1801. 
 
 President. 
 John Adams. 
 
 Vice President. 
 Thomas Jefferson. 
 
 Secretai'ies of State. 
 
 Timothy Pickermg. 
 1800. John Marshall. 
 
 Seeretaries of the Treasury. 
 
 Oliver Wolcott. 
 1800. Samuel Dexter. 
 
 Secretaries of War. 
 
 James McHeniy. 
 
 1800. Samuel Dexter. 
 
 1801. Roger Griswold. 
 
 Secretary of the Navy, 
 
 1798. Benjamin Stoddert. 
 
 Postmaster General. 
 Joseph Habersham. 
 
 Attorney General. 
 Charles Lee. 
 
 Chief Justices. 
 
 Oliver Ellsworth. 
 1801. John Marshall. 
 
 Sjieakers of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, 
 
 Jonathan Dayton. 
 
 1799. Theodore Sedgwick. 
 
 3. 1801-00. 
 
 President. 
 Thomas Jefferson. 
 
 Vice Presidents. 
 
 1801. Aaron Burr. 
 1805. George Clinton. 
 
 Secretary of State. 
 
 1801. James Madison. 
 
 Secretaries of the Treasury. 
 
 Samuel Dexter. 
 
 1802. Albert Gallatin. 
 
 Secretary of War. 
 1801. Henry Dearborn. 
 
 Secretaries of the Navy. 
 Benjamin Stoddert. 
 
 1802. Robert Smith. 
 
 1805. Jacob Cro^^aiinshield. 
 
 Postmasters General. 
 
 Joseph Habersham. 
 1802. Gideon Granger. 
 
 Attorneys General. 
 
 1801. Levi Lmcoln. 
 18t55. Robert Smith. 
 
 1806. John Breckenridge. 
 
 1807. Caesar A. Rodney. 
 
 Chief Justice. 
 
 John Marshall. 
 
 Speakers of the Hotise of Repre- 
 sentatives. 
 
 1801. Nathaniel Macon. 
 1807. Joseph B. Varnum. 
 
 4. 1809-17. 
 
 Presidetit. 
 James Madison. 
 
 40 
 
 Vice Presidents, 
 
 1809. George CHnton. 
 1813. Elbridge Geny. 
 
470 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Secretaries of State. 
 
 1809. Robert Smith. 
 1811. James Monroe. 
 
 Secretaries of the Treasury, 
 
 Albert Gallatin. 
 1814. George AV. Campbell. 
 Alexander J. Dallas. 
 
 Secretaries of War. 
 
 1809. William Eustis. 
 
 1813. Jolin Armstrong. 
 
 1814. James Monroe. 
 
 1815. William H. Crawford. 
 
 Secretaries of the Navxj. 
 
 1809. Paul Hamilton. 
 
 1813. William Jones. 
 
 1814. Benj. W. Crov.iiinshield. 
 
 Postmastsrs General. 
 
 Gideon Granger. 
 1814. Return J. Meigs. 
 
 Attorneys General. 
 
 Caesar A. Rodney. 
 1811. William Pinkney. 
 
 1814. Richard Rush. 
 
 Chief Justice. 
 Jolm Marshall. 
 
 Speakers of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives. 
 
 Joseph B. Varnum 
 1811. Henry Clay. 
 1813. Langdon Cheves. 
 
 1815. Henry Clay. 
 
 5. 1817-25. 
 
 President. 
 James Monroe. 
 
 Vice President. 
 Daniel D. Tompkins. 
 
 Secretary of State. 
 1817. Jolm Q. Adams. 
 
 Secretary of the Treasury.^ 
 1817. WnUam H. Crawford. 
 
 Secretary of War. 
 
 1817. John C. Calhoun. 
 
 Secretaries of the Navy. 
 
 Benj. W. Crowninshield. 
 
 1818. Smith Thompson. 
 
 1823. Samuel L. Southard. 
 
 Postmasters General. 
 
 Return J. Meigs. 
 1823. Jolm McLean. 
 
 Attorneys General. 
 
 Richard Rush. 
 1817. Wmiam Wirt. 
 
 Chief Justice. 
 
 John Marshall. 
 
 Speakers of the Hozcse of Repre- 
 sentatives. 
 
 Henry Clay. 
 
 1820. John W. Taylor. 
 
 1821. Philip P. Barbour 
 1823. Henry Clay. 
 
 6. 
 President. 
 John Quincy Adams. 
 
 Vice President. 
 John C. Calhoun. 
 
 1825-29. 
 
 Secretary of State. 
 1825. Henry Clay. 
 
 Secretary of the Treasury m 
 1825. Richard Rush. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 471 
 
 Secretaries of War. 
 
 1825. James Barbour. 
 1828. Peter B. Porter. 
 
 Secretary of the Navy. 
 Samuel L. Southard. 
 
 Postmaster General. 
 Joliii McLean. 
 
 Attorney General. 
 
 William Wirt. 
 
 Chief Justice. 
 
 John Marshall. 
 
 Speakers of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives. 
 
 1825. Jolm W. Taylor. 
 1827. Andrew Stevenson. 
 
 7. 1829-37. 
 
 President. 
 Andrew Jackson. 
 
 Vice Presidents. 
 
 1829. John C. Calhoun. 
 1833. Martin Yan Buren. 
 
 Secretaries of State. 
 
 1829. Martin Yan Buren. 
 1831. Edward Livingston. 
 
 1833. Louis McLane. 
 
 1834. John Forsyth. 
 
 Secretaries of the Treasury. 
 
 1829. Samuel B. Ingham. 
 1831. Louis McLane. 
 
 1833. William J. Duane. 
 Roger B. Taney. 
 
 1834. Levi Woodbury. 
 
 Secretaries of War. 
 
 1829. John H. Eaton. 
 1831. Lewis Cass. 
 
 Secretaries of the Navy. 
 
 1829. John Branch. 
 
 1831. Levi Woodbury. ^ 
 
 1834. Malilon Dickerson. " 
 
 Postmasters General. 
 
 1829. William T. Barry. 
 
 1835. Amos Kendall. 
 
 Attorneys General. 
 
 1829. John M. Berrien. 
 1831. Roger B. Taney. 
 1834. Benjamin F. Butler. 
 
 Chief Justices. 
 
 John Marshall. . 
 
 1836. Roger B. Taney. 
 
 Sj)eakers of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives. 
 
 Andx-ew Stevenson. 
 
 1834. John Bell. 
 
 1835. James K. Polk. 
 
 8. 1837-41. 
 
 President. 
 Martin Yan Buren. 
 
 Vice President. 
 Richard M. Johnson. 
 
 Secretary of State. 
 John Forsyth. 
 
 Secretary of the Treasury. 
 Levi Woodbury. 
 
 Secretary of War. 
 
 1837. Joel R. Poinsett. 
 
 Secretaries of the Navy, 
 
 Mahlon Dickerson. 
 
 1838. James K. Paulding. 
 
 Postmasters General. 
 
 Amos Kendall. 
 1840. Jolm M. NHes. 
 
472 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Attorneys General. 
 
 Benjamin F. Butler. 
 1838. Felix Gioindy. 
 1810. Henry D. GHpin. 
 
 Chief Justice. 
 Roger B. Taney. 
 
 Speakers of the House of Hei^re- 
 sentatives. 
 
 James K. Polk. 
 1839. Kobert M. T. Hunter. 
 
 9. 1841-45. 
 
 Presidents. 
 
 William Hemy Harrison. 
 John Tyler. 
 
 Vice President. 
 • John Tyler. 
 
 Secretaries of State. 
 
 1841. Daniel AVebster. 
 1813. Hugh S. Legar6. 
 Abel P. Upshur. 
 1844. John C. Calhoun. 
 
 Secretaries of the Treasury. 
 
 1841. Thomas Ewing. 
 
 Walter For-\vard. 
 1813. John C. Sjaencer. 
 1811. George M. Bibb. 
 
 Secretaries of War, 
 
 1841. Jolm Bell. 
 
 John C. Spencer. 
 1813. James M. Porter. 
 1811. WiUiam WiUdns. 
 
 Secretaries of the Navy. 
 
 1811. 
 
 George E. 
 Abel P. 
 
 Badger. 
 Upshur. 
 1813. David Henshaw. 
 1844. Thomas W. Gibner 
 John Y. Mason. 
 
 Postmasters General. 
 
 1841. Francis Granger. 
 
 Charles A. AVickliffe. 
 
 Attorneys General. 
 
 1811. John J. Crittenden. 
 
 Hugh S. Legare. 
 1843. John Nelson. 
 
 Chief Justice. 
 Roger B. Taney. 
 
 Speakers of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives. 
 
 1841. Jolm A\Tiite. 
 1843. John W. Jones. 
 
 10. 1845-49. 
 
 President. 
 James Knox Polk. 
 
 Vice President. 
 George M. Dallas. 
 
 Secretary of State. 
 1815. James Buchanan. 
 
 Secretary of the Treasury. 
 1815. Robert J. Walker. 
 
 Secretary of War. 
 1845. William L. Marcy. 
 
 Seo'etaries of the Navy, 
 
 1845. George Bancroft. 
 
 1846. John Y. Mason. 
 
 Postmaster General, 
 1845. Cave Johnson. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 473 
 
 Attorneys General. 
 
 1845. John Y. Mason. 
 
 1846. Nathan Clilford. 
 1848. Isaac Toucey. 
 
 Chief Justice. 
 Roger B. Taney. 
 
 •Speakers of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives. 
 
 1845. Jolin W. Davis. 
 1847. Eobert C. Winthrop. 
 
 11. 
 
 Presidents. 
 
 1849. Zachary Taylor. 
 
 1850. lilillard Fillmore. 
 
 Vice President. 
 Millard Fillmore. 
 
 Secretaries of State. 
 
 1849. John M. Clayton. 
 
 1850. Daniel Webster. 
 
 Secretaries of the Treasury. 
 
 1849. William M. Meredith. 
 
 1850. Thomas Corwin. 
 
 Secretaries of War. 
 
 1849. George W. Cra^-ford. 
 
 1850. Charles M. Conrad. 
 
 Secretaries of the Navy. 
 1849. AViUiam B. Preston. 
 
 40* 
 
 1849-50. 
 
 1850. William A. Graham. 
 
 Secretaries of the Interior. 
 
 1849. Thomas Ewing. 
 
 1850. Alexander H. H. Stuart. 
 
 Postmasters General. 
 
 1849. Jacob Collamer. 
 
 1850. Nathan K. Hall. 
 
 Attorneys General. 
 
 1849. Reverdy Johnson. 
 
 1850. John J. Crittenden. 
 
 Chief Justice. 
 Roger B. Taney. 
 
 S2)eaJcer of the Eouse of Repre- 
 sentatives. 
 
 1849. Howell Cobb. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Aben^akis, 57. 
 
 wars mth, 118-20. 
 
 Abolitionism, 166, 304, 408. 
 Acadie, 18, 19, 138, 142, 145, 149. 
 Acts of Parliament, 105, 174, 175, 
 •186, 187, 193, 195, 198, 200, 201, 
 
 293, 208, 211. 
 Adams, John, 197, 203, 204, 222, 
 
 223, 240, 263, 276, 297, 307, 316, 
 
 325, 326, 331, 332. 
 Adams, John Quincy, 312, 375, 386, 
 
 390-93, 395. 
 Adams, Samuel, 199, 203. 
 Administrations, 468. 
 Admiralty, 169, 187. 
 Africans, 60. 
 
 Alabama, 141, 337, 382, 396, 402. 
 Alexandria Convention, 280. 
 Algonquins, 56, 57. 
 Alien act, 333. 
 Allston, Washington, 462. 
 America, discovered, 5, 9, 22. 
 
 named, 11. • 
 
 American Association, 203, 207. 
 
 American system, 394. 
 
 Ames, Fisher, 321. 
 
 Andros, Sir Edmund, 107-109, 119, 
 
 145. 
 Annapolis Academy, 458. 
 Annapolis Convention, 283. 
 Arkansas, 382, 415, 425. 
 Anned neutrality, 254. 
 Armv of the revolution, 210-212, 
 
 23i, 238,239, 258, 264, 265. 
 
 provisional, 332. 
 
 ■ of the war with Great Britain, 
 
 357, 361,367. 
 
 of the war with Mexico, 431, 
 
 435, 440. 
 Arnold, Benedict, 211, 216, 229, 252, 
 
 257, 260. 
 Art, in the colonies, 162, 163. 
 
 in the United States, 295, 462. 
 
 Assemblies, colonial, 190. 
 Astor Library, 458. 
 
 Audubon, J. J., 460. 
 Austin, Stephen F., 417, 418. 
 
 Bacon, Nathaniel, 106, 107. 
 Baltimore, 356. 
 
 defence of, 366. 
 
 Baltmiore, Lords, 43, 78, 101. 
 Bank of North America, 273. 
 Bank of United States, 302, 368, 
 
 380, 405-108. 
 Banking, colonial, 174. 
 
 national, 412. 
 
 Baptists, 92, 93, 127, 164. 
 Bartram, John and William, 162. 
 Belcher, Jonathan, 173. 
 Belknap, Jeremy, 291, 459. 
 Berkeley, Sir Wilham, 106, 107, 159. 
 Berlin decree, 345. 
 Bibles, editions of, 160. 
 Billings, William, 295. 
 Bishops proposed, 110, 165. 
 
 appointed, 279. 
 
 Black Hawk, 409. 
 
 Bladensburg battle, 365. 
 
 Blair, James, 158. 
 
 Block, Adi-ian, 48. 
 
 Board of trade, 169. 
 
 Bonaparte, Charles L., 160. 
 
 Boston, 37, 168, 173, 175, 196, 198, 
 
 200, 201. 
 
 siege of, 214, 218. 
 
 Bowditcli, Nathaniel, 460. 
 Bovle, Robert, 114. 
 Bradford, William, 33, 34. 
 Bradstreet, Simon, 103, 108. 
 Brainerd, David, 123. 
 Brandymne battle, 235. 
 Bridgewater battle, 362. 
 Bromfield, Edward, 162. 
 Brooks, Maria, 461. 
 Brown, Charles B., 460. 
 Bro-\\'n, General Jacob, 360, 862. 
 Buena Vista battle, 434. 
 Bunker Hill battle, 213. 
 Burgoyne's defeat, 234, 235. 
 
 (475) 
 
476 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Burke, Eflmmia, 208, 217- 
 Bumet, Wiimim, 172, 173. 
 Burr, Aaron, 341. 
 
 Cabot, John, 22. 
 
 Sebastian, 22, 23. 
 
 Calef, Robert, 96. 
 
 Calhoun, John C, 355, 392, 403, 
 426, 447, 449, 458. 
 
 California, 135, 435, 436, 442, 444, 
 446-451. 
 
 Calvert, Sir George, 27, 43. 
 
 Camden battle, 250. 
 
 Canada, 17, 19, 136, ISS, 142, 154, 
 201, 216, 420. 
 
 Canals, 454. 
 
 Cancello, Luis de, 14. 
 
 Canonchet, 118, 119 
 
 Canonicus, 116. 
 
 Cape Ann colony, 36. 
 
 Capital, national, 301. 
 
 Carolana, 45, 78. 
 
 Carolina, 17, 78. 
 
 Caroline, burning of the, 420, 421. 
 
 Carver, John, 51. 
 
 Catesby, Mark, 163. 
 
 Central America, relations with, 
 389. 
 
 Cerro Gordo battle, 438. 
 
 Channing, William E., 416, 459. 
 
 Chapultepec battle, 439. 
 
 Charities, public, 463, 464. 
 
 Charleston, 79, 246, 250, 261. 
 
 defence of, 228. 
 
 Charter governments, 38, 88. 
 
 Charters assailed, 104, 108, 170. 
 
 Cherokees, 58, 393, 396. 
 
 ' wars with, 121. 
 
 Chesapeake, affair of, 343, 344. 
 
 Chickasaws, 58. 
 
 ■ war with, 144. 
 
 Chihuahua conquered, 434, 435. 
 
 Child, llobert, and fellow petition- 
 ers, 91. 
 
 Chippewa battle, 362. 
 
 Church of England, 65, 91, 164, 279. 
 
 Churches in the colonies, 91, 164. 
 
 in the states, 279, 298. 
 
 Churubusco battle, 439. 
 
 Cincinnati Society, 269. 
 
 Clarke, John, and fellow Baptists,92. 
 
 Classes in colonies, 85, 87. 
 
 Clav, Henry, 355, 375, 386, 387, 
 403, 407, 414, 449, 450. 
 
 Clay1)orne, William, 45. 
 
 Cole, Thomas, 462. 
 
 Coligny, Admiral de, 17. 
 
 Colleges, 29, 30, 158, 455. 
 
 Columbia Convention, 399. 
 
 Columbus, 7-11, 22. 
 
 Commercial rule over the colonics, 
 105, 174, 183. 
 
 Commissioners, British, to Massa- 
 chusetts, 103. 
 
 to New York, 130. 
 
 to United States, 241. 
 
 Companies, Dutch, 48, 49, 127, 128. 
 
 English, 26, 27, 31, 42. 
 
 French, 136, 143. 
 
 Swedish, 54. 
 
 Compromises, constitutional, 287- 
 290. 
 
 Missouri, 385, 386. 
 
 tariff, 403. 
 
 — Texas, 426, 427. 
 
 — of 1850, 449-451. 
 Conant, Roger, 36. 
 Concord battle, 209. 
 Conestoga massacre, 122. 
 Confederation, 225, 254. 
 Congress, stamp act, 188-191. 
 
 — Continental, 202-204, 211, 212, 
 215, 221-225, 227, 231-233, 238- 
 241, 244, 245, 251, 252, 254. 
 
 of the Confederation, 255, 258, 
 
 263-265, 270, 272, 274-276, 281, 
 293. 
 of the Constitution,', 296, 299- 
 
 305, 308, 318, 321, 323, 324, 337, 
 338, 346, 351, 353, 355, 367, 376, 
 
 ^82-388, 391, 394, 396-398, 492, 
 403, 405-407, 409-412, 414, 417, 
 420, 421, 427, 431, 447-451. 
 
 of Panama, 391. 
 
 Congresses, Provincial, 202, 206, 
 211, 212. 
 
 Connecticut, 40, 41, 76, 104, 108- 
 110, 129, 210, 225, 275, 278, 369, 
 370, 382. 
 
 Consolidation of colonics, 107-110. 
 
 Constitution, national, 279-293. 
 
 amendments, 299 
 
 Constitutions, state, 225, 277, 278, 
 
 306, 382, 387, 422-125. 
 Contreras battle, 439. 
 Conventions, colonial, 167, 104, 201. 
 constitutional, 280, 282, 292, 
 
 293. 
 Cooper, J. Fenimore, 460. 
 Copley, John Singleton, 163. 
 Cornbury, Lord, 171- 
 Cornwallis's surrender, 259, 260. 
 Council for New England, 32, oO, 41 , 
 Cowcnga capitulation, 436. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 477 
 
 Cowpons battle, 256. 
 Credit, public, 300, 416. 
 Creeks, 58, 392, 393. 
 —— wars with, 367, 380, 410. 
 Crisis of 1837, 412, 413. 
 Croswell, William, 461. 
 Cro^vn, supremacy of, 102. 
 Crozat, Antoine, 141, 142. 
 Cruger, Henry, 207- 
 
 Dahcotas, 5Q. 
 
 Dare, Virginia, 24. 
 
 Dearborn, General Henry, 357, 360. 
 
 Debt, imprisonment for, 464. 
 
 public, 300, 301, 378, 408, 446. 
 
 Decatur, Captain Stephen, 364, 377. 
 
 Declaration of rights and liberties, 
 188, 189. 
 
 of colonial rights, 203. 
 
 ' of independence by Mecklen- 
 burg county, 210. 
 
 by Congress, 223, 224, 227; 
 
 Decrees, French, against American 
 commerce, 317, 323, 331, 347, 
 348, 353. 
 
 D'Estaing, Count, 243, 244, 247. 
 
 De Grasse, Count, 259, 260. 
 
 De Kalb, Baron, 250. 
 
 Delaware, 82, 225, 281, 282, 292. 
 
 Delawares, 57. 
 
 wars with, 121, 122. 
 
 Democratic party, 411. 
 
 Democratic republicans, 308, 314. 
 
 Deposits in United States Bank 
 removed, 406, 407. 
 
 Deseret, 448.- 
 
 D'Iberville, Lemoine, 141, 146. 
 
 Dickinson, John, 193, 203, 222, 292. 
 
 Dictatorship of Washington, 232. 
 
 Doniphan, Colonel, 434, 435. 
 
 Dorr, Thomas W., 424, 425. 
 
 Drake, Sir Francis, 23, 24. 
 
 Joseph R., 461. 
 
 Dunster, Henry, 93. 
 
 Edwards, Jonathan, 123, 161. 
 
 Education, 157, 158. 
 
 Eliot, John, 40, 103, 113-115. 
 
 Embargo, under Washington, 318. 
 
 • under Jefferson, 346, and sub- 
 stitutes, 347. 
 
 vmder Madison, 351, 367, 368. 
 
 Endicott, John, 36. 
 
 England, John, 159. 
 
 England, 65, 71-73, 179. 
 
 English dominion at its height in 
 America, 177, 179. 
 
 Espejio, De, 15. 
 Europe, 3-5, 61-66. 
 European sovereigns, 467. 
 Eutaw Springs battle, 257. 
 Excise, 300, 308. 
 Exeter insurrection, 270. 
 Exploring Expedition, 456. 
 
 Federal and anti-federal, 284, 286. 
 Federal Convention, 282, 290. 
 Federal RepubKcan, of Baltimore, 
 
 356. 
 Federalist and anti-federalist, 291, 
 
 302, 314, 318. 
 Federalist, the, 292. 
 Fillmore, Millard, 451. 
 Five Nations, 57, 120. 
 
 wars with, 144, 147, 148. 
 
 Fletcher, Benjamin, 109. 
 
 Florida, Spanish and British, 13, 
 
 14, 131, 132, 135, 263, 313, 336, 
 
 339, 350, 381. 
 
 American, 381, 416, 425. 
 
 Foot's resolution, 397, 398. 
 Foreign relations, 215, 240, 312, 
 
 379, 389, 410. 
 Foreigners, protection of, 376. 
 Fort Bowser, 372, 373. 
 
 Brown, 433. 
 
 Erie, 362. 
 
 Lee, 229. 
 
 McHenry, 366, 
 
 Moultrie, 228. 
 
 Meigs, 359. 
 
 Mercer, 236, 237- 
 
 Mifflin, 236. 
 
 Stevenson, 359. 
 
 Sullivan, 228. 
 
 Washington, 229. 
 
 France, 64, 67-71. 
 
 alliance with, 240. 
 
 war with, 332. 
 
 relations with, 313-317, 322, 
 
 323, 331, 332, 334, 336, 338, 344, 
 
 345, 347, 348, 353, 358, 410, 411. 
 Franklin, I3cnjamin, 159, 160, 161, 
 
 108, 192, 202, 223, 240, 263, 283, 
 
 285, 287, 290. 
 Franklin, or Frankland, 271. 
 Free soil party, 445. 
 Fremont, John C, 435, 436.^ 
 Freneau, Philip, 294. 
 French in the revolution, 240, 243, 
 
 244, 252, 258-261. 
 Frenchtown battle, 358, 359. 
 Fugitive slaves, 86, 99, 289. 
 Fugitive slave laws, 448, 449, 451. 
 
478 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Gadsden, Christopher, 188, 203, 206. 
 
 Gaijfc, General, 200, 206, 211. 
 
 Gallatin, Albert, 308, 355, 375, 460. 
 
 Gaspc revenue schooner, 197. 
 
 Gates, General Horatio, 23-1, 237, 
 238, 250. 
 
 General govcrament for the colo- 
 nies, 35, 3G, 99, 107-110, 168, 170. 
 
 Genet's mission, 315, 316. 
 
 Georgia, 82, 133, 215, 225, 246, 277, 
 392, 393, 395, 396, 402. 
 
 Georgia controversy, 393. 
 
 Germantown battle, 235. 
 
 Gerry, Elbridge, 287, 290, 331, 378. 
 
 Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 23, 24. 
 
 Godfrey, Thomas, 162. 
 
 Gorges, Sir Ferdinando, 31, 35, 36, 
 38, 74. 
 
 Gorton, Samuel, 98, 117. 
 
 Gosnold, Bartholomew, 25, 27. 
 
 Gourgues, De, 18. 
 
 Governors, royal, 106, 171. 
 
 Gray's voyage, 432. 
 
 Great Britain^ relations with, 276, 
 313, 314, 317-320, 342-345, 347, 
 348, 351, 379, 420, 421, 431, 432. 
 (Sec Treaties, Wars.) 
 
 Greene, General Nathaniel, 251, 
 256, 257, 259. 
 
 Greenough, Horatio, 462. 
 
 Grenville, Sir Richard, 24. 
 
 Guilford battle, 256. 
 
 Gun boats, Jefferson's, 346. 
 
 Halduyt, Richard, 27. 
 
 Hamilton, Alexander, 239, 255, 
 
 279, 280, 283, 284, 292, 299, 300, 
 
 307, 308, 318, 335, 341. 
 Hanson, Alexander, 356. 
 Harrisburg Convention, 394. 
 Harrison, AVilliam Henry, 349, 358, 
 
 359, 421. 
 Hartford Convention, 369-372. 
 Harvard, John, 39. 
 Harvard College, 39, 93, 96, 194 
 Harvey, Reuben, 263. 
 Hawley, Joseph, 195, 204. 
 Hayno, Robert Y., 398. 
 Heckewelder, John, 311. 
 Henry, Patrick, 187, 203, 20-1. 
 Hillhouse, James A., 461. 
 Hobart, John H., 4-59. 
 Hobkirk's Hill battle, 256. 
 Hopkinson, Francis, 294. 
 Holmes, Abiel, 459. 
 Houston, Samuel, 418, 423. 
 Hudson, Henry, 47. 
 
 Huguenots in Carolina, 17, 18, 79. 
 Hull, Captain Isaac, 364. 
 Hull, General William, 358. 
 Hutchinson, Anne, 40. 
 
 Illinois, 139, 201, 242, 337, 341, 382, 
 415. 
 
 Immigration, 453. 
 
 Impressment, British, 175, 317, 342, 
 344, 353,375,376,422. 
 
 Indented servants, 85, 86, 278. 
 
 Independence, American, idea of, 
 220, 221. 
 
 resolution of, 222, 223. 
 
 Independent treasury, 413, 414. 
 
 Indiana, 142, 275, 382, 415. 
 
 territory, 337- 
 
 Indians, tribes and numbers, 56-58, 
 453. 
 
 removal of, 349, 393. (See 
 
 Treaties, Wars.) 
 
 Insolvency of states, 414, 415. 
 
 Iowa, 425. 
 
 Iroquois, 56, 57. (See Five Na- 
 tions.) 
 
 Jackson, Andrew, 324, 367, 372, 
 373, 380, 381, 392, 395-397, 401, 
 402, 405-409, 411, 417, 419, 428. 
 
 Jay, John, 203, 221, 249, 263, 292, 
 299, 318-320. 
 
 Jay's treaty, 319-21. 
 
 Jefferson, Thomas, 223, 274, 276, 
 299, 305, 307, 308, 318, 326, 331, 
 333, 338, 339, 343, 346, 347, 384. 
 
 Jones, John Paul, 248, 249. 
 
 Judiciary, national, 2t)9. 
 
 Judges, colonial, at king's pleasure, 
 176. 
 
 Kalm, Peter, 163. 
 Kent, James, 459. 
 Kentucky, 215, 271, 306. 
 King's Moimtain battle, 253. 
 King's Province, 76, 104. 
 
 Laconia, 35. 
 
 Lafayette, Marquis de, 233, 241, 244, 
 
 249, 251, 259-261, 268, 277, 296, 
 
 325, 388. 
 Lake Champlain, action on, 363. 
 
 Erie, action on, 359. 
 
 La Salle, 139, 140. 
 
 Laurens, Henry, 254, 263. 
 
 Law, English, in the colonies, 87. 
 
 Lee, General Charles, 228, 238, 241, 
 
 242. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 479 
 
 Lee, General Henry, 309, 356. 
 
 Richard Henry, 203, 204, 222. 
 
 Legare, Hugh Swinton, 459. 
 
 Leisler, Jacob, 108^ 
 
 Leverett, John, 105, 119. 
 
 Lewis and Clarke's expedition, 432. 
 
 Lexington battle, 209. 
 
 Libraries, 457. 
 
 Ligonia, 74. 
 
 Lincoln, General Benjamin, 246, 
 
 247, 250, 270. 
 Little Belt, affair of, 350. 
 Literature of the colonies, 161, 162, 
 
 167. 
 of the United States, 291, 292, 
 
 294, 458-i61. 
 Livingston, Edward, 459. 
 Livingston, Robert R., 223, 338. 
 Locke, John, model for Carolina, 88. 
 London Company, 27, 29. 
 Long Island battle, 229. 
 Louisiana, American, 338-340, 350, 
 
 373, 415. 
 French and Spanish, 133, 135, 
 
 139-143, 154, 338. 
 district of, 340, 350. 
 
 Loyalists, 217, 263. 
 
 Madison, James, 272, 283, 292, 326, 
 334, 347, 351, 355, 378, 380, 398. 
 
 Maine, 19, 31, 35, 36, 74, 75, 104, 
 138, 271, 385, 386, 420, 421. 
 
 Manhattans, 5J. 
 
 wars Avith, 125. 
 
 Manufactures, colonial, restricted, 
 170, 174. 
 
 — — nationa,l, developed, 394, 453. 
 
 Mariana, 35. 
 
 Marion, Francis, 250. 
 
 Marquette, 139. 
 
 Marshall, John, 331, 341. 
 
 Martin, Luther, 287, 289, 291. 
 
 Marvland, 43, 44, 77, 108, 129, 157, 
 225, 255, 289,_415. 
 
 Mason, John, 35, 36. 
 
 Massachusetts, 37-39, 75, 99, 102- 
 105, 108, 114, 129, 157, 166, 173, 
 194, 200, 202, 206. 210, 212, 225, 
 270, 275, 278, 279, 293, 368-371, 
 376, 386, 421. 
 
 Mather, Cotton, 96, 164, 165. 
 
 Mather, Increase, 96, 119. 
 
 Mavhew, Jonathan, 177, 187- 
 
 Ma'yhcw, Thomas, 113, 114. 
 
 McDonough, Captain, 363. 
 
 Mecklenburg county, 210. 
 
 Melendez de Avilez, 14, 17. 
 
 Methodist Episcopal church, 279. 
 Mexico, relations with, 409, 425, 
 
 427-429. 
 Miantonimoh, 116, 117. 
 Michigan, 139, 337, 341, 358, 360, 
 
 415, 425. 
 Milan decree, 345. 
 Military rule over the colonies, 175, 
 
 176, 183. 
 MiUtia, in the revolution, 206, 215, 
 
 231. 
 in the war with Great Britain, 
 
 357, 367, 371. 
 Minnesota, 446. 
 
 Minors, enlistments of, 367, 372. 
 Minuit, Peter, 50, 52, 55. 
 Missions, French, 19, 20, 120, 138, 
 
 139, 142. 
 
 English, 113-115, 123. 
 
 I^Ioravian, 122, 124, 311. 
 
 Spanish, 14, 131, 132. 
 
 Mississippi, 141, 337,^382, 415, 416. 
 
 territory, 337, 350, 382. 
 
 navigation of, 258, 276, 313. 
 
 Missouri, 142, 154, 340, 350, 382, 
 387. 
 
 compromise, obi 
 
 "«5, 386. 
 
 M'Leod, Alexander, 420. 
 
 Mobilians, 56, 58. 
 
 Mohawks, 57, 120, 125. 
 
 Mohegans, 57, 116, 117. 
 
 Molino del Rey battle, 439. 
 
 Monmouth battle, 242. 
 
 Monroe, James, 322, 338, 343, 355, 
 380, 381, 386, 388-390. 
 
 doctrine, 389-391. 
 
 Monterev taken, 433. 
 
 Moravians, 83, 122, 124, 811. 
 
 Mormons, 448, 463. 
 
 Morris, Robert, 273. 
 
 Morton, Thomas, 42. 
 
 Mother country, relations with colo- 
 nies, 102, 169, 183. 
 
 Moultrie, Colonel, 228, 247. 
 
 Narragansetts, 57, 116. 
 
 war with, 117, 118. 
 
 Natchez Indians, 58. 
 
 war with, 144. 
 
 National University, 456. 
 
 Navigation acts, 105. 
 
 Navy of the revolution, 215, 216, 
 
 237, 248, 249. 
 
 of the war with France, 332. 
 
 of the war with Tripoli, 338. 
 
 of the war with Great Britain, 
 
 357, 359, 363-365, 374. 
 
480 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Navy of the war with Algiers, 377- 
 
 of the war with Mexico, 436- 
 
 438. 
 
 Neutrality proclaimed by Washing- 
 ton, 315, 322. 
 
 Neutrals, 317, 319, 323, 342, 353, 375. 
 
 New Albion, 23, 45. 
 
 Amstel, 128. 
 
 Amsterdam, 50 ; first city in 
 
 the United States, 127- 
 
 Connecticut, 272. 
 
 England, 31, 76, 99, 107. 
 
 France, 17, 136-138, 140. 
 
 Hampshire, 36, 75, 104, 210, 
 
 225, 270, 272, 278. 
 
 Hampshire grants, 76,271,272. 
 
 Jersey, 80, 108-110, 172, 225, 
 
 230, 254, 255, 281. 
 
 Mexico, 15, 435, 442, 446-451. 
 
 Netherland, 48, 125, 127, 130. 
 
 Orleans, 143, 154, 338, 372, 
 
 373. 
 
 Orleans battles, 372, 373. 
 
 Somersetshire, 36, 74. 
 
 Sweden, on, 127, 128. 
 
 York, colony and state, 79, 
 
 107-111, 130, 139, 167, 172, 176, 
 196, 225, 255, 256, 272, 274, 279, 
 292, 420. 
 
 York city, 50, 229, 292, 412. 
 
 Newburg Addresses, 264. 
 
 Newport, 230, 243, 248. 
 
 Newspapers, 159, 160. 
 
 Non-importation and non-inter- 
 course, 191, 318, 332, 347, 368. 
 
 North Carolina, 78, 120, 121, 197, 
 221, 225, 281, 292, 299, 305, 308, 
 402. 
 
 North-eastern boiindary, 420, 421. 
 
 Point battle, 366.. 
 
 Northern and southern parties, 272, 
 273, 288, 303, 369, 383-387, 397, 
 445-447. 
 
 North-west Territory, 275, 305. 
 
 Norton, Andrews, 461. 
 
 Nullification in Kentucky, 333. 
 
 in Virginia, 333, 395. 
 
 in Massachusetts, 371, 372, 
 
 376, 377. 
 
 in Connecticut, 371. 
 
 in Georgia, 393, 395. 
 
 in South Carolina, 395, 399- 
 
 403. 
 
 Occupations, 156, 453. 
 Oglethorpe, James Edward, 82, 83, 
 133, 134. 
 
 Ohio, 142, 275, 341, 358, 360. 
 
 Company, 151. 
 
 Opcchancanough, 115. 
 
 Orders in council, British, against 
 
 American commerce, 317, 345, 
 
 347, 353. 
 Oregon, 432, 446. 
 
 controversy, 431, 432. 
 
 Orleans, Territory of, 340. 
 
 Osceola, 410. 
 
 Otis, James, 177, 186, 188. 
 
 Ottawas, 57. 
 
 war with, 122. 
 
 Paine, Thomas, 294. 
 
 Palo Alto battle, 433. 
 
 Panama, congress of, 391. 
 
 Papal bull in favor of Spain, 10. 
 
 Paper money, 232. 
 
 Parliament, authority of, 104-106, 
 
 174, 186. (See Acts.) 
 Parties, in the colonies, 184, 191, 
 
 196, 217, 222, 226. 
 in the United States, 226, 
 
 273, 285, 286, 288, 291, 299, 302, 
 
 303, 307, 308, 314, 316, 320, 321, 
 
 323, 324, 330, 333, 335, 339, 355, 
 
 368, 369, 383-387, 411, 445. 
 Patroons, 50. 
 Pavne, John H., 461. 
 Penn, William, 81, 101, 167. 
 Pennsylvania, 81, 101, 109, 122, 142, 
 
 157, 166, 225, 277, 278, 281, 292, 
 
 308, 415, 416. f 
 
 insurrection, 308, 309. 
 
 Pequots, 57. 
 
 war with, 116. 
 
 Percival, James G., 461. 
 
 Perry, Lieutenant Oliver H., 359. 
 
 Persecution in Massachusetts, 43, 
 
 91-95, 98. 
 
 in other colonies, 96, 97. 
 
 in New Netherland, 127. 
 
 Pessacus, 117. 
 
 Philadelphia, 81, 101, 167, 198, 235, 
 
 241. 
 Philip, King, 117. 
 
 war with, 117-119. 
 
 Phips, Sir William, 95, 146. 
 
 Pickering, John, 459. 
 
 Pinckney, Charles C, 283, 289, 
 
 323 331. 
 Plymouth, *32-34, 74, 100, 104, 113, 
 
 117, 119, 146. 
 Plymouth Company, 31. 
 Pokanokets, 57. 
 war with, 117-119. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 481 
 
 Polk, James K., 427, 431, 432,441, 
 
 444, 445. 
 Ponce de Leon, 13. 
 Pontiac, 122. 
 
 Population, 184, 298, 357, 452. 
 Powhatans, 57, 112. 
 
 war ynth, 115. 
 
 Presbyterians, 91, 279. 
 Presidents of Congress, 468. 
 Press, the,. 158-160, 457. 
 Prisoners of war, 262, 376. 
 Proprietary governments, 43, 88, 
 
 89. 
 Protective system, 394, 397, 403, 
 
 404, 445. 
 Protestant Episcopal chui-ch, 279, 
 
 298, 463. 
 Providence, 41, 76. 
 Pulaski, Count, 246, 247- 
 Puritans in Holland, 32, 49. 
 
 Quakers, 80, 81, 91, 94, 97, 127, 
 
 164, 166. 
 Queenstown battle, 360. 
 Quiney, Josiah, Jr , 194, 197. 
 Quintuple treaty, 421. 
 
 Tlaihvays, 455. 
 Raleigh, Sir Walter, 24. 
 Kandolph, Edmund, 283, 290, 296, 
 
 299, 307, 320. 
 Rasles, Sebastian, 120. 
 Reed, Esther, 2^53. 
 Reed, Henry, 460. 
 Reformation, 61-63. 
 Regulators, 197- 
 Removals from office by Jackson, 
 
 395. 
 Republican party, 303, 314, 380. 
 Repudiation, 41o, 416. 
 Resaca de la Palma battle, 433. 
 Revolution of 1688, 71, 108. 
 Revolution, war of. — Three Peri- 
 ods, 227, 243: First, ' 206-219 ; 
 
 Second, 227-242, Third, 243- 
 
 260. 
 Rhode Island, 41, 76, 97, 100, 104, 
 
 108, 198, 202, 210, 225, 256, 278, 
 
 293, 299, 369. 
 Rhode Island, sedition and war in, 
 
 422-i25. 
 Right of search. (See Impress- 
 
 inents.) 
 
 of visit, 421. 
 
 Robinson, John, 113. 
 Rochambeau, Count de, 252, 259- 
 
 261. 
 
 41 
 
 Roman Catholics, 96, 164, 278, . 
 
 279, 298, 463. 
 Royal African Company, 170. 
 
 pro\inces, 30, 89. 
 
 Rutledge, John, 203, 246, 289. 
 
 Sackett's Harbor, defence of, 360, 
 
 362. 
 Saltonstall, Sir Richard, 93. 
 Saratoga battles, 234. 
 Saussaye, De, 19. 
 Savannah, 83, 246, 247, 261. 
 Schools, 157, 158, 455. 
 Schuyler, General Philip, 234. 
 Science in the colonies, 161, 162. 
 
 in the United States, 460. 
 
 Scott, General Winfield, 362, 410, 
 
 437-440. 
 Secession of South Carolina, 395. 
 Sedition act, 333. 
 Settlements, Spanish, 13-16, 132, 
 
 135. 
 
 French, 17-21, 138-143. 
 
 English, 22-46, 74-83. 
 
 Dutch, 47-53, 129. 
 
 Swedish, 54, 55, 127, 128. 
 
 Seminoles, 58. 
 
 wars with, 380, 410. 
 
 Shawanoes, 57. 
 
 wars with, 121, 122, 349. 
 
 Shawomet, 98. 
 
 Sha^s's insurrection, 270. 
 
 Slaves, first in America, 10 ; first 
 
 in United States territory, 28, 60. 
 Slavery in colonies, 86, 166. 
 in the United States, 278, 288, 
 
 289, 409. 
 in the territories, 274, 275, 
 
 304, 305, 337, 383, 384. 
 in District of Columbia, 447, 
 
 449-451. 
 
 in Louisiana, 339, 383. 
 
 in Missouri, 382-385. 
 
 in Texas, 419, 425-427, 446, 
 
 447. 
 in New Mexico and California, 
 
 447, 448. 
 Slave representation, 288. 
 Slave trade, 170, 171, 199, 278, 288, 
 
 303, 304, 387 
 Smith, John, 27, 28, 31, 112. 
 Smithsonian Institution, 456. 
 Society for propagating the Gospel 
 
 m New England, 114. 
 for propagating the Gospel in 
 
 Foreign Parts, 165. 
 Sons of ^Liberty, 196. 
 
482 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 South America, relations with, 389. 
 Carolina, 78, 120, 121, 157, 
 
 167, 225, 250, 395, 399-403. 
 Spain, mistress of the west, 9. 
 — — relations with, 275, 313, 336, 
 
 339, 350, 380, 381. 
 Specie payments suspended, 368, 
 
 412. 
 Spoliations, 379, 410, 428. 
 St. Augustine, first town in United 
 
 States, 15. 
 St. Sauveur, 19. 
 Standish, Miles, 31, 43. 
 State, subordinate to nation, 392, 
 
 404. 
 Steamboats, 455. 
 Steuben, Baron de, 258. 
 Stony Point, taken, 248. 
 Story, Joseph, 459. 
 Stuart, Gilbert, 462. 
 
 Moses, 459. 
 
 Stuyvesant, Peter, 127-129. 
 Sub-treasury, 413, 414. 
 Sumter, Thomas, 250. 
 Surplus revenue, 408. 
 Susquehannas, 57. 
 war with, 115. 
 
 Tariffs, 300, 379, 394, 395, 397, 403, 
 445. 
 
 Taxation, parliamentaiy, 105, 173, 
 174, 186, 187, 193, 203. 
 
 Taxes, national, 332, 368, 380. 
 
 Taylor, Zachary, 430, 433, 434, 448, 
 451. 
 
 Tea destroyed, 198, 199. 
 
 Tecumseh,' 349, 360. 
 
 Telegraphs, 455. 
 
 Tennessee, 205, 271, 306. 
 
 Territories, Jefferson's plan of or- 
 ganizing, 274. 
 
 Territory, colonial, 156. 
 
 national, 444, 452. 
 
 South of the Ohio, 305, 306. 
 
 Texas, 140, 417, 442, 446, 447, 449- 
 451.- 
 
 revolution, 418. 
 
 annexation, 418, 419, 425-427. 
 
 Thacher, Oxenbridge, 177, 187. 
 
 Thames, battle of the, 360. 
 
 Ticondcroga taken, 211. 
 
 - — lost, '234. 
 
 Tippecanoe, battle of the, 349. 
 
 Tohopeka battle, 367. 
 
 Towais, 89. 
 
 Treaties of Aix-la-Chapelle, 134, 
 150, 171. 
 
 Treaties of Breda, 130. 
 
 Ghent, 375, 376. 
 
 Guadalupe Hidalgo, 441-443. 
 
 Paris, 134, 154, 179. 
 
 Paris and Versailles, 263. 
 
 Ryswick, 147. 
 
 Seville, 133. 
 
 Utrecht, 133, 142, 148, 171. 
 
 Versailles, 263. 
 
 "Washington, 421, 422. 
 
 with Algiers, 311, 377. 
 
 with Creeks, 307, 380, 393. 
 
 with Five Nations, 148, 149. 
 
 \Wth France, 240, 336, 338, 
 
 340, 410. 
 with Great Britain, 263, 276, 
 
 319, 343, 375, 421. 
 with Indians, 300, 367, 377, 
 
 380, 393. 
 
 with Mexico, 428, 441-443. 
 
 wdth Prussia, 274 {yiote), 312. 
 
 wdth Spain, 313, 381. 
 
 Transylvania, 216. 
 
 Trenton and Princeton battles, 230. 
 
 TrumbiUl, John, 294. 
 
 John, Jr., 462. ' 
 
 Tucker, Dean, 208. 
 Tuscaroras, 58. 
 
 war with, 120. 
 
 Tyler, John, 421, 424, 425. • 
 
 Uncas, 116-118. 
 
 Union, colonial — United Colonies 
 ofNewEngland,99,100, 117,118. 
 
 Penn's plan, 167. 
 
 Coxe's, 167. 
 
 Franklin's, 167. 
 
 Hahfax's, 168. 
 
 United States of America, 224. 
 Utah, 448. 
 
 Valley Forge, 239. 
 
 Van Buren, Martin, 406, 412. 
 
 Van der Donck. Adrian, 126, 127. 
 
 Van Murray, William, 334. 
 
 Vera Cruz taken, 437. 
 
 Vennont, 76, 271, 272, 396. 
 
 Vespucci, Amerigo, 11. 
 
 Virginia, 26, 28-31, 77, 195, 198, 
 202, 221, 225, 247, 256, 257, 271, 
 274, 280, 292, 301, 321, 395, 402. 
 
 Vizcaino, Sebastiano, 15. 
 
 Volunteers of the Mexican war, 430, 
 431, 433, 440. 
 
 "Walloon colony, 49. 
 Ware, William, 461. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 483 
 
 Warren, Joseph, 210, 213. 
 Wars, Dutch, 51, 52, 129, 130. 
 
 French, 19, 133, 145-155. 
 
 King William's, 145-147. 
 
 Queen Anne's, 147, 148. 
 
 King George's, 149, 150. 
 
 Final, 150-154. ♦ 
 
 —— Indian, with English, 106, 
 
 115-123, 146, 147, 148. 
 
 with Dutch, 125, 126. 
 
 with French, 144, 146, 148. 
 
 with Spanish, 131-135. 
 
 United States, with Algiers, 
 
 377. 
 
 with Florida, 381. 
 
 XA-ith France, 331, 332 
 
 -— with Great Britain, 350, 351, 
 
 353-378. 
 
 Wars with Indians, 309, 310, 349, 
 
 367, 380, 409, 446. 
 
 with Mexico, 427-443. 
 
 with Tripoli, 338. 
 
 Warwick, Earl of, 40, 99. ^ 
 Wayne, General Anthony, 248, 310. 
 Washington, before the revolution, 
 
 151, 153, 187, 195, 200, 202-204, 
 
 210. 
 commander in chief, 212-219, 
 
 221, 228-233, 235-239, 241-248, 
 
 251-253, 255, 258-260, 262-267. 
 after the revolution, 268, 276, 
 
 277, 282, 292, 294. 
 president, 296-209, 302, 305- 
 
 310, 315, 316, 318-325. 
 in retirement, 332, 335. 
 
 ♦• 
 
» 
 
 
 1 1- 
 
 1^ 
 
 1 1, 
 
 IP