The student's American history

Front matter

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Prefatory Note

This work follows the same general lines as the author's " Treading Facts of American History." It differs, however, from the more elementary manual in many important respects. It is much fuller in its treatment of poHtical and constitutional history, and of the chief events bearing on the development of the nation. It quotes the statements of public men, original documents, and authorities in order that the history of our country may speak for itself on the points of greatest interest to the student and the teacher.

As a help to further research, references are made in footnotes to a limited number of works of acknowledged merit, and a classified list of books on subjects and periods will be found in the Appendix.

The author is particularly indebted to the Trustees and the Librarian of the Boston Athenjeum for the privilege of making use of the admirable collection of books under their charge.

Contents

SECTION PAGE

I. The Discovery and Naming of America (1000-15 15) .... 1

II. Attempts at Exploring and Colonizing America (the Country, the Natives, Effects of the Discovery of America on Europe) (1513-1600) 13

Appendix

1. The Declaration of Independence (with an Introduction) . . . i

2. The Constitution (with an Introduction and Notes) .... vi

3. Table of Admission of States xix

4. Table of Presidents xxiii

5. List of Books on American History xxiv

6. Table of Boundaries of the United States xxx

7. Tables of Population and Representation xxxii

8. Index xxxvii

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

1. Medallion of Washington and Lincoln Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

2. Governor Cosby's Proclamation 60

3. Extract from the Massachusetts " Body of Liberties" of 164 1 . 78

4. A Colonial Bank Note 164

5. Advertisement of the " Flying Machine " 166

6. The Pennsylvania Gazette on the Stamp Act t8o

7. Franklin's Letter to Strahan 200

8. Signatures to the Declaration of Independence 202

9. A Call for Volunteers for the War for Independence .... 204

10. Continental Paper Money 212

11. George Rogers Clark's Letter demanding Hamilton's Surrender 216

12. Signatures to the Treaty of Peace of 1783 224

13. Abstract of Constitutional Decisions by the Supreme Court of

the United States, 1793-1835; with portrait of Chief Justice

Marshall 266

14. Fitch's Letter on his Steamboat ; Fulton's Steamboat .... 280

15. Key's " The Star-Spangled Banner" 298

r6. The National Road, with map 320

17. The Monroe Doctrine 322

18. A Railway Time-Table of 1843 ' • • • 346

19. Morse's Letter respecting the First Telegram 378

20. Letter of John Brown 43-

21. Secession Bulletin 43^

22. Letter of Secretary Dix on the Flag 43^

23. Advertisements for Volunteers for the War for the Union . . . 450

24. Grant's " Unconditional Surrender" Dispatch 462

25. Lincoln's Proclamation of Emancipation 474

26. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address 4^4

27. Admiral Farragut's Letter from Mobile 502

28. Lee's Letter of Surrender 5^6

29. Vote on the Impeachment Trial of President Johnson .... 524

30. Diagram and Statistics showing Increase of Manufactures, espe-

cially Iron and Steel, with Imports and Exports 582

X

LIST OF FULL AND DOUBLE PAGE MAPS i

PAGE

1. The World about the Time of Columbus 5

2. Early Voyages to America (colored) 19

3. Indian Tribes of the United vStates (colored) 20

4. Indian Trails 23

5. Physical Features of the United States 29

6. First Settlements made on the Eastern Coast of America ... 49

7. The French in the West 139

8. The Louisiana Country claimed by La Salle for France .... 143

9. The King's Proclamation Line, 1763 155

10. Period of the Revolution — New England (colored) 190

11. Period of the Revolution — Middle Colonies (colored) .... 206

12. Burgoyne's Expedition; W^ashington's Movement against York-

town ; Yorktown 209

13. Period of the Revolution — Southern States (colored) .... 218

14. The United States at the Close of the Revolution (colored) . . 226

15. The Northwest Territory (colored) 228

16. The United States in 1792 (colored) 250

17. Indian Land Cessions in Ohio 254

18. The United States at the Census of 1800 269

20. The Mexican War 384

21. The Area of Freedom and of Slavery in 1857 . " 423

22. The Civil War (colored) 45^

23. The Defenses of Washington 459

24. The Battle of Gettysburg ' 481

25. The Siege of Vicksburg 4^7

26. Possessions of the United States in North America 527

27. Territorial Growth of the United States (colored) 556

28. The United States at the Present Time (colored) 570

29. The United States and Dependent Territories (colored) . . . 590

1 For list of maps in the text, see Index under " Maps."

THE

STUDENT'S AMERICAN HISTORY^

I

THE DISCOVERY AND NAMING OF AMERICA^

(1000-15 1 5)

For autJiorities for this chapter, see footnotes and the classified list of books in the Appendix, page xxiv

THE NORTHMEN — COLUMBUS — CABOT — AMERICUS VESPUCIUS

I. The discovery of America by the Northmen ; ^ " Vinland the Good." The Scandinavians, or Northmen, were the most skillful and daring sailors of the middle ages. For them the x\tlantic — " the Sea of Darkness " — had no terrors. Before the mariner's compass had come into use in Europe they made distant voyages in vessels often not so large as modern pleasure yachts. Their only guides on those perilous expeditions were the sun, the stars, and the flight of birds.

In the ninth century the Northmen conquered a large part of England ; they also planted a colony in Iceland. Their sagas or

1 In using this book the following-named works of reference by Professor William Macdonald, of Brown University, will be constantly found of the greatest value: (i) Select Charters, etc., of American History (1606-1775) ; (2) Select Documents of United States History (1776-1861) ; (3) Select Statutes of United States History (1861-1898). For other works of reference, see Appendix, page xxiv.

2 See, in general, Winsor's America, II, ch. i, ii ; Fiske's Discovery of America, 1, ch. ii, v, vi ; II, ch. vii.

8 See Winsor's America, I, ch. ii ; Bryant and Gay's United States (revised edition), I, ch. iii; Fiske's Discovery of America, I, 164-220, 253-255; Fischer's The Norsemen in America ; Thwaites' Colonies, 21-23.

I

2 THE STUDENT'S AMERICAN HISTORY [looo-m?

traditions inform us that, late in the next century (981), Eric the Red set sail from Iceland in search of a strange land which a Norse sailor, blown out of his course, had sighted in the far West. He found it, and, giving it the tempting name of Greenland, lured a band of colonists to those desolate shores. About the year 1000 Leif Ericson, — later known as " Leif the Lucky," — ■ a son of Eric the Red, set out from Greenland in quest of a land which a storm-driven mariner had seen in the southwest. He discovered a beautiful country which abounded in wild grapes. '' From its products Leif gave the land a name, and called it Vinland." Here the Northmen planted a colony and carried on trade with Greenland. In 1347 the Norse records mention a ship's going to this southern colony after a load of timber. That is the last that we hear of the settlement. The Northmen ceased to make voyages to the west, the colonies they had planted died out, all records of them were forgotten, and we have no evidence that Columbus ever heard of the discovery of Vinland.

2. The locality of "Vinland"; the Northmen and American history. In recent years repeated attempts have been made to determine the locality of Vinland, but without acknowledged success. Many have supposed that Leif Ericson landed on some part of the New England coast. The descriptions of the country given by the records fail to throw any decisive light on this point, and no Norse graves, inscriptions, or ruins have been found on the mainland of America, although the ruins of buildings erected by the Northmen are still standing in Greenland.

The conclusion of most eminent scholars respecting the settlements of the Northmen is that " the soil of the United States has not one vestige of their presence." Granting that those bold sailors did establish colonies on the mainland of America, as it is certain they did on the coast of Greenland, still their work had no permanent results and no direct connection with American history. It was simply a match struck in the dark, sending out a momentary flash of light, but nothing more.

1420-1487] DISCOVERY AND NAMING OF AMERICA 3

After Columbus made his great voyage, the EngHsh descendants of the Northmen, who had conquered and held half of Britain, came to the front. As colonists of the New World they set their lasting mark on this continent. Hence we may say that the old Norse daring, which braved the tempests of the Northern Atlantic centuries before Columbus was born, stands forth a powerful factor in the making of America. Furthermore, the Scandinavian immigration to-day lends its strength to the republic.

3. A new search for lands beyond the Atlantic ; European trade with the Indies. Nearly five hundred years after Leif Ericson feasted on wild grapes in Vinland, the project of crossing the

Trade Route to the Indies

Atlantic in quest of distant lands again came up. This time it was not a Northman, but an Italian, who was to make the attempt. His venture was suggested by the demands of commerce.

In the latter part of the fifteenth century Venice had gained control of the lucrative trade between Europe and the Indies. That trade, however, was seriously hampered by the fact that it could not follow a direct and continuous water route. The

Isthmus of Suez barred the way. For this reason, the spices, silks, and drugs brought from the far East up the Red Sea had to be unloaded, transported across the desert to the Nile, and reshipped to Alexandria for the Mediterranean. Europe in the interest of trade called for an all-sea route to the Indies.

4. The work of " Prince Henry the Navigator " ; Bartholomew Diaz. Prince Henry of Portugal, commonly known as " Prince Henry the Navigator," undertook to find the required route. For forty years (1420—1460) his captains were exploring the seemingly endless western coast of Africa, endeavoring to discover a way around that mysterious continent into the waters of the Indian Ocean. Year after year the Portuguese ships crept down that coast, but found no passage to the East. The problem was unsolved when Henry died, but nearly thirty years later success was practically gained. Bartholomew Diaz (1487) succeeded in doubling the formidable Cape of Storms.

Then it was seen that at last the way to the Indies was almost as good as opened ; for that reason the Cape of Storms received the auspicious name of the Cape of Good Hope. But the length of the new route was a serious drawback, since every bale of goods shipped from the East would have to make a voyage of at least twelve thousand miles in order to reach the European market. The question arose, might it not be possible to find a better way?

5. Columbus^ proposes a new and shorter ro^jte to the Indies. Christopher Columbus, a native of Genoa, was ready to answer that question. He was an experienced mariner, and believed that he could discover a far shorter and more direct all-water route to the much-coveted Indies. The leading geographers of that day regarded the earth as a globe. Columbus held the same idea, but he considered the globe to be much smaller than it actually is. It embraced, as he supposed, but one ocean — the Atlantic — which surrounded the three continents of Europe, Asiaj-and Africa.

1 See Winsor's America, II, ch. i, iii, ix ; Fiske's Discovery of America, I, ch. v, and 515-516.

The World as known shortly before and shortly after THE Sailing of Columbus

Light arrows show voyages made up to 1492 ; (light track, Da Gama's voyage, 1497). Dark arrows, voyages of Columbus and Cabot.

White crosses, countries of which something was known before 1492. White area, including western coast of Africa, the world as known shortly before the sailing of Columbus.

Columbus saUed Aug. 3d, /z'^^ \

A^r

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Left Canary Islands - y'^ J T 1 1 rV

Sept. Gth

4;^'*^'^^- iii t r-

6 THE STUDENT'S AMERICAN HISTORY [m->

These three continents, with their outlying islands, he believed constituted all the land there was. He imagined that the Indies faced Europe at a distance of less than four thousand miles. His plan for reaching the far East was very simple ; he would make for the Canaries, and then sail nearly due west until he touched the coast of Asia. Such a route would have an immense advantage over the circuitous and dangerous voyage around Africa, for it would be almost a straight line and would save something like eight thousand miles.

6. Columbus fits out vessels for the voyage ; objects of the undertaking. After years of vain solicitation, Columbus succeeded in getting the assistance of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. He fitted out three small vessels for the voyage; of this Httle fleet he w^as to be admiral. To guide him on his course he had the compass, an irhproved astrolabe, or instrument for determining the position of a ship at sea by taking observations of the sun and stars, and his carefully drawn charts. In this great and original undertaking Columbus was not seeking to find new lands, but a new way to reach old lands. His three chief objects were : (i) to open direct trade with the Indies; (2) to carry the Catholic faith to the nations of the far East; (3) to gain for himself fame and fortune.

7. Columbus sails ; the voyage ; he discovers land and returns to Spain. Columbus sailed from Palos, Spain, August 3, 1492. He made directly for the Canary Islands, which he supposed to be in a line with Japan. The route to those islands was well known. He reached them August 12, and stopped more than three weeks to refit his vessels. On September 6 he set out on his ever-memorable voyage across the " Sea of Darkness." He beheved himself, as he said, "an agent chosen by Heaven to accompHsh a grand design."

Day after day passed, but no land was sighted, and the sailors, losing heart, cried out to Columbus: "Are there no graves in Spain, that you should bring us here to perish?" They were terrified at the variation of the compass, and still later, becoming

1492-1493] DISCOVERY AND NAMING OF AMERICA desperate, they threatened to turn the ship back ; but Columbus compelled them to keep on their way, and on October 1 2 land was sighted. It was the low, sandy shore of a small island. Here he planted the royal standard of Spain, named the island San Salvador, or the Holy Redeemer, and took possession of it for Ferdinand and Isabella.

The naked natives crowded around the Spaniards shouting, *' Come and see the men who have come from heaven." Going south Columbus discovered Cuba, which he believed to be a part of the mainland of Asia. Having left a garrison to hold a small fort on the coast of San Domingo or Hayti, he set sail for Spain (January, 1493). He was certain that he had found the Indies, and as he had reached them by sailing west, they received the name of the West Indies. For a like reason he called the natives of these islands Indians.

8. Letter of Columbus ; arrival in Spain ; reception at court ; the pope divides the earth. Forced to put into Lisbon, Columbus there wrote to the royal treasurer of Spain describing his discoveries. In his letter he declared that he had "■ accomplished a task to which the power of mortal man had never before attained." At Palos all the people, forming a solemn procession, came out to receive him, and when he arrived at the royal court at Barcelona the king and queen stood up to give him welcome.

News of the wonderful discovery was at once sent to the pope. He received the messenger with joy. As '* lord of the world " he proceeded to divide the newly discovered heathen lands between Spain and Portugal, the two great exploring powers. Taking a map of the globe, he drew a line from pole to pole a hundred leagues west of the Azores and of the Cape Verde Islands. All

TM

The Pope's Division of THE World, as finally

DECIDED IN 1494 lands found west of that line, not belonging to some Christian prince, he granted to Spain ; all similar lands east of it he recognized as belonging to Portugal.-^ Thus by a stroke of the pen through a map of the world the pope gave Spain the entire continent of North America. Ferdinand and Isabella soon began to establish settlements in the West Indies and seized the natives as slaves.

9. What Columbus discovered ; his death ; greatness of his work. In the course of his three subsequent voyages (149 3- 1504) Columbus discovered the mainland of Central and South America, but never touched any part of what is now the mainland of the United States. He died in 1506 in the unshaken beUef that he had found the eastern coast of Asia. He did not dream that by a happy accident he had actually found a fourth continent — a " new world." It has been well said : Nothing hke it was ever done before, and nothing like it can ever be done again, for, save the island-continent of Australia, Columbus left no new worlds for a future explorer to reveal.

The true glory of the Genoese sailor is that he was the first civilized man who dared cross the Atlantic and thus lead the way to this fourth continent. His discovery stands forth the greatest secular event recorded in the history of the world, — one half of which had never suspected the existence of the other half.

10. John and Sebastian Cabot ^ plan a rival route to the Indies. When Columbus returned to Spain at the termination of his first voyage the news of his discovery created " great talk at the court of Henry VII in England." John Cabot, an Italian merchant, was then living at the port of Bristol. His son Sebastian says that the report of what Columbus had achieved kindled in his own heart " a great flame of desire to attempt some notable

1 In 1494 a conference of the Spanish and Portuguese powers moved the line of demarcation two hundred and seventy leagues farther west. This, as will be seen, gave Portugal possession of Brazil.

? See Winsor's America, III, ch. i ; Fiske's Discovery of Ainerica, II, 16.

DISCOVERY AND NAMING OF AMERICA thing." The "notable thing" developed itself into a project for reaching the Spice Islands of the Indies by sailing westward on an extreme northern course so as to pass round the "backside of Greenland."

John Cabot entered into his son's scheme with much enthusiasm, and hoped " to make London a greater place for spices than Alexandria." Henry VII issued a patent to the elder Cabot and his sons giving them authority to discover and take possession of those heathen lands in the west "which before this time have been unknown to all Christians."

II. First voyage of the Cabots ; second voyage ; Newfoundland fisheries ; results of the first voyage. John Cabot, probably accompanied by Sebastian, sailed from Bristol in 1497.

The chief results of the voyage were set forth on a map bearing this inscription : " In the year of our Lord 1497, John Cabot, a Venetian, and his son, Sebastian, . . . discovered that land which no man before that time had attempted, on the 24th of June, about five o'clock in the morning."

This "land" — marked on the map, "Land First Seen" — appears to have been Cape Breton, or some part of the coast not far from it. Here the Cabots went ashore, and, hoisting the English flag, claimed the country for the British crown. The envoy of the Duke of Milan wrote to the duke from London of this claim, saying, " His Majesty (Henry VII) has won a part of Asia without a stroke of the sword."

The next year (1498) the Cabots sailed westward again. They went much farther north in the hope of discovering a short passage to the Indies. At this point the elder Cabot lO THE STUDENT'S AMERICAN HISTORY [im-m:i

disappears from history. Sebastian admits that the icebergs which blocked his way chilled his enthusiasm and made him turn southward. He coasted along the American mainland looking for a passage through to the East, until, as he says, he reached a point " almost equal in latitude with the Straits of Gibraltar." He then set his face homeward.

The reports made by the Cabots of the vast quantities of codfish seen by them in the vicinity of Newfoundland opened the way to the establishment by the English and French of the largest fisheries in the world. These fisheries had a very marked influence on American colonial history, and have since given rise to important international questions.

But the crowning result of John Cabot's voyage in 1497 was that he was the first European (since the days of the Northmen) who set foot on the continent of North America. He thus, as Burke declares, gave the English their claim to the mainland. This laid the foundation for the North American colonies which Sir Walter Raleigh began in the next century.

12. The voyages of Americas Vespucius to the "New World." In 1499 (after Columbus had made his third voyage and had discovered the mainland at the mouth of the Orinoco) Americus Vespucius,^ a Florentine, and a friend of Columbus, sailed with a Spanish expedition which explored part of the same coast. Two years later (15 01) he made another voyage and touched Brazil. On his return he suggested that the lands he had visited in the south should be called the " New World." The next year (1503) Vespucius again visited South America and built a fort on the coast of Brazil. On his return he wrote a brief account of his voyages, but the original manuscript has never been found.

13. How America received its name. A copy of the account written by Vespucius chanced to fall into the hands of a German

1 The question whether Vespucius made an earlier voyage (1497) is still a matter of controversy. See Winsor's America, II, 129-179. In case he made the voyage of 1497, he may have discovered the mainland of the western continent a week or two before the Cabots did (§ ii). Scholars differ, too, in regard to their acceptance of his other statements. See Larned's Literature of American History, I, 64-65.

1507-1728] DISCOVERY AND NAMING OF AMERICA 1 1

The Village of St. Die, Eastern France named Waldseemiiller. He was a teacher of geography in the college of St. Die — a village of Lorraine now included in eastern France. The college owned a small press on which, in 1507, Waldseemiiller printed a thin Latin pamphlet bearing the title "An Introduction to Geography." In it he described the three continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa ; he then gave an account of the voyages of Americus Vespucius, and closed by saying, " The fourth part of the world having been discovered by Americus, it may be called . . . the land of Americus, or America. ''

The suggestion met with favor. On a German globe made in 1 5 1 5 we find America standing out in bold letters on what appears to be a great southern island in the western Atlantic (see map on page 12). The name was at first confined to South America; later it was applied to both of the western continents.

14. How it was discovered that America was a continent; Magellan ; Bering. For a long time North America was laid down on the maps of that period as an island. The true continental character of the New World was discovered gradually. Cabot and Vespucius must have suspected it, but it was not until Magellan made his famous voyage around the globe (1519-1521) that the evidence became strong. The Spanish explorers of the Pacific coast, and Sir Francis Drake, in his voyage around the world (157 7- 157 9), confirmed that evidence.

But even then the actual breadth of North America was not clearly recognized, and as late as Henry Hudson's expedition (1609) European navigators thought that they might find a short passage through the northern continent to the Pacific. In the next century Vitus Bering, the Danish explorer (1728), sailed through the straits which have since borne his name and proved

C that America was not attached to Asia in that quarter. In 1856 the discovery of the Northwest Passage completed this process and showed that America is absokitely disconnected from Asia.

15. Summary. About the year 1000 Leif Ericson, a Northman, discovered Vinland on the North American coast ; but in the course of a few centuries all knowledge of Vinland was lost. In 1492 Columbus in searching for a new route to the Indies discovered the West India Islands. In 1497 John Cabot landed on the North American continent and claimed it for the English crown. England considered that this claim gave her the right to plant colonies in America.

Between 1499 and 1503 Americus Vespucius made three voyages to the South American coast. His description of the New World suggested the name America, which was given to South America, and later extended to the northern continent. The true character of North America was discovered by Magellan, Drake, the Spanish explorers of the Pacific coast, Captain Bering, and his successors.

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