iiiiMWiiniii iitriiiiitiiiiiPiitip I 11 l\\ ill 11 (k)mikw.^.jj^i^_ COPV-RIGHT DEPOSIT. ELEMENTARY HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ELEMENTARY HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY CHARLES MORRIS iUTHOR OF "history OF THE UNITED STATES*' (ADVANCED, ELEMENTA »■» AND primary), "history OF THE WORLD," "HISTORICAL TALES OF THE NATIONS," ETC. ILLUSTRATED > > 5 .> •> PHILADELPHIA J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY E'''^8 • f ■MSI Copyright, 1890, by J. B. Lippincott Companv Copyright, 1898, by J. B. Lippincott Company, Copyright, 1900, by J. B. Lippincott Company, Copyright, 1907, by J. B. Lippincott Company. Copyright, 1909, by J. B. Lippincott Company. Copyright, 1912, by J. B. Lippincott Company. Copyright, 1913, by J. B. Lippincott Company. Copyright, i9i4,by J. B. Lippincott Company. /^^, <^ Printed by J. B. Lippincott Company The Washington Square Press, Philadelphia, U. S. A /lUG II 1914 CI.A37G!)48 s -^ PREFACE Histories of the United States of America have been many times written, and in many ways; so often, indeed, that some might deem there was nothing more to say, or no new way of saying it. Yet new histories are of yearly appearance, and the world does not seem tired of welcoming them. These are usually written for the old; but why not new histories for the young? — who can certainly find no more profitable reading than the story of the origin and development of their own country. No romance, in fact, can possess more of interest and adventure, of heroic efforts and noble deeds, than may be found in the history of the discovery and settle- ment of the American continent, and the birth and growth of the great republic of the United States. In all the annals of mankind there is little to surpass it in interest, and nothing in importance. To the youthful American, indeed, it is indispensable, and whatever else he may learn, a full and accurate acquaintance with the story of his own land should stand first in his course of study, as a requisite preliminary to the making of an American citizen. This story is too near us to appeal to our minds with that glamor of romance which often clings to the records of more remote periods. To many it seems devoid of the interest of the era of chivalry, the charm of knightly deeds and strange adventure, and takes vi PREFACE form in their minds instead as a detail of prosy incidents and matter-of-fact events. Yet such a conception does great injustice to the true character of Amer- ican history, and to the numerous instances of heroic valor and chivalrous honor which give all the interest of romance to its pages. The deeds of our pioneers have never been surpassed in daring and the spirit of adventure, the progress of discovery and settlement in this country is a story replete with attractiveness, and there is nothing more marvellous in fiction than the extraordinary progress of civilization in the region of the United States during the few centuries since settlement was first made upon its shores. History, however, in the modern sense of the word, covers a broader space than the tale of war and advent- ure, daring migration, and political progress. There is the story of the people as well as of their leaders to tell, the home life of the masses, the record of manners and customs, invention, and peaceful development in the arts and sciences. Thus we are not alone concerned with war and the rumors of war, but also with peace and the triumphs of peace; not alone with political devel- opment, the formation of governments, the struggles of patriotism, and the growth of republicanism, but also with the details of every-day life, the description of those powerful influences which have made not only America but the Americans, and to which the citi- zens of our country owe that spirit of liberty and restless energy which has made them the envy of the oppressed masses of Europe, and their country the mod- ern '^wonder of the world.'* This inner story of the American people is here briefly set forth in a series of PREFACE vii chapters descriptive of city and country life at various periods of our colonial and national history, each a picture of the people of America as they appeared at the times indicated. The progress of invention, strik- ing developments of mechanical ability, religious con- ditions, and all that makes up the multiform life of a great people, have been described as fully as the space at command permitted, with the design of making at once a history of the American nation and of the American people, adapted in style and language to the use of the young. As such it is offered to the school public of the United States, with the hope that it may prove a welcome addition to our historical literature C. M. CONTENTS- PART I. THE ERA OF DISCOVERY. 1. — The Voyage of Columbus 1 2. — Explorations and Invasions 9 3. — ^French and English Settlements. , 18 4.— The Indians. , 26 Questions for Examination 31 PART II. THE ENGLISH COLONIES. 1.— Virginia 33 2. — The Pilgrims and the Puritans 39 3. — Indian Wars of New England. 49 4 — Manners and Customs of the Puritans 54 5. —New York 60 6.— Life in New York „ 65 7. — Maryland. , 67 8. — Pennsylvania 70 9. — Life in Pennsylvania. , 74 10.— The Carolinas. . , 77 11. — Life in Virginia and Carolina 80 12.— Georgia 85 13. — Conditions of the Colonies 91 Questions for Examination 94 PART III. THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 1. — ^The French in America 99 2. — George Washington 105 3.— The War in the North Ill Questions for Examination 117 ix c CONTENTS. PART IV. THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 1.— The Tyranny of England 119 2.— The Work of the Minute-Men 126 3. — The War for Independence 137 4. — The People and the Country 146 Questions for Examination 154 PART V. THE FIRST HALF CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC. 1. — The Making of the Government 157 2. — Washington's Administration 161 3. — John Adams's Administration 162 4. — Jefferson's Administration 164 5. — Madison's Administration 167 6.— The War with Great Britain 169 7. — Monroe's Administration 175 8. — The John Quincy Adams Administration , 178 9. — The Progress of the Country 179 Questions for Examination 187 PART VI. TWENTY YEARS OF PROGRESS. 1. — Jackson's Administration 189 2o — Van Buren's Administration 192 3. — The Harrison and Tyler Administration 193 4. — Polk's Administration and War with Mexico 194 5.— The Work of the People 199 Questions for Examination 207 PART VII. THE SLAVERY CONTEST AND CIVIL WAR. 1. — The Taylor and Fillmore Administration 209 2. — The Pierce Administration 211 3. — ^The Buchanan Administration 212 4. — The Lincoln Administration 214 CONTENTS. xi 6.— The North and South at War 216 6.— The Final Years of the War 226 Questions for Examination 234 PART VIII. THE NEW UNION. 1.— Results of the War 236 2. — Johnson's Administration 23S 3. — Grant's Administration 242 4. — The Hayes Administration 245 5. — The Garfield and Arthur Administration 247 6. — Cleveland's First Administration 249 7. — Benjamin Harrison's Administration 251 8. — The Second Cleveland Administration 255 9. — McKinley's Administration 257 10. — Roosevelt's Administration 260 II. — Taft's Administration 264 12. — ^Wilson's Administration 267 Questions for Examination 270 PART IX. RECENT STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT. Recent Stages of Development 272 Questions for Examination 287 AN ELEMENTARY HISTORY OF THE United States PART I. THE ERA OF DISCOVERY. 1. THE VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS. Four Hundred Years Ago. — The world had grown old, very old, before America was discovered. Great em- pires had risen in Europe and Asia, and passed away; untold millions of men had lived and died; but not half the earth was known. Men did not even know its shape. Most persons thought that its surface was flat, and that the ocean everywhere spread around the land. Sailors were afraid to go far out to sea, and most of them kept in sight of land, for no one knew what dangers might lie on the open ocean, where man had never been. Many thought that a ship which sailed far out on the ocean would find itself gliding down a hill of waters, up which it could never climb again. Others believed that there was a region of fogs and mists, from which a ship, once lost, would never find its way out. Few of the learned men of the time thought that a vessel could pass round the earth and return to its starting-point. 1 1 2 THE ERA OF DISCOVERY The Mariner's Compass. — Before this time an impor- tant discovery had been made. A kind of iron ore was found which had strange properties. It was what is now known as the loadstone, or natural magnet, and which has the power of attracting iron, and of pointing north and south. A steel needle rubbed on it acquires the same properties. Hung up by its centre, one end of the needle points towards the north. This was a dis- covery of the utmost importance to seamen. They could now, even though they were thousands of miles from land, tell by day or night in what direction they were sailing. Few things have been more useful to mankind than this little magnetic needle, known as the Mariner^ s Coinpass. Marco Polo. — At the time of which we are speaking — the latter part of the fifteenth century — there was a great desire to discover new countries. Travellers had gone to far-off lands, and had come back with strange stories, which filled others with the love of adventure and discovery. One traveller, a Venetian named Marco Polo, had been as far as China and Japan, and brought back exciting accounts of the riches and wonders of those distant lands. The ships of the Portuguese had sailed down the coast of Africa as far as the Cape of Good Hope. The bold sailors of Norway and Denmark had crossed the cold northern seas to Iceland and Green- A Ship of the Nohthmen. THE VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS 3 land, and had reached the shores of the American continent at a point they called Vinland (vine-land), though this fact was not known in Southern Europe. Christopher Columbus. — Among the many persons who wished to go on voyages of discovery was one whose name is known to us all, and will be remem- bered as long as America exists. He was born at Genoa, in Italy, about the year 1435, and was named Christopher Columbus. His father w^as a cloth weaver; but the people of Genoa were active seamen, and Columbus was sent to sea when he was but fourteen years of age, and became a skilful sailor. The World as then Known. — At that time the only region of the world that was well known to Europeans was their own country and the parts of Africa and Asia which border on the Mediterranean Sea. Of the rest of the world they knew very little. India and China were said to be rich and populous countries, and their silks and jewels and spices were brought to Europe by caravans at great expense. Columbus thought that these countries could be reached in an easier way. He believed that the earth was round, that the ocean must extend from the shores of Europe to the shores of Asia, and that if he sailed to the west across this ocean he would be sure to reach those distant lands. He did not know how far it was around the earth, but he was sure that land lay beyond the ocean. What Columbus Did. — It was not easy to make men believe this. For eighteen long years Columbus tried in vain to get the kings of Spain and Portugal to aid him in his plan. He grew sick at heart with delay and disappointment. At last Queen Isabella of Spain said THE ERA OF DISCOVERY that he should have the ships and men he asked for. If money could not be had she would lend her jewels to pay for them. And thus it was that Columbus got his ships. Three small vessels were given him, — we call them ships, but they were no larger than many of the sloops and yachts which we see moving up and down our large rivers. Two of them, the Pinta and the Nina, had no decks except at the prow and stern. Only one of them had a complete deck, the Santa Maria, commanded by Columbus himself. This vessel was ninety feet long, and had a crew of sixty-six sailors. The Size of the Expedition. — It seems strange to us that it took so many years to induce the rulers of a great kingdom to furnish a few small ships for a voyage across the ocean and the discovery of a new world. Many river merchants to-day could fit out a much better expedition at a day's notice. Nothing could show more clearly how the world has grown in riches and enterprise during the last four hundred years. Columbus had almost as much trouble to get his sailors as his ships. Men were afraid to go with him. Many of those who sailed with him were forced to do so by order of the king, and went on board his ships full of fear. There were one hundred and twenty per- sons in all in the expedition which set sail from the port of Palos, in Spain, on the 3d of August, 1492, a date to be remembered in the history of the world Columbus. THE VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS The Voyage of Discovery. — Let us stop here and think of the task before our bold mariner. He had set sail on the most important voyage that had ever been undertaken. As he went onward day by day his ships left the known world farther behind them. Day by day new wonders and new terrors rose before them. The mariners sailed away into a vast ocean upon Columbus and the Scientists Discussing the Shape of the Earth. which no man had ever before ventured far from land. Their fears increased as they went onward. The needle of the compass no longer pointed exactly north, and this gave them great alarm, for they thought the sailor's friend was about to desert them. The winds blew them steadily westward; but these same winds might hinder them from ever coming back. They were ecared by the distance they had gone, though Columbus took care not to let them know how far this was. 6 THE ERA OF DISCOVERY The men demanded to be taken back; they almost broke into open mutiny, and some of them talked of throwing Columbus overboard and going back without him. Yet he was not to be turned from his purpose. He had set sail for India, and he w^as determined to go on. He was still sure that the continent of Asia lay beyond the seas, and that in time they would reach it. Approach to Land. — Two months of this wonderful voyage passed away. Then the hearts of the sailors grew glad as their eyes beheld welcome signs. Land birds were seen flying about the ships. One of the men picked up out of the water a branch of a tree, on which there were fresh red berries. A piece of carved wood floated past them, and also some drifting sea weed, with live crabs clinging to it. Hope now took the place of fear; all eyes looked forward in search of land. At last it appeared. During the night before the 12th of October a distant light was seen shining across the waters. When morning came Columbus, from the deck of his little ship, gazed with joy and triumph on the green shores of the land he had so long hoped to see. There it lay before him, bright and beautiful, — a sunny island, covered with forest trees, — a scene of beauty on which the eyes of civilized man had never before gazed. What Columbus Believed. — The voyage was over; the victory was gained. The greatest discovery in human history had been made. Yet he who made it never knew how great his work had been. To the day of his death Columbus believed that it was the coast of India he had reached, and he gave the name of Indians to the strange, red-skinned natives who crowded out of the woods to gaze with wonder on his vessels. THE VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS It was in this way that the natives of America came to be called Indians, after a country thousands of miles away. Little did Columbus dream of the great continent of America, with its plains and mountains, its lakes and forests, peopled then only by savages, but which was in time to become the seat of one of the greatest and noblest of nations. The Landing op Columbub. The Landing of Columbus. — At the break of day, with waving banners and ringing music, Columbus was rowed to the shore. He w^as richly dressed in scarlet robes and bore in his hand the great banner of Spain, with its bright hues ot red and gold. The captains of the other vessels carried a banner designed by Colum- bus himself, in the centre of which was a green cross On reaching the shore the admiral kneeled and kissed the ground; then rising, he drew his sword, and declared that the island which he had discovered 8 THE ERA OF DISCOVERY belonged to the King and Queen of Spain. The natives looked on in wonder and admiration. They did not dream of the misery all this meant for them. New Lands Discovered. — The poor natives supposed that the white men had come from heaven. Columbus gave them glass beads, and in return they gave what they had, — parrots and balls of cotton. They wore some ornaments made of gold, and Columbus asked them by signs where gold was to be found. They pointed to the south. The sailors returned to their ships and sailed south among the beautiful islands of those seas until they reached the large island now known as Hayti. Columbus named it Hispaniola (little Spain). From there they sailed back to Spain. The Reception in Spain. — The excitement in Spain was very great when Columbus and his companions returned with their remarkable story. Men heard with wonder of lands beyond the seas, inhabited by a race of red-skinned savages, and rich beyond their dreams. It was said by some that the sands of every river shone with grains of gold, that the meanest Indians wore ornaments of gold and jewels, and that the walls of the houses glittered with pearls. None of these stories was too wild for men to believe, and many grew eager to visit this New World of wealth and splendor. Columbus and his men entered the streets of Barce- lona in a grand procession to meet the king and queen of Spain. The red Indians, with their decorations of tropical feathers and golden ornaments, were looked upon with wonder. The bright-winged birds, the strange-shaped parrots, the rare plants and fruits, the unknown fabrics which were displayed in the procession, EXPLORATIONS AND INVASIONS 9 all excited admiration. Columbus rode triumphantly onward, surrounded by a brilliant cavalcade of Spanish nobleS; to receive the high honors bestowed upon him by the king and queen. Europe had never seen a pro- cession like this, for never before had the wonders of a new world been shown to the eyes of the Old World, as the eastern hemisphere was afterwards called. The Misfortunes of the Discoverer. — Yet this was almost the last happy moment in the life of the great discoverer. The remainder of his life was saddened by the injustice of the people, and the ingratitude of the monarch of Spain. He made three other voyages to America, and in the third voyage discovered the mainland of South America, near the mouth of the Orinoco River. From one of his voyages he was sent home in chains by his enemies. And he had not even the honor of giving his name to the continent he had discovered. The name of America was taken from Amerigo Vespucci, wdiose account of the New World was the first to be printed. Columbus died in 1506, of a disease brought on by his hardships, troubles, and sufferings, a victim of the ingratitude of Spain. He gave orders that the chains which had been so shame- fully fastened on his limbs should be buried with him. 2. EXPLORATIONS AND INVASIONS. The discovery of America by Columbus was the greatest event that had taken place for hundreds of years. If such a discovery should be made in our days, we may be sure that it would not be long before many vessels would be off to the new land. But in those days news spread slowly. Ships were few and small, 10 THE ERA OF DISCOVERY and neither kings nor people had much money. Most of what they had was spent in wars. Spain sent vessels from time to time to the rich islands which Columbus had discovered, but the other nations were slow to send ships. The Cabots. — England was the first to follow Spain, The town of Bristol, in England, was then a great ship- ping port. There lived in this town a merchant named John Cabot, who was born at Venice. This man wished to go on a voyage of discovery to the new lands, and got permission from the king, Henry VII., to do so. Cabot taking his son, he sailed across the ocean until he reached an unknown coast in the far north. Columbus, so far, had discovered only islands and Cabot was the first to reach the American continent. This was in 1497. Cabot's papers and maps are lost, and all we know of his voyage is that he found the country cold and barren, and saw a great many white bears. It is said that after his return he was called ''The Great Admiral," and went about dressed in rich clothing and followed by crowds of people. The next year his son, Sebastian Cabot, sailed to America. He also reached land in the north, but he kept on southward until he came to the coast of Vir- ginia or Carolina. Like his father, he was received with honor on his return. Men called him "The Great Sea- man," and many years afterwards Edward VI. gave him a pension. He lived to be very old, but the time and place of his death are unknown. This was all that these men obtained for discovering a continent. Their great honor came long after they were dead. The Fishermen. — Not long after this the daring fishermen of Europe began to make voyages across EXPLORATIONS AND INVASIONS 11 the ocean to the waters of Newfoundland, where the Cabots had found fish in vast numbers. One of them, named John Denys, sailed up the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 1506. But they were after fish, not honor, and did not trouble themselves to seek unknown lands. Verrazano. — France did not send an expedition to the New World till 1524. Then the thought came to Francis I., the French king, that he had as much right as Spain to the wealth of these distant lands. So he had a ship made ready, and gave the command of it to an Italian seaman named Verrazano, who sailed far along the coast to the harbor of what is now known as Newport, Rhode Island, where he found grape-vines growing, and began to trade with the Indians. But the red men were afraid of their visitors, and would not let them land. They lowered their goods to the boats with ropes from the tops of steep rocks. We do not know what these goods were, but they would take nothing in exchange but knives, fish-hooks, and tools for cutting. These savages knew very well what would be of use to them. The Claims of the Nations. — We may know from this what little right Spain, England, and France had to claim these new lands. They sent ships across the ocean and took a look at them from the sea, and then said that all the land they had seen belonged to them. As for the Indians, no one seemed to think that they had any right to the country. They were looked on as little better than so many flies, that might be brushed aside by any one who was strong enough to do it. Cartier's Voyages. — Francis I. now became busy in wars with his neighbors, and did not send out any 12 THE ERA OF DISCOVERY more ships for ten years. Then two ships set sail under a captain named Jacques Cartier. They entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where Cartier landed and set up a cross, with the king's coat of arms fastened to it. This was done to secure that region for the King of France. Cartier made two more voyages, and sailed up the great St. Lawrence River as far as where the city of Montreal now stands. He called the country Canada from the Indian word ^^Kannatha," which means village, but which he thought was the Indian name for the whole country. Ponce de Leon. — While the English and French were making these discoveries the Spaniards were not idle. After Columbus, other mariners crossed the ocean, making new discoveries and forming settlements. In 1512 Ponce de Leon, the governor of Porto Rico, set out on a romantic voyage. He had been told by the Indians of a magical fountain which would bring back youth to every man who bathed in its waters. As he was growing old, he was eager to find this wonderful fountain, that he might bathe in it, and be young again. In his search for it he found a new country, which he called Florida. But he did not discover the fountain, and got death instead of life from his effort, for he was killed by the Indians. Balboa. — -Another Spaniard, named Balboa, crossed the isthmus which connects North and South America, and looked with wonder on the waters of that great Ponce de Leon. EXPLORATIONS AND INVASIONS 13 Pacific Ocean which no white man's eyes had ever before seen. He had made a long and dangerous jour- ney over mountains and through fierce tribes of Indians, but he was paid for all his trouble when he saw, from the summit of a lofty hill, the waters of that great ocean, brightly shining in the rays of the sun. Never had man made a more glorious discovery, or human eyes gazed on a nobler sight. An Aztec Temple. Magellan. — Three years after the death of Balboa, a Spanish fleet, under Fernando Magellan, sailed round South America, through the strait that now bears his name, and came out on the waters of the great ocean which Balboa had seen. One of Magellan's ships went on until it had sailed round the globe, and proved in this way that the earth is round. Magellan thus com- pleted the work which Columbus had set out to do. Cortez and Pizarro. — Before many years had passed the Spaniards did some bold and marvellous deeds on 14 THE ERA OI DISCOVERY the American continent. One captain, named Cortez, with a few hundred men, conquered the great empire of Mexico; and another, named Pizarro, did the same in the rich kingdom of Peru. They sent to Spain great quantities of gold and silver. But the Indians were treated by them with dreadful cruelty, and great num- bers of the red men died of inhuman treatment before the Spaniards had been many years in their land. Narvaez. — Another Spaniard, named Narvaez, landed in Florida in 1528, and went far to the north. He and his comrades were in search of gold; but instead of rich cities, like those of Mexico, they found only swamps and forests and fighting Indians, and of three hundred men only four came back alive. Hernando de Soto. — There is one more Spaniard about whom we must speak, for he was the first white man whose eyes fell upon the great Mississippi River, and his adventures were very interesting. While other nations of Europe were sending ships to look at the coast of the New World, Hernando de Soto was wandering far through its interior and making important discoveries. In 1539, De Soto landed in Florida with an army of about six hundred men, and with plenty of arms and provisions. He was a soldier who had been in Peru with Pizarro, and he wished to conquer Florida as Pizarro had conquered Peru. The whole country to the far west was then called Florida, and De Soto expected to find there great cities and much gold and silver, such as had been found in Peru and Mexico. He did not dream that he would find only tribes of poor savages, with no treasures of any value to him, and that he would never leave their country alive. EXPLORATIONS AND INVASIONS 15 De Soto's Expedition. — The overland march of the Spaniards was a long and tiresome one. The men soon wanted to go back, but De Soto would not listen to them. From time to time the Indians gave him pearls, or ornaments of gold, and this kept him full of hope. He felt sure there must be rich nations ahead, and he kept march- ing on and on, seeking the gold which he never found. The Indians were angry at seeing ■ 1 , • l^ • I De Soto. these strangers m their country, and at the cruel manner in which the Spaniards treated them, and many fierce battles took place. The Span- iards were always victorious, but numbers of them were killed, and they suffered much from the want of food. De Soto led his army along the coast lands of the Gulf of Mexico, through tribe after tribe of Indians, These men in iron armor, with their prancing horses and shining arms, their banners and music and waving plumes, must have been a strange vision to the igno- rant savages. But the natives soon found that those whom they at first took to be gods were only men, and they sought to drive them from their country. The Mississippi. — Yet De Soto kept on. In time he reached a point near where the city of Memphis now stands. Here, to his delight, he saw before him a mighty river, the great stream now known as the Mississippi. It was with proud eyes that the Spaniards gazed on this noble stream, flowing down grandly from the distant north. 16 THE ERA OF DISCOVERY They soon had to cross this river to escape the Indians, and they roamed for many miles through the country on the other side. The Indians here wished to be friendly, but the Spaniards as usual treated them badly, and as a result they tried to kill the whites. De Soto Discovering the Mississippi. The Fate of De Soto and His Men. — For three years De Soto and his men had been in the wilds of Amer- ica, and had found nothing but hard marching, fight- ing, and the pangs of hunger. At length they decided oo return to their own country. But the bold leader did not live to see his native land again. Worn out with his toil, he died on the banks of the great river he had discovered, and was buried in its waters to save his body from the fury of the Indians. He was sunk in the waves at dead of night, and his followers began to build themselves boats, for they did not dare to try to return by land. EXPLORATIONS AND INVASIONS 17 When their boats were ready they launched them on the stream, and for seventeen days they floated down its waters. For fifty days more they sailed about the Gulf of Mexico, until they reached a small Spanish settlement, from which they were sent to the island of Cuba. They had gone out strong in numbers and splendid in dress and arms. They came back a few ragged and half-starved m.en, without gold to show, and with only battles and sufferings to tell of. And thus ended one of the greatest and proudest of the Spanish expeditions to America. Sir Francis Drake. — Now that we have said so mucii about the Spanish explorers, we must say something about a great English sailor, named Sir Francis Drake, who for nearly thirty years spent his life in fighting with the Spaniards on both sides of the ocean. Much of this was in the West Indies, but in 1572 he crossed the Isthmus of Darien, as Balboa had done many years before, and gazed on the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Drake in the Pacific. — The bold sailor made up his mind to sail in an English ship on that vast sea, and he went thither in 1578, saihng up the coast of Chili and Peru, and winning great treasure from the Span- ish ships and settlements. He went as far north as the coast of Oregon, and landed at Drake's Bay, north of San Francisco, where he claimed the country for the king of England and named it New Albion. Then he sailed across the Pacific, and around Southern Africa thus making a voyage around the earth, as one oi the ships of Magellan had done before him. 2 18 THE ERA OF DISCOVERY 3. FRENCH AND ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS. The Northern Country. — Many years passed away before any white men came to live in the country which is now known as the United States. The Spaniards had many towns and rich colonies in the West Indies, in Mexico, and in South America, but the northern country was still left to the Indians. No one cared to settle on its shores. No gold or silver had been found there, and people in those days seemed to think there was nothing else worth having. Since then we have learned that the soil of the United States is far more valuable than all the gold and silver that the Spaniards found in America. A French Enterprise. — It was not till 1562 that any settlers came. Then some Frenchmen crossed the ocean and built a fort at what is now Port Royal, in South Carolina. They named this country Carolina, after Charles IX., the king of France. These men were known as Huguenots, or people of the Protestant religion, while the religion of France was the Cathohc. They had left their country because they were badly treated on account of their religious belief. Jean Ribault, who brought them, soon went back to France. After he left, the colony did not get on well. Most of the men were lazy and would not work, and the Indians, who did not like them, refused to give them food. Many of them died, and those who remained alive built a rude sort of vessel and sailed away for home. The Florida Colony. — Two years afterwards another party of Frenchmen came to America and built a fort near the mouth of the St. John's River, in Florida FRENCH AND ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS 19 This colony was as idle as the other. The men spent their time in hunting for gold and fighting the Indians. They would not take the trouble to raise food from the earth, and they suffered from hunger till vessels came with food from France. Some of them turned pirates, and sailed away to rob the Spanish settlements. St. Augustine. — The Spaniards were very angry when they learned that the French had settled in Florida. They claimed this country as their own, and sent out a party to take possession and to drive out the new- comers. This party was led by a man named Menen- dez, who built a fort which he called St. Augustine. A town in time grew up there, and it is of interest to re- member that this town, laid out in 1565, is the oldest in the United States. The ruins of the old Spanish buildings may still be seen. The next oldest town is Santa Fe in New Mexico. The Massacre. — And now began those terrible wars of white men which have shed so much blood on the soil of this land. Up to that time all the fighting had been with the Indians, but now the whites began the dreadful work of killing one another. Menendez led his men through the woods and swamps of Florida to the French settlement. There they took Fort Carolina — the French fort — by surprise, and killed all the people they found in it, except a few who escaped to the woods. The Spaniards did a more cruel deed than this. A part of the French had gone to attack St. Augustine, but their vessel was wrecked on the coast, and the men barely saved their lives. They wandered half starved through the woods till they found themselves in sight of St. Augustine. 20 THE ERA OF DISCOVERY Menendez told them that if they would come over the river into the town no harm should be done to them. But as fast as they came over he had their arms tied behind them, and he then set his soldiers on them and murdered them all. Four hundred men were slain in that awful massacre. Menendez had these words placed on the trees near by: ''I do this not as to Frenchmen, but as to Lutherans." It was religious hatred that made him do this cruel deed. The Massacre Revenged. — When the news of this deed of bloodshed came to France the people were full of anger. One soldier, named Dominique de Gourgues, resolved to be revenged. He sailed for Florida with three small ships, and took Fort Carolina by surprise, as the Spaniards had before taken it from the French. There were more than three hundred men in it, most of whom were killed. Only sixty were taken prisoners. De Gourgues wrote the following words, and placed them where all could see: *'I do this not to Spaniards, but to traitors, thieves, and murderers." Then he hanged all his prisoners, destroyed the fort, and sailed back to France. The murder of the Protestants had been terribly revenged. Sir Humphrey Gilbert. — It was not until after this time that the English first tried to make settlements in America. The earliest of them was Sir Humphrey Gil- bert, who came across the ocean in 1583 to found a colony. But a storm arose, and the leader and his vessel, with all on board, went to the bottom. One of his ships reached England with the news of his loss. Sir Walter Raleigh. — The next year a young man named Sir Walter Raleigh, half-brother to Gilbert, FRENCH AND ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS 21 Raleigh. sent an expedition to the New World, and in 1585 he sent out seven ships, with a hundred persons on board, to make a settlement on Roanoke Island, on the coast of North Carolina. These people soon got into trouble with the Indians, and all returned to England in an English vessel that happened to stop at the island. They took with them the first tobacco that was ever seen in England. Sir Walter Raleigh is said to have been the first man who smoked tobacco in Europe. The story is told that a servant who came into his room while he was smoking thought that he was in flames, and threw a mug of beer in his face to put out the fire. The Lost Colony. — The next summer Raleigh sent another colony to Roanoke Island. A child, named Virginia Dare, was born in this colony, — the first English child born in America. There was war then between England and Spain, and it was three years before another vessel could be sent across the ocean. When it got to Roanoke Island the colony was gone. Not a man, woman, or child could be found. There were some letters cut in the bark of a tree, only this being left to show that white men had ever been there. Raleigh sent vessel after vessel to search for his lost colony, but no trace of it could ever be found. What became of the colonists no one will ever know. If the Indians knew they would not tell, and the secret died with them. 22 THE ERA OF DISCOVERY Other Expeditions. — No other efforts were made to place colonies in the region of the United States till after the year 1600, more than a century after the dis- covery by Columbus. First among the new-comers was a captain named Bartholomew Gosnold, who brought out a colony to America in 1602; but he took it back again, because he was short of food and the men feared they might starve. The French succeeded in founding a colony before the English. In 1604, Poutrincourt, a Frenchman, planted a colony in Nova Scotia at a place which he called Port Royal. This place, which, under the name of Annapolis, became well known in after years, is on the coast of the Bay of Fundy. It was the first permanent French colony in America. Samuel de Champlain. — Before speaking of the Eng- lish and Dutch colonies that were formed soon after- wards we must say something about the doings of a Frenchman, named Samuel de Champlain, who was the first white man that had much to do with the Indians of the north. Ee went up the St. Lawrence River in 1603, and came again in 1608, when he founded the city of Quebec at a lofty place on the river bank. This old city still stands on the rocky hill where he placed it. It is a quaint, old-fashioned place, with many ancient houses, and travellers like to visit it. Champlain was a bold and active man and very fond of travel and adventure. He had the hope that he might find a way across the country by the rivers and lakes, and so reach China. But there were savage Indians iv his way. In what we know as the State of FRENCH AND ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS 23 New York were the Iroquois tribes of Indians, or the ''Five Nations" as they were afterwards called. Far- ther north were the Hurons and other tribes of the St. Lawrence, who were enemies of the Iroquois. Discovery of Lake Champlain. — In 1609 Champlain and some companions went in boats up the St. Law- rence and the St. John Rivers, while the Hurons and other tribes followed in their canoes. They were going to fight with their enemies, the Iroquois, and the French had promised to help them. It was not long before the boats came out on a beautiful lake which the eyes of white men had never seen before. It is called Lake Champlain, after its discoverer. Battle with the Indians. — On the shores of this lake they met the Iroquois, and a fierce battle began,— the first battle with the Indians in the northern part of the New AVorld. The Iroquois were brave warriors and fought boldly, but when Champlain and the two white men who were with him stood forward and fired their muskets they were filled with terror. They had never before seen anything of the kind. The noise seemed to them like thunder. Their chiefs began to fall dead, with nothing to show what had killed them. With a yell of fear the Indians fled. They left every- thing in their fright. Some of them were killed; more were taken prisoners. These the Hurons took back with them to torture and burn at the stake, which was their cruel way of treating captives taken in war. Champlain had many other adventures among the Indians. In 1614 he went south with a war party of HuronS;, and made an attack on a fort of the Iroquois. 24 THE ERA OF DISCOVERS The fight was a hard one, but the Hurons were driven off, and Champlain was twice wounded. The Revenge of the Iroquois. — The Iroquois took a terrible revenge on their enemies. Champlain, whom they were afraid of, died in 1635. In 1648 they made \, . Champlain and the Iroquois. an attack on the French in Canada, and killed a great many of them. The tribe of the Hurons was broken up and destroyed. For many years afterwards the French scarcely dared leave their forts for fear of the Indians, who in time got fire-arms of their own and ceased to fear those of the whites. The Iroquois consisted of five tribes, the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayugas, and the FRENCH AND ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS 25 Senecas. Afterwards another tribe, the Tuscaroras, joined them, and they became known as the ''Six Nations." They were very warhke and long after- wards took part in the wars of the colonists. Henry Hudson. — There w^as one other voyage of which we must speak. This was made by the Dutch, who then were a very active seafaring people, and thought they ought to have a share in the New World. So they sent across the ocean a vessel which had the odd name of the Half- Moon. Its captain was Henry Hudson, an Englishman. This was in the year 1609. The Half-Moon sailed along the coast until it reached a broad and fine bay. Up this bay it w^ent until it came into the great river which has ever since been known as Hudson River. Here some of the Indian chiefs came on board and received a fatal present from the hands of the captain. We have told how the tobacco of the Indians was taken to Europe. In return the white men brought brandy to the Indians. Hudson gave the chiefs some of this strong liquor to drink, and they became intoxicated. This was probably the first knowledge they had of that poison which afterwards killed more of them than the rifle. The Half-Moon sailed up the river as far as it could go. On coming back the Dutch were attacked by the - XJ^.i^Aftii. The Half-Moon in the Hudson. 26 THE ERA OF DISCOVERY Indians, but some cannon were fired and the savages fled in the utmost terror. Hudson now sailed back to Europe with the story of the discovery he had made. He afterwards discovered Hudson Bay, which was also named after him. As he wanted to go farther his discontented men set him adrift upon its waters, and the adventurer was left to perish in misery. 4. THE INDIANS. Who Owned the Land? — The Enghsh, the French, the Spanish, and the Dutch, as we have said, sent ships to America, and for a long time afterwards there were disputes and fights among them to decide who owned the land, and how it should be divided. Many good men now think that it did not belong to any of them, but to the old inhabitants of the country, and that the white men treated these very unjustly. Who were these old inhabitants? Everywhere that the white men had landed they had found tribes of red or copper-colored men, some of whom were gentle and friendly, others fierce and warlike. Before we go on with our story we must tell something about these people. The American Natives. — The Indians, as Columbus had named them, were found in every part of North and South America, and had been there for a long time. Some of them were partly civilized, but others were savages, and lived in a very rude manner. Most of the Indians of the country which we now know as the United States were savages and were a fierce and cruel people, who spent much of their time in killing one another. Many of them dwelt in the forests, and THE INDIANS 27 lived by hunting. Others raised crops of Indian corn, and dwelt in towns and villages, and had passed from the savage into what is known as the barbarian state. The Mound=Builders. — Long ago, no one can tell how long, there dwelt in this region a people who seem to have been very active and industrious. We know this because much of their work remains. In some of the western States there are hills of earth, called by us mounds, which were made by the hands of men. Most of these are small, but some are very large. In these mounds have been found tools of stone and other substances, pots made of burnt clay, stone pipes, pieces of copper, and many other things. Some of these were made with great care and skill. The largest of the mounds must have taken years to build and required the labor of thousands of people. When white men reached the south they found mounds still in use by the Indians of that region, temples being built on some of them. Habits of the Indians. — The mound-builders belonged to an older time. When the whites first came most of the country in which we now live was covered with forests, in which savages hved and hunted. These peo- ple were of a copper color with black eyes and hair, and were divided into tribes. Some of them lived only by hunting; others raised corn and other vegetables. Most of them dwelt in little tents covered with skin or bark, and called '^ wigwams," but some tribes built large houses, in which many families Hved together. The Indians did not care much for their houses. They hked better to spend their time in the open air. They were very fond of roving about through the forests, hunting wild animals and fighting with one 28 THE ERA OF DISCOVERS another. They dressed in the skins of these animals, ppinted their faces and bodies, and ornamented them- selves with feathers and the claws of wild beasts. All the hair of their head was shaved off, except one lock, called the scalp-lock. When one of them was killed in war this lock was used to pull off his scalp, or the skin of his head. The Indians were very proud of the scalps which they took in war. They were fond of fighting, and very cruel to their prisoners. It was their custom to tie these to a stake or tree, heap wood round them, and burn them to death. And they tortured them in every cruel way they could. The Indians fought with bows and arrows, and with stone hatchets called 'tomahawks." But after the whites came to America they got iron hatchets and fire-arms, and dressed themselves in blankets instead of skins as before. Some tribes built forts of timber, often in the midst of swamps. These were strong, and not easy to capture. Indian Home Life. — At home the women had to do all the work. The men were too proud to do much but hunt and fight. They were very expert in making stone pipes and weapons, and canoes of birch bark in which they paddled about the rivers. These canoes were very light. They could be carried long distances through the forests, and they floated lightly in the water. Fire was obtained by rubbing two sticks together until they became so hot as to break into a blaze.* The food of the Indians consisted of corn and a few ♦Without fire civilization could not exist, so this method of making fire may be lool<:ed upon as one of the first steps towarda the high civilization which we now enjoy. THE INDIANS 29 sregetables they raised, and of the game they killed in the forests. They had tobacco, of which they were very fond, and which they soon taught the white men to smoke. In return the white men taught them to drink whisky, — a much worse gift than that of tobacco. Some writers think that whisky has killed more Indians than muskets. Indian Warriors at Rest and their Wives AT Work. Government. The tribes of the Indians were divided into smaller bodies, w^hich may be called clans. Each clan paid great respect to some animal, which it called its totem, such as the wolf, the tortoise, the bear, etc. The clans had chiefs whom they called sachems, who ruled them in peace, and other chiefs who ruled them in war. A number of such clans formed a tribe, and several tribes joined together formed a league or confederacy. As an example of these leagues may be named the Iroquois. Religion. — The religious ideas of the Indians were very simple. Each Indian thought that he was taken 30 THE ERA OF DISCOVERY care of by the spirit of the animal that formed his totem. He had great respect for this animal, though he did not mind killing the totems of other Indians. Most of them believed in spirits of the winds and stars, and many of them thought that there was a Great Spirit; who ruled over all men and all thingSo Their priests they called *' medicine men." These were their doctors as well as priests, and did every- thing by charms and spells. Many of them may have been great rogues. The tribes had religious songs and dances, and many other ceremonies, some of which were strange and noisy, and some painful and cruel. For money the Indians used round pieces of sea-shells, in which they bored holes and strung them on strings. These they called wampum. They knew nothing about reading and writing, but used simple marks and signs by which they could tell one another many things. Their Sagacity. — The Indians were brave and bold and would do anything to kill those whom they hated. They had wonderful skill in tracking their enemies through the wilds and forests. Where white men could see nothing, the Indians could see the marks of footsteps on the dead leaves or the dry ground, and could follow a trail for many miles as easily as a dog can follow an animal by its scent. This made them very dangerous to the whites. They could travel very far in a day, and could go in a straight line through thick forests where the sun was not to be seen. Many white travellers were captured and killed by them. But in time some of the whites learned the Indian ways, and could follow a trail as well as these forest rovers. THE INDIANS 31 The Southern Tribes. — In the country near the Gulf of Mexico the Indians were more civihzed than in the north. They had many towns or large villages, and their chiefs had much power. The sun was their god, and some of the tribes had temples, with numbers of priests and much ceremony. Farther west, in the Rocky Mountain region, were tribes which built great stone houses, with hundreds of rooms, large enough for a whole tribe to live in one house. Quarrels with the Whites. — The Indians at first were friendly to the whites. They gave them land and were willing to help them in any way they could. But it was not long before quarrels began. Sometimes the white men were in the wrong, and sometimes the Indians, but dreadful scenes followed. The Indians would march silently through the forests and fall on the settlements, burning the houses and killing the people, or taking them away as prisoners. The whites would attack the tribes in return, and kill all the Indians they could. But the whites were the stronger and drove the Indians back step by step, and took possession of nearly the whole country. The savages now own only a small portion of the great continent which was once all their own. But they are forced to live in peace, and they are better off than when most of their time was spent in war and bloodshed. PART L— QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 1. What was known of the world four hundred years ago/ What was thought would happen to vessels that sailed out of sight of land? What is the mariner's compass? What journey did Marco Polo make? What did the Northmen discover? Who 32 THE ERA OF DISCOVERS was Christopher Columbus? How did he think Asia could be reached? What troubles did he have? When did he sail on liB voyage of discovery? Why were the sailors afraid? What made them think they were near land? On what day was land dis- covered? What were the inhabitants like? Why were they called Indians? Describe the landing of Columbus. What stories were told by the sailors when they returned to Spain? How was Columbus received ? What was his history afterwards? 2. Who was John Cabot? Describe his voyage. What did Sebastian Cabot discover? What did the fishermen do? Describe the voyage of Verrazano. What did Cartier do? Who was Ponce de Leon? What did he discover? What did Balboa discover? Who made the first voyage around the globe? What conquests were made by Cortez and Pizarro? Where did Narvaez go? What did De Soto seek? Where did he journey? Describe his death and burial. What was done by Sir Francis Drake? 3. Who first settled in the United States? Describe the Florida colony. When did the Spaniards found St. Augustine? What did Menendez do at Fort Carolina? How did he treat the ship- wrecked Frenchmen? What did De Gourges do? When did Sir Humphrey Gilbert come to America? Where did Sir Walter Raleigh plant a colony? Tell how tobacco was first taken to Europe. What became of Raleigh's colony? Wlien and where was the first permanent French colony formed? When did Cham- plain found Quebec? What lake did he discover? Describe his battle with the Iroquois. How did the Iroquois revenge them- selves? What river did Henry Hudson discover? How did he act with the Indian chiefs? 4. What kind of people were found in America? Who were the Mound-builders? What relics did they leave? What were the Indians like? How did they live? How did they treat their prisoners? How did they fight? How did they live in their homes? How were they govsrned? What was the character of their reli- gion? ^¥hat did they use for money? What is said of their sagacity? Were the southern tribes more civilized than the north- ern? WTiat did they worship? How did they receive the whites? How have the whites treated them? PART II. THE ENGLISH COLONIES. 1. VIRGINIA. The English Companies. — In 1606 two companies were formed in England to make settlements in America. One of these, which was called the London Company, had a grant from the king of the southern part of the country, and the other, the Plymouth Company, was granted the northern part. At that time the whole country between the French settle- ments in the north and the Spanish settlements in the south was known as Virginia, being named after Queen EHzabeth, the Virgin Queen of England. Now, only a small portion of this broad region is called Virginia. The First Colonists. — Both companies sent out colonies in 1607. One of these, sent by the Plymouth Company, settled on the coast of Maine; but the colonists were not satisfied, and went back the next year. The other, sent by the London Company, was told to land on Roanoke Island, where Raleigh's lost colony had been; but a storm drove the vessels into Chesapeake Bay. Here the colonists discovered a beautiful river, which they named the James, after the King of England. They landed at a point some distance up the river, and formed a settlement which they called Jamestown. The Jamestown Settlement. — The Jamestown colony was made up of people who did not like to work. Some 3 33 34 THE ENGLISH COLONIES of the men thought they could cross the country to the Pacific Ocean. Others spent their time hunting for gold. They found a yellow substance which they thought was gold, and sent a ship-load of it to England. But it was nothing but iron pyrites, or '^fool's gold," and of no value whatever; so the gold hunters, who had fancied themselves rich, soon found themselves poor again. The Landing at Jamestown. From an old print. Captain John Smith. — By good luck the colony had with it a man who was worth more to it than a mine of gold. This was Captain John Smith, a celebrated soldier, who had been in wars in Europe, and had gone through many strange adventures. Captain Smith was a very active man. He himself went to work and kept the colonists at work with him cutting down trees and building houses. Those who would not work were given nothing to eat. Some of them swore very much, but he soon cured them of this. When night came he VIRGINIA 35 brought up the swearers and had a can of cold water poured down their sleeves for every time they had sworn during the day. We may imagine that laziness and swearing were quickly broken up in that colony. Captain Smith spent much of his time in exploring the bay and the country. On one of these journeys he was taken prisoner by the Indians, who killed his companions. They were about to kill him, too, but he diverted them by showing them a small compass which he had with him. The movements of the magnetic needle seemed to them the work of magic, so they let him live, and brought him before their great chief, Powhatan. He surprised them still more by writing a letter to his friends and receiv- ing an answer from them. The Indians could not understand how John Smith. a piece of paper could talk. When they found that Smith's friends understood what was on it they thought the paper must have spoken to them. Pocahontas. — But Powhatan did not like the English, and he decided that his prisoner should be put to death. Captain Smith tells us that he was laid on the ground, with his head on a stone, and that a warrior had lifted a club to dash out his brains, when a young Indian girl named Pocahontas, the daughter of the chief, rushed in and begged her father not to kill him. So his life was spared. Pocahontas afterwards married an Englishman named Rolfe, and went with him to England. She 36 THE ENGLISH COLONIES Pocahontas. did not live long after she reached there. Captain Smith had other adventures with the Indians and much trouble with the colonists. In 1609 he was badly hurt by the explosion of a bag of gunpowder, and went back to England. He never returned to Virginia. The Starving Time. — As soon as Captain Smith left the colony everything went wrong. Nobody would work; they ate up all their provi- sions; and the Indians, who were made angry by their acts, would not bring them any food. A terrible time fol- lowed. The foolish people soon found themselves starving. There were nearly five hundred of them when Smith left, but in six months only sixty were alive. In a very brief time not a soul of them would have been living if a vessel had not come with provisions. This period was long known as ''the starving time." A new governor, Lord Delaware, came out in this vessel. He was soon followed by Governor Dale, a stern old soldier, but a man of good sense. So far no one had been given a farm of his own, but all had to work for the whole community. The new governor divided the land up into farms and distributed these among the people, and when the colonists found they could work for themselves and own the proceeds of theii own labors, they soon became more industrious. VIRGINIA 37 Tobacco Culture. — In 1612 the colonists began to raise tobacco. Much of the soil was given to this new crop, and so little corn was raised that for a time there was danger again of want of food. In 1619 a Dutch ship came up the James with twenty negroes on board. These were sold to the colonists, and were the first slaves brought to America. Wives for the Settlers. — The negroes were not the only human beings that were sold to the colonists. Until this time the colony had consisted only of men; but now, young women were sent over from England and those who wanted wives paid for them. The price for a wife was one hundred and twenty pounds of tobacco. Sixty more women were sent afterwards, and the price rose to one hundred and fifty pounds of tobacco. The Indian Massacre. — Two years afterwards, in 1622, when much of the country around Jamestown had been settled, the Indians, who feared that all their land would be taken from them, formed a plan to kill all the white people in the colony. They pretended to be very friendly, and brought deer and fish and other things to sell. But suddenly they drew out their weapons and began to kill the settlers. Men, women, and children were cut to pieces, and in one morning three hundred and forty-nine persons were slain. Jamestown was warned in time, and was saved, but very few of the whites were left alive in the outer settlements. A fierce war followed. The Indians were shot down wherever they were seen. At one time the English offered peace to them, and then rushed on them when they were at work in their corn-fields, and killed a great many of them. 38 THE ENGLISH COLONIES Another Indian massacre took place in 1644, after which the red men were driven far back into the country, and did not give any trouble for many years. Bacon's Rebellion. — During these years, and for a long time afterwards, the people of Virginia had trouble with their governors. They were not permitted to manage their own affairs, and much bitter feeling arose. One governor, named Berkeley, was such a tyrant that the people would no longer submit to him. In 1676 the Indians were again at war with the whites, and a young man named Nathaniel Bacon raised a company and drove them away. The gov- ernor said that Bacon was a traitor, because he had raised his company without permission. This made the people so angry that they came to Bacon's help, and fighting took place. The governor was driven out of Jamestown, and the town itself was burned to the ground. Nothing of Jamestown now remains except the ruined walls of an old church. Soon after this Bacon died. Berkeley now got into power again and began to revenge himself by hanging his enemies. More than twenty of the leaders of the people were hanged. When the king heard of this he was very much displeased; he ordered Berkeley to come home, and sent out governors of a different kind to the colony. The king said, " That old fool has hung more men in that naked country than I did for the murder of my father." He reproved Berkeley so severely that the old tyrant died of a broken heart. Other troubles arose, but for the next hundred years Virginia grew and prospered, and many of its people became rich and honored. THE PILGRIMS AND THE PURITANS 39 2. THE PILGRIMS AND THE PURITANS. The Pilgrims. — At the time that Captain John Smith was having his adventures with the Indians in Virginia, and Champlain was fighting with the Iroquois in New York, some EngUsh people had found Thk Departure of the Pilgrims. that they could not live in peace at home. They thought that every man ought to have a right to read the Bible for himself and form his own opinion about it. But the government said that they must believe what the Church of England taught. As they could not do this, they were treated badly by the government; so they went to Holland and lived there for a number of years. 40 THE ENGLISH COLONIES Then they made up their minds to cross the ocean and settle in America. They were afraid that if they stayed in Holland their children might forget their language and become in all things like the Dutch. One hundred and two of them set sail from England in a little vessel called the Mayflower. They proposed to land somewhere on the New Jersey coast, but storms made them seek shelter in the bay back of Cape Cod. The Landing of the Pilgnms. — It was then the month of December of the year 1620. The weather was cold and the ground was covered with snow, but the people were tired of the sea and they went ashore at a place which had been named Plymouth by Captain John Smith, who had explored that coast several years before. On reaching the shore they fell on their knees and thanked God for having brought them in safety to this new land. These people called themselves Pil- grims, because they had left their homes and crossed the ocean on account of their religion, like the old-time pilgrims to the Holy Land. The First Winter. — The Pilgrims were not idle, like the men of the Jamestown colony. They went to work at once to build a house to shelter them and their goods. And they formed a government of their own, in which every man was to have a vote and to be the equal of every other man. But they had great hard- ships to endure, and nearly half of them died before spring. The Plymouth Colony. — When the winter was gone the Pilgrims did not spend their time hunting for gold or wandering about the country. They kept on build- ing until they had a house for each family, and also THE PILGRIMS AND THE PURITANS 41 began to till the soil. The Indians were friendly, and showed them how to plant corn. They had with them a military man named Captain Miles Standish, but he was a very different person from Captain John Smith. He was an old soldier who had joined the colonists to do their fighting for them, if any was necessary, — a little man, very short, but of a hot temper, — and it was not long before he began to make the Indians afraid of him. He was a bold and daring warrior, and the Pil- grims were glad to have a man like Captain Standish with them. The Plymouth colony was not like any of the others formed in America. The people had not been sent out by any company, and had no masters beyond the seas. They were free to serve God and to take care of them- selves in their own w^ay. They elected a governor and other officers, and formed a little republic of their own. They suffered from the cold and from want of food, but the fishing was good and there were plenty of clams, so they managed to live. The land was soon divided into farms, and every man worked for himself, and before long enough corn was raised to give them all food. Canonicus. — The Indians at first were friendly, but some of them became uneasy when they saw that the white men intended to stay in their country. So Canonicus, the chief of the tribe of Narragansetts, sent them a bundle of arrows with a snake-skin tied around them. This meant that if the whites did not go away the Indians would make war upon them. The governor took the snake-skin and filled it with powder and bullets; then he sent it back to Canonicus. 42 THE ENGLISH COLONIES The savageF were scared when they saw what had been sent them, for they knew something of what the bullets could do. They were afraid to receive it, and it passed from hand to hand and finally came back to the gov- ernor at Plymouth. Thus there was no war at that time. In 1623 the Indians formed a conspiracy to murder the settlers; but Captain Standish discovered it and killed the ringleaders. After that the Indians kept quiet for years. The Massachusetts Bay Colony. — Plymouth was part of the country which the king had granted to the Plymouth Company, so that the Pilgrims came under the charter of this company. But they continued to govern themselves in their own way, and the company let them alone, for it was glad to have a settlement on its land. Other people came out from time to time. In 1628 and 1629 a considerable number came from Eng- land and settled at a place on the shore of Massachu- setts Bay, which they called Salem. The next year eight hundred more came. There were now about a thousand persons in the colony of Massachusetts Bay. These were not all poor people, like those at Plymouth. Some of them were rich, and many of them were educated. As in the case of the Pilgrims, religious trouble had brought them over the ocean. They were called Puritans and had been badly treated because they wished to purify the Church of England, which they said had become corrupt. The Charter. — The king had given them a charter in which they were granted the right to govern them- selves They did not leave this charter in England, THE PILGRIMS AND THE PURITANS 43 for they did not wish to be ruled by a company in London, but they brought it across the ocean with them. This was a bold step. The reign of hberty in America began with that charter. These colonists had much to endure. Many of them died. But there were no idle men among them, and they planted corn instead of seeking for gold, so that they were soon comfortable. Settlements were made all around Massachusetts Bay — Boston, Roxbury, Charlestown, and other places — following Salem. The colony grew much faster than that of Plymouth. Representative Government. — As we have said, the government was at first in the hands of all the people. They came together in the churches and elected their officers, and decided any question that came before them. But in 1634 this was no longer easy to do. The people had increased till there were more than three thousand of them. These were settled at twenty different places along the sea-shore. They could not all come together to decide questions, and found it neces- sary to choose persons to act for them. These met together at Boston, where they made laws and elected officers. The first Assembly of this kind in America had been formed in Virginia in 1619, but it did not have the power of the Boston Assembly, which made all the laws of the colony. Jamestown had a governor sent out by the king, but the Puritans were under a governor elected by themselves, not one sent from England. Other Colonists.— The Puritans continued to come across the ocean, so that by 1640 there were about twenty thousand people in New England. These were 44 THE ENGLISH COLONIES widely spread throughout the country. Some of them settled in Connecticut and there were settlements in New Hampshire and Maine. The Dutch built a fort on the bank of the Connecticut River, but thev were driven away by the English. Roger Williams. — And now we have to tell of some very wrong doings of the Puritans. They had come to America because they were not allowed to worship God in peace at home; but they soon began to say that nobody should worship God in New England except in their way. One minister, named Roger WilHams, declared that the magistrates had no right to tell a man what his religion should be. He said also that the white men had no claim to the land unless they paid the Indians for it. The Puritans thought that this was dangerous talk, and declared that no man should preach such doctrines in their churches. Williams would not be silent, so they drove him out of the colony. He went into the forests, where the Indians took care of him. At length he reached Narragansett Bay, and crossed it in an Indian canoe to a place which he called Providence. The Indians loved the young exile, and Canonicus, their chief, gave him a large tract of land. Religious Liberty. — There were other persons besides Roger Williams who could not live in peace with the Puritans. Many of these followed him. In the settle- ment which they formed every one was allowed to hold such rehgious opinions ar? he pleased. It was one of the first places in the world in which there was full religious liberty and in which no man was persecuted for his opinions. THE PILGRIMS AND THE PURITANS 45 Rhode Island. — Some of the new settlers bought an island from the Indians, which was called Rhode Island. This afterwards became the name of the State. A charter was given to the colony, and its people slowly grew in numbers. They were so afraid of tyrants that when Roger Williams refused to be gov- w^ Roger Williams Bringing the Charter to Providencs. ernor the colony went without one for forty years. Williams was very just and kind to the Indians, and they looked on him as their best friend. The Quakers. — But the Puritans soon did worse things than to drive Roger Williams into the wilder- ness. When it was known in England that there was a colony in America formed by people who wished to worship God in peace and freedom, others besides the Puritans made haste to come to this free land. Among these were a number of the Friends, or Quakers 46 I'HE ENGLISH COLONIES as people called them, who had been very harshly treated in England. Several of these came to Plymouth and Salem, but they soon found that they were no better off in Amer- ica than in England. They would not go to war, or pay taxes, or attend the Puritan churches, and they would not go away from the colony when they were ordered to do so. Some of them grew so excited as to be half crazy, and would come into the meeting-house on Sundays, with clothes made of sackcloth, and with ashes on their heads, and would disturb the services. They did other things still more unpleasant. The Persecution. — As they would not leave the colony, the Puritans began to treat them in a cruel manner. Some of them were whipped in the streets, and others were branded with hot irons. Four of them were hanged. And not only the excitable ones, but the quiet and well-behaved ones, were treated with great severity. The Puritans have been much blamed for this cruelty. They had left England because men would not let them act in religious matters as they pleased, and now they were not willing to let others worship in their own way. But they could not drive the Quakers out by severity, and they finally had to let them alone. The Salem Witchcraft. — It was not long before the Puritans began to persecute another set of people. In those days all ignorant persons and some learned ones believed in witches. It was thought that certain people had the power to bewitch and hurt others by a sort of magic. That was the belief all over Europe, and thousands of persons were put to death as witches. THE PILGRIMS AND THE PURITANS 47 Some poor persons in Salem were accused of being witches, and a court was held to try them. Very strange things were said to have been done, and fifty of them were declared guilty. Twenty of these were- hanged. The excitement spread and finally people of high standing were accused of witchcraft. This made- the wiser citizens fear that there was something; wrong in the public belief. When respectable per- sons were thus brought to trial, the judges said that such persons could not be witches, and set them free. The foolish notion died away as quickljr as it had risen. Sensible people became very much ashamed of themselves for having believed in such folly; and they could not easily forget that they had put to death innocent persons for a crazy delu- sion. The excitement had continued from 1688 to. 1693. Connecticut. — There were other colonies in New- England than those spoken of. The beautiful andi fertile valley of the Connecticut River attracted settlers,. a party of whom came overland in 1635 and founded Hartford and other towns, while another party came- by sea and founded Saybrook, at the river's mouth. In 1638 a large colony from England settled at New- Haven, and soon added other towns, which combined, to form what was known as the New Haven colony. The Connecticut colony had its capital at Hartford, and in 1662 Charles II. granted it a very liberal charter, which made it almost an independent govern- ment. Towns were also founded in Maine and New- Hampshire, but these were long under the control of Massachusetts, 48 THE ENGLISH COLONIES Mode of Government. — All the New England colo- nies followed Massachusetts in their mode of govern- ment. The English kings had left the colonists to act as they pleased, and there was no one in England that had any right to interfere with them, so the people were as free as if they had had no connection with England. In the other colonies there were governors sent out by the king, the companies, or the proprietors; but the people of New England chose their own gov- ernors and made their own laws. A League of Colonies. — We have already told what their government was like. But in 1643 a new step in political conditions was made. There were then five colonies — Plymouth, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Haven — and all of these except Rhode Island joined themselves into a league, or con- federac}^, each colony choosing men to represent it. This was something like the present government of the United States, the meeting of deputies from the col- onies being like a little Congress. New England had become like a free republic at that early date. The Charters Revoked. — But the people of New Eng- land were not left at ease after Charles II. became king. He did not wish them to have so much liberty, and he declared that the charter of Massachusetts no longer held good. Soon afterwards he died, but the next king, James II., was still more severe. He said that all the New England colonies were his, that he would make the laws and levy the taxes, and that the people should have no voice in the government. He sent out Sir Edmund Andros as royal governor, and demanded that all the charters should be given up. INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 49 The Lost Charter. — But the new governor did not succeed very well in this purpose. When he came to Hartford the Assembly met to decide whether they should obey his order and give up their charter. This important paper was laid on the table. It was even- ing and candles were lighted. Suddenly the candles all went out and the room was left in darkness. When they were relighted the charter was gone. It is said that one of the members flung his cloak over the candles and in the darkness carried off the charter, which he hid in a hollow tree. This tree was long known as the Charter Oak. A Change of Kings. — While the governor was in Boston news reached there that the people of England had risen against the king and driven him from the throne. So the governor was imprisoned, the charter was brought out again, and the people took the gov- ernment once more into their own hands. But it was not long before the new king sent them a new governor, and they lost much of their old freedom. 3. INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND. English and Indians. — In time the settlers of New England began to have trouble with the Indians. Shortly after the Pilgrims landed a chi.ef had come to them, with the words, "Welcome, Englishmen." He had learned these words from some of those people who had crossed the ocean in search of fish. But before long this friendly feeling passed away. The English did not treat the Indians well. Captain Standish was very stern and severe with them, and killed several of them. The settlers went farther and farther into 4 50 THE ENGLISH COLONIES the land, and new ones came over the ocean in such numbers that the red men began to fear that all their country would be taken from them. The Pequot War. — Yet it was not in Massachusetts, but in Connecticut, in 1637, that the first fighting took place. Here there was a fierce and warlike tribe called the Pequots, who became very angry on seeing the The Battle with the Pequots. white men settling on their lands. They began to kill the whites whenever they found them alone. The English killed some of them in return, and then a deadly war began. No white man could leave the fort without danger of being murdered by the savages. The settlers soon decided to put an end to this. So they got together a party of soldiers and sent them against the Pequot fort. There were ninety white men and several hundred friendly Indians, led by Captain INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 51 John Mason. The Indian fort was near where the town of Stonington is now built. It was made of trunks of trees, about twelve feet high, set close together in the ground. The Indian allies were left outside while the English forced their way into the fort and set fire to the wigwams of the Pequots. Then the fight began in the smoke and flame, and nearly all the Pequots were killed, while only two white men were slain. There were some Pequots outside the fort, but these were sought for and the most of them killed. This bat- tle so frightened the Indians that there was very little trouble with them in New England for nearly forty years afterwards. King Philip's War. — The next war with the Indians began in 1675. The tribe of the Wampanoags had always been friendly with the whites; but the old sachem died and his son, named Philip, became sachem. He hated the whites, and got some of the other tribes to join him in a war against them. One of these tribes was the Narragansett, of Rhode Island, which until now had been kept friendly by Roger Williams. The war that followed was a terrible one. The Indians were no longer afraid to touch powder and bullets. They had thrown aside the bow and arrow and taken the musket for their weapon, and they now attacked the settlements in all directions. They drove off the cattle, destroyed the crops, and burned the houses, and many of the white people were murdered. Several towns were taken by the Indians and burned, and the whole country was thrown into a state of terror 52 THE ENGLISH COLONIES Defeat of the Narragansetts. — But the killing of a few hundred persons could not drive the white people from the country, for by this time there were about sixty thousand of them in New England. They made up their minds to punish the Indians and put an end to the war. So a force of fifteen hundred men was sent against the Narragansetts, who had a strong fort in the centre of a great swamp. They thought they were safe there; but the soldiers got into their fort, killed a thousand of them, and forced the others to flee for their lives. This was in the winter, and many more of the savages died from cold and hunger, as they had no place of shelter and very little to eat. Death of Philip. — This dreadful affair broke the power of the Indians; but parties of them wandered about the settlements, and killed men, women, and children wherever they could. The people grew furi- ous at this, and hunted the savages like wild beasts. Philip and his followers were chased from place to place. In August, 1676, they went to Mount Hope, Rhode Island, and here they were surprised b}^ a party of soldiers and of Indians who had joined the whites. Philip started up to flee for his life, but he was shot by an Indian and fell dead. This ended the war. All danger from the Indians was at an end, except in Maine and New Hampshire, where the settlements were weak. The whites had suffered terribly. About six hundred of them had been murdered. Twelve or thirteen towns, with about six hundred houses, had been burned. But the tribes were broken up, and many of the Indians were sent to the West Indies to be sold as slaves. INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 53 The First French and Indian Wars. — The next troubles in New England were stirred up by the French, who began a war in Europe with the English in 1689, and another in 1702. The French and Enghsh in America were not satisfied to let all the fighting be done on the other side of the ocean, but thought that they must do what they could to kill one another, though the war did not concern them in any way. Many of the northern Indians took the side of the French, and came down from Canada to attack the English settle- ments. Farm-houses and villages were burned, and hundreds of the people were killed or carried off as prisoners. The whole country was kept in a state of terror for years. Mrs. Dustln's Escape. — We must tell the story of one of these prisoners. This was a brave woman named Mrs. Dustin, who was carried off from the town of Haverhill, m Massachusetts, with her baby, her nurse, and a young boy. The Indians soon killed the baby, but they took the others for many miles through the forest. Mrs. Dustin found out that the Indians were going to torture and kill them at the end of their journey, so she resolved to try to escape. They were now on an island in the Merrimac River, and that night the Indians lay down to sleep, not dreaming that they were in any danger from their prisoners. There were twelve of these Indians, and they had no fear of two women and a boy. But Mrs. Dustin told her companions what she wanted them to do, and while the savages lay asleep the three prisoners took possession of their tomahawks and began killing them. They worked so quickly that ten of the Indians were 54 THE ENGLISH COLONIES killed. The other two, a woman and a boy, ran for their lives into the forest. The brave woman took their canoe and floated down the river till she got safely to her home again. There is a statue of Mrs. Dustin now in Haverhill, and a monument on the Mer- rimac River at the point where the Indians were slain. The People of Deerfield. — There were many more horrible events in these wars. Some large villages, such as Schenectady in New York, and Deerfield in Massachusetts, were taken and burned, and the people murdered or carried off as prisoners. It was a terribly cold winter, yet many of the people of Deerfield were made to walk through the woods to Canada with very little clothing and scarcely anything to eat. There they were sold to the French as slaves. Pioneer Life. — The pioneers of America, as may be seen, led a life of great danger and terror, very differ- ent from anything that is known here to-day. The men worked in the fields with their rifles by their sides, and each house was built like a strong fort, for no one knew at what moment the savages might burst with a yell from the woods and fall on them with mus- ket and tomahawk. These were times such as can never come again in this peaceful country. 4. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE PURITANS. To tell what laws a people made, what wars they fought, and what things they did is not to tell their whole story. To tell how they lived, what their houses and churches were like, what work they per- formed, and how they enjoyed themselves is quite as important and interesting. So it is our purpose MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE PURITANS 55 now to say something about the manners and cus- toms of the people of New England. Puritan Houses. — In the early period of this country there were none of the great and beautiful buildings we see to-day. Most of the houses were log huts, only one story high, with very steep roofs which were cov- ered with thatch. But there were a few houses made of wood and brick and some of stone, two stories high. As time went on the houses became larger, but the largest of them would seem small to us. In these houses were large fireplaces, built of stone, in some of which logs four feet long could be burned. The chimneys at first were made of boards, or of sticks smeared with clay. There was very little glass for the windows, and oiled paper was much used instead. When glass was used it was made in small and thick diamond-shaped panes, which were set in frames of lead. Furniture was not plentiful, and was very rude in shape and finish, with none of the beauty and art of modern furniture. There were few clocks, and most people had to tell the time from the sun. For this pur- pose the houses were built so as to face exactly south. When the sun shone squarely into the rooms the people knew that it was noon and time for dinner. Dress. — The Puritans dressed very differently from what we do now. The men wore knee-breeches and short cloaks, with ruffs about their necks, and steeple- crowned hats; the wealthy ones had rich belts, gold and silver buttons, and high boots rolled over at the top for great occasions. The women wore dresses of plain homespun during the week, and silk hoods, lace neckerchiefs, and other finery on Sunday. 56 THE ENGLISH COLONIES But the law required that everybody should dress to suit his or her station in life. Workingmen wore breeches of leather or coarse goods, and red or green baize jackets, with somewhat finer clothes for Sunday; while the gentleman wore his robe of silk or velvet, with lace ruffles at his wrists and gold lace on his cloak. A gold-headed cane and a gold or silver snuff-box were thought necessary to a gentleman. But those who wore fine clothes could be punished unless they could prove that they were rich enough to afford them. Titles and Luxuries. — The titles of Mr. and Mrs. were not so common as they are to-day. They were used only for clergymen and magistrates, and for people of very high position. Everybody else, except a servant, was called Good-man, or Good-wife. Much respect was shown to persons of education. As the colonies grew richer great display was made by wealthy people. Fine houses were built, elegant furniture and clothing were imported, and there was much show among people of wealth. Food and Amusements. — Food was by no means to be had in as great variety as it is now. There was no way to bring fruits from other parts of the world, and no one knew how to preserve vegetables and meats for the winter in the way that this is now done. Corn meal and milk, or pork and beans, were common food, while bread was generally made of rye and Indian meal. Tea and coffee were not used, but much beer and cider were drunk. Amusements were very simple. No one was allowed to dance, or to play cards, and there was not much music, while such a thing as a theatre was unknown. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE PURITANS 57 Laws and Penalties. — The laws were very severe. There were whipping-posts, where men and women were often whipped in pubHc for doing things which are now not considered crimes. There were also stocks, or wooden frames which could be locked around the neck or the ankles, in which offend- ers were fastened and left to the scorn of the public. A woman who was a common scold might be punished by being ducked in a stream or pond, or by having a split stick fastened on her tongue or a gag put into her mouth. In some cases the offender was made to stand on a stool in the church with the name of his offence written on a paper which was pinned on his breast. Town Meetings. — The people, as we have already said, made their own laws. To do this they came together in town meetings and talked over public affairs. If a vote had to be taken, corn and beans were used to vote with. A grain of corn meant a vote in favor of the measure; a bean w^as a vote against it. The town meetings were Intended onlv to discuss local affairs; those of the whole colony were settled by the governor and the Assembly. Church=Qoing. — In religious matters the Puritans were very strict. Everybody was expected to attend church, and those who failed to do so were punished. On Sunday morning the sound of a drum, or perhaps Stocks, Whipping-Post, and Pillory. 58 THE ENGLISH COLONIES the blowing of a horn or ringing of a bell, would call the people to worship. The meeting-house was Hke a small fort, as it had a fence of strong stakes driven into the ground around it. Often a cannon or two would be placed near the church, or perhaps on its roof, while the men walked to church with their guns over their shoulders, and kept them within easy reach during the service. Puritans Going to Church. Fear of the Indians. — It was fear of the Indians that made the people so cautious. No one knew at what moment the dreadful war-whoop might sound, and a troop of blood-thirsty savages rush into the town. In such a case the meeting-house could be turned at once into a fort, where the men might fight for the lives of themselves and their families. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE PURITANS 59 Within the Church. — The worshipers did not sit together as now, but the old people occupied one part of the church, the young men another, and the young women a third. The boys sat on the steps of the pulpit and in the gallery. No one was allowed to go to sleep in those old Puritan churches. The constable was always on hand to keep them awake. He carried a staff that had the foot of a hare on one end and a hare's tail on the other. If a woman went to sleep, the hare's tail was brushed gently over her face; but if a boy was caught nodding, the hare's foot came clown on his pate with a sharp rap. Yet it must have been hard to keep awake, for the sermons were sometimes three or four hours long, and no doubt often very dry and tiresome. Industries. — The people of New England lived on what they could raise from the soil. But there were some things manufactured, such as hats, paper, shoes, furniture, and farming tools. Most people dressed in homespun goods, and the spinning-wheel was kept busy in the houses. Money was scarce, and for a while bullets were used for farthings. The wampum of the Indians and beaver skins and corn were also used for money; but the colonists began to make silver coins in 1652. Vessels. — Many vessels were built. The first of those built in Massachusetts was called The Blessing of the Bay. In time the New England people had a large trade along the coast, and sent vessels for whales into the icy seas of the north. Military Customs. — Every man and boy past the age of sixteen had to act as a soldier, and they were obliged 60 THE ENGLISH COLONIES to meet together and go through mihtary exercises at certain periods. The danger from the Indians was so great that this was necessary, and in the frontier settlements no farmer went into his field, or travelled along the road, without his musket. The houses were built like forts. Some of the soldiers carried long pikes. Others carried guns called matchlocks. These guns were fired with a slow-match, or a piece of substance that burns very slowly. It was long before they began to use flint and steel to make a spark and set fire to the powder in the gun, and still later before the gun-caps which are now used were invented. Each soldier car- ried a rest, or iron fork, which he stuck into the ground to rest the end of his heavy musket on while he took aim. Swords were carried by the officers, and some of the soldiers wore iron helmets and breast-plates. ' Others wore coats quilted with cotton wool, through which an Indian arrow could not pass. Modes of Travel.— The usual mode of travel was on foot or horseback, but many went in vessels along the coast. That is the way Benjamin Franklin came from Boston to New York, as he tells us in his own story of his life. From New York to Philadelphia he came part of the way by land and part by boat on the Dela- ware River, and found it a long and difficult journey. Now one may make the same journey in two hours in a parlor car. 5. NEW YORK. The Purposes of the Colonists. — The people who came to America did so for various purposes. The Spanish came in search of gold and silver. The French of ^JEW YORK 61 Canada wished to trade for furs with the Indians. The EngHsh of Virginia at first sought for gold, and soon after began to cultivate tobacco and send it to England. The Puritans were the first who began to till the soil as a business, and who had no other objects in view. They were the first, also, who made the New World truly their home, and took care of themselves without any help from Europe. The Dutch. — Other people than the French came to America to trade with the Indians. After Henry Hudson got back to Europe and told of the great river he had sailed up in the Half Moon, the Dutch claimed all the territory he had visited, and called it "New Netherlands. '' The First Settlement. — A Dutch sailor named Adrian Block came there in 1614, and loaded his ship with bear skins. But when he was just ready to set sail for home his ship, which was called the Tiger, was found to be on fire. It could not be saved, so the sailors had to hurry ashore and leave their vessel to the flames. They built themselves log huts, and spent the winter on Manhattan Island, where the great city of New York now stands. They called the place New Amster- dam. In the spring they built a vessel called the Onrust (which means Unrest), and sailed back to Holland. The Land Purchased. — After this the Dutch contin- ued to come, and they formed trading posts at differ- ent places along the Hudson River. They were the first settlers who acted as if they believed that the Indians had a right to the lands they hved on, and who were willing to pay for them. But they did not pay a 62 THE ENGLISH COLONIES very high price. They bought the whole of Manhat- tan Island for goods worth about twenty-four dollars. Other tracts of land were bought, and they kept up a thriving trade with the Indians for the skins of bears, beavers, and other animals. For these they were will- ing to sell the Indians guns, and powder and shot, and in this way the natives came to possess these new weapons. The Claim to Connecticut. — The Dutch were not content with Manhattan Island, but claimed that they owned the whole coast as far north as Cape Cod, and sent a vessel to the Connecticut River, on the banks of which a fort was built. They were not there long before an English vessel from Plymouth sailed up the stream. The Dutch threatened to fire on them if they went farther up, but the Plymouth men were not easily frightened and sailed past the fort in spite of its guns. They stopped at a place near the river which they called Windsor, and built a house to trade with the Indians. This took place in 1633, and soon afterwards other settlements were made on the river and along the coast. The Dutch talked of driving them out, but the English were soon too strong to be safely attacked and Connecticut was lost to the Dutch. The Delaware. — Another Dutch vessel, under Cap- tain Mey, sailed into Delaware Bay and River. There was fine country on both sides, and he declared that all this land should belong to Holland. A fort was built on the Delaware River, but it was soon allowed to go to ruin, and the Dutch acted as if they did not care for the country. NEW YORK 63 The Swedes. — About twenty years afterwards a colony came from Sweden, led by Peter Minuit, a former Dutch governor of New York, but now in the service of Sweden, and settled on the banks of Dela- ware Bay and River. This made the Dutch suddenly decide that they wanted the country very badly. They said that the Swedes had settled on land belong- ing to them, and sent ships and soldiers who attacked them and took possession of their forts. The Swedes were not driven away, but they had to accept the Dutch as their masters. Dutch Settlements. — The Dutch were soon at war with the Indians, but their colony grew in size and they formed many settlements along the Hudson River. Yet the people of the colony were not satisfied, for some of their governors acted like tyrants, and they thought they ought to have the same right to govern themselves as the people of New England had. The Duke of York.— In 1664 the Duke of York, King Charles's brother, sent three armed ships from England, and Stuyvesant, the Dutch governor, was ordered to give up the country. This act was based on the voyages of the Cabots, which the English claimed gave them the right to all this country. Stuy- vesant wanted to fight, but the people would not help him. They did not like the way he had treated them, and thought they would be better off under the Eng- hsh. So the island was given up to the Enghsh, and the name of the town changed to New York. This was the beginning of the great city of that name. Leisler's Revolt. — There is not much more to teU about the colony of New York. The people did not 64 THE ENGLISH COLONIES find the English rule any easier than the Dutch. The governors sent out by the Duke of York were very severe. In the end the people rose against one of these governors and drove him away, and chose a merchant named Jacob Leisler to take his place. But a new governor was sent over from England, who arrested Leisler for treason. This governor, who was named Sloughter, did not want to do anything more to Leisler, who had n t been much to blame; but he had the fault Oi drinking, and some of Leisler's enemies got him to sign a death-v/arrant while he was drunk. They took care to hang Leisler before the governor got sober again. There was never any stronger proof than this of the folly and wickedness of intemperance. Captain Kidd. — Other governors came who were no better than Sloughter. One of them was said to be a partner of the pirates, of whom there were many on the coast. A vessel was sent against them, commanded by a mariner named Captain Kidd; but he ran away with the vessel and turned pirate himself. He was afterwards taken and hanged. How the Negroes wcro Treated. — At this period there were many negro slaves in New York. In time one- fifth of all the inhabitants were slaves. The people grew afraid of them, and passed severe laws to keep them in subjection. At length, in 1741, the story was started that the negroes had formed a plot to murder their masters. This caused great fear among the New Yorkers, and many of the negroes were arrested. Some of these were hanged, others were burned at the stake, and others transported. Some white men were hanged also. LIFE IN NEW YORK 65 It IS very doubtful if there was any real plot. The people were so frightened that they hardly knew what they were doing, and there is no doubt that many innocent persons were put to death. Fear makes men do many cruel and unjust things. 6. LIFE IN NEW YORK. Dutch Houses. — The Dutch settlers of New York had modes of hfe very different from those of New England and the South. They built houses like those of Holland. These were of wood; or of small black and yellow bricks, and had their gable ends facing the street. There were weather-cocks on the roofs, and the houses had many doors and windows, with great brass knock- ers on the front doors. They were kept very clean, as houses were in Holland. DtJTCH Interior. 66 THE ENGLISH COLONIES The women spent much time in sweeping and scrub- bing. They had no carpets, but they covered the floors with white sand, which was made into hues and pat- terns with the broom. They had great open fire- places, with tiles of different colors and figures. The furniture was plain and solid, and there was much old silver and china in the cupboards. Every house had its spinning-wheel and a great chest full of linen which the women had woven. Modes of Life. — The Dutch did not work very hard. They took life easy, and spent much of their time sitting on the porches with long pipes in their mouths. They liked good eating and drinking, and enjoyed telling stories and playing at various games. Many things and habits we now have came from the Dutch. Our ''Santa Claus^' came from them, and also the custom of New Year visits, and of colored eggs at Easter. The Dutch cooks of New Amsterdam were the first in this country to make doughnuts and crullers. The people were not very fond of church-going, but they had great respect for their ministers, or ''domi- nies," as they called them. When money was scarce they paid the dominies in beaver skins or wampum. The Dutch Dress. — The Hollanders had their own ideas about dress. The men wore several pairs of knee- breeches, one over the other, which made them look very baggy. They wore large buckles at the knees and on the shoes, while their coats had great buttons of brass or silver. The women wore a great many short and bright-colored petticoats, with stockings of various colors and high-heeled shoes. On their heads they wore white muslin caps. MARYLAND 67 Industries. — There were people of several different nations in New York, but Dutch was the ordinary lan- guage, even long after the country had been taken by the English. Most of the people were engaged in trading with the Indians for furs, which they sent to Europe, along with timber, tar, tobacco, and other things. They built their own vessels, and gave them such queer names as King Solomon and The Angel Gabriel. The Patroons. — The country was settled in a way unlike that of any other colony. Rich persons came from Holland, where they had bought the right to take up in America tracts of land running sixteen miles along a stream and as far back into the country as they pleased. They were told that they must pay the Indians for the land, and bring out a colony of fifty persons within four years. These great land-owners were called '' Patroons. '* They owned all the best land, and the farmers were only tenants. Thus New York was very different from New England, which was divided into small farms owned by the farmers. The patroon system was not changed by the English, and many of these great estates continued until recent times. The rents were low, but about 1844 most of the tenants refused to pay rent any longer. After some trouble, nearly all the farmers bought their lands, and the great estates of the patroons were broken up. 7. MARYLAND. Lord Baltimore. — The Catholics of England were treated more harshly than the Puritans, and when they saw how well the Puritans got along in America, they 68 THE ENGLISH COLONIES thought that if they should cross the ocean they might be able to live like them in peace and comfort. So a Catholic nobleman, named Lord Baltimore, got King Charles I. to give him a charter for a colony. The land he chose was on Chesapeake Bay, where a settlement was made in 1634 at a place called St. Mary's. The country was named Maryland, after the wife of the king, whose name was Henrietta Maria. The charter which the king gave to Lord Baltimore was a very liberal one. He was permitted to govern the country in his own way, without any interference from England, and the king promised not to tax the colony if the governor would send him one-fifth of any gold or silver he might find and two Indian arrows every year as a sort of tribute. Religious Liberty. — Lord Baltimore was a wise and just man, and he declared that no one should suffer in his colony on account of religion. Most of the first settlers were Roman Catholics, but he said that all Christian people should have the same rights in Mary- land as the Catholics. So for a time there were no religious disputes in that colony, though it was not long before other troubles began. Clayborne*s Rebellion. — Many persons came from Virginia and settled in Maryland and Puritans also came from New England, but none of these got along well with the Catholics. A Virginian named Clayborne had been there before Lord Baltimore, and claimed to own a part of the country. Disputes began, and before many years there was war in the colony. Clay- borne was at the head of the rebellious forces and in the end he drove out the governor and took possession MARYLAND 6^ ot the country. But the fighting began once more, and he was defeated and had to flee for his Hfe. Thus Lord Baltimore got possession of his colony again. Religious Troubles. — But other Protestants kept coming into the country, who were not willing to livp in peace with the Catholics, even under their fair laws. Quarrels arose, and when the Protestants became strong enough they passed a law that no C?tholic should have a vote. In this way religious freedom came to an end in Maryland. A Royal Governor. — In 1691 King William of Eng- land, a strong Protestant, took the province away from Lord Baltimore and placed it under a royal governor. He declared that the Church of England should be the church of the colony, and the people were no longer allowed to worship in their own way. For twenty years this state of affairs continued. Then George I., a new king, restored the colony to a descendant of Lord Baltimore, who was a Protestant. After that time no one was persecuted in Maryland on account of his religion. Life in Maryland. — Most of the people of Maryland lived on plantations and raised tobacco as was done in Virginia. They paid for everything they wanted with this plant, which served them instead of money. Lord Baltimore had bought land from the Indians, and the people had very little trouble with them. After the religious disputes were settled, Maryland became a happy and prosperous colony, and affairs went on well there for many years. 70 THE ENGLISH COLONIES 8. PENNSYLVANIA. Religious Persecution. — We have seen that religious persecution made many of the people of Europe come to America. It was this that brought the French Protestants to Florida, the Puritans to New England, and the Catholics to Maryland. The same cause sent another colony over the ocean. In those days each of the great nations of Europe had one religion which it said was the only true one, and they declared that any person who had a different belief was a bad man, and should be punished. The Quakers. — There were many of these '^ heretics, '* as they called them, in England. One sect of them called themselves Friends, but their enemies named them Quakers. They did not believe in war, nor in fine clothes, nor that one man is better than another. They would not take off their hats before a king. They had no fine churches and no paid ministers, and their ideas were so different from those of the Church of England that the government tried to make them change their belief, and in so doing treated them cruelly. We have told already how badly • the Puritans treated them. William Penn. — Among the Quakers was one rich and edu- cated man, named William Penn. His father had been an admiral in the English navy, and when he died Charles II. owed him a large sum of money. William Penn. PENNSYLVANIA 71 William Penn had been in prison for being a Quaker, and he thought that he would like to make a home for himself and his friends where they could live in peace. So he asked King Charles to give him some land in America to pay the debt owed to his father. The king was glad to do this, for he had more land than money. He told Penn that he might have the land on the west of the Delaware River. This had belonged first to the Indians, then to the Swedes, and afterwards to the Dutch, but when the EngUsh took New Amsterdam from the Dutch they took this also. It was covered with forests, and Penn wished to call it Sylvania, from the Latin word Sylva, which means forest. But the king said it should be called Penn- sylvania, or Penn's forest-land. Philadelphia. — William Penn came to America in the year 1682, in the good ship Welcome. There were Swedes and Dutch in his new province before him, as we know, and also some English, whom he had sent out the year before. Several of the Swedes lived where the great city of Philadelphia now stands; but Penn bought the ground from them, and laid out a city which he called Philadelphia, or '^brotherly love." Penn's Treaty with the Indians. — He soon asked the Indians to meet him and have a friendly talk. We are told that many of the chiefs came, and they met together under a great elm-tree, on the banks of the Delaware. The white men had no guns, as the peo- ple elsewhere had, and they gave presents to the Indians and promised to buy the land from them, instead of cheating and shooting them as had been done in other places. The Indians were glad to hear this, 72 THE ENGLISH COLONIES and said that they would hve ''in love with the children of William Penn while the sun and moon shall shine." This promise was kept for many years. The Quakers were a peaceful and just people, who never did any harm to the savages, and the Indians always looked on them as their friends. All the troubles with the red men in Pennsylvania came from other people. The Laws. — William Penn stayed only two years in America, and then went back to England, where he remained for many years. Instead of trying to govern the people, he called them together and let them make their own laws, and the colony at once became free and happy. Every man who paid a tax was given the right to vote, no mat- ter what religious belief he held, and the people con- tinued to choose their own officers and make their own laws. Nearly the only power which William Penn kept was that of appointing the governor. The Population. — People came over very fast to the Quaker settlement. Some of those who came first lived in holes dug in the river bank; but houses were soon built, and in two years Philadelphia had three hundred houses and twenty-five hundred inhabitants. Penn did not come back until 1699, at which time there Penn Treaty Monument. PENNSYLVANIA 73 were seven hundred houses. The city was very pros- perous, but Penn did not get much money from his colony. The people forgot how much they owed to him, and let him die poor after all he had done to make them rich and happy. Delaware. — And now we must say something about the provinces of Delaware and New Jersey. One of the early governors of Virginia, named Lord de la Ware, had made a voyage along the coast, and entered a beautiful river, which was called Delaware after his name. Then the Swedes and the Dutch came, and afterwards the Enghsh, and the country which is now called Delaware was for a time part of Penn- sylvania. In 1703 it was made a separate colony, under its present name. New Jersey. — The Dutch were the first to settle in New Jersey. But when the Duke of York robbed the Dutch of their settlements, he gave this province to two Enghsh noblemen, who named it after the island of Jersey, in the Enghsh Channel. Among the people who came there were some Quak- ers, and Wilham Penn soon bought part of the land and invited others to come. Afterwards the rest of the province was bought by the Quakers, and it was thrown open to the persecuted people of all rehgions. In 1702 a royal governor was appointed who ruled over New York and New Jersey, and it was not till 1738 that New Jersey got a governor of its own. But the lands settled by the Quakers long continued among the most peaceful, freest, and happiest of all the settlements in America. 74 THE ENGLISH COLONIES 9. LIFE IN PENNSYLVANIA. The People of Pennsylvania. — Pennsylvania was settled by people of different nations, and several languages were spoken there. Among these settlers were English and Swedes, Dutch and Germans. Scotch William Penn's House, I^hiladelphia. and Irish. There were no important towns besides Philadelphia, but that was the greatest city in America till after the Revolution. Philadelphia. — William Penn laid out his city with streets crossing each other at right angles, like those of ancient Babylon. It had many handsome build- ings, the streets were lined with trees, and there were gardens and orchards about the houses, so that it was LIFE IN PENNSYLVANIA 75 a *'fair greene country town/^ as Penn wished it to be. The sidewalks in time were paved with flag-stones, which at that period could be found in few cities. In 1740 the city had about twelve thousand inhabitants, and was a very thriving place. Modes of Life. — Philadelphia was noted for the abun- dance of its fruit. A German traveller said, in 1748^ that the peaches were so plentiful that the people fed their pigs on them. The people in Europe, he said, cared more for their turnips than the people in Philadelphia did for their finest fruits. The shops of the city were only the ordinary houses, with something hung over the door to show what was for sale inside. Now you would see a basket, now a beehive, or perhaps a wooden anchor, or something else to serve as a sign. The people were very quiet and sober, and did not care much for amusements. There was not much travelling about the country, for the roads were very bad. Dealings with the Indians. — While William Penn lived his colony had no trouble with the Indians. It has been said that no drop of Quaker blood was ever shed by an Indian. This is not quite true, yet they and the Quakers were long the best of friends. But one of William Penn's descendants treated the Indians badly, and made them very angry. The Indians had sold the whites as much land as a man could walk over in a day and a half. They sup- posed that this land would be walked over in the usual way; but instead of that an easy route was chosen and some fast walkers were trained, who went over a very long distance in the day and a half. The Indians said 76 TliE ENGLISH COLOxMES that this was not fair. But Indians were brought from New York who were enemies of the tribe of the Delawares, and who drove them from their lands. This was not the way that William Penn would have acted, and the Indians never again felt as they had done towards the white men. Benjamin Franklin. — In 1723 there came to Phila- delphia a very remarkable man. This was the cele- brated Benjamin Franklin, who was born in Boston, but came to Philadelphia while he was young. His brother had printed a newspaper in Boston, and Franklin soon started one in Philadelphia, which became one of the best in the country. He did many other things. He kept a stationer's shop; he bound '^'' books; he made ink; he sold rags, soap, and coffee. Benjamin Franklin. He was not ashamed to do anything honest, and would wheel the papers he sold along the streets in a wheelbarrow, which many poorer and less worthy men were too proud to do. He was one of the wisest men of the period in which he lived. While he was working he was always studying, and it was he who proved that lightning is the same thing as electricity. He brought the hghtning down from the clouds along the string of a kite, and got an electric shock from it. FrankHn did much for the progress of Philadelphia. He started a university, a hospital, a library, and other pubhc Institutions. He worked also for the good of THE CAROLTNAS the whole country. No man did more to help Amer- ica to become free from England, and he was one of those who prepared the Constitution of the United Franklin BRorrcHT the Lightning Down from the Clouds. States, that great document which first made a nation of this country. Franklin was one of the noblest men the world has ever known, and America will never cease to be proud of him. 10. THE CAROLINAS. The Gift of Carolina. — We have seen how freely King Charles II. gave away land in America. He gave New York to one person and Pennsylvania to another, and a large ree:ion, known as Carolina, was given by him to 78 THE ENGLISH COLONIES eight persons, most of whom were noblemen of his court and none of whom had ever seen America. Settlers had come to Carolina before this, some from Virginia, and others from New England and elsewhere. Several settlements had been made before 1663, when these noblemen became the owners of the land. These eight persons decided to have a different kind of gov- ernment from that of the other colonies. They did not believe in freedom, and thought that the people were not fit to take care of themselves, as they were trying to do in New England. So they concluded to have a strong government, in which the people would have nothing to do but to obey the laws that were made for them. The Grand Model Government. — The proprietors of Carolina went to a celebrated philosopher, named John Locke, and asked him to draw up a system of govern- ment for them. He did so, forming a plan which he called the ''Grand Model." There were to be earls and barons in Carolina as there were in Europe. These were to own all the land, and to have all the power, and the people were to be little better than slaves, since they could not leave the plantations on which they worked. What the People Did. — This plan might have done very well for the Spanish or French colonies, but it would not do for the English. The people in Carohna had come from other parts of the country, where the settlers owned the land and made the laws. They did not understand the Grand Model, and paid no atten- tion to it, but went on in their own way and took all the land they wanted, caring nothing about the plans of the distant owners. THE CAROLINAS 79 The earls and barons stayed at home and the pro- prietors stayed with them, while the people decided for themselves what was best to do, and did it. Settlers came from different parts of Europe, among them some French Protestants, who had the same behef as those who had come to America a hundred years before under Jean Ribault. The colony soon became prosperous. The Pirates. — Everybody was not honest and law- abiding, for pirates, or sea-robbers, soon appeared along the coast and for years they made much r^^~~ " " v-^^ -^- ^^^^— ^^//?| trouble for the com- merce of the colonies. They would hide with their vessels in the bays and rivers of the coast, and suddenly sail out and attack passing ships. It is said that some of the settlers helped them. They sunk many vessels and murdered many people before they were driven away or captured by armed ships, and it took a long time to bring this piracy to an end. Industries. — Rice was first brought into the colony by a vessel from Madagascar. The grains were planted and it became a very valuable crop in the southern part of Carolina. In the northern part the people made tar and turpentine out of the sap of the pine-trees, and hunted for bear and beaver skins. A Pirate Attack. 80 THE ENGLISH COLONIES Spanish and Indian Wars. — Later on there were wars with the Spaniards and the Indians. The people of CaroUna sent some war vessels against St. Augustine, the Spanish settlement in Florida. In return the Spaniards stirred up the Indians to make war on the settlements. But in the end the Tuscarora Indians, with whom they had the most trouble, were driven out of the colony and forced to go to New York, where they joined the Iroquois, or Five Nations. Division of the Colony. — The proprietors still tried to govern the people, but these preferred to govern themselves, so they drove out of the colony one of the governors sent to them and put his secretary into prison. In the end the proprietors got tired of quar- relling with the people and asked the king to buy the province from them. He did so, and divided it into two parts, which he called North Carolina and South Carohna. This was done in 1729. The people now chose their own law-makers, though they did not like the governors sent them by the king any more than they had done their old ones. But this did not keep other people from coming, and the country in time grew rich and prosperous. 11. LIFE IN VIRGINIA AND CAROLINA. The Settlers of Virginia. — The people who settled Virginia were of a very different class from those of the Northern colonies. Many of them were English gentle- men, with more pride than money, who did not know how to work, and who hoped to get rich by finding mines of gold and silver, or in some other easy way. LIFE IN VIRGINIA AND CAROLINA 81 Afterwards criminals were sent across the ocean and made to work for a certain number of years on the plantations. No doubt many of them, were of little use. In time the planters became the rich men of Virginia, and these servants the poor men. In the Early Days. — Captain Smith, as we have already said, made everybody work, but he did not stay very long. At first, as he says, all the shelter the colonists had was an awning made from an old sail, nailed to trees. Then they built some rough log houses, with seats and tables made of planks cut with an axe. This was very different from the way people after- wards lived in Virginia. When slaves were brought to the colony and the people began to raise tobacco they soon grew more comfortable. Their tobacco was sent to England, and goods were sent to them in return. For a long time tobacco was used for money. One pound of tobacco was worth from two to twelve cents of our money, but at that time this could buy five or six times as much as the same amount of money can now. Modes of Life. — The settlers soon began to build vessels for themselves, and carried on a good trade with England. They lived in a different way from the people of the North. In travelling you would find few towns or villages, but the land was divided up into large plantations, w^here tobacco was the principal crop. Each house stood far from any others, and there were a great many negro slaves. The slaves who worked in the fields lived in little villages of their own. Nearly everything that was used on the plantations was made by the slaves, who were 82 THE ENGLISH COLONIES taught different trades. There were mihs Xb grma corn and wheat, and large sheds to cure tobacco. This tobacco was packed in great hogsheads and sent to the coast to be loaded on vessels and shipped to England. They had a curious way of sending it to the coast. An axle was run through the hogshead of tobacco, and shafts fixed to it. Then horses or oxen would drag it over the roads, the hogshead rolling along like a great wheel. The Planters. — As time went on there came to be great differences in riches. There were more very rich men and more very poor ones in the South than in the North. The great planters lived like lords. They kept packs of hunting dogs and many racing horses, and rode to church or town in fine coaches, each drawn by six horses and attended by riders on horse-back. The Houses of the Planters. — The houses, which were built of wood, or of bricks brought from England, were often large and grand, having broad stairways and mantels and wainscots of solid mahogany, which was richly carved. Gold and silverware could be seen in abundance on the sideboards, and the furni- ture was rich and showy. The planters were very hospitable. Strangers were received with a warm wel- come, and everything was done to make their visits pleasant and agreeable. Government. — The planters spent much of their time attending to political matters. They carried on the government of the colony and became skilful in the art of politics. There were among them men of high education and fine character, and afterwards many LIFE IN VIRGINIA AND CAROLINA 83 of the leading statesmen of America came from Vir- ginia. The governors of the colony were sent from England, and at first the laws were made in that country. Afterwards the people were allowed to make their own laws. Punishments. — The early laws were very severe. Every man who stayed away from church was pun- ished. At first the law said that a man who stayed Interior of a Virginia Homestead. away from church three times should be put to death. Afterwards the punishment for this offence was to be made a slave for a year and a day. There were severe laws against swearing and scolding. Both men and women might be whipped in public, or placed in the stocks. Or they might be made to stand in church with white sheets over them, or with the name of their offence pinned on their breasts. Such laws, however, did not last long, and were not often carried out. 84 THE ENGLISH COLONIES Religious Persecution. — The Church of England was the estabhshed church of Virginia, and members of other churches were treated with much severity. The laws forbade Quakers and Catholics to come into the colony. All those who came were punished. This made many go to Maryland and Carolina, where religion was free; so that the severe laws of Virginia helped to fill up these other colonies. Education. — In 1671, Governor Berkeley, of Vir- ginia, wrote, ''I thank God there are no free schools nor printing-presses here, and I hope we shall not have them these hundred years. '^ Another governor taxed school-masters twenty shillings each. So education did not make much progress, and there was no news- paper in Virginia till 1736. But William and Mary College, of Virginia, founded in 1693, was the second in the country; Harvard College, of Massachusetts, being the first. North Carolina. — The mode of life all through the South was much the same as in Virginia, the land often being divided into great plantations, worked by slaves, while the country was not so thickly set- tled as in the North. In North Carolina the people lived in different ways. Great pine woods lay all along the coast region, and the people there got tar and turpentine from the trees. Farther back the country was more open, and farms were cultivated, while many persons spent their time in hunting. The settlers lived far apart, and the only roads they had through the woods were paths, with notches cut on the trees to guide travellers. This they called "blazing their way," GEORGIA 85 South Carolina. — South Carolina was much more like Virginia. Here great plantations were formed, but rice was raised instead of tobacco. Afterwards indigo was cultivated. The planters of South Carolina grew very rich from rice and indigo. At a later time cotton took the place of these. Farther back, near the moun- tains, the people were poor, the land was divided into small farms, and there were many hunters. Schools and Churches. — There were few schools except in Charleston, but the rich planters sent their sons to England to be educated. The Church of England became the established church of the colony, but there were no severe laws against people of other beliefs, as in Virginia. The difference in the crops and in the climate had much to do with the difference in mode of life of the Southern and Northern colonies. 12. GEORGIA. Tyranny in Europe.^Is it not interesting to find that nearly all the English colonies in America were formed as places of refuge for the poor and ill-treated people of Europe? In our happy days and our free country it is hard for us to understand the way men lived and acted in Europe a few hundred years ago. People not only could not do as they wished to do, but were not even allowed to think as they wished to think. To-day there are many different ideas about God and heaven and religious matters, but then the govern- ments tried to make everybody think the same way about these matters This they could not do. People never can be made tc think the same way about any- thing Then the governments tried to force them to do so 86 THE ENGLISH COLONIES by ill-treatment, and thousands of men and women came to America to get away from those who oppressed them. Oglethorpe. — We have told the story of a number of colonies that were formed in this way. There is one more to speak of, the colony of Georgia. This was formed by an Englishman named Oglethorpe, one of those warm-hearted men who spend their lives in trying to do good to their fellow-men. The English Prisons. — In those days persons in England who failed in business, and could not pay their debts, were put into prison, where they were often kept for many years. The prisons of old times were filthy dens, where the prison- ers were crowded together and treated with great cruelty, and many of them died of want and disease. It was these poor debtors whom Oglethorpe wished to help; but he said that all who were poor and unfortunate, and all who were ill-treated on account of their religion, might have a home in his colony. The Settlement of Georgia. — The king, George IL gave him a charter to the land that lay between Caro- lina and Florida, which he called Georgia, after the king's name. He brought over a number of the poor debtors, whom the king set free at his desire. They made a settlement where the city of Savannah now stands. It was a warm climate and for a whole year Oglethorpe lived in a tent, set up under four pine- trees. The king had given him the land; but, like WiUiam Penn and some others, he thought that the Oglethorpe. GEORGIA 87 Indians had the best right to it, so he paid them for it. After that they were always friendly to him. Oglethorpe's Colonists. — People came to Georgia from all parts of Europe. These were the poor of Europe, who hoped to live in comfort in America. Among them were many Moravians from Austria, — • people who had been persecuted on account of their religion. Oglethorpe would not let any slaves be brought into Georgia. He also would not let any per- son bring rum into the colony. He looked on slavery and intemperance as two great evils. The Colony Prospers. — Houses were built, and a fort was erected to defend the colonists, while the land was divided up into farms and given to the settlers. Sa- vannah soon became a town of considerable size and importance. The people were on good terms with the Indians, and all went well with them. No colony in America ever began with better prospects. But they were soon to have their share of trouble. The Claims of Spain. — The country which the king of England had given to Oglethorpe was part of that which Spain claimed under the name of Florida. It was the same region which Narvaez and De Soto had trav- elled over two hundred years before. So if discovery gave any rights, this land belonged to Spain rather than to England. But the Spanish had not settled it, and the English had, and they were not likely to give it up to please Spain. Those who had possession did not trouble themselves much about an old claim on paper. War with Florida. — The Spaniards grew angry on finding the English coming into a country which they said was theirs. After some years war broke out 88 THE ENGLISH COLONIES between England and Spain, and then the people of the colonies began the cruel work of trying to kill one another. In the year 1740 Oglethorpe, who was an old soldier, got together an army of one thousand white men and many Indians, and marched into Florida to capture the Spanish city of St. Augustine. But he did not succeed and had to march back again, with his men very much the worse for their journey. Oglethorpe Defeats the Spaniards. — Two years after- wards the Spaniards tried to take Georgia from the English. They sailed northward with three thousand men and a great many vessels, and landed on St. Simon's Island. Oglethorpe met them with a much smaller force, but by a shrewd plot he threw the Spaniards into a panic of terror and they ran for their ships. They sailed away in all haste and the colony was saved. Many years passed before Georgia had any more troubles from war. After the War. — Some time after this Oglethorpe went back to England. The people were not satisfied with the laws, some of which were severe and vexa- tious, and they made so many complaints that in time the charter was given back to the king, and Georgia became a royal province. Oglethorpe never returned to America. He lived to be a very old man, and was one of the best men that had anything to do with the settlement of America. The Laws. — One of the laws of which the people com- plained stated that no man should own a farm beyond a fixed size. Another stated that no woman should have land left to her by will. Every man who held land was bound to serve as a soldier when called upon, GEORGIA 89 and this was why women were not allowed to own it. Everybody was to have the rights of an Englishman, and all religions were free except the Roman Catholic. Industries of the Colony. — The people soon said that they could not work their lands in so warm a climate without slaves, so after seven years the planters were allowed to have them. And rum, which Oglethorpe had forbidden, soon made its way into the colony. The people cleared the forests and tilled the land with the help of their slaves, and after a while much silk was made in the colonv. Silk-worms had been sent from England, with people who understood silk mak- ing, and this business was kept up until the time of the Revolution. General Oglethorpe took some of the first silk that was produced to England, and a silk dress was made of it for the queen. Visitors. — Among the people of Georgia was a settle- ment of the Highlanders of Scotland, and whenever Ogle- thorpe visited them he wore the Highland dress, which gave them great pleasure. Soon after Georgia was settled some celebrated English preachers came there. These were John and Charles Wesley, the men who started the Methodist doctrine in England. George Whitefield, another celebrated Methodist preacher, also came over. From the monev which he received for his preaching he founded an '' Orphan House " in Savannah. Dealings with the Indians. — As we have said, Ogle- thorpe, like William Penn in Pennsylvania, Lord Baltimore in Maryland, and the Dutch in New York, paid the Indians for their land. In consequence these colonies had much less trouble with the Indians than those which took the land without paying for it. 90 THE ENGLISH COLONIES The Indians of Georgia were called Creeks, because there were so many creeks, or small streams, in their country. They formed a league of several tribes, and were more civilized than the Indians of the North. Oglethokpe and the Chiefs. The Chiefs' Gift. — Some of the chiefs gave Ogle- thorpe a buffalo skin, on the inside of which was a painting of the head and feathers of an eagle. They said to him, ''The feathers of the eagle are soft, which signifies love; the skin is warm, and is the emblem of protection; therefore love and protect our little families." And they lived up to this. All the trouble the Georgia people had with the Indians was with those of Florida, whom the Spanish stirred up against them. CONDITIONS OF THE COLONIES 91 13. CONDITIONS OF THE COLONIES. The English Colonies. — We have now told the story Df the settlement of the English colonies from New Hampshire to Georgia. Maine at that time was part of Massachusetts, and New Hampshire was the most northerly colony. The whole coast land between the French province of Canada and the Spanish province of Florida was occupied by English settlements. Each of the English colonies claimed the country from the settlements on the coast all the way to the Pacific Ocean. But the French also had a claim to the back country^ where they had made settlements, and it took some hard fighting later on to decide who should own it. Growth of the Colonies. — The colonies grew very rapidly. In less than one hundred and fifty years after the first settlement was made there were a million and a quarter of people in the country. These were divided among the New England, the Middle, and the Southern colonies, there being nearly the same number in each. The South had more than the others, but not more white people. Industries. — The people of the colonies were very industrious. They raised tobacco, rice, indigo, grain, and other crops, much of which was sent to England to pay for manufactured goods. Rice served for money in South Carolina, as tobacco did in Virginia. The colonies in time grew so rich that they were able to help the king of England, in his wars, with money and ships. 92 THE ENGLISH COLONIES The Colonies Isolated. — At first the colonies on the coast were a long distance apart. Great forests spread between them, and it was not easy for a man to get from one to another except by ships. So they had not much to do with one another. The New England An Old Grist Mill. colonies were the only ones that were close together, but each of the other colonies has a history of its own, as if it were a separate country. Growing Together. — The country between the colo- nies in time filled up with people, the timber was cut down, and farms were laid out all along the coast and some distance into the interior. By 1750 the settle- Qients had grown together so that men might travel CONDITIONS OF THE COLONIES 93 by land along the whole coast and find white men at short distances apart. America was now fast becoming one country, instead of a number of separate colonies. Land Travelling. — But a land journey in America in colonial times was not an easy task. It was not till long afterwards that railroads and steamboats came into use. The roads were bad, and many of the streams had no bridges, or very poor ones, so it was not easy nor pleasant to travel on horseback or by carriage. There were stage-lines in some places, but the stages moved very slowly. Much of the travel continued to be in vessels along the coast. Difference in Customs. — The people of New England were settled more closely than those of the South. Their land was broken up into small farms, and more goods were made in workshops. In the South there was more land, and most of it was divided into large plantations, so that the people lived at a distance apart, and there was less social intercourse than in the North. Negro slaves were kept in the whole country, but there were more of them in the South than in the North, for the great plantations in the South could not be worked without them, while there was much less use for them on the smaller farms of the North. The warm climate of the South also was better suited to them. Government. — Each of the colonies had a legisla- ture, or law-making body, of its own, but only New England elected its own governors. Elsewhere the governors were appointed by the proprietors or the king, so that the people had less +o do with public affairs. 94 THE ENGLISH COLONIES Restrictive Laws. — England wanted to keep all the trade of the colonies for itself. The people were for- bidden to send their vessels and goods to any other country than England, or to let the ships of any other country come into their ports. And the English wanted to manufacture their goods for them also, and to keep the people of America at farming. They forbade them to make iron, paper, hats, leather, and other things. These laws were not well carried out. The people often disobeyed them, sending ships where they pleased and making many things for themselves. In after years England tried to enforce the laws, and the people grew angry and rebellious. This was one of the things that led to the Revolution. PART II.— QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 1. Name the two companies formed to make settlements in America. When did they send out colonies? Where did the South- ern colony settle? How did the colonists act? How did Captain John Smith make them work? How did Pocahontas save Captam Smith's life? What became of Smith? Describe "the starvmg time." What plant did the colonists begin to raise? When were slaves first brought to America? How did the colonists get wives? Describe the Indian massacre. What caused Bacon's rebellion? What followed it? 2. Why did the Pilgrims leave England for Holland? Why did they decide to go to America? What was the name of their vessel? Where did they land, and when? Why were they called Pilgrims? Who was Captain Miles Standish? What did Canonicus,. the Indian chief, do? What new settlement was made? What were these colonists called? What was done with the charter? What kind of government was established? What other colonies were formed? How came Roger Williams to found Rhode Island? How were religious opinions treated there? How did the Quakers QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION 95 act in Massachusetts? How did the Puritans treat them? What is meant by witchcraft? Describe the Salem witchcraft. What advance was made in government? Tell what was done about the Connecticut charter. How did the people get rid of royaj governors? 3. How did the English treat the Indians? What did the Pequots do? Describe the attack on the Pequot fort. \Vhat effect had this on the Indians? Who was King Philip and what did he do? Describe the attack on the Narragansetts. When and how was Philip killed? What were the results of the v/ar? Why did the French stir up the Indians to attack the English? What was the result? How did Mrs. Dustin escape from the Indians? Wliat was done at Schenectady and Deerfield? How did the people protect themselves from the Indians? 4. What were the houses of the Puritans like? How were they arranged and furnished? How was the sun made to tell the time of day? How did the Puritans dress? What titles were used? What did they have for food? What were their ideas about amuse- ments? What punishments did they inflict? How were votes taken at the town meetings? What were their rules about church- going? How were the churches protected? How were the people kept awake in the churches? What industries had the Puritans?' What did they use for money? What were their vessels used for? Who had to act as soldiers and how were they armed? What was the mode of travel? How did Benjamin Franklin come to Phila- delphia? 5. For what purposes did people come to America? What region did the Dutch claim? How came Adrian Block to spend the winter on Manhattan Island? Where did the Dutch settle? How did they act towards the Indians? How were they driven out of Con- necticut? \Vhat peoples settled along Delaware Bay? How did the Dutch act towards the Swedes? What did the Duke of York do? What name did the English give to the Dutch town of New Amsterdam? How was the EngHsh rule liked? Describe Leisler's- revolt. What proportion of the people of New York were slaves? What story was started about them and how were they treated? 6. What kind of houses did the Dutch build? How were they furnished? Did the Dutch work hard? What w^re some of their 96 THE ENGLISH COLONIES customs? How did they treat their ministers? How were the men and women dressed? What did they send to Europe? How was the country settled? What were the great land-owners called? Did the farmers own their land? How were the estates of the patroons broken up? 7. How were the Catholics treated in England? What did Lord Baltimore do? What did he name the land granted him? What did he declare about religion? Describe Clayborne 's rebel- lion. What did the Protestants do? What happened after the king took control of the colony? Was it given back to Lord Baltimore again? How did the people of Maryland live? What did they use as money? 8. What beliefs and customs did the Quakers have? How were they treated in England? Who was William Penn? How came he to ask the king for land in America? What land did the king give him? What did its name mean? When did William Penn come to America? What city did he lay out? Describe Penn 'a treaty with the Indians. How did the Quakers and the Indians get on together? What power did Penn give the people? How ^ast did the city of Philadelphia grow? How was Penn treated by \he colonists? After whom was the Delaware River named? When was the colony of Delaware separated from Pennsylvania? Who first settled New Jersey? Who bought the land? When did New Jersey get a governor of its own? 9. From what nations came the settlers of Pennsylvania? How was Philadelphia laid out? How were the streets paved? How many inhabitants were there in 1740? What is said about fruit? How were the shops arranged? What was the character of the people? How were the Indians treated? What trick was played to rob them of their land? What celebrated man came to Philadelphia in 1723? How did he do business? How did he prove that lightning and electricity are the same? What did he do for Philadelphia? What service did he perform for the whole country? 10. To whom did Charles II. give the province of Carolina? What ideas did the proprietors have about the people? Whom did they ask to draw up a plan of government? What was this plan called? How were the people to be governed? How did the people act? QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION 97 Wliat class of law-breakers was there along the coast? In. what part of Carolina was the rice plant grown? What did the people do in the northern part? Describe the wars with the Spaniards and Indians. What became of the Tuscarora Indians? What troubles took place between the people and the governor? What did the proprietors ask the king to do? How did the king divide the Carolinas? 11. What class of people came to Virginia? What other kind were sent there? How did they become divided? How did the people live at first? What was used as money? What was it worths How did the people live afterwards? What work did the slaves do on the plantations? How were the tobacco hogsheads sent to the coast? How did the great planters live in later years? What were their houses like? How were strangers treated? What kind of government had they? What punishments were inflicted by the early laws? What was the established religion of Virginia? How did the government act towards other religions? For what did a governor of Virginia thank God? Which were the first two colleges in America? How was the land divided in the South? What did the people of North Carolina produce? How did they make their way through the woods? What was South Carolina like? What crops were raised? How was education provided for? 12. How were the debtors of England treated a few centuries ago? For what purpose was the colony of Georgia founded? Who was its founder? How did Oglethorpe treat the Indians? What classes of people came to Georgia? What did Oglethorpe do about slaves and rum? What claim was made by Spain? What did Ogle- thorpe do? What was the fate of the Spanish expedition? What kind of man was Oglethorpe? What were the laws that the people complained of? When were the planters allowed to have slaves? WTiat important industry was started? What was done with some of the first silk? What celebrated English preachers came to Georgia? Were the Indians paid for their land? Why were they called Creeks? What did the chiefs give Oglethorpe? Was there any trouble with the Indians? 13. How far back from the coast did the English colonies claim the country? What other people claimed the back country? How rapidly did the colonies grow? How was the population 7 98 THE ENGLISH COLONIES divided? What crops were raised? How rich did the colonies grow? Was it easy to get from one colony to another? Why not? Which colonies were close together? What had happened by 1750? Why were land journeys difficult? Why was there more social intercourse in New England than in the South? Where were negro slaves kept? Why were they most useful in the South? How were the governors appointed? What did England do about trade? What were the people forbidden to make? What was the result of these laws? PART III. THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 1. THE FRENCH IN AMERICA. The English Colonies. — We have told the story of how the EngHsh came to America and settled along the coast of what is now the United States. The colonies they formed were not very large. They did not go far back from the coast, but, as we have already said, their people laid claim to the land across the whole country as far as the Pacific Ocean. These claims were only on paper, for they had not taken possession of much of the land. Most of the country to the west was still in the hands of the Indians; but part of it was held by other white men, people of another nation, who had settled on it, and were not likely to give it up without a fight. The French Settlements. — These people were the French. They had forts and settlements along the line of the great lakes and down the Mississippi River as far as the Gulf of Mexico. These were at long distances apart, but France claimed all this country and also that between the lakes and the Ohio River. Thus it seemed as if the English would in time be confined to their settlements along the coast, and the western country would belong to the French. But before we tell the story of what followed we must go back to the early French settlers, and relate what they were doing while the English were forming their colonies. 99 100 THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR Enterprise of the French. — The French had been mQre active than the Enghsh in exploring the country. We have already told how Champlain made his way far into the country of the Iroquois. He also sailed c)ver some of the great lakes. Later on there were two things that took the French through the country. These were trade and rehgion. The French began early to trade with the Indians, and they travelled long distances in search of furs, and built trading-houses and forts far away from Quebec. Among them were many priests who belonged to the religious society known as the Jesuits. These priests wished to make Christians of the Indians, and made long journeys for that purpose, though they knew that they might be put to death by the savages. Marquette's Discovery. — One of these priests was named Marquette. He had spent years among the Indians, and knew their languages, and had often heard them speak of a mighty western river that ran far to the south. He wanted to see this river, and so in the year 1673 he crossed Lake Michigan and made his way partly by land and partly in Indian canoes along little lakes and streams, until he reached the Wisconsin River. He had with him a friend named Joliet and several others. For seven days they floated in canoes down the Wisconsin, and then, to their joy, they found them- selves on the great river of the West, the mighty Mississippi. De Soto had discovered this river one hundred and thirty years before, and had followed it as far north as the State of Missouri. Marquette floated down it until he reached the mouth of the THE FRENCH IN AMERICA 101 Arkansas River. Then he and his friends turned and paddled their canoes up the stream again to the point from which they had started. To What Marquette Owed His Success. — This was a remarkable journey for that early period. To see a few bold and daring men, hundreds of miles away from their countrymen, alone among tribes of fierce Indians, toiling through the forests of the West, and paddling in frail canoes along unknown and mighty lakes and streams, was to behold what has not often been seen in the history of the world. These men had no weapons in their hands. They had only the Bible. But their Christian love and charity made them safer among the savages than if they had carried swords and muskets and been clothed from head to foot in armor of steel. La Salle's Purpose. — The next person to reach the Mississippi was a French gentleman, the Chevalier de La Salle. He knew that the English and the Spanish were fast taking possession of the New World, and he made up his mind that the French should own the great western country. So he got together a body of men, and began to explore the land beyond Lake Michigan, and to build forts and leave soldiers in them. He had many battles with the Indians, but he was not to be turned from his purpose. A Wonderful Journey. — At last he started on the great journey which he had long had in mind. With a party of French and Indians he crossed the country, paddhng along the streams and carrying the canoes through the <^orf^sta until he reached the Mississippi. 102 THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR It was then the year 1682, more than two and a quarter centuries ago. Down the great stream they went, among tribes which had never before seen a white man. Everywhere La Salle took possession of the country for the king of France. In time they reached the mouth of the Mississippi, and there La Salle laid claim to all the vast country drained by that great stream and the streams that ran into it. This country he named Louisiana, and declared that it belonged to France, and to the king, Louis XIV. La Salle's Later Life. — The bold travellers then went up the river again until they reached their starting- point. La Salle now returned to France, where every one looked on him as a hero. The king gave him ships and men to plant a colony at the mouth of the Missis- sippi, and the adventurers sailed joyfully away. But their journey ended very sadly. They could not find the entrance to the Mississippi, and landed at a place in Texas. Here La Salle built a fort, and then started with part of the men towards the Mississippi. The journey was a terrible one. The river was reached, and La Salle tried to make his way to Can- ada for help, but on the way he was killed by some of his men. And so ended the life of one of the greatest of American explorers. The End of the Colony. — Some of the men reached Canada and told their story, and a party was sent to Texas to save those in the fort. But when they got there the men were dead and the fort was a ruin. The Spaniards, who claimed Texas as theirs, had found them and put them all to death. This was the sad end of La Salle's great enterprise. THE FRENCH IN AMERICA 103 Succeeding Events. — But the French were not dis- couraged. Another colony was sent in 1699 which made a settlement near the mouth of the Mississippi,, and before many years New Orleans and other towns w^ere laid out. These towns were very far away from the French settlements on the St. Lawrence River. Thousands of miles of land and water lay between them. Yet nearly the whole distance might be travelled by water along the great lakes of the North, the Missis- sippi River, and the streams which ran into it. The active French traders were not afraid to make long journeys, and many of them went in boats the whole way from Quebec to New Orleans. These explorers established military posts at many points along the great water-way. Traders settled around the forts and priests built churches near by, so that in time there was a little settlement at each fort. English and French in America. — All this went on for fifty years. Cities now stand where many of the French forts were built. But at that time there were not many French in America. In 1750 there were fifteen times as many English as French in the New World. In the country east of the Mississippi and south of the great lakes there were only about seven thousand five hundred Frenchmen, who were thinly spread over a great territory. The Ohio Valley. — The English were now making their way to the West. A company was formed, called the Ohio Company, to buy up land and get settlers to move westward. The lands of this com- pany lay in Western Pennsylvania. When the French saw what was bemg done they were alarmed. They 104 THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR were afraid they would lose the country if they did not make haste. They began by building a strong fort on Lake Erie, where the city of Erie now stands. It became clear that before long they would have forts and soldiers along the Ohio River unless the English prevented them. Danger in the Air. — It was plain now that trouble would soon come. The great rivals had advanced till they were near together. Both of them claimed to own the valley of the Ohio. They were beginning a race to see who should first get possession of it, and that race could not go on very long before the dreadful work of war would begin. Whether the French or the English should own the great basin of the Ohio and the Mississippi was soon to be settled by the sword and the cannon, and by the death of thousands of men. The Old Owners of the Land. — At this time neither of the rival peoples had any settlements in the valley of the Ohio, the only whites west of the mountain range being a few daring trappers and pioneers, until the sparsely peopled posts of the French on the Mississippi and in the region of the Great Lakes was reached. In this vast territory the red men dwelt supreme, their homes uninvaded and the land their own. Not a dream had come to them of peril from the white-faced strangers who had descended like a swarm of locusts upon the eastern lands. The primitive state of affairs which had lasted for thousands of years still prevailed, with little to show that within half a century more the locust-hke swarm of strangers would spread over these wide plains, and the homes which the Indians so long had known would be theirs no more. GEORGE WASHINGTON 105 2. GEORGE WASHINGTON. Early Wars. — There had been fighting in America between the Enghsh and French two or three times before. Every time a war broke out in Europe between these nations the settlers in America began to kill one another. In these wars most of the fighting was done by the Indians. We have already told how they attacked the settlements in New England and New York and mu^-dered the people. The Action of Virginia. — But now a war was to have its beginning in America. The French and English stood face to face, like two dogs ready to fly at each other's throats. It was not long before the struggle began. Virginia claimed the country to which the French w^ere sending their pioneers, and the governor of Virginia thought it was time to ask them what they proposed to do, and to tell them that the land they were taking belonged to his colony. George Washington. — Governor Dinwiddle soon picked out a messenger for this duty. This was a young man named George Washington, who was then only a little over twenty-one years old. He had been born in 1732, and it was now 1753. But he was known to be active and prudent. He had been a land sur- veyor in' the wilderness, and was used to hardship. So Washington was chosen to go to the West and ask the French what they intended to do, and to warn them that they were on Enghsh land, for they had now built forts south of Lake Erie. George Washington was born to be a great man, and he had shown this while he was still a boy. Among 106 THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR his school-mates he was the same as he was among his 'Countrymen afterwards. He settled all their disputes, .and he would not let anything take place that was not just and fair. Whatever he had to do he did well. The books of exercises which he wrote at school are remarkable for their neatness and carefulness. When he was older he became a land surveyor, and his surveys ^re among the most accurate ever made. Later in life he managed his own lands, packed and shipped his own tobacco and flour, and kept his own books. His books may still be seen. They were wonderfully well kept. Both as boy and man Washington was strictly hon- est and truthful. When his flour came into foreign ports the government agents did not inspect it. His name on the barrel was enough. It was well known that there was no lie in the Washington stamp. It would be well for the country if all public men would stamp their characters with the Washington stamp. This young man was destined to do a great work for America. We have now the first part of his public life to describe, but his name will often again come into our book. Washington's Journey. — The journey from Virginia to the French forts was a difficult one, for the country was wild and without roads, and it was the cold winter season. Washington went up the Potomac River till he reached the streams that flow into the Ohio. He followed these till he came to the forts and met the French commander. The Frenchman treated him very politely, but would not promise to leave the countr}^ This was the word that Washington brought back td Virginia. GEORGE WASHINGTON 107 The journey homeward was terrible; much of it lay through the wild wintry forest. The rivers were full of broken ice, and had to be crossed on rafts. In cross- ing the Alleghany River, Washington was thrown mto the water, and had to spend the night on an island, wet through and nearly frozen. At last he got back home with the answer of the French commander. Fort Du Quesne.— Both sides saw that no time was to be lost. The French were now on the Alleghany River not far from the Ohio. The Ohio Company decided to build a fort at a point which Washington had selected for this purpose. This was where the two rivers that form the Ohio come together, and where the city of Pittsburg now stands. The governor of Virginia sent to this point a party who began to build. But the French, who had come in canoes down the Alleghany, saw what was being done and drove the English workmen away, finishing the fort themselves. They gave it the name of Fort Du Quesne. That was the first step towards the war that followed. Fort Necessity.— At this time Washington was march- ing towards the place with about four hundred men who had been enUsted in Virginia. On the way they met a party of French soldiers, and there was a fight in which Washington was victorious. But he was m a dangerous position, for many French soldiers were now in that country, so he built a small fort which he called Fort Necessity. The fort was soon sur- rounded by a large body of French and Indians, and the Virginians had to surrender. This took place on July 4, 1754. Though Washington had surrendered to a much larger force he did so on the honorable 108 THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR terms that he and his men should keep their arms and effects and go home unmolested. His skill and prud- ence in this affair gave much pleasure to the people of Virginia, and the governor made him commander of all the Virginia soldiers. A Night Council at Fort Necessity. England and France. — During this time the English and French were at peace in other lands. The first part of the war was fought by the people of America only. But soon England and France were at war in Europe also and began to send soldiers across the ocean to help the colonists. An English army was sent to Virginia, under an officer named General Braddock. General Braddock. — Braddock knew very well how to carry on war in Europe, but he knew nothing at all about fighting with the Indians, and he was too proud to let any one tell him. So he and his army, with some Virginians under Washington, set out to drive the French from Fort Du Quesne, marching slowly through the woods, making roads as they went, and wasting a great deal of time. GEORGE WASHINGTON 109 By the time they got near the French fort several months had passed. Yet there were not many French there, and the Indians were not in a very good humor for fighting: so if Braddock had acted with common prudence he might soon have had the fort. But he knew too much to hsten to anybody, and thus he got his army into trouble. Braddock*s Defeat. — Washington wanted to go ahead with his Virginians and drive the Indians from the woods; but Braddock would not let him, and he marched on, with banners flying and drums beating, until his army was in a deep ravine with steep banks and thick woods on each side. These woods were full of French and Indians in ambush. Suddenly the hidden enemy began to fire. The soldiers were taken completely by surprise, and fell dead and wounded on every side. The Virginians under Washington knew what they were about, and got behind trees to fight; but Braddock would not let his soldiers do the same thing, but kept them in their ranks and made them stand still to be killed. They fired blindly into the woods, but did no harm to their foes, while hundreds of them were slain. When they could stand this no longer they turned and fled for their lives. Washington with his Virginians kept back the enemy, or many more of the British soldiers would have been slaughtered. It was the worst defeat in the early history of America. The Result of the Battle. — The battle had lasted three hours, and seven hundred out of twelve hundred men were killed. Braddock was mortally wounded, and all his officers were killed or wounded. Washington was 110 THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR the only officer that was not hurt, and he had two horses shot under him, while four bullets went through his coat. Long afterwards an old Indian chief said that he had fired many times at Washington during the battle, but that the young American brave bore a charmed life and could not be touched by his bullets. The Indian Raids. — This defeat was a serious one for the colonies. The Ohio region was left to the French, while the Indians, who thought the English cowards, began to attack the settlements and murder all they could. All through the western part of Vir- ginia the people had to flee for safety; their houses were burned, and the rifle and the tomahawk brought death to many of them. Washington was kept busy in fighting with the savage foes, and did this with great skill and courage, but he had a difficult task. The Fort Captured. — Three years afterwards another expedition was sent to take Fort Du Quesne, Washing- ton being with it. By this time the French had got the worst of the war, and did not feel able to hold the fort. But the English commander had lost so much time on the way that he was about to march back without coming near the fort, when Washington asked if he might go ahead with his Virginians. When told he might do so he hurried forward, but the French did not wait for him. They set fire to the fort and fled down the river in their canoes. The contest for the Valley of the Ohio thus ended in victory for the English. The French gave it up to their opponents, and never laid claim to it again. It was during this time that Washington learned the art of war of which he was soon to make such excellent use. THE WAR IN THE NORTH 111. 3. THE WAR IN THE NORTH. The Capture of Louisburg. — The war which had' begun on the Ohio soon spread to other parts of the- country, and we must tell what took place elsew^here. There w^as much hard fighting in the north between New York and New England and the French settle- ments in Canada. The British fleet also took part in the war. The French had a very strong fortress at the^ town of Louisburg, on the island of Cape Breton. They thought that no force could capture it, but they were mistaken in this. It had been captured in 1745,. in an earlier war, by a body of New England soldiers. At the end of that war it w^as given back to the French,, but in 1758 it was again attacked by a strong Enghsh. fleet and forced to surrender. The Enghsh never gave it up again. Acadia. — The country which we now know as Nova. Scotia and New Brunswick was called Acadia by the French. It was settled by people of French descent,, many of whom had fine farms, and others lived by- hunting and trapping. The peninsula of Nova Scotia, had been taken from the French by the Enghsh in 1710, and was still held by them; but it had very few English settlers, and its people did not like to be under- English rule. The French Forts Taken. — The northern part of Acadia was still held by the French, and when the war began they built several forts on the Bay of Fundy, and got ready to try to drive the English from the country. But the English attacked these forts and took all of them. While the fighting was going on many 112 THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR of the Acadians helped the French. The Enghsh did not Hke this. They said that they would not have spies and enemies in their own land, and that the people must take the oath of allegiance to England, and be ready to fight in the Enghsh armies if they should be needed. Expulsion of the Acadians. This the Acadians would not do. All their feelings were with the French, and they would not help the English. Then the Enghsh said that they should be all sent out of the country, since they would not sub- mit to the government. The Acadians Expelled. — Most of the Acadians were quiet and good citizens, but very many of them were seized and marched to the sea-shore, where they were THE WAR IN THE NORTH 113 put on board ships and sent away to the different Enghsh colonies. Some of them fought with the English and drove them away, but several thousand were taken from their homes and sent to live among strangers. Their houses were burned and their farms ruined to keep them from coming back. This was a very cruel act. The English had reason to be angry with those Acadians who acted as spies and enemies; but most of the people were quiet and industrious, and all their crime was that they would not take an oath to bear arms against their countrymen. In time manv of those who had been sent awav returned and took the oath of allegiance to England; but others suffered many hardships, and died in foreign lands. It is not easy to believe that this cruelty was necessary. From Canada to New York. — We have spoken in a former chapter of the great water-way by which the French could get from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. There is another water-way, that which leads from the St. Lawrence River to Lake Champlain and Lake George, and by way of the Hudson River to New York Bay. It was this route that Champlain had taken when he first set out to fight the Indians, and it waa along these bodies of water that the remainder of the fighting in the present w^ar took place. The French Defences. — The French had built forts along the Niagara River and Lake Ontario, and also at Crown Point, on the w^estern side of Lake Cham- plain, and at Ticonderoga, at the northern end of Lake George. From these points they could easily send soldiers into New York and New England, so the English decided to try to take the forts. 114 THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR The Battle of Lake George. — The English army in New York was led by General Johnson, a man who had much influence with the Indians. Many of these joined his army, for the Iroquois tribes had hated the French ever since they had fought with Champlain. While Johnson was marching north the French were marching south, and the two armies met at the south- ern end of Lake George. Here a battle took place in which the French were badly defeated: Hundreds of them were killed and the rest driven back. Johnson did not go on to capture the French forts, but stayed where he was, and built a stronghold which he called Fort William Henry. The French Successes. — During the next two or three years the French were everywhere successful. They captured Fort William Henry in 1757, and a terrible event took place there. The English were promised their lives if they would give up the fort, but as soon as they marched out the Indians fell upon them with tomahawk and scalping-knife and mur- dered many of them in cold blood. Attack on Ticonderoga. — The next year General Abercrombie attacked Fort Ticonderoga with a strong army. But the French defended themselves bravely, and the English were forced to retreat in haste, after they had lost two thousand men. The Turning of the Tide. — The war had now lasted for four years, and the French had been successful at nearly every point. They had held their forts on Lake Champlain and Lake George, and on the Ohio, and had defeated the English in nearly every battle. The English were much the stronger in numbers, and all THE WAR IN THE NORTH 115 they needed was good leaders. With these they would be sure to gain the victory. In the year 1758 the tide turned. The English took several ot the French forts, and in 1759 took several others. Fort Du Quesne was taken, as we have told, and also Ticonderoga and Crown Point and the forts on Lake Ontario and the Niagara River. The French were driven out of what the English claimed as their territory, and were confined to Canada. The English next made up their minds to try to drive the French from Canada. The Siege of Quebec. — Canada had two important cities, Montreal and Quebec. Quebec was not easy to capture. It was built on the top of -a high and steep hill, and was surrounded with strong walls, behind which were more than eight thousand men, com- manded by the Marquis de Montcalm. General Wolfe, a brave young English officer, was sent with an army of eight thousand men against this city, and for two or three months tried to take it, but he could not even get to the top of the hill on which it was built. At length he learned that there was a nar- row path up the face of the bluff. One dark night he took his men in boats down the St. Lawrence River, and by the break of day they had climbed up this steep path and dragged their cannon to the top of the hill. The Capture of the City. — Montcalm was astonished when he saw the English army before the walls of the city. If he had stayed behind these walls they might not have been able to take it. But he hastily led his men out, thinking he could drive the Enghsh over the precipice before they all got up the hill. He was sadly 116 THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR mistaken. In the battle that followed the English gained a complete victory and Quebec fell into their hands. General Wolfe received a mortal wound, and as he lay dying he heard loud cries of ^^They fly! they fly!'' ''Who fly?" he asked. ''The French," was the answer. "God be praised!'' he replied, "I die happy." Mont- The Siege of Quebec. calm also fell, and when told that he must die, he said, "So much the better; I shall not live to see the sur- render of Quebec." The End of the War. — Montreal was taken the next year, and soon the war came to an end. A treaty was made in 1763, by which France gave up to England all the country held by it east of the Mississippi River, and to Spain all the country west of this river. This was a great event for the EngHsh colonies. North America now belonged to two nations only, England and Spain, QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION 117 Pontiac*s Rebellion. — But there were many French in Canada and they made some further trouble. There was a bold and brave Indian chief named Pontiac, who wished to drive the English back from the Ohio and the lakes, and perhaps from the whole country. The French secretly incited him to attempt this. He formed a league among several tribes, and a sudden attack was made on the English forts. They took one fort by the trick of playing a game of ball before it. When the ball fell near the gate of the fort they rushed after it and into the open gate, near which sat their squaws, with tomahawks hidden under their blankets. These the warriors seized and killed nearly all the soldiers. The fort at Detroit was besieged for five months, and then the Indians gave up the siege. Several other forts were taken, but in the end the Indians were everywhere defeated. Thus ended the long struggle between the English and the French, which had continued, at intervals, for sev- enty-five years. The English were everywhere victorious, and were now to have a few vears of rest from war. PART III.— QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 1. How far back from the coast did the English colonies extend? How far did their claims extend? Who held the back country? Where had the French forts and settlements? What two things induced the French to explore the country? For what purpose did the traders travel? For what purpose the Jesuits? Describe Mar- quette 's journey. Who else sought to explore the Mississippi? In what year did he reach the Mississippi? Describe his journey. How was La SaUe received in France? Where did his colony land? What was his fate and that of his colony? Where did the French 118 THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR make a settlement in 1699? How could the French get from Quebec to New Orleans? How were settlements formed along the route? How many more English than French were in America in 1750? What was the purpose of the Ohio Company? Where did the French build a fort? What did the rival peoples claim? 2. What did the Governor of Virginia decide to do? Whom did he select as messenger? How old was Washington then? Why was he chosen? What can we say about the school-life of Washing- ton? What did he do in older life? How were his books kept? How was his flour received in foreign lands? Describe Washington's journey. How did the French commander receive him? What did the Ohio Company decide to do? What action did the French take? How did the first fight take place? Whj did Washington build Fort Necessity? What followed? What general did England send to America? Describe his march. How did Braddock lead his army on? Describe the battle and defeat. What did an old Indian chief say about Washington? What followed this defeat? How was Fort Du Quesne taken? What did this war teach Washington? 3. When was Louisburg captured the first time? When the second time? What was the country of Nova Scotia and New Brunsv/ick called by the French? What part of it was taken by the English in 1710? What part was still held by the French? What did the English ask the Acadians to do? Why did the Acadians refuse? Tell how the Acadians were expelled. What water-way leads from Canada to New York? Where did the French build forts? What was the result of the battle of Lake George? What fort did General Johnson build? What terrible event took place when this fort was captured by the French? Describe Abercrombie's attack on Ticonderoga. How long were the French successful? When did the tide of success turn? What victories had the English? Which were the two important cities of Canada? Who led an army against Quebec? How did he get his men to the summit of the bluff? What did Montcalm do? Who gained the victory? What were Wolfe's last words? What were Montcalm's last words? What did England gain by the treaty of peace? What did Pontidc hope to do? Describe his attacks on the forts. PART IV. THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 1. THE TYRANNY OF ENGLAND. The story of the Revolution. — The story we have now to tell is one that every American should hear with pride. It is the story of how the people of America were ill treated by England, and how they declared they would not submit to be made slaves of, and fought bravely until they gained their liberty. They suffered dreadfully, and thousands of them lost their lives, but they would not yield, and struggled on and on until England was forced to give up the war and sign a treaty of peace with free America. This is what is known as the American Revolution. How the Americans were Treated. — What was the character of this bad treatment of the Americans? That is what we have next to tell. They w^ere ill-used in a good many ways. Governors were sent to them from England, some of whom acted as if they were kings and the people slaves. But what made the Americans most angry was that they were not allowed to trade where they pleased or make the articles they needed for their own use. The Navigation Laws. — The colonists had built many ships, and for a while they sent out their goods to foreign countries and got other goods in return. But the merchants of England did not like this. They wanted all this trade for themselves. So they had 119 120 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION laws passed which said that the Americans should not trade with any country but England. All their rice, tobacco, and other products must be sent there and whatever they wanted in return must be brought from there. But the English would not pay as much for these goods as would other countries, so the Ameri- cans lost much of their profit. Then another law was made which said that no goods should be carried to or from England in American ships. All trade with England must be done in English ships. The American ships might rot at their wharves. Even the trade from one colony to another was partly stopped. Restriction of Manufactures. — At the same time the people of America were not allowed to make anything for themselves. There was much iron dug from the mines, but it must all be sent to England, and pay a tax for going there. Then it was made into useful articles and sent back, and had to pay another tax. It was the same with other goods than those made of iron. The laws became so severe that a farmer could not even cut down a tree large enough for a ship mast on his own land without permission from the officers of the king. At first the laws were not so strict as this. But as time went on, and the English merchants and manu- facturers saw that the Americans were growing rich, they had the laws made more severe, until the Ameri- cans were allowed to do very little besides farming, and had to get everything but their food from England, \n English ships. The Laws Evaded. — All this was hard to bear. When men have a chance to grow rich they do not like to THE TYRANNY OF ENGLAND 121 work hard to make other men rich, while they stay poor. Many of the people of America refused to sub- mit to the Enghsh laws. Some of them made and sold goods in spite of the laws. Others who owned ships sent them to foreign countries, and brought back goods on which no tax or duty was paid to the government. Writs of Assistance. — This is what is called smug- gling. The officers of the government tried to put a stop to it. A law was passed which said that the king's officers might enter and search any house in which they thought smuggled goods might be hidden. The papers authorizing this were called ''Writs of Assist- ance." Nothing could have made the people more angry than this. They said that ''every man's house is his castle," and that no officer had a right to enter a dwelling-house On mere suspicion. Thus, as every one may see, there was getting to be very bad feel- ing between the Americans and the English. The Right of Taxation. — But the resistance of the people only made the English government more severe. As the merchants and manufacturers of Eng- land were growing rich from the labor of the Ameri- cans, the government thought it also ought to have more American money than it was receiving. The French and Indian War had cost England a great deal of money, and the English government claimed that as this money had been spent for the good of the colo- nies, they should help to pay it back. The colonies were paying much money to it already in the way of the duty on all goods sent by ships into or out of the country. This was an indirect tax, but the govern- ment claimed the right to lay a direct tax also. 122 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION The American Reply. — The people of the colonies answered that they were willing to tax themselves and pay such money as they thought reasonable to the government, but that no one else had the right to tax them. They would not pay taxes levied by the English Parliament, because they had no one to speak for them in that Parliament. If the government wanted to tax them it should let them send repre- sentatives to look after their interests. The Principle of Taxation. — All this was right and just. Every Englishman at home claimed that privi- lege, and the Americans thought they ought to have it too. But the government would not listen to them. It was bent on forcing them to pay such taxes as it chose to levy without giving them a voice in the making of the laws. The rulers of England did not know to what this was likely to lead. They had no idea how indignant the Americans were becoming. The Stamp Act. — The first direct tax law was passed in 1765. It was called the ''Stamp Act," and declared that all legal papers drawn in America, such as deeds, bills, contracts, and the like, must be made on stamped paper, which paper was to be sold by the tax collec- tors. There was nothing very wrong in this. Laws of this kind have long existed in England. We have had them in the United States, and have paid the tax cheerfully. It was the way the law was passed that made all the trouble. It was as if England had said, ''We intend to tax you when and how we please, and you shall have nothing to do with it except to pay the taxes." This was the beginning of the dispute which in ten years was to bring the country into war. THE TYRANNY OF ENGLAND 123 The whole people grew angry when they heard of this law. They said that they had had nothing to do with making it and that they would not submit to it. Patrick Henry, a great orator of Virginia, declared that the people, and only the people, had a right to tax the people. They would vote taxes in their own AssembHes, if they were asked to, but no other body of law-makers had the right to vote taxes for them to pay. Repeal of the Stamp Act. — The stamps were sent to Amer- ica, but the people would not use them. In some places they burned them. In others they , 1 , rr 1^ Patrick Henry's Chair. forced the stamp oincers to resign, or made images of them and burned these images before their doors. They declared that till the act was repealed they would not use Enghsh goods, but would make their own. They would all wear homespun clothes, and would eat no mutton, so that they could have more wool to weave into cloth. Agents were sent to London to try to have the Stamp Act -repealed. Benjamin Frankhn was one of these. He did much to let the members of Parha- ment know how the American people felt. In 1766 the Stamp Act was repealed, because it was clear that it could not be enforced. No American would buy a sheet of the stamped paper. Soldiers Sent to America.— The Enghsh king and government were not ready to admit that they had no 124 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION right to tax the Americans. Taxes were laid in 1767 on teas, glass, paints, and some other articles, and the dangerous step was taken of sending soldiers to Amer- ica as an aid in carrying out the laws. The Americans were told they must pay for the support of these soldiers. They answered that this was not just. They did not want to be treated like a nation that had been conquered in war. Their protest made the king very angry, and he sent two regiments of soldiers to Boston to support the tax officers. This was done because the people of Boston were very violent against the new taxes. The Boston Massacre. — The presence of the soldiers made the Bostonians more angry still, and disputes and quarrels arose between the people and the soldiers. One day, in 1770, a fight took place between some soldiers and a party of the citizens of Boston. The soldiers fired and several persons were killed. This added much to the indignation of the people. They called this affair the ^^ Boston Massacre," and as the news of it spread over the country the colonists every- where began to think of fighting for their rights. The Tax on Tea. — For several years things went on in this way, the people growing constantly more angry with the English government. As they would not pay the taxes, Parhament tried another plan. They took off all the taxes except a small one on tea. This was such a trifle that they thought no one would object to it. They did not perceive that it was not the money that the Americans cared for, but the principle. As soon as the tax was laid the colonists refused to buy tea, though they had before used a great deal of it. THE TYRANNY OF ENGLAND 125 The Boston Tea^Party. — The king, George III., made up his mind to force them to take the tea. He wanted to let them see that his word was law and that he was their lord and master. Ship-loads of tea were sent to the American ports. But the people, who were then using the leaves of various plants to make tea of, would not have the English tea. In New York and Philadelphia the cap- tains were ordered to take their tea back again to England. In Charleston the tea was stored in damp ware- houses, where it soon moulded and became useless. In Annapolis the tea was burned. In Boston the governor refused to send back the tea, but the people would not let it be unloaded. In the end a party of young men dressed like Indians ran to the wharves, rushed on board the ves- sels, broke open the chests, and emp- tied all the tea into the harbor. This is what has been called the ''Boston Tea-Party." It put an end to the effort of Parliament to tax the Americans. The Boston Port Bill. — When the news of what had been done reached England the king was furious and Parliament decided that Boston should be severely puni'shed. So a bill was passed called the ''Boston Port Bill." It forbade any vessel to enter or leave Boston, except those with wood or provisions, and even these had trouble to get in. The whole trade of the port was cut off, and the people suffered severely. Boston Tea-Part r. 126 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION Threats of War. — This law took effect on June 1, 1774. It made the people of the whole country very indignant. Provisions and money were sent to Boston from all the colonies. Instead of the Americans being frightened, they were more determined than ever. They had long been thinking of fighting for their rights, and they now got their arms ready and formed companies prepared to march at a minute's warning. These were called '^ minute-men." In September, 1774, the colonies sent delegates to Philadelphia, to meet and talk over their troubles. This assembly was called the First Continental Congress. It sent an address to the king, and advised the people to stop all trade with England till the tax laws were repealed. It declared that the people of America had the right to govern and to tax themselves, and that they would not sub- mit to force, but would defend themselves against oppression. Such was the state of the country at the beginning of the year 1775. 2. THE WORK OF THE MINUTE-MEN. Growth of the Colonies. — We have next to describe the greatest event in American history, that by which the people of the English settlements in America became free, and began their growth from a group of weak colonies into one of the noblest nations on the face of the earth. It was now a little more than a hundred and fifty years since the English had first settled in America. In that century and a half the colonies had grown to be strong and were becoming united. There were more than two millions of people in them, and they were fast THE WORK OF THE MINUTE-MEN 127 growing rich and prosperous. Since the close of the French and Indian War they had made great progress. Ten Years of Tyranny. — In 1765 very few people in America thought of becoming free from England. In 1775 most of the people of the country wanted to become free. That was what England had done in ten years by trying to make slaves of the Americans. The Feeling of the People. — At the opening of the eventful year 1775, Boston was the centre of the hostile feeling. The king had ruined its business, taken from many of its people the means of living, and filled it with soldiers. But all through New England the people were getting ready to fight, drill- ing as soldiers, and collecting arms, gunpowder, and other warlike articles in convenient places. The whole country was like a barrel of gunpowder, ready to explode if fire touched it. We have now to tell how the English applied the fire. The Stores at Concord. — The Americans had collected some military stores at the town of Concord, near Boston. General Gage, who commanded the soldiers in Boston, determined to destroy these. So one night he sent out a body of troops to march secretly to Con- cord and destroy them before the people could know what was being done. He did not understand the spirit of the people he was dealing with. It is very easy to throw a stone into a hornet's nest, but it is not so easy to get away from the stings of the hornets. This General Gage was soon to find out. Paul Revere's Ride. — The people of Boston were watching the soldiers. They had some idea of the plans of the British, and were ready for them. As 128 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION soon as the troops began to move a signal light was^ hung in a church window. On the other side of the river a man named Paul Revere was watching for this light. The moment he saw it he mounted his horse and rode at full is^^^^^SHI^^^^^^^^^^^^ speed through the country. At every house and village he woke the people and told them the British were com- ing. At once the men seized their rifles and powder- horns and hastened to the appointed place of meeting. By daybreak a party of them were collected in the vil- lage of Lexington, on the road to Concord. Samuel Adams and John Hancock, two of the patriot leaders, were at Lexington, and the British officers had orders to arrest them. But they were warned by Revere and made their escape before the troops arrived. The Fight at Lexington.— The soldiers reached Lex- ington about four o'clock in the morning of April 19, 1775. There were two or three hundred of them, and Paul Revere's Ride. THE WORK OF THE MINUTE-MEN 129 they found about sixty armed farmers drawn up on the green. " Disperse, ye rebels/' cried the Enghsh officer. " Lay down your arms and disperse." As they did not disperse the soldiers fired, and seven of the Americans fell dead. Others were wounded. That was the first blood shed in the Revolutionary War. With that fire of musketry began the war that was to set America free. Battle of Lexington. The Retreat from Concord.— The soldiers hurried on to Concord, where they destroyed all the supplies they could find. But the Americans had been busy during the night carrying their stores to the woods. A strong force of minute-men had gathered at Concord. The British fired on these and the Americans fired back. Several of the soldiers were killed and wounded, and the others retreated in disorder. The Americans were too strong for them. But it was when the soldiers began to march back to Boston that they found the hornets were out of 9 130 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIOTV their nest and ready to sting them. They had sixteen miles to go, and all along this distance the minute- men were gathered behind trees and stone walls, firing on them at every step. The British fell like dead leaves. At last they ran in a panic. Few or none of them would have got back, only that news of this trouble had been received and another strong force of soldiers marched out and met them at Lexington. There were eighteen hundred of them now: but the farmers fired on them all the way to Boston, and they were glad enough to get Fight on Concord Bridge. under shcltcr of thc guns of their ships of war. They had been saying to themselves that the Americans were cowards and would not fight. They were not likely to say that again. The People in Arms. — The day before April 19 the country had been at peace. The day after it was at war. The story of the fight went like wildfire through the land. Everywhere the farmers left their ploughs and seized their rifles. In hundreds and thousands they hurried towards Boston. Soon there were twenty thousand men around that city. The British had made their last march out of Boston by land. When they went again they would have to go as they had come, in their ships by sea. Capture of Ticonderoga. — The bold fellows who lived in the hill country of Vermont, who were known as " Green Mountain Boys. " were quick to move. Ethan THE WORK OF THE MINUTE-MEN 131 Allen, one of their leaders, gathered a strong party of them and led them to Fort Ticonderoga, on Lake Ghamplain, which they captured, May 10, without fir- ing a gun. The fort at Crown Point was taken by another Vermonter, and many cannon were captured. Breed's Hill Fortified. — Such were the opening events of the war. Now we must tell of its first great battle. One dark night the Americans set out to build a fort of earth on Bunker Hill, near Boston; but they found that Breed's Hill was still nearer, so they built their fort on that. When day broke, June 17, the British saw that there was a long wall of earth where none had been visible the night before. Behind this wall lay, men with rifles in their hands. There was only one thing to be done: they must drive the Americans out of these earthworks or they would themselves be driven out of Boston. The Battle of Bunker Hill. — The ships began firing, but the Americans went on with their work. Then three thousand soldiers crossed the river in boats and began to march up the hill. The American militia, under General Putnam and Colonel Pres- cott, lay behind their bank of earth and saw these soldiers — some of the best trained in the world — marching steadily upward. No one had dreamed that raw volunteers could Putnam. stand before such veteran troops, yet the Amcx.cans did not flinch. '^Aim low. Don't fire till you can see the whites of their eyes," said the American general. So they waited till the soldiers 132 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION were close to the works and then fired. Every shot told. Down w^ent dozens of men. No living beings could stand such a fire, and the soldiers turned and ran hastily down the hill. They had found out to their sorrow what American marksmen could do. They came on once more and were met w^ith a second terrible volley. Down the hill again they ran in a panic. Their officers had great trouble to get them to face a third time the American fire. But the Ameri- cans were now nearly out of powder. They fired once more, and then used their guns as clubs to drive back the soldiers. When the British found that the firing had stopped, they came on with the bayonet, while the ships fired cannon-balls into the works. The Americans now had to retreat. They were followed by the furious soldiers and many of them were killed in the retreat. But they had killed more than twice as many as they lost, and had taught the world that American militia were not afraid to fight British regulars. This first great conflict has become famous as '^The Battle of Bunker Hill." The Action of Congress. — We must tell more rapidly what followed. Another Congress, know^n as the Second Continental Congress, met at Philadelphia in May, 1775. There w^as much to be done now, for the country was at war. Laws had to be passed for the whole country, and preparations made to carry on the war, since the people were determined that it should go on. General Washington was made commander in chief of the army and money was voted for the purposes of the war. The people were willing enough to pay taxes to their own Congress, though they had THE WORK OF THE MINUTE-MEN 133 refused to do so to the English Parhament. Their feel- ing was like that afterwards expressed in these words: '^Millions for defence; not one cent for tribute." Evacuation of Boston. — Now there was war in earnest. Washington drilled the army at Boston and did his best to make soldiers out of farmers. It took a long time to do this, and it was the spring of the next year before he was ready. Then one night he built strong earthworks on Dorchester Heights, south of Boston. The British general looked at these works and quickly saw that he could not take them without losing many of his men, and that he could not stay in Boston if he did not take them. He remembered what had happened at Bunker Hill and decided to leave. On March 17, 1776, his men were marched on board the vessels, which set sail for Halifax, never to return to Boston. The same day the Americans took possession of the city which they had so long besieged. The Attack of Quebec. — While this w^as going on the Americans tried to take Canada. Two armies were sent there, one under General Montgomery and one under General Arnold. Montreal was captured and the army marched to Quebec. This city proved too strong. General Montgomery was killed and General Arnold, who now took command, stayed there during the winter, but had to retreat the next spring. The British followed him down Lake Champlain and had a naval battle with him on that lake. The Americans had fancied that the Canadians would join them, but they refused to do so, and Canada remained a British province. Fort Moultrie Defended. — There is one more event of importance that took place at this time. The English 134 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION government thought that it ought to make sure of the southern colonies. So in June a fleet was sent to Charleston, South Carolina. But it was soon found that the Southerners were as determined not to be slaves as the Northerners. Fort Moultrie, at the mouth of the harbor, was built of logs of the soft palmetto wood. The balls from the ships sunk in these and did little harm. Those from the fort did great damage to the ships. In the end the fleet had to turn and sail away. Brave Sergeant Jasper. — During this battle some- thing took place that is well worth telling. The flag- staff on the fort was cut by a ball, and the flag fell on the sand at the foot of the wall. A bold young sergeant, named Jasper, sprang down where the bullets were coming in like hail, seized the flag, and soon had it floating proudly again on the fort. This has always been looked upon as one of the bravest deeds of the whole war. Footsteps of Freedom. — And now we must finish this part of our story by telling what turned the war from a rebellion into a revolution. When the Americans began to fight, it was done to teach the king and his government that they would not pay taxes if they were not allowed to help make the laws. But many of them thought that America ought to be free, and as the war went on this feeling spread widely among the people. They quit fighting for their rights under the British government, and began to fight for freedom from that government. The Continental Congress was still in session at Philadelphia, and the desire for freedom grew as strong THE WORK OF THE MINUTE-MEN 135 among the delegates as it was among the people. The first motion for liberty was made on June 7, 1776, by Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia He moved that the colonies, one and all, *' of right ought to be free and independent States.'^ The Declaration of Independence. — Five men were then appointed as a committee to draw up a Declara- tion of Independence. On this committee were such well-known men as Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson wrote the Declaration, which was imme- diately brought before Congress, and adopted by it on the 4th of July, 1776. All the members signed it, and this valuable old paper still exists, with their signatures to it. There is a legend that as soon as it had passed there rang out stirring peals from the bell of the old State-House, on which was the inscription, " Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof. '' The news had been told to the old bell-ringer, and he pulled at the rope with all his might, while every stroke of the bell seemed to send the word ^^ Liberty" ringing over the land. Some say that this is not true, but at any rate it is a pretty story. Everywhere the people rejoiced to learn that they had been declared free. The statue of King George, in New York, was thrown into the dir^ of the streets, and the arms of England were torn down from the public buildings oi the cities and burned in the streets, while the flag Jefferson. 136 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION of Great Britain ceased to float anywhere in the new republic, for at that time there was probably not a British soldier on American soil. It was a grand declaration that had been made, and all lovers of liberty throughout the world heard of it with gladness. It said that a new nation was born Liberty Bell at Indepijndence Hall, Philadelphia. upon the earth, and that the people of America were no longer fighting for the right to tax themselves, but for the right to govern themselves. But many dark days were to pass before they could gain the privilege of doing so in peace.* * The first Declaration of Independence in America was made by a convention of delegates in Mecklenburg County, North Caro- lina m May, 1775. They were chosen by the militia of that county. THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 137 3. THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. The Meaning of the Declaration. — The people of America had declared that they were free and inde- pendent, but that did not make them so. They were to have years of hard fighting and great suffering before they could really become free. But now they had something of value to fight for. They were no longer troubled about paying taxes at the command of the English Parliament. They had declared that in future they would make their own laws, lay their own taxes, and carry on their own affairs, and that no other nation should rule them. That is what was meant by the Declaration of Independence, adopted on the 4th of July, 177G; and that is what has made the 4th of July ever since a day to be celebrated. It is the greatest day in the history of America. The Loss of New York. — After the Declaration the war went on more fiercely than before. The British had been driven out of Boston, so thev decided to take New York. Washington tried to defend it, but he did not have men enough, and after a hard battle on Long Island he had to retreat and give up the city. The British army held New^ York from that time till the end of the war. The Retreat Across New Jersey. — The country was now in a sad state. Washington's army was not half and were in session when the news of the battle of Lexington was received. They at once passed resolutions w^hich declared the colo- nies to be free from English rule and entitled to govern themselves This action was well received throughout W^estern North Carolina, and a copy of the resolutions was sent to Congress at Philadelphia. 138 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION SO strong as that of his enemies. Very few of the men were trained soldiers. They were short of powder, gunS; provisions, and all that an army needs. It was now the autumn of 1776. Washington found that he could not hold his own against the British, so he had to retreat. He marched his poor, ragged, hungry men south across New Jersey, and as he went he burnt the bridges to keep the British back. When he got to the Delaware River, he took possession of all the boats that could be found, and had his army rowed across. The British quickly came up, but Washington's army was safe. There was a river between them and no boats that the British could use. The Feeling of the People. — The British were full of hope and joy, for they thought the fighting was nearly at an end, and settled down to pass the winter in peace. All through Europe it was believed that the American cause was ruined, and that the colonists would have to submit. Many of the Americans thought so too. They saw their army growing smaller every day, and knew that most of the men would go home on the 1st of January, as the time for which they had enlisted would end then. They had joined the army only for the year, and not many new men were coming to take their places. The people everywhere were disheart- ened, and many thought there was no chance of success. Washington Crosses the Delaware. — But there was one man who did not think so, and that man was George Washington. He waited till Christmas, and then led his men across the Delaware into New Jersey. It was a terrible crossing ; the weather was very cold, and the river full of cakes of floating ice. Yet he got the army across THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 139 and marched all night towards Trenton, where a British force was feasting and frolicking without the thought of an enemy. This force was made up of Hessians, — soldiers from Germany who had been hired from their rulers and sent over by England to fight the Americans. Trenton and Princeton. — It was early in the morn- ing when Washington reached the town. The Hessians were taken by surprise, many of them were killed and wounded, and a thousand taken prisoners. A few days afterwards Washington met another British force near Princeton and defeated them. These victories caused the British to draw back, and Washington remained in possession. They had a wonderful effect upon the Americans. Those who had been in despair now became full of hope. In Europe the feeling changed. It began to be thought that America would win, and everybody spoke of George Washington as the great hero of the age. Philadelphia Captured. — The year 1777 was an important year of the war. In the Middle States the Ameri- cans lost ground, but farther north they gained a great victory. The British left New York, with a strong fleet and a large army, and sailed up Chesapeake Bay. Washington hastened to meet them, and a severe battle was fought on the Brandywine Creek, below Philadelphia, at which the Marquis de Lafayette, a distinguished French officer, an aide to General Washington, was severely wounded. The Americans were defeated and had to fall back, and the British army marched into Philadelphia. Lafayette. 140 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION The Winter at Valley Forge. — Some other fighting took place, and there was a severe battle at German- town, near Philadelphia. But the British could not be driven from that city, and when winter came on the American army went into winter quarters at a place called Valley Forge, northwest of Philadelphia. Winter Camp at Valley Forge. This winter was the most terrible one of the whole war. The weather was very cold, and the men were nearly destitute of clothes and blankets to keep them warm and food to keep them alive. Some of them had to walk through the snow barefoot, their bleed- ing feet staining the snow red as they marched. When spring came many of the men were dead. Cold and hunger and sickness had been more fatal to them than the guns of the enemy. Yet those that lived were THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 141 good patriots still, and as ready to fight for their country as before; and Washington never despaired. Burgoyne's March. — In the north, as we have said, the Americans had gained a great victory, and this gave spirit to the suffering army in Pennsylvania. A powerful British army had marched down from Canada by the old route of the French, that of Lake Champlain and Lake George. They thought they could cut off New England from New York, and thus divide the colonies into two parts. They took all the old forts, — Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and others. Another army was expected to come up the Hudson to meet them, a-ncl everything looked bad for the Americans. The Battle of Bennington. — But the men of that region were everywhere marching, rifle in hand, to defend their country. The Iroquois Indians had joined the British, but these were scared off and gave up the fight. The parties of the British sent out to collect food were attacked by the Americans. One of these parties was met at Bennington, Vermont, by General Stark, with his '^ Green Mountain Boys," and badly defeated. When the battle began Stark called out to his men, ''There are the red-coats. Before night they are ours, or Betty Stark is a widow." And he meant what he said; before night he had six hundred prisoners and the rest of the British were retreating in dismaj^ Surrender of Burgoyne. — It was not long before Burgoyne, the British commander, found that he had led his men into a trap from which he could not escape. He had gone so far south that he could 142 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION not return, nor could he march any farther forward. The Americans were everywhere around him. His army was short of food, and he did not dare to send out parties in search of it, for fear they would be captured. He made two fierce attacks on the American earthworks, but could not take them. Finally he had to surrender his whole army to the Americans. This took place at Saratoga, October 17, 1777. It was one of the most important events of the war, and had a wonderful effect on the spirits of the Americans and on the feelings of the people of Europe. It was, in fact, the turning-point of the war. The Treaty with France. — The surrender of Burgoyne led France to make a treaty with America and send over a large fleet to help in the war. This fleet did little in the way of service, but it gave hope to the Americans, while its presence discouraged the English. Their government now offered to do away with all the laws to which the Americans objected, if they would lay dow^n their arms and surrender. This offer came too late. The Americans had determined to be free, and nothing less would satisfy them now. The Retreat from Philadelphia.— In 1778 the British in Philadelphia began to fear that if they stayed any longer they might be caught in as bad a trap as that which caught Burgoyne. The Americans w^ere gather- ing around them, and there was danger that the Dela- ware might be closed against their ships. So they started on a hasty march across New Jersey to New York. Washington followed them, fought with them at Monmouth^ and was prevented from defeating them by the uncalled for retreat of General Charles Lee. THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 143 Mad Anthony Wayne. — During 1778 and 1779 there was not much done. A British fleet sailed south and took the city of Savannah. This was the first victory the British had gained in the southern States. In the north the Americans were victorious in one important fight. General Wayne, or ''Mad Anthony Wayne/' as he was afterwards called, made a sudden attack on Stony Point, a fort on the Hudson River. He took it with the bayonet, without firing a shot, and captured some very valuable stores. The Massacre of Wyoming. — One of the most dreadful events of the war took place in the summer of 1778. A band of Indians, British, 1 rn • 1 1 1 ^ i 1 Anthony Wayne. and lories made an attack on the beautiful valley of Wyoming, in northern Pennsyl- vania. They took the fort, which had in it only old men, women, and children, and killed them all without mercy. The whole settlement was destroyed, and few of the inhabitants escaped the cruel tomahawk. Captain Paul Jones. — One great battle took place on the sea. Paul Jones, a brave American captain, sailed with a few ships all round the coast of England, and kept the whole island in alarm. At length he met a British war vessel, the Serapis. His ship was called the Bonhomme Richard. The fight that followed was one of the most desperate that ever took place on the sea. The Bonhomme Richard was set on fire, and was so full of cannon-ball holes that it began to 144 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION The Bonhomme Richard and the Serapis. sink, but Paul Jones fought on. In the end the British surrendered. Captain Jones placed his men on board the Serapis and sailed away in triumph, leaving his own vessel to sink. There was no sur- render in Captain Paul Jones, and he is looked upon as one of the bravest men that ever sailed the seas. The Treason of Arnold.— In 1780 the war was nearly all in the south. Only one important event took place in the north. Benedict Arnold, an American general of great skill and courage, but of a sullen tem- per, became angry because he thought that he had not been fairly treated, and that other men had received the honor which he believed to be due to him. His discontent became so great in the end that he determined to turn traitor to his country. So he asked Washington to give him command of West Point, a strong fort on the Hudson River. As soon as he got hold of it he laid plans to surrender it to the British. The Capture of Andre. — Major Andre, a young British officer, was sent to consult with him. On his way back to New York, in disguise, Andre was taken prisoner by some Americans. They searched him, and in his stocking they found papers which told what his business had been. Arnold escaped in a boat to a British war vessel in the river, but he did THE WAR FOR Ii\ DEPENDENCE 145 The Arr'Sst of Andre. not succeed in giving the fort to the British. Every one felt pity for Major Andre, who was a fine young man; but he had been taken as a spy, and he was hanged as a spy. The South Carolina Partisans. — During 1780 and 1781 the war was mostly in the south. The British captured Charleston, and soon had all South Carolina and Georgia in their hands. For a while there was no army to fight them; but some brave and bold men — Marion, Sumter, and others — got small bodies of soldiers together, and gave the British no end of trouble. They hid in the swamps, and attacked every small body of British soldiers they met. Marion was called the ''Swamp Fox." The British thought it was very cowardly in him that he would not come out into the open field 'Ho fight like an officer and a gentle- man." But he fought bravely enough in his own way. Generals Greene and Cornwallis. — In 1781, General Greene took command of the army in the south. He was a very skilful officer, fought the British at every opportunity, and even w^hen he was beaten he managed so that they got no good from their victory. At last General Cornwallis, who commanded the British army in the south, marched north to Virginia. Benedict Arnold, the traitor, was there with a British force, doing all the damage he could. 10 146 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION The Surrender of Cornwallis. — Cornwallis made Yorktown his head-quarters. Here he threw up earth- works, and waited for help from New York. But a French fleet sailed into York River and closed it against any British ships that might come from New York. Washington, who since 1778 had been watching the British in New York, now saw his opportunity, and marched south to Yorktown with the greatest speed. Very soon Cornwallis found that his army was sur- rounded, while cannon-balls were battering his works to pieces. He made an attempt to escape, but did not succeed, and was forced to surrender. This event took place on the 19th of October, 1781. The Treaty of Peace. — It was the last event of the war. There was no more fighting, and America was free. Two years afterwards a treaty of peace was signed, in which England acknowledged the freedom of America. From that time forward the American people took their place among the nations, under the title of ^'The United States of America,"— a title which now belongs to one of the greatest nations upon the earth. 4. THE PEOPLE AND THE COUNTRY. The People and Their Ways. — What kind of nation was it that was made by the Declaration of Indepen- dence? How many people were there, and what were their modes of life? That is what we have next to consider. At the time of the Revolution, America was very different from what it had been a hundred years before, and very different from what it became a hundred years after. So this is a good resting-point, THE PEOPLE AND THE COUNTRY 147 where we can stop and take a look at the people, and see how they lived and what they were doing. The Population of America. — We cannot state just how many people there were in America at that time, but there were more than two millions, possibly two and a half millions. This was a small population for a country of such size, extending fifteen hundred miles along the sea-coast and a considerable distance back into the interior. But this territory was very thinly settled. Even near the sea-coast the greater part of it was a wilderness, mostly covered with forest trees. The tow^ns were small and far apart, and the largest cities had not more than twentv thousand inhabitants. The people in those days thought New York and Philadelphia were important cities, but now we would look on them as only good-sized country towns. The State of the Interior. — Few of the settlements extended far back from the sea-coast, or from the great rivers. In New York most of the settlers kept near to the Hudson; in Pennsylvania they did not go far from the Delaware. The back country was yet in great part covered by forests, and was the home of the Indians and of white hunters, though in places there were a good many pioneer settlers. In Virginia and the Carolinas the people had gone much farther back from the coast. Daniel Boone, a bold and daring hunter, had led a party over the mountains into Ken- tucky. Some others had gone to Tennessee. But these men had to live with rifle in hand, for their lives were every minute in danger. Daniel Boone had many adventures with the Indians, but he escaped all peril and lived to be an old man. 148 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION Whence the People Came. — The people of America had come from many countries of Europe. There were Germans in Pennsylvania and Dutch in New York. Along the Delaware there were Swedes, and in parts of the south there were settlements of French and of Highlanders from Scotland. There were also many from the north of Ireland, known as Scotch-Irish. But most of the people were of English descent, and the others by degrees took up the language and the ways of the English, so that in time all these unlike people grew together into one nation. The Farming Population. — Most of the people of America were farmers. In those days there were none of the great factories and workshops which we now see almost everywhere. The soil was rich and gave plentiful crops, and there might be seen fine farm- houses, large barns full of corn, wheat, and hay, and great flocks of sheep and cattle in the fields. New England and the Middle Colonies were famous for sheep and corn. Home Work. — Nearly everything was done at home. While the men worked in the fields, the women spun wool and flax and made most of the clothing for the family. This was known as homespun cloth. The farmer had to be a mechanic also. He made most of the things he used. Even the nails he needed were hammered out by him during the winter. The children were kept busy, too, though there were schools where they could get some little education. Agriculture of the South. — In the south agriculture was the principal business of the people. Here the land was divided into great plantations, and large THE PEOPLE AND THE COUNTRY 149 crops of tobacco, rice, sugar, etc., were raised. Much tar and pitch were made in North Carolina. These were sent to Europe and sold or exchanged for other goods, and the people of that section grew rich. We have already told how the planters and their slaves lived on these great plantations. Spinning-Wheel, Reel, and Bed-Warmer. New England Commerce. — But the people of America were not all farmers. Many of them built ships and engaged in commerce. Long before the war the cities of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia had a large trade. Many ships came and went between these cities and England, and some went to France and Spain to bring back cargoes of wine and silks. This was against the English law, but the people thought this law unjust and did not hesitate to break it. Ves- 150 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION sels were built in Boston and sent to the West Indies, where they were traded off for rum and sugar, for which articles there was much demand in those days. Many more were sent to England and sold there. As early as 1763, New England owned a thousand trading ships, besides the vessels of the hardy fishermen of the coast. Many of these ships were sent in search of whales, which were then far more plentiful than now. Flax-Brake. Manufacturing Industry. — There was not much manufacturing done in America. The laws of Eng- land had forbidden the people to make goods for themselves. They were watched closely, yet they managed to make some things. In New England there were a few mills for working iron. Hats were made of furs. In Pennsylvania very good leather was made. But the merchants of England did all they could THE PEOPLE AND THE COUNTRY 151 to put a stop to this, and to make the Americans buy everything from them. Of course they had to build their own houses, and to do many things which could not be done for them across the ocean. And after the Revolution they quickly began to do many other things for themselves, so that the commerce and manufactures of America increased very rapidly. There were several newspapers printed, but they were very small compared with those Stage-Coach from Baltimore to Washington. we see to-day. The first newspaper in America was The News Letter, which was started in Boston in 1704. In 1775 each of the cities of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia had four new^spapers. Cities and Travel. — Not much can be said for the cities of that period. Many of the great cities of to-day were then villages, or their sites were forest land. Boston had less than eighteen thousand people. New 152 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION York over twenty thousand, and Philadelphia over thirty thousand. Baltimore and Charleston were much the largest cities in the south, their popula- tions being from twelve to fifteen thousand each. To travel from city to city was no easy task. There were some good roads in the north, but in the south the roads were very poor. In winter and spring most of the roads were little more than a series of mud-holes. The fastest stage-coach between New York and Philadelphia took two day-s for the trip, and it was a long and tiresome journey from Boston to New York. Therefore the people of the different colonies had very little to do with one another. There is more travel in a day now than there was in a year then. The Condition of the Cities. — There were some hand- some houses in the cities, but not many. In New York trees were planted before the houses, and there were railings on the roofs, so that people could sit there on summer evenings to enjoy the cool air. There were lamps in the streets. Broadway was thought a splen- did avenue, though it was not very long and soon ended in the open country. Philadelphia was then the most important city in the country. It had been laid out by William Penn with broad and regular streets, while those of New York and Boston w^ere crooked and narrow. Yet, much as it was spoken of in that day, it was a mere dwarf of a city compared with the present Philadelphia, and extended but a short distance back from the banks of the Delaware. Equality and Habits of the People. — There were no men of great riches in those days. Very few men in THE PEOPLE AND THE COUNTRY 153 the country had ten thousand dollars a year to spend. Most of the people were nearly equal in wealth. There was little poverty and little riches. The people were simple in their manners, and did not live expensively. One of their worst faults was their fondness for liquor. They drank much more than people do now, and drunkenness was very common. Extent of the United States. — The country which the people had won for themselves by their hard fight with England was much smaller than the United States of our present maps. Canada was held by England. Its people had shown no wish to be free. In the south, Florida belonged to Spain; but Florida then reached farther north than it does now, and had a strip of land fifty miles wide extending along the Gulf of Mexico to the Mississippi River, so that it cut off the United States from the Gulf. And all the vast country that lay west of this river belonged to Spain. The United States of that day lay between the Mississippi River on the west and the Atlantic Ocean on the east, and between Canada on the north and Florida on the south. It was a great country then. It has grown to be a much greater country since. The States of the Union. — This country was divided into thirteen States. These were the same as the States which now lie along or near the Atlantic, except Maine and Vermont, which did not become States till afterwards, and Florida, which was added much later. They were called the United States of America, but they were not very closely united. Each of them was almost like a separate nation, for Congress had very little power over them. They sent some of their 154 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION wisest men to Philadelphia to form part of the Congress which met there, but they did not give them much power or authority. They had to gain their freedom first. There would be time enough afterwards to form a strong nation out of the several colonies. PART IV.— QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 1. In what ways were the Americans ill used by the English? What laws were passed about their trade? What was done about American ships? Were Americans allowed to make goods for them- selves? What did the English want them to do? Did the Americans obey the new laws? What law was passed to stop smuggling? Why did the English government wish to tax the Americans? What reply did the Americans make? What was the character of the Stamp Act? What did Patrick Henry declare? How did the people receive the Stamp Act? Who was sent to London to get the Stamp Act repealed? What was done to make the people pay the taxes? Why were soldiers sent to Boston? What is meant by the "Boston Massacre''? Why were the Americans not willing to pay the tax on tea? What was done at Boston? What was the Boston Port Bill? When and where did the " First Continental Congress " meet? What action did it take? 2. What was the population of the colonies at the time of the disputes with England? What had England done in ten years? What city was the centre of the rebellious feeling? Where had the people collected stores? Describe Paul Revere's ride. What did the soldiers do at Lexington? What was done at Concord? De- scribe the retreat from Concord. How did the people of New England receive the news of this fight? What did Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys do? Where did the Americans seek to build a fort? Describe the Bunker Hill battle. When did the Second Continental Congress meet? Who was made commander-in-chief of the army? How were the British forced to leave Boston? What did the Americans attempt in Canada, and with what result? What city was attacked by the British fleet? Describe Sergeant Jasper's QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION 155 brave action. What was the purpose of the colonists in the war? What member of Congress first declared that the colonies ought to be free? Who wrote the Declaration of Independence? When was it adopted? What effect did it have on the people? 3. What did the Declaration of Independence signify to the people? Why is the 4th of July kept as a national holiday? What happened at New York? Describe Washington's retreat. How did the people feel? What did Washington do on Christmas Eve, 1776? What took place at Trenton? At Princeton? What was the effect of these victories in America and Europe? Where did the British sail to in 1777? What was the effect of the battle of the Brandywine? WTiere did Washington's army pass the winter? What condition were the men in? What other expedition did the British attempt? Describe the battle of Bennington. What sort of a trap did Burgoyne fall into? Where and when did he surrender his army? What country made a treaty with America in 1778? What did the English now offer to do? How did the Americans receive their offer? What did the British army in Philadelphia do in 1778 and with what result? What fort did Anthony Wayne attack? What happened in the valley of Wyoming? Describe the great exploit of Captain Paul Jones. Where did the fighting take place in 1780? What did General Arnold seek to do? What happened to Major Andre? What southern city did the British capture? What leaders fought them in South Carolina? Who took command of the southern army in 1781? Who commanded the British army? What success did General Greene have? Where did Cornwallis go? What happened to the army of Cornwallis? Was there any more fighting? When was the treaty of peace signed? What was the new nation named? 4. What was the population of America after the Revolution? How large was the country? How thickly was it settled? What was the size of the largest cities? Where did the settlers mostly live? What was the condition of the interior? What was the state of the southern population? What great hunter had gone to Ken- tucky? What was the character of his life there? From what countries had the people of America come? In what business were most of them engaged? What crops were raised? What did the women do? AVhat was raised in the south? Describe the shipping 156 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION trade of the colonies. How many ships had New England in 1763? What were these used for? Was there much manufactui'ing? What things were made? What was the name of the first newspaper? How many newspapers were there in the principal cities in 1775? Tell the sizes of the different cities. What is said about travelling? What kind of a city was New York? What was Philadelphia like? What was the condition of the people? What bad habit had they? What was the extent of the United States? What were its boun- daries? How many States were there? Were they closely united? Did Congress then have much power? PART Y. THE FIRST HALF CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC. 1. THE MAKING OF THE GOVERNMENT. A Time of Distress. — At the end of the Revolution the people of America were in a condition of poverty and misery. Business was at a stand-still, there was very little money, and not much of anything else useful. The country owed a great debt and had little to pay it with. The paper money with which the soldiers had been paid had lost its value, and nobody would take it for goods. The people were very poor, with their farms ruined and many of their towns destroyed. Some of them were so desperate that they declared they would pay no debts or taxes. Two thousand such men in Massachusetts, led by a man named Daniel Shays, marched out with their arms and defied the government. The State had some trouble to make them submit. Yet this distress could not long continue. The country needed only a little time to be all right again. It still had its soil, its mines, its ships, and its indus- trious inhabitants, and these were enough to make any country rich. England could no longer tell the people where they should trade or what they should make, or order them to pay taxes to support her government. They were free now to work for and to govern themselves, and this was worth all it had cost. 157 158 FIRST HALF CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC The Patriotism of Washington. — Washington was looked upon by every one as the great man of the country. The soldiers almost worshipped him. He could not go anywhere without crowds gathering to see him. He might have made himself a king if he had done what some of his friends wished. But he was too great a lover of his country for that, and would not take from America the liberty which he had done so much to gain for it. He went back to his home at Mount Vernon, in Virginia and became a simple farmer again. This was a noble act. Few men in Washington's position would have given up the power which was in his hands. All the world has praised him since as one of the greatest of patriots. The Condition of the Country. — There was one work of great im- portance to be done before the country could prosper. Congress had scarcely any power. It was made up of delegates from the States, but these States kept most of the power in their own hands. Congress could pass laws, but the States need not obey them unless they chose. Each State soon began to act as if it was an independent nation. Money was asked for by Congress to pay the interest on the debt, but very little of it was given, and hardly anything was done for the support of the government. A change of some kind had to be made, or the Union of the States would be broken, and there would be thirteen nations instead of one. Washinqton. THE MAKING OF THE GOVERNMENT 159 The Constitutional Convention. — This was seen by all the wise men of the country, — by Washington, Hamil- ton, Franklin, and others, — and steps were taken for a convention of delegates, which met at Philadelphia, in May, 1787, to try and form a stronger government. Among these delegates w^ere many learned and able men. For four months they talked over the condition of the country, and con- sidered what had best be done, and at the end of that time they had formed a plan of govern- ment very well suited to the needs of the country. This plan is what we have in the Constitution of the United States, that great document which forms the foun- dation of our govern- ment, and which has done so much to make the United States a great and powerful nation. The New Government. — When the Convention had finished its work, what had it done? Let us see. There were still thirteen States, each of which had the right to take care of its own affairs; but they were now combined under one general government, which had much power given to it. This government had the right to form an army and navy for its defence, to make treaties with other nations, and to declare war if necessary. Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia, Wherk THE First Continental Congress Met. 160 FIRST HALF CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC It could coin the money of the country, manage the post-offices, lay taxes on the people, regulate com- merce with foreign countries, and make laws for the good of the whole nation. No State had any longer the power to do these things for itself, though each could make laws for its own people if they did not interfere with the rights of the people of any other State or of the government of the United States. The Legislative Body. — The new government was to consist of three bodies; one to make the laws, one to de- cide if they agreed with the Constitution, and one to see that they were put into effect. The first of these — the law-making body — is called the Congress of the United States. It is divided into two parts, — the House of Representatives, whose members are elected by the people, and the Senate whose members are elected by the State governments. The first of these is expected to look after the good of the whole people; the second, to attend to the interests of the States. But the interests of the people and of the States are very much the same, and there is little difference between the duties of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Supreme Court. — The second body of the gov- ernment is called the Supreme Court. It is made up of a number of learned judges, whose duty it is to examine, if necessary, all the laws passed in the country, and decide if they agree with the Constitu- tion. If they do not agree they cease to be laws. Every law, either of Congress or of the States, must agree with the Constitution of the United States. The Powers of the President. — The third body of the government consists of a President, with a Vice- WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION 161 President to take his place if he should die, and cer- tain officers known as cabinet officers, with whom he can consult. It is the duty of the President to execute, or put into force, the laws passed by Congress. If he does not approve of these acts of Congress he can veto them, or refuse to sign them. They cannot become laws if he does not sign them, unless two-thirds of the members of Congress vote for them again. The Presi- dent takes the place of the kings and emperors of foreign countries, but he has less power than some of them. He can only carry out the laws. He has nothing to do with making them, except that he need not approve any law which he does not think a good one. 2. WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. From 1789 to 1797. Washington as President. — As soon as the Constitu- tion was formed and adopted by the States a Presi- dent had to be chosen. Washington was the only man thought of for this high office. He became Presi- dent in 1789. It was decided that New York should be the seat of government, and Congress was asked to meet there on the 4th of March of that year. But travel was so difficult that the members did not all get there until April 30, on which date Washington was inaugurated as President. The next year the seat of government was removed to Philadelphia. The Work of the Government. — There was much to be done. There was a heavy debt to be paid, many laws to be passed, courts to be set up, taxes to be assessed, and the people had to gain confidence in the government before business could go on properly. 11 162 FIRST HALF CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC All this was done, everybody went to work, and it was not long before America was richer and happier than it had ever been before. There were troubles, it is true. A tax had been laid on whiskey, and a mob in western Pennsylvania refused to pay it. But Washington called out an army, and taught these people that the government intended to carry out its laws. There were difficulties also with England, Spain, and France, but they were all settled without going to war. The Seat of Government. — Washington was President for eight years. The seat of government was removed from New York to Philadelphia in 1790, and in 1800 to the new city of Washington, which has since then grown to be one of the most beautiful of cities. Affairs in the West. — The people of the old States were now moving rapidly to the west. They no longer felt it necessary to keep near to the sea-coast, and they drove back the Indians as they went, and settled in the country west of the mountains. Vermont, Ken- tucky, and Tennessee soon became States. The set- tlers in Ohio had great trouble with the Indians, and much fighting took place; but the hostile tribes were at last defeated by General Wayne, and after that they continued peaceful for many years. 3. JOHN ADAMS'S ADMINISTRATION. From 1797 to 1801. Adams Elected President. — In 1796 Washington, who had been President for eight years, declined to be a candidate for a third term, and John Adams, who had been Vice-President under him, was elected President. JOHN ADAMS'S ADMINISTRATION 163 Thomas Jefferson was elected Vice-President, and they were inaugurated into their high offices on March 4, 1797. A Period of Prosperity. — It was a time of prosperity. The state of the country was very different from what it had been ten years before. Much of the debt of that time had been paid off and the people were quite willing to let the rest stand and accept interest for it. Duties had been laid on goods imported into the country and these supplied money enough for all the needs of the government and some over towards paying the debt. Business also was growing better, and workshops were being started in which goods could be made at home, instead of having to be bought abroad. The Indians were quiet and the people had become con- tented. In the south a great business in cotton rais- ing had begun, for the cotton gin, by the use of which cotton could be produced very cheaply, had been invented a few years before. Political Parties. — The people had now become divided into two political parties, the Republican and the Federalist, the former in favor of greater rights to the States, the latter in favor of a strong central government. Thomas Jefferson was the leader of the Republicans, or the Democrats as they were called in later years. Hostile Relations with France. — At that time a great revolution was going on in France. The people had risen against the king and his nobles and had cut off the head of their king. The new French government was very angry with the Americans for electing Adams Presi- dent, instead of Jefferson, who was friendly towards 164 FIRST HALF CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC them. They therefore ordered the American minister to leave the country and began a kind of war by send- ing out cruisers to capture American vessels, of which hundreds were taken. A Naval Warfare. — This was more than the Ameri- can government was ready to bear, and its naval vessels were ordered to attack the French war-ships. After two of these had been captured, the French found that others could fight besides themselves, and asked for peace. As America did not want war, but only wished to protect its merchant ships, a treaty was made and the naval war came to an end. The Death of Washington. — In December, 1799, died George Washington, the great American hero. He had got wet in a storm and a severe cold came on. From this a fever came and on the night of December 14 the noble patriot passed away. He was justly entitled: ''First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen," and the whole country joined in paying honor to his memory. His home and tomb at Mount Vernon, near the city of Wash- ington, are places which Americans are glad to visit, for he is looked upon as our greatest man. 4. JEFFERSON'S ADMINISTRATION. From 1801 to 1809. The Election of Jefferson. — In 1800 Thomas Jeffer- son, the writer of the Declaration of Independence and the leader of the Republican party, was elected President, and took his seat on March 4, 1801. During the preceding ten years Philadelphia had been the capital of the United States, but now a new city on JEFFERSON'S ADMINISTRATION 165 the Potomac River, named AVashington, was made the capital. It has been the capital ever since and has now grown into a large and very handsome city. Louisiana Purchased.— At this time the United States was bounded on the west by the Mississippi River. On the other side of that river was a great region reaching to the Rocky Mountains and inhabited The Capitol at Washington. only by Indians. It had been claimed by France up to 1763, when it was given over to Spain. In 1800 France got possession of it again. But Napoleon, the great French conqueror, was then at war with England, and was afraid that Louisiana, as this country was called, would be taken from him, so in 1803 he sold it to the United States for fifteen million dollars. After that time the United States extended from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky Mountains, and the land thus 166 FIRST HALF CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC bought by Jefferson has since then increased wonder- fully in value. War with Tripoli. — About this time war broke out with Tripoli, a country in the north of Africa. The people of that country were not civilized, and many of them were pirates, who spent their time in capturing the vessels of other nations. Merchant ships and their cargoes were taken by the pirates and all on board were sold as slaves. Some of the nations of Europe paid the Tripolitans to let their ships alone. The United States did this too for a wdiile, but when Jefferson became President he decided that this payment must stop. So a fleet of war vessels was sent out to punish the pirates of the Mediterranean. The Loss of the Philadelphia. — One of these war- ships, the Philadelphia, ran aground and w^as seized by the Tripolitans. A brave young officer, Lieutenant Decatur, determined that they should not keep her; so he sailed into the harbor in a little vessel with some American sailors, most of whom w^ere hidden from sight. The people on the frigate thought it w^as one of their own vessels, till it ran against the Philadel- phia, when the sailors sprang on board, attacked the pirates, drove them into the sea, and set the frigate on fire, as there was no time to get her under sail. Then the gallant Decatur sailed away w^ithout heed to the cannon-balls which the forts were firing at him. After four years of war the ruler of Tripoli was glad to agree to let the merchant vessels of the United States alone. Interference with American Commerce. — The people of Tripoli were not the only ones that interfered with American commerce. England and France w^ere then MADISON'S ADMINISTRATION 167 at war and England wanted all the sailors she could get for her war-ships. So she claimed the right to stop any vessel at sea and take from it any man who had been born in England. A good many were thus taken w^ho had never seen England, but were born in Amer- ica. And each of these countries also said that no foreign ships should carry goods to the other, and they seized every merchant ship they found engaged in this trade. In this way many American ships were taken and our merchants were robbed of millions of dollars. The Embargo Act. — To put a stop to this state of affairs Congress passed what was called the Embargo Act, which forbade any American ship to leave port with goods for foreign countries. It was thought that this would so injure France and England, who needed American goods, that they would consent to let our vessels alone. It did injure them, but it injured the United States still more. No ocean business at all was done and there was so much distress in consequence that the law had to be repealed. A Non-Intercourse Act was then passed which gave our merchants rights to trade with all countries but England and France. 5. MADISON'S ADMINISTRATION. From 1809 to 1817. James Madison made President. — Jefferson was Pres- ident for eight years, then James Madison, an able and active statesman, was elected to take his place. But he was a man who was not fond of war, and it looked as if war would soon come. British and French war- vessels were everywhere on the ocean and no American merchant ship was safe. And the British war-vessels 168 FIRST HALF CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC kept on taking sailors from American ships. It is said that in all more than six thousand men were thus taken, and that between 1803 and 1812 more than nine hundred American vessels were seized bv British cruisers. All over the country went up the war-cry of "Free trade and sailor's rights." No country could bear being treated in this way, and w^ar could not long be avoided, though President Madison wished to pre- vent it. Indian Hostilities. — In 1811 an Indian war broke out. A famous chief named Tecumseh tried to com- bine all the tribes against the whites. General Harri- son was sent against them, and when his camp near the Tippecanoe River was attacked at night he de- feated and killed many of the savage warriors. This made the people more angry still against England, for they believed that British agents from Canada had stirred up the Indians to this war. The Country Unprepared. — The United States was not at all prepared to go to war. Its army was small, its soldiers were not trained, it had no generals who had ever been on a battle field, except against the Indians. And its navy was very poor, there being only twelve vessels against a thousand in the British navy, more than a hundred of them being large and powerful ships. But when people feel that they have been wronged and insulted they do not stop to think of all these things, and on June 18, 1812, Congress declared war against Great Britain. THE WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN 169 6. THE WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. The Seat of War. — The war continued for nearly three years. It was fought in America and on the ocean. The United States could not send soldiers to England, but north of this country lay Canada, which belonged to England, and an effort was made to take possession of this country, which would have been a great loss to the enemy. Thus the greater part of the land war took place along the border line between the United States and Canada. On Lake Erie. — For over a year armies were sent into Canada, but nothing was gained, while the British Perry's Fleet on Lake Erie. got possession of Michigan, and Ohio was in danger. There was a British fleet on Lake Erie, and it was feared that it would be used to land soldiers on the American shores of that lake. An active young officer, Captain Oliver Perry, was sent to Lake Erie to see what could be done to prevent this. He at once went 170 FIRST HALF CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC to work to cut clown trees, hew them into shape and build ships. In a short time he had a fleet of small Vessels, and sailed out to meet the British ships. Perry's Victory. — The two fleets met on the 10th of September, 1813. A fierce battle followed, in which both sides fought with great courage, but the British were beaten and forced to surrender. During the fight the ship which Captain Perry commanded was shot so full of holes that it was ready to sink. So the gallant young officer took his flag and rowed in an open boat to another ship. The British vessels fired at him as he went, but he escaped unharmed. After the victory he sent to General Harrison this brief dis- patch: ''We have met the enemy, and they are ours.'' American Victories. — As soon as General Harrison received this dispatch he marched towards the enemy, and came up with them on the River Thames, in Canada. Here the British were defeated and most of them taken prisoners, while Tecumseh, the celebrated Indian chief, was killed. This victory drove the British out of Michigan. The next year General Win- field Scott won two victories in Canada, and in the same year there was a naval battle on Lake Cham- plain, where the English had a strong fleet. Com- modore McDonough commanded the American fleet and gained a complete victory. After that the British made no effort to invade the United States from Canada, while the Americans did not again invade Canada. The Work of the Navy. — It w^as on the ocean that the Americans showed their best fighting powers. They were victorious in nearl}^ every engagement. The first THE WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN 171 battle was between the American ship Constitution and the British ship Guerriere. They fought for two hours, at the end of which time the Guerriere w^as so full of cannon-ball holes that she was sinking and had to surrender. This victory made a great sensation in Europe and America. The British had long been masters of the ocean, and it was thought their ships could not be beaten. Before the end of the war American ships had gained many other brilliant victories over the war vessels of Great Britain. They had shown to the world that England was no longer '^ mistress of the seas." All Europe was surprised to see the little American fleet doing such wonderful work. The Burning of Washington. — In 1814 the British army did a disgraceful thing. There was a fleet which had done much damage along the coast, and this sailed up Chesapeake Bay and landed an army which marched on Washington. The city was very poorly defended, and the British took possession of it. They burned the Capitol and other public buildings, and many private houses, and then marched out again. This has always been looked on as a shameful act. The same fleet made an attack on Baltimore, but was driven off. Jackson at New Orleans. — The next effort of the British was made against the city of New Orleans. A strong army was landed and marched to attack that city, which was defended by a few Americans. But there was a brave and skilful officer, General Andrew Jackson, and he soon raised himself an army. He had been fighting with the Creek Indians in Alabama, who 172 FIRST HALF CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC had made war on the whites. These savages he com- pletely defeated. When he saw what the British intended he collected all the men he could. Most of them had never seen a battle, but they all knew how to use a rifle, and many of them were old hunters and skilful marksmen. A Hard=Fought Battle. — Both armies built breast- works. Those of the British were made of sugar hogs- Battle of New Orleans, heads, and those of the Americans of cotton bales. But these were soon battered down and set on fire by the cannon-shot, and then Jackson built earthworks out of the black mud of the river. For some time they fought at a distance with cannon, and then the British deter- mined to take the American works by storm. They had a large army of veteran soldiers, while the Americans were militia; but these backwoods riflemen wasted no bullets. Every time that a rifle was fired an enemy fell; and the men were well protected by their mud walls. THE WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN 173 The British Defeated. — On the 8th of January, 1815, the British advanced to the attack. They came on boldly, but could not stand the terrible fire of the American riflemen and soon were forced to retreat. Again they advanced, and once more they fell dead by hundreds. This was enough. The battle had lasted only half an hour when the British army was in full retreat, having lost its commander. General Paken- ham, and more than two thousand men, while only eight of the Americans were killed. The Treaty of Peace. — The war was at an end before this battle was fought, though the armies at New Orleans did not know^ it. A treaty of peace had been signed; but those were not the days of railroads and telegraphs, and it took as many weeks as it does sec- onds now to get news from New York to New Orleans. So those two thousand men lost their lives for nothing. The Necessity for Peace. — The war did not end any too soon. There was nothing to fight for any longer, and America was greatly suffering. England had ended the war which had been kept up for many years with France and wanted no more sailors or goods from American ships. There was an immense army, a great fleet and abundance of money to use against this country, which was poor, and in debt. Its trade w^as gone, and heavy taxes were laid on its people. Some of the States refused to supply any more men and money for a war which there was no longer any use for. So a treaty of peace was made with the English government. Industry Re=Established. — When the news of the treaty reached America the whole country was glad. 174 FIRST HALF CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC *' Peace! peace!" was the shout in the streets. Some of the cities were illuminated. At once business started up. Before night of that day shipwrights were at work on the merchant ships, making them ready for sea. Sailors were engaged, cargoes loaded, and very soon American sails were spread again upon the seas, while at home the joyful soldiers dropped the sword and the musket and seized the plough-handle and the hammer, and the cheerful sounds of industry were heard once more throughout the land. The Barbary States. — After the war affairs in Amer- ica went on very quietly for many years. There was some more trouble with the pirates of Northern Africa, who again interfered with American commerce. But Commodore Decatur, the brave soldier who had burnt the Philadelphia, went out with a fleet and very soon frightened the piratical states. These were the coun- tries of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, known as the Barbary States. They have never interfered with American vessels since that time. Business Activity. — Business grew active again as soon as the war was at an end. The farmers sold their crops for good prices, the ships found plenty to do, and all the people were busy except the mechanics. During the war many factories had been built in America, but after the treaty of peace English goods were sent to this country in great quantities, and sold so low that the American factories had to sell at a loss or stop working. This set people to talking about a tariff, or a tax on foreign goods, so that they could not be sold lower than American goods. MONROE'S ADMINISTRATION 175 7. MONROE'S ADMINISTRATION. From 1817 to 1825. The Era of Good Feeling. — In 1816 James Monroe, a statesman of Virginia, was elected President, and held the office for the eight years from 1817 to 1825, After the war the political feeling in America had died away, and soon there was but one political party. People ceased to vote for the old Federal party, and OAly the party which had been known as the Democratic- Republican was left. This party was afterwards gen-- erally called the Democratic. The period that followedt has been called "the era of good feel- ing," because the people all thought much the same way in politics, and there were no political disputes. Florida Invaded.— While Monroe was President there were some troubles with the Indians of Florida, and these led to important results. Florida still belonged to Spain, and the Spaniards stirred up the Seminole Indians to make attacks on the people of Georgia and Alabama.. General Jackson then commanded the army in the South. He was of a hasty temper, and he quickly marched his men into Florida and took possession of the Spanish town of Pensacola. He also hung two Englishmen who, he said, led the Indians. Jackson was blamed for this, but Spain saw that she could not keep Florida, so she asked the United States, to buy it. The price asked for it was five million dollars, which was much less than a. war would have 176 FIRST HALF CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC cost. The United States was quite willing to pay this sum, and became owner of Florida in 1821. New States Admitted. — The country along the Missis- sippi was now filling up with people, and seven new States were formed between 1812 and 1821. These were Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, Maine, and Missouri. Ohio had become a State in 1802. These, with the thirteen original States, and Vermont, Tennessee, and Kentucky, which had been admitted before 1800, made the total number twenty-four. The Slavery Question. — There was a dispute in Con- gress when Missouri asked to be made a State. This dispute was on the question of slavery. As this was to become a very important question in later years we must say something about it here. In the early days of America there were slaves in all the colonies; but in 1820 very few slaves were left in the States north of Virginia. They were still kept in the south on account of their use in the cotton, rice, and tobacco plantations; but a law had been passed in 1787 pro- viding that there should be no slaves in the territory north of the Ohio River. The Missouri Compromise. — When Missouri asked to be made a State there were many slaves there already, and a debate arose whether it should be a slave or a free State. This was settled by what is called '^The Missouri Compromise." A law was passed which said that Missouri might come into the Union as a slave State, but that there should be no more slave States in the Western country north of the latitude of the southern boundary of Missouri. This settled ail trouble about slave States for twenty-five years. MONROE'S ADMINISTRATION 177 The Monroe Doctrine. — At that time the Spanish colonies of America were fighting for freedom and most of them had won their liberty. Some of the nations of Europe now proposed to help Spain win them back; hoping to be able to get part of them for themselves. In 1823 President Monroe sent a message to Congress in which he said that the United States would not approve of any new colonies being formed in America, and would not consent to any foreign power taking possession of or invading those new nations. This is known as the '^ Monroe Doctrine." It is still an important part of the American policy and has gone far to keep America for the Americans. Internal Improvement. — As the country was filling up so fast with people, something had to be done to make it easier to travel and carry goods from one place to another. There were steamboats on the rivers, but there were no railroads, and the carriage roads were very bad. So Congress began to make good roads in different directions. Canals were also made to carry goods cheaply. The greatest of these was the Erie Canal of New York. This was begun in 1817 and finished in 1825. It runs across the State from Albany to Buffalo, a distance of tiiree hundred and sixty-three miles, and is of great use in bringing goods and grain from the West to the Hudson River and New York City. The Tariff Question. — Another great question arose in Congress during this period. This was about a tariff on foreign goods. Americans were trying to start factories and workshops and to make articles for their own use; but they had to pay high wages to mechanics, and found that they could not sell as low 12 178 FIRST HALF CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC as the English. A law was passed in 1816 laying a tax or duty on manufactured foreign goods, to protect the American makers from foreign competition. It proved very useful, and the workshops of America quickly became busy, and have continued so from that time to the present. But the question of the tariff has never been settled to please all parties, and it is one of the great political questions of the present day. 8. THE JOHN QUINCY ADAMS ADMINISTRATION From 1825 to 1829. Whigs and Democrats. — In 1-824 John Quincy Adams was elected President by the party w^hich had been' knowm by the two names of Republican and Democratic. There was no other party at that time, for the Republican party which we now have was not formed till long afterwards. But while Adams was President the one party became divided into two, ■which were afterwards known as the Democratic and the Whig parties. It was the tariff and some other questions that divided the old party. The Whigs were in favor of high tariff and the Democrats of low tariff. The Whigs were strongest in the north, where there were the most factories, and the Democrats in the south, where low-priced goods were wanted. Thus the ^^Era of Good Feeling" was brought to an end. A Higher Tariff. — One of the principal things done by Congress in the new administration was to pass a tariff which laid much higher duties on several kinds of goods. it was bitterly opposed in the South, where low duties were desired, and its enemies called it the 'Hariff of abominations.^' It led to much trouble a few years later. THE PiiOGRESS OF THE COUNTRY 179 The Creek Indians Removed. — Another important event was the removal of the Creek Indians of Georgia from their old home to a tract of land west of the Mississippi River, known as the Indian Territory. They earnestly objected to this but they were forced to go, and at a later date the Cherokee Indians were also removed. This is one example of the injustice with which the native inhabitants of our country have been treated. The Cause of Temperance. — The drinking of intoxi- cating liquor had become so great an evil that a strong feeling w^as aroused against it at this time. Drunkenness had grown so common that it affected all classes of society, the rich and poor alike. The first successful temperance society was founded in 1826, and in the years that followed thousands of people took the pledge not to drink liquors of any kind. Though this did not do aw^ay with drunken- ness in this country, it has never since been so bad and it is steadily becoming less of an evil. The Election of 1828.— In 1828 John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson were the candidates for the Presidency. Jackson was a popular military hero, while Adams was not very well liked, the result being that Jackson was elected by a large majority. John C Calhoun, of South Carolina, was elected Vice-President. 9. THE PROGRESS OF THE COUNTRY. Changes in Life and Customs. — During the half cen- tury with which we have here dealt many changes of importance had occurred in the country. The people were gaining new ideas; new ways of doing things 180 FIRST HALF CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC were coming into use, and much of importance aside from political events was taking place. These things do not belong to political history, but are of great importance in social history. Growth of Population. — In the first census of the United States, taken in 1790, there were found to be nearly four millions of people in the country. In the fourth census, that of 1830, there were nearly thirteen millions, more than three times as many. This great increase of people had done much to fill up the new States in the west. In 1780 the west was still a wilderness. Daniel Boone had led some settlers into Kentucky and others had gone to Tennessee, but else- where the people had not moved far back from the sea-coast. There were great hardships to be borne by those who went West, and much danger from the Indians, and those who loved comfort and safety kept in the old settlements along the coast. The Pioneers of the North. — But there were many who loved adventure more than they did peace and comfort, and hundreds of these went out as pioneers into the wilderness. In the region of New England and New York these travelled with emigrant wagons, making roads through the woods as they went. They would clear off the trees and cultivate a piece of land for a year or two, and then, as others settled near them, they would set out again for a new home in the wilder- ness. It was like a great army slowly marching for- ward and sending pioneers in advance, while the main body held on to every foot of land that was occupied. The Indians retreated step by step before them. They could not repel this army of emigrants. THE PROGRESS OF THE COUNTRY 181 Emigration along the Ohio. — Along the Ohio the emigrants went in a different way. They loaded their goods and families on boats and floated down the river till they found a good place tc settle. It was a dangerous journey. The Indians would fire on them from the woods on the river bank, and many were killed or captured. Afterwards the boats were made stronger so that bullets would not pass through them, and in some cases they carried small cannon to drive off the foe. But for many years the journey down the Ohio was a dangerous one. The Home of the Pioneer. Settlements in the West. — -No clangers could keep back the people, and they made many settlements along the Ohio River. Louisville was founded in 1778, and the first houses were built at Cincinnati in 1788. The Indians fought with the settlers, but they w^ere driven back, and soon there were great numbers of people along the Ohio and Mississippi, and States began to be formed where not many years before all had been a wilderness, the home of the red man and of wild beasts. 182 FIRST HALF CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC How People Lived. — In those days things were very different from what they are now, even in the largest cities. The streets were dirty and poorly paved, while at night they were lighted only by a few oil lamps. There w^ere no gas and no matches such as we have i^ Colonial Kitchen. now, but a piece of flint and steel and some tinder were used to make a light. Water had to be carried from the pump, and wood was used for fires, so that houses were not warmed all through as they now are, and most of the rooms had no fires to warm them. In winter people slept in freezing cold rooms. THE PROGRESS OF THE COUNTRY 183 Most of the people lived on farms, for there were fewer workshops to bring them into the cities. Life on the farm was very hard. There were none of the excellent machines which farmers have now, and the work required great labor, while most of the things that were used had to be made at home. There were very few amusements in the country, and not many books and newspapers, while there was little time for anything except hard work. In the houses there were great open fireplaces, where logs of wood were burned. Tallow candles were used to light the rooms, while most of the people wore clothes of homespun, — that is, of cloth made at home from thread spun on the spinning-wheel and woven on the hand-loom. Hunting and fishing were the principal amusements of the men, and the gun and the fishing-rod could be seen in every house. Customs of the Rich. — But the rich people in the cities lived much better than the farmers and made a great deal more display. This class of people dressed more showily than they do now. The gentlemen wore white satin vests and white silk stockings, with velvet or broadcloth coats; while the ladies wore beautiful, silks and satins, and had their hair dressed with powder and pomatum and raised like a tower above the head. All gentlemen took snuff, and to offer the snuff-box was considered an act of politeness. Fine balls were given at w^hich there was much formality, and also musical concerts, but the theatre had made no great progress. There was much pomp and show at President Washington's receptions: the kings of Europe made little more display. But this 184 FIRST HALF CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC came to an end after Jefferson was made President. He dressed plainly and did away with all ceremony. Cotton in the South. — There was one thing that hap- pened at this time of which we must speak. Among the plants which had been early planted in the Southern colonies was the cotton-plant. This plant has its seeds covered with a fine white down, or fibre, which can be spun into thread and made into cloth. Cotton grew in other parts of the world and was used for this purpose. The people of the south raised some of the plants, but it took so much time and trouble to get the seeds out of the cotton that they could not make it pay. The Cotton Gin. — In 1792 a young man from Massa- chusetts, named Eli Whitney, went to Georgia to teach while he studied law. One day he was asked if he could not make a machine that would separate the cotton seeds from the fibre faster than the old way of picking them out by hand. He began to experiment, and soon invented a machine which did this work very well. It was called the cotton-gin. It worked so well that it was soon in use wherever the plant was raised, and before many years the cultivation of cotton became a great industry. American cotton came into use in all parts of the civilized world, and the South grew very rich from the vast quantities of this useful product that were raised and sold. The Steamboat Invented. — Other inventions were made, one of the most important being the steamboat. Several persons tried this. There was one built by James Rumsey in 1784, and another afterwards by John Fitch, which ran for some time on the Delaware. But the first successful steamboat was built by Robert THE PROGRESS OF THE COUNTRY 185 Fulton in 1807. This was tried on the Hudson, and when people saw it moving at five miles an hour against wind and tide they knew that a great invention had been made. As it went up the river to Albany the sailors on other vessels were scared to see this monster sending clouds of smoke and showers of sparks into the air, and making a great noise with its paddles and machinery. Some of them hid below the deck, and other fell on their knees and prayed for safety. But before long steamboats were run- ning on all the rivers and proved of the greatest use. On the Western Riv- ers. — Before the time of steamboats it was not easy to travel on the w^estern rivers. Boats would float down the Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans, but it was hard work to row them back against the strong current. So they were broken up and sold for lumber, and the sailors walked or rode back along the river banks. But after steamboats were put on the rivers there was no trouble in moving up as well as down. In 1819 the first steamship crossed the Atlantic. It was named the Savannah. The Railroad Introduced. — There was another great invention soon to come into use. This was the rail- road. The first railroad in America is said to have Fulton's Steamboat. (The Clermont.) 186 FIRST HALF CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC .been one built in 1827 at Quincy, Massachusetts. It ■was only three miles long, and the cars were drawn l)y horses, and carried stone from the quarries to the wharves. But about this time the locomotive was invented in England by George Stephenson. In 1828 the locomotive was tried in America. Farm- •ers did not like it at first. They thought it would scare their animals, and that the wool of the sheep would be made black by the smoke, so that it could not be sold. But none of these things happened, and A Modern Steamship. ;soon railroads were being built in various directions. Nothing else has done so much to make a great country ■of America. A Period of Prosperity. — After the war with Great Britain the country found itself in a state of great poverty and with a heavy debt to pay. But business became so good that there was soon more riches in the country than there had been before. Tobacco and -cotton sold at high prices; the ships had plenty to do; soon gold watches began to take the place of silver, silk goods took the place of cotton, better furniture was seen in the houses, and people lived in more €omfort than of old. QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION 187 Coal and Gas. — Up to this time only wood, or soft coal, had been burned. The hard coal, or anthracite coal, of Pennsylvania was discovered in 1791, but it was long before people learned how to burn it, and it was not generally used before 1830. Since then it has made our houses much more comfortable. Gas was first used for lighting in 1822, and soon became com- mon. It proved a very useful invention. PART v.— QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 1. What was the condition of the people after the Revolution? What was thought of Washington? Why did Congress have little power? When and where did the Constitutional Convention meet? What great document did it prepare? What were to be the powers of the new government? Of what three bodies was it composed? Of what two bodies is Congress made up? What are their duties? What is the duty of the Supreme Court? Wliat is the duty of the President? 2. Who was the first President, and when elected? What city was made the seat of government? What troubles took place in Western Pennsylvania? To what place was the seat of government removed in 1790? To what place in 1800? What three States were formed about this time? What took place in Ohio? 3. Who was the second President? Why had the country grown more prosperous? What two political parties arose? What led to a naval war with France? When did Washington die and how was he spoken of? 4. Who was elected President in 1800? What great purchase was made in 1803? How far did the United States extend before that time? How far after? What was the character of the people of Tripoli? How did they act toward American commerce? What did President Jefferson do? Describe the fate of the frigate Phila- delphia. What claim was made by England? How did the French and English war affect American trade? What act was passed by Congi'ess? What was its purpose? What country did it hurt most? 5. Who was the fourth President? How did England injure this country? What took place among the Western Indians? When was war declared? 188 FIRST HALF CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC 6. Where was the chief seat of the war? What American officer was sent to Lake Erie? What was the result of the battle of Lake Erie? What other victories did the Americans win? Between what ships was the first naval battle? What success had the Americans on the ocean? What city did the British attack in 1814? What other city did they attack? Who commanded the Americans at New Orleans? What was the result of the British attack? Why was it important to end the war? What effect had the treaty of peace on the people and on business? 7. Who was elected President in 1816? Why was this period called "the era of good feeling"? What was done in Florida and with what result? How many States were there in 1821? What dispute arose when Missouri asked to be made a State? Why were slaves kept in the south longer than in the north? What was the ^' Missouri Compromise "? What is meant by the Monroe Doctrine? What did Congress do to make travelling easier? What great work of public improvement was done in New York? Why was a tariff wanted? What effect did it have? 8. Who was elected President in 1824? What new parties arose during his term of office and what were their principles? How was the tariff of 1828 received? What was the effect of the temper- ance agitation? Who was elected President in 1828? 9. When was the first census of the United States taken? What was the population? What increase had taken place by 1830? What was the condition of the Western country in 1780? How was emigration westward conducted in New York and New England? How along the Ohio? How did people live in those days? How were houses warmed? What was the character of farm-life? What kind of clothes were worn? What amusements did the people have? What were President Washington's receptions like? What President did away with ceremony? What was the most important Southern plant? Who invented the "cotton-gin"? What effect did it have on the South? Who invented the first useful steamboat? How did people travel on the western rivers before steamboats were used? When did the first steamship cross the Atlantic? When and where was the first railroad built in America? How were the cars drawn? Who invented the locomotive? When was it first tried in America? What was the condition of business after the war with Great Britain? When was anthracite coal first dis- covered in Pennsylvania? When was gas first used for lighting? PART VI. TWENTY YEARS OF PROGRESS. 1. JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION. From 1829 to 1837. Andrew Jackson as President. — General Andrew Jackson was inaugurated as President, March 4, 1829. He was a very popular man, for the people did not forget how well he had fought at New Orleans ; so he was elected twice and was President for eight years, from 1829 to 1837- Yet he was a man without education, and was rough in his manners and obstinate in his opinions. What he thought it right to do he did, without caring what any one else thought. But men who act in that way are apt to make mischief, for it takes more than one to tell what it is best to do when great questions arise. The South Carolina Trouble. — The first difficulty that arose was about the tariff. The people of South Carolina strongly opposed the tariff of 1828 and passed a law saying that foreign goods would be admitted into that State without paying duties. This was against the Constitution, which said that only Congress could pass laws of that kind. But the law-makers of South Carolina declared that if Congress interfered w^ith what they had done the State would secede or with- draw from the Union, and become a separate nation. What the President Did. — President Jackson was a Democrat, and therefore belonged to the party that was in favor of low tariff. But it was his duty to carry 189 190 TWENTY YEARS OF PROGRESS out the laws, and this he determined to do. He said that South CaroHna should pay the duties, and sent war-ships to Charleston to enforce the law. Every- body knew that Jackson meant what he said, and that he would force the State to remain in the Union and to obey the laws made by Congress, if he had to do it with an army. But about this time Congress passed a law to lower the tariff, a part of which was to be taken off every year for ten years. This settled the trouble. South Carolina withdrew her ''Ordinance of Secession," and there was no more talk of leaving the Union. The Bank Question. — The next question was about the United States Bank. This bank had been started in 1816, and was to continue for twenty years. Its charter would run out in 1836, and Congress was asked for a new one. A bill was passed to give it a charter, but the President was opposed to the bank and would not sign it, so it did not become a law. He also took the government money from the bank. This proved to be a serious matter, and helped to bring the country into great trouble. When it was found that the United States Bank must stop. State banks started up all over the country, and these lent money freely to speculators. But this was only paper money, and the banks had very little gold and silver to make it good. The Panic of 1837. — At that time there was much speculation in western lands, and much also in foreign goods. Business was brisk, and every one thought the country was prosperous. But nearly all this busi- ness was done on the paper money of the State banks and on credit. It ended in one of the greatest panics in business the country has ever known. The Presi- JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION 1911 dent said that gold and silver must be paid for gov- ernment lands, and this brought on the panic. All over the States the banks ceased the payment of coin,, merchants were ruined, factories closed, and businessr came nearly to an end. There were failures for millions of dollars, and many thousands of people could get no work to do and little food to eat. This began in 1837 and continued for a year, but it was several years before the effects of it were over. •. '''. 'k' I •.'* From Willoughby's "Across the Everglades.'' The Everglades of Florida. Indian Wars. — Several wars with the Indians took place during Jackson's term. As the w^hite people pushed farther into the country they met new tribes of Indians, who were often treated unjustly, many of 192 TWENTY YEARS OF PROGRESS these pioneers being rough and brutal men. The Indians defended themselves and thus wars began. One broke out in 1832 with the Sac and Fox Indians, who were led by a chief named Black Hawk. They fought hard but were forced to submit. A more serious war began in 1835 with the Seminole Indians of Florida. These lived in the great swamp regions of that State and it took years and cost the government thirty millions of dollars to overcome them. They were sent to the Indian Territory, where the Creeks and Cherokees had been sent before, but some of the Seminoles remained in Florida in places where the soldiers could not find them, and their descendents still live there. 2, VAN BUREN'S ADMINISTRATION. From 1837 to 1841. Martin Van Buren. — In 183G Martin Van Buren, who had been Vice-President in Jackson's second term, was elected President and took his seat March 4, 1837. It was during his administration that the panic of which we have spoken took place, though President Jackson's policy in regard to the banks had much to do with its development. Wild Cat Banks. — Many of the State banks which succeeded the United States bank had little capital and did business in such a way that they were called ''wild cat" banks. In some of these Jackson had deposited the government money taken from the Uni- ted States Bank. The ''pet banks," as these were named, loaned this public money freely to speculators and much of it was lost after the panic began. HARRISON AND TYLER ADMINISTRATION 193 The paper money issued by the banks then came back in quantities, and as few of them had enough gold and silver in their vaults to redeem it, they failed on all sides.- Everywhere also the merchants and speculators were in trouble, the failures in New York City alone within two months reaching the great sum of one hundred million dollars. State Failures.— The finances of the country were in such a condition that some of the States, which had borrowed large sums of money from Europe for public improvements, were not able to pay interest on their debts and one State refused to pay either principal or interest. This was a serious blow to American credit. The Treasury and Sub-Treasury System. — As it was seen to be unsafe to deposit the public money in the banks, a law was passed establishing a government treasury, this being a place of deposit for the public funds in Washington City. Branches called sub- treasuries were also established in other cities. This system is still in existence. 3. THE HARRISON AND TYLER ADMINISTRATION. From 1841 to 1845. A Whig President Elected.— From 1800 up to 1840 all the Presidents had been Democratic, but in 1840 General William Henry Harrison, a Whig, was elected. He was the hero of the battle of Tippecanoe, and as it was said that he Hved in a log cabin and drank hard cider, log cabins and cider were the great features of the campaign. But he was an old man and not strong enough to bear the worry of office seekers and he died April 4, 1841, just one month after taking his seat. 13 194 TWENTY YEARS OF PROGRESb John Tyler as President. — John Tyler, of Virginia, had been elected Vice-President and the death of Harrison made him President. He had been elected on the Whig ticket, but was more a Democrat than a Whig, and he greatly displeased the party which had elected him by vetoing a number of its bills. One of these was to establish another United States Bank. The War for Freedom in Texas. — The most impor- tant event which occurred while Tyler was President was the request of Texas to be made part of the United States. Texas had been held by Spain since the time La Salle's colony was destroyed by the Spaniards, and when Mexico gained its freedom from Spain Texas became part of it. But many Americans had settled in that country, and they did not like the w^ay in which they were treated by the Mexican government. So they rebelled and began a war for freedom. This war began in 1835, and in 1836 the Mexicans were defeated and forced to leave the country. Texas became independent. But after some years it asked to be made a part of the United States. The Northern people were opposed to this, for they knew that it would be a slave State; but finally, in 1845, it was accepted as a State. This was a large addition to the United States, for Texas is an extensive country. 4. POLK'S ADMINISTRATION AND WAR WITH MEXICO. From 1845 to 1849. The Election of 1844. — In 1844 Henry Clay, a great and popular orator, was nominated by the Whig party, and James K. Polk, by the Democratic. They were both Southern men, but Polk was little known, while ■^.0'? L^e fO''- ftft Bo 1X7 Longitude L^Jf. l/"?y. Of ^A^i, iCu J? G?^ West 107 from Greenwich 97 WAR TVITH MEXICO SCALE OF MILES . ||L ,^y SCitv ,^„ I J? |Cit^. i ■P^a/'/c> K. -^r ^^^ "^ r '■ * ^ >V "^ /^ '^'?t^'S'fi<:==^^i^z^i^ S^ 100 200 300 iOO >>^ Salt t 1/ ^ /#^ r-Vr^ • FT. LEAVENWORTH ^ , IRo^^R A do! t' * tj c, a -€i SiOl L; E. ^^^--^l^ «/>^ jrr-^v^'^;^j-::^^.v>^^"""~?^^^" ^ % > I -L. ■1 .TERRITORY^' I £4 i(g cP, '■«^s .EI=I 2.S2 -^'^:^--o\'^-. ,:o^ A S^ ^m Sacramento V- , Ghihu'ahuaV ff«N nV) San :iNTO ' TTLE Juno olSan : '!0 .^?a FeJTiahdo, ^^SVSant^/'^ • ■**oncloya9'^l"" i5oV5'''Antonjo aus= V SSPeT; =Qc 33^ S(££«E 4^ .Ddr kMazatia «a K-*, Parras ) \ Aqua) i y^Nueva/ Monterey ijj£^5= E^i o^BufenaiVista _^.? //CJj ^ _]_Victoria^ % <^ ..cPotosi,. "^■r% ,■ w* -. LiC,hapaXa.\ L uspan J Jah R?r LC^20| #^^l^! }%% *s^-Ts "^B.i* ^IvaradcS ^lon"" l^iZ-UKClO- 1 %. ^. .^ ??• % = % €? K « ! = ^ S ^^ ^ ~ POLK'S ADMINISTRATION 195 Clay was a public favorite and everybody expected him to be elected. But he lost favor in some of the States by concealing his true sentiments about the annexation of Texas. This was not manly, and it lost him the elec- tion, New York going against him by a small majority.. Hostilities with Mexico. — There was a great show of indignation in Mexico when Texas was made a part of the United States, for it was claimed that it still belonged to Mexico. War was likely to come, and it was desired in the South, where the planters hoped to conquer still more territory from Mexico and thus make room for new slave States. There was also a dispute about the boundary. Mexico claimed that the western boundary of Texas was the Nueces River, while the United States claimed that it was the Rio Grande, a hundred miles farther west. Both countries sent armies into this disputed territory, and as soon as they met they began to fight. Two battles were fought. The Americans were vic- torious in each, and the Mexicans had to retreat. The Advance into Mexico. — General Taylor was in command of the American army. He now crossed the Rio Grande and took possession of Matamoras, a Mexican town. When the news of this was received there was great excitement. Many of the people did not want to go to w^ar, but others did, and Congress voted in favor of war. Many volunteers joined General Taylor's army, and he marched into the country and captured the strong city of Monterey, w^here there were ten thousand Mexican troops. The Battle of Buena Vista. — General Taylor pushed on into the mountain region. He had only five thou- 196 TWENTY YEARS OF PROGRESS sand men, and the Mexican general, Santa Anna, was marching against him with more than twenty thousand. They met on February 22, 1847, at a place called Buena Vista. General Taylor was in great danger, for most of his men w^ere volunteers, while the Mexicans were trained soldiers. But he took possession of a narrow pass through the mountains. All day long the Mexi- cans tried to drive the American army out of this pass, but they could not do it, and at night they retreated in great haste and disorder. The Capture of Vera Cruz. — There was no more fighting in the north of Mexico. It had been decided to carry the war to the south, and General Scott was sent with a fleet and army to attack the city of Vera Cruz, the principal sea-port of Mexico. There was a very strong fortress at Vera Cruz, but it was soon forced to surrender. The Mexicans could not stand the cannon-balls that were poured like hail -stones into their fort. The March to the City of Mexico. — The road from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico is over a mountainous country, and the passes in these mountains were held by the Mexicans. Their army was much stronger than that of General Scott, but he marched on and drove them back wherever he met them. When the Americans got near the city there were many battles to fight, but every one of them ended in a victory for General Scott's army. The most important battle was at Chapultepec. This was a strong fort on the top of a very steep hill. The Americans had to climb up the hill and get into the fort by ladders, while musket- and cannon-balls POLK'S ADMINISTRATION 197 came down on them like hail; but they fought their way up the hill and got into the fort, from which they drove the Mexicans. The next day, September 14, 1847, the Americans marched into the City of Mexico, and took possession. That was the last battle of the .war, and Santa Anna, the Mexican President, asked for peace. General Scott's Entkt into the City of Mexico. The War Elsewhere. — But this is not the whole story of the war. While the fighting we have described was taking place, an army under General Kearney had marched into New Mexico and taken possession of it. Captain John C. Fremont, with sixty men, was at this time in California. He had been sent there to explore the country, but as soon as he heard that war was going on he got the American settlers to join him, and began to drive out the Mexican soldiers. He was 198 TWENTY YEARS OF PROGRESS helped in this by an American fleet, and by General Kearney, and soon all California was held by the United States. New Territory Acquired. — At the end of the war the American army had full possession of New Mexico and California, and w^hen the treaty of peace was signed Mexico was obliged to give up this territory^ though the United States agreed to pay for it fifteen million dollars. Thus a great district, containing more than half a million square miles, was added to the United States. This district now contains the States of California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming, with the Territories of Arizona and New Mexico. No one dreamed at that time how valuable this would prove to be. Some thought that the money paid for it was more than it was worth. It was thinly settled by Mexicans, with a few American settlers. Little gold had been found in it by the Mexicans, though they had been looking for gold for many years. So they did not think the country of much value, and were willing to give it up to the United States for the money paid. The Discovery of Gold. — But a year or two later they would have given ten times as much to have it back again, for the Americans were not long there before gold was found. A workman who was building a mill-dam in the Sacramento Valley found shining yellow particles in the gravel. He eagerly gathered some of this mineral, took it to his employer and had it tested. It proved to be gold. At once everybody quit working and went on the hunt for gold. Plenty THE WORK OF THE PEOPLE 199 of it was found, and when the news was heard by the people of the east they began to emigrate in great num- bers to the west, every one eager to make his fortune. There proved to be gold in very many parts of the territory. It was found in the sand, in the river-beds, in the rock; in dust, and in lumps. The stories told of the finding of gold w^ere like fairy tales, and thou- sands of people hurried to California, eager for wealth. Silver mines were also discovered, and since that time an immense amount of gold and silver has been taken from that country, though at first it was thought of so little value. But California would be rich if it had no gold or silver. Its soil is very fertile, and every year great quantities of grain and fruits are raised. The timber on its mountains is also of high value. The Mexicans got nothing from it in three hundred years, but the Americans have made it a rich and populous State in much less than one hundred years. 5 THE WORK OF THE PEOPLE. Increase of Territory. — In the period which we have just considered the country had made great progress. Let us stop here and take a look back at what had been done. First, it is important to consider the size of the United States. We have told how it had gained a great territory from Mexico. But other territory had come to it of which we must now tell the story. Lewis and Clark's Expedition. — When France sold the country west of the Mississippi to the United States no one knew how large that country was, or what might be found in it. So two men. Captains Lewis 200 TWENTY YEARS OF PROGRESS and Clark, were sent out to see what it was like. There were thirty men with them, and they left St. Louis in 1804 and were more than two years in a wilderness where no white man had ever set foot before. They went up the Missouri River as far as they could, and then, crossing the Rocky Mountains, went down the Columbia River till they reached the Pacific Ocean. When they came back, they had wonderful stories to tell of the tribes they had seen and the adventures they had met with. They were probably the first white men that beheld the vast multitudes of buffalo on the western plains. They had seen herds of them a mile wide crossing the rivers like a great army. The Fur Trade. — These explorers found that the Indians of the Pacific coast had furs to sell, and a New York merchant named John Jacob Astor sent men there to trade for furs. He grew very rich in this business. His trading post was afterwards sold to a British fur company, and on this account the British wished to lay claim to the territory about the Columbia River. The Story of Oregon. — In 1792 Captain Robert Gray, the first to carry the American flag around the world in his ship, the Columbia, discovered a great river of on the Pacific coast, to which he gave the name his vessel. In later years the Hudson's Bay Company, which controlled the fur trade of British America, extended its business into Oregon, and an agreement was made in 1818 by which the people of the United States and Great Britain were permitted to fish, hunt, and trade there for ten years. This was afterwards renewed from year to year. THE WORK OF THE PEOPLE 201 American Settlers. — In 1832 the American fur traders in Oregon were followed there by a party of settlers, and others succeeded until by 1846 there were several thousand Americans in the country. There had arisen a question between England and the United States as to the proper boundary between their western possessions. England's claim extended southward to the Columbia River; the Americans' claim extended northward to 54° 40', the southern boundary of Russian America, now known as Alaska. Oregon Treaty. — In 1846 the dispute was settled by a compromise, a treaty being made with England which decided that the parallel of 49° should be the boundary. This parallel already formed the boundary east of the Rocky Mountains. Thus the country which we now know as the States of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, with parts of Montana and Wyoming west of the main range of the mountains, became part of the United States. Growth of the Country. — The great republic had made a wonderful growth in fifty years. In 1800 the United States was bounded on the west by the Missis- sippi River, and on the south by Florida. It did not reach to the Gulf of Mexico, for Florida had a strip of land fifty miles wide along the Gulf coast. By 1850 it had gained Florida and the whole vast country between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean, together with Texas and the whole of Northern Mexico. In fifty years it had grown to three times its original size, and had become one of the greatest countries on the earth. We may well call this a wonderful progress. Population. — The population was growing as fast as the country Many steamships now crossed the ocean. 202 TWENTY YEARS OF PROGRESS and immigrants were coming in by thousands. Most of these settled in the East, but great numbers of the Eastern people went west. This was not difficult to do. Every river had its steamboats, and railroads were being built in all parts of the country, so that it was becoming an easy matter to travel long distances. New cities started up in the West. In 1830 there was only a fort at Chicago. Now it is one of the largest cities in the country. In other places where there are large cities now there was only the wilderness then. Emigration West. — But there were no railroads or steamboats to carry emigrants across the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific coast. Those who went there had to travel in wagons drawn by oxen or horses. It was a journey of great hardships and danger. The emigrants were often attacked and murdered by the Indians. Sometimes they were smothered in the snows, or died of starvation. The road was marked by the bones of dead animals. Yet large numbers crossed that way, and the Western country rapidly filled up. The Mormons. — It was the desire for gold and silver that took most of these emigrants across the mountains. Others went to settle on farms or to do business in cities. But some of them went for a different purpose. These were the Mormons, a religious sect which had been started by a man named Joseph Smith, who said he had found a book of religious teachings written on gold plates that were buried in the earth. He called this the ''Book of Mormon." The Mormons first settled in the region near the Mississippi River, but the people did not like their doings, and mobs drove THE WORK OF THE PEOPLE 203 them away. So in the end they crossed the mountains and settled in the country since known as Utah, and which was made a Territory of the United States in 1850. Increase of Wealth. — The country was fast growing rich. In 1850 it contained over twenty-three milHon people and workshops and factories were being built Old and New Types of Locomotives. in all directions. One could hear the rattle of machinery all over the land. America no longer depended on England for goods. Goods were made here in great variety, but much also came across the ocean, and the shops wxre filled with costly articles. Mines and Forests. — Among the riches of America must be named the products of the mines. Pennsyl- 204 TWENTY YEARS OF PROGRESS vania brought great quantities of coal and iron into the market. In New York there were mines of salt. Lead mines were worked in Illinois and Iowa, and rich copper mines in Michigan. Since that time these substances have been found in other places, while gold and silver have been found in many parts of the Rocky Mountains. The forests of America proved also of very great value, and every year immense quanti- ties of timber are cut, to be made into ships, houses, furniture, and very many other things. Valuable Inventions. — During this period there were many inventions, some of which became very valu- able. Among these is the electric telegraph, which is almost as important as the railroad. Samuel F. B. Morse was the American inventor of this. His first patent was taken out in 1837, but people could not be made to believe in the telegraph, and it was not tried, except for short distances, till 1844. Then a line was established from Baltimore to Washington. It proved a great success, and there are now nearly three hundred thousand miles of telegraph lines in the United States. Other inventions of great value were made. One of these was the reaping-machine, which has been a very great help to farmers. Another was the friction- match. It is so easy now to strike a light and make a fire that it seems strange how people ever got along without matches. Another great invention was that of vulcanized rubber. Before then india-rubber was soft and of little use; but by mixing sulphur with it it was made hard and firm, and it came into use for a great many purposes. The sewing-machine, which was invented in 1846, was quite as useful. Before that THE WORK OF THE PEOPLE 205 time all sewing had to be done by hand, and the labor was very great. Besides these there were hundreds of other inventions, all of which have helped people to live better, and to do more work with less labor. The Prisons. — In old times the prisons were very badly managed and those confined in them were treated cruelly. Most of the States whipped their prisoners and ill-treated them in other ways. One State kept its criminals in an old copper-mine. Men were sent to prison for debt. All this is now done away with, and prisoners in most of the States are well treated. They are made to work, but they have clean and healthful rooms and good food. Education. — E d u c a - tion had also very much improved. Public schools had been estab- lished in nearly all the States, and many more of the people were educated than in the past. But the methods of teaching and the school-books used were still poor, and they have been improving ever since. In the early days of the country there had been little time for study or amusement; most of the time was taken to make a living. But now people had more time to themselves and they paid much more attention to public afTairs and to education. Newspapers and Books. — Most of the people had learned how to read, and newspapers were now pub- The Old Ephrata Press. 206 TWENTY YEARS OF PROGRESS lished in all the cities and spread throughout the country. These papers were much larger and had much more in them than those of the past, though they were not so large as those we have now. Books were also far more plentiful and much cheaper. Those who at one time did not know how to spend their time now had no trouble. There were many innocent amuse- ments, and it was not necessary to go for pleasure to drinking-places or other localities where bad habits might be learned. A Modern Printing-Press. Authors and Orators. — Many Americans were now writing books which were read all over the civilized world. At one time the English had laughed at the idea of any one reading an American book, but they now began to read works by American authors them- selves. And it was admitted that America had some of the greatest statesmen of the world. Daniel Webster was one of the ablest orators that had ever lived, and there were many other men of great ability in the American Congress. QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION 207 Thus it may be seen that the United States had made wonderful progress in every way. It was a very different country from what it had been at the time of the Revolution. It was then one of the small and poor countries of the world; now it was becoming one of the great and rich nations. But it had a terrible trial to go through yet, in which all its wealth and power were to be strained to the utmost. The story of this great trial we have next to tell. PART VL— QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 1. \^Tio became President in 1829? Why was he popular? What was his character? What difficulty arose w^th South Carolina? ^\Tiat did that State do? What did Jackson do? How long did the United States Bank have to run? What did Jackson do about the bank charter bill? What effect did it have? What Indians went to war? 2. What was meant by wild cat and pet banks? Describe the panic of 1837. What caused injury to American credit? What is the sub-treasury system? 3. Who became President in 1840? What happened to him? Who succeeded him? What important affair took place while Tyler was President? How did the Texan war end? WTien was Texas accepted as a State of the Union? 4. Who was made President in 1844? What claim w^as made by Mexico about Texas? What took place in the disputed region? What did General Taylor do? Where did he meet Santa Anna's army? What was the result of the battle? What ]\Iexican city was attacked by General Scott? To what point did he march from Vera Cruz? What was the result of his battles with the Mexicans? When was the city of Mexico taken? What did Fremont do in California? ^Vhat new territory did the United States acquire by the treaty of peace? AVhat present States and Territories does it comprise? What was thought then of the value of this terri- 208 TWENTY YEARS OF PROGRESS tory? Describe the finding of gold in California. What other precious metal was found? What other value has California? What effect did the discovery of gold have upon emigration? 5. Who was the first to explore the Western territory of the United States? What is said of the fur trade on the Pacific? WTien was Oregon discovered? How many people were there in 1840? By what treaty was Oregon acquired? WTiat were the boundaries of the United States in 1800? W^at had it gained by 1850? How was emigration made easier? How did emigrants cross the Rocky Mountain region? Tell the story of the Mormons. What was the population in 1850? What was the progress in industry? What is said about the mines of America? Who invented the American electric telegraph? In what year was the first line built? How many miles of telegraph are there now in the United States? What other important inventions were made? How was india-rubber made useful? When was the sewing-machine invented? How were the prisons managed in old times? How are they now? How were schools then? How are they now? What is said about newspapers and books? What did the English think about Ameri- can books? What do they think now? Who was the greatest American orator? PART VII. THE SLAVERY CONTEST AND CIVIL WAR. 1. THE TAYLOR AND FILLMORE ADMINISTRATION. From 1849 to 1853. An Exciting Question. — The ten years between 1850 and 1860 were years of intense excitement and much bitter feeling in this country. The question of the extension of slavery to new States, which had been settled for thirty years by the Missouri Compromise, was opened again and led to angry controversy in Congress, while there was a large party in the North which claimed that all slavery was wrong and that it should be done away with in the States where it had long existed. It was a controversy that in ten years was to lead to a terrible war. The Election of 1848.— In 1848 the Whig party selected General Zachary Taylor, the popular hero of the Mexican War, for its candidate and was successful in electing him. Millard Fillmore was elected Vice- President. But the Whigs met with the same mis- fortune in this as in their former victory, for once more their President died in office. The death of President Taylor came on the 9th of July, 1850, Vice- President Fillmore succeeding him. Before the term of the latter ended some of his party blamed him almost as much as they had formerly blamed President Tyler. The Sources of Controversy. — The people of the South wished to have slavery introduced into the new 14 209 210 SLAVERY CONTEST AND THE CIVIL WAR territory that had been acquired from Mexico. This was strongly opposed by the Anti-slavery party of the North, and though Texas became a slave State, slavery was never admitted to the remainder of this territory. Objection was also made in the North to the existence of the slave trade within the city of Washington, and in the South to the aid given run- away slaves by Northern sympathizers. This made the Southern people very indignant, for they felt that they were being unjustly deprived of their property. The Compromise of 1850. — The debate on these sub- jects grew violent in Congress, but the trouble was finally settled for the time by Henry Clay, the author of the Missouri Compromise. He now brought for- ward a new compromise bill, which was passed and which it was hoped would end the controversy. It covered these points: California was to be admitted as a free State, the slave-trade in Washington was prohibited, and stringent provisions were made for the return of runaway slaves to their owners. The Fugitive Slave Law. — The law for the return of fugitive slaves included the following points. To aid a slave to escape was made a serious crime, and all persons called upon by the officers of the law were required to aid in arresting fugitives. President Fill- more signed this law and it was this for which the anti-slavery people blamed him. The Underground Railroad. — As it turned out, very few persons in the North were willing to aid in arrest- ing fugitive slaves. Many aided in the escape of slaves, this being done by secret methods which became known as the '^Underground Railroad." Slaves who THE PIERCE ADMINISTRATION 211 had been seized were rescued. Hundreds were helped to escape to Canada. In some places riots broke out. The law added much to the strength of the Anti- Slavery party, and the opposition to it greatly increased the feeling of anger and indignation in the South. 2. THE PIERCE ADMINISTRATION. From 1853 to 1857. The Election of 1852. — In 1852 came another Presi- dential election, and in this the Democratic party was successful, Franklin Pierce, their candidate, being elected. He was born in New Hampshire and was one of the pro-slavery Democrats of whom there were still very many in the North. The Kansas=Nebraska Bill. — In 1854 a bill was passed in Congress which opened an old question that had long been closed. This was intended for the formation of two new Territories in the region west of Missouri, to be called Kansas and Nebraska. These lay north of the parallel of 36° 30', and according to the existing law slaves could not be admitted within them. But the new law said that they should be open to slavery if their inhabitants desired it. The Effect of the Law. — This law caused much angry and bitter feeling. It set aside the Missouri Comprom- ise and opened the whole diflBculty again. People began to hurry into Kansas. The South wanted to get the most men there, so that when it came to a vote they could vote for slavery. The North tried to do the same thing, so that they could vote against slavery. Very soon these men of different opinions began to fight. Towns were burned and people were 212 SLAVERY CONTEST AND THE CIVIL WAR killed in Kansas. Votes were taken and both parties claimed to have won. One party tried to organize a slave State and the other a free State, and the people of the Territory for a long time were at war. The New Parties. — While these things were going on political changes were taking place. The old Whig party ceased to exist, and there came up a new one called the Free Soil Party. It was opposed to the making of anv more slave States. In 1856 the Free Soil and the old Whig parties became part of a new party, the Republican. After this the people were divided into the two leading political sections which we still have, the Republican and the Democratic parties. These have now several points of difference, but the principal one at that time was slavery. 3. THE BUCHANAN ADMINISTRATION. From 1857 to 1861. The Election of 1856. — In 1856 the Democrats and the new party of Republicans had candidates in the field, but the Democrats were successful, James Bu- chanan of Pennsylvania being elected President. The Republican party opposed the extension of slavery to new territory, but in it were many abolitionists, those who wanted slavery to be done away with everywhere. Yet there were many in the North who sympathized with the South and who were in favor of letting slav- ery alone and strongly opposed the anti-slavery agitation. The Dred Scott Case. — About this time a decision was given in the Supreme Court that startled the North. A slave named Dred Scott had been taken by THE BUCHANAN ADIVflNISTRATION 213 his master to a Northern State. After living there for some years he was taken South again. He now demanded his freedom, saying that his long residence on free soil had made him a freeman. The court decided against this, saying that slave-owners had the right to take their slaves where they pleased and keep them there as they could keep any other piece of property. This seemed to open up the w^hole North to slavery. Under the decision slave-owners might live in any State they pleased and keep there as many slaves as they chose. It did much to increase the growing opposition to the slave-holding system. The John Brown Raid. — -An event which took place in 1859 added much to the stress of public feeling. There was an old man, named John Brown, who had been very active in Kansas, and had fought fiercely against the Southern party there. He was so bitter against slavery that he thought it was his duty to stir up the slaves to rebel against their masters and make themselves free by force. So he led a party to Harper's Ferry, in Virginia, where there was an arsenal belonging to the govern- ment. He took possession of this. It was his purpose to get the slaves together, give them arms fromi the arsenal, and lead them to fight for their freedom. But no slaves came to help him, and very soon he and his party were taken prisoners by a force of United States soldiers. John Brown was given up to the authorities of Virginia, who tried him for treason. He was found guilty and hanged. 214 SLAVERY CONTEST AND THE CIVIL WAR Election of Lincoln. — This event stirred up the feel- ings of the people more than ever. Even many of those who thought that John Brown was wrong felt sym- pathy for him, and when the time came for the next Presidential election, in 1860, the two parties were very bitter against each other, while the Republican party had grown much stronger. When the votes were counted it proved that the Republicans had elected their candidate. This was Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, who took his seat as President of the United States on the 4th of March, 1861. When he was elected the country was at peace, and most of the people had no idea that war would follow. When he took his seat the country was on the verge of war. We have now to tell how this change came about. 4. THE LINCOLN ADMINISTRATION. From 1861 to 1865. The state Rights Doctrine. — The election was no sooner over than trouble began. The political leaders in South Carolina had said that their State would secede if Lincoln was elected President. What did they mean by this? Let us see. The United States, as we know, is made up of a number of States which have joined together to form one country. Some people believed that each State had the right to with- draw again if it wished, and carry on its government alone. This is known as the ''State Rights" doctrine. Others believed that the States had no right to with- draw, and that they had given up all such rights when they came into the Union. THE LINCOLN ADMINISTRATION 215 Abraham Lincoln. This was the question that was now before the people, — whether the United States was strong enough to hold together as a single nation, or so weak that the States could leave the Union at their will. This problem was to be settled in the next four years. Seven States secede. — As soon as it was known that Lincoln had been elected, the leaders in South Carolina determined to keep their word. A convention of delegates met, and on December 20, 1860, it was declared to the world that this State was no longer a part of the United States, but an independent nation, that it could not be kept in the Union against its will, and that in future it intended to govern itself. Very soon afterwards all the States that border on the Gulf of Mexico did the same thing. Seven States in all declared that they were out of the Union. The Confederacy formed. — These States then formed a new Union which they called the Confederate States of America. Jefferson Davis was elected President, and Alex- ander H. Stephens Vice-President, and Montgomery, Alabama, was selected as the capital of the new Confederacy. These States seized the forts and the war material in their territory, for they felt sure that they would not be allowed to go in peace. But some forts were held by Jefferson Davis. 216 SLAVERY CONTEST AND THE CIVIL WAR United States officers and soldiers who would not give them up. One of these was Fort Sumter, in Charleston harbor, which was held by Major Robert Anderson. Fort Sumter bombarded. — It was thus that matters stood when Abraham Lincoln took his seat as Presi- dent, on the 4th of March, 1861. The Confederate authorities at Charleston had determined that Fort Sumter should be theirs, and had built batteries on the shores of the bay near it. On the 12th of April, 1861, they began to fire on the fort. Major Anderson fired back. This continued for two days. At the end of that time the fort was much injured, its barracks were on fire, and nearly all its powder was gone. So Major Anderson consented to give it up, as he could defend it no longer. 5. THE NORTH AND SOUTH AT WAR. The Call for Volunteers. — When the news that the American flag had been fired on at Fort Sumter reached the North there was intense excitement. It was looked upon as an insult to the national banner and all hope of peace passed away. Everybody saw that there must be war if the country was to be kept together. The President called for volunteers, and great numbers offered. In the South four more States seceded, — Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Tennessee. Everywhere men were gathering, drilling, and marching. It was clear that before many days they would meet in deadly conflict. The Battle of Bull Run. — Thousands of volunteers hurried to V^ashington to save that city from danger. A Southern army collected in Virginia, just south of FROM GRCeNWICN -o- ^-'- Cedar^Keys EXPLANATION Early Seceding States; thus .TEXAS Later Seceding States; thus VIRGINIA Blocliading Vessels, thus -"^3^ FROM WASHINGTON THE NORTH AND SOUTH AT WAR 217 Washington. On the 21st of July these two armies met near Bull Run, a small stream a few miles from Washington. Here the first important battle of ihe war was fought. There were about thirty thou- sand men on each side. They were all new troops but they fought well. For a while it looked as if the Union army would win; but just then a fresh force joined the Confederates, and on seeing this the Union ranks broke into dis- order, and the sol- diers fled in a panic to Washington. The Southern army had gained the victory. This battle had a great effect. The people of the South were full of joy. Some of them thought that this one victory would end the war; but it only made the North more determined. Congress called for half a million of men and voted to borrow five hundred million dollars. On every side volunteers flocked to the camps. Large armies were soon in the field on both sides. The War that followed. — And now we have to tell the story of a time that was full of important events. Many great battles were fought and hundreds of small ones. It would need a large book to describe them, and then we would only be telling how thousands of men were killed and wounded, how millions of dollars' worth of property was destroyed, and how for years Stone Bridge at Bull Run. 218 SLAVERY CONTEST AND THE CIVIL WAR terror and ruin hung over the whole country. It would be of no advantage to tell all this, and we shall simply give an outline of what took place. During the remainder of 1861 there was not much fighting, both sides being busy in raising and drilling their forces, collecting arms, and making all the preparation they could for the struggle before them. Then, at the opening of 1862, both armies took the field. The Contest in the West. — The fighting took place in three regions, — in the West, in Virginia, and on the ocean. In the West the United States wanted to get control of the rivers that ran south. The Confederate States tried to pre- vent this, and built two strong forts on the Tennessee and Cum- berland Rivers, in Kentucky, and also powerful works on the Mis- sissippi. The Unionists had cov- U. S.Grant. ■, j. i i -ii ered some steamboats with iron plates and sent them down these rivers as gun-boats. An army marched overland at the same time. This was commanded by General Ulysses S. Grant, who was afterwards to become famous. Battle of Pittsburg Landing. — The two forts we have named were soon taken, with many prisoners, and the Confederate army retreated to Tennessee. General Grant followed, and made his camp at Shiloh, or Pittsburg Landing, on the Tennessee River. Here there took place one of the most desperate battles of the war. Grant's army was attacked by a strong army under General Albert Sydney Johnston. The THE NORTH AND SOUTH AT WAR 219 fighting continued with great fury for two days. On the first day the Union army was driven back in much confusion and with great loss of life, but in the night a fresh force came up, and the next day Grant's army drove back the Confederates and held the field. Both sides had fought hard and lost many men, but the battle ended in favor of the Northern army. Murfreesborough. — Much other fighting took place in the West during the year, and a great battle was fought at Murfreesborough, in Tennessee, on the last day of 1862. The two armies fought all day, and three days later there was another battle. Then Bragg, the Confederate general, withdrew his army and fell back to Chattanooga. The end of the year's fighting left the Union army in possession of all Kentucky and Tennessee. On the Mississippi. — While this was going on there was a severe struggle along the Mississippi River. The Union gun-boats and armies had gone down this river and captured all the forts of the Confederates, till they came to the city of Vicksburg, where very strong forts had been built. At the same time a fleet, commanded by Admiral Farragut, had sailed to the mouth of the Mississippi. There were several forts along this part of the river, but the fleet fought its way past them and kept on until it reached the city of New Orleans, which was forced to surrender. This took place on April 25, 1862. Vicksburg. — Then the fleet went on up the river and captured other places. It ran past the batteries at Vicksburg and joined the fleet above. Thus nearly the whole of the great river of the West was held by the North. But the Confederates had two strong places, 220 SLAVERY CONTEST AND THE CIVIL WAR Vicksburg and Port Hudson, and held control of the river between them, so that they could get supplies from Texas and the other States west of the Mississippi. It was the purpose of the Union leaders to capture these places and get control of the whole river, and thus cut the Confederacy in two. The Fleet Running the Batteries at Vicksburg. The War in Virginia. — It will be seen that in the West the Union army had gained great successes. They held Kentucky and Tennessee and part of Mississippi, and had won nearly the whole of the Mississippi River. In Virginia, on the contrary, the Confederates had been successful, and had gained several important victories, in which the Union armies met with great loss. THE NORTH AND SOUTH AT WAR 221 As soon as Virginia seceded the city of Richmond was made the capital of the Confederacy, and Jefferson Davis, the President, with the rest of the Confederate government, went there. So a great part of the war took place between the two capital cities, Washington and Richmond. Efforts were made to capture both these cities, but neither of them was taken until Richmond fell at the end of the war. Siege of Richmond. — Early in 1862, General McClel- lan, who commanded the Union army, moved south to Yorktown, the place w^here the army of Cornwallis had been cap- tured eighty years before. After some fighting there he marched towards Richmond and built lines of earthworks near that city. A battle was fought at a place called Fair Oaks, where General Joseph Johnston, who commanded the Con- federate army, was badly wounded. General Robert E. Lee took Johnston's place as Con- federate commander. This was an excellent choice for the Confederates, for General Lee proved himself to be one of the greatest soldiers of modern times. Stonewall Jackson. — While these events were taking place. General Jackson, one of the boldest and most skilful of the Confederate commanders, was w^inning victories in the Shenandoah Valley, which lies to the north-west of Richmond. He w^as usually called ''Stonewall" Jackson, because he was said to have held his troops ''like a stone wall" in the battle of Bull Run. Robert E. Lee. 222 SLAVERY CONTEST AND THE CIVIL WAR The Seven Days' Fight. — General Lee now decided to make an attack on McClellan. He sent for Stonewall Jackson to help him, and on June 26 made an assault on the Union lines. A series of dreadful battles fol- lowed. Each army had nearly one hundred thousand men, but the Union army suffered a severe defeat, and McClellan began to retreat towards the James River. Lee's army followed, and the fighting was kept up for seven days, there being a desperate battle every day. In some of these one side, in some the other, was successful, but the retreat con- tinued till the James River was reached. Here McClellan built strong lines of earthworks and was safe from further attack. Thous- ands had been killed and wounded on each side and the siege of Richmond had to be given up. Second Battle of Bull Run. — Another Union army had now col- lected in Virginia, under General Pope, and was sta- tioned in the region south of Washington. In August, General Lee marched suddenly to the north and made an attack on this army. The battle took place near the old battle-ground of Bull Run. It was one of terrible slaughter and in the end the Union army was defeated and forced back towards the capital city. Antletam. — Then General Lee led his army across the Potomac into Maryland, where he hoped that many volunteers would join him. General McClellan, who had brought his army back from Richmond, followed in great haste. The two armies met on Sep- Stonewall Jackson. THE NORTH AND SOUTH AT WAR 223 tember 17, at Antietam Creek, in the west of Mary- land. The battle that followed was one of the most desperate of the war. While neither side could claim a victory, Lee's movement north was checked and he soon after crossed the Potomac again and marched back into Virginia. Fredericksburg. — There was one more terrible battle in Virginia during the year. This was at the town of Fredericksburg. General Lee had his army on the hills back of that town. General Burnside, who now com- manded the Union army, crossed the river and attacked him. The slaughter that followed was dreadful. The Union army w^as completely defeated, and had about twelve thousand men killed and wounded. This ended the fighting in Virginia for that year. The Blockade Runners. — While these things were taking place there were some important operations of the fleet, of which we must now speak. Both sides had been busy building vessels of war, and a Union fleet was sent down the coast which took possession of large districts in North and South Carolina, and others in Georgia and Florida. These were held till the end of the war; but the sea-ports of Charleston, Savannah^ and Wilmington were kept by the Confederates. They were blockaded by the Union fleet, but in spitf* of the fleet a great many vessels got into them. These were called ''blockade runners.'' They took out cotton, rice, tobacco, and other articles and brought back things needed in the South, much of the cargo being war material. The Work of the Merrimac. — A United States war- vessel called the Merrimac had been sunk in the harbor 224 SLAVERY CONTEST AND THE CIVIL WAR of Norfolk to keep it from being taken by the Con- federates. This was raised by some of the mechanics of the South and covered with plates of iron. Then it steamed out and attacked the wooden war-vessels of a fleet that lay in Hampton Roads. These fired on it, but the heavy cannon-balls glanced off from the iron hull as if they had been hail-stones. One of the wooden vessels was sunk, and great fear was felt as to what this iron monster would do. It looked as if it might destroy the Union fleet and attack the cities of the North. The Monitor and the Merrimac. — But the Union side had been building iron vessels too. One of these was of very strange shape. It had a flat deck that came just above the water; on this was a round tower of iron in which were two very heavy cannon. People called it a '^cheese-box on a raft,'' and that was what it looked like. It was sent down to Hampton Roads, and reached there the night after the fight we have just described. The Merrimac was coming out to attack the other vessels, when this strange-looking craft, which was called the Monitor, came gliding towards it. A tre- mendous battle followed. The two iron ships battered each other with cannon-balls for four hours. Neither hurt the other much, but the Merrimac got the worst of it. In the end it turned and hurried back to Norfolk. Soon afterwards the Union forces captured Norfolk, but the Merrimac was destroyed to prevent its falling into their possession. This was the first fight that ever took place between two iron-clad ships. When the news got to Europe THE NORTH AND SOUTH AT WAR 225 every one saw that the days of wooden war-ships were over. Since that time many iron-clad ships have been built, and the war-ships of the world are now covered with thick plates of steel. The Emancipation Proclamation. — The year 1862 ended with a very important event. For a long time during the war slavery was not interfered with, and the President said that the object of the war was merely to bring back the seceded States into the Union. But in time he saw that the South was getting great help from the slaves, who were kept at work on the plantations and helped to build forts and do other work. It would weaken the Confederates very much if the slaves were taken from them. The President therefore announced that the slaves would be liberated on the 1st of January, 1863. On that day there was sent out what is known as the "Proclamation of Emancipation." It declared that all slaves within the area of the war were free and should be free forever after. The Freedom of the Slaves. — This proclamation had a great effect. From this time on the war was fought not only to bring back the seceded States, but to liberate the slaves. Many negro regiments were formed, and everything was done that could make the negroes useful to the North and deprive the South of their help. The Confederacy was very much weakened by this proclamation. As fast as the armies went South the slaves were set free, till in the end they all gained their freedom. Since the war there has not been a slave in the United States. 226 SLAVERY CONTEST AND THE CIVIL WAR 6. THE FINAL YEARS OF THE WAR. Battle of Chancellorsville. — During the year 1863 the war went on with great activity. In the East there was not so much fighting as there had been the year before, but two great battles took place. One of these was at a place called Chancellorsville, in a very rough and wild country known as the Wilderness. General Hooker now had command of the Union army. He did not think it safe to attack General Lee at Fred- ericksburg, as General Burnside had done; so he led his army across the Rappahannock and Rapidan Rivers at a point above that city. General Lee hastened in the same direction, and the two armies met in the wild country of the Wilderness. A fierce battle took place in a place where the trees and bushes were so thick that the soldiers could hardly see each other. General Stonewall Jackson led a strong force to the left through the woods, and made a sud- den attack on the right wing of the Union army. It was a complete surprise and this part of the army vv^as driven back. The battle continued all the next day, and in the end Hooker was forced to retreat and to cross the river again. But Stonewall Jackson was wounded and died, which was a great loss to the Confederate side. Lee marches North. — The battle of Chancellorsville took place on the 2d and 3d of May, 1863. In the latter part of June, General Lee left Fredericksburg and marched at great speed to the north. It was thought he wished to take the city of Washington, and the Union army hastened to protect it. But Lee kept on north till he reached Maryland, and then went on into Pennsylvania. THE FINAL YEARS OF THE WAR 227 What he intended to do no one knew. Many feared he was going to march on Philadelphia and take pos- session of that rich city. The Union army followed him as fast as it could. The two armies came together near the small town of Gettysburg, in Southern Pennsylvania. General Hooker had now given up the command and General Meade had taken his place. He had brought the army north as fast as the soldiers could march. The Battle of Gettysburg. The Battle of Gettysburg.— The advance ranks of the two armies came together on the 1st of July, and a severe fight took place. The Confederates were the stronger, and the Union Une fell back to the top of a long hue of low hills called Cemetery Ridge, which the^'men quickly fortified, while the remainder of the army was hurried up. Here there was fought the greatest battle of the war. On July 2, General Lee made a desperate attack on the Union Unes. Terrible fighting took place, and many thousands were killed and wounded, but at the end of the day the Union army still held Cemetery Ridge. 228 SLAVERY CONTEST AND THE CIVIL WAR The next day General Lee sent a very strong force against one point of the Union Hnes. If the lines had been broken he would have gained the victory, but the charging force met with dreadful slaughter and was completely defeated. Most of those who were not killed were taken prisoners. Very few got back. This ended the battle. General Lee led his men back to Virginia. He had suffered a great defeat. Many look on the battle of Gettysburg as the tu ning-point of the war. The Siege of Vicksburg. — While this was taking place in the East the Union army was gaining another great success in the West. General Grant had made up his mind to capture Vicksburg and open the Mississippi River. General Sherman had attacked this town the year before, but had lost many men and been driven back. In the spring Grant moved his army to a posi- tion south of the town, and marched up and began to besiege it. There were two Confederate armies, one in the town and one outside of it. The one outside was defeated and forced to retreat, and the one inside was closed in by long lines of earthworks that reached the river both below and above the town. A terrible fire was kept up by the forts upon the city, and the gun-boats on the river threw in bomb-shells and cannon-balls from the other side. There was dreadful distress within the city. None could get out of it, and hundreds were being killed within it. To make it worse, the food gave out. Mules and horses were killed and eaten. Soon there was a famine in Vicksburg. There was much sickness also, and the storm of cannon-balls never ceased. THE FINAL YEARS OF THE WAR 229 Vicksburg Surrenders. — This could not continue. On the 4th of July, the same day that Lee retreated from Gettysburg, Vicksburg surrendered. Twenty- seven thousand prisoners fell into General Grant's hands. This was a most important 4th of July for the people of the United States, for with it ended nearly all chance of success for the South. They fought on bravely, but it was a losing game from that time. Chattanooga. — Port Hudson surrendered three clays afterwards, and the whole length of the Mississippi was open now to the Union gun-boats. The rest of the fighting in the West for that year took place near the town of Chattanooga, in Tennessee. A severe battle was fought in September, in which the Union army was defeated. It retreated to Chattanooga, while the Confederate army took possession of the mountains around the city, and shut the Union army in so closely that it became very short of food. General Grant was now made commander of all the Western armies. He came to Chattanooga and took charge there. General Bragg, the Confederate com- mander, held strong positions on Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, each of which was nearly half a mile high and defended by strong forts. Yet the Union army charged up the hills through all the fire of these forts. It was a desperate attempt, but the forts were taken and Bragg's army was driven out with great loss. This has always been considered one of the most brilliant victories of the war. Grant Commander=in=Chief. — In 1864, General Grant was made commander-in-chief of all the military forces of the United States. He at once laid plans to have the 230 SLAVERY CONTEST AND THE CIVIL WAR armies of the country work together and bring the war to an end as quickly as possible. General Sherman was left in command of the Western army, while Grant came to Virginia and took control of General Meade's soldiers. Grant's Advance. — The grand advance of all the forces began early in May. In Virginia, Grant led his army across the Rapidan River into the thicket of the Wilderness. Here the battle between Hooker and Lee had taken place just a year before. Another desperate battle was now fought, in which neither army was victorious. Then General Grant marched towards Richmond and Lee followed him. Several severe battles took place, the last of them at Cold Harbor near Richmond. This was a terrible encounter. Lee's army was behind strong earthworks, which the Union soldiers could not enter on account of the terrible fire of the Confederates. Grant lost ten thousand men killed and wounded, and Lee not more than a thou- sand. But Grant moved south again, crossed the James River, and began a siege of Richmond and Petersburg. This siege lasted nine months. Sheridan's Ride. — In July, Lee sent General Early up the Shenandoah Valley to Maryland. What he wished to do was to weaken Grant's army. Early marched along the Potomac, and for a time Washington was in danger. But General Sheridan, a very able cavalry commander, was sent against him and defeated him in several battles. In one of these the striking event known as '^Sheridan's Ride" took place. Early made a night attack on Sheridan's army at Cedar Creek, and drove it back in great confusion. Sheridan THE FINAL YEARS OF THE WAR 231 was then at Winchester, twenty miles away. But he heard the distant roar of the battle, sprang to his horse, and rode at furious speed to the scene of conflict. Here he put himself at the head of his men, led them forward, and drove back the victorious Confederates in a com- plete rout. Defeat was turned into victory almost in a moment, and Sheridan became a famous general. Sherman's March to the Sea. — In the West, General Sherman did some remarkable work. He marched against the Confederate army, and battle after battle took place. At the end of every battle Sher- man moved farther into Georgia, until he had taken the important city of Atlanta, which w^as a great railroad centre. General Hood, who now commanded the Confederate army, marched north, thinking that Sherman would follow him. But instead of that Sherman sent some help to General Thomas, who had command in Ten- nessee, and then started on a march through Georgia, destroying the railroads as he went. This was Sher- man's famous '^ March to the Sea." He kept on until he reached the coast at Savannah, and took that city. Sheridan's Ride. 232 SLAVERY CONTEST AND THE CIVIL WAR Hood's Defeat at Nashville. — Meanwhile General Hood had marched into Tennessee and brought his army in front of Nashville, where General Thomas was in command. For two weeks he besieged that town, and then Thomas made a sudden assault on him. In the battle that followed Hood's army was terribly defeated, and so broken to pieces that it never came together again. This victory ended the war in all that portion of the South. Naval Victories. — During the year 1864 there were some important naval victories. There were several Confederate cruisers, built in England, which had done much harm to American shipping. One of these, the Alabama, had taken sixty-five vessels. On June 19 the Alabama was met by the frigate Kearsarge, near the coast of France. A battle was fought, and at the end of two hours the Alabama was sunk. Another battle took place in Mobile Bay, which was defended by strong forts aud an iron-plated vessel, but Admiral Farragut sailed in with a fleet of wooden ships and several vessels like the Monitor. He sailed past the forts, standing in the rigging of his ship, spy-glass in hand, without seeming to care for the terrible danger which he ran. This bold action gave great fame to the brave admiral. Sherman's March North. — With the opening of the year 1865 it was clear to everybody that the end of the war was near at hand. The South was in a desperate condition. General Sherman had left Savannah and was marching north. He marched into South Carolina and took possession of Charleston, and then continued until he reached North Carolina. THE FINAL YEARS OF THE WAR 233 Lee*s Retreat. — At the same time General Grant was pressing more and more strongly on Lee. Immense lines of earthworks had been built around Petersburg, but Grant's army kept moving southward until, on the 1st of April, it made an attack on the lower end of Lee's works, and won a victory at a place called Five Forks. General Lee then saw that he could hold on to Richmond no longer, and began a hasty march westward towards the mountains. The End of the War. — Grant followed him with the utmost speed, sending Sheridan with his cavalry in advance, and soon Lee found himself surrounded by a much stronger army than his own. He could fight no longer, and on the 9th of April he surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox Court-House, Virginia. This surrender brought the war to an end. As soon as news of it spread through the South all the forces in the field laid down their arms and the long and terrible civil war was over. Assassination of Lincoln. — Yet one dreadful event followed. On April 14, five days after General Lee's surrender, President Lincoln was murdered. He w^as shot by an actor, named John Wilkes Booth, in a theatre at Washington. This terrible deed filled the whole country with horror, and threw a deep shadovv on the joy that had been felt at the close of the w^ar. No more shocking event had ever taken place in America. It was as great a misfortune for the South as for the North, for it roused the passions of men and made it more difficult to bring the two sections of the country together in harmony. 234 SLAVERY CONTEST AND THE CIVIL WAR PART VII.— QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 1. What great question disturbed the nation before 1860? Who became President in 1849? What happened to him? Who became President in his place? What great questions arose and how were they settled? How did the Fugitive Slave Law operate? What is meant by the Underground Railroad? 2. Who was elected President in 1852? What important law was made in 1854? What effect had it on the slavery question? What took place in Kansas? What new party was organized in 1856? What policy did it support? 3. Who was elected President in 1856? What was the state ■of party opinion in the North? What was the effect in the Dred Scott decision? What was done by John Brown and how did it end? Which of the parties won in the Presidential election of 1860? Who was chosen for President? 4. What is meant by seceding? Explain the State Rights "doctrine. What was done in South Carolina? What other States tf olio wed this example? What did these States call themselves? Whom did they elect as President and Vice-President? What was done in Charleston harbor? What effect did this have on the country? 5. What other States seceded? How many did that make in all? Where and when was the first battle fought? What was the result? What was the principal work done in 1861? In what three regions did fighting take place in 1862? What forts were captured by General Grant? Where did a great battle take place? Describe the battle. What battle was fought on the last day of 1862? What was done by Admiral Farragut's fleet? What successes had the Union army gained in the West? What city had been made the capital of the Confederate States? Who was placed in command of the Union army? To what region did he lead it? What able general was placed in command of the Confederate army? Why was the Confederate general Jackson called "Stonewall" Jackson? Where did he win victories? Describe the seven days' fight. Where did a battle take place between Lee and Pope? Where did Lee th^n lead his army? What was the result of the battle of Antietam? QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION 235 WTiat was the result of the battle of Fredericksburg? What was being done on the coast? What did the blockade runners do? How was the Merrimac strengthened? What did it do to the wooden fleet in Norfolk harbor? When did the Monitor reach Norfolk harbor? Describe the fight with the Merrimac. What did this battle of iron-clad ships prove? With what important event did 1862 end? What was the first object of the war? Why did the President wash to free the slaves? On what day were they declared free? What was 'the proclamation called? What was its effect? 6. WTiat great battle was fought in Virginia in 1863? In what way did Stonewall Jackson surprise Hooker's army? What was the result of the battle? What did General Lee do in June? Where did the armies meet? On what three days was the battle of Gettys- burg fought? ^Vhat was the result of the battle? What was General Grant doing in the West? How did he enclose the Con- federate army in Vicksburg? On what day did Vicksburg surrender? What was the effect of the \'ictories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg on the Southern cause? Where did the rest of the fighting in the West take place in 1863? Who was made commander of all the Western armies? What great battles were fought at Chattanooga? What position was given to General Grant in 1864? What plans did he form? Who was left in command of the Western army? When did the general advance of the armies begin? Where did Grant lead the Army of Virginia? What battle took place? What was the result of the battle at Cold Harbor? How long did the siege of Petersburg last? What events took place in the Shenandoah Valley? Describe "Sheridan's Ride." What did General Sherman do in the West? Where did he march after taking Atlanta? What did General Hood do? What happened to Hood's army? What important naval battles took place in 1864? What did Sherman do in 1865? On what day did General Grant break through General Lee's lines? Where and when did Lee's surrender take place? What effect did this have? What dreadful event happened soon after? PART VIII. THE NEW UNION. 1. RESULTS OF THE WAR. The Evil of the War. — The great war was at an end. What had been its cost to the country and what good and evil had come of it? In the first place a vast multitude of men had been taken from their homes to live the life of soldiers and bear the perils and hard- ships of warfare. On the Union side more than two and a half millions of men had been in the army. At the end of the war there were still more than a million in the ranks. We do not know how many there were on the Confederate side. There were not nearly so many as on the Union side, probably not more than half the number. In the Union armies more than three hundred thousand men were killed, or died of wounds and disease, and the losses of the Confederate armies are supposed to have been as great. This was a frightful slaughter, and to it must be added all those who died after the war from wounds, or other effects of the dangerous life of a soldier. The money cost of the war was also very great. At the end of the war the United States had a debt of $2,750,000,- 000. The States and the cities also had heavy debts. We do not know how much the Confederate States had spent, but they must have used a very large amount of money and materials. And this money loss was only part of the cost of the struggle. There was 236 RESULTS OF THE WAR 237 not much damage done in the North, for nearly all the fighting had been in the Southern States. But in the vSouth there was ruin everywhere. Railroads had been destroyed, towns burned, and much other dam- age done. It would take years to make up the losses of the war. Everybody in the South had become poor and they had lost all their slaves, who were valued at a great sum of money. But in the North scarcely any harm had been done to city or country, business of every kind had been good, and many had grown rich during the war. The South was in a dreadful condi- tion, but the North showed hardly any signs of injury from the great conflict. The Good of the War. — Great courage and skill had been shown on both sides. It was made clear that the Americans north and south are a brave people. This both sides had learned and they knew and respected each other more than ever before. The war, as we have said, was not fought to abolish slavery, but to preserve the Union. Its purpose w^as to keep the nation together, and in this it had succeeded. It will be long before any State again tries to secede. Slavery was abolished, but this had not been done until it became necessary as an act of war, to help the North to conquer in the great contest. Yet it was an act that could not be undone. The slaves had been set free, and free they must continue while America remains a nation. The South would not have them as slaves again if it could. The people there have found that they are better off without slavery. Thus the great question which so long divided the nation was set at rest forever. This was the greatest good 238 THE NEW UNION that came of the war. The civilization of America stands to-day at a higher level than it did before the Civil War. Reconstruction. — Let us go on to see what followed the war. We have told how President Lincoln was assassinated. Nothing ever took place in this country that caused more grief and horror. The people of the North had come to look on Abraham Lincoln as a man as great and noble as George Washington, and it was a terrible shock to them that he should be killed at the end of his great work. Few things ever happened in the country that caused so much excitement and angry feeling, and the murder of Lincoln made the difficult questions that followed the war much harder to settle. It did harm to North and South alike. 2. JOHNSON'S ADMINISTRATION. From 1865 to 1869. Johnson becomes President. — President Lincoln had been re-elected in 1864 for a second term, with Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, for Vice-President. His death raised Johnson to the post of President, one for which he was not well fitted under the conditions of that time. The government had serious work before it. The war was over, but it had left everything in dis- order. Eleven States had declared themselves out of the Union. They were to be brought back again, and a new Union to be made. How was this to be done? Amendments to the Constitution. — The slaves were now free in all the States. An amendment to the Consti- tution had been adopted on April 8, 1864, setting free alJ slaves within the United States. This is known JOHNSON'S ADMINISTRATION 239 as the Thirteenth Amendment. The seceded States: had to agree to it before they could come back. An- other amendment, the Fourteenth, was offered, and was adopted in July, 1868. This gave negroes all the rights of white people, except the right to vote.. The seceded States had to agree to this also. The President Impeached. — President Johnson ob- jected to these amendments, and to a number of other laws passed by Congress. He vetoed them all. This made much bitter feeling between him and Congress, and in the end he was impeached for doing some things which the Constitution did not give him the right to do. That is, he was accused of going beyond the powers of his office, and was tried before the Senate, which acted as a court. The trial caused great excitement in the country. The Senate heard all that was to be said on both sides, and decided that the President had not acted^ contrary to his oath of office, and therefore was not- guilty of the charges against him. This was the only- time an American President has been tried for break-^ ing the laws of the land. The Problem before Congress. — It was a very diffi- cult problem which lay before Congress. The Union of the States had been brought into the greatest danger,, and now that the seceded States were to be restored to their old position, it was not easy to decide on the- best way of doing this. The President wished to da it in the most direct manner possible, by simply- declaring them back in the Union, but this did not, please Congress, many of whose numbers thought that the leaders of the Confederacy should be severely- 240 THE NEW UNION punished and that the States should not be permitted to come back except under new and strict conditions. It was this difference of opinion that made the trouble between Congress and the President. Mihtary governments were placed over all the States except Tennessee, which had been taken back in 1866, but six others were admitted in 1868, leaving four which would not accept the terms of settlement offered by Congress and therefore remained out of the Union. Carpet=Bag Governments. — Under the new laws the Confederate leaders were not allowed to vote or hold office, while the negroes who had so recently been freed from slavery were given the right of suffrage, and formed the majority of voters in several of the States. Adventurers from the North, who were called '^carpet-baggers," because it was said that all they owned could be put in a carpet-bag, went South and solicited the negro vote and many of them were elected to office. Many of the late slaves were sent to the legislatures. The result was very serious and much of the money of the States was wasted or stolen. On Christmas, 1868, President Johnson issued a procla- mation of full pardon for all those who had fought against the government. But this did not restore their political rights, which could be done only by Congress. The Atlantic Telegraph. — Some other things of importance took place at this time. One of these was the laying of a new ocean telegraph. This was done in 1866, two cables being laid under the Atlantic, both of which worked admirably. So little power was needed that a battery made in a gun cap has sent a telegraph message from America to England. from ^ Greenwich , Lake of ' the Wood* 67 45 o ^^^ ■^'A'^f'^^oV' (V 'W f : t ■ i WliiiUfiii tUlK ■ ; 1 1 V ■-...' i : ^1 1' MM' , i : * I H } I Hi llHli