New school history of the United States

Preface

Eleven years and more have elapsed since the first publication of this text-book. This period has witnessed a series of grave transactions, and a surprising- increase of the population, productions, and wealth of the country. It seemed indispensable to extend the narrative to the completion of the century since the surrender of the British at Yorktown assured American Independence.

To do this, it was necessary to contract the story throughout, so that the volume might be kept within suitable limits. Matters of secondary importance have been omitted, and greater brevity of statement has been introduced where practicable, particularly in the earlier periods and the War of Secession. There is no longer necessity or propriety in treating the late mournful struggle with the same fulness as before. Moreover, the wondrous perspective of time has already diminished the prominence of many events, and has suffered minor details to melt into the haze of the receding landscape.

Advantage has been taken of the necessity for abridgment, to remodel the narrative in many ways, so as to adapt it more thoroughly to its purpose, without adding to its size. It has thus been rendered virtually a new work, while retaining much of its former appearance. The changes of disposition will be at once apparent, and will, it is hoped, be approved. Other changes have been made. The paragraphs have been shortened, the structure of the sentences simplified, the expression adapted to the ready comprehension of young pupils. The multiplication of dates and their introduction into the text, however needful for accurate knowledge, are apt to confuse the reader. Only the most important dates have been retained, and they have been transferred to the margin.

PREFACE.

Pronunciations of the more difficult proper names are given in parentheses, as most convenient for the pupil. The questions for recitation and for review (in the former volume) have been omitted. Heavy-faced paragraph headings and numerous short catch lines readily suggest the subjects for recitation ; and the Summary of Topics which follows each Part will be found practically serviceable in study, recitation, and review.

Synchronal Charts of the chief periods are substituted for the full Chronological Tables formerly given. The number of maps has been increased, and maps illustrating the War of 1812, the War of Secession, and Territorial Growth have been introduced.

Numerous foot-notes have been added. They do not belong to the History, but they quicken its appreciation, and they heighten its interest, by supplying explanations, personal details, and various anecdotes.

Thanks are due and are tendered to the many correspondents who have pointed out errors, or made valuable suggestions. Such communications have been received with respect, and weighed with care. It is gratifying to know, after more than ten years' experience, that so few errors have been discovered, and that no charge of partiality or prejudice, of sectional or political discoloration, has been brought from any quarter. The purpose expressed in the Preface to the original work has been faithfully pursued :

" A just and impartial text-book was required ; and this is an endeavor to supply one not consciously partisan or sectional. It may not be free from errors or blemishes, but it observes the precept, * Nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice.'"

CO NTE NTS.

PART I. — Introduction. page The New World and its Native Inhabitants 7

The Discovery of America 15

Spanish Colonization 20

French Exploration and Settlement. 22

Dutch and Swedish Settlement 24

Summary of Topics — Part 1 27

PART II.— The English Colonies. First English Attempts at Colonization 28

The Virginia Colony 31

The New England Colonies 41

The Maryland Colony 51

Virginia from 1660 to 1750. 53

The New England Colonies after the Restoration 58

New Jersey and Delaware .... 65

Settlement of Pennsylvania 66

North and South Carolina 68

The Great French and Indian War 74

Condition of the English Colonies before the Revolution 81

Summary of Topics — Part II 88

PART III. — The Revolutionary Period. The Approach of Revolution , . 92

The Revolution. — First Year 104

Second Year of the Revolution no

Third Year of the Revolution 119

Fourth Year of the Revolution 128

Fifth Year of the Revolution 134

Sixth Year of the Revolution 139

Seventh Year of the Revolution 148

The Establishment of the United States 156

Summary of Topics — Part III 161

PART IV. — The Republic Established. Washington's Administration 163

Administration of John Adams 168

Administration of Thomas Jefferson - . . 171

Administration of James Madison 177

The War of 18 12 with Great Britain 178

First Administration of James Monroe 191

Summary of Topics — ^Part IV 195

Contents

PAGE

PART V. — Progress of the Republic. Monroe's Second Administration igy

Administration of John Quincy Adams ig8

Administration of Andrew Jackson igg

Administration of Martin Van Buren 203

Administration of William Henry Harrison and John Tyler 204

Administration of James K. Polk. — The Mexican War 208

Administration of Zachary Taylor 215

Administration of Millard Fillmore 216

Administration of Franklin Pierce 217

Administration of James Buchanan 220

Summary of Topics — Part V 227

PART VI. — War of Secession. — Reconstruction and Growth. Administration of Abraham Lincoln. — First Year of the War 229

Second Year of the War 236

Third Year of the War 243

Fourth Year of the War 249

Close of Lincoln's Administration. — End of the War 257

Reconstruction. — Administration of Andrew Johnson 263

Administration of General Grant 268

Second Term of Grant's Administration 274

Administration of Rutherford B. Hayes 280

Administration of James A. Garfield.. , . 286

Administration of Chester A. Arthur 288

The Centuiy of Independence 290

Summary of Topics — Part VI. 300

The Declaration of Independence 306

The Constitution of the United States of America 310

LIST OF MAPS.

AT PAGE

I. Discoveries, Explorations, and Ethnographic Map of the Indian

Tribes of the United States a.d. 1600 15

II. French Claims in 1750, and the United States at the close of

the Revolution 93

III. War of 1812 179

IV. The United States in 1820 195

V. The War of Secession 231

VI. The United States in 1880 287

VII. Territorial Growth of the United States 299

LIST OF CHARTS, Etc.

I. Synchronal Chart of American Discovery and Colonization. ... 27

11. Synchronal Chart of the American Revolution 157

III. Synchronal Chart of the War of 1812 189

IV. Synchronal Chart of the War of Secession 257

V. Settlement and Admission of the States 304

VI. The Territories of the United States 305

VII. Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the United States 305

History of the United States.

Part I.— Introductory. The New World

I. The United States

is now one of the greatest nations of the world.

In size and in population it is fourth on the roll of nations. It covers three milhons and a half of square miles, and numbers over fifty millions of

inhabitants. It stretches across the continent of North America, and occupies the middle and most favored regions. By the purchase of Alaska from Russia its frontier was carried to Behrmg's Strait and the Arctic Sea. The extent of the

S HISTOR V OF THE UNITED STA TES. .

territory ; the fertility of the soil ; the variety and abundance of the productions ; the number, freedom, and industry of the people, have rendered its inhabitants rich and powerful."^ ^' There are none to make them afraid."

This vast domain has been won and occupied only by degrees. The process of settlement is still going on. The chief advancement has been made in little more than a hundred years. The youth of the United States should learn how their country has been acquired ; and by what means it has grown great, and populous, and thriving. The story will be told in The History of the United States.

2. The Western Hemisphere, or New World, which includes North and South America, w^as for thousands of years unknown to the nations cf the Old World. Ages had passed away before it was clearly found out that another half of the globe lay beyond the Atlantic. Less than four hundred years have elapsed since the existence of America was revealed to the people of Europe.

THE NATIVE INHABITANTS OF THE NEW WORLD.

3. Native Tribes, called Indians,! had been, during the * previous centuries, in possession of America. Their origin has not been ascertained. Some of their legends, and other indications, point to North-eastern Asia as tke region whence they came. Yet this is only conjecture. Their earliest civilization has been referred to Egypt, to the Lost Tribes of the Jew^s, and to Phoenician traders. They have been supposed to be descendants of the people of Atlantis, a large island in the ocean spoken of by Plato. Strange stories have been received among themselves : that they swarmed up, like locusts, from

* The term ''United States" may be correctly used either as a singular or as a plural noun. When it designates the country, or the territory, it is appropriately treated as a compound designation, and as singular. When it applies to the political system, as a federation of States, it is better to use it as a plural, and it is so employed in the strict language of diplomacy, as in Art. IX. of the Treaty of Ghent.

t It was supposed that India had been reached when the New World was dis' covered.

NATIVE INHABITANTS.

the ground ; that they came out of a tiole ; that they crawled up by the roots of a grape-vine ; that they fell from the moon. All is dark and uncertain.

4. Most of these tribes were rude savages when first visited by Europeans. But in Mexico, Central America, and Peru a remarkable degree of civilization had been reached. There the native population had regular government, orderly society and law^, vast temples, great roads, the habit of cultivating the soil, and various arts of usefulness or luxury.

5. Traces of early and half-civilized races are scattered over the continent, and especially in the valleys of the Mississippi and its tributary streams. These monuments are of various kinds : pyramids, altars, temples, fortifications, mounds, tombs, earth figures of animals, crosses and crescents, furrowed

GRAVE CREEK MOUND, WEST VIRGINIA.* land, pottery, implements of stone and of copper, and rude sculptures. The "great serpent " on the Miami is 1,000 feet long, and is raised five feet above the level of the ground. It cannot be ascertained when these " Mound Builders " occu-

* This mound is 70 feet in height by 900 feet in circumference. Excavations and explorations have been made, disclosing vaults, human skeletons, and ornaments.

HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.

pied the country. It is equally unknown whence they derived their arts. They must have existed at a very remote period, as old forests have grown over the buried remains.

6. The Indians, within the original limits of the United States, were all savages^ but savage in different degrees. They surrounded with constant dangers the new-comers who crossed the Atlantic to seize upon their lands. They engaged in frequent and bloody wars with them. In peace there was always reason to fear stealthy attack and midnight murder.

7. The complexion of the Indians is usually reddishbrown or copper-colored. Hence they have been called Red

Men. They are of moderate height, straight and active.

Their features are generally regular.

Their cheek - bones are high, like those of the Tartars. Their hair is long, coarse, and black. They have little beard, or none at all. They are capable of much exertion, and of great endurance, without being able to undergo the fatigue of steady labor.

8. The senses of the Indian are keen, and are sharpened by the habit of their lives. Their observation of outward things is quick and accurate. They

INDIANS AND WIGWAM.

THE AMERICAN INDIANS,

II discern signs on the grass and in the woods which escape the notice of more cultivated races. They are daring and selfpossessed ; treacherous, vindictive, and cruel. They are stern and dignified in bearing, and are always cautious and reserved before strangers.

9. They had no houses and no regular occupationo

They dwelt in huts made of branches of trees, or in tents covered with bark, or with the skins of wild animals. These they set up where grass and water, game or fish, invited them to bide for a time. They removed to other, and often distant places, whenever the failure of provisions, or other motives rendered a change of abode desirable. They got their main support by hunting and fishing. They cultivated only small patches of ground, on which they raised Indian - corn, or maize, melons of various kinds, tobacco, and a few other plants, for food or for indulgence. They were a rude, a lazy, and a roving people, scarcely thinking of the morrow,

and seldom providing axN Indian chief.

sufficient maintenance for the winter or even for the next day.

10. War was the Indian's joy. He fought for his hunting grounds ; he fought for revenge ; he fought for glory. He fought for the admiration of his tribe and of his women. He fought for the sake of fighting, and to become expert in the use of his arms. He decked himself for battle, with paint and feathers and other ornaments. His weapons were spear and bow, and tomahawk and scalping-knife. He was bloodthirsty, and full of trick and cunning. He tore the scalp from his wounded or slaughtered foe, to hang it as a trophy in his wigwam or hut. He put his prisoners to death with slow and varied tortures. He danced round them and reviled them in their agony, while they sang their death-song and chanted their own praises in the midst of their sufferings.

11. Hunting was his chief employment. By this he procured his sustenance, his clothing, his ornaments, and the covering for his wigwam and his bed. Buffalo and other animals furnished him with food and dress, and shelter and warmth. He had neither flocks nor herds ; neither horse nor cow. He had no tame animal but his dog. He had no plough, no harrow, no spade, no cart. He had few tools or utensils. What he had were of stone, or earthenware, or wood. If his boat was made out of a log^ not of bark or hides, he hollowed it out with a flint axe and with fire. He was ignorant of the use of iron, and tipped his arrows wath stone flakes. He had some knowledge of copper, which had been employed by the Mound Builders.

His arms were axe and spear, and shield and bow, But naught of iron did he seem to know ; For all his cutting tools were edged with flint, Or with soft copper, that soon turned and bent.

12. The women performed the harsh labors of daily life. They were bought as brides, and sold as daughters. They carried home the game, skinned it, and cut it up. They dressed the skins. They gathered the fuel, made the fire, and cooked the meat. They planted and hoed the ground, and harvested

THE AMERICAN INDIANS.

the crop. On the journeys they were burdened with the babies, the cooking pots, and the tents. They did all the drudgery of the camp, and experienced constant neglect.

Little attention was paid to the children after their infancy. They were only taught to imitate in play the serious actions of their parents.

13. The Indians had little religion and less government. They sacrificed to the Powers of Evil, and had only a dim notion of a good and supreme God. They had some superstitious rites and ceremonies and charms. They expected, after death, to join their ancestors in The Happy Land," and to renew beyond the grave the warfare and the chase which had occupied them on earth. To fit them for the long and lonely journey, their bow, their quiver, their tomahawk, their bowl and pipe, with com, venison, and tobacco, were entombed with them. The life of the other world was deemed a continuation of the life in this. They had no political constitution.

They were bound together in families and tribes by a supposed relationship of blood.

They knew no law, and were restrained by a few customs. They had no courts, no judges, no rulers. The Chief, the Sachem,* and the Medicine Man, were the only authorities. Obedience was not enforced. It was yielded purely of free-will.

14. Letters and the art of writing were entirely unknown. Symbols and

INDIAN BOW, ARROW, ETC.

* All leaders in war were called chiefs, and were elected. The Sachem was a

HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.

signs, and strings of shells/" and rough paintings on rocks or skins, were employed, to some extent, as means of communication or commemoration. The Cherokee, Sequoy'ah, called also George Guess, was the first to invent, about sixty years ago, signs for his people's language. The Indians, however, possess a Gesture Language, by which different tribes are enabled to hold intercourse with each other.

15. Four great stocks, or families, embrace nearly all the Indians that were found east of the Mississippi. These are the Algonquin, the Iroquois, the Appalachee, and the Cher okee. The Chico'ras, the Catawbas, the Yem'assees, the lichees', and the Natchez, are not included in the four stocks. West of the Mississippi were the Daco'tahs, the Shoshonees', the Ap'aches, the Coman'ches, and the numerous indistinct tribes of the Rocky Mountains and of the Pacific slope. Of the Eastern Indians, the Iroquois had advanced furthest in social order and the arts of life. They formed a regular confederation, named, first, the Five, and afterwards, the Six Nations.

16. The Indians are supposed to be all of one race,t

with the single exception of the Esquimaux. Great differences of appearance, of disposition, of culture, and of language separate the several groups. The hair is always of the same peculiar character, and a like structure prevails through the numerous languages and dialects.

17. The first English settlers came in contact with

various branches of the Algonquin stock along the Atlantic coast.]; The descendants of these settlers nov/ cover the continent from the eastern to the western ocean. Their native antagonists have disappeared like dev/ from the prairie, and permanent chief of the tribe. His office was usually hereditary ; but "he might be set aside.

Seawan, or Wampum, is the name of such strinrjs. t This has been questioned in recent 3"carc.

X Powhatans', Delawares, Manhattans, Mohicans, Pequods, Narragansetts, etc.

DISCO VER V OF AMERICA, have dwindled away to less than half a mihion in the whole wide territory of the United States.^

THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA.

18. Early visits to America are reported in numerous traditions. They are, for the most part, wild dreams. Plato's fable of Atlantis has been already mentioned. Other fables are equally vain. The expedition of the Welsh prince, Madoc, in the latter half of the twelfth century, is as visionary as the story of St. Brandan's Isle.f More respect may, perhaps, be paid to the statement that Buddhists, from Central Asia, visited America in the fifth century. The tale of Icelandic and Norwegian explorations and settlements on the coasts of Greenland and the shores of New England, in the tenth and eleventh centuries,^ is better founded. They did not come to the knowledge of the rest of Europe. The history of America begins only in the last years of the fifteenth century.

19 The beautiful city of Genoa fronts the northern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It is sheltered from bleak winds by the chain of the Apennines. Its commerce, its wealth, and its power obtained for it the designation of Genoa the Proud. The epithet was justified by the splendor of its palaces and by the daring of its citizens. Much of its greatness had been lost in the middle of the fifteenth century. Yet

* The number reported to the Commissioners of Indian Affairs in i58i was 246,417, exclusive of Alaska.

+ St. Brandan's Isle v\-as that appearance of clouds or haze on the horizon, resembling land, which is now familiar to seamen as Cape Fly- Away. It often deceived the navigators of the Atlantic, who mistook it for a nevv^ country' in the West, which they pursued, but could not reach, as it retained its distance or vanished from them.

X These Scandinavian discoveries are now extensively beheved. It has been supposed that the communication with Greenland v/as interrupted by a great change of climate and by vast icebergs, about 1350.

l6 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.

it still had many vessels at sea. It still traded with the East and with the West. It still waged w^ar with the Sultans of Constantinople, with the Caliphs of Egypt, and with the pirates who plundered the shores of Italy, and captured Christians to sell them as slaves to the Turks. 20. In this city a boy was born, about the year 14403

COLUMBUS.

who lived to do greater things than had ever been achieved in his native State in the days of its highest renown."^ He was named Christopher Columbus. He was brought up in

* The Genoese are credited with an early attempt to discover land beyond the Atlantic ; but the authority for the statement is not g-iven.

*' The Genoese * * made an effort in the year 1291 to obtain that discovery of a new world westward which their countr^^man Columbus effected two centuries later. * * They sent out two galleys for this important purpose, under Theodosius Doria and Ugolin Vivaldo, who were directed to sail far westward, without the Straits of Gibraltar, in quest of new countries ; but they were never heard of more."

DISCOVERY OF AMERICA, poverty ; in the midst of political strife and change and adventure. While very young he became a sailor, and was engaged in the naval warfare with the corsairs of Barbary, and with the Ottoman Turks, who had recently conquered Constantinople, and subdued the last remnant of the old Empire of Rome.

21. In one of his voyages Columbus was wrecked off the southern coast of Portugal. He saved his life by swimming, and reached Lisbon, the capital of the kingdom, where his brother was employed as a maker of maps and dealer in charts. A great demand for these had sprung up in consequence of the geographical discoveries and exploring voyages of the Portuguese. Christopher Columbus joined his brother in his occupations, and devoted himself to the study of geographical explorations, especially of those connected with the Atlantic Ocean.

22. Columbus became convinced that India and the eastern shores of Asia could be most readily reached by sailing West across the Atlantic. He apphed to different States and sovereigns for the means of undertaking such a voyage, and thus determining the truth of his conclusions. He wrote, he travelled, he sent messengers to entreat public support for his enterprise, as he was too poor to make the experiment without aid. He is said to have first applied to the city of his birth ; he applied to the King of Portugal ; he applied to the sovereigns of Aragon and Castile, but was treated with ridicule. He sent his brother to England to seek the assistance of Henry VII. His brother was captured on his way by pirates. Columbus was leaving the Spanish court to beg help from the King of France, when he was recalled by Queen Isabella of Castile, who promised to assist and befriend him. She and her husband, Ferdinand of Aragon, had just completed the conquest of the last Moorish kingdom in Spain.

23. The favor of the Queen led others to promote l8 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, the undertaking. She gave less than ten thousand dollars to the great enterprise, but this small sum secured the experiment."^ A few friends and hopeful adventurers supplied the further means requisite for fitting out a small expedition to attempt the passage of the Atlantic and a western voyage to the coast of Asia.

Three small vessels, scarcely larger than modern pilot-boats,f were made ready at Palos, a small port in the south-east of Spain. With these Columbus set out, in August, 1492. Week after week passed drearily by. Calms delayed progress. Winds came from the wrong quarter, and drove the ships out of their course. No land appeared. The hearts of the sailors sank within them. They feared that they would never return to their homes — would never see any shore again ; but would drift on the measureless waters till their provisions were consumed, or would go down in the midst of the ocean and be heard of no more. Columbus with difficulty persuaded them to continue the voyage. Soon his persuasions lost their power.

24. Columbus noticed green branches floating on the waters, and land birds flying about. He hoped that a few days might bring him in sight of some shore. Before the appointed time had expired, a distant light was seen ; next morning land was discovered. The weary voyagers landed on the 12th of October, on an island named Guanahani {gii'a/inah-hah nee). It is a small island among the Bahamas.

Possession of the new country was solemnly taken in the name of the Queen of Castile. Columbus received presents of gold from the natives, and sailed in search cf the regions whence the gold came. He discovered Cuba, which he took to be Japan, and St. Domingo, named by him Hispaniola

* The actual amount contributed by the Queen, or, according to the official entry, only lent, is variously stated by different authors. By some it is put as high as $17,000 or $18,000 ; by others, as low as $3,500. Its value in present purchasing power has been estimated at as much as $50,000.

t The Santa Maria {77tak-ree' ah) ^ of about one hundred tons burden, the Pinta {peen'tah) and Mina {mee'nak)^ both smaller.

DISCOVERY OF AMERICA.

(Little Spain), where he built a fort. He then returned to Spain. He was welcomed by the King and Queen with high honors. He was appointed Admiral and Governor-General of the countries which he had discovered, or might afterwards discover.

25. Columbus made three other voyages vath the hope of reaching the main land of Asia. He thought Cuba, St. Domingo, and the islands around them belonged to that continent. Hence they were called the West Indies, and the native inhabitants w^ere named Indians.

From his second exp edition Columbus was recalled by calumnies at home occasioned by disturbances in the colony.

On the third voyage he discovered the mainland of South America and the mouth of the great river Orinoco.

On the fourth voyage he coasted along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, still seeking a passage to the amerigo tespucci. spice regions of Asia. He suffered many hardships and indigo nities, and came back to Spain, after an absence of more than two years, broken in health, in spirit, and in fortune. He soon died, without obtaining redress.* His remains are said to be buried in the Cathedral of Havana.

* In 1500, Columbus had been sent home in chains. When the captain of the vessel conveying him wished to remove them, he replied : " I will wear them as a memento of the gratitude of princes."

HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.

26. The Continent of North America was discovered by the Cabots, sailing under the English flag, a year before South America was reached by Columbus. In 1499, Amerigo Vespucci {ves-poot'chee), a Florentine, voyaging in company with Ojeda {o-hatha), coasted along the Southern Continent. From him America received its name.

SPANISH COLONIZATION.

27. The gold brought home by Columbus, and the

larger quantities afterwards sent to Spain by Spanish explorers, excited the greed and quickened the spirit of adventure among the Spanish people. Multitudes followed the course of the setting sun, in the hope of sudden wealth. New islands and new tracts of the continent were discovered. The natives were made to work in the mines, where they perished under the hard tasks and severe labor imposed upon them by unmerciful masters. A benevolent priest, Las Casas, desirous of saving them from destruction, recommended the employment of captured Africans in their stead. This was the beginning of negro slavery and of the slave-trade in America.

28. The discovery of North America by Sebastian Cabot led to no immediate result, for all lands discovered in the West had been granted to Spain by the Pope.*

Brazil was acquired accidentally by Portugal, notwithstanding this grant.

In half a century the Spanish dominions embraced the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, the islands of the Caribbean Sea, the lower valley of the Mississippi, the great Empire of Mexico, and the extensive tract, rich in gold and silver and

* A bull had been issued in favor of Portugal, by Pope Nicholas V., in January, 14:4. The grant was designed to cover all discoveries along the coast of Africa. Similar grants had been made to that crown twice before by Martin V. The bull to Spain was given by Alexander VI., in May, 1493, and conceded to it the new world discovered by Columbus."

SPANISH COLONIZATION,

Other wealth, between the Andes and the Pacific. The islands of Cuba and Porto Rico alone remain now in the possession of Spain.

29. Great energy, daring, endurance, and skill were shown in gaining these vast territories. The cruelty, brutality, and greed of the adventurers surpassed even their courage. The story of the conquest is full of surprising events, and is as wonderful as the wonders of romance.

Balboa, an outlaw, was the first European who saw the great South Sea, or Pacific Ocean.

Fernando Cortez overthrew the Empire of Mexico, and took possession of its wide and rich domains.

Francisco Pizarro dethroned the Incas, or native monarchs, of Peru, and conquered the regions subject to their sceptre.

Ponce de Leon [pdii thd-dd-la on) sought in Florida the Fountain of Youth, to relieve him from old age."^

Ferdinand de Soto advanced from the shores of Florida^ through Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, fighting his way with disastrous loss through successive Indian tribes. He discovered and crossed the mighty river Mississippi, and was buried beneath its waters.