The making of the American nation; a book for American boys and girls

Front matter

QlLJVIAN'S

Historical Riders

THE • MAKING- OF-THE AMERICAN • NATION

Contents

Chapter Page

I. The Americans object to certain Taxes . . 7

II. The Americans talk about Union . . . 13

Chapter I. The Americans Object To Certain Taxes

Y the year 1763 the authority of England was supreme over the great territory east of the Mississippi River. It was her sailors who first proved the existence of the continent. Her daring explorers had very early seen the importance of the " Adantic slope," as the strip of land is called which for a long period comprised the greatest cities, towns, and commercial interests of the Western World. Now they had won it.

The men who peopled this region had most of them come from England, because they had been oppressed there. They wanted more freedom of

8 AMERICANS MUST HAVE LIBERTY.

action, and they found it. Such men were not inclined to submit quietly to a lessening of the liberty they had fled from their mother-country to obtain. Least of all would they submit to an effort to limit their freedom when put forth by the king under whose government they had suffered. That the king, his ministers, and the parliament had interfered in the affairs of the colonists in a way that they did not like, we have already seen.

The Americans had no desire to be represented in the home government, and they did not complain that they were constrained in their personal liberty; but they objected to the navigation laws that kept them from buying and selling where they pleased, and they complained that they were arbitrarily taxed in vexatious ways.

Benjamin Franklin, of whom we shall have much to say, was a Boston boy who was brought up as a printer, and afterward lived in Philadelphia. He became a very important citizen in the capital of Pennsylvania. The people there saw that his head was clear, that he was wise, and not afraid of anybody. He printed a newspaper, he published an almanac that contained many wise sayings, he founded a great

1757.] ENGLAND IN WANT OF MONEY. 9

library, he became postmaster, and at last, when the people thought that they were treated unjustly by the proprietors of Pennsylvania in regard to taxes, he was sent to London to stand up for them. (1757.)

Franklin was successful in his plea, but he heard a doctrine expressed by one of the king's ministers that set him to thinking. This man said that the king was the lawmaker for America, and that the people were not to be allowed to interfere with the execution of his will.

Another remark made by the same minister showed more plainly how the colonies were looked upon in England. "America," said he, "must not do anything to interfere with Great Britain in the markets of Europe." Franklin replied that if the Americans were to be permitted only to plant seeds and reap crops, but not to sell them, the king might as well send ships and bring them back to England.

Great Britain was very much in need of money in those days. The war with France in the time of William and Mary had obliged the government to borrow large sums, and the other war, which closed in 1 7 13, added much more to the nation's expenses. The government could not pay its debt. It has not paid lO FRANKLIN EXAMINED IN LONDON. [1766.

it yet. To pay even the interest was a great burden upon the jjeoplc.

Meantime America was growing larger and richer. It occurred to the ministers that considerable sums might be taken from the Americans to help pay the interest on the English debt. The colonists were already taxed " for the regulation of trade," as it was expressed. They began to think that if their laws were to be made by the king, and he was also to tell them how much they should pay in taxes, there would be litde liberty left for them.

The people were not so much dissatisfied with what they called "external" taxes as they were with those that they called " internal." They were willing that England should oblige them to pay a duty on goods that were coming to America, because when they arrived they might refuse to buy them ; but they did not like to pay taxes on commerce levied by means of stamps, which were to be applied to papers that were used for business purposes.

When Franklin was in London, in 1 766, he was examined in the House of Commons and asked a great many questions about the Americans. He replied plainly, and said that though the temper of

ENGLISH RIGHTS UNDER THE MAGNA CHARTA. II

the colonists toward the government in England had been the best in the world before 1763, the year that the French had been finally defeated, it changed very much as soon as the new stamp taxes were threatened.

Before that time, he said, the Americans had been governed at the expense of a little pen, ink, and paper; they had been drawn by a thread. He said that they never would pay the stamp duty, nor any " internal " tax established by the parliament, because they had no representation in that body, as other Englishmen had. He added that there was not enough gold and silver coin in America to pay such a duty.

Five hundred years before the time of Franklin an English king had solemnly promised that his people should always have certain rights, and he had signed a great Charter, called the Magna Cliarta^ in testimony of his agreement. The same promise had been repeated by Charles the First, and by King William, in two documents known as the Petition of Rights and the Bill of Rights. These great laws declared, among other things, that the people should never be taxed without the

12 AMERICANS TROUD OF THEIR OLD CLOTHES.

consent of their representatives. Franklin said that the colonists trusted that these laws should protect them.

There were two other remarks of his that we ought not to forget. He said that a good deal of money was owed to him in America, but that if it was only to be obtained by using stamped paper, he would rather give it all up. Finally he was asked, —

"What used to be the pride of the Americans?"

" To indulge in the fashions and manufactures of Great Britain."

"What is now their pride?"

"To wear their old clothes over again until they can make new ones."

This satisfied the English that the Americans were in earnest, but it did not keep them from trying to force a tax law upon them.

Chapter II. The Americans Talk About Union

HE intention of the British government was to make all American trade profitable to England only; and next to govern the colonies from England, not allowing the inhabitants any voice in the matter. Of course the cost of keeping up the American government was to be paid by the colonists in taxes. The ministers of the king told the English people that taxes upon the Americans would make their own lighter, as I have shown. They were mistaken in thinking that the colonists would bear

o

such an imposition.

Notice was sent a year in advance to America that a " stamp act," as it was called, was to be passed. This was a mistake, for it gave the Americans all that time to prepare their minds for resistance. They had

14 MASSACHUSETTS STIRRED UP. [1760.

been much excited before. Duties had been laid on sugar and molasses as early as 1733, and the people had been forbidden to sell hats abroad, or to make rolling"-mills or iron-furnaces at home. It had proved quite difficult to collect American taxes, and in 1760 officers were authorized to enter men's houses or shops to seek for goods that ought to have paid some duty. Judges gave them "writs of assistance " as their authority. You may imagine Americans did not like such laws.

James Otis of Boston gave up his connection with the government of office Avhich obliged him to enforce this law. He then went into court and argued with great eloquence against carrying it out. He filled the people who heard him with such feelings that they seemed ready to take up arms immediately to oppose the new laws. That is said to have been the time when our independence was born. Americans never forgot the words of Otis.

As soon as one colony had spoken out, others made their complaints. Virginia was stirred up against other laws about trade ; and New York was aggrieved because a judge had been appointed to hold office as long as the king thought best, instead

1765.] A STAMP ACT PASSED. 1 5

of during his good behavior. You may be sure the people were watching all agents of the English government carefully.

In 1765 the stamp act was actually passed by parliament. The English thought that it would be peacefully submitted to. They were mistaken. The Americans immediately saw that they would be much stronger in their opposition if they were to unite. They had thought of it before, we know ; but it required great danger to bring them together. When men, or even children, agree to work or play together for any purpose, they find it necessary to do some things that they do not all fancy. They have to give up to one another somewhat. They must be enough in earnest about the work that they wish to unite to do, or they will not be willing to give up enough to succeed. So it was that the colonists were only able to work together when there was a very great danger before them.

The New England colonies had once had a union ; but we know that it was not easy for them to keep together in a time of peace. William Penn had proposed an annual congress to regulate American trade, as long ago as 1697; Franklin had afterward l6 VIRGINIA PASSES RESOLUTIONS. [1765.

presented his plan for a perpetual union. It was at the meeting- of men from the different colonies to take measures for protecting themselves against the Indians in 1754; but the people were too jealous of their rights to give up anything to the government that was proposed.

Of course, if a body of men join together for any work, they must choose some of their number to manage the business. They cannot all do it. If they try that they soon find out their mistake. For this reason each has to give up a share of his power to the officers chosen.

Affairs were in such a state that the Americans thought of union again. When it was known that the stamp act had actually been passed, the legislature of Virginia met and voted that such taxes were not allowed by the Magna Cliarta, nor by the other laws granting freedom to Englishmen. A messenger was hurried off to Boston, to bear the resolution to the people there. On the way he passed another carrying from Massachusetts to Virginia and Carolina an invitation to a congress.

Before a congress could be got together the vessel bringing the news that the act was really a law

AMERICANS WARM ONE TOWARD ANOTHER. 1/

arrived, and the excitement was deepened. New York announced that it would stand by the other colonies. The people prepared to dress in homespun, to raise more flax, and not to eat lamb, so that there might be more sheep to furnish wool to be made into cloth. Everybody was determined to make the duty that England should collect as small possible, — if indeed they permitted her to collect any at all. The men were warm toward one another. They began to feel as though they belonged to the same country, and that not England.

Chapter III. Some Virginian Neighbors

IHE Americans were settled at considerable distances from one another. Neighbors in the same colony were not very near together ; neighboring colonies were much farther apart than they look to us on the map now. We think of Baltimore and Washington as separated but by an hour ; and of Philadelphia and New York as places so near that we may breakfast in one city and lunch in the other. We think nothinof of breakfastinof in Boston and dining in New York. We go to Chicago and back again from the Atlantic coast in a part of a week. We must not think so of the different colonies in the early times.

Virginia was neighbor to Pennsylvania ; but it was not without difficulty that one traveled from Phila-

i8

1763.] PARSONS AND TOBACCO. IQ

delphia to Williamsburg, which was the capital of the Old Dominion at the time we are now interested in. Jamestown had been burned during the Bacon rebellion, and Richmond did not become the capital until later. There was a considerable difference between the neighbors in the colonies.

I wish that I mio-ht have been at Williamsburcr in 1763. Patrick Henry, a young man of not quite thirty, was there. He had been chosen to represent the people as a member of the house of Burgesses, or as we should say, if speaking of another state, of the house of Representatives.

Two years before this he had become famous by gaining a celebrated law case in the Hanover court-house. It was called the " Parsons' Case." By an old law each clergyman was entided to a salary of sixteen thousand pounds of tobacco, but now the people did not wish to pay it, because tobacco had risen in value. They wished to pay money at the old rates. The bishop of London told the clergymen not to take the money, but to force the people to give them the tobacco. It seemed to be merely a matter of money ; but it grew to be a question between the government of England and the Virginians, because

20 AN AWKWARD-LOOKING MAN. [1763.

the king took sides with the bishop. The people did not hke to have a king and a bishop across the water tell them how much they should pay their clergymen.

Patrick Henry took the side of the people. He came into the court one December morning, and saw before him twenty of the most learned clergymen of the colony. It made no difference to him ; he intended to stand up for the colonists, whom he thought the clergy wished to oppress. He was an awkward, rough-looking man. I can imagine that the clergymen did not think there was much to fear from him.

He rose and began to speak slowly and apparently timidly, and they exchanged sly looks with each other. As he spoke, his mind became interested in his subject. He began to talk of the "right" that every man has to choose his own government ; and he argued that not the king, nor the parliament of England, nor the clergy in Virginia, had any right to override good laws that Virginians had made. Becoming excited, he said, " A king who does such a thing is not a good father to his people ; he is a tyrant, and has no longer a right to obedience ! "

We cannot imagine the tumult that such fiery words excited at a time when every American

1763.] CHEEKS FLUSHED AND TEARS FLOWED. 21

was ready to believe that king and clergy were oppressors. The lawyer for the clergy cried out, "The gendeman has spoken treason," and some royalists in the crowd murmured, "Treason! treason ! treason!" Royalists were struck with horror. "It was inflammatory, it was seditious"; — "there never was worse said in the worst days of ancient Rome," the people thought.

Nevertheless, the great throng listened in silence to hear what was coming next. Every seat was filled ; the window-sills were occupied ; and all bent forward to catch the lowest whisper of the bold young man. Their cheeks flushed and their tears flowed in anger. He pleaded for liberty, and he won the day. The jury thought as Henry did. The crowd thronged around the young and awkward farmer, for he was a farmer as well as a lawyer ; they bore him out of the building on their shoulders and carried him around the yard in triumph.

This is the "burgess" that I wish I could have seen at Williamsburg in 1765. Thomas Jefferson was there. He was a young student of law under George Wythe, who also was a member of the body. It is thoueht that Georee Washington was in his

22 YOUNG HENRY TAKES THE LEAD. [1765.

place as a member. Richard Henry Lee was there. All of these men were under forty years of age. Jefferson was only twenty-two. Then it was that a sio-nal was oriven to the continent,

Patrick Henry started the fire of patriotism which was destined to spread throughout every colony. He rose to speak on those resolutions that I have told you of, in favor of the natural rights of Virginians. The debate was stormy. Threats were uttered. Wythe was accustomed to guide the burgesses ; but this time young Henry took the direction from him. While the older members reasoned with firmness, he spoke with fire and zeal. All at once he broke out, as he mentioned the dangers about a king, " Tarquin and CcEsar each had his Brutus ; Charles the First his Cromwell ; and George the Third — " Here the speaker paused, and the cry of "Treason! treason! " was heard from all parts of the house.

When the uproar ceased, Henry raised himself to his utmost height, fastened his piercing eyes upon the chairman, and added, " — may profit by their example ! " Then again pausing a few seconds, he closed by saying emphatically, " If this be treason, make the most of it ! "

THE THRILL OF HENRY'S WORDS.

Thus Virginia rang' the alarm-bell. Think you that Jefferson, and Wythe, and Lee, and the other burgesses, ever forgot the thrill of Patrick Henry's words? Jefferson, indeed, said afterward, "Henry is the greatest orator that ever lived ! "

Chapter IV. The Neighbors The Friends

HERE was a great difference between the habits and modes of hving of the colonists i in Virginia and Pennsylvania. The Friends passed quiet and peaceful lives ; they did not have the terrible troubles with the Indians that many other colonists suffered ; they had not been so much oppressed by their governors ; they naturally did not feel the same deep indignation against England and her king that some of the colonists expressed.

The wealthy Virginians drove in their stately coaches with six horses from their quiet country homes to Williamsburg, when the burgesses sat there, and when they wished to hear the eloquence of Henry, or some other favorite. They discussed the king and the bishops, the court and the fash- 24

SIMPLE COLONIAL LIFE. 2$

ions ; they compared notes regarding the pleasures of the chase, the last barbecue, the dances and the balls, and lived a gay and somewhat careless life of pleasure. It was as much like life at the English court as it could be in a new land.

With the Friends it was not so. Philadelphia, their capital, was a place of trade. Many of the people had great estates, and there were city dwellers who had gained considerable fortunes; but their wealth would seem small indeed to their descendants now. There was more reading, more studyinor more books, better schools, and more sio-ns of progress in general than there were in the South. The Friends dressed in the quiet colors, and their clothes were of the quaint cut, with which we are familiar. Many of them lived above their shops with their wives and children, and enjoyed the cheerful balconies which looked over pretty gardens. Life was very simple ; they dined at noon, made calls in the afternoon, and drank tea at sunset. The wives and daughters kept shop as well as the men, or they worked embroidery ; but they had their amusements also. There were assemblies, and sleighing, and skating ; fishing-parties, and even the theater.

26 FRANKLIN GOES TO ENGLAND. [1764.

In fashionable circles, the men who were not Friends wore laced hats and coats, and carried swords. There was a great display of color by both men and women of this class. Red coats for men and boys were common, and the dresses of high ladies were sprawled over with flowers of every hue. The Friends had much influence in keeping society quiet and orderly, though they did not control everything.

Probably there was more liberty in Pennsylvania than in any other colony ; and this is a reason why there was not an intense wish to resist England. Franklin, it is true, went to plead for the Pennsylvanians against the laws of the Proprietors, but they were not desirous of being the leaders in opposition. They willingly agreed not to use the articles from which England hoped to get an income from the colonies, and they gave much good counsel at every step of the struggle with the mother-country. Pennsylvania gave Franklin to the cause, and his advice was of the greatest possible value. He stood up for them before the king himself in his own court.

On the third of October, 1765, the mufiled bell

1765.] DOLEFUL SOUNDS IN PHILADELPHIA. 2/

of the State House in Philadelphia was rung, muffled drums were beaten in the streets, and the feet of the people kept time to the doleful sounds as they steadily tramped through the city to demand the resignation of the stamp distributor. It was obtained, and the king's officer wrote, " If Great Britain suffers such conduct to pass unpunished, a man need not be a prophet nor the son of a prophet to see clearly that the empire in North America is at an end."

Chapter V. The Neighbors At Manhattan

HEN the colony of New York became English in name it did not become English in reality. The hold of the Dutch upon it was strong. Though no more immigrants came from Holland, the greater portion of the whites at the time we are writing of were descendants of the original settlers. The patroons still kept up their state, and accumulated riches. Agriculture and trade were the great interests of the people. Albany, Schenectady, and New York were important centers of business. Nowhere was there stronger or more steady opposition to the British government. It was not strange that men who had been passed from one king to another should have no kindly feelings toward their second master.

1765.] THE CONGRESS AT NEW YORK. 29

The delegates chosen by the colonies met at New York in October, 1765. The first question to be settled concerned the ground on which the claim for American liberties should be based. Otis, who was sent from Boston, was instructed to base it on the freedom of the colonies, and on the charters.

There was present a Mr. Gadsden from South Carolina, who had been one of the leaders in arranging for the meeting. He did not agree with this plan. He thought that if any claim were based on charters there would be differences among the colonists, as there were in the terms of the charters. He said, and he was very earnest in saying it, that all the colonists ought to stand together on the same basis. This, he thouorht, should be the natural rights that they all felt and knew, because they were men, and descendants of Englishmen. Nothing, he exclaimed, ought to be said of " colonies " or of "charters"; there should, he said, be " no New England man, no New- Yorker, known on the continent ; but all of us Americans." The deleorate from New York ao-reed with this broad view, and all the others finally came to be of the same opinion.

An English general (Gage) who wrote about this

3© A STRONG BUNDLE OF STICKS. [1765.

congress, reported that the members were of different opniions, but that they were all agreed that the colonics ought not to be subject to laws made in England ; that they did not oppose the stamp act because they were unwilling to pay a small tax, Init because they wished England to know that they would not have their rights taken from them.

Mr. Gadsden said that the point to be insisted upon was that the delegates should be united, and he was willing to give up whatever was necessary to wipe out all differences. John Adams of Massachusetts said that the rights of the American people came from the Great Lawgiver of the Universe ; that they were given before any earthly government was formed, and that no human laws could take them away.

When the members of this congress had agreed upon a Declaration of Rights, and an Address to the English government demanding the repeal of the stamp act, they solemnly signed the necessary papers. As they had been empowered to do this, the colonies they represented became by the act, as was said, " a bundle of sticks that could neither be bent nor broken." You may be sure that there was not a word in the papers that these earnest men signed that they

1765.] THE PLACID ALBANIANS. 3I

had not weighed widi the greatest care. They did not know what the result was to be, but they beheved that, whatever might come, they were rigJit.

While the debate was going on it was said that a vessel bearing stamps had arrived in port. Immediately the ships in the beautiful harbor lowered their flags in sign of sorrow. During the following night placards were posted upon the corners of the streets, filled with threats against the men, whoever they might be, who should have anything to do with the stamped paper. " We will not submit to the stamp act on any account," the people declared. " The spirit of Brutus and Cassius is still alive," they said, remembering, perhaps, those daring words of Patrick Henry, which he so suddenly changed.

Albany was at this time a town of some five thousand inhabitants. They showed more plainly than others the inherited traits of their ancestors. Their houses were of the Dutch pattern, of brick or stone, and stood with their gables to the streets, each having a litde piece of green garden about it. The placid Albanians sat on their porches, or " stoops," as they called them, and enjoyed their pipes, or conversed with their equally placid neighbors. Their habits

32 WEALTH INCREASING IN NEW YORK.

were simple, their morals good, and their principles almost as rigid as those of the New-Englanders.

New York city, though at a very early period the center of the general trade of the country, was smaller than either Boston or Philadelphia. It was about three times the size of Albany. Many houses resembled those at Albany, but there were also not a few modern dwellings of great pretension. The people were rapidly accumulating wealth, and society was growing in polish as well as in a cosmopolitan character. It was the gayest place in America. The people of the higher classes dressed with care. The gentlemen wore silks and velvets of gay colors, and the ladies powdered their hair. The gentlemen wore wigs and carried swords.

They made holidays of many of the popular Dutch festal days, such as Christmas and New-Year's, St. Valentine's Day and St. Nicholas' Day. Besides these, there were Easter and May-Day, which were celebrated with great zest.

As in all the other colonies, there were Ro)'alists or Tories in New York, who were strongly attached to the party of the king, and there was a considerable number of persons who hated England, as those who

NEW YORK PATRIOTIC. 33

have been conquered hate their conquerors. Between these extremes were others who cared Httle about pohtics, provided they were permitted to Hve in peace. These were all ready to side with the American party, when it was evident that it was strong and popular. They took sides with it now.

Chapter VI. The Neighbors In Boston

congress were not all

HE members of the -villing to sign the papers that had been igreed to. One from Massachusetts and one from New Jersey refused. When the people of New Jersey learned that Mr. Ogden, their representative, had not affixed his name, they made an image of him and hanored it as a token of the disq^race that they felt.

There were many other good men who thought that old things were precious, and disliked to give them up. They had always been ruled by a king ; they had been taught that he should be obeyed ; and they were very slow to believe that he could do wrong.

There are two sorts of people everywhere ; those

SAMUEL A-DAMS OF BOSTON TOWN. 35

who want to improve the world, and those who think best to keep affairs as they are. One side has great respect for what their fathers have done, and for all that is old ; and the other is just as earnestly lookingfor something better in the future. There is good on both sides, and we cannot believe that either one is entirely right, and the other entirely wrong.

There were more men who wished to hold to the king in the vSouth than in the North ; and the two parties were more nearly equal in the Middle States than anywhere else. In Massachusetts the feeling against royalty at this time was intense. The man there who had perhaps the most influence in guiding the utterances of the people was Samuel Adams. He was a native of Boston town, a graduate of Harvard College, and most careful in performing all religious duties, according to the strictest rules of the Puritan church. He fully believed that America had a share in the king of England, but was independent of English law-makers. When he appeared in Cambridge to speak his part, before taking the degree of Master of Arts, he argued that it is lawful to resist the king, if the commonwealth cannot be preserved in any other way. He was poor,