UC-NRLF SENTIALS IN HISTORY Essentials in \MERICAN HlSTOR ALBERT BUSHNELL HART •.HI! 1 .! ► a o '- Abraham Lincoln in 1860. ESSENTIALS IN HISTORY ESSENTIALS IN AMERICAN HISTORY (FROM THE DISCOVERY TO THE PRESENT DAY) BY ALBERT BUSHNELL HART, LL.D. PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY NEW YORK . :• CINCINNATI • :• CHICAGO AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY : H_ ESSENTIALS IN HISTORY A SERIES PREPARED UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF ALBERT BUSHNELL HART, LL.D. PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY ESSENTIALS IN ANCIENT HISTORY By ARTHUR MAYER WOLFSON, Ph.D. ESSENTIALS IN MEDIEVAL AND MODERN HISTORY Bvl Samuel «/ ij AijriiN(>, ph.d. hi preparation KSSESTUL3' IN ENGJJSH HISTORY By ALBERT PERRY WALKER, A.M. ESSENTIALS IN AMERICAN HISTORY By ALBERT BUSHNELL HART, LL.D. EDUCATION DEPT, Copyright, 1905, by ALBERT BUSHNELL HART. Entered at Stationers' Hall, London. essen, amer. hi8t. W. P. 3 THE AUTHOR TO THE TEACHER The simple system of study and teaching, which this book is intended to make easy, may be summarized as follows: — (1) The text-book should be carefully read and studied by the pupils, so that they may have a sense of the movement and propor- tion of the history of their country and may know a body of useful facts. The names, events, and dates which seem to the author essential go directly into the text; dates in parentheses are of less importance and are inserted merely to show the progress of events. (2) Class exercises will necessarily be based upon the text-book, with such methods of question, "quiz," "fluents," "cards," and the like as the teacher may feel inclined to use; but he should always aim to recall previous lessons which have a bearing on the day's subject and to enlarge on the text when possible. (3) Reading outside of the text-book is requisite for any good course in history. The whole story of the nation's development can not be told in five hundred pages. The rules of arithmetic are true, but they need practical illustration ; in like manner history is apt to seem dry without the additional interest of reading about some things in more detail than can be included in one brief book. The number of reference books necessary for a school to provide is not large. The reading references at the end of each chapter are intended to serve both teacher and pupil, by sending them to a few selected and brief readings. Exact titles of most of the books mentioned will be found in Appendix B. Besides formal histories, the bibliographies include "Illustrative works," that is, narratives, novels, poems, and like literary illuminations of the subject. (4) Written work has become one of the effective adjuncts of his- torical study in secondary schools : it may take the form of essays, based on secondary authorities ; of reports, based in whole or in part on sources ; of brief " judgment questions," set during class ; of " written recitations ; " or one of many other forms. The list of books at the end of each chapter will facilitate such work. The " Sugges- tive topics " can all be prepared from the text-book, plus a few gen- eral histories, biographies, encyclopedias, and like accessible books. 5 M69901 6 THE AUTHOR TO THE TEACHER The "Search topics" are more specific, and require the use of a larger range of secondary writers, and in many cases of sources. Of course a school pupil's use of sources is a very different thing from the long accumulation of material and the weighing of all available evidence which characterize the historian's research; but " sources " are simply records made at or near the time of events by people in a position to know what was going on. Well-selected sources are valuable to pupils because they bring home to the mind the realities of history, they emphasize the human element, they vitalize. Such books as Bradford's Plimoth Plantation, Franklin's Autobiography, Lincoln's Works, reveal great men and also charac- terize great times. Besides the separate sources and collections of sources in the lists, the marginal references in the text are in all cases to the source of some quotation there printed. (5) Geography and map work, oral and written, are aided by the abundant maps in the text, and by references at the end of the chap- ters to a few authorities on the historical geography of the United States. In using this book, then, the author hopes that the text will be found interesting enough to carry students along from week to week ; that it will be the background of class exercises; that through the lists of references, and still more through the expert direction of the teacher, the pupil will add intelligent collateral readings ; that some written topics will be prepared on subjects suggested at the ends of the chapters or provided by the teachers, including the use of sources; and that the book will be a basis of geographical study. The point of view of the volume is that a complete history of the United States must include all things memorable in the upbuilding of the country, and that a textbook must so fully describe several different classes of memorable things, as to be serviceable where there is no opportunity for additional reading or written work : (1) Political geography is, of course, the background of all historical knowledge ; it is a special topic throughout this book, and should be the basis of the teacher's work. (2) While trying to make perfectly clear what were the aims and the main incidents in our various wars, the treatment includes only the most significant battles, sieges, cam- paigns, and military and naval movements. (3) The development of government has been treated as evidence of the purpose and spirit of our ancestors and also to connect the study of history and of civil government. (4) Foreign relations and the diplomatic adjustment of controversies have received special attention. (5) Social condi- THE AUTHOR TO THE TEACHER 7 tions and events have been freely described, because they are among the most important causes in national development. (6) Much atten- tion has been given to economic data, as, for example, the discovery of gold in California, the invention of the reaper, the perfection of the trolley car. (7) All sections of the Union have helped to make the Union; and all sections, North, South, West, and far West, have been included in the plan of this volume. (8) Since what makes a nation great is the greatness of its people, this book aims to make distinct the character and public services of some great Americans, the details of whose lives are briefly set forth in special sections of the text. (9) Toward the end, a chapter sums up the services of America to mankind. The illustrative material has been gathered from many places, and includes no map or picture which does not add to an understanding of the subject. With the exception of reproductions of a few famous paintings, to show an artist's conception, the pictures are all realities, intended to put before the pupil in visible form the faces of public men, the surroundings of famous events, and some of the great statues and buildings. Additional pictures are suggested in the lists of books at the ends of the chapters. Besides a series of general maps, show- ing the progress of discovery and settlements, the territorial claims of European powers, and the creation and subdivisions of the United States, there are many special maps illustrating boundary controver- sies, campaigns, etc. For the teacher's use and as a guide to the pupil's reading and written work, the Brief List of authorities noted in Appendix A is especially commended ; and the work of teaching and studying will be made easier and pleasanter by the purchase of the twenty-five- dollar library there described. A school library ought also to have a judicious selection out of the long list in Appendix B. The dates and statements of fact throughout the volume have been verified by Mr. David M. Matteson. Whatever the lack of skill in combining into a unity the broad and manifold phases of a great nation's life, I have at least tried to write about things that count, to describe events which give us pride in being Americans, to set before my young countrymen ideals that have made for national greatness. ALBERT BUSHNELL HART. CONTENTS BEGINNINGS PAGE I. Foundations of American History 13 II. The Century of Discovery (1492-1605) .... 31 COLONIAL ENGLISHMEN III. The English in America, 1607-1660 .... 45 IV. Rivals of England, and the Great West (1603-1689) . 65 V. Expansion of the English Colonies, 1660-1689 . .77 COLONIAL AMERICANS VI. Colonial Life (1700-1750) 91 VII. Internal Development, 1689-1740 107 VIII. Wars with the French (1689-1763) 122 REVOLUTION IX. Quarrel with the Mother Country (1763-1774) . . 135 X. Birth of a New Nation (1774-1776) 149 XL The War for Independence (1776-1783) . . . .166 FEDERATION XII. The Confederation (1781-1789) 189 XIII. Making the Federal Constitution (1787-1789) . . .206 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION XIV. The American People from 1780 to 1800 XV. Organizing the Government (1789-1793) XVI. Federalist Policy (1793-1801) . XVII. Expansion of the Republic (1801-1809) XVIII. War with Great Britain (1809-1815) 8 220 235 249 261 277 CONTENTS NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT XIX. Settling the West (1800-1820) XX. The New National Spirit (1815-1829) XXI. New Political Issues (1829-1841) . PAGE 289 303 316 SECTIONALISM XXII. Social and Sectional Conditions (1831-1841) XXIII. Renewed Expansion (1841-1847) . XXIV. Results of the Mexican War (1848-1853) XXV. Foreshadowing of Civil War (1853-1859) 338 353 369 383 CIVIL WAR XXVI. The Crisis (1859-1861) 401 XXVII. North and South in 1861 419 XXVIII. Period of Uncertainties (April, 1861-December, 1802) . 433 XXIX. Emancipation and Military Advance (1862-1863) . . 455 XXX. End of the War (1864-1865) 470 REORGANIZATION XXXI. Reconstruction of the Union (1865-1875) . . .491 XXXII. New Foundations (1875-1885) 511 XXXIII. Economic and Social Issues (1885-1897). . . ! 525 THE NEW REPUBLIC XXXIV. The Spanish War and its Results (1897-1903) . . 551 XXXV. What America has done for the World . . . .565 XXXVI. The Twentieth Century 579 APPENDICES A. Brief List of Books i B. General Bibliography iii C. Declaration of Independence, 1776 xi D. Constitution of the United States, 1787 xiv E. Proclamation of Emancipation, 1863 xxvii F. Joint Resolution for Intervention in Cuba, 1898 . . . xxix G. States of the Union xxx Index xxxn jit 1 N 1a-n^ 188 9 A SiouriFa % -\ X" /r , "^rsj. fxK^ *1|.|[>powdor, perhaps discovered in Europe by Roger Bacon, and first used in war about 1350, enabled the invaders of America to beat the savages; (2) printing with movable types, probably first used by Gutenberg in 1450, served to spread the fame of the new world. The art of navigation was steadily advancing. Sea-going ships had keels and single rudders, were fitted with heavy 3. Seafar- spars and square sails, and for defense from the seas and in S from enemies were provided with high bulwarks, fore- castles, and aftercastles. There was little distinction between merchantmen and war ships : in time of war the trader took on a few more guns and men and became a fighting cruiser. Naval science was immensely aided by four inventions, which by 1450 were widely used : (1) The wondrous art of sailing on the wind, discovered by the Norsemen, gave confi- dence to men on long voyages. (2) The magnetic compass was a guide far out of sight of land, and when the stars were not visible. (3) The astrolabe en- abled the mariner roughly to estimate his distance from the equator. (4) The portolano, or sea chart, assembled what was known about the seas and coasts. The prelude to American history was the attempt to estab- lish new relations between Europe and Asia. In 1450 Europe y??§< Ship of about 1450. From a drawing ascribed to Columbus. FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 15 Mediaeval Trade Routes. had no direct intercourse by sea with India, China, and Japan; eastern products found their way westward only by trans- fer across the Isthmus of Suez, or by a slow and expen- and the sive caravan journey across Asia, over routes which East were broken in two by the fierce Turks when they took Con- stantinople in 1453. Where were Europe- ans thenceforward to get the carpets and the silks, the pearls and the cotton goods, the sweet white powder that men called sugar, the gums, and the pep- per that sometimes sold for its weight in gold dust ? One European, ... T . , ,, Battle of Japanese and Chinese in Marco Polo, actually Marco Polo > s Time> Crossed Asia and From an ancient Japanese drawing. 16 BEGINNINGS reached the Chinese coast about 1292, and thus reported: "And I tell you with regard to that Eastern Sea of Chin, Yule Polo according to what is said by the experienced pilots and II. 246 mariners of those parts, there be 7459 Islands in the waters frequented by the said mariners. . . . And there is not one of those Islands but produces valuable and odorous woods . . . and they produce also a great variety of spices." In course of time the question began to be asked, Why might not the Spice Islands and Japan be reached by sea from western Europe? — hence attempts were made to find a water passage around Europe by the Arctic Ocean, and around Africa by the Atlantic Ocean. Moreover the learned men of the Renaissance discovered that the ancients believed that the world is round. A strange book of wonders, called the Travels of Sir John Man- deville, which is dated 1322, says, " For when the sun is east in those parts towards paradise terrestrial, it is then Mandeville, midnight in our parts of this half, for the roundness of the earth. For our Lord God made the earth all round in the midplace of the firmament." By 1470 the Florentine astronomer Toscanelli actually figured out the circumference of the earth at almost exactly its true length. If the world was really round, why might not India be reached by sailing westward instead of eastward ? Such a question could best be solved by the maritime nations of western Europe — by Spain, France, England, and Portugal. 5 Th ] - ^^ e a( lventurous Portuguese by 1450 had already dis- nizing covered the four groups of the Canary, Madeira, Cape Verde, and Azores or Western Islands. Under the direc- tion of Prince Henry the Navigator, they pushed down the west coast of Africa ; but on his death (1460) they had reached no farther south than Sierra Leone. The neighbor and great rival of Portugal was Spain; in 1469 the marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon with Isabella of FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 17 Castile brought under one sovereignty the Christian parts of that land. In 1492, by the conquest of the Moorish kingdom of Granada, the way was opened for a great Spanish kingdom. Twenty-seven years later Charles V., king of Spain and ruler of the Netherlands (grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella), by his election as German Emperor, brought Spain into the heart of European politics. Spain built a powerful navy, and organ- ized an infantry which could defeat knights in armor, and was almost invincible by other footmen ; for many years Spain re- mained the strongest state in Europe. The immediate theater of American history lay unknown beyond the Atlantic. The Europeans of the fifteenth century thought of the world as consisting of only three parts — „ America . Europe, Asia, and Africa. It required a generation of the Atlantic explorers after 1492 to evolve the idea that North s ope America is not part of Asia; more than a century elapsed before men generally began to think of it in its true propor- tions, and its true relations to the rest of the world. Never- theless the physical character of the land constantly had a controlling effect on the course of discovery and colonization ; and therefore it must be considered among the essentials of American history. The Atlantic coast of North America abounds in deep and sheltered bays and estuaries which make fine harborage, and helped the early settlers in their seafaring. The coast is bold and rugged as far south as Cape Ann ; and the country inland, as far south as the Hudson, is hilly and stony and abounds in waterfalls. Farther south lies a low coast plain which gradually widens till it reaches Georgia, and thence stretches westward along the Gulf of Mexico to Texas. Its sandy coast is fringed with shallow lagoons, partly inclosed by long, narrow islands. Up to the foothills of the Appalachians the south country is flat and fertile, and well adapted to agriculture. The water powers at the head of navigation on the sluggish rivers afford 20 BEGINNINGS natural advantages which determined the location of a line of towns and cities, such as Trenton, Eichmond, Petersburg, Raleigh, Columbia, Augusta, and Macon. The very flatness of the Atlantic coast gave rise to one disadvantage : innumer- able swamps and fresh-water ponds bred mosquitoes; when our forefathers sickened with fevers, they little guessed that it was this insignificant enemy which brought disease, death, and often the ruin of a colony Inland the Atlantic coast plain terminates in the Appalachian Mountain system, which extends in a belt about a hundred miles wide from Gaspe Peninsula in the Gulf of St. Lawrence 1600 miles southwestward to northern Alabama. The average elevation is about 2000 feet, the passes from 1500 to 3000 feet ; though Mt. Washington and the North Carolina ranges rise above 6000 feet. The eastern half of the system consists of long, parallel, and steep-sided mountain ridges ; the western half is an upland plateau which declines gradually to the west and is deeply trenched by the steep-sided valleys of the streams. Like the lower coast lands, this whole highland region was originally clothed with forests which concealed the lurking savage. The west slope of the Appalachian plateau merges into a vast low plain, which is drained partly northeastward to Hudson Bay and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but chiefly of North southward through the Mississippi River system to the America q^£ q ^ ^ ex j co rrh e w j 10 j e re gi n is characterized by a smooth surface and gentle slopes, a little broken by the bluffs along the streams. The northern belt, and the southern as far west as the Ozark Mountains, were originally forest-covered ; but the central part from Indiana westward abounded in tree- less, grassy prairies, which expanded westward until they covered all the land excepting fringes of timber along the water courses. This St. Lawrence and Mississippi valley is the most exten- FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN HISTORY XI sive tract of highly fertile land in the world. " When tickled with a hoe, it laughs with a harvest ; " and it has almost every \ariety of soil and product. The numerous streams furnish alluvial " bottom land " ; north of the Missouri and Ohio rivers most of the country is covered with glacial deposits — Nature's wheat fields ; the vast prairies grow all kinds of crops, especially corn. Yet this interior was a lonely wilder- ness up to the close of the Eevolution ; it became the chief area of settlement from that time to the Civil War, and is to-day the home of about fifty millions of prosperous people. Beyond the Mississippi Kiver the land rises imperceptibly into a treeless plateau, which, west of the 100th meridian, is called the Great Plains and is so dry that farming is almost impossible without irrigation. The bunch grass of these plains once supported countless herds of wild bison, and now is the pasturage for beef cattle. The Great Plains form the eastern part of the Eocky Moun- tain Highland, which extends to within 150 miles of the Pacific coast, with a general elevation of 5000 feet ; from it rise the Rocky Mountain chain in the eastern part, and the Sierra Nevada and Cascade chains on its western margin. The high region between these chains, which may be called the Interior Highland, has been settled chiefly since the Civil War. The lofty and complicated ranges of the Rocky Mountains occupy a belt of country from 200 to 300 miles wide, made up of mountains extremely rough and rugged. Their sum- mits reach to nearly 15,000 feet, though the chain may be crossed at elevations not greater than from 6000 to 8000 feet. Among these mountains the Indians found large game for food, and small fur-bearing animals. From the sheep which now range the region the white man still draws material for cloth- ing ; while in the upheaved and dislocated strata he finds our richest stores of gold, silver, copper, and lead. 22 BEGINNINGS Rough and broken surfaces characterize the Interior High- land : the region is very dry, some places having no rain for 8. Great months or even years. The triangular region between Pacific" 1 Snake an( i Colorado rivers and the Sierra Nevada is slope called the Great Basin, because its meager rainfall col- lects in pools and salt lakes and then evaporates without reaching the sea. Grand Canyon of the Colorado. Showing erosion in a region of little rain. West of the Interior Highland rises the precipitous escarp- ment of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade chains, which sink away again in a long western slope, abundantly watered in winter by moist winds from the Pacific, which clothe it with thick forests of valuable trees. These chains are scarcely more than seventy-five miles wide, but they rival the Rocky Moun- tains in height and ruggedness. West of the crest of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade chains, and beyond a series of long low- land valleys, is the crest of the low Coast Ranges, which rise FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 23 steeply from the Pacific Ocean. These ranges are broken down to the sea at three places only — the Bay of San Francisco, the gorge of the Columbia River, and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which leads to Puget Sound. Through these breaks are drained the fertile Pacific valleys; and near them are the principal Pacific ports. Through the forests and across the mountains were two sys- tems of primeval routes of travel, footpaths and waterways : (1) Throughout the continent, buffalo paths and Indian _ _ . . 9. Routes trails, sometimes only six inches wide, led through prairie of trade and and forest ; they often followed the divides between the travel streams, as being free from fords. (2) Rivers and lakes made a network of water routes, on which plied the dugout and in the north the Indian birch-bark canoe, one of the best inventions of any savage race ; easy to make, swift to paddle, and light to "tote" over a carry from one system of rivers to another. For long east and west journeys the At- lantic streams could be followed up to the divides separating them from the tribu- taries of the Great Lakes or of the Ohio River. The routes across the Appalachian chain ran for the most part on the same lines as the present trunk-line railroads, especially the gaps at the heads of the Mohawk, Susquehanna, Potomac, and James rivers. By carries or portages known to the Indians, one could also pass from the Great Lakes to Hudson Bay, or to the upper Mississippi, or to the Ohio. Examples of such transfer points are Ravenna, Ohio, between the Cuyahoga and Indian Birch-bark Canoe Race. Sketched by an eyewitness about 1830. 24 BEGINNINGS Mahoning rivers ; Fort Wayne, Indiana, between the Maumee and the Wabash; and Chicago, between Lake Michigan and the Des Plaines branch of the Illinois. At such places in many instances a white man's town eventually grew up. Important Indian Portages. ucts The whole land originally abounded in wild animals. The deer and the bison, commonly called buffalo, furnished meat 10 Ameri- * ?or ^ e nuT1 g r y> clothing for the cold, and a roof for the can prod- family ; the game birds, of which the turkey and the pigeon were the most plentiful, increased the food sup- ply ; and the coast waters and streams abounded in fish and in fur-bearing animals. The earth furnished to the savage fruits and berries, corn, pumpkins, squashes, and maple sugar for his diet, tobacco for his luxury, herbs and simples for diseases and wounds, wood for his fires and even for houses. FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 25 Later colonists found a valuable resource and profit in the timber and the iron ores ; their descendants discovered coal and oil, and precious metals ; but almost the only things the Indian had to sell that the white man coveted were deerskins and furs, especially that of the beaver. Still America yielded three products not then known to the old world : (1) Corn was the plant most widely sown and harvested by the Indians, " a grain of general use to man and beast." (2) The potato, native of South America, in the course of time became the chief food of millions of Europeans. (3) Tobacco, everywhere much prized by the Indians, grew wild or was negligently cultivated. The native inhabitants of America, called Indians by Colum- bus because he supposed he had reached the Indies, were throughout of one race, though their origin is a puzzle n Native for ethnologists. To be sure, throughout central North civilization P , i in America America exist a great number of mounds, some sepul- chral, some village sites, some defensive, some built in the outline of animals ; but there is no reason to suppose that the "mound builders" were different from the ordinary Indians. Indian Cliff Dwkllings. (Near southwest corner of Colorado.) From Georgia to Arizona most tribes raised plenty of food and lived in fixed towns, some southwestern peoples in cliff dwellings. The descendants of some of these tribes, as for instance the Zunis, still live in the same communal villages HART'S AMUR. HIST. 2 26 BEGINNINGS Interior of Zuni Pueblo. About the same as in 1492. or pueblos, and carry on much the same life as their fore- fathers. Farther south, in the communal city of Mexico, were the Aztecs, men of war who lived on tribute or plunder from neighboring tribes, and reveled in human sacrifice ; they had the arts of making pottery, of working in soft metals, of weav- ing and of feather work, and even of a kind of picture writing. In Mexico and Central America ruined stone cities mark a higher civilization, already decaying when the white man came. These abound in elaborately carved stone walls, stair- ways, and monoliths, extraordinarily like certain temples and idols in eastern Asia. In South America native civilization reached its highest point in the empire of the Incas in Peru, who had an organization far above that of the ordinary In- dians; for they built roads and stone towns, used llamas for beasts of burden, and had a system of records made by knotted cords. FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 27 The Indians who most disturbed the English colonists were three groups : (1) along the northern Atlantic coast the Algon- quin family ; (2) inland, between Lake Erie and the 12. Indian Hudson, the "Five Nations" of Iroquois ; (3) between the llfe Mississippi and the southeast coast the powerful Cherokees, kin to the Iroquois, and the Muskogee family, including the intelli- gent, numerous, and warlike tribes of Choctaws, Creeks, and Chickasaws. All these Indians were vigorous and hardy people, well built, tall, and handsome. Their clothing was chiefly of deerskins, supplemented after the whites came by the " match- coat," or blanket. They gathered into villages, living for the most part in wigwams of bark or skins ; though some tribes had " long houses " — rows of continuous wooden dwellings. The main occupations of the Indians were fishing and hunt- ing and fighting, but nearly all the tribes had cornfields, and some of them plots of tobacco and vegetables, all tilled by the women. The Indians were fond of gayety, lively conversation, dancing, and open-air games. Real religion they had none ; the early discoverers said that they worshiped stones and the devil. Their priests were medicine men who sang, shook their rattles, and circled about the fire ten or twelve hours together, " with most impetuous and interminate clamours and howling." In many ways the Indians showed remarkable inventive skill. They strung bows, fashioned stone arrowheads, clubs, and hatchets, contrived snowshoes, made rude pottery, tanned skins, executed beautiful designs in beads and porcupine quills, manufactured maple sugar, plaited nets, carved pipes, had a currency of wampum made from seashells, and, above all, invented the graceful and serviceable bark canoe. In war the Indians were among the greatest fighting men of all history. Their weapons were the bow and arrow, 13. Indian club, tomahawk, and stone knife; and they quickly took gadgoY- over the white man's musket and steel axes and knives. ernment Swift and silent in movement, their favorite attack was sur- 28 BEGINNINGS prise; if once beaten back, they were likely to give up and go home for the time, rather than lose many men. Their custom of killing or enslaving men, women, and children alike, was too often imitated by their white enemies, who also learned how to seize the scalp locks of their savage adversaries. The narratives of white captives are full of fearful tortures. Fortunately for the whites, the Indians were broken up into small political fragments. The so-called "tribes," often in- cluding many villages, were united by the loosest of ties ; they fought among themselves, and the fundamental idea of the Indian was that every member of every other tribe (unless bound by friendly treaty) was his enemy ; and he looked on all Englishmen as members of one hostile tribe. Indeed, the whole Indian conception of government and society was dif- ferent from the English. The tribes were subdivided into clans, or " totems," and families, and the tribal councils were mere "powwows," for the decision bound nobody; yet discussion and decision were backed up by a powerful public opinion. The tribal lands were usually only the territory over which the tribe habitually ranged ; nobody " owned " land in the English sense. The chiefs were not hereditary, but in part members of dis- tinguished clans and families, in part simply able men who pushed themselves forward. They had no recognized power to compel obedience, and hence treaties with the English were always hard to enforce. Few Indians have come down in history as leaders of their people. Wahunsonacock, commonly called Powhatan by the Virginians, George Guess who invented an alphabet, King Philip in New England, Pontiac and Corn Planter in the West, and later Tecumthe, Chief Joseph, and Geronimo are almost the only great names. From about 1450 to 1500 the conditions in Europe were especially favorable for discovery and commercial adventure. FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 29 Europe was ready for new fields of activity ; and by 1500 each of the four nations on the western sea front— England, France, Spain, and Portugal — had a consolidated royal power, 14. Sum- capable of directing new enterprises. Each had also an eager, seafaring people, acquainted with new arts of navigation. The closing of the overland route to Asia by the Turks aroused the people to the necessity of a route by sea ; and a belief that the world is round suggested a western voyage to India. But between Europe and India, all unknown and undevel- oped, lay the two Americas, occupied by savage tribes, who were skilled in the warfare of the woods, and ready to contest with all their might any attempt to set foot upon their terri- tory. Yet the central belt of this broad land that stretched from the 25th parallel to the 49th, and through fifty degrees of longitude, had the soil and climate which have later made pos- sible the cotton of Texas, the wheat of Minnesota, the corn of Indiana, the Maine potato, and the olive groves of California. TOPICS (I) What made Spain a great nation ? (2) When and how did Suggestive the Renaissance reach England? (3) When and where was gun- °P 1CS powder first used in European warfare ? (4) What are some of the earliest printed travels ? (5) How did the mariners' compass come into use ? (6) What are the best waterways (with por- tages) from the Atlantic to the Pacific ? (7) Name the principal peaks of the Appalachians. (8) What are the easiest passes across the Appalachians ? across the Rocky Mountains ? (9) The prin- cipal "carries" from the Great Lakes to the tributaries of the Mississippi. (10) Indian remains in your neighborhood. (II) Life in a present-day pueblo. (12) Adventures of Marco Search Polo. (13) Who wrote the Travels of Sir John Mandeville ? opicl (14) Career of Prince Henry the Navigator. (15) First Euro- pean visitors to Niagara Falls. (16) First European explorations in the Appalachian Mountains. (17) How to make a birch-bark canoe. (18) Introduction of tobacco into Europe. (19) The Ser- pent Mound. (20) Ancient stone buildings and monuments in Mexico and Central America. (21) Peruvian roads and buildings. (22) Modern cities on the sites of Indian villages. 30 BEGINNINGS Geography Secondary- authorities Sources Illustrative works Pictures REFERENCES See maps, pp. 10, 11, 15, 18, 19, 21 ; Brigham, Geographic Influ- ences ; Epoch Maps, no. 1 ; Cheyney, European Background ; Farrand, Basis of American History. Thwaites, Colonies, §§ 2-5; Fisher, Colonial Era, 1-11 ; Fiske, Discovery of America, I. 1-147, II. 294-364 ; Doyle, English in America, I. 5-17; Winsor, America, IV. i-xxx; Farrand, Basis of American History; Shaler, Nature and Man. in America, 166-283, — United States, I. 1-272, 417-517 ; Cheyney, European Background ; Higginson, Larger History, 1-26 ; Hinsdale, How to Study and Teach History, 174-203 ; Morgan, American Aborigines. Hart, Source Book, § 9, — Source Beaders, I. §§ 8, 19-33, 37- 44, III. §§ 57-69 ; Old South Leaflets, nos. 30, 32. See Channing and Hart, Guide, §§ 21-216, 77-80 ; New England History Teachers* Association, Syllabus, 167, 168, 293, — Historical Sources, §65. Longfellow, Hiawatha ; Whittier, Bridal of Pennacock ; C. G. Leland, Algonquin Legends of New England; C. F. Lummis, Strange Corners of our Country. McKenney and Hall, History and Biography of the Indian Tribes ; Catlin, North American Indians ; Winsor, America^ I. ( #-^fc Ancient Peruvian Jar Perhaps a portrait. CHAPTER II. THE CENTURY OF DISCOVERY (1492-1605) The existence of a Western Continent was till about 1500 un- dreamed of in Europe, although there was in far-off Iceland a " saga," or document based on memorized tradition, showing 15. Fore- how, in the year 1000, Leif Erikson — " Leif the Lucky " r Xcovery — reached the mainland of North America; and how in (1000-1492) 1007 one Karlsefni landed there in a fine country (which has never been identified) abounding in flat stones and grapes, and fierce natives. No evidence has ever been found to show that Leif's discovery was known to Italian or Spanish navigators. Their incentive to western voyages was the hope of finding a direct western route to India, especially after Bartholomew Diaz of Portugal reached the Cape of Good Hope (1487) and saw a broad sea beyond, promising a practicable indirect route. To Christopher Columbus, born (about 1446) in the Italian city of Genoa, is due the credit of applying the science of his time to the problem of reaching India. Before he was thirty years old he formed a plan of sailing westward to Asia, which he calculated to be twenty-five hundred miles distant from Europe. Directly, or through his brother Bartholomew, he appealed to the kings of Portugal, Spain, England, and France to fit him out; and all declined the splendid opportunity. Finally, he turned again to Spain and appealed to the mission- ary zeal of Queen Psabella in behalf of the distant heathen, and held out to her counselors the rich results of conquest and power. In behalf of her kingdom of Castile, Isabella at last agreed to fit out an expedition. 31 32 BEGINNINGS Furnished with the queen's money and armed with her authority, Columbus got together three little vessels, the Santa 16. Colum- Maria, Nina, and Pinta, carrying 90 men in all. He coverer **' sailed from Palos, August 3, 1492, and from the Canary (1492-1506) Islands five weeks later; thenceforward his sole reliance was his own unconquerable will. As the crews grew muti- Departure of Columbus. From De Bry's Voyages, 1590. nous the admiral cajoled and threatened, and even under- stated the ship's daily run. On Friday, October 12, 1492 (old style), thirty-three days after losing sight of land, and distant 3230 nautical miles from Am Hist ^^ os : the caravels came upon an island, to which, says Leaflets, Columbus, " I gave the name of San Salvadore, in com- memoration of his Divine Majesty who has wonderfully granted all this. The Indians call it Guanahan." This land- no. l THE CENTURY OF DISCOVERY 33 fall was probably Watling Island of the Bahama group. A few days later Columbus reached the coast of Cuba, and then Hispaniola, or Haiti. He was deeply disappointed not to find towns and civilized communities, for to the day of his death Columbus supposed that he had hit on the coast of Asia. Thus was America discovered, as an unforeseen incident in the voyage of one of the most extraordinary men in history. In September, 1493, Columbus set out a second time with 17 vessels and 1500 men, founded Isabella in Haiti, the first city of Europeans in America, set up a government there, and discovered Porto Rico, Jamaica, and some of the Lesser An- tilles. On a third voyage (1498), he reached South America, and discovered the mouth of the Orinoco. His colony in His- paniola, including the permanent city of Santo Domingo, fell into confusion, and Columbus was sent home in chains, and for a time was in disgrace. He made, however, a fourth voy- age (1502), in search of a water passage to India, which carried him to the coast of Honduras, and to the Isthmus of Panama. Four years later he died in Spain, and his bones, after wander- ings in the West Indies, now rest in the Cathedral of Seville. Meantime the Portuguese were trying to reach the gold and spice islands by sailing eastward, and they claimed a monopoly of the discoveries that they might make. In May, 1493, 17. Por- the Pope issued a bull in which he assumed the authority tague * ( J v ™ to divide the non-Christian world between Portugal and (1493-1500) Spain, by a north and south line through the Atlantic. A year later, in the treaty of Tordesillas, made directly between Spain and Portugal, it was agreed that the line of de- jiarrisse'.^ marcation should run " from pole to pole, 370 leagues west Diplomatic from the Cape Verde Islands." The rivalry foreseen by m8tor ^* 7S the treaty was realized in 1497 when the Portuguese Vasco da Gama passed the Cape of Good Hope, and shortly reached India ; soon Portuguese trading ports were established in Asia. Then Cabral, one of the Portuguese voyagers to India, hit on Amazon (Putosi) W ^ EARJLI VOYAGES TO AMERICA SCALE OF MILES 5 E5o lotoo 1 Columbus's First Voyage 1492 2 " Second " 1493-96 3 Cabots 1497-98 4 Vespucius for Spain 1499 5 Columbus's Third Vovage 1498-00 6 Cabral 1500 7 Vespucius for Portugal 1501-02 8 Columbus's Fourth Voyage 1502-04 9 Pineda.1519 10 MagellanJ519-22 i 11 Verrazano 1524 12 Carrier's First Voyage 1534-35 13 " Second " 1535-36 :J1 THE CENTURY OF DISCOVERY 35 the coast of Brazil (1500), which he thought was an Asiatic island ; later it was found that the line of Tordesillas ran to the west of the Brazilian coast, which was therefore left to the Portuguese to settle. The announcement that Columbus had reached Asia aroused new national rivalries, and it was followed by many western voyages. Henry VII. of England never regarded the 18. The papal bull of 1493 or the treaty of Tordesillas as binding ^gpuclus him; and in 1496 he gave authority to the Venetian navi- (1497-1507) gator John Cabot and his three sons "to sail to all parts, regions, and waters of the eastern, western, and southern seas, and to discover any heathen regions which up to this time have remained unknown to Christians." Though this voyage later became the basis of the English claims to North America, we know only that Cabot came back in 1497 and reported " that 700 leagues hence he discovered land, the territory of the grand Chan. He coasted for 300 leagues and landed [probably „ on the island of Cape Breton] and found two very large tempora- and fertile new islands." The next year Cabot's son Sebastian is supposed to have mado a voyage farther south, probably as far as the coast of Virginia; but of his discoveries, if he made any, we have no contemporary accounts. The Venetian Americus Vespucius coasted large parts of South America from 1499 to 1507 in behalf of Spain and then of Portugal. He published several letters describing his dis- coveries and, apparently without his own expectation, furnished a name which gradually supplanted the term "New World" used by Columbus and others. An Alsatian geographer, realiz- ing that a new continent had been discovered, suggested in 1507 that the new fourth part of the world be called " Amerige, that is, the land of Americus, or America." This suggestion, in- tended to applv to the eastern part of South America, was gradually extended to all of South America, and then to the entire western continent. 36 BEGINNINGS By the year 1514 most of the islands of the Caribbean Sea, and the coast from Mexico to the Plata, had been visited; 19. Spanish so tna ^ * ne Spaniards began to realize that wherever they discoveries sailed far enough west, they struck land, perhaps a con- and con- quests tinuous. continent. The region about Darien failed to (1513-1532) di sc i ose a strait, and in 1513 Balboa crossed the narrow Isthmus of Panama, and looked upon the Pacific Ocean. Fail- ing to penetrate directly westward, the Spaniards in 1519 sent Magellan with a small fleet to coast America southward; he discovered and traversed the strait to which he gave his name, entered and named the Pacific Ocean, and then sailed up the west coast of South America, and westward until he reached the Ladrones and the Philippine Islands (1521). One of Magellan's vessels got home to Spain via the Cape of Good Hope — the first circumnavigation of the globe. At last the true Indies had been reached by sailing west, and the Philip- pines speedily became a Spanish colony, regularly communi- cating with the home country across the Isthmus of Panama. An era of Spanish exploration and conquest within North America began with a fruitless expedition by Ponce de Leon in Florida (1512), and a voyage by Pineda, who skirted the north coast of the Gulf of Mexico (1519). The first permanent lodgment was the romantic occupation of Mexico by Hernando Cortez in 1519. With 450 men and 15 horses he inarched up and took the stronghold of Mexico, smashed the rude political organization of the Aztecs, and set up the Catholic religion. In 1532 a Spanish force of 200 men and 60 horses, under Francisco Pizarro, penetrated and conquered Peru, and looted a large quantity of gold ; here also the native government was overthrown and a permanent Spanish viceroyalty set up. The Spaniards sent several expeditions to explore the south- ern part of what is now the United States, and thus they secured a first title to that region. (1) De Ayllon attempted to found a colony on Chesapeake Bay (1526). (2) Narvaez THE CENTURY OF DISCOVERY 37 with a party explored the land north of the Gnlf coast, and passed the mouth of the Mississippi, probably the first white man to see that river (1528). (3) Ferdinando de Soto, 2Q Spanign with a force of 620 men, marched inland from the coast explora- of Florida; and in 1541 penetrated to and then beyond tarthm the Mississippi. (4) In 1540 Coronado, incited by tales north Q526-1592) of seven rich and wonderful "cities of Cibola," went north- ward from Mexico, but found the cities to be only Indian pueblos, of which some are standing yet; he penetrated to the country of Quivira (Kansas) which abounded in " crook-backed cows " (buffalo). The expedition led to the founding of the town of Santa Fe in 1572. (5) From 1533 to 1592 the Pacific coast was visited by Spaniards as far north as Puget Sound. The West Indies, as the Spanish possessions in the new world were generally called, made the Spanish kingdom the richest of all European countries and enabled the Spaniards for a century to take the leading place in Europe. The gold of Mexico and Peru was quickly swept up and spent ; but in 1545 the enormously rich silver mines of Potosi, in Peru, were opened, and later good silver mines were found in Mexico. By 1550 Spanish colonies were established in Mexico and Central America, on the west and north coasts of South America, and on the lower Plata. Meanwhile, about twenty years after Columbus's first voyage, a mighty change was begun in Europe through the Protestant Reformation. In the end, the peoples of northwestern gl Frencn Europe became mostly Protestant, while those of the south discovery remained Catholic. France, however, as well as England ignored the papal division of 1493 and the treaty of Torde- sillas. In 1524 King Francis I. dispatched Verrazano, a Flor- entine, with a fleet which crossed the Atlantic and explored an unknown coast including New York Harbor, a bay, he contempo- said, in "a very pleasant situation among some steep rariesj. ios hills, through which a very large river, deep at its mouth, 38 BEGINNINGS forced its way to the sea." Much farther north the French captain Jacques Cartier found islands, firm land, and a river (1534), and the next year "a goodly great gulf, full of islands, passages, and entrances," which he named St. Lawrence; thence he entered " the great river Hochelaga and ready way to China." His progress was stopped by the rapids later dubbed Lachine ("Chinese"), near a hill which he called Mount Eoyal, now Montreal. France had a Catholic king, but a body of French " Hugue- nots," or Protestants, with the consent of the king planted an unsuccessful colony under Jean Ribault at Port Royal, now in South Carolina (1562). Two years later, under Laudon- niere, the French returned and built a second Port Royal on the « River May" (St. Johns) in Florida. This was a flat defiance of the Spaniards, who founded (1565) the frontier town of St. Augustine to confront the French ; this town, still in existence, is the oldest within the mainland boundaries of the United States. Menendez, the Spanish governor, then uprooted the French colony ; and the French never regained the opportunity of settling the southern Atlantic coast. The monopoly of American trade and colonization by Spain aroused the spirit of the English, especially when under Philip 22 English II. (1556-1598) Spain became the great Catholic power of freebooters Ellr0 P e - Nominally at peace, English vessels constantly (1566-1580) traded with Spanish colonies against the will of the Span- ish government, and preyed on Spanish commerce in the western seas. The feeling of rivalry with Spain was expressed in a charter granted by Parliament in 1566 to Sir Humphrey Gilbert and his associates in a company to open a northwest passage around America to India, and to discover new lands, which were to be an English colony. Ten years later Sir Martin Frobisher made three voyages on the same quest, penetrating as far as Hudson Strait. For nearly three centuries the English never quite abandoned the idea of a short water route to Asia. THE CENTURY OF DISCOVERY 39 One of the boldest adventurers and bravest fighters was Sir John Hawkins, who made several profitable voyages to the Spanish colonies with African slaves. His five ships were caught in the Mexican port of San Juan de Ulloa by thir- teen Spanish ships; he fought them all and escaped with two vessels (1568). One of Hawkins's captains was Francis Drake, who in 1572 sailed off again to prey on Spanish com- merce. Pirate-like he harried the Spanish mainland, cap- tured Spanish vessels and mule trains, and carried off gold, silver, and merchandise. Nevertheless, on his return to England Drake was pardoned by Queen Elizabeth and held in favor. The slow downfall of Spain may be said to have begun when the Netherlands revolted and formed a union of the provinces against the Spanish (1576). The English government sym- pathized and aided ; then individual Englishmen took an active part in the pulling down of Spain. In 1577 with the queen's approval, though without a royal commission, Drake set off with a little fleet; he rounded South America, passed through the Strait of Magellan with his one remaining ship, and was the first to see Cape Horn, and to find the open sea to the south of it. The story of Drake's next exploits sounds like the Arabian Nights, and is gemmed with such phrases as " thirteene chests full of royals of plate, foure score pound weight tempora- of golde, and sixe and twentie tunne of siluer." He sailed nes ' ' 85 up the unfortified west coast of South America, capturing coasters, terrifying towns, taking one prize worth a million dollars on its voyage from the Philippines, and throwing the Spaniards into a panic. Running far to the north, in hope of finding a passage through or around America to England, he put into a bay just north of the harbor of San Francisco to repair his ships, and called the country New Albion. Thence he struck boldly westward across the Pacific, sailed through the Philippines and the Spice 40 BEGINNINGS Islands, and then home again (1580) around the Cape of Good Hope, the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. Queen Elizabeth formally knighted him, and thus proclaimed him an English hero fighting for his sovereign. The next step towards colonization was a vain attempt at planting an English settlement in Newfoundland under a new fost T En charter granted to Sir Humphrey Gilbert (1578). His lish colonies half-brother, Sir Walter Raleigh, then got from the queen (1578-1587) a new "patent/' or grant of lands (1584), authorizing Poore, Charters and Consti him to colonize "remote heathen and barbarous lands not actually possessed of any Christian Prince." tutions, 1379 Forthwith he sent out two vessels, under Amidas and Barlowe, to find a proper place for a colony, and they fixed on Roanoke Island. On their return and favorable re- port Queen Elizabeth coy- ly named the new land for herself, " Virginia." Thrice did Raleigh send out actual colonists to Roanoke. A settlement of 1585 with 100 men failed and the settlers came back; a smaller settle- ment of 1586 disappeared ; in 1587 he sent out a col- Sir Walter Raleigh, about 1590. ny commanded by John Type of the English gentleman of his time. Wh[te> w[th WQ ^^ including seventeen women, one of whom gave birth to Vir- ginia Dare, the first English child born on American soil. All the members of this colony who remained in America dis- appeared in 1588, and their fate to this day is uncertain. The harrying of the commerce of Spain inevitably led to war, and the crisis came in 1587 when Philip II. resolved to THE CENTURY OF DISCOVERY 41 (1587-1604) invade England and destroy the plague of English sea rovers at its source. The proposed invasion took the form of a religious crusade by a mighty Spanish fleet called the Invincible g4 War Armada. The Armada sailed from Corunna in 1588, — with Spain 149 vessels, carrying 30,000 men, — and made its way in half-moon formation up the English Channel. It was beset by an enemy as brave as the Spaniards and much more nim- ble; for the English received their guests with 197 ships and 16,000 men, mostly trained seamen. The English finally sent fire ships among the Spaniards, and drove them out into the North Sea, where many of the fleet were burned, taken, or sunk. The de- moralized remnant made off to the English War Ship of 1588. From tapestries in the old House of Lords. northward in order to return to Spain around Scotland. Fear- ful tempests drove many vessels on the coasts, where the wild inhabitants massacred most of the survivors. The commander in chief arrived in Spain at last ; and gradually 67 ships out of the fleet crept into port. The war meanwhile had extended to the colonies, and it lasted for seventeen years. Drake took and plundered the city of Santo Domingo, the richest in the new world, and also the city of Carthagena, the capital of the Spanish West Indies. The new king of Spain, Philip III., and the new king of England, James I. (1603), both desired peace ; but the Span- iards long insisted that the English should agree to keep 42 BEGINNINGS Englishmen from traveling to the Spanish colonies, or settling in territory claimed by Spain. On both points the English stood firm ; and in 1(504 a treaty of peace was made without either of the desired pledges. Thus the way was opened for the foundation of the later United States in territory then claimed by Spain. By the year 1600 the geography and conditions of North America became clearer, especially through the diligence of 25. Rival Richard Hakluyt, an English gentleman who published Amer' S t0 a ^ amous collection of narratives of voyages ; and the (1584-1605) various nations began to bring forward arguments for their claims to America. France talked about the effect of the voyages of Verrazano and Cartier ; Spain urged the Pope's bull of 1493 and her early explorations, assuming that coasts once skirted by Spanish ships remained Spanish, and that the territories inland from such coasts were Spanish to eter- nity. Against these sweeping claims Hakluyt in 1584 asserted that " one Cabot and the English did first discover the shores about the Chesapeake " ; and a contemporary writer set forth the English title to Virginia as follows : (1) first discovery by the subjects of Henry VII. (1497) ; (2) voyages under Elizabeth " to the mainland and infinite islands of the West Indies " ; (3) the voyage of Amadas and Barlowe (1584) ; (4) the actual settlement of the White colony (1587) ; (5) a broad claim that the coast and the ports of Virginia had Discourse r ° of Western been long discovered, peopled, and possessed by many an ing English. On the Pope's bull the writer said, " if there be a law that the Pope may do what he list, let them that list obey him." As assertions of the English claims, three more attempts were made by individuals to plant colonies in America: (1) Bartholomew Gosnold in 1602 spent a little time on the island of Cuttyhunk ; (2) Martin Pring in 1603 entered the THE CENTURY OF DISCOVERY 43 Penobscot; (3) in 1605 George Weymouth visited the coast of Maine. All these efforts failed; the country was too cold for comfort, and the English as yet had too little experience of colonizing. The discovery of America by Columbus in 1492 was an accident brought about by attempting to reach the known lands of eastern Asia by sailing west, in the belief that 26. Sum- the earth is a globe. But to Columbus is due the credit mary of acting on his belief. The discovery of an eastern route by the Portuguese Vasco -da Gama was a stimulus to further at- tempts to reach the Spice Islands by sailing westward; and led to voyage after voyage of Spaniards, English, Portuguese, and Frenchmen, each successful explorer enlarging the knowl- edge of the American coast line and the islands. Geographers took up the course of discovery and registered it on rude maps. Before 1600 Spain alone established perma- nent colonies, which chanced to be rich in precious metals. The wealth of the West Indies made Spain great and yet prepared the way for her downfall ; for the English attacked, first Spanish commerce, then the colonies, then the home country; and in 1588 established the naval supremacy of England. Thence- forth the sea was free as far as an English ship could ride, and the way was prepared for English colonization. TOPICS (1) What do the Icelandic sagas say of America? (2) Why did Suggestive not Henry VII. of England send out Columbus? (3) How did t0 P ics Columbus raise men for his expedition ? (4) How did Balboa discover the Pacific? (5) How did the Philippine Islands become Spanish ? (6) Cortez's capture of the city of Mexico. (7) Pizar- ro's treatment of Atahualpa. (8) Capture of Port Royal by the Spanish. (9) Were the Spaniards justified in fighting Sir John Hawkins at San Juan de Ulloa? (10) Why did* the Invincible Armada fail ? hart's amer. hist. — 8 44 BEGINNINGS Search topics (11) Where did Leif Erikson land? (12) Columbus's own accounts of his discoveries. (13) Was Americus Vespucius truth- ful ? (14) What kind of people were the Mexicans ? (15) Where did De Soto cross the Mississippi? (16) Present state of the "Seven Cities of Cibola." (17) The Spanish silver mines. (18) Early descriptions of New York Harbor. (19) Drake's quarrel with Fletcher. (20) Profits of Drake's voyages around the globe. (21) Accounts of the Armada by eyewitnesses. (22) Did Sebastian Cabot discover the coast of Virginia ? Geography- Secondary authorities Sources Illustrative works Pictures REFERENCES See maps, pp. 34, 45 ; Semple, Geographic Conditions, 1-18 ; Epoch Maps, no. 2 ; Bourne, Spain in America. Thwaites, Colonies, §§ 7-12, 14-16 ; Fisher, Colonial Era, 12- 29 ; Bourne, Spain in America ; Wilson, American People, I. 1-33 ; Larned, History for Heady Eeference, I. 47 ; Sparks, Expansion, 17-35 ; Eggleston, Beginners of a Nation, 1-24 ; Winsor, America, II. III. 1-126, IV. 1-103, — Columbus, — Cartier to Frontenac, 1- 76 ; Fiske, Discovery of America, I. 147-516, II. 1-293, 365-569, — Old Virginia, I. 1-40; Doyle, English in America, I. 18-100; Parkman, Pioneers of France, 9-228 ; Higginson, Larger History, 26-120 ; Reeves, Finding of Wineland ; Markham, Christopher Columbus; Major, Prince Henry the Navigator; Corbett, Sir Francis Drake ; Creighton, Sir Walter Ralegh. Hart, Source Book, §§ 1-4, 1 ,— Contemporaries, I. §§16-36, 44- 48, — Source Readers, I. §§ 1-9, 55, 56 ; American History Leaflets, nos. 1, 3, 9, 13 ; Old South Leaflets, nos. 17, 20, 29, 31, 33-37, 39, 71, 90, 92, 102, 115-120, 122; Higginson, American Explorers, 1- 228 ; Payne, Elizabethan Seamen. See N. Eng. Hist. Teachers' Ass'n, Syllabus, 293-296, — Historical Sources, §§ 66, 67. Longfellow, Skeleton in Armor, — Sir Humphrey Gilbert ; Ten- nyson, Columbus ; Lowell, Columbus, — Voyage to Vinland ; R. M. Ballantyne, Erling the Bold (Iceland), — Norsemen in the West ; S. Baring-Gould, Grettir the Outlaw (Iceland) ; Lewis Wallace, Fair God (Mexico) ; Cooper, Mercedes of Castile ; Gordon Stables, Westward with Columbus ; Simms, Vasconselos (De Soto) ; Kings- ley, Westward Hot (English and Spaniards) ; James Barnes, Drake and his Yeomen ; Kirk Munroe, Flamingo Feather (Hugue- nots in Florida). Winsor, America, II.-IV. ; Wilson, American People, I. CHAPTER III. THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA, 1607-1660 The unsuccessful experience of forty years showed that no individual was powerful enough to found English colonies in ^ „_._ London Company '1606 ^ Plymouth Company 1606 _- Virginia Charter of 1609: Cod V Lines probably intended by mnilth "West and Northwest" J**:T "' i"" u,,u __ _ Later Virginia Claim under £ * V Charter of 1609 "44- 4. t ^++ New England Charter 1620 SCALE OF MILES English Territorial Grants. America. The next device was a system of colonizing companies, chartered by 27. The Vir- tue king and receiving gfante from him large grants (1606) of wild lands, which were treated as his personal prop- erty. The first grant was a royal charter, April 10, 1606, which created two such corpora- tions to settle the region indefinitely called Virginia : (1) the 45 46 COLONIAL ENGLISHMEN Plymouth Company, to make a settlement somewhere between the 38th and 45th degrees of north latitude ; (2) the London Company, to colonize somewhere between the 34th and 41st degrees. For the government of either settlement, under this charter, it was provided that there should be a royal council in England and a local council to sit in the colony. This charter at once involved England in a controversy with Spain, which claimed the Atlantic coast indefinitely north- ward, and which, with some reason, looked upon the scheme as an attempt to plant a naval station for the vexation of Span- ish commerce. The Span- ish ambassador at London suggested to his master, " It will be serving Brown, ° Genesis of God and Your Maj- ' esty to drive these villains out from there and hang them," but sloth, pov- erty, and hesitation to re- new the war held back the Spaniards from anything stronger than protest. The Plymouth Com- pany sent out a colony 28. Settle- under the auspices Virginia of Chief-Justice Popham (May, 1607) which settled on (1607-1681) the Kennebec in Maine ; but one severe winter broke it up, and the company never sent another. The London Com- pany, in which Bartholomew Gosnold appears as an active promoter, in December, 1606, sent 120 emigrants, who arrived at Chesapeake Bay, and on May 3, 1607, selected a peninsula Captain John Smith in 1624. From title-page of his Generatl Historie. THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA, 1607-1660 47 on the James River for their settlement, which they called Jamestown. It was low and marshy, mosquito-cursed, un- healthful, and hard to defend from the Indians, who attacked it within two weeks. The colonists were not accustomed to hard labor, and for some years they had to be supported from England. The most picturesque figure in these early days is Captain John Smith, who wrote two accounts of the colony : the True Relation in 1608, and the Generall Historie in 1624. In the latter he relates what was en- tirely omitted in the earlier story, how when he was a prisoner the Indians were about to beat out his brains ; how Pocahontas (then a child of ten or twelve years), daughter of the great " Weroance " Powhatan, sprang be- tween him and the club and saved his life. Whether this story be true or imagined, the courage and spirit of Smith are undeniable. He alternately pacified and fought the Indians ; he found supplies, explored the country, and was the principal man in the little government. The beginnings of Virginia are a terrible tragedy of famine, desperation, and death; of 630 early colonists 570 died in the first two and a half years. Yet its founders did not lose courage;, and the company reorganized in 1609, and secured a Powhatan's Lodge, 1607. From Smith's Generall Historie, 1624. 48 COLONIAL ENGLISHMEN second charter, granting a distinct territory, two hundred miles each way along the coast from Old Point Comfort and "all that Space and Circuit of Land, lying from the Sea Coast of the Precinct aforesaid, up into the Land throughout from Sea to Sea, West and Northwest." The local government, how- ever, was a mere tyranny — under the fierce Governor Dale the colonists were little better than slaves. In 1612, by a third and last charter, the company was reorganized and received larger powers of control of its own affairs. The turn of the tide came in 1616, when Dale departed and when the company began to assign definite tracts of land to the settlers, in strips fronting on the tide rivers, so that they had water communication with one another and with the rest of the world. Sassafras was a valued export; and in 1615 began the export of tobacco, then sold for three shillings a pound. Yet in 1619, after at least £100,000 had been spent, there were only 400 colonists in Virginia. When the London Com- 29. Vir- pany (then often called the Virginia Company) came foth^rown under tlie control of liberal and public-spirited men, (1619-1650) headed by Sir Edwin Sandys, they instructed their gov- ernor in Virginia to summon a popular assembly — the first free representative government upon the western continent. Accordingly twenty-two " burgesses," elected from the various settlements of Virginia, met in the church at Jamestown in July, 1619, and drew up numerous laws for the colony. In 1621, by the so-called "Sandys constitution," this assembly was formally recognized. The year 1619 also marks the be- ginning of colonial slavery. A Dutch man-of-war in Virginia exchanged twenty negro slaves for provisions ; and thus began a new source of labor for the cultivation of tobacco, which quickly became almost the sole industry of Virginia. In 1623 the Indians rose and killed nearly 350 settlers ; and the tragedy gave point to enemies of the colony in England, who THE ENGLISH LN AMEKICA, 1607-1660 49 assailed it as a swampy, pestilential, ill-housed, and dreary place, where " tobacco only was the business," where of 10,000 colonists only 2000 were left alive. In vain did the company defend its management, which was manfully working to over- come the disadvantages. King James I. disliked the company, and in 1624, by the judgment of the Court of the King's Bench, the Virginia charters were held null and void. As for land titles, all grants already made to individuals were held good ; and the right to make new grants within the boundaries of the old charter practically passed to the royal governor. Under Charles I., who became king in 1625, nominally the only government left to Virginia was the will of the king; although practically the administration went on under royal governors much as before, with frequent meetings of elected assemblies. By 1650 Virginia numbered about 15,000 people. The second English colony in America was made by exiles cast off by their own country. During the reign of Elizabeth there grew up within the established Church of England 30. Puri- a body of so-called Puritans, who felt that the Keforma- p^whns tion had not gone far enough; and out of the Puritans (1604-1620) arose a body of " Separatists," later called Independents, who would not remain in that church. Soon after James I. came to the throne in 1603, he declared, " I shall make them con- forme themselves, or I will harrie them out of the land, or else do worse." Thereupon many Puritan ministers were deprived of their right to hold services ; congregations of Separatists at Scrooby and Austerfield in the east of England were broken up; and by 1608 about three hundred of these people took refuge in Holland, mostly in Leyden. A God-fearing and industrious folk, the exiles (by this time often called Pilgrims) found themselves strangers in Holland, and feared that their children would not hold to their faith. Under the advice of their pastor, Rev. John Robinson, about two hundred of the Pilgrims made up their minds to 50 COLONIAL ENGLISHMEN seek a place of settlement in America. Their friends in Eng- land lent them about £5000, and they got from the London Company a patent for lands to be located somewhere within the general bounds of the second charter of that company. The Ship Mayflower. From a model in the National Museum, Washington. The transfer to the new world was long and tedious. In July, 1620, a part of the Leyden congregation set sail from 81. Settle- Delf shaven to Southampton; and of these about a hun- Pl^outh dred leffc the harbor of Plymouth (September 6, 1620) on (1620-1640) the ship Mayflower, bound for the Hudson River country. After three months of stormy voyage they found themselves, perhaps by the bad faith of the ship's captain, hundreds of miles east of their desired harbor, just off Cape Cod, which was part of the territory of the old Plymouth Company, and THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA, 1607-1660 51 in a region already named New England. Inasmuch as they had no patent from the Plymouth Company, the Pilgrims were under no fixed government ; therefore, on board the May- flower (November 11, 1620), they drew up a brief " combination," or "compact," by which they agreed to organize as a "civil body politic" for their government after they should land; and they chose John Carver to be governor. After exploring the coast the Pilgrims decided to settle on the bay already called Plymouth Harbor, and landed December 11, 1620 (December 21, new style), near a great bowlder Bradford, now called Plymouth Rock, "among diverse cornfeilds, Pla ^Zn, & litle runing brooks." The season was cruelly hard, m and during the first winter half the number died from cold, poor food, and other hardships. Their pluck was decisive; the next season others came out, and thenceforward the little colony prospered. The Indians in the neighborhood were few, and the colony's military chieftain, Miles Standish, defended it well. Plymouth remained almost an independent little republic. The people secured a patent for their land in 1621, and in twelve years paid their debt due in England, out of their fishery and Indian trading business. Under the prudent administra- tion of William Bradford, governor for thirty years, they set up the first town meetings in America, and later organized a representative assembly (1639). To the end of its existence in 1691, the colony never had a charter or a royal governor. Yet it hardly knew internal strife; it was at peace with its neighbors; it showed that Englishmen could prosper in the cold climate of the northeastern coast; it established in the new world the great principle of a church free from govern- mental interference, and founded on the will of the members. Above all, the Pilgrim Fathers handed down to later gen- erations priceless traditions of strength, manliness, patience, uprightness, and confidence in God. 52 COLONIAL ENGLISHMEN The Plymouth Company of 1606 in England was reorgan- ized in 1620 by a new charter, under the name of the Council 32. Settle- f° r ^ ew England, and adopted the policy of dividing mentof its lands (map, p. 45) among its own members; and Massachu- . . setts under some of these grants little fishing settlements were (1620-1635) ma( ie at Cape Ann, at Naumkeag (Salem), at Noddles Island (East Boston), and at Shawm ut (Boston). New conditions in Eng- land now led to a third permanent North American colony. The new king, Charles I., plunged into bitter quarrels with the Puritans and with Parlia- Early New England Settlements. ment. Some merchants and country gentlemen, most of them Puritans who still accepted the service and authority of the Church of England, got a land patent from the New England THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA, 1007-1660 53 Council. Then in 1629 they secured a royal charter to the " Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England," covering a tract bounded on the north by a line three miles north of the Merrimac, on the south by a line three miles south of Massachusetts Bay and the Charles River, and reach- ing westward to the South Sea (Pacific Ocean). The royal charter made no condition that the company should have its headquarters in England, and by a solemn " Agreement" made at Cambridge, England (August 26, 1629), fifteen members undertook to go to Massachusetts — or Massa- chusetts Bay, as the " plantation " (colony) was at first called. The company then voted " to transfer the government of the Plantation to those that shall inhabit it" — that is, they carried the parchment charter to Massachusetts, and exercised its privileges thousands of miles away from the too inquisitive English government. In 1630 a thousand people crossed to Massachusetts ; among them a dozen or so " freemen," or stockholders of the company, who set the government of the colony in motion by electing John Winthrop governor. The colonial government thus formed found already in existence the little towns of Roxbury, Dorchester, Charlestown, Boston, and Watertown, each of which had established a town government and begun to legis- late for itself. These little undeveloped republics easily yielded to the superior authority of the colony in general measures, and accepted its right to create or alter forms of town government. Although the royal government was furi- ous at the transfer of the charter, the colony grew rapidly, and in ten years increased to nearly fifteen thousand people. In 1635 the New England Council of 1620 gave up its charter, and the royal government made an unsuccessful effort to cancel the Massachusetts charter also. With a strong backing in money, colonists, and protection through the Parliamentary leaders in England, Massachusetts 54 COLONIAL ENGLISHMEN had an opportunity to work out several important experiments in government. 33 Ex _ (1) The colony was based on a written charter, which ample of formed a constitution suited to government on the spot, Massachu- setts in an( i was supplemented by a little code of laws called the government « Boo > y of Liberties," enacted by the General Court in 1641. (2) A popular government was built up. The governor was elected every year by the freemen of the company, and so were the assistants (originally a board of directors of the company). In 1634 the towns began to send "committees," or delegates, to the General Court (originally the stockholders' meeting) and thus established a representative government, in which the assistants remained as an upper house. In practice this was not a very democratic system, since freemen had to be church members, and hardly one adult male immigrant in eight was admitted as a freeman. (3) Government and religion were closely united. In their political thought the colonists were much influenced by John Calvin, the great Genevan divine and statesman. The Puri- tans very speedily abandoned the prayer book and the episco- pal authority of the Church of England, and set up independent churches which called themselves "Congregational"; and the ministers, who were supported by public taxation, had remark- able influence in public affairs. One of them said that the proper government is that " in which men of God are consulted in all hard cases and in matters of religion." Massachusetts developed statesmen of whom the best ex- ample was John Winthrop, an English country squire by birth, 34 Win _ imbued with a strong sense of duty, living like a gentle- throp and man i n a good house, with plenty of servants. Winthrop nomians g&ve form to the commonwealth, regulated legislation, (1636-1637) an( j s tood as long as he could for aristocratic government; but in the end he yielded graciously to the democracy. He was thirteen times elected governor of Massachusetts Bay. THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA, 1607-1660 55 The colony, led by men like Winthrop, sternly repressed people who differed from the established religion, or too much criticised the clergy. In 1636 Mrs. Anne Hutchinson of Bos- ton, and others, who were called " Antinomians " (i.e. people not living by the letter of the law of God), set up the doctrine of the "covenant of grace," or special pos- session of the inspiration of God; and they as- serted that most of the Boston ministers were under a "covenant of works," that is, were trying to be saved by religious observances. Then Mrs. Hutchinson began to hold women's meetings to discuss and to criticise the latest sermon — perhaps the first woman's club in America. She was tried for heresy, dismissed John Winthrop, about 1628. Ascribed to Van Dyck. Dress of the Puritan gentleman. from the church, and ordered to leave the colony (1637). This act of religious intolerance can not be denied or de- fended, and is in marked contrast with the gentler spirit of the people of Plymouth. Hardly had Massachusetts been settled, when a southern colony was chartered under Catholic influence. In 1632 King Charles granted to George Calvert, Lord Baltimore (soon 35. Settle- succeeded by his son Cecil, the second Lord Baltimore), a Ma^la °d charter for a colony called Maryland after Queen Henrietta (1632-1650) Maria. It was bounded on the north by the " 40th degree," on the east by Delaware Bay and the ocean, on the south by the 56 COLONIAL ENGLISHMEN SCALE OF MILES Original Extent of Maryland. Dotted lines are present state boundaries. Potomac, and on the west by a meridian line drawn through the source of the Potomac. This charter was of a new type, for both the land and the powers of government were transferred to Calvert as a "pro- prietary " : he had author- ity to make laws for the colony, provided the free- men of the colony as- sented. Although not distinctly so stated in the charter, it was understood that Catholics would be allowed in the province; and in 1634 a body of col- onists, both Catholic and Protestant, settled first at St. Marys and then else- where. The Baltimore family was rich and powerful, and sent out many emigrants ; the soil was fertile, tobacco soon became the main industry, and slaves were introduced. The first excitement of early Maryland history was a contro- versy over Kent Island in Chesapeake Bay, with William Clay- bourne, who had settled it under a grant from Virginia; and a little civil war was necessary to displace him. In an early contest with the proprietor the assembly successfully asserted its right to initiate laws. The most significant statute was the Toleration Act of 1649, which distinctly declared that "no person . . . professing to believe in Jesus Christ, shall from henceforth be anywaies molested, or discountenanced . . . for his religion nor in the free exercise thereof." Under this act, though Catholics could not be persecuted for their faith, it was impossible for them to keep out Protestants, who out- numbered the Catholics ; and the colony speedily became dis- tinctly Protestant in feeling. THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA, 1007-1660 57 The next impulse of colonization was on the Connecticut River, where several currents of settlement ran together. (1) The Dutch built a fort, called " Good Hope," on the 36 fMQ ^ Connecticut in 1623, and continued to hold it thirty years. ment of (2) The Plymouth people established a post at Windsor on ™j J£ ew in 1633. (3) In 1631 the Council for New England Haven v ' (1623-1643) granted to Lord Say and Seal and others a tract on Long Island Sound, under which a settlement was made at Say- brook in 1635. (4) The principal settlements were made by some of the people of Roxbury and Newtown, now Cambridge, Massachusetts, headed by Rev. Thomas Hooker. In 1635 and 1636 they made their way across country and founded on the Connecticut River the towns of Hartford (alongside the Dutch fort), Windsor (unceremoniously annexed from Plymouth), and Wethersfield. Soon they cut loose from Massachusetts; and in January, 1639, feeling the need of a< common government, representatives of these three little towns met at Hartford and drew up the "Fundamental Orders of Connecticut," the first detailed constitution made by a self-governing American community for itself. Meantime the colony of New Haven was forming in like manner out of separate communities : Southold and other towns on Long Island ; Milford, Guilford, and Stamford ; and espe- cially the town of New Haven, founded in 1638, by Theophilus Eaton and Rev. John Davenport. In 1643 these little towns united in a common colonial assembly. The settlement of the Connecticut valley was interrupted by an Indian war in 1637. The Pequots, a large and warlike tribe, grew threatening as they saw their hunting grounds in- vaded by the English. Captain John Mason, of Connecticut, with 90 armed white men and 400 Narragansetts, attacked the Pequots not far from the present Stonington, Connecticut; and stormed their fort. As the chronicler puts it, u Downe Contempo- fell men, women, and children, those that scaped us, fell rarie8 > *« 444 58 COLONIAL ENGLISHMEN into the hands of the Indians, that were in the reere of us . . . not above five of them escaped out of our hands." This cruel and merciless massacre terrified the remnants of the tribe, and gave peace for nearly forty years. New England^ Pequot Fort, destroyed in 1637. Contemporary plan of the attack by whites and Indians. Just outside the charter limits of Massachusetts another new colony was founded in 1636. The leading spirit was 37 Settle- R°g er Williams, a graduate of Oxford, who for two ment of years was minister at Plymouth, and then became a Sand minister at Salem. Williams laid down what seems (1636-1650) n ow the obvious doctrine that the civil government has nothing to do with religious acts, and that every one should have liberty to worship God in the light of his own conscience. For his denial of the right of any government to prescribe religious beliefs for its citizens, Williams was banished from THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA, 1607-1660 59 Massachusetts (January, 1636). He betook himself to what was then the wilderness of Narragansett Bay, where he secured a tract of land from the Indians, by friendly agree- ment, and founded the town of Providence. Two years later he alarmed and grieved his neighbors in Massachusetts by formally going over to the Baptist Church, which was bitterly persecuted both in England and in the colonies. Around Narragansett Bay other exiles from Massachusetts made little settlements in 1638 : the town of Warwick on the mainland, Portsmouth (founded by Mrs. Anne Hutchinson) and Newport on the island of Rhode Island. In 1644 the Earl of Warwick, in behalf of Parliament, gave a patent to the " Providence Plantations in the Narragansett Bay in New England," under which, in 1647, were loosely united under one government the four little settlements of Provi- dence, Newport, Portsmouth, and Warwiqk. The little group of settlements attracted immigrants by its favorable situation ; it even tolerated the Church of England ; it had a prosperous commerce, a tumultuous assembly, elected its own governor, and was heartily disliked by its neighbors. The settlements north of Massachusetts were obstructed by rival French claims, and hampered by a succession of con- fused and conflicting grants made by the Plymouth Com- 38. New pany and its successor the Council for New England. Hampshire John Wheelwright, a Boston minister, adopted the (1620-1650) " Antinomian " doctrines, and was disfranchised and banished ; a little company of Massachusetts people, who had already set- tled north of the Merrimac at Exeter without a grant, begged him to come and be their minister (1638). Other little towns were speedily settled in what is now New Hampshire, and formed a sort of confederation, not unlike the governments of Rhode Island and New Haven. Massachusetts claimed the territory; and within five years the people accepted her jurisdiction, and remained a part of that colony most of the time to 1691. hakt's amer. hist. — 4 60 COLONIAL ENGLISHMEN One of the members of the Plymouth Company, Ferdinando Gorges, made several efforts to build up a colony in Maine, and in 1631 founded the "City of Agamenticus" (York); but Massachusetts annexed this and other little settlements on the northern coast in 1652. Immigration into the colonies and especially into New Eng- land was suddenly checked by alarming difficulties in England. After fifteen years of struggle with the king, the Puritans nial gov- and Separatists at last got the upper hand in the " Long under Par Parliament," which met in 1640. In 1642 a civil war liament broke out, the result of which was that, in 1649, the army under Oliver Cromwell became the virtual government of England, and Charles I. was executed. The Independents (substantially the same as the New England Congregation- alists or Separatists) now became the controlling power; and the army, which was strongly Independent, supported Cromwell as "Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scot- land, and Ireland " from 1653 to his death in 1658. The colonists were left mostly to themselves during the early part of this period of confusion. Cromwell, however, de- veloped a strong and consistent colonial policy. (1) In 1651 he secured the first navigation act for protecting English colo- nial trade by excluding foreign shipping — a measure directed against the Dutch. (2) He sent out a fleet in 1652, which compelled Maryland and Virginia to submit to the authority of Parliament. Hostilities broke out in Maryland between the Puritans and the Catholics, but the Puritans triumphed. (3) Cromwell attacked the colonies of Holland and Spain, com- pelling the Dutch at last to withdraw from Hartford, and thereby practically to give up all claims to the Connecticut valley; and in 1655 Jamaica was taken from Spain and added to the previous group of English West India islands. The pressure of the Indians and the Dutch, and the confu- sion in England, led Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA, 1607-1660 61 and New Haven, in 1643, to unite in a colonial union called the United Colonies of New England — the first of its kind and the prototype of our present federal union. The 40 New " Articles of Confederation," under which the union England ,. . . .. Confedera- was formed, was a little constitution, creating a govern- tion (16 4 3 _ ment of two commissioners from each colony, " being all 1655) in Church fellowship with us," and any six of the eight agree- ing could bind all the colonies, although Massachusetts had more people than the other three colonies together. The Articles provided for common meetings and for common action " in generall cases of a civill nature " ; and provided for the return of fugitives, servants, and prisoners. This confederation stood for more than forty years, and by its united front rendered large service to the colonies ; it con- cerned itself with the general improvement of the people ; it made boundary settlements with the Dutch; it repeatedly checked the Narragansett Indians ; it even corresponded with the French governor of Acadia. Once Massachusetts flatly denied the right of the six commissioners from the other colonies to control it (1653), and threatened secession; but peace and concord were restored. Among the new sects which sprang up in England was that of the Friends (commonly called Quakers), founded in 1648 by George Fox as a protest against all religious forms, 41. The ceremonies, and government. Though a quiet folk of episode singularly blameless lives, they were harassed and often (1648-1660) imprisoned in England. They soon began to appear in the colonies. When two modest and God-fearing Quaker women reached Boston, their doctrines were officially declared to be "heretical, blasphemous, and devilish," their books were burned, and they were shipped out of the colony (1656). Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Plymouth, as well as Mary- land and Virginia, hastened to pass laws for the severe punish- ment of Quakers and " ranters," and prohibiting the circulation 62 COLONIAL ENGLISHMEN of their books; but mild punishments did not keep them out, nor even condemnations to be sold as slaves. In 1660 four of them were executed in Boston; and this rigor so shocked the sense of the community that a new law was passed abolishing the death penalty against the Quakers, but still banishing them. The Quaker episode is a proof that the good and pure principles of the Puritans did not keep the community from tyranny and stupid cruelty. The Quakers neither harmed nor seriously threatened the good order of the colonists; they were persecuted because they ventured to differ from the usual religious and political practices. The English settlements in America in the first half of the seventeenth century are the foundation of the present United 42 Sum- States, and were made under circumstances favorable to mary high civic spirit. By the theory of English law the lands in America were the personal possessions of the crown, to be granted and to be governed according to the king's will ; and both James I. and Charles I. had no larger thought than to please their favorites with immense grants of territory ; and they put out of their own hands all direct colonial government, except in Virginia after 1624. The original plan was to colonize through great companies, which were to find their profit in disposing of the lands and in trade ; but the early corporations broke down. The London Company's Virginia charters were annulled in 1624. The Plymouth Company in its two forms of 1606 and 1620 practi- cally did nothing but make land grants. The Massachusetts charter of 1629, however, was transferred to the actual settlers, and became the constitution of a nearly independent common- wealth. Tn Maryland there was a new form of proprietary colonial grant in 1632 ; but the people obtained a share in their own government. In Maine, New Hampshire, Plymouth, Ehode Island, Connecticut, and New Haven, colonies were THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA, 1007-1660 68 founded without royal charters, and almost without royal control. The great lesson of this early English colonization is that men of the English race were able to adapt themselves to new and unforeseen conditions. The colonists made local govern- ments for themselves, founded representative colonial govern- ments, and even set up a remarkable federation, during the confusion caused by the civil war in England. TOPICS (1) Compile a list of American colonizing companies chartered by Suggestive the crown. (2) Why did the Popham colony fail ? (3) Give a topics description of the weroance Powhatan. (4) Did the Indians check the growth of Virginia ? (5) Was the court justified in annulling the charters of Virginia in 1024 ? (6) What were the religious principles of the Independents ? (7) Why did Charles I. so readily grant a charter for Massachusetts Bay ? (8) Why were the Plymouth Company and the Council for New England failures? (9) Were the ministers wise guides in Massachusetts ? (10) Was Roger Williams dangerous to the peace of Massachusetts ? (11) Why did not Spain uproot the colony of Virginia? (12) What did "West and Northwest" mean in the Virginia charter of 1609? (13) Tobacco culture. (14) Doctrines of the Quakers offensive to the Puritans. (15) Life in Jamestown. (10) Did Pocahontas save John Smith's Search life ? (17) The first Virginia assembly. (18) The voyage of the topics Mayflower. (19) The Pilgrims and the Indians. (20) Trial of Anne Hutchinson. (21) Banishment of Rev. John Wheelwright. (22) The interest of the New England Confederation in education. (23) Was Claybourne entitled to Kent Island ? (24) Cromwell's interest in the American colonies. (25) Precise date of the landing of the Pilgrims. REFERENCES See maps, pp. 45, 52, 50 ; Semple, Geographic Conditions, 19-35 ; Geography Tyler, England in America ; Epoch Maps, no. 3. Thwaites, Colonies, §§ 28-34, 48-68 ; Fisher, Colonial Era, 30- Secondary 49, 02-71, 82-140, 177-187 ; Lodge, English Colonies, chs. i. iii. authorities xviii.-xxi. passim; Tyler, England in America; Fiske, Old Vir- 64 COLONIAL ENGLISHMEN ginia, I. 41-318, — Beginnings of New England, 50-108; Doyle, English in America, I. 101-229, 275-313, II. 11-319, III. 98-114 ; Wilson, American People, I. 34-68, 74-218 ; Gay, Bryant's His- tory, I. 202-338, 370-428,476-558, II. 1-114, 165-228,373-379; Adams, Three Episodes ; Eggleston, Beginners of a Nation, 25- 349 ; Bruce, Virginia, I. 1-188 ; Weeden, New England, I. 23-46 ; Mereness, Maryland ; Warner, Captain John Smith ; Browne, George Calvert and Cecilius Calvert ; Twichell, John Winthrop ; Walker, Thomas Hooker ; Straus, Boger Williams. Sources Hart, Source Book, §§ 5, 8, 10, 13-21, — Contemporaries, I. §§ 49-142 passim, — Source Beaders, I. §§ 10-12, 20, 34-36, 45-48, 57-60; MacDonald, Select Charters, nos. 1-21 ; American History Leaflets, nos. 7, 16, 25, 27, 29, 31 ; Old South Leaflets, nos. 7, 8, 48-51, 53-55, 6Q, 77, 87, 93, 121 ; Caldwell, Survey, 13, 29-32 ; Arber, Pilgrim Fathers; Bradford, Plimoth Plantation; Win- throp, New England. See N. Eng. Hist. Teachers' Ass'n, Syllabus, 297-305, — Historical Sources, §§ 69-71. Longfellow, Courtship of Miles Standish, — John Endicott ; Whittier, John Underhill, — The Exiles, — Banished from Massa- chusetts, — King's Missive ; Mary Johnston, To Have and to Hold (Va.) ; J. E. Cooke, My Lady Pokahontas, — Stories of the Old Dominion, 1-64 ; J. G. Austin, Standish of Standish, — Betty Alden (Plymouth) ; L. M. Child, Hobomok (Plymouth) ; Motley, Merry Mount ; Hawthorne, Maypole of Merry Mount, — Endicott and the Bed Cross, — The Gentle Boy (Quakers), — Grandfather's Chair, pt. i. chs. i.-vii. ; F. J. Stimson, King Noanett (Mass. and Va.) ; J. G. Holland, Bay Path (Connecticut valley) ; B. M. Dix, Making of Christopher Ferringham (Quaker) ; L. M. Thurston, Mistress Brent (Md.) ; M. W. Goodwin, Sir Christopher (Md.). Pictures Winsor, America, III. ; Wilson, American People, I. Illustrative works CHAPTER IV. RIVALS OF ENGLAND, AND THE GREAT WEST (1603-1689) Side by side with the English colonies grew up French settlements on the north, and Dutch posts in the center, which New France and New Netherland. contested with the English the control of the seaboard and the best routes into the interior. Under their brilliant 4 « French king Henry IV. the French revived their American settlements claims (§ 21), and in 1603 lie issued a royal patent, with a monopoly of the fur trade, to the Sieur de Monts for the territory 65 (1603-1632) 66 COLONIAL ENGLISHMEN between the 40th and 46th degrees of latitude, under the name of Acadie. De Monts made temporary settlements at the island of St. Croix, in Passamaquoddy Bay (1604), and at Port lloyal, later Annapolis ; his agent Samuel de Champlain established the first permanent French settlement in North America at Quebec (1608). Champlain was the most brilliant and most successful of French explorers and colonists. Soon after his arrival he and a body of Algon- quin Indians went to the lake now called by his name, where they fell in with a party of fierce and hostile Iroquois. Cham plain's fire- arms quickly dis- persed the stran- gers in a panic, and he thus laid the foundations of hatred and dreadful warfare between the French and the Five Nations. In 1611 he founded Montreal, and a few years later was the first European to reach the shores of Lake Huron and Lake Ontario. A settlement made by Jesuits on the island of Mount Desert in 1613 was forthwith the scene of the first armed conflict be- tween the French and the English on American soil, for Cap- tain Argall of Virginia descended upon it and carried away the settlers. A few years later England went so far, during a war between England and France, as to capture Port Royal and Quebec. Nevertheless, in 1632, by the treaty of St. Germain, the first European agreement as to American boundaries, the English formally acknowledged the rightful title of France to "New France, Acadia (Acadie), and Canada" (that is, to the Champlain defeating the Iroquois, 1009. From Champlain' s Voijages, 1613. RIVALS OF ENGLAND 67 present Nova Scotia and the lower St. Lawrence valley, with the country between) ; in return they were to be undisturbed in their Plymouth and Massachusetts settlements. Another competitor for the best part of North America appeared on the middle Atlantic coast. The Dutch republic had now become one of the principal naval and commer- 44 Dutch cial powers of Europe ; and a truce with Spain (1609) settlements * .. I tj xt / (1609-1630) gave it an opportunity for new expansion. Henry Hud- son, an Englishman in the Dutch service, in 1609 rediscovered New York Harbor, followed the East River to the entrance of Long Island Sound, and explored the Hudson River, thus giv- ing to the Dutch a presumptive right to the neighboring region. Accordingly the United New Netherland Company of traders built the trading post of New Amsterdam on the site of the present city of New York in 1614. Seven years later the Dutch government granted the monopoly of Dutch trade in America to the new Dutch .West India Company, which in 1623 sent out thirty families, part of whom settled .Fort Orange (Albany). The first permanent town on Manhattan Island was Fort Amsterdam, enlarged from the earlier post by Governor Peter New Amsterdam, 1G56. (From a drawing by H. Block.) Minnit in 1626. The Dutch laid a broad foundation for their new colony of New Netherland by planting little trading posts on the Connecticut, on Long Island, up the "North River " (Hudson), and on the "South River" (Delaware). A change 68 COLONIAL ENGLISHMEN in the Dutch policy came in 1629, when, by a Charter of Privileges, great land grants were assigned to Dutch "pa- troons," gentlemen who brought out their own settlers, and established a kind of feudal system. Other people came in, and before long eighteen languages were spoken in the little town, again called New Amsterdam. Meantime a rival power had acquired the Delaware region. In 1638 a Swedish royal colony of Swedes and Finns settled 45. The on the lower Delaware, near Fort Christina (Wilmington). Dutch and rj,^ e co lony was not well supported by the home country, LI16 OW6Q.6S (1638-1655) and in 1655 it was seized by the Dutch Governor Stuy- vesant. While this struggle was going on, in the general Eu- ropean peace of Westphalia (1648) Spain had at last admitted the independence of the Dutch, including their American colo- nies of Guiana and New Netherland. English, French, and Dutch alike 1 speedily learned that the way from the coast to the interior with its valuable furs was held by the powerful confederacy of the Five Nations of Five Iroquois — the Mohawks, Onondagas, Cayugas, Oneidas, Nations an( j g enecas# Their territory stretched along central New York in a succession of towns made up of log cabins called " long houses." Though they never numbered more than ten thousand people, of whom two thousand or three thousand were warriors, their war parties were a terror as far east as Boston, as far south as Virginia, and as far west as Illinois. Constantly reduced by desperate fighting and disease, they kept up their numbers by adopting prisoners. Their internal or- ganization was weak, for there was only a loose confederation between the tribes; if the young men wanted to go to war, they made up a party, including members of one or all the tribes, and went their way. The worst enemies of the Iroquois were their own fierce- ness, disease, and the white man's rum. They suffered fear- fnlly from smallpox, which ran its course till often whole RIVALS OF ENGLAND 69 villages were depopulated. As to the effects of liquor, an eye- witness says: "They were all lustily drunk, raving, Contempo- striking, shouting, jumping, fighting each other, and rariea, 1.589 foaming at the mouth like raging wild beasts. And this was caused by Christians ! " While the Dutch were pushing into the central coast, the French were steadily developing the St. Lawrence basin, but they avoided Lake Erie, which was flanked by the Five 47. pen- Nations. In 1634 Jean Nicolet followed up the Ottawa ingof the St. Law- River, crossed to Georgian Bay, and passed through renC e basin upper Lake Huron to the Sault Ste. Marie and the (1634-1669) Strait of Mackinac ; he was the first European on Lake Michi- gan. The Catholic missionaries speedily followed, and outran the traders in zeal and courage. The Iroquois followed their French enemies northward, exterminated the Hurons because they were friendly to the French, and martyred the mission- aries (1649).. In 1665 Lake Superior was discovered by the missionary Father Allouez, and before long French traders discovered an overland route from Lake Superior to Hudson Bay. Missions were soon after established at Sault Ste. Marie, at Mackinac, and at St. Xavier, on Green Bay. Meanwhile the Jesuit missionaries were making heroic, though on the whole unavailing, efforts to Christianize the Iroquois. Father Isaac Jogues's account of his experience Contempo- as a prisoner gives a frightful picture of his captors, who Far ' kman seemed to him like demons ; they leaped upon him like Jesuits wild beasts, tore out his nails, and crunched his fingers with their teeth ; his attendant Hurons were tortured on a scaf- fold in the midst of the Iroquois village ; yet the heroic priest "began to instruct them separately on the articles of the faith, then on the very stage itself baptized two with raindrops gathered from the leaves of a stalk of Indian corn." Rescued by the Dutch, this brave and self-sacrificing man returned and plunged a second time into that misery, and died a martyr's death. 4 La Salle RIVALS OF ENGLAND 71 On the upper lakes the French heard vaguely of a great south-flowing . river, the " Missipi ; ' or "Mich sipi," "Big Water," which they supposed to flow into the Gulf of 48 Di scov .. California. The first man to form an intelligent plan eryofthe upper Mis- of reaching the great river was Robert Cavalier, com- sissippi monly called La Salle, a French nobleman who, in 1669, (1669-1680) went west as far as Lake Erie, which had just been traversed for the first time by a white man, the trapper Joliet. La Salle then disappeared southward, and reached a large river, the Wabash, or perhaps the Ohio (1670) ; but returned to Montreal, unable to push farther west by that route. Before La Salle could gather his resources to start again, the Mississippi had been reached, under the direction of Fronte- nac, the new governor of Canada. In 1673 the missionary Father Marquette, accompanied by Joliet, passed through Green Bay, up the Fox River, across the easy portage of two miles, and down the Wisconsin, till (June 17) they entered a mighty stream, which Marquette called the River Immaculate Conception. They found very deep water, saw prairies extend- ing east and west, and discovered quantities of fish, turkeys, and buffalo. League after league they floated down the river, hoping to reach its mouth ; they passed the mouth of the Missouri, so muddy that they would not drink it. By the time they reached the mouth of the Arkansas they felt sure that they were near Spanish and hostile territory ; and there- fore turned back, and paddled up the Illinois River, which they called the Divine, and crossed over the site now occupied by Chicago to Lake Michigan. Meanwhile La Salle was made commander of Fort Frontenac on Lake Ontario, and he brooded over the possibilities of es- tablishing a trade route to the valley of the river found by Mar- quette. In 1678 Louis XIV. gave him a grant, authorizing him to make discoveries and to build forts, and a year later he built the Griffon, the first European vessel on Lake Erie, and 72 COLONIAL ENGLISHMEN navigated her through the chain of Great Lakes to Green Bay ; and thence in boats reached the river St. Joseph, near the head of Lake Michigan, where he built Fort Miamis. Crossing the portage to the Kankakee River, he made his way down the Illi- nois to a point near the present Peoria, where he built another fort, Crevecoeur, as a basis for further advance. A missionary friar, Father Hennepin, came out with La Salle and in 1680 was sent by him down the Illinois and thence up the Mississippi ; he was taken prisoner by the Sioux Indians, and carried to the falls, which Hennepin named St. Anthony, at the site of Min- neapolis. Again La Salle was obliged to return to Montreal to recruit his forces. When he went west a third time, in December, 49. Discov- 1680, he found that his Fort Crevecoeur had been de- ery of the stroyed by Iroquois and its garrison under Tonty had dis- sissippi appeared. After a hasty trip to the mouth of the Illinois (1680-1687) } ie re turned eastward, and then began his final and suc- cessful journey in 1681. His party crossed the divide of the Chicago River, and floated down the Illinois, reaching the Mis- sissippi February 6, 1682. Then he floated down the same stretch that Marquette had traversed. Soon after passing the mouth of the Ohio he took possession of the country with great ceremony, and set up the king's arms. A few days later, at the Chickasaw Bluffs, he founded Fort Prudhomme. After a few weeks he passed Marquette's farthest point. April 6, 1682, he arrived at a point where the river divides into three channels. As one of the party wrote : " The water is brackish ; after advancing two leagues it became perfectly salt, and advancing on, we discovered the open sea, so that . . the sieur de la Salle, in the name of his majesty, took posses- sion of that river, of all rivers that enter it, and of all the country watered by them." Thus was asserted the French title to the magnificent valley which La Salle named Louisiana, in honor of the French monarch, Louis XIV. RIVALS OF ENGLAND 73 On his way back La Salle founded Fort St. Louis at Starved Rock on the Illinois. His discovery made such an impression that the king sent him, in 1684, direct to the Gulf of Mexico, with a commission to plant a colony near the mouth of the Mississippi. By ill fortune he missed the river, and built another Fort St. Louis (1685) far west of the delta, some- where near Matagorda Bay. He could not find his river ; his men dwindled away; and he was murdered by his own fol- lowers in 1687. The fort was destroyed by Indians, while the Spaniards from Mexico were trying to reach it, so as to destroy the possible germ of a French settlement. La Salle was a hot-headed, impetuous man, who planned an enterprise of colonization beyond his means and his power to command men; yet he felt more than any other Frenchman the importance of the West. He opened up a trade between the Lakes and the Mississippi, and between the upper and lower reaches of that river, and he secured for France a valid title to the Mississippi valley. The keenness of the rivalry between European nations for the possession of North America was shown also in the West Indies, where the Dutch took several islands, and estab- 50. Inter- lished a footing on the north coast of South America, ^t^ons^ On the other hand, as will be seen in the next chapter, America they lost New Netherland to the English in 1664. England, France, and Spain were thus left sole claimants for North America, and for a time the English showed less aggressive- ness. In 1667, by the peace of Breda, the English a second time admitted the rights of the French to Acadia and Canada. By the treaty of Madrid (1670) Spain for the first time ac- knowledged that the English had rightful colonies in America. A hotly disputed territory lay about Hudson Bay, discovered in 1610 by Henry Hudson for the English. This bay was a back entrance to the fur country of the northwest, and in 1670 the English Hudson's Bay Company was chartered to get a foot- 74 COLONIAL ENGLISHMEN hold there. The French, who saw their monopoly of the direct trade through the upper lakes disturbed, tried to seize Hudson Bay, and its ownership remained for many years in dispute. By 1689 the three great colonizing powers had developed their policies toward the native Indians, toward the colonists, 51. Colo- and toward colonial trade. In all these respects Spain nial policies th t liberal. The natives of the West Indian of Euro- pean states islands were exterminated by the cruelty of their con- querors ; though on the mainland the Indians were more mildly treated. The Spanish colonists had no self-government, and were ruled by governors sent out from Spain, and their commerce was reg- ulated by the Casa de Contractacion, or House of Trade, at Seville. By a rigorous colonial sys- tem, the whole Spanish colonial trade, including that from the Philippines, was the monopoly of the merchants of the single port of Seville. It was concentrated on the Isthmus of Panama, whence year after year for more than two centuries sailed the " plate fleet " carrying to Spain gold and silver, Asiatic goods, and colonial exports. The French got on with the savage natives better than any other power, because willing to meet them halfway. They lived on terms of peace and almost of intimacy with their Indian sub- jects ; and French frontiersmen often took squaw wives. Soon arose a distinct class of coureurs de bois, white men and half- breeds who had adopted Indian dress and manner of life. Canada was substantially a big military camp, which existed chiefly for the fur trade : even the French permanent colonists were chiefly peasants, who had no ambition for self-government. Spanish Walls and Gateway at St. Augustine. Probably erected ia the 17th century. RIVALS OF ENGLAND 75 The English despised the Indians, and eventually exter- minated them or took their lands. The individual colonists had large opportunities for making a living, were of an intelli- gent class, and had local self-government, which in such times as the English civil war amounted almost to independence. Down to 1689 the English colonial trade was little restricted. The ordinance of 1651, intended to take the carrying trade from the Dutch, was not enforced in America, and the colonists traded constantly in the French and Spanish West Indies, in defiance of the close colonial system of those two powers. From 1603 to 1689 the relations of the five powers of North America were gradually defined as follows : j(l) The Spaniards held undisputed possession of Mexico and Florida. 52. sum- (2) The French occupied Acadia and the St. Lawrence mar y valley without serious opposition from any other power, and had established a good claim to the Mississippi valley by the first systematic explorations of the river : (a) the central por- tion by Marquette (1673) ; (b) the upper river by Hennepin (1680) ; (c) the lower river and its mouth by La Salle (1682). (3) The Swedes for a time had a foothold on the Delaware. (4) The Dutch claimed the region from the Connecticut to the Delaware, actually colonized the Hudson, and annexed the Swedish settlement on the Delaware in 1655 ; but they were forced out in 1664. (5) The English gradually possessed them- selves of the coast from South Carolina to Maine. As soon as they were founded, the colonies of the various European powers began to take part in European wars ; and they were directly affected by clauses in the treaties of St. Germain (1632), of Breda (1654), and of Madrid (1670). The three European powers developed different policies toward their colonies — that of Spain being harsh at most points, that of France milder, and that of England extraordinarily liberal for the times. hart's amer. hist. — 5 76 COLONIAL ENGLISHMEN Suggestive topics Search topics TOPICS (1) On what pretext did Argall destroy the settlement at Mount Desert ? (2) What was Acadia ? (3) What made the Iroquois so powerful ? (4) Why did the Swedish colony fail ? (5) What did La Salle aim to accomplish ? (6) What forts did La Salle found? (7) The various names applied to the Mississippi River. (8) Did La Salle establish a good claim to Texas ? (9) Champlain's adventures in America. (10) Hudson's voy- age on the Half-Moon. (11) The early public buildings on Man- hattan Island. (12) Washington Irving's picture of the Dutch in New Netherland. (13) Present relics of the patroonates. (14) Methods and results of the Jesuit missions. (15) Hennepin's claim to first discovery of the Mississippi. (16) Earliest accounts of the Chicago River. (17) La Salle on the Mississippi. (18) The Spanish plate fleets. (19) Contraband trade with the Spanish colonies. REFERENCES Geography Secondary- authorities Sources Illustrative works Pictures Thwaites, France in America ; Semple, Geographic Conditions, 24-31. Thwaites, Colonies, §§ 13, 18-22, 83, 84, 108-110 ; Lodge, English Colonies, 205-208, 285-294; Higginson, Larger History, 120-136, 180-183 ; Larned, History for Beady Reference, I. 72, 355, 654, III. 2324 ; Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, 77-342 ; Fiske, Dutch and Quaker Colonies, I. 80-242, — New France and New England, 35-132 ; Parkman, Pioneers of France, 229-454, — Jesuits in North America, — La Salle, — Old Regime, — Frontenac, 1-183, — Pontiac, I. 7-28, 46-68; Gay, Bryant's History, I. 339-369, 429-475, II. 115-164, 229-246, 499-532; Sedgwick, Samuel de Champlain ; Thwaites, Father Marquette. Hart, Source Book, §§ 6, 36, — Contemporaries, I. §§ 37-43, 150-159, 169-171, — Source Readers, I. §§ 47, 59, 65; Old South Leaflets, nos. 46, 69, 91, 94, 96; MacDonald, Select Charters, no. 9 ; Higginson, American Explorers, 269-307. See N. Eng. Hist. Teachers' Ass'n, Syllabus, 309, 310, 315,— Historical Sources, § 68. Whittier, St. John ; Stedman, Peter Stuyvesanf s New Year's Call ; E. P. Tenney, Constance of Acadia ; M. H. Catherwood, Lady of Fort St. John,— Story of Tonty, — Romance of Bollard (Canada) ; A. C. Doyle, Refugees (Canada) ; E. E. Green, Young Pioneers (La Salle) ; Irving, Knickerbocker' 1 s History of New York; J. K. Paulding, Konigsmarke (Swedes). Winsor, America, IV. ; Wilson, American People, I. CHAPTER V EXPANSION OF THE ENGLISH COLONIES, 1660-1689 Cromwell's death in 1658 caused the downfall of the Eng- lish Commonwealth, and King Charles II. entered London in 1660. The colonies fell back into the hands of the crown, 53. The which established a series of colonial councils, eventually Bestoration in the called Lords of Trade. Parliament, as a part of its colonies general power to regulate the trade of the empire, in (1660-1663) 1660 and 1672 renewed, with additions, the earlier navigation ordinance (§ 39), so as to direct colonial commerce through English ports for the profit of the English merchant. Massachusetts, governing herself under her charter of 1629, had been since 1643 all but independent ; she had even estab- lished a mint and coined "pine-tree shillings." The English government rated the colony soundly for this coinage ; and required that people who were not members of the Congre- gational Church be permitted to vote and to hold office, and that the services of the Church of England be allowed. The colony also had to repeal its anti-Quaker laws, and the public insanity on that subject gradually came to an end. The king smiled upon Connecticut, and in 1662 granted a favorable charter, — the first charter the colony ever had,— with bounds extending to the South Sea. New Haven was incorporated into Connecticut, as a punishment for receiving Whalley and Goffe, two of the "regicides" who had condemned Charles I. to death. Rhode Island received a charter in 1663, giving it about its present boundaries and a liberal govern- ment with an elective governor. Plymouth got no charter, but was allowed to remain separate thirty years longer. The Baltimores were confirmed in their administration of Mary- 77 78 COLONIAL ENGLISHMEN land. Thus in 1663 the English had in America three char- tered colonies, one proprietary colony, and two royal colonies, Virginia and Plymouth, without charters. New Netherland, the Dutch colony which separated New England from Maryland and Virginia, was a feeble and ill- managed commercial community, never numbering more 54 Annex- & J ation of than ten thousand people. The Dutch West India Corn- New Neth- p an y wag chiefly interested in the Indian trade; and completed though a local council of deputies was formed in 1641, it (1664-1689) had \i\x\Q to do, and could not even raise money to build a schoolhouse. Ill treatment of the neighboring Indians pro- voked fierce and de- structive wars along the Hudson. In 1647 the last Dutch gov- ernor, Stuy vesant, was appointed; he was a man of vigorous char- acter, but had little means for defense and no intelligent support. Although nominally at peace with Hol- land, the king of Eng- land asserted vague English claims by granting the region occupied by the Dutch Lands of the Duke of York. With dates of cession of outlying portions. to his brother, the Duke of York, and sending a fleet to capture New Amsterdam in 1664. The place surrendered (August 29), and with it the whole colony fell without a blow j and thus New Netherland became New York. Three years later the Dutch reluctantly renounced the colony, and except for a few months in 1674 they never held it again. COLONIAL EXPANSION, 1660-1089 79 Instead of giving effect to the charters of Massachusetts and Connecticut, which covered strips of territory stretching westward to the Pacific, the English government turned over to the Duke of York all the territory between the Connecticut and Delaware rivers, together with Long Island, most of what is now Maine, and the islands of Nantucket and Marthas Water Front of New York City in 1673. From a drawing by Hugo Allard. Vineyard. But the duke soon gave up his claims beyond the pres- ent western boundary of Massachusetts and Connecticut ; and his claim in Maine was transferred to Massachusetts (1686). Under the grant to the Duke of York, all his laws for his colony had to be agreeable to those of England, but he pro- vided for no assembly. His governor, Nicolls, therefore called a convention of Long Island towns in the colonial capital, which was now called New York, and discussed with them a code which he had drawn up and shortly put into force, called " The Duke's Laws " (1665). The city of New York received a charter 80 COLONIAL ENGLISHMEN from Governor Dongan in 1683, by which the people elected the aldermen, while mayor, recorder, and sheriff were appointed. Gradually county governments were introduced, and town government was extended beyond Long Island; but there was no colonial assembly till 1683. Even before the duke got possession of his magnificent property, he began to cut it up into small provinces. In 1664 55. Settle- he granted to Berkeley and Carteret the tract between Jerseys ° Hudson River and the Delaware, and they called it (1664-1702) Nova-Csesaria — which is plain New Jersey. Next year they granted to their colonists the "Concessions," a kind of local constitution. In 1674 the region was divided into the separate colonies of East New Jersey and West New Jersey, each with a proprietary charter. The rich soil and the ease of access speedily attracted population. A contemporary said, Contempo- " 'Tis far cheaper living there for Eatables than here in varies, 1. 575 England ; and either men or Women who have a Trade, or are Labourers, can, if industrious, get near three times the Wages they commonly earn in England." Some Swedes and Dutch were on the ground when the colony was transferred ; a body of Scotch Presbyterians came to East Jersey ; and New England Puritans settled Newark and other towns. Fen wick and Byllynge, two wealthy Quakers, got control of the colony of West Jersey, in which they encouraged genuine religious toleration ; and many Quakers settled here. The land grants of both the Jerseys finally fell into the hands of a body of proprietors, including William Penn j and in 1702 they sur- rendered their proprietorship, and the colonies were united into the single royal province of New Jersey. The west side of the Delaware, beyond the Duke of York's 56.Pennsyl- patent, was one of the fairest regions in the new world, Delaware fronting on tide water, and abounding in arable land, (1681-1700) in forests, and minerals. In March, 1681, a royal patent was issued to William Penn for a new province in this region, COLONIAL EXPANSION, 1660-1689 81 SCALE OF MILES 5 25 50 TS New Jersey and Pennsylvania. named by the king, in compliment to Peim's father, Penn- sylvania. The province extended westward five degrees of longitude from the Delaware River; the northern boundary was "the beginning of the three and fortieth degree of North- ern Latitude ; " and the southern boundary was to be "a Circle drawne at twelve miles distance from New Castle Northward and Westward unto the beginning of the fortieth degree of Northern Latitude, and then by a streight Line Westward." But this circle lies entirely between 39° and 40°, meeting neither parallel ; and thus, as will be seen later (§ 80), arose a boundary dispute with Maryland. By a grant of 1682 from the Duke of York, Penn got also "the three lower counties," or Delaware, which he held against Maryland's claim and added to his main province. 82 COLONIAL ENGLISHMEN William Penn was rich and well educated, fond of writing, and author of many works. He was, further, an intelligent, public-spirited, and far-sighted man of affairs. Though brought up as a courtier, to the grief and amazement of his fam- ily he early became a Quaker, a member of the sect most op- posed to pomps and vanities. In all the history of the American colonies Penn's was the broadest and best-planned scheme of colonization. The first of his settlers arrived in the year 1681, and within a year three thousand came over. Penn spent two years in liis colony, and laid out the city of Philadelphia (1682) on a novel and convenient checker-board plan. Among his settlers were some Welsh, who settled the town of North Wales ; and in 1683 German Quakers founded Germantown ; later, Moravians settled Bethlehem, Ephrata, and other places; English and Scotch-Irish flocked over; and in 1700 the colony numbered about twenty-five thousand people. More than any other colonial administrator, Penn under- stood how to keep peace with the Indians, on the simple prin- ciple of coming to a clear and simple understanding, and then abiding by his own promises. As he put it, " Do not abuse them, but let them have justice, and you win them." As in Maryland and New York, the ownership of the land of Pennsylvania, and the right to provide a government, were _ both vested in an hereditary proprietor. As proprietor, sylvanian Penn used his power to grant a " Frame of Government " governmen ^g2), which was practically a liberal constitution. His two principles of government were " First, to terrify evil- William Penn, about 1664. Painted when a soldier in the Netherlands. COLONIAL EXPANSION, 1660-1689 83 doers : secondly, to cherish those that do well ; . . . I know some say, let us have good laws, and no matter for the men that execute them : but let them consider that though good laws do well, good men do better." The Frame of Gov- ernment was much like our present state constitutions ; it provided for a governor, representing the proprietor; a legis- lature of two elective houses (all bills, however, were to be Old Swedes' Church, Philadelphia, built in 1700. proposed by the governor and the upper house, the lower house having merely a veto power) ; judges partly elective ; and vote by ballot. A city government was set up for Phila- delphia in 1691 with mayor and aldermen. Yet even in this elysium the settlers were discontented; they felt that the proprietor kept too much for himself, and began to quarrel with their governors. In 1701 Penn granted a new plan of government called Charter of Privileges, in which 84 COLONIAL ENGLISHMEN the legislature was made to consist of only one house, with en- larged powers, and the governor received the power to veto acts of this assembly ; provision was made also for a separate Delaware assembly. In 1699-1701 Penn spent a second period of two years in Philadelphia. At his death in 1718 he left the rights and dignity of his proprietorship to his chil- dren, and they remained in his family down to the Revolution. The two southern colonies grew slowly after 1655, and were rather disorderly. The very toleration of Maryland brought 58. Vir- in Quakers, Puritans, Catholics, and members of the Mar* 1 ]* d Church of England, who could not agree ; and there were (1655-1689) several small insurrections. In Virginia the worst Indian war for half a century caused the massacre of three hundred settlers (1676), and the government was extravagant and harsh. When a planter, Nathaniel Bacon, headed an unauthorized expedition against the Indians, he was proclaimed a rebel by Governor Sir William Berkeley. A truce was patched up, but Bacon soon headed a formal armed insurrection, caused by the bad government of the colony, burned Jamestown, and made himself the head of an insurrectionary state (1676). He died at the height of his power, and his followers quickly melted away. To one of the rebels Berkeley remarked, " Mr. Drum- n ^ M „ mond ! you are very welcome, I am more glad to see you Bacon's than any man in Virginia : you shall be hanged in half an Rebellion, w . , . . . 23 hour." Drummond and thirty -rive others were executed. No wonder King Charles recalled Berkeley in disgrace, exclaim- ing, " That old fool has hanged more men in that naked country than I have done for the murder of my father." South of the James several small settlements were early made on Albemarle Sound and the Chowan River by wanderers from 59. Settle- Virginia, from New England, and from the West Indies. mentofthe In 1663 Ellglan(1 enlarged her dominions in North Carolinas ° ° (1663-1689) America by granting land for the colony of Carolina (named for Charles II.) south of Virginia, and near the Spanish COLONIAL EXPANSION, 16G0-1689 85 settlements of Florida. The first Carolina patent was granted to a body of eight noble proprietors, for a tract extending from the 31st to the 36th degree of north latitude, and west to the South Sea. In 1665 a second patent added strips of territory southward to the 29th de- gree, and northward to SCALE OF MILES Carolina by Patent of 1665. 36° 30'. The English philoso- pher John Locke was re- quested by the proprietors to draw up a " Funda- mental Constitution," often called "The Grand Model," which was to es- tablish a kind of feudal system in Carolina. At the head was to be a " pal- atine," next to him the " proprietaries," below them " landgraves," " caciques," and commons or "leetmen." This constitution never went into effect ; instead, a popular assembly was organized (1669) and governors were sent out by the proprietors. A settlement was made on the Ashley Kiver (1670), and ten years later was moved to the present site of Charleston. Around it a separate community grew up, though united under one colonial government with the northern Carolina settle- ments. Scotch, Quakers, and French Huguenots came in, and the settlement was prosperous from the beginning. In the course of thirty years perhaps twenty thousand people gath- ered in the two Carolinas, including large numbers of negroes ; for the rice plantations of South Carolina gave opportunity for profitable slave labor. Of all the colonies from Maine to Carolina, the hardest to control were the New England group. Already in 1664 a royal 86* COLONIAL ENGLISHMEN commission had been sent to Boston to investigate the too independent ways of Massachusetts. Ten years later the home 60 The government formed a plan to withdraw all the charters NewEng- in New England and to put a governor-general at the the Indians nea( ^ °^ one province, extending from the Delaware to (1664-1677) the Kennebec. Edward Randolph appeared in Boston in 1675, as a royal agent to find how New Hampshire and Maine came to be parts of Massachusetts, and to investigate other irregularities ; but he was interrupted by the outbreak of King Philip's war in Massachusetts. The people of New England had a reckless contempt for their Indian neighbors, freely supply- ing powder and shot to them in exchange for furs, and fearlessly plant- ing villages like Had- ley, Lancaster, and Deer- Some effort was made to civil- Scenb of King Philip's War. field, far out in the wilderness. ize the natives. John Eliot, "Apostle to the Indians," spent his life in that work, and published the whole scriptures in an Indian tongue. Schools were established among the In- dians, and an effort was made to educate some of them at Harvard College. Settlements of converted, or " praying," In- dians were made, especially at Natick and at Concord, and about four thousand accepted the gospel. The good effect of such efforts was more than counterbalanced by the brutalizing influence of the rum sold by the whites to the Indians. In June, 1675, war broke out with the Pokanokets, settled in and near Rhode Island; their chief, Metacom, or King Philip, attacked the Plymouth frontier towns of Swansea and Middleboro. Hadley and Springfield on the Connecticut were COLONIAL EXPANSION, 1660-1689 87 attacked by other tribes, and war raged up and down the whole frontier. On both sides it was " war to the knife and the knife to the hilt.^ The praying Indians were attacked, and many of them massacred, by the whites. The Narragansett Indians rose, and the commissioners of the New England Confedera- tion raised a force which killed a thousand of them. Gradually Philip was driven to shelter in his stronghold at Mount Hope, Rhode Island, and there while attempting to escape he was shot by an Indian (August, 1676). The colonial commander cut his body into sections and carried away his head and hands to earn a premium of thirty shillings. This King Philip's war came near annihilating the New England colonies : six hundred white men lost their lives, and a dozen villages were destroyed. The Indians lost two thousand killed and captured, of whom some — to the lasting disgrace of the white people — were sold into slavery in the West Indies. The pressure of the home government was soon renewed, and Edward Eandolph again began to report against Massa- chusetts. Though the colony retained Maine, by buying 61 strug . up the rival claims (1678), she lost New Hampshire *£'£*•* (1679). Worse still, she lost her charter; for a decree ch n a g rt *r S of the Chancery Court in England (October 23, 1684) (1677-1687) declared that it was no longer in force, because its provisions had been violated. The Duke of York came to the English throne as James II. in February, 1685; and set out to exercise unrestricted powers both in England and in the colonies. In 1686 he made Sir Edmund Andros " Governor-in-chief in and over the territory and dominion of New England," the province including Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Plymouth. Andros first of all reorganized Massachusetts. As there was no longer a charter, he appointed a council which, with his assent, should have power to make laws. But when the council ordered the towns to levy taxes, the 88 COLONIAL ENGLISHMEN town of Ipswich flatly refused. Some of the principal men of that place were therefore tried and severely punished ; and Andros forbade special town meetings. In 1686, under great pressure, Rhode Island surrendered her charter. Next year Andros went to New Haven and demanded the Connecticut charter. Tra- dition has it that the lights were blown out and the docu- ment carried away; however that may be, Andros put an end to the charter government. Since he was governor also of New York and of the Jerseys, he thus almost brought about a colonial union, in defiance of the will of the people, and by violent and dangerous methods. A revolution in England re- moved the pressure in Amer- 62. The ica. When James II. hTtion^f V °~ attempted to "dispense" 1688 with (that is, suspend) acts of Parliament, many of his subjects invited his neph- ew, William III. of Orange, to come to England. James fled the kingdom; and in February, 1689, the two houses of Parlia- ment declared that he had abdicated, and that his daughter Mary and her husband, William III., were lawful king and queen of England. The news of the revolution reached Boston in April, 1689, and two weeks later the people joyfully laid their hands on many of the royal officers. Sir Edmund Andros was forthwith English Officer, about 1680. Uniform of the Maritime Foot Regiment. COLONIAL EXPANSION, 1660-1689 89 clapped into prison ; and the colonial government was reestab- lished provisionally, under the old charter of 1629. In Plym- outh, Rhode Island, and Connecticut the former governments were again put in force. A similar rising in New York a few days later had an unfortunate outcome. Jacob Leisler, a well- to-do merchant, took the responsibility of heading a provisional government under the self-assumed title of lieutenant governor. After a few months of this irregular administration, a royal governor was sent over ; and Leisler, who hesitated to give up his authority, was found guilty of high treason and executed, though it is difficult to see that he had been guilty of a crime. After the Restoration of Charles II. in 1660, Plymouth, Vir- ginia, and Maryland went back to about their old relations to the home government. Connecticut and Rhode Island 63. Sum- received charters; but Massachusetts, though she kept mary her charter twenty-four years, was obliged to stop persecution of Quakers and discriminations against the Church of England. In 1663 began a second era of colonization. Carolina was established ; then the Dutch were dispossessed in New Nether- land, and five more colonies were set up — New York, East and West Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware ; in New England, New Hampshire was separated from Massachusetts. Then Sir Edmund Andros was sent over to consolidate the northern colonies and to take away the liberties of Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts by breaking down their charter governments. The Revolution of 1688 in England interrupted these plans, and prepared the way for a return to the milder type of colonial government. TOPICS (1) How does the navigation act of 1660 differ from that of 1651? Suggestive (2) Who devised the rectangular plan of Philadelphia ? (3) Why opics did the settlers quarrel with Penn ? (4) Was Nathaniel Bacon a traitor ? (5) How did the Carolina proprietary patents differ from 90 COLONIAL ENGLISHMEN Search topics that of Maryland ? (0) Quakers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. (7) Make a list of the Duke of York's land holdings in Amer- ica and tell what became of each. (8) In what condition did King Philip's War leave New England ? (9) Was Governor Andros a tyrant? (10) What was Leisler's offense? (11) Why was the Massachusetts charter annulled ? (12) Early life of William Penn. (13) Whalley and Goffe in New England. (14) Royal commis- sion in Boston, 1663-1664. (15) The Duke's Laws. (16) Life in New Netherland, 1650-1660. (17) History of the "pine-tree shillings." (18) First charter of New York city. (19) Early descriptions of New York under English dominion. (20) Early accounts of New Jersey ; of Pennsylvania ; of Carolina. (21) Life among the New England Indians. (22) What were enumerated goods ? (23) Arguments for the colonial union desired by Andros. (24) Boundary controversies under the Connecticut charter. Geography- Secondary authorities Sources Illustrative works Pictures REFERENCES Andrews, Colonial Self-Government. Thwaites, Colonies, §§ 32, 35-38, 69-72, 85-89 ; Fisher, Colonial Era, 49-56, 71-81, 146-164, 187-206; Lodge, English Colonies, chs. i. iii. v. vii. xi. xii. xiv. xvi. xviii.-xxi. passim ; Andrews, Colonial Self-Government; Fiske, Old Virginia, II. 45-116, 131- 162, 270-290, — Beginnings of New England, 199-278, —Dutch and Quaker Colonies, I. 243-294, II. 1-61, 99-208 ; Doyle, English in America, I. 230-266, 314-363, III. 114-272 ; Gay, Bryant's His- tory, II. 247-395, 401-449, 472-498, III. 1-24 ; Wendell, Cotton Mather, 21-87 ; Hodges, William Penn. Hart, Source Book, §§ 22-26, — Contemporaries, I. §§ 54, 70, 71, 76-81, 116, 121-125, 132-136, 155-157, 160-167, — Source Headers, I. §§ 40, 49 ; MacDonald, Select Charters, nos. 24, 26, 27, 29-33, 35-41 ; American History Leaflets, no. 16 ; Old South Leaflets, nos. 21, 22, 51, 88, 95. See N. Eng. Hist. Teachers' Ass'n, Sylla- bus, 301, 310, 313, — Historical Sources, §§ 70-72. Whittier, Pennsylvania Pilgrim ; M. W. Goodwin, White Aprons (Bacon) ; Mary Johnston, Prisoners of Hope (Bacon) ; M. E. Wilkins, Heart's Highway ( Va.) ; J. P. Kennedy, Bob of the Bowl (Md.) ; Simms, Cassique of Kiawah (S.C.) ; Hezekiah Butter- worth, Wampum Belt (Penn.) ; Cooper, Wept of Wish-ton-Wish (Philip), — Water Witch (N.Y.) ; Hawthorne, Gray Champion (Andros), — Grandfather's Chair, pt. i. chs. viii. ix. ; W. Seton, Charter Oak ; E. L. Bynner, Begum's Daughter (Leisler). Winsor, America, III. ; Wilson, American People, I. CHAPTER VI. COLONIAL LIFE (1700-1750) While the colonies grew, the colonists had much the same experiences as people nowadays, —going to church or going to prison, working, traveling, trading, fighting, marrying, and dying, — although conditions and opportunities were lonial pop- very different. In population the colonies increased elation slowly : New England received little direct immigration after 1640, and in 1700 numbered but 105,000 inhabitants; the southern colonies (Maryland, Virginia, and the Carol inas) together had about 110,000; the middle colonies 55,000; mak- ing a total of about 270,000 people. The largest towns were Boston, with about 7000 people, and Philadelphia, with 4000. The ruling element in every colony was of English descent; but there were Dutchmen in New York and a few on the Delaware ; Swedes, a few Finns, and a large German element (later called Pennsylvania Dutch) in Pennsylvania; French Huguenots in several colonies, especially South Carolina; Highland and Lowland Scotch, and Scotch-Irish from the Protestant counties in the north of Ireland, principally on the western frontier. The negroes in 1700 were about 46,000 in number. The Indians were nowhere fused into the white communities. Most of the colonists lived in the easily constructed log house, or in a frame structure, clapboarded or shingled. In Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Charleston, and some nialhome other places there were statelier houses constructed of llfe brick made near the spot. Among the poorer families the hart's amer. hist. — 6 91 92 COLONIAL AMERICANS Bull-Pringle House, Charleston, built about 1760. rude furniture was hardly more than floor, seats, and tables, all made of " puncheons," — that is, of split halves of small tree trunks, — with a few pewter dishes, a fireplace, and its utensils. The bet- ter houses had substan- tial oaken chests, chairs, and tables, and handsome clocks. In dress our well-to-do forefathers followed as closely as they could the English fashions of elaborate suits of cloth or velvet or silk, and full- bottomed wigs. The most common materials were homespun linen and woolen, though on the frontier deerskin was used. Food abounded : game wandered in and out of all the settle- ments, shellfish were abundant, and the New England coast fisheries furnished fish; Indian corn was everywhere grown, and there was plenty of wheat flour. The colonies were swept by diseases, chiefly due to igno- rance and uncleanliness : "ship-fever," "small pocks," " yellow fever " ; " break-bone fever," fever and ague, and other varieties of malaria; and medical practice was lamentably unskillful. Though England was a land abounding in schools and pos- sessed of world-famous universities, her southern colonies in 66 Colo- America, broken up into separate and widely distributed nial educa- plantations, could not maintain schools. Governor Berke- ley reported (1671) for Virginia: "I thank God there are no free schools nor printing, and I hope we shall not have these hundred years ; for learning has brought disobedi- ence, and heresy, and sects in the world, and printing has divulged them, and libels against the best government. God tion COLONIAL LIFE 93 keep us from both." The New England towns established the first schools in northeastern America, though closely followed by the ■ Collegiate School of the Dutch Reformed Church in New Amsterdam (1633). The colony of Massachusetts Bay showed its in- terest in education by requiring that every town of fifty families should maintain a school, and every town of a hundred families a gram- mar school (that is, a Latin school) ; but the towns too frequently avoided the responsibility if they could, and no public education was provided for the girls. In 1689 the Penn Charter school was founded in Philadelphia. Three small colleges provided higher education for the colonies. Harvard College, named from the Rev. John Harvard, its earliest private benefactor, was founded (1636) "to advance learning and perpetuate it to posterity." From the beginning it trained the ministers, and also had as students future men of affairs and statesmen. William and Mary College was established in Virginia (1693) ; King William III., the colony, and private subscribers united to give the college a home in Williamsburg. Yale College was "first con- certed by the ministers" (1700), and its earliest property was forty volumes given by the founders for a library. The college was soon removed from Saybrook to New Haven, and (1718) received its name from Elihu Yale, a public-spirited English- man who interested himself in the new institution. The most notable colonial writers in the seventeenth century were the discoverers, explorers, and colonists who wrote enter- A Colonial Dandy, about 1760. Portrait of Nicholas Boylston, merchant, Boston. 94 COLONIAL AMERICANS taming accounts of their experiences. Thus John Smith and William Strachey wrote about Virginia; William Bradford 67 Colo anc ^ J onn Winthrop each left an admirable historical nial litera- account of the colony in which he was governor and ture , n leader. In the South the chief writer of literary merit was Colonel William Byrd, who left in manuscript a charming book of travel called History of the Dividing Line. In the middle colo- nies, till Benjamin Franklin came, the only man who can be called a literary light is William Penn ; but the German Mora- vians were great printers, and issued the first Bible, except Eliot's Indian Bible, published within the colonies. The first newspaper in the colonies, the Boston News Letter, appeared in 1704 ; and the trial of John Peter Zenger in New York (1732) established the important principle that a journalist can not be convicted of libel for publishing the truth. Works of fiction were unknown except as old writers dealt too much in neighborhood gossip; but there were several writers of poor verse. The Bay Psalm Book, the first book printed in the English colonies (1640), was made by a syndi- cate of ministers, whose poetic gifts may be shown by a quotation from the 63d Psalm : — ** Their poyson's like serpents poyson ; they like deafe Aspe, her eare that stops. Though charmer wisely charme, his voice she will not heare. Within their mouth doe thou their teeth break out, o God most strong, doe thou Jehovah, the great teeth break of the lions young." The favorite literature for educated men was theological and controversial. The most famous writer of this kind was Cotton Mather, a Boston minister, long the leading man of New England, who wrote an enormous and confused folio which he The Bof ton News-Letter* — ~ fDubUfl>cD &p 'Zutlyonty* "~~ • Fro* JS^onDar AprU '"• ; ° ^Y ai+r* fan o*~* ** W *»'• "*l- • Sheer lately Pnnudirui.-. b< •— ;•• '* £<./«■*** A&mjn SCOcUod *»* ; _ " ^ w.v.u^tharttxv etaincl new M ^ iy u .an W^*^^?fK» n f^S wdjiune to" ^es at conv. • J ^*gZ^SJlc C f ^ the 1704. - Ittikev ft oJpfcnrcs, that a great Number or o- "*.r41l--ifre£rJJtt pcrlbitt arc come over from htuncr, !L> « orttCTCwor accepting her MJjcuv's Grauous >c«J iltr ; bowm reality, to tncreafe Div.uons in ♦•x .1 :ioo, andm> entertain a Com fpjndcncc with K«'4' 1n»t illcir il 1 Intentions are evident horn St rii!W."n2b*» their owning the Intereft of the £3 led &;•,*>«« VIII. their fecret Cabals, ,J»»iir"cu>ilJrup of Arms and Aromumu-xi, find them. 'jbhrfrrthey ci»» L.._ /Jlhii hturtrvl^tnc late Wntmge.and . Adtmgs offdrTtfiletcndfea pcrfons, many of whom M lcrjlRrvlud ir ; tnat frvcral of trum have de« cuifh'thc pre lather embrace Popery than con- :f*ani for the «u Government ; mat they r.fufe «J«kign, and I Seen, but ufc the ambiguous word "5*g Kinr nn*mc of th-.m pray in exprcfsW'ords^ •f Snd gcmi vi Royal Ftmuy ; and the charita-* s > »h'Rin.dr»s« Prince" wh> has fhewd them* S^OOt lfrms.'- 'HcTinewifc takes notice of fP<-fon Jateltegof Kind in Cypher, St dire&ed Wfiyi th-t.tbuiittf. thither from St. Gomaiia. W; thrroleM-- g-cateft Jaoobttcs who will not MKfr-now «r5 b? taking the Oaths to Her Ma- Bifrom StGfo-Xne Papilts arid their Compv. ■ft bjeft. co^>»iim lit up for the* Litxrt, of S'- to kyJOfrujry.'ro thcic ov/n Principles,' but that lifpup.-a Divifion* in the Nation. He pp roniicy tggravaie- taofc thing? which the- Krtaiplain of, at to £«§/4«rehjfing-to air 10 r, a frercom of Trade, Cc. and do all they Ig^'UcxicDivifiijns betwixt the; Nations, &: to m- a r.«*re(s of thofe things'complain'd' of.' ■ j^^/cobi.cijhe.lays, do all they cum to p.*r- prie : j.%rjon that their' pretended -Ifcing- is a ■"BUJttiH.his. Heart, tho'-hedjres not declare it Sidcr the Potfer otjrr.nte* that he i* ac- ^witV.;UievMiftakf5 SMS Father $-Gjo^ *" fill govern iifcirnore according to La,W5 irnleif to his Subieih;. ' • - "•'•■• •- : 6*g*JfJ[#niHc4he S^ttniitri of their cwa'Party,. ^^"-Wfatpi^iui-hJijfteji ^t&Sr'rUnderr ,*.in.c ;' i/^WSnfclves'ftW cf-*#err^«aj-3', und' - into. iiJonOap a- From all »hi$ h' infj* T\\n thry havtrhope* of AmiTaace Trofi-. ftm**, ori«rrwili- they would nevet. be A» iiSpudcnt ; ,nd he gyvrt Rcaloni fur his Ap- pithtntii m thit tht f>tn tlieT'fto "King, mult ntcefuVily make him to be v • !.jl!y at his Devotion, and to follow his Example; t:i..t it he fit u;on the Throne, the three Nations rauft beoblip d to pay the Debt which he owes the/ T»t»tk KingToV the Education of himlelf, and for Entertaining hi? Juppol' d Fr.ther and his Eonvly^- A'ndiincc the Kin- tnuil refturi him by his Troops,., it ever he b. rJtorvd, he will. Re to fecurc bis* own Debt, b.forc thofe Troops leave Burcin. The Pretender being a good Proficient in the f'mc& and ^«(/w. .Schools, "h'c will never think himfelf, lumciently aveng'd. bit \r; the utter Ririne of his. Protcirunt Subjects, both as Hereticlu and Traitors.' The latx Qiieen, his pretended Mother, who irt^ cold Blood when (he w.s Oueen «f Britdify advis't?,. to turn the Weft of Stmlsutd "rritb a hunting Field, ,vill be tlien for. doing lo by the greatefr. part of the Ivatidh : and, no doubt, is at Pains to Have her pre^ tended Son educated to her own Mind : Tbercfoi v he fays, it were a- great Madnefs in •the' Nation, tcv take a Prince bred up in the horrid.-SchDol of Ingra-f titudc, Perfccution and. Cfuelry, and filled \vidx>; Rage and Envy. The . 7««4;;m, he fays, both ia- Scotland and at St. Gennnins r are impatient undec. ! their p'refent Straits, and knowing theijr -Cirtjim« •; Ulances cannot be much wbrfe than they are,. at' I rpreltut, an: the more inclinable to the Ooarrt:;king. • He adds,That the- rnncU K'ng knows there canTl0Cl ,, ' be a more .'effectual, way for himielF to arrive at the*. Uniyerfal. Monarchy, and to;"rulne thcrProKflanC', lnterrft, than by'letting up the Pretender upon the' 1 Throne ,of GrCat iBrit/ti.:, he will in all prubahiiitjr, attempt tt*i and tho' he fliould be perfuuded that the Ddign,. would mifcarry in'the clofc.yet hecun-{ cot but, reap fume' Advantage by imbroiling' the. three Nations. * .' '"" : ; -f From all this' the Author concludes it to be the?. • Inter- it of rheiNatbn, to 'provide h: Self defence ■- i-id lays, that us many have -already t„kea r^ie>^ Ahi?tn, ; and arc furnilhing themfclves with rAras . •anaAmraunkion, -he hope^ the Government wilh f.Ot onlyvaltow.it, but encoaraftc it, fecc th'^Natt- ' &iO)ugh; ■ ill Eo*pp?«;4S yocMau'in the pel«\c«5- First Page of the First American Newspaper, 1704. 95 COLONIAL AMERICANS gious life called Magnolia Christi Americana. The two most popular books in the colonies were the New England Primer, with its pious doggerel and rude woodcuts, which went through many editions; and Michael Wiggles worth's -Z>a?/ of Doom, which was learned by heart by hundreds of persons, — it is a fearful description of that grewsome place " Where God's fierce ire kindleth the fire, and vengeance feeds the flame, With piles of wood and brimstone flood, that none can quench the same." Wigglesworth's repulsive poem states in extravagant form the creed of the New England Puritans, who built their the- 68 Colo- °l°gy on tne works of John Calvin (died 1564). This nial reli- great divine made his fundamental doctrine " predestina- tion " ; that is, he taught that the whole human race was doomed to perdition, except as God might " elect " a few per- sons to be saved. Hence good deeds, contemptuously called " filthy rags of works," could not in themselves save anybody. Even such heads of the church as Cotton Mather were tor- mented by the fear that after all they might not be " elect." On the other hand, Calvin set forth the great doctrine of "free will" — of choice be- tween good and evil, with its emphasis on personal duty and responsibility. The Church of England, or Episcopal Church, which held milder doctrines of salvation, was now gaining ground. Al- Parish Church at Smithfield, Va., built about 1700. Oldest church still standing in the South. From a view in the Virginia Historical Society. COLONIAL LIFE 97 ready long established in Virginia, it was made the official church, supported by public taxation, in the Carolinas and in New York, though aided also by voluntary contributions ; and in 1689 the first "King's Chapel" was built in Boston as a place of Episcopal service. The Congregational Church was supported by public taxation in New Hampshire, Massachusetts (including Maine and Plymouth), and Connecticut. In Rhode Island, the Jerseys, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware there was no state church. Side by side with the established churches lived many other religious sects. The Baptists were settled chiefly in Rhode Island ; Presbyterians, English or Scotch, in the middle and southern colonies ; a few Jews in Rhode Island, Georgia, and Pennsylvania; the Dutch Reformed Church in New York; Lutherans, Moravians, Mennonists, and other German sects in Pennsylvania ; Catholic Scotch Highlanders in the Carolinas ; English Catholics in Maryland; Quakers in most of the colonies. Both North and South many of the church buildings were handsome and commodious. In New England the able-bodied population was required to go to service, where pews were carefully assigned according to the social position of the attendants. In the sermons — two on Sunday and a third, the " Thursday lecture " during the week — our forefathers received a good mouthful of doctrine, though two hours and a half was thought too long for a sermon. The Psalms only were sung, lined out by the minister. ' Sunday, commonly called Sabbath, lasted from sundown on Saturday to sundown on Sunday, and in strictness was as near a Jewish Sabbath as the conditions admitted. Calvinistic theology, with its stern and pitiless logic, did not save New England from the fearful belief, then cur- 69. The rent throughout the world, that human beings could witchcraft become "witches," and could make a personal compact (1692) 98 COLONIAL AMERICANS with the devil which would enable them to change their shape, to travel on the wings of the wind, and especially to bring bodily harm to their enemies. Nowhere else in the civilized world did this awful delusion play so little part as in the Ameri- can colonies, though there were a few cases of the execution of witches. In 1692 the children of a minister in Salem, Massa- chusetts, accused an Indian slave woman, Tituba, of bewitching them. In a few weeks scores of the " afflicted " were accusing their neighbors of the foulest crimes and most improbable orgies. The principal testimony was the " spectral evidence " — that is, the assertion of the "afflicted" that the accused people were sticking pins into them and otherwise "hurting" them. Nineteen alleged witches were hanged, and one was pressed to death by heavy weights for refusing to plead guilty or not guilty. To save themselves, the so-called witches accused other people, and so the number rolled up till more than fifty people were so crazed that they confessed to being witches, and told preposterous stories of flying through the air on broomsticks, of taking part in "devil's sabbaths," and tor- menting their neighbors. When Lady Phips, wife of the governor, fell under suspicion, the prosecutions broke down, and there were no more executions in New England, though they continued half* a century longer in Europe, where thou- sands of innocent persons suffered torture and death — often by fire — for crimes of witchcraft which no one could commit. The basis and support of every colony was the tillage of the 70 The so ^' an( ^ ^ ne mos ^ numerous class was that of the free farmer and farmers, living on almost self-sustaining farms. The forest trees furnished building lumber, ship-timber, and fuel ; corn and other grain, pork, and beef were common farm Witch Pins of 1692. Preserved in the county court at Salem. the laborer COLONIAL LIFE 99 products, as were tobacco in Maryland and Virginia, and rice and (after 1747) indigo in South Carolina. Wagons, tools, and even furniture were made on the spot. Sheep were raised for their wool, which was carded, spun, woven, dyed, and made into clothing on the farm. Clearing new land caused an im- mense expenditure of human labor. The usual method was to girdle the trees and plant among the dead timber; later, people preferred to fell the trees and to roll the logs up to- gether and burn them. Hence the collection and export of " potash " and " pearl ash " formed an important industry. From the beginning there was a serious lack of labor. Well-to-do colonists brought with them hired servants ; but a system of forced white labor began immediately. Convicts, criminals, " indented" (or " indentured ") servants, prisoners in the civil wars, and children, were sent over as bond servants. Other thousands of respectable men and families came over as " redemptioners," under agreement with the shipmaster that he might sell their services for a term of years to somebody in America for money to pay their passage. Both classes were subject to the arbitrary will of their masters and were often cruelly treated. Nevertheless, many of them worked out their terms of service, became prosperous members of the community, and founded families. Skilled laborers might earn two shillings (fifty cents) a day and their board. In the trades, such as harness making or shoemaking or bricklaying, it was common to have appren- tices, who were very harshly treated. The average wage for unskilled laborers was about thirty cents a day in our specie standard ; and while most provisions were cheap, imported articles were always dear. There were slaves in every colony. Indian slaves were sullen and revengeful, and rapidly died off in confine- 71 ^ ment. Negro slaves were brought chiefly from Guinea, planter and on the west coast of Africa, to the West Indies, and 100 COLONIAL AMERICANS imported thence to the American mainland. Hard was their fate — sold for life, transmitting the servile taint to their children, and if freed, still social outcasts. In most of the northern colonies slaves were few in number, but in Rhode Island, on the Hudson, and from Delaware to Carolina, they were gathered in large gangs on plantations. For a long time masters would not allow their slaves to be baptized, because they had scruples against holding Christians in bondage; and many people held that slavery was both unchristian and stupid. Colonel Byrd, a slave owner, wrote of slaves, "They blow up the pride and ruin the Industry of our White People." A favorite devotional book, Baxter's Christian Directory, warned masters that "to go as Pirates and catch up poor Negroes or people of another land, and to make them slaves, and sell them, is one of the worst kinds of Thievery in the World." That slavery was dangerous was shown by severe laws against slave offenses, and by slave insurrections in Virginia and in South Carolina, and a supposed slave plot in New York in 1741. The slaveholding planters of the South were among the richest men in the colonies. Among them was Colonel William Fitzhugh, a lawyer, a keen planter and slave buyer, and a capable business man, owner of fifty-four thousand acres of land. He grew flax and hemp, hay and tobacco, and put his Contempo- large profits into more land and slaves. He had a home retries, 1. 306 plantation of a thousand acres, including a "very good dwelling house with many rooms in it, four of the best of them hung & nine of them plentifully furnished with all things necessary & convenient, & all houses for use furnished with brick chimneys, four good Cellars, a Dairy, Dovecot, Stable, Barn, Henhouse, Kitchen & all other conveniencys," together with an orchard, garden, water gristmill for wheat and corn, a stock of tobacco and good debts. His income was estimated at sixty thousand pounds of tobacco (about $ 15,000 in money) COLONIAL LIFE 101 per annum, besides the increase of the negroes. His tobacco he shipped direct to England from the private wharf of his own plantation, and he was accustomed to order fine clothing, silver plate, books, and other English goods. The richest men in the middle and northern colonies were the merchants. Since there were no bankers and little sub- division of business, the same man or firm might build 72. The ships, own ships, buy cargoes to export, receive the return and the sea cargoes, and sell the imports over the counter. One of farer the most famous of these merchants was William Phips, who began life as a poor boy, with one ambition — to be " owner of a Fair Brick-House in the Green-Lane of North Boston.'' He traded, gathered property, organized an expedition to raise the treasure of a sunken Spanish vessel, got about £300,000 in gold and silver, was knighted, became governor of Massa- chusetts, and got his " fair brick house." The colonists were accustomed to the sea and got wealth out of ships in three ways. (1) The splendid forests of New England, growing close to the water's edge, furnished the best shipbuilding materials, and abounded in tall trees suitable for masts; hence ships were regularly built to sell abroad. (2) Hundreds of craft were employed in the inshore and New- foundland Banks fisheries, and in trade from one colony to another ; the New England salt fish found a profitable market in Europe and in the West Indies. (3) Other vessels were employed in trade over sea to England and elsewhere, at good freights. A lively and profitable commerce went on all the time from colony to colony, from the continent to the West Indies, and from all the colonies to England and other European 73 Colo _ countries. The principal exports were: to the West nial corn- Indies, clapboards, hoops, shingles, hay and cattle, flour and provisions, especially dried fish, and, later, rum ; to Eng- land, tobacco, masts, wood ashes, furs, and, later, pig iron 102 COLONIAL AMERICANS and indigo ; to other European countries, dried fish and naval stores — pitch, tar, and turpentine. The imports from England were manufactures of all kinds — guns and ammunition, hardware, cutlery, clothing, furniture, glass, china, silverware, and tools. Tea, and later coffee and chocolate, were regular imports, often from Holland. The Photo, ly E. G. Beveridge. A Colonial Family — the Grimes Children. From the picture in the Virginia Historical Society. ladies would have their "calamancoes," or glossy woolens, their " paduasoys," or silks, their " oznabrigs," or German linen, and the much-prized pins. For the children were " pop- pets," or dolls, and other toys; for the gentlemen, silks and velvets, gold lace for their best suits, and pipes of Madeira wine. For many years the colonists freely sent and received car COLONIAL LIFE 103 goes in trade with foreign countries; but the policy of the early navigation acts was expanded by an act of Parliament (1672) laying small customs duties on the trade from 74. Ee- one colony to another. This was the first act of Parlia- 8trict ioas ,„ on colonial ment tor taxing the colonies. In 1696 a more thorough- trade going navigation act was passed by Parliament and a new colonial council was created by King William III. under the name of Board of Trade and Plantations, commonly called the Lords of Trade, with the duty of supervising the colonies, instructing the governors, and executing the naviga- tion acts. Under these and later " Acts of Trade," the trade of the colonies was restricted : (1) Trade to and from England had to be in ships built and owned in England or in the colonies. (2) Importations had to come through English ports— that is, through the hands of English firms. (3) Exports of " enumer- ated goods" had to be sent only to English ports, even if intended ultimately for some other country ; most of the colonial prod- ucts were enumerated, but not masts, timber, or naval stores. (4) For the protection of English manufactures colonists were forbidden to make rolled iron, or to ship certain goods from one colony to another — for instance, hats. Though all these restrictions seem harsh they indirectly gave a distinct advan- tage to colonial shipping. Spain, France, and Holland had even stricter colonial sys- tems than the English; but the English colonists, sometimes by stealth, often with the connivance of local officials, 75. Smug- had a very profitable trade to the Spanish, French, and , glin S * nd Dutch West Indies, especially in dried fish and lumber; * Trade and they brought back sugar, tropical products, and a good surplus of hard Spanish dollars. In the same way foreign vessels often brought European cargoes into North America. Edward Randolph, the revenue detective of Mrown ; and Dartmouth. INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT, 1G89-1740 117 The most distinctly intellectual man of this period, and also the greatest political leader, was Benjamin Franklin, who was born in Boston in 1706, and settled in Philadelphia in 9Q fie 1723. Franklin was a good printer, and the first Ameri- jamhi" can journalist of any continental reputation. Through- Franklin out his life he was interested in education, and he rendered great service to science by discovering that light- ning is the same thing as the discharge of electricity produced by friction. He was also the inventor of the use- ful Franklin stove, a kind of little movable fireplace. He was ap- pointed deputy post- master-general for the colonies in 1753 and greatly improved the service. In 1757 Frank- lin was sent to England as agent of the colony of Pennsylvania, and remained there five years. Gradually other colonies noticed his influence with British statesmen and gave him a similar commission. He was a keen and caustic writer, and his satires on social and political matters, such as his How a Great Empire may become Small, had powerful effect; his Poor Richard's Almanac was an annual, abounding in shrewd common-sense observations, widely read in the colonies. The chief merit of Franklin was that his great mind saw how much the colonies could do if they would only act Benjamin Franklin, about 1780. From a portrait attributed to Greuze. 118 COLONIAL AMERICANS together ; he showed a willingness, very uncommon in the colonies, to sink local differences and interests for the common good; and in England he impressed the leading men with respect for himself and for the colonies which he represented, Franklin personified the colonist of the second half of the eighteenth century who had ceased to look upon himself as an Englishman living over seas, but was an American, with no purpose or desire but to remain a colonist. The characteristic of the half century from 1690 to 1740 is the quiet and sound development of the colonies, and their 91. Sum- experience of self-government. The colonial govern- marv ments were in a sense new creations, for there was nothing like them in England. The governors had large nom- inal powers, but were hedged about by the assemblies and by their instructions ; Rhode Island and Connecticut were in all matters except foreign trade and foreign war practically inde- pendent little republics, and the other colonies were not much behind them. By force of circumstances, the English types of parish meetings and county courts developed in America into vigorous little local governments, which did much to edu- cate the people in the conduct of their own affairs. The colonists made money by trade and struck off a poor and depreciating currency with their printing presses. A freer spirit prevailed in religion, and it is at this time that religious toleration begins to be general throughout the colonies. Above all, such men as Franklin stood for a sense of common interest and responsibility which might accustom people to think of themselves, from north to south, as essentially one people. TOPICS Suggestive (1) How did Massachusetts get the charter of 1691 ? (2) Why topics was New York transferred by the proprietor to the crown ? New Jersey ? the Carolinas ? (3) Notable Germans in America before 1750. (4) Was Penn entitled by his charter to the site of Phila- INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT, 1089-1740 119 delphia ? (5) Describe the public services of some governor of a colony. (0) For any one colony compare its geographic extent in 1050 with its extent in 1090. (7) Make a list of meetings of colonial governors, 1040-1703. (8) How could the English colo- nists trade with the Spanish West Indies ? (9) Why was the British government opposed to paper money ? (10) Spotswood's explorations west of the mountains. (11) The Wesleys in America. (12) Whitefield's preaching. (13) Some of Franklin's witty sayings. (14) Claims by the colonists to the rights of Englishmen, 1089-1750. (15) Origin of the "caucus." (10) A session of a colonial legislature. .'17) Oddities of town meetings. (18) Conduct of the slave trade. (19) Life at Princeton College. (20) Causes of dis- putes with colonial governors. (21) Some notable colonial agents. (22) Instances of acts of colonial legislatures vetoed by governors. REFERENCES Search topics Thwaites, Colonies, SS 24-20, 40, 81,97, 110-130; Fisher, Colo- Secondary fLirfrhoritifts nial Era, 210-230, 241-280, 292-312 ; Lodge, English Colonies, chs. i. iii. v. vii. ix. xii. xiv. xviii.-xxi. passim ; Greene, Provin- cial America, — Colonial Governor; Fiske, Old Virginia, II. 30- 44, 102-173, 289-308, 333-337, 370-400, — Dutch and Quaker Colonies, II. 209-257, 294-317, — New France and New England, 197-232 ; Doyle, English in America, I. 200-274, 323-327, 343-350, 303-380, III. 8-14, 273-370, 395-404 ; Gay, Bryant's History, IL 395-400, III. 25-191, 222-253 ; Weeden, New England, I. 314-330, 379-387, II. 473-492, 007-713 ; Channing, Town and County Government; Dewey, Financial History, §§ 3-11 ; Hart, Practical Essays, 133-101 ; Mereness, Maryland. Hart, Source Book, §§ 27, 42, 48-52, — Contemporaries, I. §§ 104, Sources 120, II. §§ 19-24, 20, 29-31, 33, 30, 38-44, 47-79, 88, 89, — Source Beaders, I. §§ 13, 18, III. 71 : American History Leaflets, no. 14 ; Hill, Liberty Documents, ch. xi. ; Caldwell, Survey, 32-39 ; Frank- lin, Autobiography ; John Woolman, Journal. See N. Eng. Hist, Teachers' Ass'n, Syllabus, 301, 300-308, 313-315, — Historical Sources, § 73. Hawthorne, Grandfather's Chair, pt. i. chs. x. xi., pt. ir. chs. l.-vi. ; Cooper, Deerslayer (N.Y.) ; J. K. Paulding, Dutchman's Fireside (N.Y.) ; Mary Johnston, Audrey (Va.) ; W. A. Caruthers, Knights of the Horseshoe (Va.) ; J. E. Cooke, Stories of the Old Dominion, 82-109 ; Simms, Yemassee (S. C. Indians). Winsor, America, V. ; Wilson, American People, I. II. Pictures Illustrative works CHAPTEE VIII. WARS WITH THE FRENCH (1689-1763) One of the first acts of King William III. was to declare war on France in 1689 ; and during the next three quarters of 92. Rivalry a century four fierce struggles by sea and land expressed of France the national hostility between England and France. and Eng- land The most notable thing in these wars is the rise of the (1689-1697) British " sea power." To protect her own colonies, scattered all over the globe, and to attack the colonies of France and Spain, England developed the best navy of the time. The unit for naval fights was a fleet of the " wooden walls of Eng- land," the great three-decker " ships of the line " of 1000 to 2000 tons' burden, carrying in two or three tiers as many as 120 guns. In time of war, often in times of peace, merchantmen sailed in " convoys," great fleets under protection of vessels of war, to keep off the enemy's cruisers and privateers. In each of these wars the colonists fought for England by land and sea. Their first experience of invasion was from a French expedition, composed partly of Indians, which in 1690 struck the town of Schenectady, eighteen miles west of Albany, surprised it at midnight, sacked and burned its eighty houses, killed sixty people, and took thirty prisoners. In successive years half a dozen towns near the Atlantic coast were raided in the same ruthless fashion. The English struck one good return blow in 1690, when, under the leadership of Sir William Phips of Massachusetts, they captured Port Royal (now Annap- olis, Nova Scotia). After eight years of what was called in America " King William's War," each power agreed by the peace of Eyswick, in 1697, to restore its conquests to the other. 122 WARS WITH THE FRENCH 123 Indians The French attack on the frontier led the English colonies to make friends with the ferocious Iroquois. The Five Nations were enlarged into the " Six Nations " by the coming of a 93 Th tribe of their blood brethren, the Tuscaroras (1713). Then border five years later the home government appointed Sir Wil- liam Johnson its agent to the Six Nations. He lived among them in a great place called Johnson Hall, where he held open house for their benefit. He was an adept at those long-drawn councils which the Indians so much loved; he knew how to give belts of wampum " to dry up their tears," how metaphori- cally " to clear the road grown up with weeds," and to set up "the fine shady trees almost blown down by the northerly winds." This palaver, accompanied with plenty of food and rum, was very effective in preventing the French north wind from blowing down the English influence among the Iroquois. In the South, the growth of the Carolinas led to bloody wars with the Tuscarora and Yamassee Indians from 1712 to 1716. In 1730 the Cher- okees made treaties, by which they recognized the king of Great Britain (p. 126) as their Father, and thus pro- vided a point of opposition to the French in the Southwest ; and the set- tlement of Georgia soon brought the whites into close contact with the Cher- okees, Creeks, and other strong inte- rior tribes. The colonial wars were made more terrible by the Indian allies of the French, who captured prisoners to make slaves of them, or to hold them for a ransom. Fearful was the hasty march north- ward after a raid; little children were brained against the trees, because too troublesome to carry ; the women who fainted Indian Art. Pipe, lacrosse stick, and pouch, procured from western Indians. 124 COLONIAL AMERICANS with fatigue were tomahawked and scalped to save the trouble of carrying them along. In one such foray (1691) Hannah Dustin of Haverhill, Massachusetts, was made prisoner. She had the heroism, with a nurse and a white boy, to surprise her captors, and the barbarity to kill not only two Indian men but three women and live children ; by this means she escaped and reached home again to tell the tale. During the twenty -five years after La Salle's exploration of the Mississippi, the French made various permanent settlements 94. Settle- in the new country, especially St. Joseph near the head Lo^siana of Lake Micni S an (1681), Kaskaskia (1695), Cahokia (16S1-1721) (1701) near the mouth of the Missouri, and Detroit on the waterway from Lake Erie to Lake Huron (1701) j and later Vincennes on the Wabash River (about 1732). For the lower Mississippi country three nations reached out at once: (1) Spain settled Pensacola as a basis for colonies to be planted farther west; (2) the French interrupted this plan by sending a fleet of five vessels with ISO colonists, under the Sieur d'Iberville, to take possession of the coast of Louisi- ana in 1699 ; (3) the English also sent out a ship, which was driven back (1699) by the French from the bend of the Mississippi just below New Orleans, still called English Turn. After stopping first at Dauphin Island, and then longer at Biloxi on the Gulf coast, D'Iberville founded Mobile (1702). The purposes of this Louisiana colony were to control the in- terior Indians, to enrich the French with their furs, and to fight the English. Notwithstanding the introduction of negro slaves Louisiana grew very slowly, for like the English coast colonies it suffered from disease and Indian enemies ; so that after ten years it contained only four hundred Europeans. In 1712 a rich banker, Anthony Crozat, got from the king of Gannett, France a grant giving him a monopoly of trade in " all 19 ' the countries, territories, lakes within land, and the rivers which fall directly or indirectly into the river St. Louis WARS WITH THE FRENCH 125 heretofore called the Mississippi." Crozat did little except to build posts in what is now upper Alabama and western Georgia, and after five years gave up his privileges. To them succeeded John Law and his vigorous Company of the West. The Illinois country was annexed to Louisiana ; Fort Chartres was built on the Mississippi above the Ohio, and another fort at Natchitoches on the Red River; a new political and com- mercial center for the colony was created in the town of New Orleans, founded in 1718 on a site chosen because the water front was elevated a few feet above the river. Law brought in German emigrants as well as French, and when his company went bankrupt a few years later 7000 persons had gathered in Louisiana. While Louisiana was developing, England engaged in " Queen Anne's War" (1701-1713) to prevent a union of the French and Spanish European and colonial empires under the 95 Re _ grandson of Louis XIV. In this war the Spaniards and newal of ° intercolo- Carolinians attacked each others frontier towns ; espe- n i a i war cially St. Augustine and Charleston. In the North (1701-1713) the French incited the Indians to attack the Connecticut River town of Deerfield (1704) ; most of the inhabitants were killed or swept away, but the affair left deep resentment at a warfare which aimed only at destruction, with no hope of conquest. The New Englanders retaliated with the same kind of warfare on the French villages. Both Frenchmen and Englishmen often scalped their defeated enemies ; and in many cases white prisoners were turned over to Indian allies to give the Indians their favorite amusement of burning them at the stake. Toward the end of the war the English colonists captured Port Royal and again attacked Quebec. By the treaty of Utrecht, which ended the war in 1713, the French gave up "all Nova Scotia formerly called Acadia," and all claims to Newfoundland and Hudson Bay. This was the first time that the English by actual conquest extended their Ameri- 126 COLONIAL AMERICANS can boundaries at the expense of the French, and it was the beginning of the downfall of the French empire in America. The period of this war was one of consolidation in England. For a century England and Scotland had been sister kingdoms, having one sovereign but two Parliaments ; but in 1707, by the Act of Union, they were united into the single kingdom of Great Britain, with a single British Parliament. Ireland, how- ever, remained a separate kingdom, with a separate Parliament, till 1801. After 1707 the Scots were on the same footing as the English in colonial trade. The union was expressed in a new British flag having the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew combined. In 1714, on the death of Queen Anne, the succession passed to the Elector of Hanover, George I. ; in 1727 to his son George II. Though the French made no proper effort to send out large bodies of colonists to Canada, they strongly fortified the town 96. Devel- ana * harbor of Louisburg on the island of Cape Breton, opment of as a cen t er for their naval power in the north Atlantic : Canada and Louisiana they built forts at the mouth of the Niagara Biver, and (1721-1748) a t Crown Point on Lake Champlain; and they began to send explorers and traders into the Ohio River country. The next step was to plan a chain of posts west of the Appa- lachian Mountains between Canada and Louisiana. This plan was postponed by a war called in American his- tory " King George's War," which broke out in 1739 between Great Britain and Spain, and in 1744 between Great Britain and France. Oglethorpe raised a force of Georgians which attacked the Spanish at St. Augustine; and thousands of English colonists were sacrificed in vain attacks on Cuba and on the Spanish stronghold of Carthagena in South America (1741). Four thousand New Englanders, however, under the command of William Pepperell, a brave but untrained militia general, joined a small British fleet, and in sixteen days' siege brought Louisburg to surrender in 1745. The WARS WITH THE FRENCH 127 war was ended in 1748 by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, by which conquests were mutually restored in all parts of the world. The French reoccupied Louisburg and refortified it. Against the French claim to the whole eastern valley of the Mississippi, the British government set itself definitely, in 1749, by making royal grants to the Ohio Company for 97. The land on the Ohio River, in what is now western Pennsyl- thTohio vania and West Virginia. To forestall a settlement there, (1749-1754) Celoron de Bienville was sent out by the French. He went down the Ohio in 1749 and near the mouths of the tributaries buried lead plates, setting forth that he had taken possession of the river. To confront the French, Virginia, which claimed the upper Ohio, founded a trading post on the Miami, about twenty miles above its mouth. The French broke it up (1752) and, reviving their plan of a chain of posts from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico, built a fort at Presque Isle (Erie), and another, Fort Le Boeuf, twenty miles farther south. It became evident that war was at hand. Under directions from the king, Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia, in October, 1753, sent to warn the French to withdraw. His messenger, George Washington (aged 21), with one companion made his way amid threatening Indians and the dangers of the wilder- ness, and delivered his message at Fort Le Bceuf. He all but lost his life in the icy waters of the Allegheny River, but returned to report that the French would not yield. Instead, the French drove a little force of Virginians out of the stra- tegic point at the Forks of the Ohio (now Pittsburg) and built Fort Duquesne on the coveted spot. George Washington, in command of a little Virginian force, thereupon collided with a body of threatening French near Great Meadows (May 28, 1754), and by his orders was fired the first shot in a great war. At the breaking out of this fourth intercolonial struggle, commonly called the French and Indian W T ar, the Lords of Trade tried to bring about an understanding between the Brit- hart's amer. hist. — 8 128 COLONIAL AMERICANS ish colonies through a congress at Albany, assembled to make a joint treaty with the Iroquois, and representing the four New 98. Con- England colonies, New York, Pennsylvania, and Mary- llba S ° f land. When the treaty was completed, Benjamin Frank- (1754) lin of Pennsylvania presented a plan for colonial union, which is a foreshadowing of our present federal constitution. A grand council sent from the colonies in proportion to their inhabitants was to have control of all Indian affairs, frontier settlements, and taxes for common purposes. This plan was approved by the congress, and sent out to the colonies for consideration, but as Franklin said, "Its fate was singular; the assemblies did not adopt it as they all thought there was too much prerogative in it, and in England it was judged to have too much of the democratic." At the beginning of the war the British colonists numbered about 1,300,000, and the Canadians were about 80,000, not 99. Three counting a few thousand savage allies. The points of feat 8 ° 6 " con t ac ^ between the French and the English were : (1755-1757) (1) the north Atlantic seacoast; (2) Lake Champlain; (3) the southern shore of Lake Ontario ; (4) the headwaters of the Ohio. At all four points the British attempted at the beginning of the war to strike hard, and most of the colonies contributed freely in men and money; although the Quakers in Pennsylvania held back, for they were opposed to all wars. On the northeast there was a special danger from the 7000 French settlers who remained in Acadia (Nova Scotia) after it was ceded to Great Britain in 1713. Parkman, the best his- torian of this war, says, " The Acadians, while calling them- selves neutrals, were an enemy encamped in the heart of the province." To prevent the danger of their rising, an officer was sent, in 1755, with orders to remove them. He says that Contempora- the men first to embark " went off Praying, Singing & ries,II.365 Crying being Met by the women & Children all the way (which is 1J mile) with Great Lamentations upon their Knees WARS WITH THE FRENCH 129 praying &c." The Acadian families were torn from their homes, loaded on vessels, and distributed in the colonies, where many of them suffered severely before they could find a liveli- hood ; and some families were forever separated. In the summer of 1755 an expedition of fifteen hundred men under the British general Braddock, sent against Fort Du- quesne, met a dramatic fate. Braddock was within seven miles of his destination, when a force of French and Indians, about one half of his strength, sallied out and totally defeated him. His regulars were brave but did not understand bush fighting, and Braddock would not allow even the militia to fight from behind trees ; hence a third of his officers and men were killed, and the remainder, regulars and provincials alike, Washington says, " ran as sheep pursued by dogs." Braddock's defeat opened a road directly to the frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania, which were harried by the Indians ; but, through the exertions of Sir William Johnson, the Six Nations were held neutral Two campaigns followed without decisive result. The English lost Fort Oswego on Lake On- tario ; and, while attempting to force the Lake Champlain route, lost Fort William Henry, where the French were unable to pre- vent their Indian allies from massacring the prisoners. In May, 1756, Great Britain declared war against France, and the general European struggle began, commonly called the Seven Years' War. It extended even to India, where Lord 100. Three Clive assured British supremacy against both French and years of natives at the battle of Plassey, 1757. Elsewhere Great (1758-1760) Britain suffered humiliating defeats. Then the English people insisted that William Pitt, an ardent and impulsive man, a powerful speaker, and a great administrator, be put at the head of affairs ; and affairs began to mend. Fort Duquesne, and Fort Frontenac on Lake Ontario, were taken in 1758 ; and the French were so weakened at sea that they could not pre- vent the second capture of Louisburg. 130 COLONIAL AMERICANS To invade Canada, Pitt now selected General James Wolfe, a model commander, endowed with the English bulldog te- nacity, and at the same time with the soldier's skill and dar- ing. With 9000 men and a fleet Wolfe besieged the strong fortress of Quebec, defended by 14,000 men ably com- manded by the Marquis de Montcalm. Wolfe forced and won a battle on the Plains of Abra- ham, above the town (September 13, 1759), but was himself mortally wounded. " ' They run, see how they run,' cried a bystander. ' Who runs ! ' demanded our hero, with great earnestness. . . . The Officer answered, ' The enemy, Sir ; Egad, they give way _ „. everywhere/ The dying general issued his orders torical quickly ; then turning on his side, he said, i Now, God be praised, I will die in peace.' " In a few days Quebec surrendered, and the next year Montreal fell. In 1762 Manila and Havana were captured from Spain by British fleets. Hostilities were ended in all parts of the world by the peace of Paris (February 10, 1763). Manila was not held, and Cuba was given up ; but the British took Spanish Florida in exchange, besides annexing Canada and Cape Breton, and the whole Mississippi valley east of the river, except the Island of Orleans. France had already transferred to Spain the part of Louisiana lying west of the Mississippi, together with New Orleans. Of all her North American pos- James Wolfe. From an old print. Journal, 69 101. Exclu- sion of the French from North America (1763) WARS WITH THE FRENCH 131 sessions, France retained only the two little islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon and some of the West Indies. SCALE OF MILES 6 HxT 25o _.__ Boundaries of the new'provinceg ^___ Proclamation Line A Boundaries of the Thirteen Colonies Present state boundaries British Colonies in 1765. The treaty left the British undisputed owners of all the territory between the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi River, Hudson Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean. The British govern- ment, by royal proclamation, October 7, 1763, erected three new provinces, Quebec, East Florida, and West Florida, and 132 COLONIAL AMERICANS extended Georgia to the St. Marys Eiver. Instead of adding new area to any of the other colonies, several of which had once had charters extending west to the Pacific, the proclama- tion cut off all the old colonies from the Mississippi basin by a clause providing that " no governor, or commander in chief of our other colonies or plantations in America do . . grant, warrant or survey or pass patents for lands beyond the heads or sources of any of the rivers which fall into the Atlantic Ocean from the west or northwest." That country was to be reserved for the occupation of the Indians. At that time the French whites and half-breeds east of the Missis- sippi were not more than 6000 in all ; and south of the Ohio the only Europeans were a few score traders and officials. The English began at once to mismanage the Indians. As Sir William Johnson said, they served out "harsh treatment, 102 Indian an S r y words, and in short, everything which can be neighbors thought of to inspire . . . dislike." When they un- dertook to send out garrisons to the little French posts northwest of the Ohio River in 1763, a dangerous Indian war blazed out under the leadership of the great chief Pontiac. Several posts were taken and the garrisons massacred, but the British commander, Colonel Bouquet, soon broke down the Indian rising. By the treaty of Fort Stanwix with the Six Nations (1768), a dividing boundary line was drawn from Wood Creek, a tribu- tary of Oneida Lake, in central New York, southward and then westward to the west branch of the Susquehanna, thence across to the Allegheny Eiver, and down the Ohio to the mouth of the Tennessee. This was an acknowledgment that the Iroquois, already in effect wards of the colony of New York, controlled territory outside the valley of the Hudson and the New York lakes. New relations were established in the South with the five tribes of Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles, who had about 14,000 " guns," or fighting men. In WARS WITH THE FRENCH 133 1768 the British got their first treaty of land cession from the Cherokees, and began to establish an influence in the region between Georgia and Louisiana. From 1689 to 1763 the international history of America is the history of the downfall of the French colonial power. At the beginning France had Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, iq3. Sum- Canada, and claims to Newfoundland and Hudson Bay ; mar y and she colonized Louisiana and asserted title to the whole Mississippi valley, though she occupied only a narrow fringe along the Gulf coast and a few settlements on the river. The year 1713 is the great turning point, because in the treaty of Utrecht the French were obliged to cede Acadia to Great Britain. In 1754 came a trial of strength for the Ohio valley, in which for three years the French held their own. Then in 1758 came the change; one French defense after another gave way, and the capture of Quebec in 1759 broke their hold on Canada. In 1763 they were compelled to give up every square foot of their splendid empire on the mainland, and retained only the two little islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon south of Newfoundland, and their possessions in the West Indies, including part of Haiti. Thenceforward the Anglo-Saxons controlled the destinies of North America. TOPICS (1) Was William III. interested in the colonies? (2) Make a Suggestive list of wars in which the Iroquois took part. (3) Make a list to P lcs of captures and conquests of French territory in North America by the English, 1603-1750. (4) Why was Port Royal so often attacked ? (5) Why did the Tuscaroras join the Five Nations ? (6) What claim had the French and the English to Hudson Bay ? (7) Why did the Spaniards allow the French to settle on the lower Mississippi ? (8) Make a list of attacks on English seacoast settlers by the French and Spanish, 1607-1750. (9) What claim had the English to the Ohio valley ? (10) Was it necessary to deport the Acadians ? (11) Why was the peace of 1763 unpopular? 134 COLONIAL AMERICANS Search topics (12) What were the general European wars corresponding to the four intercolonial wars — and what were their causes ? (13) Account of a fleet engagement between the English and the French. (14) Life on a British man-of-war about 1750. (15) Ac- count of an Indian raid on a frontier town. (16) The "casket girls " in Louisiana. (17) Germans in Louisiana. (18) English cap- tives taken to Canada. (19) Attack on Carthagena, 1741. (20) Con- temporary accounts of Braddock's defeat ; of the capture of Quebec. (21) Early New Orleans. (22) Defeat of Pontiac. (23) British war with the French in India, 1756-1763. Geography Secondary- authorities Sources Illustrative works Pictures REFERENCES See maps, pp. 121, 131 ; Thwaites, France in America ; Semple, Geographic Conditions, 36-46. Hart, Formation of the Union, §§ 12-20 ; Fisher, Colonial Era, 236-240, 286-291; Sloane, French War and Bevolution, 22-115; Lodge, English Colonies, 30-36, 109-111, 223-225, 307-310, 367- 371 ; Thwaites, France in America ; Fiske, New France and New England, 233-359; Parkman, Frontenac, 184-452, — Half Cen- tury of Conflict, — Montcalm and Wolfe, — Pontiac, I. 69-367, II. ; Wilson, American People, II. 58-61, 68-97 ; Gay, Bryant's History, III. 192-221, 254-328; Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, 342-366,— Mississippi Basin ; King, Sieur de Bienville ; Griffis, Sir William Johnson ; Lodge, George Washington, I. 1-14, 54-118 ; Johnson, General Washington, 1-66. See also references to ch. iv. Hart, Source Book, §§ 37-40, — Contemporaries, II. §§ 22, 109- 129, — Source Beaders, I. § 42, II. §§ 24-32, 34, 37-44 ; MacDonald, Select Charters, nos. 51, 52, 54 ; American History Leaflets, no. 14; Old South Leaflets, nos. 9, 73 ; Caldwell, Surveys, 39-43, — Terri- torial Development, 12-23. See N. Eng. Hist. Teachers' Ass'n, Syllabus, 316, — Historical Sources, § 75. Eggleston, American War Ballads, I. 14-20 ; Longfellow, Evange- line ; Whittier, Pentucket ; Gilbert Parker, Trail of the Sword (Canada), — Seats of the Mighty (French and Indian War); William Kirby, Golden Dog (Canada) ; W. J. Gordon, English- man's Haven (Louisburg); Hawthorne, Grandfathers Chair, pt. ii. chs. vii.-x., — Old News, pt. ii. ; James McHenry, The Wilder- ness (Ohio country) ; B. E. Stevenson, Soldier of Virginia (Brad- dock and Washington) ; J. E. Cooke, Stories of the Old Dominion, 110-139 ; C. E. Craddock, Old Fort Loudon ; Cooper, Last of the Mohicans, — Pathfinder ; Kirk Munroe, At War with Pontiac. Winsor, America, V. ; Wilson, American People, II. ; Sparks, Expansion. CHAPTER IX. QUARREL WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY (1763-1774) The period from 1760 to 1765 is a turning point in the his- tory both of England and of America, for it marks the begin- ning of a feeling of hostility between these two parts of 104. New . . forces in the British Empire. The first strong and positive sover- tne Britisn eign since William III. was the young George III., who Empire came to the throne in 1760, and said, in a public address; " Born and bred in this country, I glory in the name of Briton." His mother used to say to him, " George, be a king " ; and as soon as he could, he rid him- self of the ministry of noble Whig families who controlled both houses of Parliament, and he began systematically to build up a personal gov- ernment. Opposed to the king's policy was a group of brilliant states- men, of whom the most famous were William Pitt (later Earl of Chatham), Charles James Eox, and Edmund Burke ; they George III., about 1765. From a painting by Sir William Beechy. counseled wise and moderate dealing with the colonies. Not- withstanding this opposition, for a long time the king by shrewd means, by bestowing titles here, appointments there, reproofs to a third man, and banknotes where other things 135 136 REVOLUTION failed, was able to keep up in the House of Commons a major- ity, usually called " the king's friends." On the western side of the Atlantic a new spirit began to stir among the colonists when the danger of invasion by French neighbors ceased forever in 1763. As the French statesman Turgot said (1750), " Colonies are like fruits, they stick to the tree only while they are green ; as soon, as they can take care of themselves they do what Carthage did and what America will do." These latent tendencies to independence were strengthened by the attempt of the home government to assert new powers of government over the colonies. The colonial officials in England resented the slowness and lack of united action shown by the colonial assemblies during the French and Indian War, and felt that it would be better for them all to pay money into one treasury, for general colonial purposes. Up to this time the principal British control over the colonies as a whole had been exercised through the navigation acts. 105. Regu- Notwithstanding the special privileges thereby given to colonial colonial ships, the acts caused friction, because they cut trade off colonial trade and profits in order to swell the trade and profits of English merchants. The home government was aware that smuggling went on, and tried to stop it ; but even the little duties laid by the home government in colonial ports, to give some control over the movements of ships, were so evaded that it cost £7000 a year to collect £2000. To prevent the rise of new manufactures the British (1750) prohibited the colonists from using rolling mills and steel furnaces; and in 1774 stopped the coming in of machinery for making cloth. In order to detect smugglers, British custpms officers in the colonies were accustomed to go to the courts and ask for 106. Claim a general writ of assistance, which authorized them to ienab^e' " search- any private buildings for suspected smuggled Eights " goods ; without such searches the navigation acts could hardly be carried out. In a test case before the Massachusetts QUARREL WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY 137 courts in 1761, a brilliant and able young lawyer, James Otis, argued against the writs on the novel ground that they were contrary to the principles of English law : " Reason and the constitution are both against this writ. . . . All precedents are under the control of the principles of law. . . . No John Acts of Parliament can establish such a writ. . . . An works, II. act against the constitution is void." John Adams said 525 of him, " Otis was Isaiah and Ezekiel united — Otis was a flame of fire — Otis's oration against writs of assistance breathed into this nation the breath of life." Notwithstanding Otis's argument, the writs of assistance were again issued in Massachusetts; but his speech and his later pamphlets stated three principles of great weight in the approaching Revolution : (1) that the colonists possessed certain inalienable personal rights; (2) that there was a traditional system of colonial government, which could not be altered by Great Britain without the consent of the colonies ; (3) that under that system the colonies were united to Great Britain through the same sovereign, but were not a dependent part of Great Britain, nor subject to Parliament. In accordance with the practice of a century and a half, the home government about this time disallowed a statute of Virginia which reduced the stipends of the established clergy. A test case was made (1763), commonly called " the Parson's Cause," in which Patrick Henry got his first reputation and won the jury by an argument that there was a limit to the legal control of the mother country over colonial legisla- tion. In a bold and significant phrase he declared that Contempora- " a King, by . . . disallowing acts of so salutary a na- nes > IL 106 ture, from being the Father of his people degenerates into a Tyrant, and forfeits all right to his subjects' obedience." Another danger to the freedom of the colonies came from a new spirit in the Lords of Trade. When Charles Town- shend was chairman for a short time (February to April, 1763), 138 REVOLUTION he worked out a comprehensive plan for controlling the colo- nies. (1) Armed vessels were to be sent to the American 107 Pro coas t> an( i the naval officers were to be commissioned as posed con- revenue officers. (2) A new system of admiralty courts Dial govern- was to ^ e set U P> to ^ ea ^ more effectively with breaches ments of the Acts of Trade. (3) A force of troops was to be • stationed in America for common defense at the expense of the colonies. (4) Steps were to be taken to appoint and pay the colonial judges from England, so as to free them from control of the colonial assemblies. (5) For the necessary expenses a stamp duty was to be laid on the colonies. None of the proposed measures were car- ried out at the time. Another danger was brought on by the activity of Lord George Grenville, when 108. Tax- ne became prime minister in April, ation and 1763. The Molasses Act of 1733, the Stamp Act essentially a measure to protect (1763-1765) tne sugar planters of the British West Indies, was by the Sugar Act of 1764 made more stringent and extended to coffee and other tropical products. In this act Grenville inserted the statement that it was "just and necessary" that a tax be laid in the colonies. In 1765 he informed the agents of the colonies that he meant to lay a stamp duty unless they would suggest some other form of taxation. Without much objection, an act of Parliament was passed (March, 1765) for " certain stamp duties, and other duties, in the British colonies and plantations in America, toward further defraying the ex- penses of defending, protecting, and securing the same." The duties were to be imposed on all sorts of fegal documents, law Great-grandmother's Dress. Abigail Bishop's dress of 1780, worn by a de- scendant. QUARREL WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY 139 proceedings, wills, licenses and commissions, land patents, bills of sale ; and also on playing cards, newspapers, pamphlets, ad- vertisements, almanacs, and the like. The proceeds of the tax (estimated at £100,000 a year) were to go toward the expense of troops which were to be sent to America for the defense of the colonies. A few days later another cause of quarrel was provided in the Quartering Act, by which military officers were authorized to call on colonial authori- ties to provide barracks for troops. Against the Stamp Act the best writ- ers in America poured forth a flood of argument and protest. (1) On taxation, they argued that the power of laying taxes for revenue in the colonies belonged solely to the colonial governments. As for Parlia- ment, one writer said: If they "have a right to impose a stamp tax, they have a right to lay on us a poll tax, a land tax, a malt tax, a cider tax, a window tax, a smoke tax; and why not tax us for the light of the sun, the air we breathe, and the ground we are buried in ? " (2) On representation, they argued that the principle practiced by Parlia- ment itself was " no taxation without representation," and how could they be represented in a Parliament thousands of miles away? And they scouted the British explanation that they were fairly represented by the English members of a Parlia- ment; for their principle was that members of a legislature represented not classes or landed interests, but a body of peo- ple living in some definite area. (3) On the nature of colonial government, they maintained A Colonial Lady, about 1780. Portrait of Susanna Ran- dolph, by Copley. 140 REVOLUTION that the colonists had a traditional right not to be subject in such matters to the control of Parliament. For instance, the John Han- Boston merchant John Hancock said, " I will never carry cock, his on Business under such great disadvantages and Burthen. I will not be a slave, I have a right to the libertys & Privileges of the English Constitution, and I as an English- man will enjoy them." Opposition to the tax took several serious forms. (1) Some of the colonial assemblies passed strong resolutions 109. Op- against taxation; the best known are Patrick Henry's position to yirginia Eesolutions, which culminate in the declaration the Stamp & ' Act (1765) " That every attempt to vest such power in any other Frothing- person or persons whatever than the General Assembly ^h m R Rl8 br^ aforesaid, is illegal, unconstitutional, and unjust, and has so a manifest tendency to destroy British as well as Ameri- can liberty." (2) More quiet but effective means were the organization of " Sons of Liberty," a kind of patriotic society ; and an attempt to boycott British goods. (3) In many places mobs made discussion impossible; stamp distributors were threatened and compelled to resign, or were burned in effigy before their own doors, and their property de- stroyed. Thomas Hutchinson, lieutenant governor and chief justice of Massachusetts, opposed the Stamp Act while it was pending ; nevertheless his house was sacked and plundered, and his life and the lives of his family endangered because he pro- posed to execute the law. In thus forsaking an orderly govern- ment, and resorting to violence, the people who engaged in these outbreaks damaged their own cause and set a bad ex- ample for the years that followed. (4) The most effective method was the holding of a Stamp Act Congress of delegates from nine colonies, in New York, October 7, 1765. This dignified body petitioned the British government to withdraw the act, and drew up a formal state- QUARREL WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY 141 ment of "the most essential rights and liberties of the colo- nists, and of the grievances under which they labor." This document set forth loyalty to the crown, but stood firm on "No taxation without representation." When November 1 came, the date for putting the act in force, it was entirely ignored, and documents were simply left without stamps. The opposition to the Stamp Act caused much perplexity in England. William Pitt warmly defended the colonists : " We may bind their trade, confine their manufactures, and exercise every power whatsoever," said he, "except that of taking their money out of their pockets without their consent." Parlia- ment repealed the Stamp Act (March 18, 1766) before any serious attempt had been made to execute it ; but eleven days earlier passed a brief act setting forth that the colonies were "subordinate unto, and dependent upon the Imperial Crown and Parliament of Great Britain [which had] full power and authority ... to bind the Colonies and People of America, subject of the Crown of Great Britain, in all Cases whatsoever." By thus reaffirming the right to tax the colonies, the way was opened for a renewal of the trouble. Townshend again came into power, and in 1767 secured new duties on 110 T 0Wn . paper, painters' colors, glass, and tea, the expected pro- 8nend Ac * s . ceeds of £35,000 or £40,000 a year to be used to Tn Boston pay fixed salaries to royal colonial officers. When the (1767-1771) New York assembly refused to pass the necessary act to pro- vide barracks and other necessities for the British troops, Townshend took the dangerous step of practically suspending the government of New York by an act of Parliament. This distinct assertion that the colonial assemblies were subject to Parliament greatly alarmed the other colonies. Again strong protests were heard. John Dickinson of Pennsylvania, in his Letters from a Farmer, called upon his countrymen by practical and law-abiding methods to "take care of our rights, and we therein take care of our prosperity 142 DEVOLUTION . . . slavery is ever preceded by sleep." Non-importation agreements were made in many parts of the colonies and signed by men like George Washington. The General Court, or legislature, of Massachusetts sent a circular letter to the other colonies, urging them to join in remonstrance. In June, 1768, British customhouse officials were assaulted while searching the sloop Liberty, belonging to John Hancock ; and he was sued for smuggling. Soon after, two regiments of red- coats were ordered to Boston " to strengthen the hands of the government in the Province of Massachusetts Bay." As a witty Boston clergyman said, "Our grievances are now all red-dressed." The coming of troops, intended to overawe and not to defend, incensed all the colonies. In March, 1770, there was a fight be- tween the troops and the populace in Boston in which five per- sons were killed. Although the name " Boston Massacre " was applied to the unfortunate affair, John Adams was so far from sympathy with the populace that he defended the commander of the troops, who was acquitted. Two of the soldiers who had fired without orders, under great provocation, were con- victed of manslaughter, and eventually were lightly punished. The offensive Townshend duties were withdrawn in 1771, after producing £16,000. at a cost of about £200,000; but again the British government stupidly insisted on the principle of taxation by retaining a tea duty of threepence a pound. Just about this time another grievance much disturbed the peace of mind of many good colonists. So completely sepa- 111. Ques- rated are church and state in America to-day that it is turn of a ^ ar( j to rea ji ze now mucn 0lir forefathers feared that colonial church they might be brought under the control of the Church of England by the designation of an American bishop, or bishops. The idea was not welcome to the Episcopalians of the southern and middle colonies, and was still more un- popular in New England, where the Congregational Church QUARREL WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY 143 >%&*■' j„:. v > 'The Bishop's Palace," Cambridge, built in 1761. T^pe of the handsome colonial house. was established. When the Episcopal missionary to the college town of Cambridge built himself a large and handsome house, it came to be popularly known as "the Bishop's Palace." If the colonists had realized it, there was no cause for alarm ; for the British government was unwilling to furnish a new cause of grievance. While North and South were slowly combining to oppose Great Brit- 112 t^ ain, a new West Trans- was opening up, on the headwaters of the southern tribu- movement taries of the Ohio (map, p. 181). After the French and (1768-1774) Indian War, both Pennsylvania and Virginia claimed the forks of the Ohio, where in 1765 the town of Pittsburg was founded. People poured across the mountains, and part of them drifted southward into the mountain regions of Virginia and North Carolina. Then frontiersmen, chiefly Scotch-Irish and Ger- man with a few Huguenots, ignored the proclamation of 1763 (pp. 131, 132), defied their own colonial governments, braved the Indians, and plunged into the western wilderness. The pioneer in this movement was Daniel Boone of the Yadkin district in North Carolina, who in 1769, with five com- panions, started out " in quest of the country of Kentucke." For years he was the leading spirit in a little community of men who were frontiersmen, farmers, trappers, and Indian fighters all at the same time — the first settlers in Kentucky. A second and more continuous settlement was begun in 1769 by William Beane, on the Watauga River, a head stream of the Tennessee. Soon after, the so-called " Regulators " of North Carolina protested in arms against the tedious and expensive hart's ameb. hist. — 9 144 REVOLUTION methods of the courts, and in 1771 were defeated by Governor Try on in the battle of the Alamance. Some of those who escaped crossed over to the Watauga, which they supposed to be a part of Virginia, though it proved to be within the North Carolina claims. Under the leadership of John Sevier and James Robertson, they formed a little representative constitu- tion under the name of " Articles of the Watauga Association.'' By this time the value of the West was apparent to some capitalists, who formed the Vandalia Company, a kind of suc- cessor to the old Ohio Company, and asked for a royal charter for a colony south of the Ohio. In 1774, however, Parlia- ment showed the purpose of the British government to pre- vent the growth of any new western commonwealth, by the Quebec Act, which added the region between the Ohio and the Great Lakes to the province of Quebec. The conflicts between Boone's men and the Indians living north of the Ohio, for the unoccupied "Dark and Bloody Ground" of Kentucky, led in 1774 to "Lord Dunmore's War," which was aggravated by a brutal and unprovoked murder of the family of Logan, a well-known Indian chief. Dunmore, the governor of Virginia, pushed across the Ohio, a second army beat the Indians at Point Pleasant on the Kanawha, and the savages were forced to cede their claims south of the Ohio. Meanwhile the few settlers in Kentucky fled eastward. The infant West seemed to Massachusetts people the small- est of interests; for their own struggle was all absorbing, 113. Crisis and it became almost a personal contest between Samuel land ng " Adams, leader of the popular party, and Thomas Hutch- (1772-1773) inson, the governor. Hutchinson's letters to friends in England, urging that " there must be an abridgment of what are called English liberties," fell into the hands of Adams, who used them to persuade the people that Hutchinson was their enemy. In June, 1772, the Gaspee, a British vessel engaged in catch- ing smugglers, was burned in Rhode Island by a mob, against QUARREL WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY 145 whom nobody would testify. Things grew so squally that Samuel Adams, in 1772, obtained from the Boston town meet- ing a Committee of Correspondence " to state the Eights of the colonists and of this Province in particular ... to communi- cate and publish the same to the several Towns in this Province and to the World." A continental committee was subsequently appointed, and eleven other colonies appointed similar com- mittees, which kept themselves informed of public feeling and thus prepared for later joint action. The tea duty left in force by Townshend in 1771 was not much felt, because the colonists usually drank smuggled tea; but to help the British East India Company out of financial diffi- culties, the home government gave it such privileges that it was able to undersell the smugglers, and in August, 1773, tea ships were dispatched to the principal colonial ports. If the tea were landed and the duty paid, the right of taxation was admitted. Hence, upon the arrival of the tea ships in Phila- delphia, New York, and some other places, they were sent back without unloading. Efforts to this end in Boston were foiled ; but a meeting of five or six thousand people was held in the Old South Church in Boston (December 16, 1773) to make a final protest against the landing of the tea. Suddenly a war whoop was heard outside, and two hundred men boarded the ships and flung into the sea tea worth £18,000 (about $90,000). An eye- witness says : " They say the actors were Indians from Mass Hist Narragansett. Whether they were or not, to a transient Society Pro- observer they appear' d as such, being cloatlr d in Blankets i864-i865, with the heads muffled, and copper-color'd countenances." P- 326 Children who next morning found their fathers' shoes full of tea kept their own counsel. To the Tory government in England, the Boston Tea Party appeared an act of outrageous violence, encouraged by ... _. the town of Boston and the people of Massachusetts, and force acts deserving such punishment as would give warning to ' ' 146 REVOLUTION other colonies. In spite of Edmund Burke's protests against a policy " which punishes the innocent with the guilty, and con- demns without the possibility of defense/' a series of coercive statutes, sometimes called " the Intolerable Acts," were hastily passed by Parliament (1774) : (1) The port of Boston was closed until the town should make proper satisfaction for the destruction of the tea. (2) The charter of Massachusetts was " revoked and made void," in so far that the governor received new authority over the council and the town meetings. (3) The au- thority to take the nec- essary buildings for barracks was renewed. (4) Persons charged with murder or other capital offenses, committed in the execution of orders from England, might be transported to England for trial. To put these measures into force, General Thomas Gage was sent over to Massachusetts ; he superseded Governor English Light Dragoon, about 1778. Type of the British cavalryman. Hutchinson, and attempted to establish the new government by " mandamus councillors," whom he appointed contrary to the provisions of the charter. The Salem merchants offered their wharves to their Boston brethren, and from south to north came expressions of sympathy with Massachusetts. Resistance to taxes laid by Parliament had carried the coun- try to the verge of revolution. QUARREL WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY 147 During the eleven years from 1763 to 1774, the colonies lost their old contentment in their relation to Great Britain, and came almost to the point of revolt. The main reasons 115. g um . were: (1) taxation by Parliament for revenue through mary the Stamp Act of 1765, the Townshend duties of 1767, and the tea duties of 1771-1773; (2) the execution of the navigation acts, by means of writs of assistance, or by customhouse officers as in the sloop Liberty (1768), or by naval officers as in the Gaspee (1772) ; (3) attempts to alter the form of colonial governments, as shown by the suspension of the New York legislature (1767), and especially by the repeal of the Massa- chusetts charter in 1774, — apprehension was heightened by the Parson's Cause (1763), and the supposed purpose to send over a colonial bishop; (4) a fear that those personal rights were endangered which were claimed by Englishmen in England as well as in America ; (5) experience of the power of union, as shown in the Stamp Act Congress of 1765, the nonimportation agreements of 1765, 1768, and 1769, the resolutions of sympathy or defiance in the colonial legislatures, and the committees of correspondence of 1773; (6) irritation at the way in which British rulers, colonial governors, and regular officers looked down on the colonists ; (7) the narrowness and stupidity of George III. and other English leaders, who did not understand the colonists, and pushed the contest to a fatal issue. TOPICS (1) How did George III. come to be king of Great Britain ? Suggestive (2) What were the services of James Otis to American liberty ? (3) Why ought not the colonial judges to be paid by the home government ? (4) Make a list of acts of Parliament laying taxes on the colonies, 1060 to 1765. (5) Why was the Stamp Act re- pealed ? (6) Why should the colonists object to the Quartering Act ? (7) What personal rights did the colonists have in 1765 ? (8) Why did the colonists object to control of their government by Parliament ? (9) Was Governor Hutchinson hostile to the liberties of Massachusetts ? (10) Was the Boston Tea Party justifiable ? topics 148 REVOLUTION Search topics (11) Early life of George III. (12) Predictions of American independence before 1775. (13) Account of the Parson's Cause. (14) Contemporary objections to the Stamp Act. (15) Stamp Act mobs. (16) Affair of the sloop Liberty. (17) Destruction of the Gaspee. (18) Principles of the Watauga Association. (19) West- ern frontier life, 1769-1774. (20) Governor Gage's "mandamus councillors." (21) North Carolina " Regulators." (22) Franklin's opinion of the Stamp Act. Geography- Secondary authorities Sources Illustrative works Pictures REFERENCES See maps, pp. 131, 181 ; Semple, Geographic Conditions, 46-74 ; Epoch Maps, no. 5. Hart, Formation of the Union, §§ 22-30 ; Sloane, French War and Bevolution, 116-173 ; Lodge, English Colonies, 476-490 ; Howard, Preliminaries of the Bevolution ; Fiske, American Bevo- lution, T. 1-99 ; Wilson, American People, II. 98-192 ; Gay, Bry- ant's History, III. 329-376 ; Frothingham, Bise of the Bepublic, 158-358 ; Lodge, American Bevolution ; Trevelyan, American Bevolution, pt. i. 28-193 ; McCrady, South Carolina, II. 541-732 ; Wiusor, Westward Movement, 4-81, 100-106; Roosevelt, Winning of the West, I. 28-271; Tyler, Bevolution (literary), I. 1-266,— Patrick Henry, 1-100 ; Sparks, Men who made the Nation, 1-72 ; Thwaites, Daniel Boone, 1-112; Morse, Benjamin Franklin, 100- 203 ; Ford, Many-sided Franklin ; Hosmer, Samuel Adams, 1-259, — Thomas Hutchinson. Hart, Source Book, § 53,— Contemporaries, II. §§ 37, 130-152, — Source Readers, II. §§ 33, 45-51 ; MacDonald, Select Charters, nos. 53, 55-71 ; Hill, Liberty Documents, ch. xii. ; American His- tory Leaflets, nos. 21, 33; Old South Leaflets, nos. 41, 68; Cald- well, Survey, 43-68 ; Johnston, American Orations, I. 11-23 ; Fithian, Journal. See N. Eng. Hist. Teachers' Ass'n, Syllabus, 318-325, — Historical Sources, § 76. Moore, Songs and Ballads of the American Bevolution, 1-64 ; Raymond,' Ballads of the Bevolution, 3-55 ; L. M.Child, The Bebels (Boston) ; C. C. Coffin, Daughters of the Bevolution-, Hawthorne, Edward BandolpWs Portrait, — Grandfather's Chair, pt. iii. chs. i.-vi. ; D. P. Thompson, Green Mountain Boys ; A. E. Barr, Bow of Orange Bibbon (N.Y.) ; Thackeray, Virginians-, Edmund Lawrence, George Stalden ; J. K. Cooke, Virginian Comedians, — Fairfax, — Stories of the Old Dominion, 140-204. Winsor, America, VI., — Memorial History of Boston, III.; Wilson, American People, II. CHAPTER X. BIRTH OF A NEW NATION (1774-1776) The last act of the Massachusetts House of Representatives under the old charter was to propose (June 17, 1774) a colonial congress, already informally suggested in Virginia; and 116. The delegates were appointed from all the colonies, except ne " t u al °q ^_ Georgia. This First Continental Congress met, Septem- gress(1774i ber 5, 1774, in Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, and was the most distinguished body that had ever gathered in America. Among its members were John and Samuel Adams of Massachusetts, John Jay of New York, John Dickinson of Pennsylvania, Ed- mund Randolph and Patrick Henry of Virginia, Charles Carroll of Maryland, and John Rutledge of South Carolina. The im- portant action was of three kinds : — (1) Congress protested in dignified and loyal phrases against the treatment of Massachusetts and of the colonies in general ; they respectfully petitioned the king to remove their griev- ances, and they sent out a series of addresses explaining the situation. Except a few radicals, of whom Samuel Adams was the chief, Congress hoped and expected that Great Britain would yield to this strong and united protest. (2) Congress drew up a Declaration of Rights which laid claim to the liberties and immunities of Englishmen, includ- ing a "Right of Representation ... in all Cases of Taxation and internal Polity, subject only to the Negative Congress, of their Sovereign " ; and they enumerated various acts of i4 t i<74 Parliament which they declared were "infringements and violations of the rights of the colonists." 149 150 REVOLUTION 117. War breaks out in Massa- chusetts (1775) (3) On October 20, 1774, Congress drew up the "Associa- tion," which was an agreement for a boycott on an immense scale : no British goods (including slaves) were to be imported or sold ; and after September, 1775, no American goods were to be exported to Great Britain, Ireland, or the British West Indies. It was signed by fifty-two members and was recom- mended to all the colonies, most of which put it into force. Since no action by the colonies could take away the legal right of the people to buy, import, and sell British goods, the Association could be enforced only by violence. From north to south there was an era of terrorism; mob methods were called in ; and he was a fortunate ship captain who, having arrived in port with a shipload of merchandise, was allowed even to sail away again with his goods on board. Meanwhile the House of Representatives of Massachusetts broke off relations with Governor Gage, organized itself as a " Provincial Congress " (October 7, 1774), and created a Committee of Safety under the chairmanship of John Hancock, which began to collect military supplies and organize "minutemen," ready to march at a minute's notice. To break up the preparations of the colonists, during the winter Gage sent out and seized powder and arms at various places near Boston. In the night of April 18, 1775, Paul Revere and other swift riders galloped off to give notice that Vicinity of Boston. British troops were on the march ; the object was to capture John Hancock and Samuel Adams, who were staying at Lexington, and to destroy military stores at Concord. At five o'clock of the morning of 7 ^y v r ,,. British Route ^1 l Jffj3 "" «^^ SCALE0FMIL6S , J ^^\^ *;- BIRTH OF, A NEW NATION 151 April 19, 1775, the British van of six companies appeared on the green at Lexington and found a line of provincial militia drawn up. To this day it is uncertain just how the fight began ; an English officer who was present at the battle says, " On our approach they dispersed and soon after firing began ; but which party fired first I cannot exactly say, as our troops rushed on shouting and huzzaing previous to the firing." Battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775. From Earl's drawing, made a few days later. When the smoke cleared away, seven patriots were found killed and nine wounded. The responsibility for this out- break of open war goes back to the king of Great Britain, who had forced matters to this issue ; and is shared by men like Samuel Adams and Washington who were ready to resist the authority of the mother country rather than yield what they felt to be their rights. From Lexington the British marched seven miles to Con- cord, where a body of militia boldly marched down to oppose 152 REVOLUTION them, and beat them back at a little bridge where now stands the statue of the minuteman. Emerson ** Here once the embattled farmers stood And fired the shot heard round the world." 118. Union in the Sec- ond Conti- nental Congress (1775) As the weary British troops returned toward Boston they were followed and harassed by the militia, who ambushed them from behind the road- side walls and fences. With a total loss of 273 British to 93 Americans, the British at last reached the shelter of the guns from their ships. The Continental Congress of 1774 called a Second Conti- nental Congress to meet in Philadelphia, May 10, 1775. It came together in what is now Inde- pendence Hall, burning with indignation over the Lex- ington and Concord fight; and speedily found itself the cen- ter of organization and resist- ance for the thirteen colonies. Without any formal authority from the colonial governments, but supported by their good will and assent, Congress made itself a national government. For example, from May to July, 1775, it forbade certain exportations, ordered a state of defense, organized a post office, voted an American continental army, appointed George Washington commander in chief, authorized bills of credit, sent a last petition to the king, and considered Franklin's scheme for a federal constitution. The Minuteman. Statue by Daniel French, on site of the battle of Concord. BIRTH OF A NEW NATION 153 Congress also went into the minutiae of government. For instance, on a single day it received a petition from a loyalist parson in jail; resolved to open trade with the non-British West Indies ; considered a report on a French artillery Journals 0J officer; advanced $400 to a Canadian prisoner; appointed Congress, a committee to investigate charges against a military offi- cer; and fixed the pay of a regimental surgeon at $25 a month. Immediately after the battle of Lexington, virtual war began throughout the thirteen colonies, for the people of the middle and southern colonies showed their sympathy U9 The with Massachusetts by driving out their governors and issue of . . . , ,. , • i force (1775) setting up provincial congresses and conventions winch assumed the government. The four other continental colo- nies, Quebec, Nova Scotia, East Florida, and West Florida, had few English-speaking people and did not join in the revolution, though repeatedly invited to do so. The British government met the issue of war before it came, when Parliament (February 2, 1775) declared that rebellion existed. The farthest point of conciliation offered by Par- liament was Lord North's resolution, to the effect that no taxes should be laid on the colonies if they would provide a revenue of their own for the common defense. The American formal declaration of war was a vote of Congress setting Journah of forth the necessity of their taking up arms. "Our Congress, cause is just," said they. " Our Union is perfect. Our July 6 > 17 internal resources are great, and, if necessary, foreign Assist- ance is undoubtedly attainable." After the battle of Lexington and Concord, the New Eng- land militia streamed into Cambridge, and Gage was formally besieged in Boston. Ethan Allen of Vermont, without 120. Can- waiting for anybody's authority, surprised and captured Boston the great fortress of Ticonderoga (May 10, 1775), with (1775-1776) an invaluable store of powder and other munitions ; and that winter forty great guns from the fort were dragged across New 154 DEVOLUTION England to give indispensable aid in the siege of Boston. The road was now open directly into Canada, where the French were supposed to be ready to throw off allegiance to Great Britain. In the fall of 1775 an expedition under Montgomery took Montreal; and another under Benedict Arnold was joined by Montgomery but just failed of taking Quebec. The Ca- nadians held off, for they did not understand this form of friendship, and had no mind to exchange distant British rulers for neighboring American masters, especially since the Quebec Act of 1774 gave them religious freedom and an acceptable government. The siege of Boston was enlivened June 17, 1775, by the battle of Bunker Hill. The Americans, under Israel Putnam and William Prescott, made the bold attempt to fortify the high ground back of Charlestown, commanding Boston. They fortified Breeds Hill, were ill supplied with ammunition, lost their popular general Joseph Warren, and were finally driven out of their intrenchments by the third desperate assault of the British. It was one of the dearest of victories, for the British lost over 1000 troops out of 3000 engaged, and gained no new ground. Congress had already taken charge of the siege and appointed a new commander in chief, George Washington, who, July 3, 1775, drew up the troops on Cambridge Common, read to them his commission, and took formal command. He pro- ceeded to reorganize the force, and, to use his own phrase, " gave a pretty good slam " to some of the militia generals. Gradually troops arrived from the middle and southern col- onies. Washington seized the commanding position of Dor- chester Heights, and on March 17, 1776, compelled the British army, still numbering 10,000 soldiers and sailors, to go on board the fleet, together with their loyalist friends ; and presently they sailed away to Halifax. Up to 1776 the theory of the Americans was that they were BIRTH OF A NEW NATION 155 fighting simply to compel the British to return to the legal principles of colonial government ; they still hoped for an 121. Ex- honorable settlement of the trouble. As the war went on, P°^ ents <>* 7 mdepend. they lost their habitual loyalty to the sovereign and be- ence gan to accuse George III. of all kinds of gross tyranny, and to think of independence. One of the great champions of independence was Patrick Henry of Virginia, a passionate, impulsive, fiery man, with a reputation for surpassing oratory. It is a well-founded tradition that in the Virginia Assembly in 1774 he exclaimed, "Caesar had his Brutus; Charles I. his Cromwell; and George III. — " "Treason," shouted the Speaker. " Treason, treason," rose from all sides of the room, — " and George III. may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it." As a member of the First Continental Congress, Patrick Henry foresaw independence. " Government is dissolved," said he. "Fleets and armies and the present state of things show that government is dissolved. ... I am not a Virginian, but an American;" and in the Virginia convention of 1775 he made a magnificent speech ending with the oft-quoted passage, "I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death." In the North the greatest exponent of independence was the astute political leader Samuel Adams of Massachusetts, the first man to discover how much may be done in a democracy by organizing the voters and by preparing work for town meetings and assemblies through caucuses and private meet- ings. He induced Boston to take strong ground in the quarrel with England ; in 1768 he conceived the idea of the Massa- chusetts circular letter (§ 110), the beginning of common action among the colonies. He afterward said that at this time he had made up his mind that independence was the only remedy. In the Massachusetts legislature he invented the Committee of Correspondence in 1772 (§ 113), and was himself the most 156 REVOLUTION active member. Governor Hutchinson called him " Master of the Puppets." He pulled the wires which led to the Boston Tea Party ; and in Congress he labored unceasingly for inde- pendence. Though he could destroy, he did not know how to build up a state, and after 1776 he lived for the most part in private, except for a brief pe- riod as governor of Massachusetts. The first public sug- gestions that the Brit- 122. Pre- ish rule had ceased liminaries were ma de in of inde- pendence votes of local con- (1775-1776) ventions, among Samuel Adams, about 1780. them one in Mecklen- From the portrait h * Cople y* burg County, North Carolina (May, 1775). Congress waited to see the result of their appeal to the king. When news came (November 1, 1775) that the king would not even receive it, the hope of any settlement inside the British Empire died away. In January, 1776, appeared the first widely read and effective argument on this subject — Thomas Paine's ringing pamphlet, Common Sense, an arsenal of arguments against England and against reconciliation. " The birth day of a new world is at hand," exclaimed Paine ; " and a race of men . . . are to receive their portion of freedom." Congress began to take bold ground. In March, it ordered American ports thrown open to all foreign nations, issued letters of marque to priva- teers, and advised all the colonies to disarm the Tories. BIRTH OF A NEW NATION 15? Rapidly the idea of a formal public declaration of independ- ence by Congress took root; and from March to May, 1776, four provincial congresses instructed their delegates to vote for the suppression of all forms of royal authority. May 15, on motion of John Adams, Congress voted that all British authority in the colonies ought to be legally suppressed. June 7, Richard Henry Lee, under instructions from his colony of Virginia, introduced a resolution for independence, and also looking to a formal union ; and two committees were appointed (June 10-12), one to draft a declaration of independence, the other to prepare articles of confederation. The question of independence was postponed, to enable delegates to receive instructions from home, for, as Franklin dryly remarked, "We must all hang together or we shall all hang Franklin, separately." II 360 The first committee appointed as a consequence of Lee's resolution comprised Thomas Jefferson, a young delegate from Virginia, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sher- 123. Decla- man, and Robert R. Livingston. To Jefferson was given ration of In- , _ .. ° dependence the delicate task of drawing up a public statement of the (1776) reasons for war and separation. Fortunately he had a ready pen, and his mind was full of principles of free government, which were not peculiar to the colonies, but were the com- mon property of the English race, and had been in part put in form by the English philosophers Locke and Hobbes. He threw his Declaration of Independence into three parts : — (1) An announcement of political principles applying to all mankind, stated in the form of certain "self-evident truths," such as "that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pur- suit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Govern- ments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." 158 REVOLUTION (2) A list of twenty-seven grievances, partly directed to illegal acts, but most of them charging the British government with unjustly exercising powers till then accepted as legal. (3) The ringing statement that " These United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, Free and Independent States." The declaration thus prepared was reported on June 28, and was for some days debated and slightly amended. Meanwhile Independence Hall, Philadelphia, built in 1735. Meeting place of the Continental Congress. From an old print. the postponed resolution of independence (§ 122) was formally adopted, July 2. John Adams has left us his impressions of this momentous act. " The second day of July, 1776, will be . _ the most memorable epocha in the history of America. . . . Adams, L J Works, IX. It ought to be commemorated, as a day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of 420 BIRTH OF A NEW NATION 159 this continent to the other, from this time forward, forever- more." On July 4, 1776, Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Independence was adopted as amended. On August 2, an engrossed copy (still preserved in Washington) was laid before Congress and the members then in Congress affixed their names to this document, although in the eye of English law every signer was a traitor and subject to a traitor's doom. For a time the Declaration fell heavy on the people of America; it seemed too bold, too thoroughgoing; it shut the door of reconciliation ; and nothing but hard fighting could give the proof that the colonies were really " free and independ- ent states." Even the flag of an independent nation was not adopted until the following June. But the Declaration com- pelled every thinking man once for all to choose either Parlia- ment or Congress; and it announced to foreign nations the purpose of the Americans to do or die. " The Union is older than any of the States," said Abraham Lincoln in 1861, " and in fact it created them as States." ^ He meant to bring out the fact that the Second Conti- Leaflets, nental Congress organized a national government before new state governments came into being. The provincial ma tion°of congresses, from which all those who protested against the states the Eevolution were shut out, felt that they were only temporary, and several of them applied to the Continental Con- gress to know what to do. Congress waited till November 3, 1775, when it advised the people of New Hampshire to estab- lish a government ; and early in 1776 the New Hampshire con- vention adopted the first state constitution. Shortly after, South Carolina adopted a constitution, while Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut thought they could get on with their old colonial charters, slightly modified. On May 10, 1776, Congress gave general advice to the states to form such governments as will "best conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents in particular, and America in hart's amer. hist. — 10 160 REVOLUTION general." Thereupon the remaining eight colonies (and also Vermont) all adopted written constitutions during 1776 and 1777. Massachusetts followed in 1780 with the first state con- stitution submitted to popular vote. With many variations in detail these important documents agree in their general form and spirit. (1) Each contained a bill of rights — that is, a statement of the liberties of the individual. (2) Each provided for a repre- sentative republican government, including three departments, legislative, executive, and judicial. All the states except two created a legislature of two houses ; in all, the legislature was the most powerful part of the system ; all the states except Pennsylvania had a single governor, chosen by popular vote or by the legislature. (3) None of the constitutions were strongly democratic according to our ideas, for the suffrage was limited to property owners or taxpayers ; and most of the states had also religious and property qualifications for office holders. (4) In the fear of military and centralized government, all the constitutions fixed short terms for all elective officers. (5) Several of them provided a method of easy amendment, and within ten years some of the first constitutions were entirely recast. (6) All these state constitutions directly or indirectly recognized that there would be a permanent general congress. The idea of statehood and membership in the Union spread into the West. In 1775 Richard Henderson of Virginia, with 125. Fron- Daniel Boone as his right-hand man, set up the Transyl- n\ties 0inmU " van i a Company, and bought from the Cherokees the tract (1775-1777) between the Cumberland and Kentucky rivers (map, p. 181). Boone was sent ahead and blazed out a pack trail known as the Wilderness Road, from the Holston (upper Tennessee) through Cumberland Gap to Kentucky. The new settlers founded Boonsboro and other settlements, and actually set up a government by a delegate convention. Governor Martin of North Carolina violently opposed what he called this "infa- mous company of land pirates " j but after his expulsion the BIRTH OF A NEW NATION 161 settlement applied to Congress to admit it as a state. The people of the Vandalia region in 1776 also petitioned Con- gress to make them "a sister colony and fourteenth. Am Hist province of the American confederacy." Both applica- Review, tions were distasteful to Virginia, which in 1776 organized Kentucky County, with a county seat at Harrodsburg, and put an end to the Transylvania government. One new community succeeded in organizing itself without the leave either of the parent state or of Congress. The people of the "New Hampshire Grants," a tract assigned by the Brit- ish government to New York, revolted from New York, named themselves Vermont, set up their own constitution (1777), and kept up an independent government for fourteen years. Never for a moment did the friends of independence expect the states to remain separate and disorganized. Already (July 21, 1775) Benjamin Franklin had propounded to Congress 126. Arti- a plan of union somewhat resembling his old draft in ^deration the Albany congress. In brief outline he proposed (1775-1778) (1) a common treasury to be supported by contributions from the colonies; (2) a Congress with representation in propor- tion to the population ; (3) national control of boundaries, of peace, of new colonies, and of Indians. The second com- mittee appointed as a result of Kichard Henry Lee's resolution of June 7 reported (July 12, 1776) a draft of a confederation from the hand of John Dickinson; but Congress found in it many subjects for disagreement — for instance, should the states be represented in proportion to population ? Should slave property be taxed ? Should Congress regulate foreign commerce ? Should Congress control the West ? Congress completed its draft of the Articles of Confedera- tion November 15, 1777, and sent it out to the states for ratifica- tion; but it was much weaker than Franklin's proposition. (1) It emphasized the sovereignty, freedom, and independence of the states. (2) Each state in the confederation was to have 162 REVOLUTION one vote in Congress. (3) Taxes were to be apportioned accord- ing to the value of land in each state (a method which later proved impracticable). (4) No direct authority was given to Congress for the settlement of boundary disputes, or for the planting of new colonies. Ratifications came in slowly: after eight months only ten states had approved ; three states, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland, stood out because Congress was to have no power to cut down the claims of Virginia to western lands ; and three years passed before they all yielded. The change from colonies to an independent nation began in 1774 with a general feeling of wrath over the British coer- 127. Sum- c i ye ac * s which had been aimed at Massachusetts. The mary Yivst Continental Congress of 1774 expressed the com- mon resentment, and in the Association attacked the " pocket nerve " of the British mer- chants and made the first general regulation of com- merce by America. To carry it out, however, mob violence was called in, and thus the Revolution began in disorder. The people of Massachusetts organized a revolutionary government of their own, and it was only a ques- tion of time when the two parties would attack each other. The moment came on A Tough Old Patriot. April 19, 1775, at Lexing- Monument in Arlington (then Menotomy). ton. The actual shedding NEAR THIS SPOT SAMUEL WH1TTEM0RE. THEN 00 YEARS OLD KiLLEQ THREE BRITISH SOt-DIE' APRIL 13 1775. . HE WAS SHOT. BAYONETED. BEATEN AN2 LEFT FOR OEAB BUT RECOVERED AND LIVED TO 3E 98 YEARS OF BIRTH OF A NEW NATION 163 of blood by the troops and by the Americans raised an issue which the other colonies must either take up or drop, and nobly and unselfishly they took it up. While Boston was be- sieged and Canada invaded, the Second Continental Congress in May, 1775, began to act as a national government, and speedily organized an army and a navy, appointed a com- mander in chief, issued paper money, and took steps to form relations with foreign countries. Unless the colonists were willing to yield, they had to declare themselves independent. The Declaration of Inde- pendence of July 4, 1776, was followed by a scheme of federal government, but the real beginning of the United States had been in 1775, when Congress by general consent began to legislate for the concerns of the whole people. TOPICS (!) Was the Association of 1774 a good method of protest? Suggestive (2) How was the patriot government of Massachusetts organized in 1774 ? (3) Make a list of previous instances of resistance by the colonists to British authority. (4) What did the Committees of Correspondence do for the American cause ? (5) How did the Second Continental Congress feel about the fight at Lexington and Concord ? (6) Make a list of instructions of the state legisla- tures to vote for independence. (7) History of the United States flag. (8) What do we know of the debate on the Declaration of Independence ? (9) What objections were there to ratifying the Articles of Confederation? (10) Why did the British evacuate Boston ? (11) Proceedings in Congress July 2, 1776 — also July 4. (12) Why were people ready for independence in 1776 and not in 1775? (13) Revolutionary town meetings. (14) Sons of Liberty. Search (15) A revolutionary mob. (16) Contemporary accounts of topics the Lexington and Concord fight. (17) Enforcement of the Association. (18) Opinions of John Adams on Congress. (19) Did Washington take command of the army at Cambridge under the tree now called the Washington Elm ? (20) Samuel Adams's opinions of independence. (21) Where did Jefferson get his ideas for the Declaration of Independence ? (22) Hender- 164 REVOLUTION son's Transylvania Company. (23) Contemporary accounts of Bunker Hill. (24) The Mecklenburg (N.C.) Declaration of 1775. (25) Expulsion of the royal governors of the colonies. (26) Why did the invasion of Canada fail ? (27) Facts which justify some of the charges in the Declaration of Independence. REFERENCES Geography Secondary- authorities Sources Illustrative works Pictures See maps, pp. 131, 168, 181. Hart, Formation of the Union, §§ 31-39 ; Sloane, French War and Revolution, 173-237 ; Channing, United States, 67-87 ; Van Tyne, American Revolution, chs. i.-v.,— Loyalists ; Fiske, Revo- lution, I. 100-146 ; Trevelyan, American Revolution, pt. i. 193- 411, pt. ii. 1. 1-171 ; Gay, Bryant's History, III. 377-450, 470-489 ; Earned, History for Ready Reference, III. 2337, IV. 2375, V. 3214, 3244, 3635 ; Cambridge Modern History, VII. 160-174, 207-210, 235-243 ; Greene, Revolution, 67-136 ; McCrady, South Carolina, II. 733-798, III. 1-185 ; Tyler, Revolution (literary), I. 267-521, — Patrick Henry, 101-213; Sparks, Men who made the Nation, 72-118; Morse, John Adams, 1-127, — Benjamin Franklin, 204- 219 ; Hosmer, Samuel Adams, 260-337 ; Lodge, George Washing- ton, I. 128-157; Thwaites, Daniel Boone, 113-128. Hart, Source Book, §§ 54-58, — Contemporaries, II. §§ 153-158, 184-192, — Source Readers, II. §§ 51-54 v 56-58, 77, 78 ; Mac- Donald, Select Charters, nos. 72-80,— Select Documents, nos. 1, 2; Hill, Liberty Documents, chs. xiii.-xv. ; American History Leaflets, nos. 11, 14, 20 ; Old South Leaflets, nos. 2, 3, 47, 86. See N. Eng. Hist. Teachers' Ass'n, Syllabus, 325-330, — Historical Sources, §77. Matthews, Poems of American Patriotism, 8-45 ; Eggleston, American War Ballads, I. 23-39 ; Moore, Songs and Ballads of the American Revolution, 65-129, 139-149 ; Raymond, Ballads of the Revolution, 55-87 ; Longfellow, Paul Revere's Ride ; Lowell, Con- cord Ode,— Ode for the Fourth of July, 1876; Bryant, Green Mountain Boys; Holmes, Grandmother's Story of Bunker Hill; Hawthorne, Septimus Felton (Concord), — My Kinsman, Major Molineux (mob), — Howe's Masquerade, — Grandfather's Chair, pt. iii. chs. vii.-xi. ; Cooper, Lionel Lincoln (Boston) ; J. E. Cooke, Henry St. John, Gentleman (Valley of Virginia), — Stories of the Old Dominion, 205-218. Winsor, America, VI., — Memorial History of Boston, III. ; Wilson, American People, II. CHAPTER XL THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE (1776-1783) When war came, Great Britain seemed to have an over- whelming superiority over America in men and resources. A small and vigorous governing class, consisting only of a 128 The few hundred families of landholders, furnished almost rival -, peoples all members of Parliament and officers of the army and navy. In this aristocracy the central figure was King George III., who, from day to day, gave his personal directions to Lord North, the prime minister, for the management of Par- liament. A good husband and father in an age of vice, a kind- hearted friend, a king who meant well by his subjects, George III. was still a narrow, obstinate, and ill-informed man. The aggressive force of England was, moreover, weakened because several liberal statesmen sided with the colonies. Among them the Earl of Chatham solemnly demanded of his country- men " a formal acknowledgement of our errors, and a renunci- ation of our unjust, ill-founded, and oppressive claims." Against the might of Great Britain was opposed a poor country, with no manufactures of iron or cloth, unable to make a musket or cast a cannon. Yet America was a land of comfort and prosperity. Lafayette wrote of it, " Sim- contempora- neity of manners, kindness, love of country and of lib- nes ' IL 486 erty, and a delightful equality everywhere prevails. . . All the citizens are brethren. In America there are no poor, or even what we call peasantry." Even during the war the colonists made, money from privateering and West Indian and European trade, and bought the necessary materials of war with their exports. 165 166 REVOLUTION The serious weakness of the Americans was that they were divided; John Adams later estimated that fully a third of 129 The *^ e P e °pl e were opposed to war, and still more strongly American opposed to independence. The years 1775 and 1776 y were full of commotion, tumult, and violence against the loyalists. Those Americans who still maintained that the British government was not tyrannical were intimidated, arrested, imprisoned, tarred and feathered, and in some cases executed. As the struggle grew fiercer, the colonists passed laws banishing the loyalists or confiscating their property. In many districts the struggle was a civil war in which hun- dreds of the Tories, as the loyalists were called, were kept down by force. The Tories included in the New England and mid- die commonwealths most of the well-to-do classes, the former colonial officials and their friends, old officers of the British army, many of the clergy and of the graduates of colleges. In some states nearly half the people were loyalists. Thou- sands of them entered the British army and fought against their brethren; and thousands of families removed to Nova Scotia, Quebec, and other British colonies. The British were overwhelmingly superior in the size of their military and naval forces, although much hampered by 130. The the necessity of transporting men and materials across rival forces a s t rmy sea. In 1776 they had 200 ships of war, and for men they drew on 11,000,000 people in Great Britain and Ireland, besides the loyalists. Yet Lord North committed the stupid blunder of hiring 30,000 Hessians, who had no personal interest in the struggle, and were leased by their princes like so many cattle. "Were I an American," said Chatham, " as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I never would lay down my arms — never — never — never"; and Franklin wrote grimly, "The German auxiliaries are certainly coming; it is our business to prevent their returning." THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 167 Out of the 3,000,000 people in the colonies, the Tories and negroes numbered at least 1,200,000. There were from 300,000 to 400,000 able-bodied patriots, of whom perhaps 150,000 served in the army at one time or another; but they probably never numbered more than 40,000 men under arms at one time, and sometimes the total force available for striking a blow was not above 5000. Besides troops of English de- scent, there were many Germans, Irish, and Scotch, some Dutch, Jews, French, and Welsh, and several thousand negroes, especially from Rhode Island. Both sides made the moral and military mistake of enlisting Indian allies; the Amer- icans were first to seek this dubious aid ; the British used it most effectively. The main difficulty with the army was that the states insisted on furnishing militia on short terms of service, instead of allowing Congress to form a sufficient regular force with national officers, enlisted for the war. Washington said of the militia, "The system appears to have been pernicious beyond description. ... It may be easily shown, that alMhe misfortunes we have met with in the military line are to be attributed to this cause." Many soldiers of fortune drifted over from Europe to seek employment, besides Lafayette, a French nobleman, who brought his own enthusiasm and the silent support of the French government; the German Baron von Steuben, an excellent soldier, skillfully drilled the troops and introduced improved tactics; the Poles Kosciusko and Pulaski and the French general De Kalb were gallant soldiers. After a year of preparation, the British dispatched a fleet to take Charleston, but it was beaten off (June 28, 1776) by the gallantry of Colonel Moultrie, in a fight signalized 131. Long by the heroism of Sergeant Jasper. The main attack Trenton was on New York, near which Sir William Howe landed (1776-1777) with 20,000 men on Long Island (August 22). Washington 76 REVOLUTIONARY WAR IN THE NORTH SCALE OF MILES 6 Tb So ?5 100 — — Washington's Route Routes of the British S CALE OF MILE S 6 5 10 20 L.L.PO»TES,-ENG'l 76 Longitude West 16.8 THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 169 had never before maneuvered an army in the field or defended a country j his force of 18,000 men was badly defeated (August 27), and only Howe's slowness enabled him to escape across the East River to New York. The British maneuvered him out of the city, fought a successful battle at White Plains (October 28), and soon after captured Fort Washington on the north end of Manhattan Island, with 3000 prisoners. Washington was forced back across New Jersey and the Delaware, his army sometimes falling below 3000 troops; for Charles Lee, a former British officer, in command of 7000 men, for a time dis- obeyed orders to come to his aid. Al- most in despair Washington wrote, " If every nerve is not strained to re- 1IT ,. J Washing- cruit the new army with all possi- ton, Works, ble expedition, I think the game is pretty nearly up." But for the heroic efforts of Robert Morris, a wealthy mer- chant of Philadelphia, who raised money on his personal credit to keep the army together, the Revolution might have failed then and there. Washington's indomitable spirit suddenly turned the scale. To prevent the British following him to Philadelphia he re- crossed the Delaware in boats (December 26, 1776), struck the British post at Trenton, and captured 1000 Hessians. A few days later he successfully attacked the British at Princeton (January 3, 1777), so that they withdrew to the neighborhood of New York, and Washington fortified himself at Morristown, where at one time he had only 1500 men. A compensating British victory was the capture of Newport. 473 Statue of Sergeant Jasper in Charleston. 170 REVOLUTION In the spring of 1777 the British planned three lines of attack, intended to cut New England off from the middle 132. Bur- colonies: (1) from Lake Champlain to the Hudson under campaign General John Burgoyne; (2) from Lake Ontario to the (1777) Mohawk under Colonel St. Leger ; (3) from New York up the river under Sir William Howe to join the northern forces. In June, 1777, Burgoyne started southward from Montreal with an army of about 8000 men, including Hes- Moore, sians; and he put forth a bombastic proclamation, in Am V Rev which he said, " I have but to give stretch to the In- 1.454 dian forces under my direction, . . . and the messengers of justice and wrath await them in the field ; and devastation, famine, and every concomitant horror." Washington was unable to leave Howe's front, and Schuyler was put in command to oppose Burgoyne, who nevertheless easily got as far as Fort Edward. Here he found a hornet's nest. Men poured in from near-by New England until Schuy- ler had nearly twice as many troops as Burgoyne, and General Stark of New Hampshire beat part of the British forces at Bennington (August 16). Meanwhile the British expedition to the Mohawk valley under Colonel St. Leger got no farther than the vicinity of Fort Stanwix, because of the skillful prep- arations of Schuyler and Benedict Arnold and the bravery of General Herkimer at the battle of Oriskany. General Horatio Gates was now put in command of the American northern army, though against Washington's judgment. The expected British army did not appear from the lower Hudson. Most of Burgoyne's Indians deserted, and the British lost men steadily in battle and by capture. Burgoyne was at last confronted by Arnold and others, active subordinates of the apathetic Gates, and, after two hard fights at Freeman's Farm, was obliged to surrender his whole remaining army at Saratoga, October 17, 1777 ; the prisoners were 3500 British and Hessian troops, with 2300 volunteers and camp followers. The defeat was the turn- THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 171 ing point of the war, for the overthrow of the boastful procla- mation-maker gave the patriot cause new life. In the words of a popular squib, " Burgoyne, alas ! unknowing future fates, Could force his way through woods, but not through Gates." Chew House, Germantown. Injured by cannon balls in battle of Germantown, 1777 ; still standing. Probably Howe might have prevented Burgoyne's capture by advancing up the Hudson ; but he was induced to plan a separate campaign for the occupation of Philadelphia. 133. The In August he landed with 18,000 men at the head of ^SSSo?" the Chesapeake ; Washington with his 11,000 men was phia (1777) unable to stop him, and was defeated in a pitched battle at the river Brandywine (September 11, 1777). Two weeks later the British occupied Philadelphia, and Washington's bold attempt to dislodge them by a surprise at Germantown (October 4) was a failure. 172 REVOLUTION Disregarding the military maxim that the object of cam- paigns is to destroy the enemy's army, Howe was content to capture the lower forts and thus to clear the Delaware of foes, and he then sat down for a comfortable winter in Philadelphia. Thousands of Jerseymen and Pennsylvanians thought the war was over and gave in their allegiance; but Washington did not know when he was beaten, and took up winter quarters at Valley Forge, above the city, on the Schuylkill Kiver. Newport, New York, and Philadelphia were all held by the British, and reinforcements and supplies came to them steadily 134. Valley from over the sea > wnile Washington's army at Valley Forge Forge was living miserably in a camp village of log huts. Fuel was plentiful, but food and clothing were scanty, not because there was any scarcity in the country, but because so many of the neighboring people were disaffected, and the roads were so bad that it was almost impossible to bring supplies which were stored only a few miles away. At one time, out of a force of at most 11,000 men, 2898 were reported unable to go on duty for want of clothing. Yet the spirit of the Contempora- troops was excellent, as one of the officers wrote : " See ries, II. 56i the poor Soldier ... if barefoot he labours thro' the Mud & Cold with a Song in his Mouth extolling War & Washington — if his food be bad — he eats it notwithstand- ing with seeming content." One cause of the suffering of the soldiers was the bad man- agement of the commissary officers ; back of that was the weak- ness of Congress, of which Alexander Hamilton said, " Their conduct, with respect to the army especially, is feeble, indecisive and improvident." It was a time of great losses ; nine hundred American merchant vessels had already been taken ; thousands of men had lost their lives or were prisoners in barbarous prison ships, or had returned home wounded or diseased. The states hung back, each hoping that other states would furnish the necessary men, and therefore Congress lost spirit and influence. THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 173 The one beacon light which shone steadily was General George Washington. Every other Revolutionary hero and patriot could have been replaced; Washington alone was 135 George the indispensable man. He was a Virginian, and his Washing- appointment gave confidence to the southern states ; he essential was a soldier who outranked in service and experience man nearly all the other officers in the army ; he was careful of his men ; he was a man of extraordinary industry and mastery of details, keeping up correspondence all over the country. As a general Washington showed a splendid pertinacity: he learned by his own defeats ; if beaten in one place, he would reappear in another. He was extraordinarily long-suffering and patient, and he had a magnificent temper; that is, though naturally hot and impetuous, he kept himself under rigid control, except when a crisis came, and on such occasions, a contempo- Ford, Trv» rary records, "Washington swore like an angel from washin% heaven." ton, 271 Washington bore personal slights with wonderful dignity. He wrote to Congress of "the wounds which my feelings as an officer have constantly received from a thousand things, that have happened contrary to my expectation and wishes." Especially did he shine out in the so-called Conway Cabal of 1778, the purpose of which was to put Gates, "the hero of Saratoga," over his head The cabal fell to pieces when a letter from Conway was made public, in which he said, " Heaven has been determined to save your country, or a weak General and bad counsellors would have ruined it." Gates shortly after withdrew from command in the field. After all, the greatest of Washington's qualities was a rugged manliness which gave him the respect and confidence even of his enemies. Though he was at the head of a military force, nobody ever for a moment believed that he would use it to secure power for himself. Wisdom, patience, and personal influence over men were wonderfully united in Washington — 174 REVOLUTION the greatest man in the Revolution, and, with the exception of Lincoln, the greatest of all Americans. The capture of Burgoyne saved the republic, because it made a profound impression upon the French government, which for 136. The three years had been damaging its enemy, Great Britain, alliance ^y secret aid in arms and money to the revolted colonies. (1775-1778) In 1775 Silas Deane was sent over to France ; he was followed by Benjamin Franklin, who, as the principal one of three commissioners, brought about two treaties, signed Feb- ruary 6, 1778, with the following principal provisions : (1) these treaties recognized the " United States of North America " as an independent power; (2) the treaty of amity and commerce gave to the vessels of each power large privileges in the ports of the other; (3) the treaty of alliance (the only one in the history of the United States) provided that the two powers should make common cause against Great Britain till the independence of the United States should be secured. England tried to head off these treaties with France by Lord North's third plan of conciliation, by which Parliament repealed the tea duty and the act suspending the Massachusetts char- ter, and promised not to lay any tax or send any troops without the consent of America. In June, 1778, British com- missioners came over to treat for peace on these terms; but Congress replied that "they claim a right to alter our charters and establish laws, and leave us without any security for our lives or liberties." The real reason for refusal was that the treaty with France seemed to insure independence. The news that a French fleet was coming to America obliged Sir Henry Clinton (who had superseded General Howe) to evacuate Philadelphia. He retired through New Jersey ; but with his usual vigilance Washington followed and attacked at Monmouth (June 28, 1778). The treasonable disobedience of General Charles Lee brought about a drawn battle ; but the British retired to New York, and they made no more general THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 175 campaigns and fought no more pitched battles in the North, except forays on the coast. Notwithstanding the immense naval strength of England, the Americans fought well and successfully at sea. In 1775 Congress organized the first naval force out of merchant 137 The vessels ; and in 1776 Esek Hopkins was put in command ?avy and -i-iii tlle pnva- of a national squadron of small ships, which raided the teers town of New Providence in the Bahamas. Several of (1775-1780) the states also commissioned ships of war of their own ; but during the whole war the Americans never built a single ship which could fight the ordinary three-decker ship of the line, of which Great Britain had about 120. The greater part of our naval warfare was carried on by privateers. From 1776 to 1778 the Americans took British merchantmen to the value of nearly ten million dollars ; in 1777 alone 320 British merchant- men were taken ; on the other hand, the little American navy was driven off the sea, and the British and loyalist privateers captured hundreds of American vessels. After the French alliance, naval conditions were changed. In August, 1778, the French fleet appeared, blockaded New York, and then took part in an unsuccessful attack on New- port. The treaty also opened the way for the most dashing of all the American naval commanders of the time, John Paul Jones, for whom the French government fitted out a little fleet, including an old merchantman, the Bon Homme Richard. With this craft Jones cruised in the North Sea, and attacked and took the Serapis, a forty-four-gun ship of the British navy (September, 1779), the first instance of a square fight between American and British cruisers, and a glorious victory for the Americans. In American waters, however, the United States could do little but look on while the French and British fleets fought each other in the West Indies, or off the American coast. The Spaniards joined in the war in 1779, and the Dutch in 1780, and did their best to keep the British navy busy. REVOLUTIONARY WAR IN THE SOUTH Routes of Americans Routes of the British. SCALE OF MILES 150 176 THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 177 During 1779 there was a lull in the Eevolutionaiy War ; but by a gallant surprise "Mad Anthony Wayne" (July 16) over- powered the British post of Stony Point, on the Hudson. lgg A year later the patriot cause almost perished through Arnold's the treason of Benedict Arnold, a brave officer, veteran of many battles, who thought he had been slighted. He asked the command of the important post of West Point, in order to betray it for $30,000 and a major general's commission. Fortunately the British agent, Major John Andre, was taken at the critical moment (September 23, 1780) ; West Point was saved, and with it the line of communication with New Eng- land. Since Andre was traveling through the American lines in disguise, he was a spy, and was justly executed as a spy, though his captors bore tribute to his brave and manly char- acter. Arnold received the promised reward from the British. In 1780 the British changed their plan of warfare by attack- ing the southern states. Savannah had already been taken (De- cember, 1778), and a royal government set up in Georgia. 139. Cam- An expedition under the French admiral D'Estaing, in paign gJmtli cooperation with a land force under General Lincoln, in (1778-1780) 1779 was unable to recover Savannah. With troops set free by the evacuation of Newport, Charleston was besieged by Sir Henry Clinton and Lord Charles Cornwallis, with about 13,000 men, and by the renowned loyalist cavalry commander, Tarleton. On May 12, 1780, Lincoln was compelled to sur- render the city, with its whole garrison of about 3000. The British command in the Carolinas was now intrusted to Lord Cornwallis, an experienced officer who had strongly advised a southern campaign. He began to push into the in- terior, and Tarleton broke up the remnant of the American southern army at Waxhaw Creek; but Marion and Sumter, with militia, irregular troops, and guerrillas, somehow kept the field. The effort of Cornwallis to establish a loyal govern- ment, and to enroll loyalist troops, led to a fearful condition 178 • REVOLUTION of partisan warfare, marked by excesses on both sides. To stem this invasion, Washington sent De Kalb from the North to Hillsboro, North Carolina ; but Congress called Horatio Gates from his inactivity to take command. Gates formed the project of seizing Camden, occupied by the British as an im- portant strategic point. With 1400 regular troops and 1600 militia, he moved on Cornwall is's force of 2000 men August 16, 1780; the American army was routed with a loss of 2000 men. De Kalb was killed, and the "hero of Saratoga" ran away like any poltroon. Cornwallis now set about the systematic conquest of North Carolina, but a force of 1200 loyalist troops under Ferguson was trapped by the militia and destroyed or taken at Kings Mountain (October 17). This important battle was won by western settlers, under John Sevier, and was the chief blow struck by the West in the Revolution. The winter of 1780-1781 was again very hard for the American army, and bodies of the Pennsylvania and New 140. From J erse y " li ne " mutinied for lack of pay. Washington Charleston realized that his objective was the British army wherever town it was to be found, and sent General Nathanael Greene to (1780-1781) t a k e command in the South, the principal seat of hostili- ties. Cornwallis still held the advanced positions of Augusta and Ninety-six, but was harassed by the regulars under Marion, Henry Lee, and Morgan. Greene sent Morgan to attack a column of Cornwallis's army under Tarleton, who was com- pletely beaten at the battle of the Cowpens (January 17, 1781). The two armies then maneuvered northward. Cornwallis suf- fered severely at Guilford (March 15), was unable to maintain his communications, and fell back to the coast at Wilmington. Most of North Carolina was thus lost to the British ; and Greene soon made himself master of inland South Carolina. Cornwallis made up his mind to invade Virginia, where there was already a British force under Benedict Arnold and Phillips. THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 179 Washington aided his friends in the South by holding the British forces in New York, and he sent Lafayette to confront the enemy in Virginia ; but Lafayette could not prevent the junction of Cornwallis's and Arnold's troops, and the British army fortified itself at Yorktown to await reinforcements from New York. At this critical moment a French fleet under De Grasse blockaded the Chesapeake, repulsed a British fleet bearing reinforcements from New York, and landed 3000 French troops ; while Washington at the right moment made a brilliant dash southward from the Hudson with 2000 Ameri- cans and 4000 Frenchmen under Rochambeau, to close in the net on the land side. October 19, 1781, after a spirited siege, Cornwallis surren- dered his whole army of 7000 men. Nine months later the British gave up Savannah ; and soon after evacuated Charles- ton. After seven campaigns the British held no territory of the original thirteen United States except New York city. From the beginning of the war, Congress gave to the neigh- boring Indian tribes the paternal supervision which they had been accustomed to receive from the British. Congress 141. The appropriated money for presents, appointed superintend- western ents of Indian affairs, and made some feeble attempts to (1775-1779) civilize the tribes. But the principal relation with the Indians "was to repel border warfare in three different regions. (1) The southwestern Indians attacked the Watauga settle- ment in 1776, and harried the frontier, till the South Carolina legislature offered £75 for every Indian scalp. The Cherokees were beaten for the time, and made treaties with the states concerned. (2) The northern states felt the horrors of Indian warfare when the loyalist leader Butler, with a force of Tories and Indians, descended on Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania (July, 1778), and ravaged it with fire and sword. Later, he and Joseph Brant, a Mohawk chief, led a force of Iroquois to raid hart's amer. hist. 11 180 REVOLUTION Cherry Valley, New York (November, 1778). As a punishment and an example, Congress dispatched an expedition under General Sullivan, who marched up into the territory of the Six Nations in 1779, defeated the Indians and their white allies, and laid waste their whole country. The Iroquois were so reduced in numbers and prestige by the war that they never again became a force in American affairs. (3) The middle fron- tier was harassed by a mixed force of loyalists, Indians, and renegade whites, including the notorious Simon Girty, under direction of Henry Hamilton, commander of the British posts in the. Northwest. Could not the tables be turned by attacking the little British posts in the North- 142. Con- quest of t e North- wast west, — m which ,1778-1779) there were few Eng- George Rogers Clark, about 1790. From a contemporary portrait. lish and only six thousand French and French half-breeds, — ■ thus to stop the Indian raids, and give a blow to British pres- tige ? Among the settlers in Kentucky associated with Boone was George Rogers Clark, an excellent backwoodsman and experienced in Indian fighting. He was but twenty-five years old, and had neither money nor men; and no story of the Arabian Nights is more romantic or improbable than his con- ception of such an invasion and his success in carrying it out. Governor Patrick Henry of Virginia authorized him to attack the British post at Kaskaskia, not far from St. Louis. With THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 181 about 100 men, he floated down the Ohio River, and then marched 100 miles across the country, surprised and took Kaskaskia (July 4, 1778), and, a few days later, Cahokia — in both cases without taking or losing a life. The larger post of St. Vincent, or Vincennes, on the Wabash, was also ready to yield, when the British commander Hamil- ton returned from an absence and made preparations to teach SCALE OF MILES 6 25 5'0 75 lfto - — -—Boone's "Wilderness Road * — Route of Clarkte expedition Clark's Expedition, and Early Settlements in the West. the Kentuckians a lesson. Clark was too quick for him. As he had not Kentuckians enough for further operations, he enlisted and trained the French residents, whom he won over by giving them religious and civil liberty. These forces he used in an incredible march across a country drowned by a flood, and an attack on Vincennes (February, 1779), which surrendered without a fight. The Spaniards, after retaking the small Gulf posts which dominated the Floridas, attempted to share in the Northwest, and sent an expedition from St. 182 REVOLUTION Louis to raid the British fort of St. Joseph, in what is now northern Indiana. Since Clark carried a commission from Virginia, and took possession of the country in her name, the whole area north 143 Claims of tne ®^° was made int ° the count y of Illinois D Y tne to the West Virginia government (October, 1778), and a "county (1778-1781) ] ieutenaut » was sen t ut to govern it. The Virginia claim rested partly on an attempt to recur to the charter of 1609 (annulled in 1624), with its uncertain phrase, " up into the land throughout from sea to sea, west and northwest.'' If that charter still had force, the Massachusetts grant of 1629 (annulled in 1684) and the Connecticut charter of 1662 must also be valid; and they covered part of the territory within the Virginia claim. The Carolinas had as good a charter claim as Virginia, through their grants of 1663 and 1665 (though surrendered in 1729) ; and Georgia in its charter of 1732 (sur- rendered in 1752). New York, not to be outdone, came in with a claim for indefinite territory between the Kentucky River and Lake Erie, on the ground that it was part of the territory of the Six Nations, who were under the jurisdiction of New York. Contrary to these conflicting claims under old charters was a common-sense argument of national rights. The conquest of the West was possible, and could be permanent, only through keeping the British busy on the coast. Hence several of the states which had no western claims refused to ratify the Arti- cles of Confederation till Virginia should yield. Even after New Jersey and Delaware ratified, Maryland stood out for the great national principle that the wild land taken as a result of the war belonged to no state, but to the United States as a whole. As a pledge that the lands should be used for all the states, Congress passed a momentous vote (October 10, 1780) that Journals of " Tne unappropriated lands which may be ceded to . . . Congress the United States shall be disposed of for the common benefit of the United States, and be settled and formed into THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 183 distinct republican states, which shall become members of the federal union." New York and Virginia promised to cede at least a part of their claims, and without waiting for the matter to be settled, Maryland ratified the Articles of Confed- eration (March 1, 1781). During this dispute, the Northwest fell into confusion. The Virginian local authorities made extravagant land grants, and the French were much discontented. Irregular fighting 144. Gov- went on with the Indians, and in 1782 the Christian In- ^the^est dians at Gnadenhutten, on the Tuscarawas Eiver, were (1778-1783) massacred in cold blood by militia from Pennsylvania. South of the Ohio River conditions were better. A new center of settlement was planted in 1779, at Nashborough (Nashville); and the next year a permanent settlement was made at the falls of the Ohio, and named Louisville for Louis XVI., king of France. Emigration flowed across the mountains from North Carolina and Virginia till the western population was nearly forty thousand; and some of the inhabitants peti- tioned Congress to make Kentucky and Illinois a state. When Lord North heard of the Yorktown surrender (p. 179) he cried out, " Oh, God, it is all over."' The merchants in Eng- land had suffered enormous losses by captures of their 145 p e ace shipping, and therefore strongly urged a peace ; and the and inde- king wrote to Lord North (March 27, 1782), "At last the ,1782*1783) fatal day has come which the misfortunes of the times ri J Lontempora- and the sudden change of sentiments of the House of ries, II. 620 Commons have drove me to." He was obliged to accept a Whig ministry, which was determined to end the war on such conditions as would prevent its breaking out again. A strong commission — Franklin, John Adams, John Jay, and Henry Laurens — was sent to represent their country at Paris, where the general peace was to be made. Though their instructions provided that the envoys should take no steps without the approval of the French government, they 184 REVOLUTION became satisfied that the French did not desire to give a good boundary west of the Appalachians. In consultation in their rooms one day, Franklin said to Jay, "Would yon break your instructions ? " " Yes, as I break this pipe." The pipe went into the fire, and the instructions were ignored; an unex- pectedly favorable treaty with Great Britain was secured without the aid of France, under date of November 30, 1782. The same treaty was made " definitive " in September, 1783. The main provisions of the treaty were as follows : (1) the northern boundary was in great part the St. Lawrence and the Lakes; (2) the Mississippi was made the western boundary, thus including not only Clark's conquest, but the remaining British posts in the Northwest, and the whole Southwest; (3) the southern boundary was the 31st parallel; south of that line Spain received back the Floridas; (4) "the right to take fish of every kind on the Grand Banks of Newfound- land " was acknowledged, together with the " liberty " to land and cure fish on the neighboring coast of Canada; (5) debts due to British merchants from American correspondents at the beginning of the war were to be valid ; (6) Congress was to recommend the states to receive and treat well the loyalists Who had not taken arms in the British service ; (7) the British agreed not to take away " negroes or other property." After the capture of Cornwallis, the American army had to be kept together until peace was assured. While; the troops lay at Newburg, New York, some officers who were dissatisfied with the delay of Congress to vote them a cash bonus, issued the so-called Newburg Addresses, urging their comrades to refuse to disband. A few words from Washing- ton calmed the difficulty, and Congress voted to the officers full pay for five years, and afterwards made large land grants to the common soldiers. In the spring of 1783 the troops were disbanded; New York was evacuated by the British, November 25, 1783, and the Revolutionary War was happily over. THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 185 Though crops were good and business fairly prosperous throughout the war, both the states and Congress had a hard time to raise money. The states laid taxes which were 146. Revo- collected with difficulty; they issued $210,000,000 of lut fi°ance paper money, which was mostly never redeemed ; they (1776-1780) fixed prices in paper money and punished those who refused to receive it; they confiscated the estates of the loyalists; they borrowed money, and could not pay the interest. National finances un- der Congress were rather worse than those of the states. (1) Congress bor- rowed money in several ways : in interest-bearing bonds ; in loans from for- eign governments ; in cer- tificates of debt issued to officers and other public creditors. At the end of the war the debt thus accumulated amounted to about $36,000,000. (2) Congress raised about $6,000,000 by " requisitions " on the states, which were virtually taxes ; part of this was paid, not in cash, but in " indents," a kind of cou- pons for interest on the national debt. (3) France freely gave to Congress about $2,000,000 to enable it to keep up the war, besides lending large sums later, under Franklin's influence. (4) A few hundred thousand dollars were raised by lotteries carried on for the profit of the United States. (5) The main resource of Congress was paper money, of which the first issue was made in June, 1775; then every few months thereafter till the total was $242,000,000. In 1776 it began to depreciate; in 1778 it went down to about twelve cents on the dollar, rallied a little after the French treaty, and then went on down, down, till half a yard of broadcloth Continental Paper Money, 177(3. 186 REVOLUTION cost $200. In 1780 Congress redeemed about half the issue at two and a half cents on the dollar and issued new notes, which went on the same downward way, till in 1781 a specie dollar would buy a thousand dollars in continental currency, and Parson Tir- " Paper mone y became so cheap, rell' 8 Legacy Folks wouldn't count it, but said, ' a heap.' •• The paper money, both state and national, was really a kind of taxation. Congress got about forty million dollars' worth of supplies and of soldiers' services for paper notes which were never redeemed, and therefore caused that amount of loss to the people through whose hands they passed. In the hostilities which lasted from 1775 to 1781 the British had the most ships, yet they could not break up the American 147. Sum- privateering. They had the most men, yet never routed mar y an American army except at Camden, and never captured a large force except at Fort Washington in 1776 and Charles- ton in 1780. On the other hand the Americans took the whole army of Burgoyne in 1777 and of Cornwallis in 1781. The British expected the loyalists to make their task easy, but although about twenty thousand entered the British service, the only loyalist insurrection which seriously hampered the patriots was in the Carolinas. The British occupied and had to give up Boston, Philadelphia, Newport, and Savannah. The Americans failed in Canada, but seized a large part of the north- western country, a prize worth ten Canadas. The British were marvelously weak in generals, while Wash- ington, Greene, Lafayette, Marion, and Sumter are enrolled among the world's great soldiers. The British were divided in Parliament, but English public opinion supported the king, while America was split by the loyalists, Great Britain had a strong, long-established government, but the United States had to form its confederation under fire; and till March 1, THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 187 1781, Congress acted without a constitution, and depended on the good will of the states. The most definite reasons for American success were the timely and essential aid of France and the charac- ter of Washington, who had the courage and skill to command his troops, the patience to lead Congress and the states, and the hero- ism to stand to his guns till the very last. His leadership was a proof that the Ameri- can Eevolution was a righteous cause. Lafayette Statue in Washington. Designed by Falguiere and Mercie\ 1890. TOPICS (1) What was Pitt's attitude on the American Revolution? (2) What were the services of Baron von Steuben? (3) Serv- ices of Lafayette ? (4) Why did the British attack New York ? (5) Why did not Howe help Burgoyne ? (6) Was Gates the hero of Saratoga? (7) Why could not Washington hold Philadelphia? (8) Why did the French make a treaty with the United States ? (9) Why did the Indians attack the frontiers, 1775-1778 ? (10) How could George Rogers Clark make such vast conquests with so few men ? (11) How was Charleston taken by the British ? (12) Pri- vate life of George III. (13) Sergeant Jasper's heroism. (14) Cap- ture and trial of John Andre. (15) Banishment of Tories. (16) Patriot songs. (17) Tory songs. (18) Confiscation of Tory property. (19) Negro troops in the Revolution. (20) The Hessians in America. (21) Work of Suggestive topics Search topics 188 REVOLUTION women in the Revolution. (22) Spies in the Revolution. (23) Life at Valley Forge. (24) Treason of General Charles Lee. (25) Cap- ture of the Serapis. (20) Curiosities of continental paper money. Geography- Secondary authorities Sources Illustrative works Pictures REFERENCES See maps, pp. 168, 170, 181 ; Winsor, America. Hart, Formation of the Union, §§ 40-47 ; Sloane, French War and Bevolution, 288-378 ; Channing, United States, 87-106 ; Van Tyne, American Bevolution ; Fiske, American Bevolution, I. 147- 343, II., — Critical Period, 1-49; Lecky, England, IV. 1-289; Tre- velyan, American Bevolution, pt. ii. I. 172-349, II. ; Gay, Bryant's History, III. 451-461), 490-023, IV. 1-90 ; Wilson, American People, II. 242-330, III. 1-24; Lodge, American Bevolution; McCrady, South Carolina, III. 180-858, IV. ; Foster, Century of Diplomacy, 1-88 ; Greene, Bevolution, 137-443, — General Greene, 34-320 ; Dewey, Financial History, §§ 14-20 ; Roosevelt, Winning of the West, I. 272-327, II.; Hinsdale, Old Northwest, 147-191; Winsor, Westward Movement, 81-100, 106-224 ; Tyler, Bevolution (literary), II. ; Maclay, United States Navy, I. 34-151 ; Johnson, General Washington. 134-281, 825-330; Morse, John Adams, 144-223; Hapgood, Paul Jones; Thwaites, Daniel Boone, 129-191. See also references to chapter x. Hart, Source Book, §§ 59-63, — Contemporaries, II. §§ 159-183, 193-208, 211-220, — Source Beaders, II. §§ 03-70, 79-91, III. § 70; MacDonald, Select Documents, no. 3 ; American History Leaflets, no. 5; Old South Leaflets, nos. 43, 97, 98; Caldwell, Territorial Development, 26-48 ; Moore, Diary of the American Bevolution ; Riedesel, Letters and Memoirs. See N. Eng. Hist. Teachers' Ass'n, Syllabus, 320-330,— Historical Sources, § 77. Moore, Songs and Ballads of the American Bevolution, 130-138, 150-386 ; Matthews, Poems of American Patriotism, 46-82; Eggle- ston, American War Ballads, 40-101 ; Philip Freneau, Poems ; Trumbull, M'Fingal ; Campbell, Gertrude of Wyoming ; Cooper, The Spy, — The Pilot ; Hawthorne, Old News, pt. iii. ; S. W. Mitchell, Hugh Wynne ; P. L. Ford, Janice Meredith ; Henry Morford, Spur of Monmouth ; Harold Frederic, In the Valley (Mohawk) ; Simms, Partisan, — Mellichampe, — Scout, — Kather- ine Walton, — Forayers, — Eutaw (S.C.); J. P.Kennedy, Horse- shoe Bobinson (Southern Tory) ; Thompson, Alice of Old Vin- cennes ; Winston Churchill, Bichard Carvel (Paul Jones). Winsor, America, VI. VII. ; Wilson, American People, II. III. ; Lossing, Field Book of American Bevolution. CHAPTER XII. 187T. Growth of the Flag. THE CONFEDERATION (1781-1789) Many writers have laid stress on July 4, 1776, the date of the Declara- tion of Independence, as the 148 r rhe great turning point of American Confedera- ° tion estab- history ; but the date when the lished Articles of Confederation for- (1781) mally went into effect — March 1, 1781 — is equally important, for it marks the beginning of a constitutional union. The government was crudely organized into three departments. (1) Everything was centered in a Congress of delegates appointed by, and responsible to, the state legisla- tures, each delegation casting one vote. Congress sat always in secret session. Seven state delegations concurring could pass resolutions and ordinances, but on all vital questions nine states had to vote in the affirmative to make a constitutional majority. (2) The supremacy of Congress made it something like the present British Parliament, for it created all the execu- tive offices, and commissioned all offi- cials, civil and military. Of these the 180 190 THE CONFEDERATION 191 Secretary at War, Superintendent of Finance, Secretary for For- eign Affairs, and Postmaster General were the most important. (3) In addition, Congress set up what is called the Old Court of Appeals in Prize Cases, which, by the consent of such states as chose to pass the necessary laws, decided cases involving captures of British merchant vessels on appeal from state courts. In many respects the new Congress much resembled its predecessor, the Continental Congress; but it was much superior in effectiveness: (1) it had a definite constitutional basis in black and white ; (2) it had a constitutional right to levy taxes on the state governments in the so-called requisi- tions, and could borrow money on the credit of the United States; (3) it had a definite status as one of the world's national governments; (4) it assumed authority in matters of national concern, even though, like the public lands, they were not provided for by the Articles of Confederation. One of the duties of Congress was to adjust the disputes with the states over the western lands, involving the three questions of state claims, administration of the public 149. West- lands, and organization of new western communities. In cessions the whole process one of the most effective arguments (1781-1784) was put forward by Thomas Paine, in a pamphlet called Public Good, in which he insisted on the right of the whole Union, as the successor of the British government, to control lands hitherto ungranted. Influenced by such arguments and by the protests of Mary- land, the four states which claimed lands north of the Ohio River gracefully yielded. (1) New York ceded all claims west of the present western boundary of that state (1781). (2) Virginia gave up all claims to territory north of the Ohio River, except ownership in the Virginia Reserve Military Bounty Lands (1784). (3) Massachusetts yielded all claims west of New York (1785), and in 1786 gave up to that 192 F E DERATION state her claim to govern western New York, retaining owner- ship of the land. (4) Connecticut, during the Revolution, claimed northern Pennsylvania and the region west of it, under the charter of 1662, but a decision of a commission appointed by Congress went against her. In 1786 Connecticut ceded her claims to Congress, reserving, however, a strip 120 miles long on the south shore of Lake Erie west of Pennsylvania, as an outlying district of the state, a strip known as the Connecticut Reserve, or the Western Reserve (§ 199). The claims south of the Ohio River were harder to adjust. (1) To Virginia was left the District of Kentucky, which re- mained a part of Virginia until admitted as a state in 1792. (2) North Carolina claimed Tennessee, including the Watauga and other settlements, and issued land grants covering the whole tract, but in 1790 she ceded to Congress the right to govern the region. (3) South Carolina, in 1787, gave up her claim to a narrow strip lying between western North Carolina and Georgia. (4) Georgia claimed everything between the present state and the Mississippi River, and did not consent to accept her present state boundaries till 1802. Long before any part of the disputed lands came under exclusive control of Congress, that body decided to sell them 150. Basis and devote the proceeds to paying the national debt, land^ystem ^ ne nrst ^ an( ^ ^H to ^ e adopted was the Grayson ordi- (1785-1788) nance (May 20, 1785), following a suggestion of Jeffer- son: the western country was to be divided into townships, six miles square, by lines running due north and south, and others crossing at right angles; each township to be sub- divided by lines a mile apart into thirty-six sections, one of which was reserved for schools. The price of land was to be a dollar an acre. To get the land into shape to be transferred, the government sometimes had to drive squatters off with troops ; then the states and the holders of bounty land warrants had such quantities to THE CONFEDERATION 193 sell below the government price that sales could not be made for cash. The government debt was at a distressing discount, and shrewd men hit on the idea of buying land with certifi- cates of debt. The new Ohio Company (p. 195) contracted to buy about 1,500,000 acres, and took about 900,000. The Symmes Company wanted a mil- lion acres, and finally got a quarter of a mil- lion, including the site of Cincinnati. The Sci- oto Company, managed by speculators, under- took to buy three and a half million acres, but never took any. In the year 1788 the state of Pennsylvania bought 200,000 acres — the tri- angle of land west of the New York line, which gave a lake front, including the site of the city of Erie. To settle the new southwestern frontier, a body of hardy people called "backwoodsmen" were pressing on; they were Scotch-Irish, Germans, and people of English descent, but 151. West- thus thrown together they speedily became one people. ern " t1jl ?" They took up farms on land patents, or by "toma- (1783-1789) hawk right," blazing trees where they meant to settle. In a few days of hard labor they could build a log house ; in a few days more a fort. Their large families grew up and settled more land about them, or they left their farms and again plunged into the far backwoods. Their ordinary dress A Frontier Post, 1787. Fort Steuben, Ohio. From a recent restoration. 194 FEDERATION was the fringed hunting shirt and leggings, and their flintlock rifles brought down game or Indians, as it might happen. During nearly thirty years prior to 1800, the Kentuckians and Tennesseeans were disputing their territory with bold, savage enemies, the Indians, who called their white adversaries " Big Knife" or "Long Knives," and understood forest warfare better than they. After the Revolution the Southwest filled up rapidly. The Kentuckians in 1784 took steps toward the immediate estab- lishment of a state government, but desisted on Virginia's tacit agreement that she would soon give her consent to the separa- tion. In 1785 a body of settlers in southwestern Pennsylvania and the adjacent part of Virginia asked Congress to admit them as a state. In the settlements on the upper Tennessee the movement went even further. In 1784 a convention at Jones- boro formally voted to establish a state of Franklin, elected John Sevier governor, chose a legislature, made laws, and defied the jurisdiction of North Carolina. Again a policy of conciliation was followed ; and the people returned to their allegiance under the promise that North Carolina would transfer the territory to the United States. Although Congress had no constitutional authority to make or to grant territories, yet in order to provide a proper govern- 152. Jeffer- ment for the settlers both south and north of the Ohio, nance° r " J en?erson drafted a general ordinance, which was adopted (1784) by Congress in 1784, except (1) that a clause forbidding slavery (after 1800) in all the territories was lost by a single vote, and (2) that Congress did not accept Jefferson's pon- derous names for the new states — Pelisipia, Chersonesus, Mesopotamia, Polypotamia, and so on. The ordinance provided for a temporary territorial govern- ment, for a representative in Congress (without a vote), and eventually for a legislature, and promised speedy admission as states. Within a few months it looked as though this THE CONFEDERATION 195 ordinance might be applied to a new colony north of the Ohio. Several Revol utionary officers from Massachusetts, including Timothy Pickering and Rufus Putnam, organized the Ohio Company of Associates, and applied to Congress for a contract for lands west of the upper Ohio River. In 1787 Manasseh Cutler, agent of the company, ap- peared in New York, where Congress was sitting, and ob- tained, with only one dissenting voice, an ordinance 153. North- based on the ordinance of 1784. Cutler wrote, however, we8t °**l "The amendments I proposed have all been accepted ex- (1787) cept one." The principal points in this great territorial charter, dated July 13, 1787, were as follows : (1) It specifi- cally applied to the Northwest Territory, lying between the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the Great Lakes. (2) The first government of the territory was to be under a governor and three judges, all appointed by Congress ; they were to act as a board to select laws for the territory, and the governor was to appoint all local officers ; Congress also appointed a secretary. (3) Provision was made for a later representative assembly, with power to choose a non-voting delegate to Congress, and to make laws subject to the governor's veto. (4) Six "articles of compact" were formulated, which were to be forever binding on the new communities. These provided for personal liberty, for religious freedom, for " schools and the means of education," for federal supremacy over the territory, and for the creation of three to five states out of the territory ; and added the mo- mentous provision that "there shall be neither Slavery nor involuntary Servitude in the said Territory, otherwise than in the punishment of Crimes, whereof the Party shall have been duly Convicted." Three months later the first territorial government was estab- lished for the Northwest Territory, under the governorship of General St. Clair. Two bodies of colonists sent by the Ohio Company, under the leadership of Rufus Putnam, traveled 196 FEDERATION from Ipswich, Massachusetts, passed the river Hudson and crossed Pennsylvania southwest and then west to Pittsburg; and on April 7, 1788, founded the town of Marietta, at the junc- tion of the Muskingum and Ohio rivers (p. 244). A county gov- ernment and courts were set up, and the Ordinance of 1787 was completely in force. Campus Martius, Marietta. From the American Pioneer, 1842. The western lands, however, brought Congress little money (§ 150), and the finances of the federal government had to be 154. Fi- cared for every year. The only taxes that the Con- th^C^f^d federation could lay were requisitions on the states, eration which from 1781 to 1788 yielded about $3,500,000 in (1781-1784) specie and about |2,500,000 in "indents." The half million of specie a year about paid the barest expenses of the government, leaving nothing for interest on the debt. Congress made an effort in February, 1781, to put the finances of the country on a new footing, by appointing as Superintendent of Finance Kobert Morris of Philadelphia, a merchant, shipowner, exporter, importer, and banker all in one, who lived in great style, and was then considered the richest man in America. Morris at once set to work on the accounts and eventually figured out that on January 1, 1784, the United States owed about $8,000,000 to foreign countries and $31,500,000 to its own people. When, in 1783, the government could not raise enough specie for the accumulated pay of the troops, by using his own credit Morris at last paid the common soldiers ; and he issued interest-bearing certificates for the claims of the officers. As a financial aid to the government, Morris per- suaded Congress to charter the Bank of North America in THE CONFEDERATION 197 Philadelphia (December, 1781) — the first joint stock bank in America. Notwithstanding his abilities and his honest pur- pose, Morris found the task too much for him, and, after less than four years' service, resigned his office. Congress was troubled also by a controversy over the use of the Mississippi River. After the lie volution Congress made a series of commercial treaties with European powers: 155. Euro- with Holland, with Sweden, and with Prussia. In 1785 a^treaSts Spain sent over a minister who offered to make a treaty (1782-1788) which was very acceptable to the northern and middle ship- owning communities. The United States, however, pressed for the right to navigate the river Mississippi to its mouth without paying duties to the Spanish colony of Louisiana, which stretched across its lower course. This concession Spain absolutely refused, and Congress seemed inclined to accept the Spanish terms; but the people of Kentucky and Tennessee protested against barriers to their valuable down- river trade. At this moment the cargo of a North Carolina trader was confiscated at New Orleans, whereupon the prop- erty of Spanish traders was seized by Kentuckians. Some of the southwestern people roundly threatened to leave the Union if cut off from the sea, and Washington wrote: „ r ,. ° Washmg- "The western states (I speak now from my own obser- ton, Works, vation) stand as it were upon a pivot. The touch of a feather would turn them any way." The whole matter was postponed for the time. Another commercial question was that of trade with Eng- land and the British colonies. American merchants were ready to buy almost exclusively in England, as they did be- 156 Rela . fore the Revolution. Nevertheless, the British govern- tions with Great Brit- ment closed the West India trade to all vessels except ain(1783- British owned and British built (July, 1783); that is, 1788 ) Great Britain applied, against the United States, as a foreign country, the same principles of exclusion from her colonial THE CONFEDERATION 199 trade which she had for a century applied against France and Spain and other powers. Still, direct trade between Great Britain and the United States went on freely in the vessels of both nations, and the British merchants got most of the Amer- ican orders; hence Great Britain steadily refused to make a commercial treaty. Another set of difficulties between Great Britain and the United States arose because each nation charged the other with not carrying out the treaty of peace : (1) several states inter- fered with suits brought to collect the debts due to British merchants when the Revolution began; (2) the British gov- ernment was offended because the states refused to receive back loyalists who were eager to accept the new order of things, although this hard and mistaken policy was not for- bidden by the treaty ; (3) negro slaves were carried away by^ the British fleets; (4) the British held on to a line of posts through northern New York and the Northwest in American territory. In neither foreign relations nor finances could the Confed- eration compel the states to do their constitutional duty : for instance, Georgia never paid a penny of her quota of 157. The requisitions (§ 154) in the whole period from 1781 to 1788, \h e Union and Jefferson wrote, " There never will be money in the (1781-1789; Treasury until the Confederacy shows its teeth." One of the serious difficulties in trying to get a commercial treaty with Great Britain lay in the fact that the states had the right each for itself to regulate foreign and interstate commerce. Some of them laid discriminating duties on British ships ; others took off discriminations so as to induce British ships to come to their ports. Three states — Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania — adopted protective tariff duties which were applied against their neighbors; and New Jersey retaliated with an act taxing the New York lighthouse on Sandy Hook. The state acts which most affected neighboring states were hart's amer. hist. — 12 200 FEDERATION the a Stay and Tender " laws, suspending all suits for debt for six months or a year, or permitting the debtor to offer goods, cattle, or even land in payment of his debts. Ignoring their experience in the Revolution, seven of the states put out issues of paper money, of which a great part was again repudiated ; and this bore hard on merchants who had sold goods on credit for specie prices. For many other reasons people were disturbed and discon- tented after the war : (1) they bought too much from England 158 D" an( ^ f° un d ^ a long task to pay the bills ; (2) taxes were turbances high, or seemed high ; (3) there was little specie in the country, and that was a miscellaneous lot of gold and silver coins of all countries; (4) the laws of the time were very severe on poor debtors, and from one end of the country to the other there was a chorus of complaint — much of it 'justified — that court fees and lawsuits and imprisonment for debt were intolerable hardships. In many states riots broke out and rose almost to revolu- tions. Pennsylvania whisky distillers violently opposed an excise on their product. In New York city John Jay was nearly killed while opposing a riot. In New Hampshire an incipient insurrection had to be broken up by troops. The people of Maine, Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee all demanded separate statehood. The climax was reached in Shays's Rebellion of 1786-1787 in Massachusetts, which made a great impression on the country. As a protest against numerous suits for debt against the farmers, rioters in Great Barrington, Worcester, and other places prevented the judges from holding court; and then the movement grew rapidly. Early in 1787 Captain Daniel Shays got together about 1800 men and even attacked the United States arsenal at Springfield. State militia was sent to break up the insurrection ; when the two forces actually met each other at Petersham, the rebels gave way in confusion, and order was shortly restored. THE CONFEDERATION 201 Another disturbing element in the American Union was the existence of human slavery. Against this contrast to the principles of political equality and Christian brotherhood, 159. Ques- many voices were raised before the Revolution. Thus slavery John Woolman, a Quaker lay preacher, wrote: "These (1774-1785) are the people who have made no agreement to serve us, Woolman, and who have never forfeited their liberty that we know Journal, no of. These are the souls for whom Christ died." In 1775 the first antislavery society was formed in Philadelphia. So long as all the communities had slaves, the system made no trouble among neighbors : runaway slaves were returned, if they got into another colony or state, exactly like stray horses; and in the Ordinance of 1787 there was a special agreement that fugitive slaves should be returned. During the Revolution the first legal steps were taken against slavery. The slave trade was prohibited by ordinances of the Continen- tal Congress, and by statutes of almost all the individual states, and most of the 3000 negroes who served in the army during the Revolution were set free, with their families. In several debates in the Continental Congress, however, the North and the South began to show a difference of spirit toward slavery, and this difference came out with great dis- tinctness when five states and one independent community laid the ban of their laws on slavery. (1) Vermont in its constitution of 1777 prohibited the slavery of grown men and women. (2) Pennsylvania in 1780 passed an act providing that all persons born within the commonwealth after the date of the act should be born free. (3) The Massachusetts consti- tution of 1780 declared that "All men are born free and equal," which the courts afterward held to be a prohibition of slavery. (4) The similar revised constitution of New Hamp- shire in 1783 had the same effect in that state. (5) In Con- necticut and (6) Rhode Island, emancipation acts, similar to that of Pennsylvania, were passed in 1784. 202 FEDERATION By the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, freedom was guar- anteed in the whole territory north of the Ohio River. In 1799 New York passed a gradual emancipation act; and in 1804 New Jersey followed. Thus was created a solid block of terri- tory from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, north of Mason and Dixon's Line (the southern boundary of Pennsylvania) and north of the Ohio River, in which slavery was dead or dying. From that time on the Union was divided into two sections, having hostile labor systems. The Confederation was a great advance on any form of 160. De- federal government that the world had ever known; but Confedera- ** was an ex P ei *i ment , and in practice showed several tion kinds of defects. (1) Congress was ill organized for its work ; often less than the necessary seven states were represented, and for months together the delegations of nine states could not be assembled even for the most important business ; and a clause against serving more than three years out of six turned men like Madi- son and Jefferson and Hamilton out of Congress when they had learned to be useful. (2) The powers of the Confederation were too weak. It had not full authority to make commercial treaties; it had no power over interstate commerce and therefore could not prevent the states from injuring one another. It had no power to compel the payment of taxes and could raise revenue only by feeble requisitions on the states. (3) Congress had no means of carrying out its powers. It could not compel individuals to obey ; it could not collect its revenue, except through the states; it had no system of criminal law, and no permanent courts to apply its civil laws. The best men of the time were perfectly aware of the defects 161. Sug- of the confederacy. Three different times did Congress amendment su ^ m ^ to the states constitutional amendments, which (1781-1786) would at least have tided over the trouble. s \o/ THE CONFEDERATION 203 (1) In 1781 it asked authority, by the "Five per cent Scheme," to lay a duty of five per cent on imports, the pro- ceeds to go toward paying the principal and interest of the public debt. Twelve legislatures voted for this constitutional amendment, but since unanimous consent was necessary, the obstinacy of Rhode Island de- feated the plan. (2) In 1783 Congress proposed a " Revenue Plan " by which it might lay specific duties on a very low scale for twenty -five years, the states to appoint the collectors. Again twelve states accepted, but this time New York refused to rat- ify, and the amendment was lost. (3) A "commerce amendment," submitted in 1784, was intended to give power to Congress to pass navigation acts against such coun- tries as refused to make commer- cial treaties. This amendment was ratified by only seven out of thirteen states, and was a hope- less failure. The most persistent and the most effectual critic of the Arti- cles of Confederation was George Washington, then in retirement. In 1783 he wrote a famous letter to the governors of the states, urging a stronger union. Later he complained that "Thirteen sovereignties pulling against each other, and all tugging at the federal head, will soon bring ruin on the whole." When asked to use his influence for reform, he replied : " Influence is no government. Let us have one by which our lives, liber- Washington Plate and Pitcher. From Metropolitan Museum of Art. 204 FEDERATION ties, and properties will be secured, or let us know the worst at once." After five years of peace, the Union was still in confusion and uncertainty. Congress lost the popular respect and interest 162. Sum- and was too clumsy for its own tasks. Almost the only mar y thing that it did thoroughly was to organize the western territory, and for that it had no constitutional authority. The British treaties still remained unfulfilled, and Congress could get no commercial agreements with either Spain or Great Britain. Finances went from bad to worse ; Morris, an intelli- gent and conscientious minister of finance, resigned in disgust, and the creditors of the government at home saw little prospect of payment of their principal. The state governments were weak, disturbed by riots, — some of them by insurrection, — and the southwestern frontier settlements threatened to secede from the Union altogether. All attempts to meet these diffi- culties by constitutional amendments failed, because of the rule of unanimous consent. Nevertheless, under the Confederation, the country was prosperous: trade increased, towns were built, education ad- vanced. There was plenty of raw strength suitable for a nation, and the very defects of the Confederation proved a lesson of the highest importance, because they taught people what to avoid. We honor the men who made and carried on the Confederation, because they had the good sense to correct their faults in the next attempt to make a national govern- ment. — in the Constitutional Convention of 1787. TOPICS Suggestive (1) Basis of New York claims to western lands. (2) Basis of topics Massachusetts claims. (3) Basis of Connecticut claims. (4) Basis of Virginia claims. (5) Basis of North Carolina claims. (6) Basis of Georgia claims. (7) What were the advantages of the rectan- tup: confederation 205 gular survey? The disadvantages ? (8) Later territorial subdivi- sions of the Northwest Territory. (9) First antislavery society. (10) Why was the state of Franklin formed ? Why discontinued ? (11) Effect of the nine states rule. (12) Account of the Federal Search Prize Court. (13) Paine's argument on the public lands. (14) How t0 P lcs was the Northwest Ordinance obtained ? (15) Was the Ohio Com- pany a paying investment ? (16) Jefferson's opinions on slavery. (17) Life of John Woolman. (18) Anthony Benezet's criticisms of slavery. (19) Washington's objections to slavery. (20) Was there danger of the secession of the West in 1780? (21) Treat- ment of returned loyalists by the states. (22) Was there danger of the success of Shays's Rebellion ? Secondary- authorities REFERENCES See maps, pp. 190, 198 ; McLaughlin, Confederation and Consti- Geography tution. Hart, Formation of the Union, §§ 49-54, 50-58 ; Walker, Making of the Nation, 1-20 ; Channing, United States, 107-122 ; McLaugh- lin, Confederation and Constitution; Fiske, Critical Period, 90- 210 ; Schouler, United States, I. 12-35 ; McMaster, United States, I. 103-416, 503-524, III. 89-110 ; Wilson, American People, III. 24-00 ; Cambridge Modern History, VII. 305-314 ; Larned, His- tory for Beady Reference, IV. 2377, 2920, V. 3252, 3280, 3289 ; Gordy, Political Parties, I. 9-63 ; Curtis, Constitutional History, I. 98-220 ; Winsor, Westward Movement, 225-374 ; Roosevelt, Win- ning of the West, III. ; Hinsdale, Old Northwest, 192-290, 345- 350 ; Sparks, Expansion, 84-87, 100-134 ; Dewey, Financial His- tory, §§ 21-25; Locke, Antislavery, 46-87, 112-131, 157-159; Morse, Thomas Jefferson, 64-86, — Alexander Hamilton, I. 64- 154 ; Schouler, Thomas Jefferson, 122-152 ; Gay, James Madison, 1-83 ; Sumner, Ilobert Morris, 53-138 ; Brown, Andrew Jackson, 1-23. Hart, Source Book, §§ 64-67, — Contemporaries, II. §§ 209, 210, III. §§ 37-5«.\ — Source Readers, II. §§ 35, 36, III. §§ 1-3 ; MacDonald, Select Documents, no. 4 ; American History Leaflets,, nos. 22, 28, 32 ; Old South Leaflets, nos. 13, 15, 16, 40, 42, 127; Hill, Liberty Documents, ch. xvi. ; Caldwell, Territorial Development, 53-73. See N. Eng. Hist. Teachers' Ass'n, Syllabus, 330-332, — Historical Sources, § 78. E. Bellamy, Duke of Stockbridge (Shays's Rebellion); R. M. Bird, Nick of the Woods (Ky.). Wilson, American People, III. ; Sparks, Expansion. Sources Illustrative works Pictures CHAPTER XIII. MAKING THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION (1787-1789) The right way to get a new start was pointed out by Henry Laurens in 1779 when he asked, " Shall we call forth a grand convention in aid of the great council?" This sugges- liminaries tion of a special constitutional convention was repeated eral Con ^y state legislatures and individuals. Yet the first actual vention step toward a complete revision of the Articles of Confed- (1779-1787) eration was a convention on interstate trade at Annapolis (September, 1786). So few states sent delegates that the only action was a report, drawn by Alexander Hamilton, proposing that a general convention meet in Philadelphia in May, 1787, to prepare amendments to the Articles of Confederation. Under this unofficial call some of the states began to elect delegates, and Congress reluctantly issued a formal call for a convention " for the sole and express purpose of revising the Journal of articles of confederation, and reporting to Congress and Congress, the several legislatures, such alterations and provisions therein as shall, when agreed to in Congress, and con- firmed by the states, render the federal constitution adequate to the exigencies of government, and the preservation of the Union." When the members of the Convention met and exchanged views, they saw that they must go outside the call of Congress 164 Mem- an ^ f rame a new constitution altogether. For such a bersofthe purpose the Convention was rather clumsy, inasmuch as each delegation cast one vote for its state. This arrangement gave as much voting power to a combination 206 MAKING THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION 207 of five states — Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, South Carolina, and Delaware — as to the representatives of twice as many people living in the five states of Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina. Ehode Island sent no delegates, the New Hampshire delegation came in late, and Georgia, with a large and fertile territory, com- monly voted with the large states, which thus had a majority of one vote on critical questions. Fortunately the fifty-five gentlemen who at one time or another were members of the Convention included some of the greatest names in American history, among them eight sign- ers of the Declaration of Independence. The heaviest work fell on a few leaders. Benjamin Franklin was old, but as canny as ever. Alexander Hamilton, one of the most impetuous members of the Convention, took too extreme ground and lost influence. William Paterson of New Jersey was the spokesman of the small states, and was ably seconded by John Dickinson, the Revolutionary statesman. The galaxy of the Convention was to be found in the Virginia delegation, which included George Washington ; he gave it prestige throughout the country. The man who did most to harmonize the sharp differences in the Convention was James Madison of Virginia. In 1787 Madison was only thirty-six years old. A graduate of 165 j amea Princeton College, he had seen service in the Virginia Madison, a legislature and in Congress, where he learned to know Constitu- te difficulties of the Confederation. He was a studious tion man, and before the Convention began sent for all the books that he could find on the history of earlier confedera- tions, and prepared a sort of digest of those books, which he sent to Washington. He also consulted with his friends in Virginia and elsewhere, and drew up the strongly federal "Virginia Plan" as a basis of argument. At the beginning of the Convention it occurred to Madison that posterity would be interested in the debates; and as 208 FEDERATION George Washington in 1784. From Wright's portrait. there were no reporters, he took down in shorthand an abbre- viated or concentrated statement of the debates, which he wrote out in the evenings and submitted to the speakers. In these discussions Madison himself took part more than fifty times, and throughout he advocated a national govern- ment, well knit, strong, and empowered to carry out its own MAKING THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION 209 just authority. As a representative of the largest and most populous state in the Union, the members from the small states sometimes thought him unfair; but in a quiet and sagacious way he often suggested a middle course, and few- things against which he argued were adopted. For materials with which to put together a new constitu- tion, the delegates simply took the experience of mankind, so far as they knew it. Therefore they based their consti- . ._ e ^ lob. Sources tution on the principles of free government as developed of the Con- in England ; yet in its form the new federal government b 1 u ion owed little to Parliament, or to the crown, or to the English judiciary ; for the Convention took English institutions as they had been modified and expanded in the colonial governments, in the states, in the Continental Congress, and in the Congress of the Confederation. For instance, the two houses of Con- gress were suggested by the two houses of the colonial legisla- tures, and also by experience of the clumsy working of a single house in the Confederation. The great merit of the members of the Federal Convention was that they had the sanctified common sense to discard old forms of government that worked ill, and to substitute forms which from their experience they thought would work well. The Convention was slow in starting, but chose Washington to be its president and settled down to work May 29, when Edmund Randolph, in behalf of the Virginia delegation, 167 Block- submitted a set of resolutions, commonly known as the ingoutthe document Virginia Plan. This plan in broad outlines provided for (May-June, a government of three departments ; and next day in its 1787) first formal resolution the Convention agreed " That a national government ought to be established, consisting of a supreme legislature, executive, and judiciary." To avoid the radical step proposed in the resolution, two other plans were suggested in the course of the Convention : (1) the Connecticut Plan, which proposed to enlarge the powers of 210 FEDERATION Congress under the Confederation, but to leave the execution of the national laws to state governments ; (2) the New Jersey Plan, which stood for the views of the small states ; it in- cluded three departments, but preserved the equal representa- tion of the states in Congress. Hamilton's Plan, a highly centralized scheme, included a life senate and life president ; the state governors to be appointed by the general govern- ment. The so-called Pinckney Plan, of which we have no con- temporary copy, was much like the constitution as finally adopted. After about two weeks' debate, however, the Con- vention adopted a set of provisional votes, embodying most of the features of the Virginia Plan, as the foundation of the new constitution. The most serious question at this stage was how to divide members of Congress among the states. The South wanted an assignment in proportion to popula- tion, including slaves ; the North wanted to leave the slaves out of account. As a midway course, it was provisionally voted to count slaves, but only at three fifths of their actual numbers. A second debate, from June 19 to July 26, brought out the 168. The most serious differences of opinion on four subjects, and StntiMial set * n m °ti° n f° rces which eventually brought about four compro- compromises, the adoption of which made something like gine-July, agreement possible. 1787) (1) The so-called " Connecticut Compromise " settled the question of representation in Congress. The small states insisted on one house with equal vote of the states ; the large states stood out for the Virginia Plan of two houses, with proportional representation in both. So obstinate and bitter were both sides that Franklin feared lest "our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and by-word down to future ages." He therefore moved that the Convention be opened every day with prayer. A Connecticut member threw out the suggestion that in one branch the MAKING THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION 211 people ought to be represented, in the other the states ; and this idea was carried out by the first compromise (July 5), providing that there should be an equal vote of states in the Senate and a proportional representation in the House. (2) A few days later came up the question of assessing federal direct taxes corresponding to the old requisitions : the North proposed that in fixing the proportion of each state, negroes should be counted at their full numbers, whereupon a North Carolina member declared that his state would not go into a union on that basis. The matter was compromised (July 12) by a vote that representatives and direct taxes should both be apportioned according to the three-fifths rule. (3) It had been agreed that Congress should regulate for- eign commerce, but the southern members feared that this power would lead to navigation acts for the protection of American shipping, which might raise the freights on south- ern exports. Hence Madison introduced a motion to require a two-thirds vote for such an act. On the other hand, the northern states, as well as Maryland and Virginia, were in general strongly opposed to reopening the slave trade. A compromise was arranged (August 25) under which Congress was left free to pass acts in aid of American shipping by the usual majority, but was not to prohibit the slave trade for twenty years. The slaveholding states also secured a clause against export taxes. (4) A fourth compromise, not so distinctly expressed, fixed the relation of the states to the federal government. The Con- vention at first voted that Congress should have the right to veto state laws. Later it adopted a substitute clause (July 17) providing for appeals to the Supreme Court of the United States, in case a state infringed on the national Constitution. A third stage of the Convention began July 26, when the work done by the Convention to that point was summed up in a series of resolutions, which were sent to a Committee of 212 FEDERATION Detail. The report of that committee grouped the principles adopted into articles and sections, made many verbal changes, and included a few new features, such as the choice of tion of de- President by electors. After debating this report from tails (Aug.- August 7 to September 8, the Convention sent it to a o6T)b., 17o7 ) Committee of Style, which reported September 13. Gouverneur Morris was the leading spirit in this Revision, and to him are due the lucidity of phrase and clearness and exact- ness of language which distinguish the Constitution. On September 17 the engrossed draft was presented for signa- ture. Some delegates had gone home in disgust, and three members present — George Mason and Edmund Randolph of Virginia and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts — refused abso- lutely to sign the completed work because it seemed too strong. Thirty-nine of the original fifty-five members, however, repre- senting twelve states, affixed their signatures to the Constitu- tion. Madison records that, at this solemn moment, Franklin called the attention of the members to the sun painted behind the president's chair : " I have," said he, " often and often, in the course of the session and the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that behind the president, with- out being able to tell whether it was rising or setting ; but, now at length, I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun." The completed Constitution was founded on a different 170. Analy- set of principles from those of the old Confederation in p 1S °t-t he ft> rm > in powers, in enforcement, and in the status of the tion states. (1) In its form, the Constitution broke up the old con- centrated power of Congress, and created three equal and coordinate departments : Congress, the President and his subordinates, and the federal courts. (2) The powers of the federal government included all those given to the Confederation, and many others, such as the MAKING THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION 213 full power to tax individuals, to borrow money, and to expend money. Control over territories was at last expressly given, as well as complete power over foreign and interstate com- merce, including expressly weights and measures, coinage, post offices, copyrights, and patents. To the federal government was given unlimited powers to make war on land and sea, by regular forces or militia, to make peace, and to make trea- ties on all subjects. (3) Proper means of enforcing these powers were given to the federal government : it makes laws for individuals and can punish them through the courts if they are disobedient ; while the Supreme Court has jurisdiction in cases where states are parties, and can hear appeals from the state courts on cases involving the federal Constitution. (4) The relations between the states and the Union were made much more definite than under the Confederation; and the states deliberately gave up to Congress, the President, and the federal courts, great fields of power — such as foreign commerce and unrestricted taxation. To be sure, several large areas of important powers were not distinctly conferred on Congress : there was no clause authorizing, in so many words, the annexation of territory, or the chartering of corporations, or the creation of a cabinet for the President, or federal con- trol of slavery in the territories, or opposition to secession of a state. Many such unenumerated powers have since been assumed by the federal government because " implied " in the specific articles of the Constitution (§ 197). To avoid the requirement of unanimous consent for altera- tions of the constitution, which wrecked the Confederation, the Constitution was to go into effect, as to the states ratify- m The ing, when nine state conventions should have ratified it. Constitu- Though the Convention, as a matter of form, sent the the people document to the Congress of the Confederation, that body (1787-1788) simply transmitted the instrument to the states. The friends 214 FEDERATION of the new Constitution, including many strong members of the Convention, at once began to discuss and to organize. Since the opposition accused them of aiming at consolidation and the destruction of the states, they gave themselves the name of " Federals," or " Federalists," to show that they favored the proper rights of the states. Their opponents had no better party title than " Anti-Federalists." Both sides at once betook themselves to the methods of that time for affecting public sentiment on great questions. They wrote elaborate series of letters, published from week to week in the local newspapers over such names as " A Land Holder," " A Countryman," " Cato," and " Cassius." Perhaps the best two series are the letters of " Agrippa" against the Constitu- tion, and a series of essays skillfully defending the Constitu- tion, written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, which appeared for many weeks in succession in New York newspapers over the name Federalist, and to this day make up one of the wisest and best discussions of the Constitution. The fight raged over the Constitution from end to end ; in general, in particular, and in detail, it was hotly assailed and strongly defended. The Anti-Federalists predicted that Con- gress would overawe the states, that the President would prove a despot, and that the courts would destroy liberty, while the Senate would be a stronghold of aristocracy. In one state convention a member even objected that "if there be no religious test required, pagans, deists, and Mahometans might obtain offices among us, and that the senators and representa- tives might all be pagans." The point most criticised was the lack of a bill of rights. The Convention had assumed that individual rights were fundamental and could not be taken away by a federation ; but the state constitutions all had such bills of rights, and it was a mistake not to include one in the new instrument of government. MAKING THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION 215 All the states except Rhode Island called the necessary state conventions ; and the first contest was in the popular elections for delegates. Then came the conventions, which in five 172. Ratifi- states had an easy task: though the Pennsylvania con- cation by six states vention assembled first, Delaware had the honor of (1787-1788) being first to ratify (December 7, 1787), and that by a unani- mous vote; the great influence of Pennsylvania was thrown into the same scale (December 12), by a vote of 46 to 23 ; next came unanimous ratification by New Jersey (December 18), The Hancock House in 1789. From the Massachusetts Magazine. and by Georgia (January 2, 1788) ; Connecticut followed, after a hot discussion, by a vote of 128 to 40 (January 9). The first dangerous contest was in Massachusetts ; for when the convention assembled and elected John Hancock as its president, it was clear that the majority was against the Constitution, for reasons well stated by a country member: "These lawyers, and men of learning, and moneyed men," said he, "that talk so finely, and gloss over matters so smoothly, and make us poor illiterate people swallow down hart's amer. hist. — 13 216 FEDERATION the pill, expect to get into Congress themselves ; they ex- pect to be the managers of this Constitution, and get all the power and all the money into their own hands, and then they will swallow up all us little folks, like the great Leviathan, Mr. President — yes, just as the whale swallowed up Jonah. That is what I am afraid of." The balance of power in the convention was held by its president, John Hancock, who was kept away at first by a convenient attack of the celebrated " Hancock gout." He had to be secured by promising him the governorship and hinting at the presidency of the United States. Yet still there was no clear majority, for the opposition insisted that ratification should include a long list of amendments. As a last resort, the friends of the Constitution agreed that amendments be added, not as a condition, but as a strong sug- gestion. With all these influences, on the test vote (February 6, 1788), Massachusetts ratified by only 187 votes to 168. The fight in Massachusetts was the crisis of the constitution, for the result had great influence on other states. Maryland 173. Ratifi- ratified by a vote of 63 to 11 (April 28) ; and South cation by Carolina ratified by a vote of 149 to 73 (May 23) ; and thirteen states New Hampshire by a vote of 57 to 46 made herself the (1787-1790) nin^ state and completed a the federal arch" (June 21). The Virginia convention supposed that their state would be necessary to make nine. Madison and Edmund Randolph, who had a second time changed his mind, were for the Con- stitution ; and Washington, though not a member of the state convention, threw all his mighty influence in its favor. The strongest opponent was Patrick Henry, who did not shine as a logician. When taxes came to be discussed, he exclaimed : " I never will give up that darling word i requisition ' : my country may give it up ; a majority may wrest it from me, but 1 will never give it up till my grave." After the greatest exertions, Madison succeeded in having the long list of pro- posed amendments made a "recommendation" and not a con- MAKING THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION 217 dition of ratification ; and the Constitution was ratified by the narrow vote of 89 to 79 (June 25, 1788). The Ninth PILLAR erected ! "The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, ftiall befuffitient fortheeftabhfh* ment of this Conftitution, between the States fo ratifying the fame." Art. yu. INCIPIENT MJGNI PROCEDERE MENSES. The Attraction muft be irrvitftible Adoption of the Constitution, 1788. From the Independent Chronicle. The New York convention was at first hostile to the Consti- tution, and Governor George Clinton, the political boss of the state, appeared in the convention to oppose it. Its successful champion was Alexander Hamilton. Again the plan of a con- ditional ratification was proposed, but finally by the close vote of 30 to 27 New York ratified (July 26, 1788), " in full con- fidence " that the proposed changes would be made after the new government should be organized. For some time two states still held off. The North Caro- lina convention adjourned without taking a vote, but a second convention was called which duly ratified the Constitution (November 21, 1789). Rhode Island at this time called no convention, but was brought to terms later, when Congress pro- posed to treat it as a foreign nation ; and she completed the roll of thirteen ratifying states (May 29, 1790). The Federal Convention was simply the practical result of the preparation, from 1774 to 1787, for a strong national 174. sum- government. In the fourteen months from May, 1787, mar y to July, 1788, the nation reaped the fruits of fourteen years of experience of an inadequate government. 218 FEDERATION After long discussions the Philadelphia Convention drew up a careful and well-arranged constitution which had to run the gantlet of the state conventions. In three — Delaware, New Jersey, and Georgia — there was no opposition; in live — Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maryland, and South Carolina — the opposition was easily overcome; in three — Massachusetts, Virginia, and New York — ratification was obtained with the greatest difficulty. Two states, Rhode Island and North Carolina, did not ratify till after the gov- ernment was in working order. The acceptance of the Constitution was due to the thinking men, public leaders and business men, of the country, who could not stand the disorder and uncertainty of the Confedera- tion. The creditors of the national and state governments wanted some assurance that they would be paid; the ship- owner wanted rights in the ports of other countries ; the trader wanted to be able to collect his debts in other states ; and far-sighted public men like Washington and Hamilton were tired of the waste of time and effort necessary to make the government go at all. Eightly did John Adams say, "The Constitution was extorted by grinding necessity from a reluc- tant people." TOPICS Suggestive (1) Why did not Congress undertake a revision of the constitu- topics tion ? ^ why did Rhode i s i an( i sen( j no delegates to the Con- vention ? (3) How was the Virginia Plan drawn up ? (4) Why did so many members of the Convention withdraw ? (5) Main argu- ments in favor of the ratification of the Constitution. (6) Main arguments against ratification. (7) Why did the friends of the Con- stitution resist amendments in the state conventions ? (8) What methods brought about ratification of the Constitution ? (9) Did the states think that ratification was final, or repealable ? Search (io) Suggestions. of a national constitutional convention, 1781— ° PCS 1785. (11) Paterson's Plan. (12) A debate in the Federal Con- vention. (13) Sources of our knowledge of the Convention. (14) History of the Connecticut Compromise. (15) History of the MAKING THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION 219 slave-trade compromise. (16) Threats of withdrawal, by members of the Convention from small states. (17) Franklin in the Con- vention. (18) James Wilson in the Convention. (19) The Penn- sylvania convention. (20) The Massachusetts convention. (21) The Virginia convention. (22) The New York convention. (23) Pat- rick Henry's objections to the Constitution. REFERENCES McLaughlin, Confederation and Constitution. Hart, Formation of the Union, §§ 00-08, — Actual Government, § 21 ; Walker, Making of the Nation, 21-03 ; Channing, United States, 122-133 ; McLaughlin, Confederation and Constitution ; Fiske, Critical Period, 210-350 ; Landon, Constitutional His- tory, 77-124, 211-218; Gordy, Political Parties, I. 04-102; Schouler, United States, I. 30-70 ; McMaster, United States, I. 277-281, 389-391, 410-423, 430-503 ; Cambridge Modern History, VII. 243-304 ; Wilson, American People, III. 00-98 ; Larned, History for Beady Preference, IV. 2044, V. 3290 ; Curtis, Consti- tutional History, I. 221-047; Dewey, Financial History, §§27- 32 ; Sparks, Men who m,ade the Nation, 153-180 ; Hunt, James Madison, 87-100 ; Lodge, Alexander Hamilton, 49-82, — George Washington, II. 29-41 ; Pellew, John Jay, 222-234 ; Tyler, Pat- rick Henry, 298-350 ; Roosevelt, Gouverneur Morris, 108-145. Hart, Source Book, §§ 08-70, — Contemporaries, III. §§ 00-75 ; Mac Donald, Select Documents, no. 5 ; American History Leaflets, no. 8 ; Old South Leaflets, nos. 1, 12, 70, 99 ; Hill, Liberty Docu- ments, ch. xvii. ; Caldwell, Survey, 74-90 ; Johnston, American Orations, I. 39-71. See N. Eng. Hist. Teachers' Ass'n, Syllabus, 332-334 ; Historical Sources, § 79. G. F. Atherton, The Conqueror (Hamilton); Francis Hopkinson, Essays and Occasional Writings. Wilson, American People, III. Geography- Secondary authorities Sources Illustrative works Pictures CHAPTER XIV. THE AMERICAN PEOPLE FROM 1780 TO 1800 What were the numbers, characteristics, and capacities of the people who made the federal Constitution? The census .„. „ of 1790 showed a population of 4,000,000, of whom 175. Popu- lationand 80,000 were Indians, 60,000 free negroes, and 700,000 distribution glayes In the remaining 3,160,000 the English race was predominant in all of the states; there were, perhaps, 200,000 Scotch- r -*-..,. ; v t^v-i, ^v] Settled Area In 1790, Irish, chiefly along the fron- tier, a small but persistent Dutch element in New York, perhaps 100,000 Germans in Pennsylvania and the West, Settled Area in 1790. and a small Hu- guenot element in South Carolina. Over nine tenths of the people lived in the country: in 1790 the only places having a population greater than 8000 were Philadelphia, with about 42,000 people (including suburbs); New York city, with 33,000; Boston, with 18,000; Charleston, with 16,000; and Baltimore, with 14,000. Only about one twentieth of the whole popula- tion lived west of the crest of the Appalachians ; and Louis- ville was the farthest town on the Ohio River. Nearly all the white men in America worked on farms at 220 THE AMERICAN PEOPLE FROM 1780 TO 1800 221 least part of the year, and most of them on their own farms. Northern farmers raised vegetables for their own use, hay for their stock, corn and other grain, in some places hemp and 176 j^ e flax, and salted down pork and beef. The most valuable farmer crop was wheat, cultivated from New England to Virginia, and the basis of a large export of grain and flour. In Mary- land and Virginia tobacco was still abundant, while South Carolina raised rice and still a little indigo. For an example of prosperity, take a French traveler's ac- count of a Quaker family living near Philadelphia. The three daughters, beautiful, easy in their manners, and decent in their deportment, helped the mother in the household. The father was constantly in the fields, where he grew wheat and other crops. He had an excellent garden and orchard, ten horses, a big corn house, a barn full of wheat, oats, and other grain, Brissot de a dairy, in which the family made excellent cheese. Warville, li Their sheep give them wool of which the cloth is made that covers the father and the children. This cloth is spun in the house, wove and fulled in the neighborhood. All the linen is made in the house." The farmers for the most part had large families, and hence did not have to hire much labor. There was a good demand for handicraftsmen, shoemakers, harness makers, tailors, 177 Free and the like. Their wages were in purchasing value only and slave about half what wages are to-day, but every wage earner who had the ambition and enterprise and industry could strike out for himself, by taking up land and starting a farm. Much of the hard labor was done by slaves. From Penn- sylvania to North Carolina they were commonly treated with kindness. In Georgia and in South Carolina, where in 1790, out of 330,000 people, 130,000 were negro slaves, the labor was hard, and there were cases of cruel treatment. The cotton crop was small and of little value, because it took so much time to clear the seed out of the fiber, till in 1794 Eli Whitney, a Yankee 222 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION schoolmaster living in Georgia, patented the cotton gin, a simple machine which could do the work of scores of men. His ma- chine caused the production of cotton to rise from a few hun- dred bales in 1790 to 600,000 in 1820. About 1795, sugar was successfully made in New Orleans. Manufactures, except shipbuilding, were not much developed in America in 1800. A little iron and some steel were made in the middle states, all of it with charcoal. Carpet weaving and broom making had sprung up, and Philadelphia exported from 200,000 to 350,000 barrels of flour every year; this in- dustry was aided by Oliver Evans's recent invention of the endless band elevator. The shipping trade again became very prosperous after the war, and new avenues of commerce were opened. In 1784 the 178 Trade sn *P Empress of China made the first voyage to China and in- and brought home the impressive freight of 300,000 solid silver dollars. A profitable direct trade ensued with China, India, and the east coast of Africa. About 7000 men were engaged in the cod fishery, and several thousand in the whale fishery. The fur trade fell off as civilized settlers pushed westward, but John Jacob Astor, a New York merchant, made what was then considered the enormous fortune of over a mil- lion dollars, by developing the business in the far Northwest. As an example of the rich and influential class of American merchants, let us take John Hancock of Boston. He bought ships, sold ships, and chartered ships to carry his cargoes. He bought and sold country produce, and exported fish, whale oil and whalebone, pot and pearl ashes, naval stores (pitch, tar, and turpentine), lumber, masts, and ship timber. He im- ported dress goods for men and women, manufactures of all kinds, and coal. The Hancock firm also did a banking busi- ness, lent money, held mortgages, and placed them for friends, and issued drafts upon their London correspondents. John Hancock had a stately house in Boston (p. 215), built of stone, THE AMERICAN PEOPLE FROM 1780 TO 1800 223 including a ballroom sixty feet in length, with furniture, wall paper, and hangings imported from England. He drove a hand- some " chariot," or family carriage. His table on state occa- sions bore quantities of silver ; and he liked to wear crimson velvet suits with white silk embroidered waistcoats. Cross Section of a Turnpike on a Side Hill. Cross Section of a Turnpike. Showing arrangement of layers of stone. Interior commerce was hampered by the lack of roads and interior waterways. About this time there was introduced into England a new method of roadmaking, by which the n9 Means highway was prepared with a layer of large stones, a ofcom- 0,7 , , , . , ,.i • munication foot or more in depth, on which was laid a crowning of small, angular stones. Under travel these sharp fragments consolidated, making a smooth, hard surface. Many such roads, often called turnpikes or stone pikes, were built in America by individuals or corporations, beginning with the stretch from Philadelphia to Lancaster (1792; map, p. 291); and large streams were bridged. On such roads and bridges the owners were allowed to charge toll. 224 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION The second half of the eighteenth century was a period of canal building in England, and the furor spread to America. After the Revolution Washington visited the upper Potomac and Mohawk valleys, and suggested canals by both routes. The governments of Maryland and Virginia thereupon united in a plan for improving the navigation of the Potomac. A little later a traveler named Elkanah Watson formed "the sub- Contempora- li me P^ ai1 °f opening an uninterrupted water communi- ries, III. 62 ca tion from the Hudson to Lake Ontario." A few canals were actually built, or begun, from 1793 to 1803, notably the Santee in South Carolina, the Dismal Swamp in Virginia and North Carolina, and the Middlesex from Boston to Lowell. Tolerable wagon roads were built about 1790 from Phila- delphia, through Bedford in southern Pennsylvania, to Pitts- burg; and later from Cumberland on the upper Potomac to the Monongahela River. The so-called Wilderness Road, marked out by Daniel Boone, the only direct overland route into Ken- tucky, was widened into a wagon track (1795). To carry on the new enterprises, there was a rapid develop ment of joint stock companies, insurance, bridge, and turnpike 1 80 N companies, manufacturing concerns, and especially banks. economic All these companies had special charters, and the legis- ors latures were beset by demands to grant privileges to new corporations. For manufactures on a large scale, steam power and machinery have long since taken the place of much of the hand labor. It is hard to realize now that, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, for erecting buildings, for making iron or cloth, for all the farm work and transportation, the only motive force was the muscles of men and animals, except a few mills run by wind, water power, or the tide. In 1800 there was hardly a steam engine in America, and not a power loom. The making of woolen and cotton cloth was revolutionized about the time of the Revolution by four English inventions: Hargreaves's "spinning jenny " (1767) j Arkwright's spinning THE AMERICAN PEOPLE FROM 1780 TO 1800 225 frame (1769); Crompton's mule spinner (1779); and Cart- wright's power loom (1785). The spinning machinery was introduced into the United States by Samuel Slater of Taw- tucket, Rhode Island, in 1790, and thence grew up the woolen, cotton, and hemp mills of the United States. The power loom was first introduced into the United States by F. C. Lowell at Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1813. Several other important inventions can be traced back to this period, such as Oliver Evans's power dredge, and Jacob Perkins's nail-making machine. The renowned Yankee indus- try of clock making was also begun by Eli Terry at Plym- outh, Connecticut. The use of steam for propelling ships was suggested by two American inventors. In 1786 John Fitch put a boat on the Delaware propelled by a steam engine at a speed of seven miles an hour; and in 1787 James Eumsey ran a steam craft of another type on the Potomac River; and Washington predicted that Rumsey's invention would solve the problem of water transportation. Another proof that America was changing, was a new spirit of humanity and sympathy. Throughout the world in the eighteenth century, social life and the criminal law were m Hu saturated with cruelty ; the constable beat the vagrant, manitarian the master workman beat the apprentice; the farmer beat the indentured servant or maid; the planter beat the slave. The insane man or woman was treated literally as a beast — chained, starved, and flogged. The criminal or the man charged with crime was brutalized in a poisonous and stifling jail, a school of criminals. Americans who won the battles of the Revolution, and the sailors in John Paul Jones's ships, were often half starved and were beaten by their own officers. Debtors might in any state in the Union be lodged in jail and kept there a lifetime for a petty debt. Such oppression and disregard of one's neighbor were not only contrary to Christianity, but were also opposed to the 226 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION great Revolutionary doctrine of the equality of man, set forth in the bill of rights of every state constitution. Equality was so well carried out that foreign travelers were amazed to see inn- keepers sit down with their guests, and military officers chosen by their men. Gradually, for the weak and helpless, benevo- lent societies began to spring up, and a new sense arose of the duty of the community to all its people. Moreover, this feel- ing of sympathy and responsibility began to extend to the slaves. Hence Thomas Jefferson, born and bred a slaveholder, wrote in 1781 : " Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure Jefferson when we have removed their only firm basis, a convic- Noteson tion in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God ? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever." With all the assertions of the right of the many to govern, the United States in 1780 was far from being a thoroughgoing a democracy. In the New England states, the ministers ican de- and the merchants were still practically an aristocracy, mocracy h^ing, as John Adams put it, that " the rich and the well born and the able must be separated from the mass and placed by themselves." Even the little New England town meetings were not free from the mastery of the local squire ; according to a satirist — " Yet at town meetings ev'ry chief Trumbull, Pinn'd faith on great M'Fingal's sleeve, M'Fingal And as he motion'd, all by rote Rais'd sympathetic hands to vote." Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York farmers were not influenced so much by great family names as by political organ- izations. The first state nominating convention was held in Pennsylvania in 1788. Two years later Senator Maclay ob- Maday, served that in New York " The Sons of St. Tammany had J ™ rnal > a gran( i p ara de through the town in Indian dresses. . . . THE AMERICAN PEOPLE FROM 1780 TO 1800 227 There seems to be some kind of scheme laid of erecting some kind of order or society under this denomination." The Tammany Society did develop within ten years as a political force ; but the organization of the New York democracy was in the hands of two rival clans, the Livingstons and the Clintons, who early developed the practice, whenever they got into power, of turning their political opponents out of office. Alongside the northern, middle, and southern states, grew up a fourth section of the country — the West, which in many ways was different from the older communities. (1) It was lg3 Influ _ the only part of the country in which democracy was enceofthe real. Out there the only wealth was land, which could be had almost for the asking. Most adult men could vote ; and it was hard for them to believe that an experienced statesman could be of greater public service than anybody else who could command a majority. (2) Two systems of navigable waterways intersected the West — the Great Lakes on the north, and farther south the eastern branches of the Missis- sippi. (3) The West was settled with great rapidity. Its population increased from 110,000 in 1790 to 386,000 in 1800 ; and before 1804 three western states were added to the Union (§ 199), while only one eastern state was admitted — Vermont (1791). After the Revolution the opportunities for education rapidly increased in the United States. New England kept up rural schools in hundreds of "district schoolhouses," which lg4 Schools took both boys and girls as young as two years old. The and educa- teachers were slenderly paid, and were " boarded round " from family to family in the district. Most of the towns in the Union had schools, usually supported by fees. In Phila- delphia, where such a school was attended by Alexander Gray- don, he read Latin fables, learned Roman history, fought the other boys, was flogged by his teacher, and when fourteen years old had read Ovid, Virgil, Ceesar, and Sallust, and was 228 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION reading Horace and Cicero. The formal education of girls stopped in what we should call the grammar grade ; but the daughters of cultivated families embroidered, tapped the harpsichord, and read good books, and there were some girls' boarding schools. For secondary education New England developed a system of endowed acad- emies which spread into the middle states and West. Among them were the two Phillips Acade- mies of Andover and Ex- eter, and the Lexington (Kentucky) Grammar School. Such a thing as a public high school ex- isted only in a few favored New England towns ; but wealthy families through- out the Union often had private tutors for their children. Sev- eral new colleges also were founded between 1775 and 1800 ; the University of Pennsylvania was reorganized and put on a collegiate basis (1779) ; and in 1795 was established the Uni- versity of North Carolina, the first state institution of the kind. The first professional schools in the United States were two medical schools founded in Philadelphia and Boston. The United States still had no genuinely national literature, 185. Litera- for most of the authors followed English models and tureandart were ver y d u u t The most admired American poets were Philip Freneau, who wrote stirring patriotic songs during the Children's Costume of about 1776. Worn by the author's children. THE AMERICAN PEOPLE FROM 1780 TO 1800 229 Revolution, and Joel Barlow, whose epic, The Vision of Colum- bus, is a kind of washed-out Pope's Homer's Iliad. The only satirist and essayist of the time who is now much read was Benjamin Franklin, decidedly the most distinguished Ameri- can author of the eighteenth century. The field of literature in which America excelled was the writings of public men, who furnished a new stock of political ideas to the world. Some of these books are descriptive, like Jefferson's famous Notes on Virginia; others are discussions of public ques- tions, like the Federalist, and Alexander Hamilton's financial reports. George Washington, though he assumed to be only a man of affairs, wrote admirable letters on public questions. The fondness of Amer- icans for newspapers and periodicals showed itself in the first daily news- paper, the Pennsylvania Packet, founded in 1784. The newspapers were dull ; they had no editori- als, few advertisements, and filled many columns with reprints from foreign newspapers, and with long-winded essays on poli- tics. Two literary magazines were founded about this time: the Universal Asylum and Columbian Magazine, of Philadelphia, and the Boston Magazine. School and Sport. From a schoolbook of 1796. 230 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION The most notable American art was the architecture of the best houses and public buildings. Residences like the Chew House in Germantown (p. 171), and the Harrison House in Virginia, are still un- surpassed in American domestic architecture ; and all over the east- ern states are scattered good courthouses and other public buildings, and a few good church buildings of the time : for example, the Old South Church in Boston, Trinity Church and St. Paul's in New York, and St. Michael's in Charles- ton. Soon after the Revo- lution most of the great 186. Church churches in Amer- organiza- ica sought national organization. St. Michael's Church, Charleston, built in 17G1. tion Type of massive stone church. As a logical result of their theories of republican government, the southern states withdrew their public support of the Episcopal Church. In 1784 James Seabury was consecrated as Bishop of Connecticut at Aber- deen, Scotland; he came over, and in the next year was held the first general convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. The Methodist Church, founded by Wesley and Whitefield, began its formal American organiza- tion in 1784, when the Methodists summoned a national con- ference, which adopted the title of Methodist Episcopal and gave to Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke the title of Bishop. The long prejudice against the Catholics softened, and several THE AMERICAN PEOPLE FROM 1780 TO 1800 231 states put them on an equal footing with the Protestants. In 1789 a Catholic bishop was sent over to Baltimore, and thus that church was formally organized in the United States. Another type of church government was established when in 1789 the Presbyterian local synods united in "the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America," which has ever since been the supreme governing body of that church. The Dutch Reformed Church of New York and New Jersey, though closely akin to the Presbyterian in doctrine, had a separate synod. The thousand Congregational churches in New England were nearly all supported by taxation, and each was its own highest tribunal ; for, as in the Baptist Church, no general convention had au- thority among them. The Quakers also practiced local self- government; and both Quakers and Metho- dists freely admitted Squake-pewed Church, Salisbury, Mass., women to take part built in 1791. in their service. Type of eighteenth-century meetinghouse. Among the many other Protestant denominations were the German Lutherans, Moravians, and Dunkards ; and the Men- nonites, none of whom would take an oath, or fight, or accept office, or go to law. Universalists and United Brethren had a few congregations. The curious communities known as the Shakers were founded during the Revolution by Annah Lee, whom her followers called the Elect Lady, or Mother Ann. The Jews had synagogues in all the large places, but no cen- tral organization. On the frontier, religion was emotional. There was a great hart's amkr. hist. — 14 232 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION revival of religion in 1800, and the "camp meeting" was invented in Kentucky. All the churches enjoyed the greatest religious freedom that had ever been known in the history of mankind. Each denomination chose and ordained its ministers, laid down its doctrine, and disciplined its members in its own way. For the individual there was equal freedom. The federal Con- Quaker Meeting, 1809. (From Kendall's Travels.) stitution of 1787 prohibited any religious test for federal office, and the states in course of time removed most of the religious qualifications both for voters and for public officers. To describe the American people just after the Revolution is a hard task, because there was no single kind of American 187. Sum- people. The New Englanders were traders, fishermen, mar y and independent farmers. The middle states were still half frontier, and the farmers predominated. In the South existed four elements of society : the great planters ; the small THE AMERICAN PEOPLE EliOM 1780 TO 1800 233 planters, with whom were associated a large number of non- slaveholding farmers ; the poor whites ; and the negroes. Yet there was a thorough community of interest among the American people. Almost everybody spoke English; almost everybody was a Protestant; people passed freely from state to state, and easily acquired citizenship. The many callings and occupations depended closely upon one another; the fur trader got the raw skins from the frontier Indians, and the country merchant bought the produce of the neighboring farmers; the city merchant and shipowner carried the goods abroad, and brought back return cargoes of manufactures, which were distributed through the states. The corporations built necessary roads and canals, and provided banks and con- veniences for trade. The United States was a country of wonderful opportunities, so that a man might expect to get away from poverty and ignorance if he chose. The. great characteristic of the American people was their power of organization. They were organizing business, and preparing to make use of coming conveniences of intercourse ; they were building highways, accumulating capital, and open- ing up the unrivaled treasure-house of the West. Above all they were organizing towns, counties, and states — if they could also organize a strong national government, nothing St. John Crcvccuzuv could stay their progress as a nation. As an observer j jPtterso fa said, "The American is a new man who acts upon new Farmer, 53 principles; he must, therefore, entertain new ideas, and form new opinions.' , TOPICS (1) What caused the rapid growth of colonial and state popula- Suggestive tion? (2) What did the United States export, 1780-1800 ? (3) Ef- t0PlCS fects of the cotton gin. (4) What had the United States to sell in China ? (5) Why was the Erie Canal suggested ? (0) Why did not Fitch's or Rumsey's steamboat succeed ? (7) Why was America slow in beginning manufactures ? (8) Why were there no Episcopal bishops in America before 1784 ? 234 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION Search topics (9) Germans in North America up to 1800. (10) French Huguenots in North America. (11) Scotch-Irish in North America up to 1800. (12) Slavery in New Hampshire. (13) Slavery in Massachusetts. (14) Slavery in Connecticut. (15) Slavery in Rhode Island. (16) Slavery in New York. (17) Slavery in New Jersey. (18) Slavery in Pennsylvania. (19) Travel on the Wil- derness Road. (20) Debtors' prisons. (21) District schools after 1800. (22) College life in 1800. (23) American poetry in 1800. (24) Francis Asbury. (25) Eli Whitney. (26) John Jacob Astor. (27) Samuel Slater. (28) Do you think the Frenchman's experi- ence of a farmer's family (§ 176) is typical ? (29) Other rich merchants in the United States besides Hancock. (30) The Tam- many Society from 1790 to 1820. (31) A journey about the year 1800. (32) The Wilderness Road. (33) Life on American ships of war. Secondary authorities Sources Illustrative works Pictures REFERENCES Hart, Formation of the Union, §§ 55, 70-72, 79; Sloane, French War and Revolution, 378-388 ; Walker, Making of the Nation, 64-72 ; Fiske, Critical Period, 50-89 ; Rhodes, United States, I. 3-27 ; Sparks, Expansion, 135-187 ; Schouler, United States, I. 1- 12, 221-241 ; Adams, United States, I. 1-184 ; McMaster,' United States, I. 1-102, 423-436, II. 1-24, 57-66, 158-165, 538-582, III. 514-516, V. 268-284 ; Weeden, New England, II. 816-875 ; Locke, Antislavery, 88-111, 166-197 ; Curtis, Constitutional History, II. 231-244 ; Morse, Thomas Jefferson, 36-50 ; Merwin, Thomas Jef- ferson, 45-58 ; Hunt, James Madison, (57-86 ; Ward, Bishop White, 1-89. See also references to chapter vi. Hart, Source Book, §§ 88, 89, — Contemporaries, III. §§ 10-36, — Source Readers, II. §§ 59-62, III. §§ 4-8, 14-25, 29-33, 72, 100- 104, 116, 117 ; Old South Leaflets, nos. 65, 126; Caldwell, Survey, 132-142 ; Scudder, Men and Manners in America ; Bowne, GirVs Life Eighty Years Ago ; Grant, Memoirs of an American Lady ; Graydon, Memoirs. A. M. Earle, Stage-Coach and Tavern Days, — Two Centuries of Costume ; J. de F. Shelton, Salt-Box House, 168-237 ; H. B. Stowe, Minister's Wooing , — Oldtown Folks (N.E.) ; Sophie May, In Old Quinnebasset (N.E.) ; A. E. Barr, Maid of Maiden Lane, — Trinity Bells (N.Y.) ; C. B. Brown, Arthur Mervyn (Philadel- phia) ; J. P. Kennedy, Swallow Barn (Va.). Mrs. Earle's books mentioned above ; Sparks, Expansion ; Wilson, American People, III. CHAPTER XV. ORGANIZING THE GOVERNMENT (1789-1793) The federal Constitution laid down the general principles of the government; but the details had to be settled by new laws and customs, so that the work of Congress from 1789 to 18* Kwt 1793 was hardly less important than that of the Phila- election delphia Convention. By vote of the old Congress of the (1788) Confederation, a date was set for the first presidential elec- tion, and the new Congress was to meet in New York the first Wednesday in March, 1789, which happened to be March 4. For the presidency there was no contest; everybody knew that George Washington would have the first vote of every elector. More of their second votes were cast for John Adams than for any one else, and he was thus elected Vice President. The members of Congress drifted into New York slowly, so that the House was not organized till April 1, 1789, and the Senate not till April 6. Frederick Muhlenberg of 189 Con . Pennsylvania was elected Speaker of the House, and S™*org&n- John Adams in due time took his constitutional seat as presiding officer of the Senate. Then the two houses laid down rules for their procedure, and thus made precedents which now have almost the weight of law. The House from the beginning, and the Senate from 1793, have usually sat in open session. Congress voted its members a salary of $6, later $8, a day while in session, for which a fixed salary was substi- tuted after 1854. All committees at first were chosen by bal- lot in both houses, but after 1790 the House authorized the Speaker to appoint the committees, a great power which he has enjoyed ever since. Within a few years began to grow 235 236 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION up a system of standing committees appointed at the begin- ning of each* session. Meanwhile, the electoral vote having been counted, Wash- ington was notified of his election, and on his arrival from 190. Inau- Mount Vernon was received in New York by thousands £e?PMi- 0f of enthusiastic people. On April 30, 1789, he was sol- dent (1789) emnly inaugurated at Federal Hall on Wall Street, where he took the oath of office, and made a simple and earnest Mount Vernon about 1830. From an engraving by Stuart. speech. Congress voted the President $25,000 a year, the largest salary then received by any man in the United States. Washington liked becoming ceremony, and it was understood that he approved the proposed title of "His Highness, the President of the United States of America and Protector of their Liberties," though Patrick Henry said of the title that "it squinted toward monarchy." Eventually no title was given by law ; so that the official form of address to the Presi- dent is simply, " Mr. President." ORGANIZING THE GOVERNMENT (1789-1793) 237 One of the earliest tasks of Congress was to organize the executive departments, and in its first session it created four. (1) First was the Department of Foreign Affairs, soon 191 Execu- changed to Department of State. Thomas Jefferson tiv ^^ t P s a ^"_ became the first regular Secretary of State. (2) The ganized War Department was next organized, and Henry Knox (Secretary at War under the Confederation) was reappointed Secretary of War. (3) The Treasury was organized in great detail, and the first Secretary of the Treasury was Alexander Hamilton. (4) The former Post Office was continued, and Samuel Osgood was appointed Postmaster-General. All these officers were appointed by the President subject to the confir- mation of the Senate. By the casting vote of John Adams in the Senate, Congress established the wholesome principle that the President, who by the Constitution is obliged to see that the laws are faithfully executed, should have the unrestricted power of removing heads of departments and other officers, without the consent of the Senate. The President at once began to use his constitutional right to call on the heads of departments for written opinions; and he went further by asking the three Secretaries and the Attorney-General (who for many years had no regular depart- ment under him) to meet him from time to time and discuss public business. This is the beginning of the unofficial Cabi- net, to which the Secretary of the Navy, Postmaster-General, Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Agriculture, and Secretary of Commerce and Labor have since been added. Under the wise provision of the Constitution that amend- ments may be proposed by Congress, about four hundred resolutions of amendment, suggested by states in their i92.Amend- ratifications, or later by members of Congress, were me j£ | ]^£ boiled down by Congress to twelve amendments, which t ion (1789- got the requisite two-thirds vote in both houses and were 1791) sent out to the states for ratification. These amendments 238 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION formed a little bill of rights, assuring jury trial, freedom of speech and of the press, etc., against any enactment by the federal government, and including in the Tenth Article the im- portant clause that " The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Ten only of the twelve propositions secured the necessary ratifica- tion by three fourths of the states and became part of the Con- stitution (1791). The Constitution provides that there shall be a Supreme Court and inferior courts, leaving it to Congress to settle the 193 Courts details. By an act (September 24, 1789), most of which organized is still in force, Congress created three kinds of courts — district, circuit, and supreme — and two kinds of judges — district and supreme. Ordinary cases, involving federal law, could be brought in the District Courts, appealed to the Circuit Courts, and thence to the Supreme Court. Ap- peals could be taken from the highest state courts to the fed- eral Supreme Court in cases involving federal law. Thus all suits turning on federal law might finally be brought before the Supreme Court of the United States, so that there might be one highest authority on federal law throughout the country. The President at once appointed John Jay of New York to be Chief Justice. The first Supreme Court case which attracted much notice was Chisholm vs. Georgia in 1793, in which the court gave a judgment against the state. To pre- vent such suits against a state by citizens of another state or of a foreign country, the Eleventh Amendment was at once proposed, and speedily added to the Constitution. The center of American social and political life was Phila- delphia, seat °f Congress during most of the Revolution. 1"4. Se3X oi government While the British were in Philadelphia Congress sat in (1789-1790) York, Lancaster, and Baltimore ; and after Congress was insulted in its own hall by mutinous soldiers in 1783, it ORGANIZING THE GOVERNMENT (1789-1793) 239 sat in Princeton, Trenton, Annapolis, and New York, but did not select any of them as the permanent seat of govern- ment. The location of a capital therefore came up again in 1789. A Pennsylvania member spoke for Wright's Ferry (Columbia, Pa.), and praised the fish of the Susquehanna ; but a Georgia member, who did not like to travel so far, . retorted, " This . . . will blow the coals of sedition and Congress, I. endanger the Union. . . . This looks like aristocracy ." And a New England member said " he did not dare to go to the Potomac. He feared that the whole of New England would consider the Union as destroyed." When the matter came up again in 1790, it was tangled with a proposal that the federal government assume the outstanding state debts, which all the southern members opposed and all the New England members favored. Hamilton, as a northern man, appealed to Jefferson, over whose dining table an agree- ment was reached that the Virginia members would vote for assumption, if Hamilton would find the votes necessary to fix the capital on the Potomac ; and by this compromise (it would be called a "deal" nowadays) both measures were passed. Eighteen million dollars was distributed impartially among the states; and the capital was fixed for ten years at Phila- delphia, and then in a district ten miles square to be selected by the President on the Potomac River. This was the origin of the District of Columbia. To Alexander Hamilton the present government of the United States owes almost as much as to Madison or to Washington ; for he had the genius to think out methods g Alex of organizing the new national government. Hamilton ander Ham- was born in the island of Nevis in the West Indies federal (1757), and was educated at King's College, now Colum- financier bia University. When the Revolution broke out, he be- gan to write patriotic pamphlets, then joined the army, and attracted the notice of Washington, who never ceased to love 240 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION and admire him. He sat in the Congress of the Confederation for a time (1782-1783), but a friend said of him that he was not „ ., "adapted to a council composed of discordant materials, Hamilton, or to a people which have thirteen heads." He was a famous lawyer, but his genius was especially fitted to finance, and it was a national blessing when, in September, 1789, at thirty-two years of age, he was appointed Secretary of the Treasury. It was a discouraging post. Hamilton found a debt of $52,000,000 and no money in the treasury; the accounts were in confusion; the old paper-money notes were repudiated ; and few seemed to expect that the federal govern- ment would ever pay its bonded debt. Be- tween January, 1790, and January, 1792, Hamilton issued a series of five reports Alexander Hamilton. n the finances of the From the portrait by Weimar. country : on Public Credit, on Manufactures, on a Bank, on Currency, a second Keport on Public Credit. In these reports he developed a system of national finance, which he pushed with such force and statesmanship that he induced Congress to accept every one of the following plans : — (1) Import duties were to provide for the interest on the public debt. (2) An excise on the manufacture of whisky would raise additional money and would make the western ORGANIZING THE GOVERNMENT (1789-1793) 241 people understand that they had a government. (3) The debt of the United States was to be funded in one kind of obliga- tions, and the government was to assume the state debts, so as to interest the capitalists in the success of the government and raise the credit of the United States for future needs. (4) A national bank was to perform the government business and furnish a safe currency. (5) Protective import duties were to encourage and build up home manufactures. The first tariff act became a law before Hamilton came into office ; and the debate on it contained nearly all the arguments of the twenty and more tariff debates that have followed. 196. Na- Manufacturers petitioned Congress for protection; Penn- re venueand sylvania wanted to protect " our infant manufactures " ; commerce South Carolinians thought protection " big with oppression " ; midway men were willing to lay duties to encourage young industries, and manufactures of military material. The result of these discussions was the first tariff act (July 4, 1789), which was then thought to be protective; specific duties were laid on about thirty articles, and on other articles ad valorem duties ranging from 7J per cent to 15 per cent. The average rate of duty was only about 8|- per cent — the lowest in our federal history. Later, at Hamilton's suggestion, the import duties were raised a little, and an excise was laid on whisky (March 3, 1791), amounting to 7 or 8 cents a gallon. The question of the national debt was settled just as Hamil- ton wished. Some people wanted to take account of the fact that many owners of certificates of domestic debt had bought them at a depreciation; but Hamilton carried his point of paying them in full to the actual holders, on the ground that if the government ever wanted to borrow money, it must issue securities that would easily pass from hand to hand. In a few months the surprised holders of government bonds began for the first time to receive regular interest on their holdings, and the securities of the United States rose to par. 242 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION Hardly less important than the financial improvement of the country was the reorganization of business. Under its power to regulate coinage, Congress passed an act (April 2, 1792) establishing a United States mint, at which any possessor of gold or silver could have it coined into gold or silver pieces without charge for the stamping. The act also established the ratio of fifteen to one between gold and silver; that is, $15 in gold weighed as much as $1 in silver. As neither gold nor silver was then produced in the United States in any quantity, the actual coinage was very small for many years. Under the new power over foreign commerce, Congress passed a navigation act (July 20, 1789), laying a discriminat- ing tonnage duty in favor of American-built and American- owned shipping ; and provided for the national registration of vessels and for public lighthouses. A little later, all foreign vessels were excluded from the coasting trade. The most far-reaching commercial act was the charter of the United States Bank (February 25, 1791), which Hamilton con- 197. The sidered the crowning part of his whole system. It had St^Bank a capital of $10,000,000, of which the United States gov- (1791) eminent owned a fifth. In the conditions of that time, this was as remarkable as a bank with a capital of a thousand millions would be to-day. The bank was expected to receive deposits ; to hold most of the government balances ; to make loans to business men ; to put out paper notes and hold " re- serves " of gold and silver in its vaults ; to pay its notes on de- mand ; and to act as the agent of the government. The real object of the bank was much deeper ; Hamilton wanted to teach the business men of the country that their welfare and prosperity would be aided by a great federal corporation. Hamilton found the constitutional authority in the clause of the Constitution which gives Congress power to pass acts that are " necessary and proper for carrying into execution the . . . powers vested by this constitution in the government of ORGANIZING THE GOVERNMENT (1789-1798) 243 the United States." Jefferson sent a written opinion to the President, in which he argued that the bank would not be con- stitutional, because Congress had no express power to char- ter a corporation ; and that the bank was not " necessary and proper," since all its services to the government could be performed in some other way. Hamilton's answer was that Congress had the " implied power " to carry out its express powers through a corporation, if that would do the work better ; and that " necessary and proper " did not mean " indis- pensable," but " suitable." All the northern votes except one were in favor of the act. Washington signed it, and twenty- eight years later the Supreme Court adopted Hamilton's doctrine of implied powers, and it is now constantly used in the legislation of Congress. The bank was at once organized, with head office in Philadelphia and eight branches in other cities, and proved a safe and prosperous concern. Congress early began to use its new powers over the territo- ries. To prevent the settlers from pressing upon the Indians, Congress passed acts shutting out from trade or sojourn 198 West . in the Indian lands evervbody who had not a license from em Indians (1789-1795) the President. On the other hand, a series of new Indian treaties were negotiated and ratified by the Senate, for the cession of lands to accommodate white settlers. Nevertheless, Indian war burst out in the Northwest Territory in 1789, and the next year forces under General Harmer were twice defeated. General St. Clair, governor of the Northwest Territory, set out to build a chain of forts from the Ohio to Lake Erie; and in a pitched battle with the Indians at the site of Fort Recovery (November 4, 1791) he lost a thousand out of his fif- teen hundred men. Washington's private secretary records the President's emotion when the news came : " And yet to Rugh suffer that army to be cut to pieces, hacked, butchered, Washing- tomahawked by a surprise — the very thing I guarded him against ! God, God, he is worse than a murderer I " 244 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION " But/' he added, recovering himself, " General St. Clair shall have justice ! " Anthony Wayne, who was now put in command, built frontier posts, and thoroughly thrashed the Indians at the Falls of the Maumee, and made possible the treaty of Green- ville (1795), by which the Indians gave up the territory now composing southern and eastern Ohio. In Georgia Indian wars broke out in 1793; but the United States stood by its right to control and negotiate with the tribes, and make treaties for land cessions. Meanwhile settlers began to pour into the Northwest. Virginia opened up her reserve of Military Bounty Lands 199. Settle- north of the Ohio. Then followed new communities West near Chillicothe on the Scioto, and at Losantiville, now (1789-1800) called Cincinnati. Along Lake Erie settlement began about 1795, when Connecticut sold the greater part of the Western Reserve to the Connecticut Land Company. General Moses Cleaveland, agent of the company, in 1796 founded at the mouth of the Cuyahoga, on Lake Erie, the city now called for the founder, Cleve- land. Next year the "Girdled Road" was made from the Pennsyl- vania line along the lake to Cleveland. In 1800 the state of Connecticut ceded to the United States all jurisdiction over the Reserve, so that the lake and river settlements might be united into a new state. Indiana Territory was immediately set off, and in 1802 the *% ot^S F^eci),verj7~-S--- \ / \ ° f/:(fS^^^'X 11( ,!f^ VIRGIN l(M I.fvin.'t' The Northwest in 1800. Showing territory ceded by treaty of Greenville. ORGANIZING THE GOVERNMENT (1789-1793) 246 niifii lllllpfcj Cincinnati in 1810. From Howe's Historical Collections. people of Ohio were authorized to form a state government, and were duly admitted to the Union the next year. Congress provided for the southern region by an act (1790) organizing the " Territory South of the Ohio River," which six years later was admitted into the Union as the state of Tennessee ; it was preceded by the admission of Kentucky in 1792. Still farther south the boundary controversy with Georgia continued (pp. 190, 192) ; but Congress created the Mississippi Territory out of a part of the disputed land (1798), and four years later Georgia ceded everything west of her present boundary, and the long controversy as to western lands was ended. Till about 1793 there were no national political parties, for the Anti-Federalists disappeared soon after the Constitution was adopted, and hardly a man in the country any 200. Germs longer criticised the Constitution. The first division ° ^r^es on living issues came about in Washington's Cabinet, (1792) where Jefferson says that he and Hamilton from day to day 246 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION attacked each other " like cocks in a pit." The two men and their followers absolutely disagreed on the cardinal questions of the nature of government. Hamilton and his friends be- lieved that the opinion of the educated and property-holding classes must always be the best for the ignorant and the poor. He is said to have remarked once at a dinner : " Your people, your people, sir, is a great beast." The other side was represented by Jefferson, who counted himself among " those who identify themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as the most honest and safe, although not the most wise depository of the public interest." Hamilton and his friends believed further that it was the duty of government to encourage private enterprise, and to that end laid down the principle of " loose construction," or "implied powers." Jefferson's theory of "strict construc- tion" of the Constitution was that government ought to do as little as possible, that it ought to lay taxes only for ab- solutely necessary expenses, and that the development of the country ought to be left to individuals. On almost the same day (in May, 1792) Hamilton wrote that Madison and Jeffer- son were at the head of a "faction decidedly hostile to me, . . . and dangerous to the Union, peace and prosperity of the country"; and Jefferson described Hamilton and his friends as " Monarchical federalists." In the election of 1792, though there was not a vote against Washington, there was a strong and almost successful attempt to displace Adams as Vice President; and thenceforth one body of men throughout the country took on the party name of Federalist, and the Jeffer- sonians called themselves Democrats. For about three years, from 1789 to 1792, the friends of 201. Sum- the Constitution had the opportunity of showing how it mar y would work; they got a large majority in Congress, elected Washington to be President, and framed organizing ORGANIZING THE GOVERNMENT (1789-1793) 247 legislation which was in harmony with the work of the Con- vention. The reorganization of finance and commerce was the next great national task. The genius of Alexander Hamilton rendered an inestimable service to the country, for he could look forward into the future and see the probable outcome of his plans ; and such was the confidence of the business inter- ests of the country in him that he carried all his measures through. Against the doctrine that it was the duty of the national government to make the country prosperous, Jefferson and his friends fought vigorously ; and before the end of Washington's first administration appeared the elements of two political parties, which were bound to oppose each other on all grave questions, and which intended to fight each other in the national elections. The reelection of Washington in 1792 postponed, but could not prevent, the coming of strict party government. TOPICS (1) Why did the first Congress meet in New York? (2) Are Suggestive secret sessions of the Senate desirable ? (3) Who have been topics the great Speakers of the House ? (4) Why are there standing committees in Congress ? (5) Who have been the great Secre- taries of State ? (6) Who have been the great Secretaries of the Treasury ? (7) Who have been the great judges of the Supreme Court? (8) Why should the President remove officers without the consent of the Senate ? (9) Why were the first ten amendments to the Constitution necessary ? (10) Jefferson's political principles from 1781 to 1791. (11) Was Hamilton a monarchist ? (12) John Adams as Vice President. (13) Life in the first Search Congress. (14) History of the Eleventh Amendment. (15) Ham- t0 P ics ilton's share in fixing the place of the national capital. (16) Op- position to Hamilton in Congress. (17) Debate on the first national tariff. (18) Objections to the first United States Bank. (19) Later discussions of " implied powers." (20) Jefferson's opinions of Hamilton. (21) Hamilton's opinions of Jefferson. (22) Foundation of Cincinnati. (23) Foundation of Cleveland. (24) Foundation of Buffalo. (25) The Yazoo land dispute. hart's amer. hist. — 15 248 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION Geography Secondary- authorities Sources Illustrative works Pictures REFERENCES See maps, pp. 11, 198 ; Semple, Geographic Conditions, 75-92 ; Bassett, Federalist System. Hart, Formation of the Union, §§ 73-82 ; Walker, Making of the Nation, 73-114 ; Charming, United States, 133-147 ; Johnston, Politics, 19-29 ; Stanwood, Presidency, 20-41 ; Bassett, Federalist System; Wilson, American People, III. 98-128; Gordy, Political Parties I. 103-158; Schouler, United States, I. 70-220; McMaster, United States, I. 525-604, II. 24-57, 07-89, 144-154, III. 110-123 ; Dewey, Financial History, §§ 34-52 ; McDougall, Fugitive Slaves, §§ 16-19 ; Hinsdale, Old Northwest, 296-313, 368-388 ; Roosevelt, Winning' of the West, IV. 1-100; Winsor, Westward Movement, 375-574 ; Foster, Century of Diplomacy, 103-135 ; Lodge, George Washington, II. 41-123, 218-237, 304-395, — Alexander Hamilton, 83-150 ; Ford, True George Washington ; Morse, Thomas Jeffer- son, 87-129 ; Schouler, Thomas Jefferson, 153-169 ; Hunt, James Madison, 167-212. Hart, Source Book, §§ 71-73, — Contemporaries, III. §§ 76-89, -Source Headers, III. §§ 57-61; MacDonald, Select Documents, nos 6-12; Old South Leaflets, nos. 10, 74; Ames, State Docu- ments on Federal Relations, no. 1, pp. 1-15; Maclay, Journal. See N. Eng. Hist. Teachers' Ass'n, Syllabus, 334-336, — Historical Sources, § 80. Cooper, Pioneers; J. L. Allen, Choir Invisible (Ky.); E. b. Hale, East and West (Northwest Territory); J. K. Paulding, Westward Ho I (Ky.). Wilson, American People, III. CHAPTER XVI. FEDERALIST POLICY (1793-1801) Hardly was the new federal government in operation when it was drawn into the confusion resulting from the revolu- tion in France which began in 1789. In September, 202. The 1792, France was declared a republic ; soon after, King ^^ution Louis XVI. was executed by his people (January 21, (1789-1793) 1793) ; ten days later the French republic declared war against Great Britain and Spain. The national sympathy of America went out to France as a friend, ally, and sister republic, appar- ently struggling against tyranny. Furthermore, by the treaty of 1778 the United States was bound to defend the French West Indies in case of "defensive war." Since the British had recently been enemies, and were still on bad terms with the United States, the French government expected that the United States would directly, or by connivance, join in the war against Great Britain and Spain ; and they sent over a new ambassador, Edmond Genet, to carry out that policy. When the news of the outbreak of war was received in America, Congress was not in session, and President Washing- ton decided quickly that the country was in no condition for war. Even Jefferson, whom Hamilton accused of " a of neutral- womanish attachment for France, and a womanish resent- lty ( 1793 ) nient against England," reluctantly admitted that the treaty of 1778 had no just reference to the changed conditions of the time. The President accordingly, on April 22, 1793, issued what is usually called the Proclamation of Neutrality, a decla- ration that the United States would " pursue a conduct friendly and impartial towards the belligerent powers." Gen§t landed in Charleston (April 8, 1793), and began to 249 250 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION issue privateering commissions to Americans and to enlist them for the French service. He was received in Philadelphia with enthusiasm, and Democratic clubs were formed on the model of the French revolutionary clubs. Genet at first accepted the proclamation of neutrality, but he did not scruple to enlist men in the West for an expedition to capture New Orleans from the Spanish, a plan which pleased the Kentuckians. Then he lost his judgment and in his violence and fury overreached himself: he fitted out a cruiser, the Petit Democrat, in Philadelphia, and, in defiance of Jefferson's protest, sent her to sea. He lost standing further by trying to force Washington to call an extra session of Congress ; and in December, 1793, his own government was weary of him, and sent a recall. The naval war involved all the principal European maritime nations : Dutch, Spanish, French, and British merchantmen 204. Eng- were chased on every sea. The United States was the land and principal neutral, and on the rights of neutrals England neutral . commerce and the United States quickly found that they had (1793-1794) different views : — (1) The United States admitted that neutral ships could be captured anywhere on the sea if bound to a port actually block- aded by a squadron ; but the British claimed the same right on a " paper blockade," that is, a mere notice, not backed up by a blockading fleet. (2) The United States admitted the right to capture ships having on board " contraband," meaning military stores destined for an enemy ; but the British claimed that provisions were also contraband, and seized American food ships bound to French ports. (3) The United States insisted that " free ships make free goods " ; that is, that an American ship was not subject to capture simply because it had the property of Frenchmen on board. The British took such ships wherever they could find them. FEDERALIST POLICY (1793-1801) 251 (4) Great Britain, under what was called the "Rule of 1756," proceeded to capture American vessels bound from French colonies to American ports, "because such trade had not been allowed by France in time of peace. Forthwith scores of American ships were taken as prizes by British cruisers and privateers. So far as they had oppor- tunity, the French were as violent as the English ; they seized provision ships and British goods in American ships. If there had been a commercial treaty with Great Britain, much of the trouble with that country would have been prevented. The trouble was aggravated by the method of recruiting for British ships of war by " impressing " (seizing) sailors on shore, or from British merchant ships. Under the theory that a 205 Im- man born in England remained an Englishman as long pressment and the war as he lived, the British extended their impressment to f eV er English sailors employed in American ships, and to (1793-1794) Englishmen born and recently naturalized in the United States ; often, also, they impressed Englishmen born who were American citizens at the time of the treaty of peace, and even American sailors born in America, and no more subject to Great Britain than to the emperor of China. Con- gress in April, 1794, was on the point of declaring war against Great Britain, but once more Washington's calm good sense saved the country from a great danger. He nominated John Jay, then Chief Justice of the United States, as special envoy to make a last remonstrance to Great Britain. After nearly four months' negotiation, Jay signed a treaty in London (November 19, 1794) which was intended to settle all but one of the four controversies then outstanding : 2 06. Peace (1) To carry out the treaty of 1783, the British agreed to witn Great . -,- , -. / • 1 -. / «™x , Britain and evacuate the undisputed American territory (p. 199) ; but Spain then and thereafter would make no compensation for slaves ( 1 794-1795> carried away in 1783. On the other hand, the United States undertook to make compensation to British merchants who 252 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION had not been able to collect debts due in 1775 ; and the loyalist question was dropped. (2) For the capture of American vessels the British government agreed to make a compensation, if a commission of arbitration so found; and eventually paid $1,000,000. Jay gave up the principle that "free ships make free goods," and agreed that provisions under some circum- stances might be held contraband. (3) A commercial treaty to last a term of years was negotiated, but the British would not open trade to the West Indies on terms that the United States would accept. (4) On impressment, Jay could get no agreement. In general the Jay treaty did not satisfy the shipowners and commercial people, and all the weight of Washington's influence was necessary to induce the Senate to ratify it by the bare constitutional majority of 20 to 10. The House at first showed a strong inclination to refuse the appropriation necessary to carry out the treaty, but voted the money at last ; and war with Great Britain was thus averted. Meanwhile a very favorable settlement was made with Spain by a treaty of 1795, which gave us the desired commercial arrangements, the still more desired navigation of the Mis- sissippi, and an acknowledgment of the southern boundary as laid down by the British treaty of 1783. While Jay was negotiating his treaty, trouble broke out in western Pennsylvania, where the low national excise duties 207. Wilis- were especially felt by the many small distillers. Sev- rJction*" eia * nun dred armed men attacked the house of Inspector- (1794) General Neville, and it was plundered and burned (1794). The mail from Pittsburg eastward was robbed, and about seven thousand men assembled at Braddock's Field and marched to Pittsburg to intimidate the town. Since Governor Mifflin of Pennsylvania would not act, Washington disregarded him and called out thirteen thousand militia from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Vir- FEDERALIST POLICY (1798-1801) 253 ginia. In October the little army crossed the mountains and came down into the western counties, but found not an insurrectionist in arms, for most of the people who were wanted had decamped. For their share in the rising, two men were found guilty of treason and sentenced to death, but pardoned by the President. In his messages to Congress Washington connected the rebellion with "certain combina- tions of men," or, as the Senate put it, " self-created societies," that is, with the Democratic clubs founded in 1793. The shot went home, and Jefferson and his friends — though they had no part in instigating the rebellion — soon thought it desirable to find a party name which had not such associations with France, and began to call themselves Republicans. Throughout this difficult period, George Washington was the most clear-headed and unyielding friend of good national government. As President he showed one of the great- 208. Retire- est qualities of an administrator ; namely, the power to Washington judge and select men. He gave a never-failing support (1796-1797) to Hamilton, and did his best to keep on good terms with Jefferson. It was a great trial to Washington that after 1792 the newspapers began to abuse him, and even his friend Jef- ferson wrote a letter criticising him, to a correspondent named Mazzei, which found its way into print. Jefferson tells us that one- day at a cabinet meeting the President vehemently declared "that he had never repented but once the having slipped the moment of resigning his office, and that was every moment since, that ... he had rather be on his farm than to be made emperor of the world, and yet that they were charging ' him with wanting to be a king ! " In his celebrated farewell address of September 17, 1796 (composed in part by Hamilton, but full of Washington's principles), Washington rose to the highest patriotism and statesmanship. His theme was Union; union of the North and South, union of the East and W r est, a union which would 254 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION be in danger if the United States took sides with either party in the European wars. Hence he advised his countrymen to keep out of " permanent alliances with any portion of the for- eign world." As Washington announced that he intended to retire to private life, the two political parties each tried to elect his successor in the presidential election of 1796 ; and by the close electoral vote of 71 to 68 Vice-President Adams was elected President. The Federalists did not unite on any one candidate for Vice President ; and by a defect in the Constitu- tion as it then read, the rival candidate for President, Thomas Jefferson, was thus elected to the lower office. John Adams of Massachusetts was one of the two or three men most responsible for the Revolution. He served in the 209. Ad- two Continental Con- then was ministra- rrresspq tionof John S resses > Adams minister to France (1797-1801) and tQ Holland? and was one of the commis- sioners of the peace of Paris. In 1785 he was sent as first minister to Great Britain, and when the king laughingly hinted that Adams was no friend to France, he replied aptly, Adams, "That opinion, sir, is not mistaken; I must avow to your Maj- esty, I have no attachment but to my own country." Works, VIII. 258 John Adams, 1783. In court dress ; from the portrait by Copley. After eight years' service as Vice President, Adams became President in 1797, and he made the fundamental mistake of adopting his predecessor's Cabinet, which felt itself superior to FEDERALIST POLICY (1793-1801) 255 its chief and which took counsel with his personal enemy, Hamilton. Adams finally dismissed Timothy Pickering, Secre- tary of State, and forced another Cabinet officer to resign, after which he had some peace and comfort in Cabinet meetings. In getting out of trouble with Great Britain, the United States was plunged a second time into difficulty with the French, who felt the bitterest resentment over the Jay treaty, 210. X. Y. because it gave to Great Britain privileges denied to ' verS y France. In retaliation, the French in 1796 again began (1796-1798) to seize American vessels; and when Charles C. Pinckney arrived in Paris with a commission as minister, he was not received by the Directory which was then the French government, and later he was warned to leave France. In a message on this insult (May 16, 1797) Adams said, "Such attempts ought to be repelled with a decision which shall convince France and the world that we are not a degraded people, humiliated under a colonial spirit of fear and sense of inferiority." Still Adams could not bear to see his country drawn into war if he could help it, and he therefore com- missioned Pinckney, John Marshall of Virginia (two Federal- ists), and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts (a Democratic Republican) to make a last effort to come to an understanding with France. After some months, dispatches arrived, stating that the French government, incensed at Adams's message, re- fused officially to receive the commissioners; and that three men, called in the dispatches " X., Y., and Z.," came unofficially to inform them that if they wanted a treaty, they must furnish a quarter of a million dollars " for the pocket of the Directory Abigail Adams, about 1790. Wife of John Adams ; from Copley's portrait. 256 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION and ministers." When Mr. X. said plainly to the envoys, Am. State "Gentlemen, you do not speak to /the point; it is money: Foreign ** * s ex P ecte( l that you will offer money," they responded 11.157 tirmly, "No, no, no; not a sixpence." And the Presi- dent thereupon notified Congress (June 27, 1798), "I will never send another minister to France without assurances that he will be received, respected, and honored as becomes the rep- resentative of a great, free, powerful, and independent nation." Adams's protest at the shameful attempt to exact bribes from American ministers raised him to the highest popularity of 211. Alien his whole life. Songs were written in his honor, among tion Acts them Hopkinson's Hail Columbia. The Republicans were (1798) so stunned by the behavior of France that they could not stop four sweeping pieces of anti-French legislation by Con- gress in 1798 : (1) a Naturalization Act raising the required term of residence to fourteen years; (2) the Alien Friends' Act, authorizing the President to expel aliens in time of peace ; (3) the Alien Enemies' Act, for the expulsion of aliens (by which was meant Frenchmen) in time of war; (4) the Sedi- tion Act, making it a crime to publish libels against the gov- ernment, or Congress, or the President. The Sedition Act was passed because the Republican pro-French newspaper press Annals of was violent and abusive; as an example the Federalists 1797-1799 quoted from the Aurora, a Jeffersonian newspaper, which p. 2097 called Adams " a person without patriotism, without phi- losophy, without a taste for the fine arts — a mock monarch." Late in 1798 the legislatures of Kentucky and Virginia each passed a series of resolutions, drawn up by Jefferson and Madi- 212. Vir- son respectively, in which they attacked the Alien and gmia and Sedition Acts, declared that they were contrary to the Kentucky . J J resolutions Constitution and hence were "not law, but utterly void, (1798-1800) an( j f no f orce) » an( i called upon the other states to join them in remonstrance. A second and stronger series of Ken- tucky resolutions was passed in 1799, containing the dangerous FEDERALIST 1'OLICY (1793-1801) 257 declaration that " nullification by the states of all acts of Con- gress that are unauthorized by the Constitution, is the rightful remedy." These resolutions, which were really a kind of politi- cal platform, attracted great attention throughout the country, and the Alien and Sedition Acts in the end caused the down, fall of the Federalist party. After the X. Y. Z. affair, there seemed nothing for it but war with France. In 1798 Congress declared the treaties of 1778 at an end, and began to build a fleet ; and the 213. The Navy Department was organized, with a Secretary. nava i wa r Congress could not quite bring itself to declare war; but (1798-1800) it did authorize the capture of French cruisers and, under some circumstances, of merchantmen, by warships and by Ameri- can privateers, of which 365 were commissioned in a single year. The American frigate Constellation captured the French frigate Vengeance ; and the federal ship Boston took the French corvette Berceau. Just at this time, Napoleon Bonaparte rose to supreme power in France ; and he saw no object in fighting America. Indirectly he sent word that he was willing to make peace, and Adams, against the advice of his party friends and his Cabinet, in 1799 directed negotiations resulting in a treaty of peace (September 30, 1800), which for a time safeguarded American neutral trade. The death of Washington, in 1799, took away the balance wheel of American politics, for Adams offended his party associates and never had any hold on the Republicans. 214. Elec- , t tion of Jef- Though Adams would not apply the Alien Act, several fersor prosecutions of Republican journalists under the Sedi- (1800-1801) tion Act were unfairly pressed ; and such a protest was made that the Federalists were startled at their own work. Mean- while the Federalist journals were allowed to indulge in publi- cations which were at least as scurrilous as those of their opponents. 258 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION As the time drew on for the presidential election of 1800, a long-standing fend between Hamilton and Adams came to the surface. Hamilton had twice already tried by some trick to set Adams off the track that led to the presidency; but he could not prevent his rival from again receiving the party nomination. Jefferson, the candidate of the Republicans, was supported by Aaron Burr, of New York, who was nomi- nated for Vice President ; and that state changed over from the Federalist column. The result was that the Republican candidates got 73 electoral votes and Adams got only 65. John Adams and his party were defeated. Every Republican elector voted both for Jefferson and for Burr, so that there was a technical tie. As the Constitution then stood, the House had the power to select be- tween these two men, each state delegation cast- ing one vote. The Federal- ists had the majority by states, and, in the face of the intention of the Re- publican voters to make Jefferson President, many of the Federalists voted for Burr, and came near electing him. Jefferson and his friends were furious, and even Hamilton advised his friends to vote for Jefferson, who in the end was chosen (February 17, 1801) by 10 states to 4. The Federalists looked on the success of Jefferson as the undoing of the work of twenty years of effort to establish a firm government; and their conduct left in Jefferson's mind a strong feeling of injury and distrust. This dangerous crisis, in which the will of the people was almost set aside through an imperfection in the Constitution, led to the proposal of the White House, Washington. Built in 1800 ; additions in 1902. FEDERALIST POLICY (1793-1801) 259 Twelfth Amendment (ratified September, 1804) under which the President and Vice President are voted for separately. The Federalist party remained in power from 1793 to 1801. In his second administration, Washington was obliged to accept the fact that there were two parties, and he remained a 215. Sum- Federalist to the end of his days. His party was weak in mary Congress, and nothing but Washington's great personal popu- larity carried the country through the four crises of his second administration — neutrality, the Whisky Insurrection, danger of war with Great Britain, and the Jay treaty. When Washington retired, party spirit grew more violent ; Adams was neither tactful nor discreet, but he stood for the rights of his country, and his bold messages made him for the time a truly national President. In the Alien and Sedition Acts, Congress stretched its con- stitutional powers to their utmost and stirred up the fiercest feelings of resentment. The Virginia and Kentucky resolu- tions were a protest against the Federalist policy, and also the first clear statement of the principle of state sovereignty, which in its completest form led to the secession of 1860- 1861. The country was divided on the question of going to war with France, and the Federalist party was divided on the ques- tion of making peace. In 1800 the Republicans succeeded in electing Jefferson as President. TOPICS (1) What were the main causes of the French revolution? Suggestive (2) Why should the United States have been expected to defend oplcs French territory in America ? (3) What is "contraband of war " ? (4) Why did New England object to the Jay treaty ? (5) Why should Washington wish to be on his farm ? (6) Who were re- sponsible for the insult to our ministers in the X. Y. Z. affair? (7) What were the objections to the Alien Friends' Act ? 260 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION Search topics (8) What were the objections to the Sedition Act? (9) Why would not Congress formally declare war on France in 1798-1799 ? (10) Why did Hamilton dislike Joiin Adams? (11) Why did Hamilton advise his friends in Congress to vote for Jefferson? (12) Cabinet discussion on the proclamation of neutrality. (13) Reception of Genet in Philadelphia. (14) Genet's complaints against Washington. (15) Instances of impressment of American seamen. (16) Incidents of the Whisky Insurrection. (17) John Marshall as one of the three commissioners to Paris. (18) Ad- dresses to John Adams. (19) Did Virginia and Kentucky mean to resist the United States in 1798-1799? (20) Capture of the Insurgente. (21) Cooper case of trial for sedition. (22) Callender sedition case. (23) Were the " Democratic clubs " responsible for the Whisky Insurrection ? Geography Secondary- authorities Sources Illustrative works Pictures REFERENCES See map, p. 198 ; Bassett, Federalist System. Hart, Formation of the Union, §§ 83-92 ] Walker, Making of the Nation, 115-167; Channing, United States, 147-159 ; Johnston, Politics, 30-54 ; Stanwood, Presidency, 42-73 ; Bassett, Federalist System ; Schouler, United States, I. 238-514 ; McMaster, United States, II. 89-144, 165-537; Wilson, American People, III. 128-163 ; Gordy, Political Parties, I. 159-382 ; Foster, Century of Diplomacy, 136-184; Maclay, United States Navy, I. 155-213; Roosevelt, Winning of the West, IV. 101-257 ; Lodge, George Washington, II. 123-219, 237-298,— Alexander Hamilton, 151- 233 ; Morse, Thomas Jefferson, 130-185, —John Adams, 251-318 ; Merwin, Aaron Burr, 71-90; Conant, Alexander Hamilton, 100- 135 ; Hunt, James Madison, 213-270 ; Stevens, Albert Gallatin, 1-169. Hart, Source Book, §§ 74-77, — Contemporaries, III. §§ 90-105, — Source Readers, III. §§ 74, 87, 88, 99 ; MacDonald, Select Docu- ments, nos. 13-23; American History Leaflets, no. 15; Ames, State Documents on Federal Relations, no. 1, pp. 15-26 ; University of Pennsylvania, Translations and Reprints, VI. no. 2 ; Old South Leaflets, nos. 4, 38, 78, 103 ; Hill, Liberty Documents, ch. xviii. ; Johnston, American Orations, I. 84-143. See N. Eng. Hist. Teach- ers' Ass'n, Syllabus, 336, 337, — Historical Sources, § 80. Eggleston, American War Ballads, I. 102-112; M. E. Scannell, Little Jarvis (French War) ; Cooper, Miles Wallingford ; H. H. Brackenridge, Modern Chivalry (Whisky Rebellion) ; Carter Goodloe, Calvert of Strathore (France). Wilson, American People, III. CHAPTER XVII. EXPANSION OF THE REPUBLIC (1801-1809) The history of the United States from 1801 to 1809 is almost a biography of the President, Thomas Jefferson; the people liked him and 216. Congress fol- ,$££ lowed him. exponent of Born in 1743, d emocra °y the son of a Virginia planter, owner of land and slaves, a student of William and Mary College, Jefferson neverthe- less had a Yankee love of novelty, an interest in all sorts of farm machinery, sciences, and discov- eries. A visitor said of him that he was " at once a musician, skilled in drawing, a geometrician, an as- tronomer, a natural philosopher, and statesman." In public service he had a career hardly paralleled in versatility by that of any other American. He was a member of the Virginia Assembly at twenty-six years of age, in the Continental Con- gress, governor of Virginia in 1781, then two years a member 261 HP IPk£ "4P • *- III jB _'■■ /'..v^.'- Thomas Jefferson, about 1800. From the portrait by Stuart. 262 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION of the Congress of the Confederation, then ambassador to France for five years, and Secretary of State (1790-1793). This highly aristocratic and intellectual gentleman preached extreme doctrines of political equality and popular government. As President he insisted on what he called "republican sim- plicity " in the White House and in public intercourse. Hence he began the present practice of making all presidential com- munications to Congress in written messages (his predecessors had delivered formal addresses to Congress in person). He was a strong advocate of local government on the New England town-meeting plan, and of public education. The foundation of his theories of government was confidence in the average man; he opposed the use of force even to keep public order. Jefferson was never a good speaker and disliked appearing in public; yet no man of his time had such influence over the people. His principle of political equality he found in the minds of his countrymen ; he stated it and made it familiar, and in the end it led to the giving up of the requirement of ownership of property, payment of taxes, or religious belief, as qualifications for voters or for officeholders. One of Jefferson's favorite beliefs was that governments ought to do as little as possible. Hence, as soon as he became 217. Re- President, he began to cut down the small army and navy, publican an( ^ ^ reduce the national debt. In this policy he had policy r J (1801-1805) the aid of his Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin of Pennsylvania, a Genevan by birth, a member of Congress from 1795 to 1801, where he was the Democratic critic of Ham- ilton's finance, and an able and honest statesman. Gallatin at Jefferson, once set to work to extinguish the debt, a task which Jef- Works ferson said was "vital to the destinies of our govern- (Ford), IX. 264 ment." Under the Federalists the debt had increased a little, and in 1801 stood at $83,000,000 ; but from 1801 to 1812, by prudent reduction of expenses and increase of revenues, it was brought down to $45,000,000 EXPANSION OF THE REPUBLIC (1801-1809) 263 It was easier for Jefferson to pay off the national debt than to settle what his party friends thought their reasonable claims to office.. Great pressure was put on him to follow the prac- tice usual in the state politics of New York, Pennsylvania, and other states, by turning out the officeholders, nearly all of whom were Federalists. In his inaugural address, March 4, 1801, Jefferson disclaimed any intention to ignore his political opponents. " We have called by different names brethren Contempora- of the same principle," said he; "we are all republi- ries ' Iv - 345 cans, we are all federalists." Later he announced that he should appoint none but Republicans, until the Republicans and Federalists in office were about equal ; after which, said he, "I . . . shall return with joy to that state of things when the only questions concerning a candidate shall be, Is he hon- est? Is he capable? Is he faithful to the Constitution?" Before he could reach that millennium, he removed or replaced 109 civil officials, or about one third of all the officeholders in important posts. In the last days of Adams's term twenty-three new judicial officers were created — often called " midnight judges." Jeffer- son was furious at what he called Adams's indecent con- Jefferson, duct " in crowding of appointments . . . after he knew he /•/T 07 ^ was making them . . . not for himself, even to nine VIII. 45 o'clock of the night at twelve o'clock of which he was to go out of office." Therefore, in the first session of the Repub- lican Congress, the new judgeships were abolished (1802), and Adams's appointees lost their places. When the Supreme Court tried to protect some minor officers, whom Jefferson had refused to recognize, in the case of Marbury vs. Madison (1803), Jefferson's friends retorted by an unsuccessful attempt to impeach and remove Samuel Chase, one of the Supreme Court justices. Jefferson's love of peace was sorely tried by the Mohamme- dan pirates of Morocco, Algiers, Tripoli, and Tunis, who cap- EXPANSION OF THE REPUBLIC (1801-1809) 265 tured vessels and enslaved the crews. Like most nations, the United States paid an annual tribute to these ruffians ; 21g Bar but the more they got, the more dissatisfied they were. bary wars The pasha of Tripoli said, "We are all hungry and if ( 1802 - 1806 > we are not provided for, we soon get sick and peevish." ^papers, Although Jefferson had expressed a wish to coop up the Foreign, navy under his own eye, in the East Branch of the Potomac, he had to use it when Tripoli declared war on the United States. From 1801 to 1805 American squadrons fought the Tripolitan pirates till the pasha gave in. Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco yielded without serious fighting. Jefferson was a man who felt strongly the duty of looking out for the nation's interest ; and he was greatly aroused by a change in the ownership of Louisiana. Napoleon Bona- 219. Ques- parte was just then at peace with Great Britain, and Orleans formed a scheme of colonial empire, for which he wanted (1800-1802) Louisiana. What was Louisiana? To answer this question we must keep in mind that the regions east and west of the Mississippi River had not the same territorial history. Both sides were claimed by France under La Salle's discoveries and the settlement of 1699 (§§ 49, 94). In 1763 the whole east- ern half, except the Island of Orleans (the triangle between the 'Mississippi, the Bayou Manchac, and the Gulf, includ- ing New Orleans), was ceded to Great Britain, including the strip along the Gulf coast from the Island of Orleans to the river Perdido, to which the British gave the name of West Florida. The whole western half, together with the Island of Orleans, went to Spain (§ 101). In the Revolution, Spain conquered from Great Britain the strip from the Island of Orleans to the Perdido, and called it W T est Florida. In 1800, by the treaty of San Ildefonso, Napoleon received back "the colony or province of Louisiana, with the same extent that it now has in the hands of Spain, and that it had when France possessed it." The greatest military power in the world thus hart's amer. hist. — 16 266 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION became the possessor of both banks of the lower Mississippi and a near neighbor to the United States. The natural uneasiness of the Americans, when in 1802 they heard of this change, was heightened when the Spanish gov- ernor withdrew the privilege of sending goods through New Orleans free of duty, which had been secured by the treaty of 1795. Plainly, he meant to turn over the province to France with the river blocked to American trade. Hence it was that Jefferson wrote to Robert R. Livingston, our minister in France : Contempora- " There is on the globe one single spot, the possessor of ries, III. 363 w hich is our natural and habitual enemy. It is New Orleans. The day that France takes possession of New Orleans . . . from that moment, we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation." A party in Congress wanted to take New Orleans by mili- tary force; and an act passed authorizing 80,000 volunteers. 220. Pur- Jefferson was cooler. He instructed Livingston to Louisiana attempt the purchase of the Island of Orleans and the (1803) strip to the eastward between the southern boundary of the United States and the Gulf. In January, 1803, he desig- nated his friend James Monroe as a special envoy to France to aid Livingston. Fortunately for America, Napoleon was already tired of his own plan, for war with Great Britain was about to break out again, and it would be impossible for him to protect the sea route to Louisiana. Meanwhile he failed to reconquer the necessary halfway station of Haiti, where Tous- saint L'Ouverture, a negro general, aided by fever, had the impertinence to destroy 10,000 of his best troops. Therefore, while Livingston was trying to buy West Florida and New Orleans, suddenly the French foreign office asked him what he would give for the whole of Louisiana. One day later Monroe arrived, and the two ministers did not hesitate to go beyond their instructions by accepting the offer, but for some weeks haggled over the price. The treaty EXPANSION OF THE REPUBLIC (1801-1809) 267 was completed April 30, 1803 ; the United States was to pay $11,250,000 in cash and $3,750,000 to American claimants against the French government, a total of $15,000,000; in return Napoleon ceded the Island of Orleans and the whole western half of the valley of the Mississippi, with an area of 900,000 square miles (§ 223). Livingston, Monroe, and Jeffer- son each thought that he was responsible for this splendid addi- tion to the territory of the United States. Louisiana came like a plum dropping from the tree ; but Jefferson is fairly entitled to the credit of seeing more clearly than any other man of his time the danger of having France as a neighbor, and the possibilities of the West. Since there was nothing in the Constitution on the question of annexing territory, Jefferson asked for a constitutional amendment ; but his friends found authority in the old 221. Incor- Federalist doctrine of implied powers, and the treaty was Louisiana promptly ratified. Notwithstanding factious protests by (1803-1812) some of the New England Federalists, the next step was to take possession of the new country ; New Orleans was turned over by the Spanish commander to a French officer (November 30 ? 1803), and twenty days thereafter by the Frenchman to the United States ; though the distant Spanish post of St. Louis was not transferred till March, 1804. The population of the new acquisition was about 40,000, almost entirely settled along the water front of the Mississippi and Eed rivers. Congress speedily passed an Copyright , 1900, by Detroit Photographic Co, Cabildo, New Orleans, built in 1794. The Spanish government huilding. 268 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION act organizing the lower part of Louisiana as the Territory of Orleans, with an appointed legislature. The people of New Orleans were in an uproar. They did not like the new laws, the new language, or the new governor, and Congress good- naturedly gave them a territorial government with an elective legislature (March, 1805). Seven years later an act was passed for the admission of this small part of the old province of Louisiana as " Louisiana," an equal state in the Union. Explorations of Lewis and Clark, and Pike. Jefferson's far sight early penetrated into the northwestern Pacific coast, where in 1792 Captain Gray, in the ship Colum- 222. Keach- bia of Boston, had found the mouth of a great river, mgout or and named it for his ship. As soon as Jefferson became (1792-1811) President, he induced Congress to provide for an overland expedition to the Oregon country, under the command of Wil- liam Clark and Meriwether Lewis, Jefferson's private secretary. The whole Missouri valley had become part of the United States by the annexation of Louisiana when this expedition left St. Louis with forty-five men (May 14, 1804). In the course of six months they ascended the Missouri 1600 miles; they camped all winter, and in the spring of 1805 started EXPANSION OF THE REPUBLIC (1801-1809) 269 northwest, under the guidance of the Indian "Bird Woman," who carried her child on her back. In August, 1805, they reached a point on the Missouri River where a man could bestride it; and then they struck across the mountains on horseback and found a westward-flowing river; following down, they reached the mouth of the Columbia River (Novem- ber 15, 1805), 4000 miles from St. Louis. This expedition through a country absolutely unknown to white men opened up half a continent ; and it was the second link (next to Gray's discovery) in the chain which bound Oregon to the United States. Eventually it gave the United States a Pacific sea front, and opened a broad window toward the Pacific islands and Asia. In 1811 John Jacob Astor forged the third, link of our possession, by establishing a fur-trading post at Astoria, on the south side of the Columbia. Meanwhile, in 1806, Lieutenant Zebulon Pike, with a com- mand of United States troops, reached the northern boundary of Louisiana in an exploration up the Mississippi River to find its source. He then made his way overland, discovered Pikes Peak, and came out beyond our boundaries in New Mexico. The annexation of Louisiana soon led to serious boundary controversies with Spain. The treaty of 1803 contained no description of Louisiana except the phrase of the treaty 223. West v Florida of San Ildefonso : " with the same extent that it now has ques tion in the hands of Spain, and that it had when France pos- (1803-1813) sessed it " ; but " in the hands of Spain " Louisiana did not include West Florida ; while " as France possessed it " Louisi- ana extended to the Perdido. The Spanish government in- sisted that their cession of Louisiana in 1800 was not intended to include West Florida, and Talleyrand supported that conten- tion. Yet Livingston, who had started out to purchase West Florida, could not give up the idea that he had secured it as part of Louisiana, and Jefferson soon took up that belief. Spain was in possession of the disputed strip, and refused to 270 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION give it up. In 1810 the United States annexed part of the region, and in 1811 Congress passed a secret act authorizing the President to take East Florida also, but it was not till 1814 that the whole even of West Florida was occupied. In the latest official map of the United States, West Florida does not appear as part of Louisiana. Our relations with Spain in 1806 were further disturbed by difficulties along the southwest boundary of Louisiana. 224. Burr Aaron Burr's willingness to accept the presidency in Uon rreC " 1801 was never forgiven by Jefferson, and in the presiden- (1804-1807) tial election of 1804 George Clinton of New York was put in his place for Vice President. Jefferson and Clinton swept the country ; the Federalist candidates got only 14 elec- toral votes. Meanwhile Burr was defeated as independent candidate for governor of New York, and laid this defeat to Alexander Hamilton, who had warned his friends that Burr was dangerous and untrustworthy. Burr therefore forced a duel on Hamilton and killed him (July 11, 1804). When his term as Vice President expired in 1805, Burr was a desperate man. Being indicted for the murder of Hamilton, he thought it prudent to go west for a time, and returned with vague schemes for settling or conquering a region in the Southwest on, or more probably beyond, the Spanish boundary. In 1806 he raised a few score men, who in his absence were drawn up in a kind of warlike array on Blennerhasset Island, in the Ohio River. He joined this force and floated down the river (December, 1806), and turned into the Mississippi. His friend, and, as he hoped, his partner, James Wilkinson, general of the United States army, played him false. Hastily making an agreement that the Sabine River should be the temporary boundary of Louisiana, Wilkinson hurried to New Orleans, arrested some of Burr's followers, and forwarded to Jefferson a letter in which Burr proposed to seize New Orleans, where " there would be some confiscation." Jefferson had been wait- EXPANSION OF THE REPUBLIC (1801-1809) 271 ing to see how far Burr would go ; he now issued a proclama- tion against him, and had him arrested and sent east to stand trial for treason. Chief-Justice Marshall ruled that there was no evidence of treason, and, to the wrath of the President, Burr went free ; but he never had the public confidence again. After a renewal of the European war in 1803, interference with neutral trade began again. The British justified harsh measures on the ground that the Americans indulged 225. Im- pressments in three forms of sharp practice: (1) Deserters from and cap- British ships of war were welcomed to employment on a803 _JJ5^ Yankee merchantmen. (2) American ships frequently carried two or three different sets of ship's papers, to make themselves out something different from what they were, so as to avoid capture. (3) The Americans carried on, through American ports, trade from French colonial ports to France. To meet these real or fancied difficulties, the British began to capture or search American vessels, often for reasons not urged earlier : (1) By the new doctrine of " continuous voy- ages," their courts held that the profitable trade in West India sugar brought to the United States, unloaded, and then re- shipped to Spain or France, was subject to capture. (2) Ves- sels which had carried a doubtful cargo out, were captured on their way home with innocent cargoes. In order to enforce these new principles, British men-of-war cruised up and down the American coast, and captured American vessels outside the ports to which they belonged. Impressments began again on a large scale, for the hard, underpaid, and often cruel naval service of Great Britain caused hundreds of sailors to desert. Against all these outrages the United States government remonstrated; but Jefferson wanted to keep the peace, and instead of building war ships he induced Congress to 226. Inter- spend $1,600,000 in building and maintaining, for coast n crisis defense, a flotilla of small gunboats. In 1804 our rela- (1806-1807) tions with Great Britain became worse : the commercial clauses 272 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION of the Jay treaty of 1794 by agreement were allowed to expire, and Great Britain would not grant as good terms again; there- fore, we had no commercial treaty at all. To compel Great Britain to come to terms, Congress enacted a nonimportation act, — practically the old Association of 1774 over again, — which never took effect. By combining the fleets of France and Spain, Napoleon still hoped to check the British sea power ; but in 1805 the splendid genius of Admiral Nelson at the battle of Trafalgar destroyed the allied fleet, and left Great Britain supreme at sea. The re- sourceful emperor of the French then set up what was called the " Continental System," by which all the numerous allies of France agreed not to purchase any British goods. Great Britain retaliated in 1806 and 1807 with Orders in Council, setting up "paper blockades" on the French coast. Napoleon replied by the Berlin and Milan Decrees (November, 1806, December, 1807), forbidding all trade to the British islands or in British goods. The real sufferers from this furious war of documents were the American shipowners, yet they were the people who least wanted war. Although, between 1803 and 1811, the British took 917 American vessels, and the French took 558, the profits of the neutral trade were so great that the American tonnage engaged in foreign trade almost doubled. The difficulty reached its crisis in June, 1807, when the United States ship Chesapeake was stopped on the high seas off Cape Henry by the British frigate Leopard, so that some deserters from the British navy who had enlisted on board the American ship might be taken off. The Chesapeake, though in international usage a part of the territory of the United States, was fired upon and disabled, and two or three American-born sailors were then seized, besides one English deserter. The accumulation of injuries called for action of some kind. Negotiation had failed : Great Britain would neither make a EXPANSION OF THE REPUBLIC (1801-1809) 273 treaty nor give any satisfaction for the Leopard outrage. The United States might fight, but war would cut off American trade almost altogether. To yield and say nothing meant 2 27. The to give up abjectly the rights of an independent nation. embargo Jefferson's ingenious mind found a way out of this ap- parently impassable bog, by the Embargo Act (December 22, 1807), prohibiting the sailing of ships from the United States to foreign ports. Jefferson was sure that both France and Great Britain would have to come to terms if the American food products and other exports were cut off. On the contrary, Napoleon simply confiscated American vessels in French ports, because, he argued, they must have violated the American embargo; and the British, though they felt the loss of Ameri- can exports, held out stubbornly. The people who suffered most and who made the most ado were the Americans. The New England, middle, and southern states were all heavy exporters, and as the year 1808 wore on, thousands of people found their livelihood taken away. Ships moldered at the wharves, wheat rotted in the warehouses; the peace-loving Jefferson found his temper rising, as the peo- ple, especially the New Englanders, slipped out of port or de- fiantly carried their goods over the Canadian boundary. At the end of fourteen months, the country, especially New England, would bear no more; and against Jefferson's private remon- strance, Congress repealed the Embargo Act (March 1, 1809). During this storm and stress of international affairs, Con- gress was from time to time taking action on slavery. In 1793 Congress passed an act by which the federal 228. Slav- government took the responsibility for the pursuit and ^avo trade return of fugitive slaves. In the organization of Mis- (1801-1807) sissippi Territory in 1798, and of the Territory of Orleans in 1804, slavery was allowed to remain in those regions. North of the Ohio a controversy arose, from 1802 to 1816, because many of the people in the new Territory of Indiana, who came 274 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION from Kentucky and other southern states, petitioned over and over again to be allowed to hold slaves ; but Congress refused. On another slavery question the South was itself divided. Maryland and Virginia did not import slaves, but had surplus slaves to sell to their southern neighbors. They joined with the northern states at the earliest possible moment to prohibit the foreign slave trade absolutely. By act of Congress (1807) it was made a crime to import any slaves after January 1, 1808, into any port of the United States. The act was openly violated: even had it been enforced, the natural increase of the slaves was raising their numbers to the millions. Another very important event of the year 1807 was the first successful voyage by steam power. Eobert Fulton in New 229. Begin- York set himself to the problem, raised with difficulty ning of the few thousand dollars necessary for a trial, ordered an steam transporta- engine from England, and (August, 1807) set in motion, tion (1807) on the Hudson Eiver, the clumsy -looking Clermont, which could steam against wind and tide, and on her trial The CLERMONT. (From a model in the National Museum, Washington.) trip reached Albany in less than a day and a half. The use of steamers spread rapidly. A regular line to Albany was established in 1808 ; within five years a line was running on the Delaware, a steamboat was built at Pittsburg, and steam EXPANSION OF THE REPUBLIC (1801-1809) 275 ferryboats were introduced in New York and Philadelphia; and in 1816 steamers were introduced on Lon At the outbreak of the war the United States navy consisted of eighteen vessels, of which the largest was a handy 44- gun frigate. President Madison expected that our little fleet would surely be captured ; nevertheless, our frigate Constitution fell in with the Guerritre, a ship of about her tonnage, and in thirty minutes the Guerritre lay a helpless wreck (August 19, 1812). Two months later the Copyright, 1897, by Martha H. Harvey. The Constitution, or " Old Ironsides." From a model in the Peabody Museum, Salem, Mass., given by Com. Isaac Hull in 1813. WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN (1809-1815) 281 little Wasp took the British brig Frolic; and the frigate United States captured, and subsequently brought into port, the Brit- ish frigate Macedonian. Then the Constitution made another splendid capture, the frigate Java. During the year the only loss of the Americans was the Wasp, taken by a British three- decker battle ship. In all, thirteen British ships of war were lost besides those on the lakes. In vain did the British attempt to show that the American ships in every case had more ton- nage, or more men, or more weight of broadside. The British navy had not been accustomed to calculate odds so closely; really every capture was due to the superior guns and marks- manship of the Americans. The tide of naval victory changed in 1813, notwithstanding several other gallant captures of British cruisers. The Ameri- can frigate Chesapeake was taken by the Shannon 23g — (May 30) ; and by the end of 1813 most of the American indecisive cruisers were driven into port and there blockaded. Then year ( ' the President was captured; but the frigate Essex, Captain Porter, got into the Pacific and made havoc of the English whalers, till captured in Chilean waters in 1814. The boundary lakes, Ontario and Erie, were also scenes of naval operations during the years 1812 and 1813. On Lake Ontario there was no pitched battle ; but after the defeat of a body of Kentuckians at the river Raisin, near Detroit (Jan- uary, 1813), Lieutenant Oliver H. Perry was sent to Lake Erie to prepare the way for a recapture of Detroit. With wonder- ful energy he constructed a fleet of five vessels, trained his crews, and on September 10, 1813, accepted from the N .. enemy the battle of Lake Erie, off Put-in-Bay. He re r Register, ported his victory in the laconic letter, "We have met the enemy and they are ours: two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop." Perry's victory cleared the way for a successful campaign in western Canada. His navy carried General Harrison's com- h art's amjsk. hist. — 17 282 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION ffy X 4-Wilkinson ^ / 6 25 50 The War of 1812. mand across the lake ; and Harrison defeated the Canadians and their Indian allies at the battle of the Thames in Canadian ter- ritory (October 5, 1813), where Tecnmthe was killed. Detroit soon after surrendered to Harrison. Renewed attempts to invade eastern Canada, under General Wilkinson, were again a failure; and the year 1813 left the war a sort of drawn game — each side occupying substantially the territory which it held at the beginning of the war. In 1812 Napoleon made his disastrous retreat from Russia ; and after two years of steady fighting was overwhelmed and 236 The compelled to abdicate. Large British forces by land and United S ea were thus set free for a series of determined inva- tneTefen- sions of the United States in 1814. (1) The British occu- sive (1814) pi e( i the coast of Maine as far as the Kennebec River, and WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN (1809-1815) 283 blockaded most of the American coast. (2) A small British force was sent to seize Astoria, Oregon. (3) In August a British force of only 5000 troops landed about fifty miles from Wash- ington on Chesapeake Bay, marched up into a country inhabited by at least 50,000 able-bodied men, beat off (at Bladensburg) an ill-commanded force hastily summoned to repel them, and took and burned the capital of the United States — as an alleged retaliation for destruction in York (now Toronto) by American forces. (4) A similar attack on Baltimore in September, which suggested Key's patriotic poem, Tlie Star-Spangled Banner, was beaten off by the militia. (5) A British force attempting to advance southward up Lake Cham plain was stopped (Sep- tember It, 1814), partly by a fleet under Commander Mac- Donough, partly by the presence of militia intrenched at Plattsburg, under Macomb. In a last attempt to invade Canada, under General Jacob Brown, aided by Lieutenant Winfield Scott, the Americans crossed the Niagara River and fought two battles, at Chippawa and at Lundys Lane (July 15, 1814) ; but though the Ameri- cans claimed the victory, they again retreated to their own territory. The closing incident of the war was an attack on the Gulf coast by General Pakenham. General Andrew Jack- son fortified himself at Chalmette, just below New Orleans, where, January 8, 1815, the British column of 5300 troops assaulted his works, defended by about 4000 troops, of whom only a third were actually engaged. Again the raw American militia,, properly commanded and intrenched, beat off the Brit- ish army, inflicting a loss of 2000. A few days later, however, the British took the forts below Mobile, and remained in a threatening attitude. Though for a time there was not an American commissioned ship of war on the ocean, the naval war was continued 237 The with brilliancy and success by a swarm of American privateers privateers. American shipowners, whose vessels could no 284 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION longer with safety carry a cargo, turned them into private fighting ships, which often richly paid for themselves out of their prizes. In three years about 1700 American mer- chant ships were taken by the British ; on the other hand, 2300 British merchantmen were taken by privateers, besides 200 by cruisers, though 750 were retaken by the British; and the insurance on a voyage from England to Ireland rose to 14 per cent. Dismay spread through the maritime interest of England. As the London Times said of the American ships, " If they fight, they are sure to conquer ; if they fly, they are sure to escape." One reason for the failure of the Canadian land campaigns was the political opposition to the war. In 1811 a New Eng- 238. Inter- ^ anc ^ member of Congress, Josiah Quincy, roundly threat- nal opposi- enec [ that New England would secede if Louisiana were tion to the _ . , . , , a , , . ■war made a state, thus increasing the power ot the boutn. As (1812-1814) a p ro test against the war, part of the Republicans under De Witt Clinton made common cause with the Federalist oppo- sition in the election of 1812, and the coalition got 89 electoral votes to 128 for Madison. This personal and party opposition was carried into official form. When the President of the United States called upon all the states for a certain number of militia, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Con- necticut, and New Jersey refused to send them. There was some reason for protest and indignation. Con- gress neglected to provide either men or money enough to keep the war going. No proper tax laws were passed till 1813, when the hated Federalist excise and direct taxes were re- vived. The government borrowed $98,000,000 during the war, but the bonds had to be sold at a depreciation of from 5 per cent to 30 per cent ; large amounts of " treasury notes " — promises to pay in the future — had to be issued for sup- plies ; and legal tender paper money was openly suggested. The worst weakness of the war was the dependence on militia WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN (1800-1815) 285 regiments, for Congress was never willing to authorize a large federal army. When volunteering fell off, plans were laid for a draft, which happily was not necessary. The critical time came in 1814, when New England began to feel the blockade and the war taxes. In December, 1814, a convention of official delegates from several New England states met at Hartford. We know little of the secret debates of the convention, but its official report proposed that Con- gress should give up its power to prohibit foreign commerce, and should leave the proceeds of federal taxes to the states in which they were paid. Such demands could not be granted without giving up the federal Constitution; and they amounted to saying that unless the war were speedily stopped, the New England states would withdraw from the Union. Peace was made before the Hartford convention reported, and in fact before the battle of New Orleans. In January, 1814, the United States sent commissioners to negotiate 239 Favor . a peace. The year was opportune, for the great Duke of able peace Wellington gave his opinion against trying to assault American militia in their trenches; the British shipmasters were crying for relief from the American privateers ; and the European war seemed over. Hence the British were inclined to make favorable terms, and the treaty of Ghent, Decem- ber 24, 1814, was a diplomatic triumph for the United States. The only subject on which satisfaction could not be had was impressments — the main cause of the war ; but as soon as the European war was over, impressments dropped away of them- selves ; and, as a matter of fact, never began again. On all other points the treaty was highly favorable to the United States : (1) although at the end of the war the British were in possession of eastern Maine, Oregon, and the coast near Mobile, they agreed to surrender all territorial conquests; (2) the British again promised not to take away slaves or other private property; (3) since war puts an end to all 286 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION preexisting treaties, the questions of the fisheries and of com- mercial relations were for a short time left at loose ends ; but after a few months they were settled by separate treaties. From one point of view the War of 1812 is a painful sub- ject. The United States went into it hastily, without prepara- 240. Sum- tion either of men or of money. The land war against mar y Canada was badly bungled ; troops did not come forward, supplies could not be hauled, whole armies were stuck in the mud for weeks because of bad roads. The only creditable op- erations on the northern frontier were the battles of Lake Erie, the Thames, Lundys Lane, and Plattsburg. The sea- board was blockaded and harassed ; our merchant marine almost exterminated ; our vessels of war sunk, taken, or cooped up in port; the national capital cap- tured ingloriously and burned, almost under the nose of the President of the United States. This is less than half the story. The war developed three good generals, — William H. Harrison, Jacob Brown, and Andrew Jackson, — men who knew how to fight, even with untrained volunteers, and who showed that on the defensive the militiamen were, man for man, stronger than the best British regulars. And the laurels of the War of 1812 were won on the sea, where in thirteen duels between ships of about equal strength the Americans won eleven. The Englishman admires the man who can beat him at his own game, and respect for American seamanship and for American pluck has been a tradition in England ever since. Soldiers of 1812. From official publica- tions. WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN (1809-1815) 287 Still, the capture of a few British warships did not weaken the British navy. The two influences which led Great Britain to make a favorable peace were the courage of the militia, which made invasion a difficult task, and the courage of the privateersmen, which devastated the British merchant marine. The United States was like a turtle which draws its feet and tail beneath a protecting shell, yet reaches out its hooked jaws to catch its adversary in the most vulnerable part. TOPICS (1) Why was Jefferson glad to retire from the presidency ? Suggestive (2) Why did the British government refuse to ratify Erskine's toplcs treaty ? (3) Why did Indian wars break out in 1811 ? (4) Why did Indian wars break out in the Southwest ? (5) How was De- troit captured by the British ? (6) Why did the Americans defeat the British in ship duels ? (7) Why was Commodore Perry suc- cessful ? (8) Why were the British able to capture Washington ? (9) Why did all the American attacks on the Niagara frontier fail ? (10) Why were the British beaten at New Orleans ? (11) Why was Josiah Quincy opposed to the admission of Louisiana ? (12) Tecumthe's career. (13) Settlement of the Leopard- Search Chesapeake difficulty. (U) Defeat of the Guerriere. (15) Cap- oplcs ture of the Java. (10) Capture ot the Macedonian. (17) Capture of the Chesapeake. (18) Porter's cruise in the Pacific. (19) Cap- ture of Astoria. (20) Story of the origin of Key's Star-Spangled Banner. (21) Incidents of privateering in the War of 1812. (22) Inner history of the Hartford convention. (23) Attempts to make peace in 1812-1813. REFERENCES See map, p. 282; Babcock, Bise of American Nationality, Geography Semple, Geographic Conditions, 134-149. Hart, Formation of the Union, §§107-117; Stanwood, Fresi- Secondary dency, 97-105 ; Babcock, Bise of American Nationality ; McMaster, United States, III. 339-458, 528-560, IV. 1-279; Adams, United States, V.-VIII. IX. 1-103 ; Wilson, American People, III. 204- 234 ; Cambridge Modem History, VII. 331-348 ; Gordy, Political Parties, II. 9-333 ; Mahan, War of 1812 ; Roosevelt, Naval War of 1812 ; Maclay, United States Navy, I. 305-658, II. 3-22 ; Hollis, authorities 288 ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION Frigate Constitution; Hosmer, Mississippi Valley, 146-191 ; Cable, Creoles of Louisiana, 161-209 ; Dewey, Financial History, §§ 59- 64 ; Gay, Schurz, Henry Clay, I. 67-125 ; Brown, Andrew Jack- son, 24-86; Parton, General Jackson, 25-248; Brady, Stephen Decatur, 62-137 ; Eggleston and Seeley, Tecumseh and the Shaw- nee Prophet. Sources Hart, Source Book, §§ 82-87, — Contemporaries, III. §§ 123-129, — Source Headers, III. §§ 62-65, 76-81, 85, 89-98 ; MacDonald, Select Documents, nos. 28-32 ; Ames, State Documents on Fed- eral Belations, no. 2 ; Caldwell, Studies, I. 204-208 ; Johnston, American Orations, 1. 164-215. See N. Eng. Hist. Teachers' Ass'n, Syllabus, 340, — Historical Sources, § 82. Matthews, Poems of American Patriotism, 83-107 ; Eggleston, American War Ballads, 113-145 ; Irving Bacheller, D'ri and I; G. C. Eggleston, Big Brother, — Captain Sam, — Signal Boys; Edward Eggleston, Boxy (Tippecanoe) ; J. A. Altsheler, Herald of the West (Washington and New Orleans) ; M. E. Scannell, Midshipman Paulding ; Kirk Munroe, Midshipman Stuart ; W. K. Post, Smith Brunt ; Howard Pyle, Within the Capes. Pictures Wilson, American People, III. Illustrative works CHAPTER XIX. SETTLING THE WEST (1800-1820) In 1802 Jefferson predicted that the Mississippi valley " will ere long yield more than half of our whole produce and contain more than half of our inhabitants." Two Contempom- decades later the West contained one fourth of the in- ries IIL363 habitants of the Union, and had revealed many elements sources of of its own natural wealth : (1) The soil was deep and the West fertile ; the bottom lands of Kentucky and Tennessee, the wooded areas of Ohio, and the prairies farther west all bore surprising crops. (2) Most of the settled area abounded in superb timber — the best trees ran to 150 or even 200 feet in height and 30 to 40 feet in girth, furnishing abundant building material. (3) The country was well watered and fitted for grazing, so that about 1820 the westerners began to drive herds of cattle over the mountains to market. (4) The abundant waterways and the ease of making roads quickly opened the country to settlement. (5) Coal mining began in Pittsburg in 1784, and the black diamonds cropped out in many places. (6) Iron ore was abundant, and charcoal iron furnaces were started, while lead was discovered in Illinois and Wisconsin. A stream of immigrants sought this promised land, with an effect seen in the census returns of some of the states: Tennessee had 36,000 people in 1790 and 262,000 in g42 The 1810; Ohio rose from 45,000 in 1800 to 581,000 in 1820. westward New settlements sprang up. Fort Dearborn, on the movement Chicago River, first built in 1803, was destroyed by Indians in 1812, was rebuilt in 1816, and became the nucleus of 290 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT Settled Area in 1830. Chicago. Terre Haute, Fort Wayne, and South Bend were settled about 1817. St. Louis had been founded by the French in 1764. Although the eastern states were all growing rapidly, they were able to send off swarms of emigrants, be- cause large fami- lies were common throughout the country. Every son could make a livelihood, and al- most every daugh- ter was wanted as a farmer's wife. To accommodate this stream of land-hungry people, the United States, in 1800, adopted a new public land system : land was divided into small parcels and sold at land offices on the frontier at a minimum price of $2 an acre, one fourth of the purchase money down and four years' time for the balance. Many followed the principle of the old woman in Eggleston's novel, who, when her husband was buying, said, " git plenty while you're a gittin'." To reach the western lands several main highways from east co west were marked out by nature. (1) A route led from 243. Eoads Albany through the valley of the Mohawk, and thence to the West v j a Geneva to Buffalo. (2) In 1812 Rochester was founded, the plain to the west of it was quickly occupied, and a new main road was laid out directly west to Lake Erie. (3) From Philadelphia a good road ran through Bedford in southern Pennsylvania to Pittsburg, 350 miles. (4) From Alexandria (opposite Washington) a road led about 300 miles to Pittsburg, by Braddock's old route up the Potomac to Cum- berland, and across the Laurel Mountains to the Monongahela SETTLING THE WEST (1800-1820) 291 Roads and Waterways to the West in 1825. River. (5) From Alexandria or Richmond people followed the long-traveled easy pass from the upper Roanoke southwest to the Holston River, and thence down the Tennessee, or north- westward through the Cumberland Gap to Kentucky. (6) From 292 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT Georgia westward there was easy travel to Mississippi Terri- tory and New Orleans. Most of the wheel roads crossed many swamps and un- bridged streams, and were without good inns. In regions where there was very little stone, pikes were out of the ques- tion. As a substitute, companies built " plank roads " of thick boards laid side by side, and charged toll. The greater part of the highways west of the mountains were simple rough tracks, winding in and out among stumps and trees, pleasant in dry weather, and a slough when it rained. Hence the journey from the eastern states to the West was a serious business. The ordinary vehicle was the Conestoga wagon of wood, with an arched canvas top. The emigrants sold most of their furniture and other heavy movables, took food with them, and cooked as they went along. Breakdowns were fre- quent in the terrible roads, and an average of twenty miles a day was quick travel. When once the tributaries of the Mississippi were reached, movement became easier ; even on small rivers like the upper 244 River Wabash and the Muskingum flatboats were used. The and lake simplest craft in the lively river traffic was the birch- tir3_V6l bark canoe, which would hold one or two persons, or the dugout, often larger. More elaborate was the raft — sometimes as much as a hundred feet long, floating all day on the current, and tied up at night ; some of the rafts carried houses, open fires, and cattle. More comfortable was the flatboat, with its crew of unkempt and brawny polemen, the terror of frontier towns; or the flat-bottomed ark, sometimes as much as sixty feet long. A step higher was the keel boat, a more carefully built and ambitious structure, housed over with a deck, and provided with two " broadhorns," or steering oars. On some such craft the settler floated lazily down the rivers and met the dangers of the voyage — the river pirates, who often attacked even armed boats ; and Indians, who poured in SETTLING THE WEST (1800-1820) 293 a volley from the shore. Much of the immigration intended for central Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee took advantage of the water highways by following down the Ohio and then poling up a tributary to the place of destination. After 1812 steamers multiplied on the western rivers. The hulls could be built anywhere out of timber on the spot ; the fuel was wood from the river banks; engines and boilers at first had to be brought over the mountains. The river life is best described in the recol- lections of his boyhood which Mark Twain has preserved for us in his books on the West. In 1820 it took thirty-five days to go up from New Orleans to Pitts- burg by steam, and about ten days to go A MlssISSIPfI RlvE * Steamer. down. The Great Lakes were not safe or convenient for sail craft or for rowboats ; and were not much used as a highway for emigration till steamers were introduced. The first Lake Erie steamer was the Walk-in-the-Water, built in 1818 ; in 1832 a steamer reached Chicago from the East; after that time hundreds of thousands of emigrants passed through the Lakes. Difficulties in traveling westward, and the poverty of the frontier communities, suggested that the federal government build highways. The first act on the subject (in 1802) 245. Inter- was that for the admission of Ohio, which provided that prov JmentB 5 per cent of the proceeds of the public lands sold in that (1802-1820) state should be applied to roads to reach those lands. This idea took definite form in an act of 1806 for the survey of a road from Cumberland, Maryland, to the Ohio Eiver. ^\ 1 i j §jSj-#l /ail * 294 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT jfcjf i \ 7 - - "'■ J ^^m_ ' "'TwLj 1 '^J -J ' - fc.: Construction of this National Koad, or Cumberland Road, began speedily ; in 1820 it was opened to Wheeling, and was then continued westward to Columbus, thence to Indianapo- lis, and southwestward toward St. Louis. As soon as it was opened, it became the great artery of western travel, for it was direct, had easy grades, and was macadamized. Congress in the course of thirty years spent upon it $6,800,000; but it was at last superseded by rail- roads, and about 1850 Congress transferred it Bridge on the Cumberland Road. to the states in which Built about 1825, in Ohio. ^ i j eg The most obvious line of western transit by water was from the Hudson up the Mohawk and across to Lake Ontario. The 246 Erie ^ rs ^ statesman to take up the building of a canal on this Canal route was De Witt Clinton of New York, who saw the (1817-1830) many advantages to the state and city of New York from a waterway which would make New York Harbor the commercial mouth of the Great Lakes, thus diverting traffic from New Orleans. The War of 1812 gave impetus to this idea, because it showed how hard it was to transport men and supplies from the coast and the interior to the Lakes. In 1817, under the energetic leadership of John C. Calhoun, who said that " he was no advocate for refined arguments on Contempora- the Constitution," Congress passed the so-called Bonus ries, III. 439 Bill, appropriating $1,500,000 to be distributed among the states for internal improvements. It was expected that New York would have a big slice to spend on the proposed Erie Canal, but President Madison stepped in, and on the last SETTLING THE WEST (1800-1820) 295 day of his term vetoed the bill, for the strict constitutional reason that he could find no clause of the Constitution which distinctly authorized such expenditure. The state of New York at once set to work to build its own canal, and in 1823 the Erie Canal was finished from the Hudson near Albany to the Genesee River ; in 1825 the direct line was completed to Black Rock, near Buffalo, 350 miles from Albany. The original canal cost $7,000,000; but over $100,000,000 more has been spent on extensions and repairs. Yet the whole expenditure was more than repaid by tolls. The effects of the Erie Canal were marvelous. Lands all along the line at once trebled in value, and the freight rate from tide water to Lake Erie dropped from $120 a ton to $19. New York city increased from 124,000 people in 1820 to 203,000 in 1830, and has ever since remained the most pop- ulous city in the Union. After 1825 a large part of the over- land emigration passed through the Erie Canal. The passage from Schenectady to Utica (about two hours by rail nowadays) was twenty-two hours by canal boat ; the passengers were crowded, and half stifled at night, and the frequent cry of " low bridge " disturbed the journey by day. When the settler reached the golden West, he found sub- stantially the old colonial life over again — land to clear, log houses to build, towns to found, schools to start. An 247. Fron- "fiPT* 1 i "f p observer said of the westerners, "They are in a low „ Contempora- state of civilization, about half Indian in their modes of ries, III. 463 life." Abraham Lincoln, born in Kentucky in 1809, lived as a boy in an Indiana hovel called a " half-faced camp." Better abodes were built of logs, with log chimneys and puncheon (split log) floors, and might cost twenty or twenty-five days' labor. Yet in the midst of much that was rough, men like Philander Chase, Episcopal Bishop of Ohio, struggled on, founding schools, building new churches, educating the ministers, and elevating 296 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT the community. The Methodist or Baptist frontier minister had perhaps half a dozen little churches on his hands, and "rode circuit" from hamlet to hamlet, preaching, baptizing, burying, organizing churches, and, if necessary, threatening rowdies who undertook to disturb the meeting. One of the favorite occupations of the time was to go to camp meeting, which was a combination of picnic, summer resort, and reli- gious exercise, where people took household furniture, children, dogs, and psalm books. If the ministers roared and the con- verts shrieked, foamed at the mouth, and fell in convulsions, we must remember that such exaggerated experience often aroused and turned to better ways rough but powerful natures that could not be reached by milder means. For education in the Northwest early provision was made. Each settlement soon had its common school, and out of land reserved by the Northwest Ordinance, and private contribu- tions, arose in a few years half a dozen little colleges. In 1830 two western magazines were started : Hall's Illinois Magazine and Flint's Western Monthly Review. Next to religion, politics was the most interesting topic in the West. Local parties very quickly were merged in the gen- 248 New era * na tional parties; elections were lively, and about communi- 1800 was introduced the practice of "stump speaking," or open-air addresses to a series of popular meetings. The western states led in a movement for the suffrage of all adult white men and for elective judges. In politics and in social life the most influential man in a village was the store- keeper, who was often also distiller, country banker, real estate dealer, and justice of the peace, and hence called " Squire." Local government in the West was imported from eastern communities. The northwestern states set up a system of school districts on the New England model. In Ohio, where the New England element was strongest, the people adopted a kind of modified town meeting. In Indiana and Illinois, where SETTLING THE WEST (1800-1820) 297 there were many southern people, and also in the southwestern states, the county of the southern type became more important. No man more distinctly represents the West than Henry Clay. Born a poor boy in Virginia, he emigrated to Kentucky, and at twenty-nine he sat as Senator from Kentucky in 249. Henry Washington (1806). From that time to his death in j^ofthe 1852 Clay was most of the time in the service of the West federal government as senator, representative, or Secretary of State. In four terms he showed himself the greatest Speaker in the history of Congress, managing the House of Representatives as a skill- ful coachman handles a four-horse team. What made Clay so dis- tinctively a western man was his political optimism. He believed in all good things, in the future of his country, the growth of the West, the good judgment of the average voter. He was the in- ventor and the strongest advocate of what he called Henry Clay, about 1848. "the American System," From a daguerreotype, by which he meant the commercial development of the country by protective tariffs and other public aids. Above all, through- out his life he worked steadily and wisely for the establishment of better means of transit. His personal qualities gave, strength to his political views ; he was courteous, quick, had a natural power of attracting friends to him, and was ingenious in devis- ing compromises when party spirit ran high. For some time after the Slave Trade Act of 1807, slavery hart's amek. hist. — 18 298 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT seemed hardly to be a sectional question ; antislavery societies 250. Slav- were active in the border slave states and in the neighbor- tions 1168 " in & middle states. About once every two years met " The (1808-1819) American Convention for promoting the Abolition of Slavery and improving the Condition of the African Race." This convention and the local societies discussed political ques- tions affecting slavery, petitioned the state legislatures and Congress, and tried to stir people up to form abolition socie- ties. One western man, Benjamin Lundy of Kentucky, was a kind of antislavery apostle, and in 1821 established an aboli- tion paper, the Genius of Universal Emancipation. These efforts were rather checked than aided by the National Colonization Society (founded in 1816), which aimed (1) to encourage emancipation by carrying the free negroes to Africa ; and (2) to relieve slaveholders by taking away the free negroes who made their slave brethren discontented. In 1819 Congress appropriated $100,000 to carry back slaves that might be cap- tured on the high seas ; a negro colony was founded in Liberia, on the west coast of Africa (1821), and first and last several thousand negroes were sent out. Gradually the West came into the slavery discussion, at first because used as a kind of balance between North and South. From the admission of Louisiana (1812) the number of slave states was kept equal to that of free states, so that neither section might have a majority in the Senate; Indiana in 1816 was balanced by Mississippi in 1817 ; Illinois in 1818 was fol- lowed by Alabama in 1819. The North, including the North- west, grew so much faster than the South, that in 1820 (under the application of the three-fifths rule) there were 105 free- state members in the House to 81 slave-state members. In 1818 the people of Missouri petitioned for admission into 251. Mis- the Union. Though in situation, population, and prod- promise 111 " ucts a western rather than a southern community, they (1819-1821) had slaves and wanted to keep them. When in February, SETTLING THE WEST (1800-1820) 299 1819, a bill for admission came up, an antislavery amend- ment, introduced by James Tallmadge of New York, passed the House by the close vote of 87 to 86 ; but the Senate refused to accept it, and the bill went over. During 1819 many northern legislatures and public meetings declared that Missouri must never be a slave state. When Congress reassembled in December, 1819, a bill passed the House to admit Maine (at that time a " district " of Massachu- setts) as a new state ; and another bill for the admission of Missouri. To the latter the House, by a test vote of 94 to 86, added an amendment prohibiting slavery in Missouri. The Senate united the two measures into one bill, but instead of the House prohibition accepted the amendment of Senator Thomas of Illinois, forever prohibiting slavery in the Louisiana Purchase north of 36° 30' north latitude, except in Missouri. After a few days of great excitement, the House accepted the Thomas amendment as a compromise ; Maine was admitted at once, and the people of Missouri were allowed to form a slave- holding constitution. The Missouri constitution was found to make it the duty of the legislature to prevent the coming in of free negroes. This provision produced a second uproar and led to a second compro- mise, engineered by Henry Clay in 1821, by which the legisla- ture of Missouri agreed to make no law infringing on the rights of citizens of other states ; and Missouri was at last admitted to the Union. The essence of the Missouri Compromise was the drawing of a geographical line across the Louisiana Purchase, north of which there were to be no slaveholding territories, and no slaveholding states except Missouri; that is, the act contin- ued as far as the western boundary, the old geographical sep- aration of slaveholding and free territory along Mason and Dixon's line and the line of the Ohio River. The compromise thus excluded slavery from the larger part of the Louisiana 300 SETTLING THE WEST (1800-1820) 301 Purchase, and also recognized the right of Congress to deal with slavery in the territories. The compromise had plenty of enemies on both sides. John Randolph of Virginia politely called it "a dirty bargain." John Quincy Adams, when his friend Calhoun threatened seces- sion, made perhaps the first prophecy of a civil war when John he asked whether in such a case " the population of the Adams, x x Memoirs, North . . . would fall back upon its rocks bound hand IV. 530 and foot to starve, or whether it would not retain its powers of locomotion to move southward by land." mary The West began to come forward about the year 1815 as a vital part of the nation and as a great political force in the national government. It was settled rapidly and tumul- 252. Sum- tuously, so that in 1820 there were 2,600,000 people west of the mountains. They came from the East in four main streams of settlement: (1) from New England and the mid- dle states to the belt of country between the Lakes and the Ohio ; (2) across the mountains from Virginia, North Carolina, and western Pennsylvania, to build up Kentucky and Ten- nessee ; (3) from the South to southern Ohio, Indiana, and Illi- nois; (4) from the Carolinas and Georgia westward to build up the communities of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. At first the West was all frontier and had many of the dis- advantages of frontier life, — poverty, ignorance, and popular excitement, — but there was a sound and strong fiber in the people. Congress began to recognize the importance of the West by building the National Road and choosing Henry Clay to be Speaker ; and the Erie Canal gave an outlet to the sea. As a result* of slavery, the western communities began to be divided, and took part in the great contest of 1820 over the admission of Missouri, by which all the region west of the Mississippi, like that east of it, was divided into a free and a slaveholding section. 302 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT TOPICS Suggestive topics Search topics (1) What part of the country east of the Mississippi is prairie ? (2) What became of the big trees in the West ? (3) Why was there no early road from Philadelphia directly west to Pittsburg ? (4) Why did the western states soon elect their judges ? (5) Why was Henry Clay a great Speaker ? (6) How did slaves come to be in Missouri ? (7) Chicago up to 1829. (8) St. Louis up to 1829. (9) The road from Rochester to Buffalo. (10) Plank roads. (11) Flat- boats on the Ohio and Mississippi. (12) Indian attacks on river travelers. (13) Traveling on the Cumberland Road. (14) Trav- eling on the Erie Canal. (15) Early western schools. (16) Camp- meeting scenes. (17) Early life of Henry Clay. (18) Arguments for the Compromise of 1820. (19) Objections to the Compromise. (20) Why did the colonization of negroes in Africa fail ? REFERENCES Geography- Secondary authorities Sources Illustrative works Pictures See maps, pp. 291, 300; Semple, Geographic Conditions, 150- 168, 246-277 ; Turner, New West. Hart, Formation of the Union, §§ 119-127, 136 ; Turner, New West; Schouler, United States, II. 205-278, III. 96-109, 134-173 ; McMaster, United States, III. 123-142, 459-495, IV. 381-429, 570- 601, V. 13-18, 170-175; Adams, United States, IX. 148-174; Larned, History for Beady Beference, III. 2341, 2925, V. 3359 ; Higginson, Larger History, 390-393, 404-422 ; Wilson, American People, III. 234-255; Hinsdale, Old Northwest, 313-328, 351- 367, 380-392 ; Hosmer, Mississippi Valley, 153-167 ; Sparks, Ex- pansion, 220-274; Schurz, Henry Clay, I. 1-47, 137-146, 172- 202 ; Roosevelt, T. H. Benton, 1-20, 32-40 ; McLaughlin, Lewis Cass, 1-33, 95-132; Gilman, James Monroe, 128-143, 147-158, 191-202. Hart, Source Book, §§ 90-93, — Contemporaries, III. §§ 135-141, — Source Beaders, III. §§ 11, 34-39, 42-53; MacDonald, Select Documents, nos. 35-42 ; Old South Leaflets, no. 108 ; Caldwell, Survey, 142-144, 233-245 ; Johnston, American Orations, II. 33-101. See N. Eng. Hist. Teachers' Ass'n, Syllabus, 342-343, — Historical Sources, § 83. Bryant, Hunter of the Prairies ; Cooper, The Prairie ; J. E. Cooke, Leather Stocking and Silk ; Edward Eggleston, Circuit Bider; A. G. Riddle, AnseVs Cave. Wilson, American People, III. ; Sparks, Expansion. CHAPTER XX. THE NEW NATIONAL SPIRIT (1815-1829) After the War of 1812 the population, wealth, and national feeling of the United States advanced with leaps and bounds. An immense export and import trade sprang up again ; 253. Mainl- and the war taxes brought in so much revenue that they and^om! could safely be given up soon after the peace. A com- merce mercial treaty with Great Britain (1815) removed some of the impediments to trade with that country. In 1818 the question of the northern fisheries was adjusted by a treaty with Great Britain (still in force) which allows American fishermen three privileges: (1) to take fish inshore (that is, inside a line par- allel with the coast and three miles from shore) on parts of the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador; (2) to dry and cure fish on unsettled parts of those coasts ; (3) to enter har- bors of settled coasts for shelter, wood, and water. The treaty also provided for a boundary on the 49th parallel, from the Lake of the Woods to the Eocky Mountains ; and for the joint occupation of Oregon, which then meant the disputed region between the Eocky Mountains and the Pacific. The rush of importations was disturbing to the new American manufactures. During the embargo times some of the capital which could not be used in shipping, went into little mills for weaving coarse cottons and woolens. At the outbreak of war in 1812 import duties were doubled, and the home manufacturers had almost a monopoly of the market ; if foreign importations were to be admitted at the old rate of duty after the war ended, it seemed more than the home manufacturers could stand. 303 304 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT The result was the tariff of April 27, 1816, passed by test votes of 25 to 7 in the Senate, and 88 to 54 in the House — a 254. Pro- tariff which now seems very low, but at the time was tariff of thought highly protective. It was supported by a new 1816 combination : (1) New England and middle state manu- facturers ; (2) western farmers under the leadership of Henry Clay ; (3) South Carolina planters under John C. Calhoun, who interested his constituents by the hope of building up cotton manufactures in South Carolina. The strongest opponent was John Randolph of Virginia, who said the only question was, Contempora- "Whether you, as a planter, will consent to be taxed, ries, III. 435 j n order to hire another man . . . to set up a spinning jenny." The average rate of duties on dutiable goods in 1811 was about 15 per cent ; by the tariff of 1816 it was raised to 20 per cent. Another evidence of national feeling was the charter of the second United States Bank in 1816. The bank founded by 255. Second Hamilton had expired in 1811, and its place had been national taken by numerous state banks. After the capture of (1816-1819) Washington all the banks, except those of New England, suspended specie payments, so that bank notes were the only currency. By an act of April 10, 1816, a second United States Bank was chartered by Congress, with what was then thought the enormous capital of $ 35,000,000, of which the United States was to own one fifth. The main public services of the bank were : (1) to furnish sound paper currency, and to influence the state banks to pay their notes in specie ; (2) to act as financial agent of the government in receiving and paying money ; (3) to hold on deposit the government balance, which ranged from $3,000,000 to $10,000,000. After one false start and danger of failing, the bank established branches far and wide, and did a large and profitable business. Another significant evidence of national spirit was the atti- tude of the Supreme Court from 1801 to 1825, under the THE NEW NATIONAL SPIRIT (1815-1829) 305 256. John Marshall and the Supreme Court guidance of Chief-Justice John Marshall of Virginia. Mar shall was born in 1755, served as a captain in the Eevolutionary War, studied law, and sat in the state legislature and in the Virginia ratifying convention of 1788. In 1797 he became a Federalist member of the House, then Secretary of State, and near the end of Adams's term was ap- pointed Chief Justice, and held that high office until 1835. Marshall is one of the most interesting of Amer- icans. He was a simple householder, who often carried home his own tur- key from the market, a renowned expert in the game of quoits, an upright Christian gentleman. His colleague, Story, said of him: "I love his Story, Sto- John Marshall in 1830. laugh, ... it is too r 2/, /• 167 From the portrait by Harding. hearty for an intriguer, and his good temper and unwearied patience are equally agree- able on the bench and in the study." Yet he was the greatest of American jurists, and his main service was to take advan- tage of cases which happened to come before the Supreme Court to set forth clearly, logically, and irresistibly the true principles of the federal Constitution; and he so influenced five judges appointed by Jefferson and Madison that they agreed with him. (1) The court defined its own jurisdiction by compelling the state courts to permit appeals, even in cases where states were parties (case of Cohens vs. Virginia, 1821). 306 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (2) The court asserted the constitutionality of the bank and the doctrine of implied powers (case of McCulloch vs. Mary- land, 1819). " Let the end be legitimate," said Marshall, " let it be within the scope of the Constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited, but consist with the letter and spirit of the Constitution, are constitutional." (3) The court kept the states to their orbit. It declared certain state statutes void, because contrary to the federal Con- stitution (case of Fletcher vs. Peck, 1810); and it reached its furthest point by declaring that a charter to a private corpora- tion is a " contract " which, under the federal Constitution, can not be repealed or altered by the state government (Dartmouth College case, 1819). Most of the great decisions came during the administration of Madison's successor, James Monroe, who was chosen Presi- 257, Era dent in 1816 over the Federalist Rufus King, by 183 elec- Feeling ^ ora * votes to 34. Monroe was overshadowed by four (1817-1825) young Republican statesmen, each of whom had a just ambition to be President ; Henry Clay, Speaker of the House and always a critic of the President's policy; John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State, the strongest spirit in the admin- istration ; John C. Calhoun, Secretary of War, then an ardent nationalist or supporter of strong federal government; and William H. Crawford of Georgia, Secretary of the Treasury, a keen politician. Though Monroe and his rivals all called themselves Republicans, they accepted most of the old Feder- alist doctrines. The Federalists put up no candidate in 1820, so that Monroe was reelected without opposition, and by 1822 the Federalist party had died out. Hence the period got the name of the Era of Good Feeling, though in reality it was a time of intensely bad feeling, of jealousy, of bitterness, intrigue, and sharp disagreement. Monroe's chief interest was in our foreign relations. After THE NEW NATIONAL SPIRIT (1815-1829) 307 the overthrow of Napoleon in 1815, some of the sovereigns of Europe entered into an agreement, commonly called " The Holy Alliance." They agreed that they would "on all 258. The occasions and in all places lend each other aid and "IJJtem assistance"; and they put the Bourbons back on the (1815-1821) throne of the Spanish empire. Keally the plan was for a kind of mutual resistance against revolutions. While Spain was occupied by the French, the American Spanish colonies became virtually independent, but all except La Plata (Argentina) accepted the restored Bourbon king in 1815. From the Plata in 1817 the flame of revolution swept across the continent to Chile, under the leadership of General San Martin; thence northward to Peru and Colombia, then called New Granada, where General Simon Bolivar was the patriot leader ; and in 1821 it reached Mexico. Except a few fortified seaports and the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico, all the vast possessions of Spain in the new world were turned into a group of Spanish-American republics. Indirectly the United States helped in the process of extin- guishing the Spanish power in America. Besides seizing the disputed territory of West Florida (1810-1814), the gov- 259. New ernment tried to negotiate a treaty for the annexation of neighbor! East Florida. Andrew Jackson nearly upset the proceed- (1809-1825) ings in 1818, by pursuing the Seminole Indians across the border, and then attacking the Spanish posts of St. Marks and Pensacola; nevertheless, under John Quincy Adams's skillful management, a treaty was negotiated in 1819, under which: (1) Spain for a payment of $5,000,000 ceded both East Florida and all claims on West Florida ; (2) the south- western boundary was settled by running an irregular line from the mouth of the Sabine River to the source of the Arkansas and thence due north to latitude 42° ; (3) the Span- iards surrendered all claims on the Pacific coast north of the 42d parallel. 308 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT As soon as the treaty was ratified by Spain in 1821, Monroe recognized the independence of six Spanish-American powers — La Plata, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, and a Central American group. Brazil, till then a Portuguese colony, in 1825 made itself an independent American empire. This change in the conditions of South and Central America was very welcome to the United States. Our people had a natural sympathy with neighboring peoples fighting for their liberty, and besides, for the first time in history, American shipowners and American merchants were allowed to trade freely with Spanish-American ports. The benevolence of the Holy Alliance was tested in 1823, when the European powers by force put an end to a revolu- 260. The tion which had broken out in Spain against the arbitrary Doctrine Bourbons. The restored Spanish government then U 823) requested that the European powers help to recover the Spanish colonies in America. At about the same time (1821) the Russian government laid claim to the exclusive trade and occupation of the northwest coast, including part of Oregon ; and both these acts of interference in America aroused the United States. At this opportune moment George Canning, British foreign minister, made the friendly suggestion (August, 1823) to Richard Rush, our minister in England, to join with him in a declaration against the transfer of any Latin-American (Spanish or Portuguese) state to another European power. Monroe was inclined to accept Canning's invitation, but John Quincy Adams was determined that the United States should make a separate and independent announcement. Monroe yielded to the stronger mind of his secretary, and allowed him to draft that part of the message of December 2, 1823, which has been commonly called the Monroe Doctrine. It contains three main statements on the American question: — (1) On colonization : while speaking of the northwest coast, THE NEW NATIONAL SPIRIT (1815-1829) 309 Monroe said that "the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and main- tain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers." (2) On interposition : in discussing the proposed interven- tion by European powers against the Latin-American states, the message says that " interposition for the purpose of oppress- ing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European power" would be considered unfriendly to the United States. (3) On the European political system: the doctrine runs, " We should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety." Monroe meant his doctrine to be peaceful and harmonizing. His argument was, in substance : (1) since the United States does not interfere in European controversies, we should not permit third parties to interfere in the new world in quarrels not their own; (2) we are not hostile to existing colonies of European powers, but it is contrary to our interest that Latin- American territory be conquered and occupied by foreign pow- ers. The Monroe Doctrine accomplished its purpose: all schemes of European intervention were given up ; and Russia forthwith made treaties with the United States and Great Britain, accepting as the southern boundary of Russian America the parallel of 54° 40' north latitude. The next exciting event in the United States was the presi- dential election of 1824, in which the alleged "Era of Good Feeling" disappeared. Crawford got the coveted nomi- 261. Elec- nation by a caucus of Eepublican members of Congress t">nofl824 in 1824 ; but that way of making nominations had grown unpop- ular. Other candidates were put forward by the new method of nomination by state legislatures — John Quincy Adams in New England, Henry Clay in Kentucky and several other 310 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT western states, and Andrew Jackson in Tennessee. Calhoun accepted the almost unopposed nomination for Vice President. Of all these nominations the most unexpected was that of Andrew Jackson. Jackson was of Scotch-Irish descent, born in 1767 among the poor whites of North Carolina. He studied law and went out to Tennessee in 1788, and was successively public prosecutor, member of Congress (1796), and federal senator (1797), then judge of the supreme court of Tennessee. Always a testy man, he lived in a part of the country where private warfare was thought a fine thing; he fought several duels and killed one man. He commanded at New Orleans in 1815, and in Indian campaigns in 1817 to 1819. It was a hot and bitter campaign, full of personalities. The electoral votes turned out to be 99 for Jackson, 84 for Adams, 41 for Crawford, and 37 for Henry Clay. There being no majority of electoral votes, the choice went to the House of Representatives, where Adams was elected by the vote of 13 states to 7 for Jackson and 4 for Crawford (February 9, 1825). The Jackson men insisted that inasmuch as their candidate had more electoral votes than Adams the " will of the people " was defeated ; and a friend of Jackson also brought forward the totally unfounded charge that Adams had bought his elec- tion by promising to make Clay Secretary of State. Jackson seems never to have doubted the truth of this slander. No man of his time was better qualified than John Quincy Adams, by character and training, for his great office. As 262. Presi- Federalist senator from Massachusetts in 1807, he voted dent John f or Jefferson's embargo, and was thereupon dropped by his Adams own party. He became a Kepublican, minister to Russia, (1825-1829) one f tne p eace commissioners at Ghent, minister to Eng- land, and from 1817 to 1825 Secretary of State. Adams was by nature an expansionist. He would have liked to annex Canada; he was especially interested in Cuba; he wanted to buy Texas; he got rid of both Spanish and Russian claims THE NEW NATIONAL SPIRIT (1815-1829) 311 to the Oregon region ; and he went farther than Monroe in his interest in our Spanish-American neighbors. A methodical, able, and hard-working President, just and honorable in all his public and private relations, Adams was still cold in manner, and had few close and warm friends till he retired from the presidency. He was then elected to the House (1830) and spent seven- teen years there, in which he revealed magnificent power as a debater and became the champion of the North. Hardly had Adams be- come President when the United States was invited to send delegates to a John Quincy Adams, about 1825. From the portrait by Stuart. congress at Panama, in 1826, to consult on the common affairs of America. The Senate hung back, and the President and his Secretary of State, Clay, were obliged to cut down the powers of the commissioners. The congress was a failure, and our delegates arrived too late for the meeting. During much of his term as President, Adams found himself checked and humiliated at every turn by partisan opposition in Con- gress, and could carry through none of his plans. The tariff of 1816 did not bring prosperity to the country. Overtrading and speculation continued; the duties did not shut out foreign goods, and hence did not suit the manu- 263. The facturers. In 1819 there was a commercial panic. A J ^ an a new tariff, drawn up in 1820, was defeated in the Senate 1828 by one vote. In 1824 a tariff was passed by narrow majorities in both Houses (May 22), which raised duties somewhat, 312 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT and for the first time taxed certain raw materials of New England manufactures, including raw wool. The strongest northern opponent of the tariff in 1824 was Daniel Webster, member from a shipowning district, who declared that "the Webster general sense of this age sets, with a strong current, in Works, favor of freedom of commercial intercourse, and unre- strained individual action." The great champion of the tariff was Henry Clay, who argued for his " American System." A strong and persistent objection to protective tariffs, whether high or low, made itself felt in the South, where the hopes of establishing manufactures with slave labor had come to nothing. In 1828 a new tariff bill was introduced into Con- gress, and was now supported by Webster on the ground that his constituents had in good faith changed their investments over to manufactures. Opponents of the bill introduced amendments raising the duties on raw materials, in the ex- pectation that the friends of the bill would vote against it in its amended form, and it therefore became known as " The Tariff of Abominations." Nevertheless, it became a law (May 19, 1828). The average rate of duty paid on dutiable goods rose from 36 per cent in 1826 to 49 per cent in 1830 — the highest tariff in the United States up to the Civil War. Protests rained upon Congress. The Boston moneyed men protested ; four southern legislatures protested ; most impor- 264. Dis- tant of all, South Carolina and John C. Calhoun pro- content tested. At first a strong advocate of a national bank, over tne ^ ° tariff a tariff, and internal improvements, in the confidence that the federal government would help develop his own state of South Carolina, Calhoun gradually came to see that Con- gress could do little for a state which had no manufactures, and which depended on slave labor. In 1828 Calhoun wrote a long argument, called Tlie Expo- sition (published without his name), in which he argued not only that a protective tariff was unconstitutional, but that any THE NEW NATIONAL SPIRIT (1815-1829) 8lB state had a right to nullify a federal law which it thought unconstitutional, by forbidding it to be executed within the state limits ; if other states disagreed, they might call a con- vention, and unless three fourths of the states in that conven- tion approved the law, it would have to be abandoned (see § 273). People began to tire of personal rivalries in politics, and to look for questions which really divided the nation. After the disappearance and supposed murder of one Morgan, 265. Elec- who had revealed secrets of the fraternity of Free tionofl828 Masons, an attempt was made to found an Anti-masonic Party in 1827 ; but opposition to free masonry was not a national or a permanent issue. In the election of 1828 the only candidates for the presidency were Adams and Jackson; and the only vital issue was the personal one, whether Adams was a good man who deserved reelection, or Jackson was a representative of the people who ought to supplant him. Adams was the subject of scurrilous campaign literature ; it was charged " that he was rich ; that he was in debt ; that he had long enjoyed public office." On the other side an Adams man printed a "coffin handbill, ,, charging Jackson with the illegal execution of six men thir- teen years before on a technical charge of desertion. Jackson's election was almost assured in advance by a com- bination of the West and South with Pennsylvania and New York, a majority of the electoral votes of which was turned over to Jackson by Martin Van Buren, head of the so-called Albany Regency. Jackson got 178 electoral votes to 83 ; and his popular vote was about 650,000 to 500,000 for Adams. As an enthusiastic friend and admirer of Jackson says, " General Jackson was therefore triumphantly elected President of the United States in the name of reform and as the standard bearer of the people. " 314 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT During the fifteen years from the close of the War of 1812 to the end of John Quincy Adams's administration, all sections 266. Sum- called upon the federal government to make a new finan- mar y cial and economic system. Congress responded by creat- ing the second United States Bank (1816), which became a sound and useful institution, affording a good currency and ex- ercising a healthful influence on the state banks. Except the Cumberland Road, national internal improvements failed for the time because of Madison's and Monroe's vetoes of 1817 and 1822. The protective tariff of 1816 satisfied nobody, and every four years thereafter new bills were introduced, two of which were passed in 1824 and 1828. Each raised the rate of duties over the previous ones ; duties on raw materials were added, and the "Tariff of Abominations" caused widespread protest, and in South Carolina led to threats of "nullification." The revolt of the Spanish-American colonies gave new neighbors and new anxieties to the United States, which soon recognized the independence of the new states. When a European alliance attempted to interfere in the new world, the United States gave a warning in the Monroe Doctrine. In politics the Federalist party died out, partly because of its unpopular course during the War of 1812, in spite of the fact that its chief principles had been accepted by the other party, and were applied by the Supreme Court. When the Eepublicans had no other enemies, they fell into personal fac- tions ; and the elections of 1824 and 1828 turned not on na- tional issues, but on personal preferences. TOPICS Suggestive (1) Why did Great Britain give a privilege of fishing inside the opics three-mile limit ? (2) Why was a joint occupation agreed on for Oregon ? (3) Why did Calhoun favor a tariff in 1816 ? (4) Why did John Randolph oppose a tariff ? (5) Why did the Republicans take over the Federalist principles ? (6) On what ground did Jackson invade Florida ? (7) On what grounds did Russia claim THE NEW NATIONAL SPIRIT (1815-1829) 315 the northwest coast ? (8) Why was the caucus system of nomi- nation unpopular in 1824 ? (9) Why was Jackson's nomination unexpected in 182-1 ? (10) Disputes on the tariff of 1816 ; of 1820 ; of 1824 ; of 1828. (11) John Marshall's character and private life. (12) William H. Crawford's public life. (13) Revolutions in Spanish America from 1800 to 1820. (14) Debates in the Cabinet in 1823 on the Monroe Doctrine. (15) Andrew Jackson as a judge. (16) Charge of a corrupt bargain between Clay and Adams. (17) Protests against the tariff of 1824. (18) John C. Calhoun as a nationalist. (19) Calhoun's doctrine of nullification as set forth in the Exposi- tion of 1828. Search topics REFERENCES Secondary authorities See map, p. 300 ; Turner, New West. Hart, Formation of the Union, §§ 120-125, 128-140 ; Wilson, Division and Reunion, §§ 8-10, 25-27 ; Stanwood, Presidency, 106- 150 ; Turner, New West; Schouler, United States, II. 446-463, III. 1-96, 109-133, 173-178, 189-150; McMaster, United States, III. 496-514, IV. 280-380, 430-521, V. ; Adams, United States, IX. 106- 148, 187-197 ; Gay, Bryant's History, IV. 244-259, 276-296 ; Gordy, Political Parties, II. 333-389, 445-581 ; Peck, Jacksonian Epoch, 1-122 ; Dewey, Financial History, §§ 66-80 ; Stanwood, American . Tariff Controversies, I. 111-348; Hart, Foundations of American Foreign Policy, 211-218 ; Latane\ United States and Spanish Amer- ica, 9-105 ; Sato, Land Question, 53-60 ; Gilman, James Munroe, 143-147, 159-179 ; Morse, J. Q. Adams, 107-118, 122-219 ; Schurz, Henry Clay, I. 126-171, 203-311 ; Sumner, Andreio Jackson, 60- 150 ; Brown, Andrew Jackson, 87-117 ; Thayer, John Marshall ; Lodge, Daniel Webster, 60-166 ; Shepard, Martin Van Buren, 88-176. Hart, Source Readers, III. § 10, — Contemporaries, III. §§ 130, Sources 132-134, 142-150; MacDonald, Select Documents, nos. 33, 34, 43-45 ; American History Leaflets, nos. 4, 24 ; Old South Leaflets, nos. 56, 129 ; Ames, State Documents on Federal Relations, nos. 3, 4, pp. 1-31 ; Hill, Liberty Documents, chs. xix. xx.; Caldwell, Sur- vey, 208-214, 227-233, — Territorial Development, 105-126. See N. Eng. Hist. Teachers' Ass'n, Syllabus, 341, 344, — Historical Sources, § 83. Gustave Aimard, Queen of the Savannah (Spanish-American independence). Wilson, American People, III. hart's amer. hist. — 19 Illustrative works Pictures CHAPTER XXL NEW POLITICAL ISSUES (1829-1841) When Jackson became President in 1829, the principles of American democratic government had in many ways advanced 267 Amer- mucn farther than in 1789 : (1) many of the states had ican democ- rid themselves of the old property and tax qualifications for voters; (2) nearly all the state officers, including judges, were elected by popular vote instead of being chosen by the legislature or governor, as formerly ; (3) the property qualifications for officers were diminished or had disappeared; (4) by the system of "rotation in office" state and local officers were chosen for short terms, and rarely reelected more than once or twice; (5) minor officers in most states and municipalities were likely to be removed when the opposi- tion party got into power ; (6) the cities were growing rapidly and demanded new forms of government. Politics, too, had lost its old simplicity. The party news- papers were still unscrupulous and abusive, and there were some leaders of the type now called party bosses. The party in power in a state tried to keep in power by distributing offices as rewards to its followers. Parties often tried to per- petuate their power by the " gerrymander " — that is, by so ar- ranging the boundaries of electoral districts that their friends should carry some districts by small majorities and their op- ponents should carry fewer districts by large majorities, so that the minority might rule. Violence at the polls was fre- quent, and fraud was not unknown. The most noted representative of the new democratic prin- 316 NEW POLITICAL ISSUES (1829-1841) 317 ciples was President Andrew Jackson; and, except Clay, no man in all the West was so widely known, so experienced in public affairs, and so capable of making quick decisions. 268. An- In personal appearance Jackson was tall and spare, with drew J ack - a high forehead and a great mane of hair, which silvered ma n of re- while he was President. A lion to his enemies, Jackson sponsibility was the soul of courtesy, and to ladies almost a Don Quixote. All his life long he was accustomed to lead in the community and in the army; hence he was over quick to make up his mind, and when he had once come to a conclusion, could not be moved from it. A political hu- morist of the time makes him say, "It has always bin my way, when I git a notion, to stick to Jack it till it dies a natural death; Downing and the more folks talk agin my notions, the more I stick to 'em." On the whole Jackson's instincts were right; he hated monopoly and corporate greed and private advan- tage from public office. He saw much better than most men of his time the dangers likely to result from the national government's try- ing to help the states and the business men. His fault was that he looked upon the government as a kind of military organiza- tion in which it was treason to the country to interfere with the orders of the commanding general. If he had a prejudice against a man, he thought that man his enemy, and because Jackson's enemy, of course an enemy to his country. Yet it is true that Jackson was a living representative of the opin- ions of a majority of the voters in the United States. Andrew Jackson, about 1830. From an old print of Earle's portrait. 318 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT Jackson's military principles were carried into his appoint- ments. His Cabinet had no eminent member except Martin 269. Ap- Van Buren, the Secretary of State, " The Little Magician," pointments renowned for his urbanity and political shrewdness. movals Alongside his official Cabinet was the coterie of personal (1829-1837) f r i en ds satirically called the "Kitchen Cabinet," which contained the real advisers of the President, including Van Buren; Major Eaton, Secretary of War; Amos Kendall, later brought into the post office to dismiss the local postmasters ; and Duff Green, editor of the Telegraph, the Jackson organ. It was a mistake to appoint other men to the Cabinet whom he did not care to consult. Never before that time had a President been so "beset with office seekers ; and the principal way in which vacancies could be found was by ejecting those who already held office. To the day of his death Jackson declared that no man was removed without a reason ; but he was easily persuaded that hundreds of important officers were lazy, or corrupt, or political parti- sans. Hence in his eight years he removed 252 of the 610 officers appointed by the President ; and nobody knows how many clerks and subordinates went with their chiefs. The vacancies thus made were filled without much discrimination, and the Senate threw out many of his nominations. Yet it is an injustice to Jackson to hold him responsible for bring- ing the system of partisan politics to Washington. He really meant to carry out what he called "the task of reform," but he demoralized the public service, because he took the advice of people intent chiefly on their own political fortunes. Jackson's character was clearly brought out in his quarrel 270 J k w ith the United States Bank. That bank had powerful son's war rivals in the western state banks, of which, in 1829, there United were about three hundred. Another set of enemies was states Bank created when Biddle, president of the bank, refused to (1829-1832) remove some branch bank officers and to substitute Jack- NEW POLITICAL ISSUES (1829-1841) 319 son men (1829). Its most dangerous enemy was Jackson, be- cause he represented an enormous constituency of farmers and small traders who were convinced that the eastern capitalists were getting more than their share of the annual products of the country. Jackson believed also, and with reason, that the bank sooner or later would become a political force. Accordingly, beginning in his message of 1829, year after year Jackson repeated a warning that the bank was dangerous, unsound, and unconstitutional ; till, in 1832, as the presidential election was approaching, the friends of the bank, under Clay's leadership, made up their minds to force the issue into the campaign. They therefore passed a recharter bill in both houses, four years before the charter of 1816 was to expire; and Jackson, as was expected, vetoed it (July 10, 1832). The bank question was for a time pushed aside by the threats of South Carolina to nullify the offensive tariff acts. The tem- per of the states was shown in a debate in the Senate 271. Nulii- in 1830, in which Senator Hayne stood up for the right debates of a state to declare a federal statute void (§ 273). (1828-1832) Webster of Massachusetts seized the opportunity in his " Second Reply to Hayne," to protest, with all his match- less eloquence and national spirit, against the doctrines of the South Carolina Exposition of 1828, written by Vice- President Calhoun (§ 274). Jackson's position on nullifica- tion was not clearly made known till April, 1830, when, at a dinner on Jefferson's birthday, he was called on for a toast and gave " Our Federal Union : it must be preserved." A few weeks later Jackson quarreled with Calhoun on private grounds, and broke off relations with the Vice President. A last effort was made to get Congress to reduce the offen- sive tariff, and a new tariff was passed (July 14, 1832) ; but Clay saw to it that the protective duties of 1824 were left in, and some of them raised ; though the average rate of duty was reduced to about 34 per cent. 320 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT In the presidential campaign of 1832, the direct issue was the bank. For the first time delegates gathered in general party 272. Poli- conventions. The anti-Jackson men met in a " National nullification ^ e P UDncan Convention," made the first national party (1832-1833) platform, and nominated Henry Clay. Jackson had already been nominated by members of several state legisla- tures, and his nomination was confirmed by a "Democratic National Convention," which also adopted the two-thirds rule for making nominations, and proposed Van Buren for Vice President. The election showed part of New England, with Maryland, Delaware, and Kentucky, for Clay, and the rest of the South (except South Carolina) and the West, with Pennsyl- vania and New York, for Jackson, who had 219 electoral votes to 49 for Clay, and 690,000 popular votes to 530,000. Jackson accepted the election of 1832 as an approval of his past course, and also of all the things that he meant to do in the future; and something had to be done very soon in South Carolina. A convention of that state, elected for the purpose, passed an ordinance, November 24, 1832, declaring the tariff acts of 1828 and 1832 to be "null, void, and no law, nor binding upon this State, its officers or citizens." This action Jackson treated as a personal affront. He sent General Scott to Charleston to arrange for defending the customhouse, and he issued a proclamation (December 11), warning the people of South Carolina against "the illegal and disorganizing action of the convention." At Jackson's request, an act, popularly called the " Force Bill " or " Bloody Bill," was passed by Con- gress (March 2, 1833), giving the President more power to raise forces to meet such a crisis. South Carolina began to raise troops, and the country was full of excitement. Calhoun resigned the vice presidency and came back to the Senate in 1833, in order to defend his doc- trines in debates with Webster. In the end South Carolina really carried her point, for the majority of Congress believed NEW POLITICAL ISSUES (1829-1841) 321 that the South was wronged by the tariff, and under Clay's leadership, by the Compromise Tariff of 1833 (March 2), pro- vided that the rates should be reduced at intervals till 1842, when they were all to come down to 20 per cent. The object of nullification having been accomplished without applying it, all plans of resistance were dropped by South Carolina. For the ideas and arguments behind the nullification move- ment, we look to the addresses and speeches of John C. Calhoun. Calhoun came of the vigorous Scotch-Irish race, was born 273. State in 1782 in South Carolina, and entered Congress in 1811. ., jJf k !j As Monroe's Secretary of War (1817-1825) he was very Calhoun efficient, and as Vice President (1825-1832) he was long looked upon as the probable successor to Jackson. In 1828 he made a square turn against national powers and worked out his doc- trine of nullification — a claim which was a magazine of argument for the secessionists at the time of the Civil War. It may be divided into three parts — the griev- ance, the nature of the federal government, and the remedy : — (1) Calhoun's griev- ance was that without any constitutional war- rant, by the "tyranny of the majority," the John C. Calhoun, about 1850. tariff took a tax out of From a daguerreotype, the pocket of the planters, and brought them no advantage. (2) His theory of the government was that " the Union is 322 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT a union of states and not of individuals " ; that the Constitution is a " compact " made by the states, and as in any other con- tract, if the states on one side failed to observe the limitations of the Constitution, the other states were freed from their obliga- tion ; that the federal government had no independent existence, but was only an " agency." (3) Calhoun shrank from the logical remedy, secession ; and proposed, instead, the remedy of " nullification," by which the people of South Carolina were simply to refuse to obey the tariff acts. For the federal government to bring suits to enforce the acts, or to use force, seemed to Calhoun's mind an act of war, which would dissolve the Union j and he had no doubt that other states would come to the rescue. The spokesman of the national theory of the government was 274. Nation- Daniel Webster, born in ol ESSEf 1782 > in New Hampshire, a Webster graduate of Dartmouth Col- lege. In 1813 he was sent to Con- gress from New Hampshire ; then in 1823 from Massachusetts, and in 1828 to a senator's seat from Massachusetts, which he occupied most of his life thenceforth, with two intervals of service as Secre- tary of State. Webster's theory of the government was substan- tially as follows : — (1) He scouted the idea that the Constitution is a com- pact, and called it an "instrument of government " for a nation. " It is, Sir, the people's Constitution, . . . made by the people, and answerable to the people. . . . We are all agents of the same supreme power, the people." Daniel Webster, about 1840. From the portrait by Harding. NEW POLITICAL ISSUES (1829-1841) 323 (2) In language which rang throughout the Union, he denied the right of nullification and declared the great principle that the states could no more destroy the Union than the Union could destroy the states ; for both were founded on the consent of the American people, taken as a whole. (3) On the question who should decide in disputes as to federal powers, he held that the Constitution provided a mode " for bringing all questions of constitutional power to the final decision of the Supreme Court." Webster's speeches were widely read and became the familiar doctrine in the North, especially in the crisis of the Civil War. One of the phrases just quoted appears in a little different form in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address of 1863. The rivalry of South and North in part grew out of changes in the industrial conditions of the country. There was an im- mense development in raw materials, especially coal ; and 275. Changes the manufacture of pig iron was much cheapened when tri ^\ c^t it was found that instead of charcoal or coke, anthracite tions coal could be used (1838) ; and then that bituminous coal would answer (1846). Illuminating gas, first made in America in 1816, gave another new use for coal. In the twenty years from 1820 to 1840 more labor-saving in- ventions were brought forward than in the whole history of mankind before. The American manufacture of edge tools began ; the invention of planing machines revolutionized wood- working ; platform scales were introduced ; the Nasmy th steam hammer was patented in 1842 ; the iron cook stove was put on the market about 1840 ; friction matches (invented in England in 1827) slowly began to take the place of the old flint and steel ; the first crude Colt's revolver was patented in 1835. To furnish power for cotton and woolen mills, paper mills, and other industries, dams were built on the falls of the rivers in the eastern, middle, and southern states; and presently the manufacturing towns of Manchester, Nashua, Lowell, Lawrence, L.L. POATES, ENG'R. .Y. 115 324 Vw "1 / loronto^^ta/f \ Mad$onH ^ J Detroit!^ ^ .^fl r ie/v -."VanTSuren ^* -v^> FtJSniith '«"» : , T ittK'-ltiwk RAILROADS AO WATER WAYS OF THE ^ UNITED STATES IN 1850 325 326 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT Holyoke, Cohoes, Trenton, and others, grew up. The methods of farming were changed by farm machinery. In 1834 McCor- mick patented the first horse reaper, the basis of the present elaborate mowers and reapers. About 1840 improved thrash- ing machines began to be used. The ocean shipping interest was less affected, although steam coasters began to come in ; and in 1819 the ship Savan- nah, with auxiliary steam power, voyaged from New York to Savannah and thence to Liverpool. The steamers Sirius and Great Western crossed the ocean from England, in 1838, practically under steam alone; and two years later a regular steamship line was established from Boston to Liverpool. Nevertheless, the bulk of ocean freight was still carried in wooden sailing ships, and the American clipper ship was con- sidered the best in the world. For internal commerce the success of the Erie Canal led to great undertakings by other states. Pennsylvania began a 276. Inter- canal system across the Alleghanies in 1826, and six provements y ears later had a railroad from Philadelphia to Columbia, (1825-1841) a canal thence to the base of the mountains, an inclined road for hauling the boats in sections over the mountains, and a canal from the other side to Pittsburg. Several side canals were also constructed by Pennsylvania, including one from the Ohio River to Lake Erie (finished 1844). Ohio in 1825 entered upon the construction of canals from several places on the Ohio River to Lake Erie. Indiana spent $8,000,000, and the 476,000 people of Illinois ran into debt $14,000,000, or $30 a head. In 1837 Congress began to make large gifts of public land in aid of state and private canals. A few important canals were built by private corporations, especially the Dela- ware and Hudson (1820), and the Schuylkill Navigation (1818- 1825) for carrying coal. Eventually about six thousand miles of canals were constructed in the United States, of which less than one thousand miles are now in use. NEW POLITICAL ISSUES (1829-1841) 327 The growth in the average size of seagoing vessels called attention to the need of deepening and otherwise improving the harbors. In 1824 Congress began to make small appro- priations for such purposes. Jackson was much opposed to spending government money for what seemed to him only private or local advantage, and therefore he vetoed a bill for a government road from Maysville on the Ohio toward Tennessee (1830) ; and he refused to sign several harbor bills. Still, many such improvements were made by Congress, among them the beginning of the Delaware breakwater in 1829. All other forms of internal improvement were soon cast into the shade by railroads, which suddenly cheapened trans- portation, stimulated travel, and built up new states and 277 First cities. Tramways for carrying heavy loads were built railroads in 1807 near Boston, and in 1810 near Philadelphia. Railroads were soon begun westward from Albany, Phila- delphia, Baltimore, and Charleston ; but in 1830 only 122 miles had been built by the various companies, all for cars to be drawn by horses. Soon after 1830 several great changes came about in rail- roads. An imported steam locomotive was introduced in 1829 for the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company ; in 1830 Peter Cooper built an American locomotive for the Baltimore and Ohio, whereby horses were displaced. The inclined planes with stationary engines, which were introduced on many railroads, were replaced by continuous tracks ; and on some roads coal was used as a fuel instead of wood. In 1834 the first long railroad in the world was completed — 136 miles from Charleston, South Carolina, to Hamburg, opposite Augusta. The first railroads had stone sleepers, or were built on piles driven along the line of the road. At right angles to the sleepers were laid the rails, wooden stringers about six inches square ; to these were spiked short lengths of wrought iron 328 NEW POLITICAL ISSUES (1829-1841) 329 strips perhaps half an inch thick, and the curling up of the loosely attached irons was a common source of accident. The cars were at first modeled on the old stagecoaches, but the roads soon began to build the long car with a platform at each end and an aisle through the middle. Trains ran about fifteen miles an hour, and the early fares were three or four cents a mile. As there was no system of train dispatching, accidents were frequent. At first anybody who could pay the tolls was allowed to run his cars on the tracks ; but after locomotives came in, it was seen that both the roadbed and the motive power must be managed together. Several states looked on railroads as only a new type of public highway ; and Massachusetts, Pennsyl- vania, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, and other states built lines of state railroad; others aided new roads with grants of money. Since many roads ran from one state into another, state ownership was difficult ; and state management was expensive and clumsy ; hence eventually most of the states sold or leased their lines to private companies. The commercial question that most interested Jackson re- lated to the United States Bank, which he attacked unre- lentingly because be thought it secretly bankrupt. In 278. Jack- September, 1833, he ordered his Secretary of the Treas- 8 °^ofgress ury, Duane, to stop depositing in the bank. When (1832-1835) Duane refused, Jackson removed him and appointed Roger B. Taney, who gave the necessary 6rders. Though it is the right of the President to perform even ill-judged actions within his constitutional powers, subject only to public opinion, the Senate passed a resolution of censure on the President ; but the country showed its approval in 1834 by electing majorities of Jackson men to both House and Senate. The deposits were never restored, and when the national charter expired in 1836, the bank could go on only Under a Pennsylvania state charter. Jackson's foreign policy was fiery, but on the whole sue- 330 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT cessful. He got from Great Britain the long-desired privilege of carrying on West India trade in American ships (1830). And by rather undignified threats, he compelled (1836) a settle- ment of the " French Spoliation Claims " for captures of Amer- ican merchantmen, claims which had been running thirty years. The most serious foreign question of Jackson's time was the attitude of the United States toward the new independent 279. Re- nation of Texas. The name " Texas" was applied by the Texas* 5 ° Spaniards and Mexicans to the region lying along the (1819-1836) Gulf coast, beyond the western boundary of the United States. Into northern and central Texas Americans began to go in 1819, under the leadership of Moses Austin and Stephen F. Austin, who got large land grants. The Americans accepted the government of Mexico when that power became inde- pendent (1821), but in 1829, when the Mexican government abolished slavery, the Texans continued to hold their slaves, and to encourage other Americans to come in. In the hope of bring- ing the wandering 8CALE OF MICE 3 Q J 50 100 130 200 250 GULF OF M'.EXICO children again under Texas Boundary Controversy. the home roo f f k otn John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson made several vain attempts to buy Texas. By 1835 the spirit of independence was so strong that the Texans resisted a Mexican force under General Santa Anna, NEW POLITICAL ISSUES (1829-1841) 331 the Mexican dictator. In March, 1836, under Sam Houston, a friend of Jackson, they declared their independence, drew up a national constitution, and made slavery a fundamental part of the government. Four days later a fortified convent, the Alamo in San Antonio, was taken by a Mexican army after a brave defense, and every man within it was killed. This massacre sowed undying hatred, and the Texans were too well organized and too good fighters ever to be conquered by Mexico. They desired to be annexed by the United States; and it might have been brought about had not the North protested against an annexation which would strengthen the slave power. In October, 1836, the Texan congress claimed a boundary "to the mouth of the Rio Grande, thence up the principal stream of the said river to its source." The Texans fought not only the Mexicans but also the In- dians upon their borders. Their neighbors east of the Missis- sippi found the In- 280 Indian dian problem less difficulties , , (1824-1837) simple, as was shown in a long-standing contro- versy between the Chero- kees and Georgia. Within the boundaries of Georgia in 1824 were about fifty thousand Creeks, Cherokees, and Indians of other tribes, who occupied reservations of eleven million acres, not subject to the laws of Georgia. A few Creek Indian Cessions in Georgia. ^.^ ^ ^ gigned ft treaty for the cession of the Creek lands. The Indians tried to nullify the treaty by killing those who signed it ; but the state 332 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT of Georgia insisted on its right to survey the land, and, when President Adams interfered, threatened to fight. Thereupon the Cherokees, a rich people settled on farms, made a new tribal constitution (1827), which showed that they meant to remain indefinitely as a separate community within the boundaries of Georgia. That state, without waiting for a treaty or for the consent of the federal government, extended her authority over the Cherokee territory, shut the Indians out of the state courts, and made it a crime for white missionaries, or any other white people, to remain within the Cherokee country except on a license from the state of Georgia. President Adams was help- less, and the controversy went over to the next administration. Jackson had never loved the Indians ; and when he became President, he quickly solved the difficulty with the Chero- kees by ruling that Georgia " possessed a right to extend her municipal jurisdiction over them." When the Cherokees made up a test case, and the Supreme Court decided that Georgia had no jurisdiction over the Indian country (1832), Jackson said, " John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it." The Cherokees yielded to their fate. In 1834 Congress set apart the Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River, to which the Cherokees were transferred, together with the Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Semi- noles. The same policy of removal was applied to the tribes of the Northwest, causing in 1832 a brief Indian war — the Black Hawk War — in Illinois. Part of the Seminoles came back to Florida and for ten years about fifty warriors defied the United States army, and cost the federal government $20,000,000. These wars practically ended the long friction between the two races, east of the Mississippi. The purpose of removing the Indians was to open up land for 281. Immi- white settlers. In 1820 the United States ceased selling pubiiclands ^ s ^ anc ^ on cre dit, and made laws under which any pur- (1820-1840) chaser could buy any quantity of land at a maximum NEW POLITICAL ISSUES (1829-1841) 333 price of $1.25 an acre, or $200 a quarter section. The demand for laborers brought a strong current of immigra- tion from abroad. Between 1820 and 1829 about 110,000 people came; in the next decade, over 500,000 people, many of whom went straight out to make homes on the frontier. From 1820 to 1840 the population of the West increased from 2,600,000 to 7,000,000. Chicago in 1833 had 150 contempora- wooden houses, and a visitor said of it, "Almost every per- ries > IJI - 471 son I met regarded Chicago as the germ of an immense city." Chicago in 1832. (From an old priut.) The result of immigration and speculation was an unex- ampled demand for public lands ; in the two years 1835 and 1836 the United States received $40,000,000 from this source alone. To prevent the accumulation in the treasury of a surplus from the lands, various plans were suggested : (1) to give the lands to the states ; (2) to reserve the lands in small tracts for actual settlers ; (3) to distribute among the states the surplus from the sales of land. Clay favored the third plan, but Jackson in 1833 prevented it by a veto of a distribu- tion bill. 334 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT The election of 1836 was practically settled beforehand by Jackson, who selected Van Buren, required the Democratic 282 The convention to nominate him, and by his own popu- panicof larity pulled his candidate through. The opposition was too discouraged to make a party nomination, and Van Buren got 170 electoral votes to 124 scattered votes. No sooner had Van Buren taken office in March, 1837, than a financial panic was ready to break upon the country — the worst that the United States has ever seen. The principal causes of this calamity are the following : — (1) Much banking business was carried on imprudently, partly because of the accumulation of government balances in the "pet banks" which were selected in 1833 to receive the public deposits. Depreciated state bank notes crowded specie out of use, and an act was passed (June 28, 1834) changing the ratio between gold and silver (§ 196) to 16 to 1, so as to encourage the use of gold. (2) Lively speculation caused prices of cotton and other exports to rise, so that everybody seemed to be growing rich. The states found that they could borrow abroad, and ran up debts amounting to about $170,000,000. (3) Lively speculation in western land was backed up by the " pet banks " and their neighbors. Jackson became alarmed, and suddenly issued the Specie Circular (July 11, 1836), an order directing that nothing but gold and silver should be received for the public lands. (4) In 1835 the national debt was extinguished, and a sur- plus began to run up. To get rid of it, in June, 1836, Con- gress passed a statute — the so-called "Deposit Act" — for depositing with the states (really for giving away) about $36,000,000. The call on the banks for the government deposits pre- cipitated a crash. In May, 1837, all the banks of the country suspended specie payments; and nine tenths of the men in NEW POLITICAL ISSUES (1829-1841) 335 business in 1836 were bankrupt in 1837. Many of the states, for the time being, defaulted on the interest on their bonds ; three states repudiated principal and interest, and the money loss to their creditors was about $20,000,000. The "pet banks " eventually turned over to the government $28,000,000 of public funds under the Deposit Act, and it was duly transferred to the states. Some of the states spent 2g3 Van the money on canals, some to pay old debts, some for Buren's education, and a few states simply divided it among the ministra- voters. Slowly the country struggled up again ; though tion in a second and lighter crash (1839) the old United States Bank went completely to ruin. Some of the states, especially New York, took the lesson to heart, and passed new banking laws, under which the state banks were required to protect their notes. A notable act of Congress during Van Buren's administra- tion was a statute of 1840 for an independent treasury, or subtreasury, as it was often called, requiring the Treasury De- partment to keep its balances in its own vaults. Another important measure was the Preemption Act of 1841, by which any citizen of the United States was to be allowed once in his life to buy 160 acres of arable government land. The twelve years of Jackson's influence (for Van Buren's administration is only a kind of extension of Jackson's) were marked by great activity in public life. President Jack- 284. Sum- son sincerely believed that the federal government had mary given as much aid to individuals and states as was safe, and that it would be better to let the states develop themselves. Hence he never showed any enthusiasm over the tariff; he vetoed internal improvement bills right and left ; and he attacked the United States Bank just as he used to assault an Indian fort; he vetoed the Land Distribution Bill, and reluctantly approved the Deposit Act. hart's amer. hist. — 20 336 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT The most serious discussions of this period were on sec- tional questions. The tariff was upheld by eastern, middle, and western states, and condemned by the South. Internal improvements most interested the western states, because they needed highways to reach their market. The bank question was at bottom an issue between the eastern believers in incor- porated capital and the western advocates of individual action. Public land questions usually aroused West against East. The South usually held together on sectional questions, although in the nullification issue the other southern states refused to back up South Carolina. The real force and public spirit of Andrew Jackson was shown by the final results of his eight years in office. He revived Jefferson's principles of strict construction and of as little government as possible; he hammered out in conflict with Congress a set of new principles, — low tariff, no United States Bank, no federal internal improvements, — which served the Democratic party for more than fifty years thereafter; and he caused his opponents definitely to take up the old Federalist principles of loose construction. TOPICS Suggestive (1) Why were some qualifications of voters and office holders re- oplcs moved ? (2) Why was it difficult to frame good city governments ? (3) Was the United States Bank dangerous to the country? (4) How came Webster to attack Hayne in the Senate ? (5) Why did Jackson oppose nullification ? (6) Why did Clay favor the Compromise of 1833? (7) Why did Calhoun change his mind on national powers? (8) Why have most of the canals been given up ? (9) Why did Jackson oppose internal improvements ? (10) Why did Jackson wish to annex Texas ? (11) Did Jackson introduce the Spoils system? (12) Had Georgia a right to the Creek and Cherokee lands ? Search (13) Removals of federal officers for political reasons before topics 18 30. (14) Removals for political reasons in New York before 1830. (15) Major Jack Downing's opinions of Jackson. (1G) Jack- son's intimate friends. (17) Jackson's enemies. (18) Popular NEW POLITICAL ISSUES (1820-1841) 337 opinion of the Kitchen Cabinet. (19) Some of Jackson's removals from office. (20) Calhoun's doctrine of the compact. (21) Web- ster's theory of the origin of the Constitution. (22) First anthra- cite and bituminous coal furnaces. (23) Ride on an early railroad. (24) Reasons for the Independent Treasury plan. (25) City popu- lation in 1700 compared with that in 1840. (26) State railroads in Massachusetts, or Pennsylvania, or Georgia, or Michigan. Secondary- authorities REFERENCES See maps, pp.' 324, 325, 330, 331 ; Semple, Geographic Condi- Geography tions, 168-176 ; MacDonald, Jacksonian Democracy. Wilson,. Division and Beunion, §§ 7, 12-24, 28-52, 57, 58, 71 ; Channing, United States, 212-224 ; Johnston, Politics, 109-139 ; Stanwood, Presidency, 151-205 ; MacDonald, Jacksonian Democ- racy ; Schouler, United States, III. 451-506, IV. 31-199, 229- 296, 316-352 ; McMaster, United States, V. 2-13, 121-168, 380- 394, 519-556 ; Peck, Jacksonian Epoch, 123-472 ; Dewey, Finan- cial History, §§ 81-101 ; Houston, Nidlification in South Carolina ; Sato, Land Question, 151-168 ; Sparks, Expansion, 274-289, 310- 319, —Men who made the Nation, 273-281, 294-334; Sumner, Andrew Jackson, 176-460 ; Brown, Andrew Jackson, 118-156 ; Parton, General Jackson, 281-326 ; Shepard, Martin Van Buren, 176-397, 449-467 ; Schurz, Henry Clay, 1.312-384, II. 1-69, 129-152, 172-198 ; Lodge, Daniel Webster, 166-234 ; Hoist, J. C. Calhoun, 83-120, 183-220 ; Roosevelt, T. H. Benton, 63-139, 151-209 ; Bruce, General Houston, 1-136 ; Trowbridge, S. F. B. Morse ; Raymond, Peter Cooper, 1-51. Hart, Source Book, § 102, — Contemporaries, III. §§ 158-168, 185 ; MacDonald, Select Documents, nos. 46-68, American History Leaflets, nos. 24, 30 ; Old South Leaflets, nos. 106, 130 ; Ames, State Documents on Federal Belations, no. 4, pp. 32-60 ; Johnston, American Orations, I. 233-334, IV. 202-237. See N. Eng. Hist. Teachers' Ass'n, Syllabus, 345-348, — Historical Sources, § 84. A. E. Barr, Bemember the Alamo ; Kirk Munroe, With Crockett and Bowie ; C. A. Davis, Letters of J. Downing, Major (satire on Jackson); Simms, Bichard Hurdis, — Border Beagles (interior). Wilson, American People, IV. ; Sparks, Expansion. Sources Illustrative works Pictures CHAPTER XXII. SOCIAL AND SECTIONAL CONDITIONS (1831-1841) Side by side with the growth of democracy went a stronger feeling of public responsibility toward the poor, the weak, the 285 Hu- friendless, and even the criminal. People began to see manitarian that brutality to prisoners begets brutality to free men, and that an object of punishment is to reform. The first modern prison was the Eastern Penitentiary at Philadel- phia (finished just before 1830), where, in order to prevent one criminal from contaminating another, the prisoners were shut up in separate cells. The poor debtor also enlisted the sympathy of the com- munity, especially when an old Revolutionary sol- dier was found who had been in jail for seven years on a debt of less than five dollars. In the course of the twenties and thirties all the states and the federal govern- ment passed laws releas- ing debtors who had noth- ing with which to pay. Hospitals, clean and well-kept poorhouses, orphan asylums, and institutions for the deaf, dumb, and blind, also began to spring up; and in 1841 came forward a great woman, Dorothea Dix, who made it the Dorothea Dix in 1850. From an engraving. SOCIAL AND SECTIONAL CONDITIONS (1831-1841) 339 object of her life to persuade people that it was the duty of the state governments to provide public asylums for the care of the insane. Interest sprang up in other neglected classes first in the poor children, for whom the Sunday school had originally been founded. In 1807 some Williams College stu- dents became interested in the heathen of other lands, and stirred up the country to form mission societies. For that service each of the great denominations eventually created its own boards, and home missionary societies were formed for work on the frontier. In the thirties and forties came also a new movement for public education. Massachusetts, under the guidance of Horace Mann, woke up in 1837 to the fact that she 2g6 Edu had wretched schoolhouses, dull text-books, untrained cational -r^ , t ^- reform teachers, and ill-disciplined pupils. Public sentiment was aroused in the state, the school system was improved, the people began to tax themselves more freely, and a state Board of Education was formed. The first normal school for the training of teachers was established in 1839. These ideas spread from state to state ; and New York and Pennsylvania for the first time established thoroughgoing systems of rural schools. The system of state universities was developed in 1825 by the founding of the University of Virginia (in which Jefferson was specially interested), the first American institution on the German model, offering a variety of elective studies. In the thirties Michigan established the so-called " Epistemiad," which developed into a state university. In 1837 there were over seventy-five endowed colleges in the country, besides twelve state universities and various kinds of special and technical schools. West Point Military Academy was founded in 1802, the Naval Academy in 1846, and law and medical schools by 1840 were numerous. This was also a period of the foundation or enlargement of 340 SECTIONALISM libraries — the Astor in New York, the Mercantile in Philadel- phia, the Athenaeum in Boston, and many others. Museums of art and science were opened in many cities, and the lyceum system of public lectures brought into towns and villages the most eminent men of the time. Within the churches new duties were assumed, new socie- ties were founded, and several denominations were divided 287. The From 1800 to about 1830 the Unitarian movement in anafmoral New England separated the Congregational Church into reform two ecclesiastical bodies. The Presbyterian Church, in 1837, split on doctrinal questions into " New School " and " Old School." The Methodist Church, in 1844, divided into a northern and a southern church, and the Baptist Church also showed a disposition to divide. The Catholic Church was much increased by steady immigration, especially from Ireland and Germany. Up to about 1840 spirituous liquor was used freely by all classes : harvest hands received it ; it was a part of the regular ration at sea; and it was freely served even at funerals. The Washingtonian societies, founded in 1840, agreed to use liquor in moderation, and from that it was a short step to total abstinence, and in 1846 to the " Maine Law," the first of the state prohibition laws. A strong movement began about 1830 for " Woman's Rights," in which Frances Wright, and later Lucy Stone, Susan B. Anthony, and others were leaders. Their demand for good schools for girls was heard ; girls were admitted to the public schools, then into high schools ; academies were founded for them ; and in 1833 Oberlin College was opened to women. The movement soon spread to a demand for woman suffrage, which, however, was nowhere granted till more than a generation later. "Not a leading man but has a draft of a new community in his waistcoat pocket," said Emerson. From 1820 to 1840 scores of societies undertook to end sin and poverty by some SOCIAL AND SECTIONAL CONDITIONS (1831-1841) 341 new form of what was really monastic life. For instance, Robert Owen, an English enthusiast, came over and 2gg E h founded " The New Harmony Community of Equality " of com- in Indiana (1824), in which the men and women wore a unities uniform, and the community undertook to bring up the chil- dren. The older Shaker societies by 1826 numbered 5000 souls. Shaker Dance, about 1830. (From a contemporary print.) The most remarkable communal society was the Mormon Church, founded by Joseph Smith of Palmyra, New York, in 1829. In 1830 he published what he called the Book of Mor- mon, which he alleged to be a miraculously preserved account of the settlement of America by the lost tribes of Israel. He and his followers built a temple at Kirtland, Ohio ; in 1837 moved to Missouri ; and soon after to Nauvoo, Illinois, where they built up a city of ten thousand adherents. The neighbor- hood disliked the Mormons, and Smith was killed by a mob in 1844. Two years later most of the Mormons moved to Utah. A memorable example of the new community spirit was a little gathering of men and women at Brook Farm in Massa- chusetts, from 1841 to 1847. They agreed to perform the work 342 SECTIONALISM of the household and the farm, and to spend their leisure hours in the training of their minds. Among the members or visitors of this group were James Russell Lowell, Ealph Waldo Emer- son, Charles A. Dana, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. The commu- nity dissolved, for it could not support itself by such labor ; but its intellectual stimulus was felt in the whole country. Until about 1830 most of the American essays, poems, novels, and criticisms were simply imitations of English writers. 289. Ameri- Even Washington Irving was intellectually an English- can litera- man of the school of Addison and Goldsmith, but he found American subjects, and his Knickerbocker's His- tory of New York (published 1809) is one of the most delight- ful of American satires. Of novelists the only widely known American at that time was James Fenimore Cooper, who began in 1821 to publish his entrancing novels of Indian life and char- acter. In 1833 Edgar Allan Poe began his wonderful tales. Wil- liam Cullen Byrant in 1811, when seventeen years old, touched the height of his genius in his poem of Thanatopsis. Other great Nathaniel Hawthorne, writers, such as Hawthorne and Lowell, though they began to publish at this time, reached their zenith later. A school of American historians arose with the bold undertaking of George Bancroft to write the history of America from the beginnings, of which the first volumes came out in 1834 ; and a little later (1837) appeared William H. Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella. Another important book was the first edition of Noah Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language, published in 1828. Educated Americans were great readers of the English quarterly reviews; and in 1815 was established the North SOCIAL AND SECTIONAL CONDITIONS (1831-1841) 343 American Review, for many years an intellectual force. News- papers began to improve, and between 1833 and 1841 were founded the New York Daily Sun, the first one-cent newspaper ; the New York Herald, which set a standard of the search for news ; and Horace Greeley's New York Tribune, an example of breezy personal journalism. They were reenforced in 1849 by the Associated Press, which furnished information to a great number of papers. The era of social reform extended very slowly to the South, which was not willing to harbor new ideas that might upset its rigid class system. The 3,700,000 whites of 290. South- the South in 1830 were divided into three social strata. ern societ y (1) At the summit stood from 25,000 to 30,000 members of the families of large slaveholders ; in a few cases one mas- ter owned as many as a thousand slaves. These people were the social and political aristocracy ; they furnished the gov- ernors, the judges, the representatives in Congress, and the senators. (2) About 630,000 people belonged to families each holding from one to four slaves : together with perhaps 500,000 prosperous nonslaveholding white farmers, they made up the ordinary community. (3) The poor whites, numbering about 2,500,000, had neither slaves nor property, except rough land and miserable buildings, and except in some mountain com- munities never dreamed of using their votes against the slave- holding aristocracy. Below all the whites were 180,000 free negroes, a despised and unhappy class, without political rights, held responsible for most of the petty crimes, and not allowed to move 291. Slave about freely. At the bottom of society were 2,000,000 life African slaves, the people from whose physical toil came most of the wealth and consequence of their masters. On the conditions of slave life there is an immense mass of conflicting testimony. Fanny Kemble, English wife of a Georgia planter, complained of sick slave women in hospital 344 SECTIONALISM " prostrate on the earth, without bedstead, bed mattress or pil- low." She saw her husband's slaves, including sick women, Kemble, going to the field in S an g s > each with a slave driver Journal, armed with a whip. 102, 316 C i £ ,, She saw a perfectly faithful slave given over to a new master who, in a few hours, was to carry him away forever from his father, mother, and wife. At the other ex- treme is the picture of slavery in Virginia drawn by Pollard — the white and the black boys grow- ing up together, friends and playmates; the mas- ter listening to the com- plaints of his slaves ; and Fanny Kemble, about 1830. the white mistress, sweet and stately, counseling the young and Pollard, protecting the aged. " I love the simple and unadulterated Black Dia- slave, with his geniality, his mirth, his swagger, and his nonsense ; I love to look upon his countenance, shining with content and grease; I love to study his affectionate heart." These views conflict, but are not contradictory, for there were many gradations of slavery. On some plantations the slaves were felt to be members of the family ; on other plan- tations the life of the slaves was a round of dull misery, interspersed with thoughtless gayety. The house slaves were well fed, had light tasks, and were often petted by their masters; the field slaves were often overworked and abused. The right to own a slave included the absolute right to sell him, and there was no legal obligation to sell families as a whole; hence, heartbreaking scenes of separation at the monds SOCIAL AND SECTIONAL CONDITIONS (1831-1841) 345 auction block; yet the next day the slave, torn from his family, might be cheerfully fiddling on his way to the dreaded far South. About 1800 the value of slave labor was small, but by 1830 cotton made it profitable. The prices of slaves rose, and bor- der states like Maryland, Virginia, and Kentucky found 292 Ar ready sale for their surplus slaves in the cotton states. ments for Hence, from the earlier idea that slavery was an evil to be got rid of, the southern people came to believe that it was an evil which could not be shaken off; then, that it was a good thing which ought to be extended ; and gradually a line of justification of slavery was worked out, which may be ana- lyzed as follows : — (1) That the negro was physically and mentally inferior to the white man, so that the theory of the equality of mankind did not apply ; and that the only way to keep southern society together was to hold the negro a slave under such incitements as seemed necessary to keep him at work. (2) That the slave was happiest and best off when somebody else fed him, clothed him, and cared for him in old age. (3) That the good of the whites required slavery, for it would be impossible to clear the land without forced labor; and slavery gave to the white race a sense of responsibility and mastery. (4) That the Scriptures authorized slavery: Noah said, "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be Genesis unto his brethren ; " Abraham held slaves bought with **• 25 money ; St. Paul sent a fugitive slave, Onesimus, home to his master ; Christ " taught many slaves, but never attempted to free any slaves." (5) That slavery was necessary for democratic government, because it set the master free to attend to his political duties. As Calhoun put it, " Slavery forms the most solid and dura- ble foundation on which to erect free institutions." 346 SECTIONALISM Some of the most frequent objections to slavery were as follows : — 293. Anti- 0-) That the effect on the whites was to cultivate a slavery fierce and passionate temper: no man could be safely- trusted with such power of life and death, and of torture hardly less than death. (2) That slavery was a denial to the negro of the oppor- tunity to assert the manhood that was in him : southern laws, forbidding people to teach negroes to read and write, were a standing proof that their minds were so far as possible kept debased and ignorant. (3) That the oft-reported horrors of the system were proofs of its natural tendency to cruelty. For example, the breaking up of families by sale was an inseparable part of the system, so that true marriage and the care of a family were impos- sible. (4) That slavery had many economic disadvantages : it was expensive ; it was wasteful ; it used up the land ; it could not be applied to any kind of machinery ; it was not advanta- geous even to the masters, as was shown by the poverty of the South. (5) That slavery was contrary to humanity, to the princi- ples of Christianity and the practice of the church throughout the ages, and also to the whole theory of natural rights and democratic government. As Lincoln put it, "No man is good enough to govern another without the other's consent." (6) That the alleged content and well-being of the slave did not lessen his inborn desire for freedom, as was shown by the runaway negro, who admitted that he had been well fed, well clothed, kindly treated, and trusted by his master. When he was asked why on earth he ran away, he replied quietly, " The situation am vacant ! " It was a fair question why, if slavery was such a good thing, no free men, white or black, wanted to accept it. SOCIAL AND SECTIONAL CONDITIONS (1831-1841) 347 Various causes combined to bring the question of slavery to public attention about 1830 : — (1) The discontent of the slaves, as shown by three 2 94 The risings : the Gabriel insurrection in Virginia in 1800 ; a rise of tlle plan to destroy Charleston, formed in 1820 by Denmark i sts Vesey, a free negro; a bloody insurrection in South- (1830-1840) ampton, Virginia (1831), under Nat Turner, a slave. (2) The disposition of the South to enlarge the boundaries and the influence of slavery, and the consequent appearance of men like John Quincy Adams, who worked to prevent the extension of slavery. (3) The question of the relative strength of the free and slaveholding sections of the country in the Senate, as affected by the admission of new states. (4) The spread of humanitarian reform through societies, which at last reached the slavery question. Though the south- ern abolition movement suddenly collapsed about the year 1830, within ten years one thousand northern abolition socie- ties were formed with about forty thousand members; and they demanded the immediate and absolute emancipation of all the slaves. Two kinds of people, often not clearly distinguished, took ground against slavery : the antislavery men, who wished at least to prevent its extension; and the abolitionists, who wanted to destroy it where it already existed. Among the abolitionists there were three groups : western, middle state, and New England: (1) The western abolition societies were started chiefly by former slaveholders, who crossed the Ohio River to get away from the system. Such were Rev. John Rankin and James G. Birney. (2) The middle state abolition- ists were strong in Philadelphia, New York city, and central New York, and included men like Arthur and Louis Tappan and Gerrit Smith, who had money and freely gave it for the cause. (3) The New England group included Wendell 348 SECTIONALISM Phillips, the abolition orator; John Greenleaf Whittier, the abolition poet; Theodore Parker, the abolition parson; and later James Russell Lowell, the abolition satirist. Among the hundreds of northern agitators, William Lloyd Garrison, by his intense devotion to the cause, has somehow 295 Wil- come to be accepted as the typical abolitionist, although liam Lloyd ne differed with everybody else, and always represented G ft 1*1*1 s on the extreme * ne extremest principles. Garrison was born at New- abolitionist buryport, Massachusetts (1805), became a printer, and wandered about the country. In 1830 he went to jail in Baltimore for too freely criticising a slave trader. In Jan- uary, 1831, Garrison founded in Boston a little paper which he called the Liberator, and which speedily became one of the best-known and worst-hated papers in the country. From the platform of principles which he published in the first number, he never swerved throughout his life. He " deter- mined, at every hazard, to lift up the standard of emancipation in the eyes of the nation." Garrison was a one-sided and prejudiced man, who never could see that the slaveholder was anything but a robber and murderer ; but he compelled people to listen to him, even when he refused to have anything to do with the federal govern- ment, because it protected slavery ; and he publicly burned the Constitution of the United States, calling it — in scriptural language — "a covenant with death and an agreement with hell." The abolitionists had a very effective method of agitation. Local societies were federated in a state society, which held 296. The an annual meeting; and into an annual national conven- abohtion ^- Meetings and local conventions were held from movement & (1830-1840) time to time to arouse public sentiment, and women and negroes sat on the stage and took part in the exercises. The societies prepared petitions to the state legislatures, and to Congress, and did everything they could to interest people SOCIAL AND SECTIONAL CONDITIONS (1831-1841) 349 and to make them abolitionists. Newspapers were founded, tracts, books, and almanacs were prepared, and freely illus- trated with pictures of the horrors of slavery ; and one college, Oberlin, admitted negro students and became the western center of the abolition sentiment. Meetings, societies, and publications all caused an astonish- ing uproar. In the South, practically nobody was allowed to advocate abolition; in the North the sensitive population expressed its horror of the abolitionists by riots. In 1835 an antislavery meeting in Boston was broken up by a mob, which laid hold of Garrison, tied a rope about his body, dragged him through the streets, and tried to kill him. In 1837 another persistent agitator and editor, Elijah Lovejoy, was murdered by a mob in Alton, Illinois, because he persisted in publishing an antislavery paper even in a free state. Colored schools were broken up, and in New York and Philadelphia colored settle- ments were attacked. Nobody was more hated and despised than the abolitionist. The abolition societies adopted the practice of sending peti- tions asking Congress to prohibit slavery in the District of Columbia, and in 1835 William Slade of Vermont made the 297. Slav- first abolition speech in Congress. This led to a series of ei c on g r ess so-called gag resolutions (1836-1844) by which the House (1835-1844) forbade any debate on antislavery petitions. The attempt to stop discussion aroused John Quincy Adams, who be- lieved that his constituents and their representatives on the floors of Congress, had the right to argue in the public press on any subject. In 1837, and again in 1842, attempts were made to pass a vote of censure on him in the House; but Adams warned Congress that if they attempted to stop petitions by censuring the member who presented them, " they would have the people coming besieging, not beseeching." The first western abolitionist member of Congress, Joshua R. Giddings of Ohio, appeared in 1838, and he made it the main purpose 350 SECTIONALISM of his life to bring about slavery debates on all sorts of side questions, in spite of an attempt (1842) to close his lips by a vote of censure. Broadway, New York, in 1830. (From a contemporary print.) Side by side with the political development of Jackson's administration went a great movement of humanitarian and 298. Sum- religious reform. People at last had grown sympathetic mary wifcn tlie poor ^ ^ jg norantj tne defective, the criminal, and the slave; they were trying all kinds of experiments; and they invented new sorts of societies and "causes." The most important of the humanitarian movements was that of the abolitionists; and it was fiercely sectional, be- cause the northern states were just getting rid of the last vestiges of slavery, and the South was on the whole well con- tented to have slavery. Since the agitators were all north of Mason and Dixon's line, and the thing to be reformed was all south of it, the Southerners looked on abolition as a wicked method of making them trouble. The abolitionists took the SOCIAL AND SECTIONAL CONDITIONS (1831-1841) 351 ground that slavery was a national evil, so long as the federal government recognized it and protected it ; and therefore that it was a concern of the northern people as well as of the southern. Then they discovered that the place to preach the evils of slavery was in Congress. There was no stopping them, without giving up the right of free discussion ; but from the time the abolitionists were fairly at work, the North and the South were estranged. TOPICS (1) Why should not people be imprisoned for debt ? (2) Why Suggestive should libraries be established out of public funds ? (3) Influence of pi Brook Farm. (4) Washington Irving as a literary man. (5) James Fenimore Cooper as a literary man. (6) Edgar Allan Poe as a literary man. (7) Why did the poor whites vote with the great slaveholders ? (8) Why did abolitionists cease agitation in the South about 1830 ? (9) Why did the attacks on the abolitionists swell their numbers ? (10) John Quincy Adams's objections to slavery. (11) Public services of Dorothea Dix. (12) Origin of normal schools in America. (13) Education at West Point. (14) The lyceum system. (15) Split in the Methodist Church in 1844. (16) Movement for foreign missions. (17) Washingtonian societies. (18) Joseph Smith's character. (19) Life in a wealthy slaveholding house- hold. (20) Bright side of slavery. (21) Dark side of slavery. (22) Scriptural argument in favor of slavery. (23) Argument that slavery was good for the negro. (24) Stories told by fugitive slaves. (25) Prosecution for teaching negroes to read. REFERENCES Hart, Slavery and Abolition. Geography Wilson, Division and Beunion, §§ 53-57, 60-66 ; Hart, Slavery Secondary and Abolition ; Sparks, Expansion, 290-290, 376-418 ; Rhodes, authorities United States, I. 40-75, 303-383 ; Schouler, United States, III. 507-531, IV. 1-31, 199-229; McMaster, United States, IV". 522- 569, V. 82-108, 184-226, 284-372 ; Adams, United States, IX. 175- 187, 198-242 ; Earned, History for Ready Reference, IV. 2927, 2935, 2943, V. 3369, 3373, 3375 ; Page, Old South, 57-92, 143-185 ; Brown, Lower South, 16-49; Smith, Liberty and Free- soil Parties, hart's amer. hist. — 21 Search topics 352 SECTIONALISM 1-47 ; Wendell, Literary History of America, 157-435; Morse, J. Q. Adams, 242-308 ; Hoist, J. C. Calhoun, 121-199 ; Roosevelt, T. H. Benton, 140-151 ; Hart, S. P. Chase, 28-91 ; Schurz, Henry Clay, II. 71-87, 153-171 ; Chesnutt, Frederick Douglass, 1-74, 107-118 ; Birney, James G. Birney ; Sanborn, B. W. Emerson ; Burton, J. G. Whittier. See also references to chapter xiv. Sources Hart, Source Book, §§ 94-101, — Contemporaries, III. §§ 151- 157, 169-184, — Source Readers, III. §§ 12, 13, 26, 28, 105-115, IV. §§ 1-11; MacDonald, Select Documents, no. 69; American History Leaflets, no. 10; Old South Leaflets, nos. 78, 79, 81, 109; Caldwell, Survey, 148-156 ; Johnston, American Orations, II. 102- 122 ; Douglass, Life and Times ; May, Antislavery Conflict ; Olm- sted, Seaboard Slave States ; Quincy, Figures of the Past ; Smedes, Southern Planter, 17-189. See N. Eng. Hist. Teachers' Ass'n, Syllabus, 348, — Historical Sources, § 85. Illustrative Longfellow, Poems on Slavery ; Whittier, Antislavery Poems, works 9-94, — Snow Bound ; Lowell, Wendell Phillips, — W. L. Garrison, — On the Capture of Fugitive Slaves near Washington ; Morgan Bates, Martin Brook (abolition) ; H. P. Belt, Mirage of Promise (abolition) ; Holmes, Elsie Venner (N.E.) ; Lucy Larcom, New England Girlhood) E. E. Hale, New England Boyhood; Haw- thorne, Blithedale Bomance ; T. B. Aldrich, Story of a Bad Boy (N.E.) ; D. G. Mitchell, Doctor Johns (Conn.); Lily Dougall, Mormon Prophet; A. W. Tourge"e, Button's Inn (Mormons) ; M. S. Tiernan, Suzette (Va.) ; A. B. Longstreet, Georgia Scenes ; R. M. Johnston, Old Times in Middle Georgia ; J. C. Harris, Uncle Bemus ; H. B. Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin ; Edward Eggleston, Hoosier Schoolmaster, — The Gray sons (West) ; Joseph Kirkland, Zury, — The McVeys (West). Pictures Sparks, Expansion ; Wilson, American People, IV. CHAPTER XXIII. RENEWED EXPANSION (1841-1847) The abolition controversy did not yet disturb the course of party politics. In the campaign of 1840 the Democrats nomi- nated Van Buren for a second term. The an ti- Jackson 299. The men, who had now formally taken the name of the Whig lg Tyler party, nominated William Henry Harrison of Ohio for (1840-1842) President, and John Tyler of Virginia, a discontented Demo- crat, for Vice President. The Whigs expected to reestablish the national bank, appropriate money for internal improve- ments, and, if possible, revive a protective tariff. It was a boisterous campaign, full of great mass meetings. Somebody said that Harrison was fit only to sit in his log cabin and drink hard cider ; the Whigs took up the slur ; and log cabins on wheels, amply provided with barrels of hard cider, were used as a popular argument to voters. The Demo- crats were really beaten by the panic of 1837, for hard times still continued. Harrison was chosen by 234 electoral votes to 60 for Van Buren, on a popular majority of about 140,000; and the Whigs secured both houses of the next Congress. A month after his inauguration Harrison died, and John Tyler succeeded to the presidency. Though elected by the Whigs he did not accept their principles, and vetoed (August and September, 1841) two successive bills intended to restore the main features of the old United States Bank ; where- upon every member of his Cabinet, except Webster, resigned. Tyler also came into collision with the party Whigs over the tariff. Though the Compromise of 1833 was to have taken full effect in ,1842, they were determined to substitute 353 354 SECTIONALISM a high protective measure. Tyler vetoed two bills, but finally signed the tariff of 1842, which went back substantially to the scale of the tariff of 1832, raised the average duties from about 24 per cent to 35 per cent, and completely upset the Compromise of 1833. Throughout the remainder of his ad- ministration Tyler quarreled with Congress. About this time the progress of popular government led to two serious disturbances in the states. The holders of land 300. Dis- in the old Dutch patroonates in New York paid to the in the states descendants of the patroons an annual ground rent, or (1839-1844) "quitrent," of from $7 to $18 a year for each hundred acres. In 1839 these tenants began to refuse payment, to hold "Anti-Rent" meetings, to parade the country in masks and disguises, and to attack and kill sheriffs and rent payers. After several years of agitation the landlords agreed to accept lump money payments from the former tenants. A Contemporary Cartoon of the Dorr Rebellion, 1812. A more alarming popular movement arose in Rhode Island because no one could vote there except a "freeman," — that is, a man holding real estate worth $134, .or renting for $7 a RENEWED EXPANSION (1841-1847) 355 year, — or the eldest son of such a man. A "People's Party," including both freemen and non-voters, held a convention in 1841 to adopt a more liberal state constitution, took a popular vote on it, declared it adopted, and elected Thomas W. Dorr as governor. Dorr attempted by force to take possession of the state property (1842), but his men would not stand. The governor under the old charter vainly called on President Tyler to send United States troops to help him; but Dorr was tried for treason and sen- tenced to imprisonment. Practically he accom- plished his work, for the suffrage was at once en- larged by the regular gov- ernment. Other sorts of land ques- tions and territorial ques- tions made the years 301. North- 1841 to 1845 mo- hoVi J™j mentous. One of (1783-1842) them was a renewed con- troversy with Great Northeast Boundary Controversy. Britain over the Maine boundary. By the treaty of 1783 the line was to run " from the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, viz. that angle which is formed by a line drawn due north from the source of Saint Croix River to the Highlands ; along the said Highlands which divide those rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the north westernmost head of Connecticut River." It was soon found that the two governments did not agree as to 356 SECTIONALISM what stream was the St. Croix, nor where to locate the north- west angle, nor where the Highlands were, nor even what was meant by " Atlantic Ocean." In 1821 the line was run from the Atlantic to a point called Mars Hill ; the British insisted that the " Highlands " lay there, and the Americans insisted that they were beyond the St. John River. After a vain attempt at arbitration (1827-1831), the state of Maine in the " Aroostook War " (1838) attempted to seize part of the disputed territory. Webster remained in Tyler's Cabinet long enough to settle this question: in 1842 he negotiated the Webster-Ashburtou treaty, by which the disputed territory was divided, and each party got about half. The settlement was creditable and satis- factory to both sides, and ended a controversy which threatened to bring on war. Until about 1820, the interior of North America was still little known ; but in that year Major Long explored part of the Rocky Mountain chain, and from that time trade developed on what was called the Santa Fe trail, a road leading south- westward from the Missouri River to the Rio Grande (p. 324). In 1832 Bonneville's party went as far west as Great Salt Lake, crossing the Rockies with a wagon train, and some of them reached the Pacific. Farther north the American Fur Trading Company in the twenties opened up a route to Oregon ; and in 1834 Nathaniel 302 Ex- J* Wyeth of Massachusetts guided a party of settlers to plorations Fort Hall, north of Great Salt Lake, and thence to r i 0r Oregon. In 1836 Dr. Marcus W T hitman and other mis- (1820-1845) sionaries to the northern Indians went out along this route. In the winter of 1842-1843 Dr. Whitman came east from Oregon by a dangerous, roundabout route, partly on busi- ness of the mission, partly because he supposed that Webster was willing to give up all claims to Oregon. There was no such danger ; the country was awake to the importance of a RENEWED EXPANSION (1841-1847) 357 Pacific outlet ; and there is no contemporary evidence to show that Whitman saw Webster or influenced the President. In 1843 he joined an expedition formed by other people and with it returned to Oregon. A young army officer named John C. Fremont, aided by good guides, in the forties made three long explorations westward. In the first (1842) he went up the Platte River to its head waters, and crossed over the Rocky Mountain divide by the South Pass to the head waters of the Colorado. In 1843 he went through the mountains via Great Salt Lake to Oregon, and then across the Sierra Nevada to California. In 1845 he was sent off with an armed party and again reached California. He was a poor explorer, and made no proper surveys ; but he was a son-in-law of Senator Benton of Mis- souri, young, dashing, and good-looking, and got the name of " Pathfinder " for his exploits. One of Tyler's lines of policy was to annex Texas ; and he made John C. Calhoun Secretary of State for that express purpose. Calhoun negotiated a treaty of annexation 303. Ques- ( April 12, 1844), which was rejected in the Senate by a ^exas vote of 35 to 16 ; and the scheme went over. The argu- (1844) ments in favor of annexation were : (1) that the Texans were simply Americans across the border; (2) that Texas was a rich and fertile country which would add wealth to the Union ; (3) that annexation was a natural form of expansion ; (4) that it was simply a " reannexation " of territory rightly a part of the Union from 1803 to 1819 ; (5) that it would retain for the slaveholders a needed control of the Senate. Both the antislavery people and the abolitionists violently opposed annexation : (1) because it would bring into the Union more territory to be a field of slavery ; (2) because it would give to the slaveholding influence perpetual control of the national government ; (3) because it would probably bring on war with Mexico. 358 SECTIONALISM The question of Texas came up again in the campaign of 1844. The natural candidates were Clay and Van Buren, both 304. An- of whom publicly declaimed against annexation. Clay Texas 10n ° was unanimousl y nominated by the Whigs. In the (1844-1845) Democratic convention Van Buren had at first a majority of the delegates, but was deprived of his nomination by the unexpected readoption of the two-thirds rule; and James K. Polk of Tennessee was nominated because he was known to favor annexation. The Democratic platform declared for " the reoccupation of Oregon and the reannexation of Texas at the mies earliest practicable period." Clay then felt compelled Register, to change his ground by saying that he would be glad to see Texas annexed, " without dishonor, without war, with the common consent of the Union, and upon just and fair terms." The Liberty or Abolition party nominated James G. Birney, but in the election of 1844 got only 62,000 popular votes against 1,299,000 for Clay and 1,337,000 for Polk; yet it decided the national election by deliberately drawing off enough Clay votes in New York to throw that close state for Polk, whose electoral vote was 170 to 105 for Clay. The Liberty men hoped thus to compel the Whigs to take anti- slavery ground. Congress and President Tyler did not wait for the new administration : since annexation seemed to have the approval of the majority of the people, a joint resolution passed the House by a vote of 120 to 98, and the Senate by 27 to 25 (March 1, 1845), permitting the admission of Texas as a state on very favorable terms. No territory had ever before been annexed by this method; but Texas accepted and came into the Union as a full-fledged state in December, 1845. Under the terms of the joint resolution, she retained all her public lands, and might later, with her own consent, be subdivided into five states, all presumably slave states, except that slavery RENEWED EXPANSION (1841-1847) 359 was to be prohibited in the new state or states north of the line of 36° 30'. As to the Mexican boundary, the joint resolution took no ground ; but President Polk's theory was that Texas included everything that Texas claimed; that is, all the terri- tory as far as the Rio Grande. Few Presidents have been so successful in carrying out what they undertook as James K. Polk, Tyler's successor. He was born in 1795, was a graduate of the University of North 305. James ' , r xl -u- * K. Polk and Carolina, was fourteen years a member ot the House ot his policy Representatives (four years Speaker), and then for one (1845-1849) term governor of Tennessee. He had large public experience, and an imperious and far-reaching mind. The defect of Polk's character was his lack of moral principle as to the property of our neighbor, Mexico. His diary shows clearly that his real intentions and purposes were very different from those which he put forward in public. From the first he meant not only to annex Texas, but to add to the Union the enormous belt of territory stretching from the Gulf to the Pacific, to gain the port of San Francisco for Pacific trade, and to turn over the greater part of the new territories to slavery. A strong Democratic majority appeared in both houses of Congress in 1845-1846, and speedily repealed the recent Whig financial legislation. The Independent Treasury sys- 306 Tariff tern, which had been repealed by the Whigs in 1841, was and finance restored; and the treasury has ever since remained the principal custodian of public funds. Robert J. Walker, Sec- retary of the Treasury, drafted and presented to Congress a measure which became law as the tariff of July 30, 1846. The duties on luxuries were very high, reaching 100 per cent on brandy and spirits ; on ordinary manufactures they were only about 30 per cent ; the average on dutiable goods was about 25 per cent ; and the annual proceeds in a few years were twice as great as those of the tariff of 1842. For Polk's designs on California it was highly desirable to 360 SECTIONALISM settle the long-standing controversy with Great Britain over Oregon, a name then applied to the whole Pacific slope from 307. The California to the Russian possessions. By extinguish- boundary in S the s P anisn claims (1819) and the Eussian (1824), (1818-1846) the United States and Great Britain were left the sole competitors for this fine country. The claims of the United States rested on: (1) discovery by Captain Gray (1792) j (2) first T I s1^\ c c^^MJjfTA; &3m Northwest Boundary Controversy. exploration by Lewis and Clark (1805) ; (3) first settlement by Astor (1811) ; (4) first permanent settlement, in the Willamette valley (1832). The British claim was based chiefly on the establishment of posts by the Hudson's Bay Company, but that company persistently kept out permanent settlers. In 1826 Great Britain offered to divide the Oregon country on the line of the Columbia and Kootenai rivers ; and between RENEWED EXPANSION (1841-1847) 361 .1818 and 1846 the United States repeatedly offered to extend to the Pacific the 49th parallel, which was already the boundary as far west as the Rocky Mountains; nevertheless a Democratic campaign cry in 1844 was "Fifty-four Forty, or Fight"; that is, a claim to the whole coast as far north as Russian America. It was therefore a surprise to the country when (June, 1846) Polk made a treaty accepting the compromise line of the 49th parallel, from the Rocky Mountains to the coast of Puget Sound; and the northwestern controversy was thus settled after fifty-four years of dispute. The understanding with Great Britain came because Presi- dent Polk had no mind to fight two wars at once, and for many reasons he expected a war with Mexico : (1) The annexa- 308 0ut . tion of Texas in 1845 caused the Mexican government to bre ^ e ° f ic ^ make boisterous threats, on the ground that Texas was ' war still Mexican territory, threats that could easily have been (1845-1846) settled by a little diplomacy. (2) Mexico had been exaspera- tingly slow in settling claims for outrages against the persons and property of Americans ; and those claims were now hard pressed by Polk. (3) Mexico absolutely rejected the bound- ary claimed by the Texan constitution of 1836 ; in fact, this included part of the old province of New Mexico and the town of Santa Fe, which was no more Texan than St. Louis (4) Polk was determined to annex California, by any means ; and he secretly instructed our consul at Monterey, near San Francisco, to do all in his power to induce the native Calif or- nians to revolt, just as the Texans had done. Polk was willing to get what he wanted without fighting, and in 1845 he sent John Slidell to Mexico to buy California if pos- sible. The Mexicans would not even receive him, and made preparations for war. Without waiting to hear from Slidell, Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor, who was stationed at Corpus Christi on the Nueces River, to advance with his troops to the Rio Grande, where he closed the trade of the river with 362 SECTIONALISM his guns. The inevitable collision came April 24, 1846, when the Mexicans attacked a body of American cavalrymen on the northern or eastern side of the Rio Grande. SCALE OF MILES 100 200 300 400 5 1 Col. Kearny's route 2 Gen. Taylor's " Gen. Scott's " Mexican War. Polk prepared a message to Congress, demanding war, on the ground that the claims were not settled, and that Slidell had been rejected. Before it was sent in, dispatches from Taylor announced the Mexican attack, and in a special message of May 11, 1846, Polk did not scruple to declare that "War exists, and, notwithstanding all our efforts to avoid it, exists RENEWED EXPANSION (1841-1847) 363 by the act of Mexico herself." Two days later Congress passed an act "for the prosecution of the existing war," because "by the act of the Republic of Mexico a state of war exists." The wrath of the antislavery men over the pur- pose of enlarging the slave power was expressed by James Russell Lowell in the fiercest satire of his Biglow Papers : — " They may talk o' Freedom's airy Till they're pupple in the face, It's a grand gret cemetary Fer the barthrights of our race, They jest want this Calif orny So's to lug new slave- \ states in To abuse ye, an' to scorn ye, An' to plunder ye like sin ! " James Russell Lowell, about 1880. The war was not fairly begun before President Polk tried to purchase a peace through General Santa Anna, formerly dictator of the Mexican republic; and he asked Con- 309 Wil _ gress for $2,000,000 to be used for "negotiations" mot Proviso (1846-1849) (August 4, 1846). The absolute determination of the North not to take in more slave territory was expressed by an amendment of David Wilmot of Pennsylvania, which was added by the House to the " Two Million Bill." This " Wilmot Proviso " declared that, " As an express and fundamental Congres- condition to the acquisition of any territory . . . neither 8l0 ^gjP l j^ slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any p. 273 part of the said territory." The bill failed through a tech- nicality; but the South was aroused. Abraham Lincoln, in 364 SECTIONALISM 1847-1849, voted in Congress forty-two times for the principle of the Wilmot Proviso; but he voted in vain, for the Senate always showed an adverse majority. Though the Mexican War was begun on false pretexts, and for the unrighteous purpose of the conquest of California, it 310. Prog- was carried on brilliantly by land and sea. General Tay- Mexi