Elementary history of the United States of America

Front matter

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COPV-RIGHT DEPOSIT.

Part II. The English Colonies

1.— Virginia 33

5. —New York 60

6.— Life in New York „ 65

7. — Maryland. , 67

8. — Pennsylvania 70

9. — Life in Pennsylvania. , 74

10.— The Carolinas. . , 77

11. — Life in Virginia and Carolina 80

13. — Conditions of the Colonies 91

Part III. The French And Indian War

1. — ^The French in America 99

3.— The War in the North Ill ix c CONTENTS.

Part V. The First Half Century Of The Republic

1. — The Making of the Government 157

2. — Washington's Administration 161

3. — John Adams's Administration 162

4. — Jefferson's Administration 164

5. — Madison's Administration 167

7. — Monroe's Administration 175

8. — The John Quincy Adams Administration , 178

Part VI. Twenty Years Of Progress

1. — Jackson's Administration 189

2o — Van Buren's Administration 192

3. — The Harrison and Tyler Administration 193

4. — Polk's Administration and War with Mexico 194

Part VII. The Slavery Contest And Civil War

1. — The Taylor and Fillmore Administration 209

2. — The Pierce Administration 211

3. — ^The Buchanan Administration 212

4. — The Lincoln Administration 214

CONTENTS. xi

Part VIII. The New Union

1.— Results of the War 236

2. — Johnson's Administration 23S

3. — Grant's Administration 242

4. — The Hayes Administration 245

5. — The Garfield and Arthur Administration 247

6. — Cleveland's First Administration 249

7. — Benjamin Harrison's Administration 251

8. — The Second Cleveland Administration 255

9. — McKinley's Administration 257

10. — Roosevelt's Administration 260

II. — Taft's Administration 264

12. — ^Wilson's Administration 267

Part IX. Recent Stages Of Development

AN ELEMENTARY HISTORY

OF THE

United States

Part I. The Era Of Discovery

Four Hundred Years Ago. — The world had grown old, very old, before America was discovered. Great empires had risen in Europe and Asia, and passed away; untold millions of men had lived and died; but not half the earth was known. Men did not even know its shape. Most persons thought that its surface was flat, and that the ocean everywhere spread around the land. Sailors were afraid to go far out to sea, and most of them kept in sight of land, for no one knew what dangers might lie on the open ocean, where man had never been. Many thought that a ship which sailed far out on the ocean would find itself gliding down a hill of waters, up which it could never climb again. Others believed that there was a region of fogs and mists, from which a ship, once lost, would never find its way out. Few of the learned men of the time thought that a vessel could pass round the earth and return to its starting-point. 1 1

The Mariner's Compass. — Before this time an important discovery had been made. A kind of iron ore was found which had strange properties. It was what is now known as the loadstone, or natural magnet, and which has the power of attracting iron, and of pointing north and south. A steel needle rubbed on it acquires the same properties. Hung up by its centre, one end of the needle points towards the north. This was a discovery of the utmost importance to seamen. They could now, even though they were thousands of miles from land, tell by day or night in what direction they were sailing. Few things have been more useful to mankind than this little magnetic needle, known as the Mariner^ s Coinpass.

Marco Polo. — At the time of which we are speaking — the latter part of the fifteenth century — there was a great desire to discover new countries. Travellers had gone to far-off lands, and had come back with

strange stories, which filled others with the love of adventure and discovery.

One traveller, a Venetian named Marco Polo, had been as far as China and Japan, and brought back exciting accounts of the riches and wonders of those distant lands. The ships of the Portuguese had sailed down the coast of Africa as far as the Cape of Good Hope. The bold sailors of Norway and Denmark had crossed the cold northern seas to Iceland and Green-

A Ship of the Nohthmen.

land, and had reached the shores of the American continent at a point they called Vinland (vine-land), though this fact was not known in Southern Europe.

Christopher Columbus. — Among the many persons who wished to go on voyages of discovery was one whose name is known to us all, and will be remembered as long as America exists. He was born at Genoa, in Italy, about the year 1435, and was named Christopher Columbus. His father w^as a cloth weaver; but the people of Genoa were active seamen, and Columbus was sent to sea when he was but fourteen years of age, and became a skilful sailor.

The World as then Known. — At that time the only region of the world that was well known to Europeans was their own country and the parts of Africa and Asia which border on the Mediterranean Sea. Of the rest of the world they knew very little. India and China were said to be rich and populous countries, and their silks and jewels and spices were brought to Europe by caravans at great expense. Columbus thought that these countries could be reached in an easier way. He believed that the earth was round, that the ocean must extend from the shores of Europe to the shores of Asia, and that if he sailed to the west across this ocean he would be sure to reach those distant lands. He did not know how far it was around the earth, but he was sure that land lay beyond the ocean.

What Columbus Did. — It was not easy to make men believe this. For eighteen long years Columbus tried in vain to get the kings of Spain and Portugal to aid him in his plan. He grew sick at heart with delay and disappointment. At last Queen Isabella of Spain said that he should have the ships and men he asked for. If money could not be had she would lend her jewels to pay for them. And thus it was that Columbus got his ships. Three small vessels were given him, — we call them ships, but they were no larger than many of the sloops and yachts which we see moving up and down our large rivers. Two of them, the Pinta and the Nina, had no decks except at the prow and stern. Only one

of them had a complete deck, the Santa Maria, commanded by Columbus himself. This vessel was ninety feet long, and had a crew of sixty-six sailors.

The Size of the Expedition. — It seems strange to us that it took so many years to induce the rulers of a great kingdom to furnish a few small ships for a voyage across the ocean and the discovery of a new world. Many river merchants to-day could fit out a much better expedition at a day's notice. Nothing could show more clearly how the world has grown in riches and enterprise during the last four hundred years.

Columbus had almost as much trouble to get his sailors as his ships. Men were afraid to go with him. Many of those who sailed with him were forced to do so by order of the king, and went on board his ships full of fear. There were one hundred and twenty persons in all in the expedition which set sail from the port of Palos, in Spain, on the 3d of August, 1492, a date to be remembered in the history of the world

Columbus.

The Voyage of Discovery. — Let us stop here and think of the task before our bold mariner. He had set sail on the most important voyage that had ever been undertaken. As he went onward day by day his ships left the known world farther behind them. Day by day new wonders and new terrors rose before them. The mariners sailed away into a vast ocean upon

Columbus and the Scientists Discussing the Shape of the Earth.

which no man had ever before ventured far from land. Their fears increased as they went onward. The needle of the compass no longer pointed exactly north, and this gave them great alarm, for they thought the sailor's friend was about to desert them. The winds blew them steadily westward; but these same winds might hinder them from ever coming back. They were ecared by the distance they had gone, though Columbus took care not to let them know how far this was.

The men demanded to be taken back; they almost broke into open mutiny, and some of them talked of throwing Columbus overboard and going back without him. Yet he was not to be turned from his purpose. He had set sail for India, and he w^as determined to go on. He was still sure that the continent of Asia lay beyond the seas, and that in time they would reach it.

Approach to Land. — Two months of this wonderful voyage passed away. Then the hearts of the sailors grew glad as their eyes beheld welcome signs. Land birds were seen flying about the ships. One of the men picked up out of the water a branch of a tree, on which there were fresh red berries. A piece of carved wood floated past them, and also some drifting sea weed, with live crabs clinging to it. Hope now took the place of fear; all eyes looked forward in search of land.

At last it appeared. During the night before the 12th of October a distant light was seen shining across the waters. When morning came Columbus, from the deck of his little ship, gazed with joy and triumph on the green shores of the land he had so long hoped to see. There it lay before him, bright and beautiful, — a sunny island, covered with forest trees, — a scene of beauty on which the eyes of civilized man had never before gazed.

What Columbus Believed. — The voyage was over; the victory was gained. The greatest discovery in human history had been made. Yet he who made it never knew how great his work had been. To the day of his death Columbus believed that it was the coast of India he had reached, and he gave the name of Indians to the strange, red-skinned natives who crowded out of the woods to gaze with wonder on his vessels.

It was in this way that the natives of America came to be called Indians, after a country thousands of miles away. Little did Columbus dream of the great continent of America, with its plains and mountains, its lakes and forests, peopled then only by savages, but which was in time to become the seat of one of the greatest and noblest of nations.

The Landing op Columbub.

The Landing of Columbus. — At the break of day, with waving banners and ringing music, Columbus was rowed to the shore. He w^as richly dressed in scarlet robes and bore in his hand the great banner of Spain, with its bright hues ot red and gold. The captains of the other vessels carried a banner designed by Columbus himself, in the centre of which was a green cross On reaching the shore the admiral kneeled and kissed the ground; then rising, he drew his sword, and declared that the island which he had discovered belonged to the King and Queen of Spain. The natives looked on in wonder and admiration. They did not dream of the misery all this meant for them.

New Lands Discovered. — The poor natives supposed that the white men had come from heaven. Columbus gave them glass beads, and in return they gave what they had, — parrots and balls of cotton. They wore some ornaments made of gold, and Columbus asked them by signs where gold was to be found. They pointed to the south. The sailors returned to their ships and sailed south among the beautiful islands of those seas until they reached the large island now known as Hayti. Columbus named it Hispaniola (little Spain). From there they sailed back to Spain.

The Reception in Spain. — The excitement in Spain was very great when Columbus and his companions returned with their remarkable story. Men heard with wonder of lands beyond the seas, inhabited by a race of red-skinned savages, and rich beyond their dreams. It was said by some that the sands of every river shone with grains of gold, that the meanest Indians wore ornaments of gold and jewels, and that the walls of the houses glittered with pearls. None of these stories was too wild for men to believe, and many grew eager to visit this New World of wealth and splendor.

Columbus and his men entered the streets of Barcelona in a grand procession to meet the king and queen of Spain. The red Indians, with their decorations of tropical feathers and golden ornaments, were looked upon with wonder. The bright-winged birds, the strange-shaped parrots, the rare plants and fruits, the unknown fabrics which were displayed in the procession, all excited admiration. Columbus rode triumphantly onward, surrounded by a brilliant cavalcade of Spanish nobleS; to receive the high honors bestowed upon him by the king and queen. Europe had never seen a procession like this, for never before had the wonders of a new world been shown to the eyes of the Old World, as the eastern hemisphere was afterwards called.

The Misfortunes of the Discoverer. — Yet this was almost the last happy moment in the life of the great discoverer. The remainder of his life was saddened by the injustice of the people, and the ingratitude of the monarch of Spain. He made three other voyages to America, and in the third voyage discovered the mainland of South America, near the mouth of the Orinoco River. From one of his voyages he was sent home in chains by his enemies. And he had not even the honor of giving his name to the continent he had discovered. The name of America was taken from Amerigo Vespucci, wdiose account of the New World was the first to be printed. Columbus died in 1506, of a disease brought on by his hardships, troubles, and sufferings, a victim of the ingratitude of Spain. He gave orders that the chains which had been so shamefully fastened on his limbs should be buried with him.

The discovery of America by Columbus was the greatest event that had taken place for hundreds of years. If such a discovery should be made in our days, we may be sure that it would not be long before many vessels would be off to the new land. But in those days news spread slowly. Ships were few and small, and neither kings nor people had much money. Most of what they had was spent in wars. Spain sent vessels from time to time to the rich islands which Columbus had discovered, but the other nations were slow to send ships.

The Cabots. — England was the first to follow Spain, The town of Bristol, in England, was then a great shipping port. There lived in this town a merchant named John Cabot, who was born at Venice. This man wished to go on a voyage of discovery to the new lands, and got permission from the king, Henry VII., to do so. Cabot taking his son, he sailed across the ocean until he reached an unknown coast in the far north. Columbus, so far, had discovered only islands and Cabot was the first to reach the American continent. This was in 1497.

Cabot's papers and maps are lost, and all we know of his voyage is that he found the country cold and barren, and saw a great many white bears. It is said that after his return he was called ''The Great Admiral," and went about dressed in rich clothing and followed by crowds of people.

The next year his son, Sebastian Cabot, sailed to America. He also reached land in the north, but he kept on southward until he came to the coast of Virginia or Carolina. Like his father, he was received with honor on his return. Men called him "The Great Seaman," and many years afterwards Edward VI. gave him a pension. He lived to be very old, but the time and place of his death are unknown. This was all that these men obtained for discovering a continent. Their great honor came long after they were dead.

The Fishermen. — Not long after this the daring fishermen of Europe began to make voyages across the ocean to the waters of Newfoundland, where the Cabots had found fish in vast numbers. One of them, named John Denys, sailed up the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 1506. But they were after fish, not honor, and did not trouble themselves to seek unknown lands.

Verrazano. — France did not send an expedition to the New World till 1524. Then the thought came to Francis I., the French king, that he had as much right as Spain to the wealth of these distant lands. So he had a ship made ready, and gave the command of it to an Italian seaman named Verrazano, who sailed far along the coast to the harbor of what is now known as Newport, Rhode Island, where he found grape-vines growing, and began to trade with the Indians.

But the red men were afraid of their visitors, and would not let them land. They lowered their goods to the boats with ropes from the tops of steep rocks. We do not know what these goods were, but they would take nothing in exchange but knives, fish-hooks, and tools for cutting. These savages knew very well what would be of use to them.

The Claims of the Nations. — We may know from this what little right Spain, England, and France had to claim these new lands. They sent ships across the ocean and took a look at them from the sea, and then said that all the land they had seen belonged to them. As for the Indians, no one seemed to think that they had any right to the country. They were looked on as little better than so many flies, that might be brushed aside by any one who was strong enough to do it.

Cartier's Voyages. — Francis I. now became busy in wars with his neighbors, and did not send out any more ships for ten years. Then two ships set sail under a captain named Jacques Cartier. They entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where Cartier landed and set up a cross, with the king's coat of arms fastened to it. This was done to secure that region for the King of France. Cartier made two more voyages, and sailed up the great St. Lawrence River as far as where the city of Montreal now stands. He called the country Canada from the Indian word ^^Kannatha," which means

village, but which he thought was the Indian name for the whole country.

Ponce de Leon. — While the English and French were making these discoveries the Spaniards were not idle. After Columbus, other mariners crossed the ocean, making new discoveries and forming settlements. In 1512 Ponce de Leon, the governor of Porto Rico, set out on a romantic voyage. He had been told by the Indians of a magical fountain which would bring back youth to every man who bathed in its waters. As he was growing old, he was eager to find this wonderful fountain, that he might bathe in it, and be young again. In his search for it he found a new country, which he called Florida. But he did not discover the fountain, and got death instead of life from his effort, for he was killed by the Indians. Balboa. — -Another Spaniard, named Balboa, crossed the isthmus which connects North and South America, and looked with wonder on the waters of that great

Ponce de Leon.

Pacific Ocean which no white man's eyes had ever before seen. He had made a long and dangerous journey over mountains and through fierce tribes of Indians, but he was paid for all his trouble when he saw, from the summit of a lofty hill, the waters of that great ocean, brightly shining in the rays of the sun. Never had man made a more glorious discovery, or human eyes gazed on a nobler sight.

An Aztec Temple.

Magellan. — Three years after the death of Balboa, a Spanish fleet, under Fernando Magellan, sailed round South America, through the strait that now bears his name, and came out on the waters of the great ocean which Balboa had seen. One of Magellan's ships went on until it had sailed round the globe, and proved in this way that the earth is round. Magellan thus completed the work which Columbus had set out to do.

Cortez and Pizarro. — Before many years had passed the Spaniards did some bold and marvellous deeds on

14 THE ERA OI DISCOVERY

the American continent. One captain, named Cortez, with a few hundred men, conquered the great empire of Mexico; and another, named Pizarro, did the same in the rich kingdom of Peru. They sent to Spain great quantities of gold and silver. But the Indians were treated by them with dreadful cruelty, and great numbers of the red men died of inhuman treatment before the Spaniards had been many years in their land.

Narvaez. — Another Spaniard, named Narvaez, landed in Florida in 1528, and went far to the north. He and his comrades were in search of gold; but instead of rich cities, like those of Mexico, they found only swamps and forests and fighting Indians, and of three hundred men only four came back alive.

Hernando de Soto. — There is one more Spaniard about whom we must speak, for he was the first white man whose eyes fell upon the great Mississippi River, and his adventures were very interesting. While other nations of Europe were sending ships to look at the coast of the New World, Hernando de Soto was wandering far through its interior and making important discoveries.

In 1539, De Soto landed in Florida with an army of about six hundred men, and with plenty of arms and provisions. He was a soldier who had been in Peru with Pizarro, and he wished to conquer Florida as Pizarro had conquered Peru. The whole country to the far west was then called Florida, and De Soto expected to find there great cities and much gold and silver, such as had been found in Peru and Mexico. He did not dream that he would find only tribes of poor savages, with no treasures of any value to him, and that he would never leave their country alive.

De Soto's Expedition. — The overland march of the Spaniards was a long and tiresome one. The men soon wanted to go back, but De Soto would not listen to them. From time to time the Indians gave him pearls, or ornaments of gold, and this kept him full of hope.

He felt sure there must be rich nations ahead, and he kept marching on and on, seeking the gold which he never found.

The Indians were angry at seeing

■ 1 , • l^ • I De Soto.

these strangers m their country,

and at the cruel manner in which the Spaniards treated them, and many fierce battles took place. The Spaniards were always victorious, but numbers of them were killed, and they suffered much from the want of food.

De Soto led his army along the coast lands of the Gulf of Mexico, through tribe after tribe of Indians, These men in iron armor, with their prancing horses and shining arms, their banners and music and waving plumes, must have been a strange vision to the ignorant savages. But the natives soon found that those whom they at first took to be gods were only men, and they sought to drive them from their country.

The Mississippi. — Yet De Soto kept on. In time he reached a point near where the city of Memphis now stands. Here, to his delight, he saw before him a mighty river, the great stream now known as the Mississippi. It was with proud eyes that the Spaniards gazed on this noble stream, flowing down grandly from the distant north.

They soon had to cross this river to escape the Indians, and they roamed for many miles through the country on the other side. The Indians here wished to be friendly, but the Spaniards as usual treated them badly, and as a result they tried to kill the whites.

De Soto Discovering the Mississippi.

The Fate of De Soto and His Men. — For three years De Soto and his men had been in the wilds of America, and had found nothing but hard marching, fighting, and the pangs of hunger. At length they decided oo return to their own country. But the bold leader did not live to see his native land again. Worn out with his toil, he died on the banks of the great river he had discovered, and was buried in its waters to save his body from the fury of the Indians. He was sunk in the waves at dead of night, and his followers began to build themselves boats, for they did not dare to try to return by land.

When their boats were ready they launched them on the stream, and for seventeen days they floated down its waters. For fifty days more they sailed about the Gulf of Mexico, until they reached a small Spanish settlement, from which they were sent to the island of Cuba.

They had gone out strong in numbers and splendid in dress and arms. They came back a few ragged and half-starved m.en, without gold to show, and with only battles and sufferings to tell of. And thus ended one of the greatest and proudest of the Spanish expeditions to America.

Sir Francis Drake. — Now that we have said so mucii about the Spanish explorers, we must say something about a great English sailor, named Sir Francis Drake, who for nearly thirty years spent his life in fighting with the Spaniards on both sides of the ocean. Much of this was in the West Indies, but in 1572 he crossed the Isthmus of Darien, as Balboa had done many years before, and gazed on the waters of the Pacific Ocean.

Drake in the Pacific. — The bold sailor made up his mind to sail in an English ship on that vast sea, and he went thither in 1578, saihng up the coast of Chili and Peru, and winning great treasure from the Spanish ships and settlements. He went as far north as the coast of Oregon, and landed at Drake's Bay, north of San Francisco, where he claimed the country for the king of England and named it New Albion. Then he sailed across the Pacific, and around Southern Africa thus making a voyage around the earth, as one oi the ships of Magellan had done before him.

The Northern Country. — Many years passed away before any white men came to live in the country which is now known as the United States. The Spaniards had many towns and rich colonies in the West Indies, in Mexico, and in South America, but the northern country was still left to the Indians. No one cared to settle on its shores. No gold or silver had been found there, and people in those days seemed to think there was nothing else worth having. Since then we have learned that the soil of the United States is far more valuable than all the gold and silver that the Spaniards found in America.

A French Enterprise. — It was not till 1562 that any settlers came. Then some Frenchmen crossed the ocean and built a fort at what is now Port Royal, in South Carolina. They named this country Carolina, after Charles IX., the king of France. These men were known as Huguenots, or people of the Protestant religion, while the religion of France was the Cathohc. They had left their country because they were badly treated on account of their religious belief.

Jean Ribault, who brought them, soon went back to France. After he left, the colony did not get on well. Most of the men were lazy and would not work, and the Indians, who did not like them, refused to give them food. Many of them died, and those who remained alive built a rude sort of vessel and sailed away for home.

The Florida Colony. — Two years afterwards another party of Frenchmen came to America and built a fort near the mouth of the St. John's River, in Florida

This colony was as idle as the other. The men spent their time in hunting for gold and fighting the Indians. They would not take the trouble to raise food from the earth, and they suffered from hunger till vessels came with food from France. Some of them turned pirates, and sailed away to rob the Spanish settlements.

St. Augustine. — The Spaniards were very angry when they learned that the French had settled in Florida. They claimed this country as their own, and sent out a party to take possession and to drive out the new-comers. This party was led by a man named Menendez, who built a fort which he called St. Augustine. A town in time grew up there, and it is of interest to remember that this town, laid out in 1565, is the oldest in the United States. The ruins of the old Spanish buildings may still be seen. The next oldest town is Santa Fe in New Mexico.