The makers of America

Front matter

T

THE

MAKERS

Preface

The purpose of this little book is to set forth in simple form the story of some of the most important events and movements in our later history. It deals with certain "high spots" in our national life. It makes no pretense of being a connected history of the period which it covers.

The book is almost entirely biographical. The Committee of Eight of the American Historical Association rendered a useful service to the teaching of history in the public schools by recommending that the history work of the fourth and fifth grades should be largely biographical in character. Biography interests young people. It makes a personal and dramatic appeal which is impossible in any other form of presentation. And after all, a lively interest in history is more to be desired than an accumulation of facts.

We are indebted to many teachers for valuable suggestions in the preparation of this book, but most of all to Miss Ida Williams, teacher of the fifth grade in the public schools of West Lafayette, Indiana.

It is hoped that the book will do something towards creating an interest in American history and bringing about a sound and sane patriotism on the part of the younger citizens of the Republic.

James A. Woodburn Thomas F. Moran

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks are due for the use of pictures to the following :

Old Colony Trust Co. for the New England Village. U. S. Naval Academy for Portrait of John Paul Jones. Wisconsin State Historical Society for Daniel Boone's Cabin. Continental Fire Insurance for Clark's Capture of Kaskaskia. Mr. Frederick A. Meserve for Photograph of Lincoln. International Harvester Co. for Tractor.

IV

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

INTRODUCTION — ''THE SPIRIT OF '76" i

I. JAMES OTIS, "THE FLAME OF FIRE" 8

Introduction

Slowly the mist o'er the meadow was creeping, Bright on the dewy buds glistened the sun,

When from his couch, while his children were sleeping, Rose the bold rebel and shouldered his gun.

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

It would be extremely interesting if you and I could go back one hundred and fifty years and see our nation in its early childhood. We could then walk about the streets of New York and peek into the parlors of the quaint old Dutch homes. And what curious costumes we would see in the churches and on the streets!

We could stroll leisurely about the streets of Boston and possibly we might meet some of the men who fought for American Independence and later laid the firm foundations of our nation. We might visit the New England "Meeting House," and sit through the long Sunday services.

In Philadelphia v/e might see the old Liberty Bell hanging in the State House, and ready to ring out the news of the Declaration of Independence. At Charleston we might see the southern planter loading his bales

A New England ^Meeting House

The church, or Meeting House, was the center of the old New England town.

of tobacco on a long, low, sailing vessel about to depart for Europe, or we might wander about the broad southern plantation and listen to the negro melodies. We might enter a small log cabin in a clearing in the wilderness, and while there might read in a Httle newspaper, by the light of the open fireplace, an account of the progress of Washington and his army in their fight for Independence. If we looked about us we would see the trusty rifle on the wall, and the skins of fur-bearing animals scattered on the floor. The spinning wheel, the candle mold, and the ox yoke would all be in their places, and possibly a steaming dinner of wild turkey, pudding, and other pioneer delicacies on the table. All this would be new and wonderful.

Loading a Sailing Ship for Europe

The sights and sounds of the early morning have a pecuhar fascination, and so also have those scenes of pioneer life which go to make up the early dawn of our nation's history.

These things would be interesting, but it would be still more interesting if we could meet and talk with some of the great men who founded this Republic. How should you like to accompany George Washington on one of his surveying trips through the western wilderness? How should you like to stand by the road-side and see Paul Revere rush by in the moonlight with his horse's hoofs striking sparks from the pebbles in the streets? How should you like to sit in the convention at Richmond and hear Patrick Henry thunder forth his famous speech in which he said ''Give me liberty or give me death?" It would be interesting, would it not, to hear Thomas Jefferson read from the Declaration of Independence or Benjamin Franklin from his "Poor Richard's Almanac?"

While we cannot ramble through the highways and byways of our country as it was a century and a half ago and talk with the Fathers of the Republic, it is possible for us to do the next best thing. We can read the stories of the lives of the great American leaders. The life stories of these great Americans constitute the History of the United States. These men are the Makers of America, and by studying their lives, and using our imaginations, we can live over again the more than four hundred years which have elapsed since Columbus sailed from Spain.

The stories in this Httle book begin with the old Revolutionary days. You have already studied in previous grades the story of the Discovery of America. You have followed Christopher Columbus and John Cabot on their memorable voyages across the ''Sea of Darkness." You went, in imagination, with Magellan on his trip around the globe. You were with John Smith during the "starving time/' and you made the acquaintance of Pocahontas and John Rolfe in their Virginia homes. You marched, gun in hand, behind Captain Miles Standish, the sturdy Pilgrim soldier, and possibly in your dreams you have seen King Philip and his dusky warriors peering out from behind the forest trees.

You have met old Peter Stuyvesant of New Amsterdam stumping around on his wooden leg, and you have heard William Penn telling his followers that the Indians must be justly treated. You followed Washington and Braddock into the dark valley of the Monongahela River, and then, deep in the primeval forest, you saw that terrible massacre at the hands of the French and Indians. A little later you followed Wolfe along the steep, narrow, and winding path leading up to the Plains of Abraham. You may possibly have heard him recite that verse from Gray's "Elegy" just before the ascent:

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,

Await alike th' inevitable hour:

The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

Be that as it may, you certainly witnessed the fall of Quebec in 1759, and you know that with Quebec fell the power of France in North America.

You have read of the joys and sorrows of the English colonists, and also of the foes which they were compelled to face. First of all the Indians, naturally enough, resented the coming of the white men. They did not like to see the "palefaces" roaming about their hunting grounds and fishing in their streams. There was a running fight of many years before the white men finally became the masters of the continent. Then, too, the Dutch in New Amsterdam were not entirely friendly but they were also overcome by the English. Finally the French, both in Europe and America, were not on very good terms wdth the English. The French and English, therefore, fought it out in the forests of North America, and the EngKsh were victorious. In the course of time, then, the Enghsh colonists had met and overcome three important enemies.

After conquering the French many of the English colonists felt that they had still another foe to face. There was a growing feeling of hostility towards England, the Mother Countr>^ Many of the colonists came to feel that Great Britain was governing the colonies in an unjust and selfish way. They felt that they were being taxed illegally, and were being deprived in other ways of their rights as Englishmen.

Franklin said that "British subjects, by removing to America, cultivating a wilderness, extending the domain, and increasing the wealth, commerce, and power of the Mother Country, at the hazard of their lives and fortunes, ought not, and in fact do not thereby lose their native rights." As a result of this feeUng the

American colonists declared their independence of the Mother Country, and set up a new nation on the Atlantic Coast. We are now to be introduced to some of the principal actors in this great American drama.

Chapter I James Otis, *'the Flame Of Fire"

Let independence be our boast, Ever mindful what it cost; Ever grateful for the prize, Let its altar reach the skies!

— Joseph Hopkinson

The American Revolution was one of the most important and inspiring events in the whole history of mankind. It gave independence to the English colonies in North America; it gave hope to oppressed people everywhere; and it was a blessing to the English people and the Enghsh Government.

It was, of course, more important to the American people than to any one else. It gave us the right to govern ourselves. This means that after the Revolution our forefathers managed their own affairs in their own way. They levied their taxes and spent their public money as they saw fit. They made their own laws and there was no king to tell them what they must do. They were free men.

The American Republic, in which "We, the people," govern ourselves, has been copied in all quarters of the globe. It has served as a splendid example of free

government, and many have profited by it. If a man

is capable of governing himself

it is much better for him to do

so, than to be ruled by a king.

It makes a much better man out

of him.

Now, if it is true that the American Revolution was really such an important event in history, all American citizens ought to know something about it.

They ought to know what caused it. They ought to know what the Revolutionary Fathers were fighting for; and they ought to be familiar with the life stories of such men as George Washington, Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Frankhn, Thomas Jefferson, and the others who helped to win our Independence.

James Otis spoke out against the policy of King George the Third long before most men did. He denounced the kind of search warrant which was being used.

You will remember that John Smith's "lazy gentlemen" founded the Jamestown Colony, in Virginia, in 1607; and that the sturdy Pilgrim Fathers came to Plymouth, Massachusetts, a short time after. One by one other lO

English colonies were established, until thirteen of them were scattered along the ocean coast from Massachusetts to Georgia. At first there was no connection existing among these colonies. Each one was separate and distinct from its neighbors, but all were under the control of England.

As long as these colonies were small and poor the Mother Country paid little attention to them; but as soon as they grew strong and wealthy they began to attract some notice. Then it was that England began to regulate the trade of the colonies for her own benefit, and to levy taxes on them to help pay the expenses of her government.

Now, you know that a small boy does not usually object when his parents or his teacher tells him what he should do, but when he grows up he wishes to have something to say about his own affairs. If he earns his own money, he wishes to spend at least a part of it as he thinks best. He does not wish to be "bossed around" all of the time.

George the TraRD

This is a picture of the headstrong king of England against whom the Revolutionary Fathers fought.

II

It was the same way with the colonies when they grew up. Their leaders insisted that the colonists were Enghshmen who had gone away from home, and that they were still entitled to all the rights and privileges of the Englishmen who had remained in England.

Stamp Collector Chased by a Mob

When the British agents tried to collect money for stamps they got into trouble. Andrew Oliver is seen fleeing to escape the sticks and stones of the crowd.

There was one right which the Englishman had always insisted upon and that was the right to le\^ his own taxes or have them levied by men chosen to represent him. In the case of the colonists the taxes were being levied, not by themselves, but by men three thousand miles away. To this there was a very vigorous objection, and this objection finally led to war.

In an old English novel there is a story of a peculiar piece of warfare. A Duke's army is laying siege to a town which is in a "state of revolt, and finally captures a tall, odd looking man, dressed in knight's armor — the leader of the revolt. The tall ''knight" was really not a knight at all, but a tradesman with a quick wit and a stammering tongue. While the knight and his captor were talking matters over, it occurred to the latter that he would like to know just why the town revolted; and, turning to the captured soldier, he said, ''But what is your grievance, my good friend?" To this the knight replied, "Toota, toota, toota, toota, — too much taxes."

"Too much taxes" have been the cause of a great many wars and revolutions, but our forefathers of the American Revolution objected, not so much to "too much taxes" as to any tax at all which was levied by outsiders.

In this struggle against the Mother Country, the colonists had able and fearless leaders. James Otis, a young lawyer of Massachusetts, was one of the foremost of these. Otis was born in Barnstable, Massachusetts, on February 5, 1725, and was descended from a good old English family which had come to Massachusetts from the southwestern part of England only fifteen years after the Pilgrim Fathers had landed at Plymouth. The young James was, apparently, a bright lad, and was graduated from Harvard College at the age of eighteen. Later he studied law and began the practice of his profession at Plymouth. After a few years he went to Boston and there became interested in the cause of the colonists.

While practicing law he apparently kept up his college studies, as he wrote a Latin textbook which was used i 8 I

Harvard University in its Early Days Otis was graduated from Harvard.

for a time in Harvard College. He also wrote a Greek textbook, but it was never published because the printing shops of the New World did not have Greek letters, and besides there was no printer who could have set up the type.

While Otis was a lawyer in Boston, England said that goods could not be brought into American ports without the payment of a duty, or tax, to the King's officers. The colonists thought this law unfair, and proceeded to smuggle the goods into the country without paying anything. This practice continued for years. Finally, the English officers began to enforce the law, and proceeded to search, without a legal warrant, the houses and other buildings in which they suspected the smuggled goods had been stored. The officers were

sometimes impudent and spiteful, and the whole matter was very annoying. The people protested that the search was not lawful, and James Otis took the lead in the opposition. He resigned his office as Attorney for the King, and pleaded the case of the people Old State House, Boston free of charge. In do-

Here James Otis made some of his ing this he showed

famous speeches. himself to be a true

patriot and a man of high ideals. Some people blamed him for his course of action. They said that he had deserted the cause of his King, and they threatened him in all sorts of ways. Otis, however, was ''as immovable as the eternal hills." "Let the consequences be what they will," he said, "I am determined to proceed. The only principles of pubhc conduct that are worthy of a gentleman or a man, are to sacrifice estate.

ease, wealth, and applause, and even life, to the sacred calls of his country."

He then proceeded to attack the methods of the British officers without mercy. ^'I will to my dying day," he exclaimed, ''oppose with all the powers and faculties God has given me, all such instruments of slavery on the one hand, and villainy on the other." ''A man's house is his castle," he continued, "and English liberty forbids that it should be entered except in a lawful way."

He was as bold as he was eloquent, and he must have known that he was risking his own life when he flew into the face of the King, and condemned ''a kind of power, the exercise of which in former periods of history cost one king his head, and another his throne."

For five hours Otis thundered on in that old Massachusetts court against the tyranny of the king and in favor of the rights of the people. He made a wonderful impression. John Adams was there as a young man of twenty-four, and he likened Otis to ''a flame of fire." ''Then and there," said Adams, "American Independence was born." And all of this took place fourteen years before the War for Independence began.

With his gifted pen and his trumpet voice Otis continued to assail the foes of American liberty. He made enemies for himself, of course, and many of them. Some of these detested him bitterly and sought ways of doing him harm. Finally, eight years after he made his great speech in the Massachusetts court, he pubi6 lished an article in one of the Boston newspapers which greatly angered the British officers. Soon after this a dozen men pounced upon him in the darkened room of a public coffee-house and beat him unmercifully. One

James Otis Before the Judges

It was here that Otis made one of his most famous speeches. Notice that the judges are wearing wigs and gowns. Our Supreme Court judges now wear gowns but not wigs.

of them struck him on the head with a heavy cane (some say with a sword), and he never recovered from the blow, although he lived on for fourteen years. His health was broken and he suffered from ^^ frequent attacks of insanity." He brought suit for damages against one of his assailants and obtained a judgment for five thousand dollars, which he promptly returned when the man handed him a written apology.

Otis tried to enter public life again and attempted to practice law, but he was not able to do either. He was shattered mentally and physically and lingered on, for the most part, in a state of hopeless insanity. He did recover sufficiently to take part in the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775, and to try a single law case three years later.

It is said that during this period he often expressed the wish that his life might be ended by a stroke of lightning. His wish was granted. While standing near the open door of his home at Andover, Massachusetts, he was instantly killed by a bolt from the sky. He had lived long enough, however, to see his country a free and independent nation. His death took place in 1783, — the year in which Great Britain acknowledged by treaty the Independence of the United States.

The career of James Otis was not a long one, but it was extremely important. He deserved well of his native land.

1. Why is the American Revolution important?

2. What was the most important cause of the American

Revolution?

3. How had the Englishman always insisted that his taxes be

levied?

4. Why was James Otis called a ** flame of fire? "

5. Did James Otis object to the searching of houses or to the

way in which it was done?

Chapter II Patrick Henry, *'the Orator Of The Revolution »

Breathes there the man with soul so dead Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land!

— Sir Walter Scott

The work of James Otis was continued by Patrick Henry. You probably know that Massachusetts and

Virginia were the two most important leaders in the American Revolution. Patrick Henry was born in Virginia in 1736 — four years after the founding of the Georgia Colony. He was eleven years younger than Otis, and four years younger than Washington.

He was very well acquainted with Washington, Jefferson, and the other great men of his time.

Henry's father was a well educated Scotchm.an of good, hard, common sense, and his mother was descended from a brilliant Welsh family. Indeed, one of her brothers, WilKam Winston, is said to have been one of the most powerful orators of his day, being surpassed in Virginia only by Patrick Henry himself.

The young Henry was a bright lad of good family, and it might seem that his way to a brilliant success in life would be easy. It takes more, however, to make a successful career than a brilliant mind and a good family. It takes hard work and a great deal of it. Right here was Henry's weak point. He didn't care for hard work. He didn't care for school or books. He preferred to sit on the bank of a stream and fish or to roam through the woods with a shotgun on his shoulder in search of wild game. He would much rather talk with a trapper or a backwoodsman than with a school teacher. The simple fact is that Patrick Henry as a boy was rather dreamy and somewhat inclined to be indolent.

For a few years the young Henry attended a small school near his home and studied reading, writing, and arithmetic. He was not making much progress in his studies, however, and his father took him out of school and taught him at home. In this task the father was assisted by his brother, who was pastor of one of the churches of the home town. With his father and his uncle working over him the boy had no possible chance of escape, and he did learn some Latin and Greek, and a good deal of Mathematics.

His minister uncle also gave him some valuable instruction in morals and religion. According to his own account he was taught the following excellent rules of conduct: "To be true and just in all my dealings. To bear no malice or hatred in my heart. To keep my hands from picking and stealing. Not to covet other men's goods; but to learn and labor truly, to get my own living, and to do my duty in that state of life into which it has pleased God to call me."

The boy had good instruction at home, but it did not last very long. At the age of fifteen he put aside his books and went into business. He served an apprenticeship for a year, and then went into partnership with his brother Wilham in a small country store. Their father furnished the money for it, and the boys were to carry on the business; but since Patrick had very Httle business abihty, and brother William had even less, the store failed within a few months.

Patrick was now waiting for something to turn up. He waited in vain for about a year, and at the end of that time, when he was eighteen years of age, with no money in his pocket and nothing to do, he got married. His wife was Miss Sarah Shelton, and her capital was about equal to that of her husband. Her father was an inn-keeper, and the young bridegroom tried his hand for a time in helping '' to keep a hotel."

The parents on both sides saw that something had to be done, and so came to the rescue. They procured a small farm in the neighborhood and a few slaves, and set the young couple up in house-keeping. Patrick and his bride were very happy but they were also very poor farmers, and at the end of two years this venture failed also.

Henry, now a boy of twenty, tried his luck once more. With the money which he received from the sale of his slaves he bought another country store. The result was what might have been expected. He failed again. Henry was now twenty-three years of age with a wife and several small children dependent upon him.

In spite of his rather unhappy position, however, he was in splendid health and fine spirits. Thomas Jefferson met him at a social gathering about this time and said that Henry seemed to have a passion for music, dancing, and pleasantry. The young man had a fine mind, robust strength, and good moral principles, and would do well what he was fitted for. He had no taste for farming, hotel keeping, or running country stores, but there was a great and important work for him to do as soon as he found himself.

Sometime while he was keeping store, or farming, or helping about the hotel he acquired a taste for good reading. He read the history of the Ancients, of the English, and of the colonists in Virginia. He was also a religious man and read the Bible regularly. In this way he improved his use of the English language, and thus prepared himself for the great work which he was destined to do.

Finally, after knocking around a good deal, he made up his mind to become a lawyer. After studying law for a month or six weeks he presented himself for the examination and was admitted to practice. He was then only twenty-four years of age and, poorly prepared as he was, it looked as though he were doomed to another failure. He didn't fail, however, for he had now found a kind of work in which he was interested.

Three years after beginning his practice, he was employed in a very important suit known as '' The Parsons' Cause." During the trial of this case he discovered his wonderful oratorical powers, and became famous almost in a single day. He won the case and his eloquence was talked about all over the county. At last he had shown the real stuff that was in him. He became a popular lawyer and public speaker. Clients rushed to him, and he was now on the high road to success.

Just about this time England passed the fam.ous Stamp Act, which required the colonists in America to purchase stamps and place them on newspapers, pamphlets, and legal papers of various kinds. The English Government wished to raise money in this way. The colonists objected to the tax. At this critical moment Patrick Henry appeared in the House of Burgesses of Virginia (the legislature of the colony) and boldly declared that the Virginia Legislature had the sole right to lay taxes upon the inhabitants of the Colony, and that any one who thought differently was an enemy of the people. He introduced a set of resolutions to this effect, and there followed a debate which

Jefferson called ^' most bloody." In the course of this debate Henry held that the EngHsh Government should not be permitted to tax the colonists. His bold defiance of the Mother Country startled and shocked many of the older members of the assembly.

Patrick Henry Addressing the Virginia Assembly "If this be treason, make the most of it."

It was in the course of this debate that one of the most dramatic scenes in American History took place. Coming to a climax in his fiery speech, Henry blazed forth his memorable warning to George the Third, the King of England. ^'Caesar had his Brutus," he said; ''Charles the First his Cromwell; and George the Third" — (shouts of ''treason," "treason," came from all parts of the house. Henry paused for a moment in an attitude of defiance until the cries ceased. And then, rearing himself with a look and a bearing of still prouder and fiercer determination, . . . without in the least flinching from his position, he finished the sentence) — '^and George the Third may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it!'' This was in 1765.

The resolutions were then passed by the house and Henry, thinking that his task had been accomplished, set out joyously for home. He must have presented a picturesque figure as he started upon his journey. He was described as ''wearing buckskin breeches, his saddle-bags on his arm, leading a lean horse, and chatting with a companion who walked by his side."

On the following morning, with Henry out of the way, the House became frightened and hastily erased from its records a part of the resolutions. It was too late, however. The bold words of Henry had already gone out of the legislative hall and, " borne on the wings of the wind," were well on their way to every nook and corner of the colonies. They did their work well and were an important factor in uniting the colonists against the Mother Country.

For nine years after this memorable scene Henry worked hard at his law practice, and developed the power of his great genius. He had become a great lawyer and a greater public speaker.

It will be remembered that there was no bond of union among the colonies. Without such a bond they could not act in common against the oppression of the Mother Country; and since this oppression increased rather than diminished, it seemed necessary to have a meeting of the leading men from all the colonies to talk things over. The result was the First Continental Congress which met in Philadelphia in the fall of 1774.