* A Distributed Proofreaders Canada eBook *

This ebook is made available at no cost and with very few restrictions. These restrictions apply only if (1) you make a change in the ebook (other than alteration for different display devices), or (2) you are making commercial use of the ebook. If either of these conditions applies, please contact a FP administrator before proceeding.

This work is in the Canadian public domain, but may be under copyright in some countries. If you live outside Canada, check your country's copyright laws. IF THE BOOK IS UNDER COPYRIGHT IN YOUR COUNTRY, DO NOT DOWNLOAD OR REDISTRIBUTE THIS FILE.

This ebook was produced by: Larry Harrison, Cindy Beyer & the online Distributed Proofreaders Canada team at http://www.pgdpcanada.net

GEORGE WASHINGTON

The lamented death of President Adams entails on me the duty of writing the preface to our joint work,—a duty which, had he lived, would naturally have fallen to him, since to his initiative and energy the volume owes its existence. Fortunately, the entire manuscript had the benefit of his wisdom and experience as teacher and investigator, and the proofs of about half the book passed under his watchful supervision.

Five years ago, in a letter to me proposing the book, Dr. Adams gave, among his reasons for wishing to add to the long list of school histories of the United States, three principal objects:—

First, to present fully and with fairness the Southern point of view in the great controversies that long threatened to divide the Union.

Second, to treat the Revolutionary War, and the causes that led to it, impartially and with more regard for British contentions than has been usual among American writers.

Third, to emphasize the importance of the West in the growth and development of the United States.

These objects have been kept constantly in view. We felt, moreover, that the development of institutions and government may justly be considered of great importance, although naturally lacking in picturesqueness, and we have endeavored to set in relief this evolutionary process. How far we have succeeded in accomplishing the objects sought remains for others to judge.

I cannot forbear to place on record here my appreciation of the fortitude with which Dr. Adams bore his protracted sufferings and did his work; of his conscientiousness in matters of minutest detail; of his fairness and sympathy toward those with whom he did not agree, and of the unfailing courtesy that marked every line of his correspondence.

Acknowledgment is due to the highly competent services of Miss May Langdon White of New York, whom Dr. Adams selected to assist in the revision of the work.

W. P. TRENT.

Columbia University,

New York, November, 1902.

Distribution of the Barbarous Tribes
East of the Mississippi

CHAPTER I.
discovery.

THE AMERICAN INDIANS.

Specimen of Indian Pottery,
from a mound near Pecan Point,
Arkansas. Now in the National
Museum at Washington.

Diego de Landa’s Maya
Alphabet.

1. The Aborigines.—When America became known to Europe at the end of the fifteenth century, it was by no means an uninhabited country. Wherever the discoverers effected a landing, and however far they pushed inland, they found themselves confronted by native inhabitants of varying degrees of savagery. Hence the settlement of both Americas, from first to last, has been dependent upon the supplanting of one race by another or upon their intermixture.

2. Characteristics of the Indians.—The original inhabitants of both continents have been known as Indians, in consequence of a mistake made by Columbus (§§ 5-7). The North American Indians were fiercer foes than the native Mexicans and Peruvians whom the Spaniards, under Cortez and Pizarro, overcame, and with whom they intermarried. We know, however, from linguistic characteristics, that all the aborigines from the Arctic Circle to Cape Horn belonged to the same race. How they first came to America is a matter of dispute; but their main peculiarities are well understood. In Peru and Mexico they had made some progress toward civilization. They constructed good roads, were not unskillful artisans, and had even learned some astronomy. But they lived in large communal groups under their chiefs, and had made slight advance in the art of government; hence they fell an easy prey to small bodies of Spaniards. Similar in character to the Mexicans, but inferior to them, were the Pueblos and Cliff-dwellers of the region of New Mexico, Arizona, and Lower California, as well as the Natchez Indians of the Lower Mississippi Valley. Most of the North American Indian tribes lived in villages of wigwams and had a primitive form of government. In each village there was a communal, or “long,” house, in which clan business was transacted. In a few cases this “long” house gave shelter to a whole tribe. These Indians, except among the Southern tribes mentioned below, were chiefly in what is called the hunter and fisher state, although they frequently practiced a rude form of agriculture. Sometimes, however, as in the case of the Digger Indians, they subsisted mainly on roots.^[1]

Inscription Rock, New Mexico.

3. The Principal Indian Tribes.—Of the North American Indians with whom our own forefathers came chiefly in contact, there were four principal groups, commonly known as the Algonquins, the Iroquois, the Southern Indians, and the Dakotahs. The Algonquins were the most numerous, although it is doubtful if at any time they numbered ninety thousand. Ranging through the vast forests from Kentucky to Hudson Bay and from the Mississippi to the Atlantic, they were naturally in frequent conflict with the whites. Opposed to these, and wedged into the very center of their territory, were the fierce Iroquois, the craftiest of their race, whose tribal names—Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas—are inseparably connected with rivers and lakes in the State of New York. They formed a loose confederacy, called by the whites the “Five Nations.”^[2] The Southern Indians showed a milder disposition and were given to agriculture and rude manufactures. Of these the Creeks were the most advanced; beneath them in point of civilization were the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, and Seminoles.^[3] West of the Mississippi ranged the wandering Dakotahs or Sioux, fierce fighters, whose descendants have given trouble down to our own day. Of the inferior tribes living in the extreme north of the continent, we need take no special account.

PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERERS.

Cliff Dwellings on the
Rio Mancos.

Old Mill at Newport, long
erroneously supposed to have been
built by the Northmen.

Long House of the Iroquois.

4. The Northmen.—While Columbus and his followers were the real discoverers of America in the sense that they first made it generally known to Europe, it is practically certain that they were not the first Europeans to set foot on the new continent. It is possible that seamen from France and England preceded Columbus, but there is much better reason to believe that Scandinavians from Iceland, having first discovered Greenland, visited the North American mainland as early as the year 1000. Evidence to this effect is found in the so-called Sagas of the Northmen, poetic chronicles based on tradition and dating from about two centuries after the events which they recorded. According to these stories, navigators were driven south from Greenland to a strange shore about the year 985. Fourteen years later, Leif, son of Eric the Red, having introduced Christianity from Norway into Iceland and Greenland, visited the newly discovered land, with thirty-five companions. They wintered in a country which, from its abundance of wild grape vines, they called Vinland, built some houses, and then returned to Greenland with a cargo of timber. Several other voyages were made thither and a temporary colony was established, the latest mention of a voyage dating from about the middle of the fourteenth century. Such is the story of the Sagas. The main features of the account are generally held to be correct, but the location of the Northmen’s Vinland cannot be determined, and no archæological remains have been found on the American continent to corroborate the Sagas.^[4]

North Pueblo of Taos.

Specimen of Saga Manuscript.

The Dighton Rock in Massachusetts,
long supposed to bear an inscription left by the Northmen.
The figures are now known to be Indian hieroglyphics.

COLUMBUS AND THE SPANISH DISCOVERERS.

Columbus.^[6]

5. Columbus and the Indies.—That Christopher Columbus^[5] of Genoa is entitled to the honor of being considered the real discoverer of America is clearly proved by the fact that he was the first person who planned to sail westward over the unknown ocean, and that he never faltered in the prosecution of his heroic design. It is true that he made the mistake of thinking he would come to India rather than to a new continent, and that he underestimated the distance he would have to sail; but such mistakes were natural in view of the lack of geographical knowledge at that time. It was generally believed, by priest and layman alike, that the earth was flat, and good Scripture warrant was produced for the belief. Yet since the days of Aristotle a few scholars had concluded, from the evidences furnished by eclipses and from other reasons, that the earth was spherical in form. Columbus had obtained this idea from some source and seems to have been fascinated by the possibilities it opened. Oriental commerce, especially that from India, was then of great consequence to Italian merchants; and if the recent military successes of the Turks should close the overland routes to the East, it was thought this commerce would be destroyed. But Columbus held that, if the earth were round, India could be reached by sailing westward, and thus trade could be carried on in spite of the Turks.

Toscanelli’s Map (simplified)

6. Motives and Difficulties of Columbus.—Columbus was urged on by patriotism, desire of gain, missionary hopes of Christianizing distant lands, and a natural enthusiasm for heroic enterprise. He corresponded with Toscanelli, a learned Italian, who sent him letters and a map, but underestimated greatly the distance to be traversed. This mistake was fortunate, as Columbus would probably never have secured a hearing had he proposed to take a voyage of ten thousand miles,—the actual distance between Spain and the East Indies. As it was, for a long time he applied in vain to princes and potentates—who alone could sustain the expenses of such an expedition—for permission and means to make a voyage which he believed to be about three thousand miles in length. The record of his hopes and fears, his successes and reverses, reads like a heroic poem. Fortunately for him, the Portuguese had been making voyages down the African coast, with their eyes fixed on the Eastern trade, and the Spaniards, strong through the recent union of Castile and Aragon and the conquest of the Moorish kingdom of Granada, had been aroused to eager rivalry in maritime enterprise. At the court of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Spanish monarchs, Columbus eloquently pleaded his cause. Success at last crowned his efforts. Under the patronage of Isabella he sailed from the port of Palos, with a fleet of three vessels, on the 3d of August, 1492.

Ships of the Time of Columbus.

7. Voyages of Columbus.—Within a month the adventurers had left the Canaries and were traversing the unknown ocean. As the days went by the crews became restless, but the dauntless resolution of Columbus prevented mutiny. Finally, after a fortunate change of course to the southwest, the great navigator saw a light ahead, on the evening of October 11, and the following morning he found that an island had been reached. It was probably Watling’s Island, one of the Bahama group, though the identity of the landing place has been a matter of much dispute.^[7] On this first voyage Columbus coasted along the northern side of Cuba, and also discovered the island now known as Hayti. Then, after losing his largest ship and suffering many other trials, he returned to Spain, confident that he had reached islands off the coast of India. The Spanish sovereigns received him with great respect and pomp, and soon sent him back to take possession of his discoveries in the name of Spain. Unfortunately, there was little or no wealth to be obtained from the new possessions except by capable colonists, and Columbus was not fitted to govern dependencies. So great did the opposition to him become that he was arrested some years later, on account of charges of extortion and cruelty brought by his followers, and was sent to Spain in irons. He was soon released, however, and undertook his fourth and last voyage. The results of his last three expeditions were not important. He succeeded in exploring more of Cuba, and in discovering Jamaica. He reached also the mouth of the Orinoco, and was much puzzled to account for its size, which was too great for an island river. On his last voyage he coasted the shores of Central America, in a vain search for a waterway to India. He found no strait, but did find an isthmus; and when he heard reports of a vast body of water lying on the other side of the land, he thought that it must be the Indian Ocean. Thus he was confirmed in his error with regard to the nearness of India, and doubtless cherished his delusion to his death. After his fourth voyage he returned to Spain, and died there in 1506, in poverty and obscurity.

Sebastian Cabot.

8. The Cabots and the English Title.—Almost immediately after Columbus’s first voyage, Pope Alexander VI. issued a bull dividing the non-Christian portion of the world into two parts: Spain to have all that she might discover west of a line to be drawn one hundred leagues west of the Azores; and Portugal all that she might discover east of it. In the following year the rival nations fixed the line at three hundred and seventy leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. Aroused by these events, Henry VII. of England, who was laying the foundations of Tudor greatness, granted a license of exploration to John Cabot, an Italian then living in Bristol. This seaman landed somewhere near the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, in 1497. Accounts of the voyage are unsatisfactory; and those of the voyage of 1498, supposed to have been made under the command of Cabot’s son Sebastian,^[8] are still more vague. That the Cabots did make northerly discoveries on which the English based their right to colonize North America is, however, quite certain.

9. Other Successors of Columbus.—The discovery of the West Indies, as the new islands were named in consequence of Columbus’s mistake, naturally gave a great impetus to exploration. In 1497–98 the Portuguese under Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope and reached the real India, the goal of their desires. In the last year of the same century another Portuguese, Gaspar Cortereal, explored a good deal of the North American coast, and in a few years Newfoundland was much frequented by fishermen, especially from France and England.^[9] Little was known, however, about the geography of the new world. Many strange errors were current respecting it, and some years passed before it was given a name. One of the errors was that North America was a projection of Asia, which was not disproved until 1728, when the Russian navigator Vitus Bering sailed from the Pacific into the Arctic Ocean. This error had much to do with the delay in furnishing the two continents with names. By a curious chain of circumstances, too, the name finally settled upon did not do honor to Columbus.

Americus Vespucius.

10. The Name “America.”—Among the early successors of this great explorer was another Italian, Amerigo Vespucci, or, in the Latin form then current, Americas Vespucius.^[10] Little is known of him or his voyages, but it is clear that he was one of the first Europeans after Columbus to visit the northern coast of South America, and that in 1504 he wrote an account of his adventures. This account circulated as far as the college town of St. Dié in the Vosges Mountains, and was there printed with an introduction by one of the professors, Martin Waldseemüller by name, who proposed that, since now a fourth division of the earth’s inhabited surface must be named, this should be known as America, in honor of Americus Vespucius, who was supposed to have discovered it. There appears to have been no intention to slight Columbus, whose voyage to the Orinoco was probably not widely known. At any rate, the suggestion was followed, first as regards South America, later with regard to both continents.

Balboa.

11. Balboa’s Discovery of the Pacific.—Geographical knowledge was much advanced by the discovery of the Pacific Ocean by Vasco Nuñez de Balboa^[11] in 1513. This brave Spaniard had sought the New World for the sake of wealth, but had met with many difficulties. Lured by tales told by the natives of Panama of a large ocean and lands abounding in gold beyond the mountains, he made his way to the top of the Cordilleras, and thence beheld a great sea to the south of him, which he called the South Sea, a name long retained by English writers. It is the irony of fate that in the best-known reference in English literature to this discovery,—in the famous sonnet by Keats,—the honor of making it should have been transferred to Cortez, who had celebrity enough of his own.

Magellan.

12. The Voyage of Magellan.—The name Pacific was given to the great ocean by the most glorious of Columbus’s successors, the Portuguese Fernãdo de Magalhães,^[12] better known as Magellan. In 1519, while in the service of Spain, he followed the coast of South America, hoping to find a strait that might lead into the South Sea. Late in the next year he discovered the strait that bears his name, and sailed into the great ocean to which he gave the name Pacific, on account of its peaceful character. This name was ironical so far as his own career was concerned; for one of his five crews mutinied, one ship was cast away and another abandoned him, and he himself was killed in an encounter with the natives of the Philippine Islands. But he had won a glorious immortality, although it was really the survivors of his crews that finally made their way around the Cape of Good Hope and completed the first circumnavigation of the globe.

Ponce de Leon.

De Soto.

13. Spanish Conquests.—Meanwhile a Spaniard, Ponce de Leon,^[13] had discovered Florida in 1512 and had found the perfect climate, but not the gold and silver and fountain of youth he sought. His attempt nine years later to establish a colony there was a complete failure. Success attended, however, the expedition of Hernando Cortez for the conquest of Mexico (1519–1521), and similar good fortune befell that of Francisco Pizarro for the subversion of Peru (1532). The New World was rapidly alluring the Spaniards, who made many explorations. For example, Cabeza de Vaca, an officer in Panfilo de Narvaez’s unfortunate expedition to the Gulf coast, wandered in the interior regions a long while, and finally emerged on the Mexican border, with marvelous tales of what he had seen and heard (1536). These tales caused the Viceroy of Mexico, Mendoza, to send a certain friar to investigate them; and, upon the facts and the numerous errors contained in the friar’s report, hopes were founded that induced the sending out of a large force under Francisco Vasquez Coronado (1540–1542). This expedition conquered many pueblo villages of the Southwest, but obtained no gold or silver, and, after struggling as far north as Kansas, ended in a disconsolate retreat. At about the same time another expedition was moving westward from Florida through the Gulf region, under the command of Hernando de Soto (1539–1542). This gallant man pushed northwest across the mountains and discovered the Tennessee River, and later the Mississippi; but he died soon after, and his followers abandoned their enterprise. Thus by the middle of the century no permanent Spanish settlement had been made in what is now the United States. Nor was Spain long to have things her own way.

THE FRENCH EXPLORERS.

Jacques Cartier.

14. French Discoveries.—As we have seen, French fishermen were among the first to reach Newfoundland. A little later the voyage of Giovanni da Verrazano, a native of Florence, under commission of Francis I., showed the dawning interest in the New World taken by the French court. In 1524 Verrazano explored much of the Northern coast as far as Newfoundland. In 1534 and 1535 Jacques Cartier^[14] discovered Prince Edward Island, sailed up the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and penetrated the great river as far as the present site of Montreal, fancying most of the time that he was rapidly nearing China.^[15] A few years later he came again, bringing colonists with him; but the enterprise did not succeed, and in consequence was soon abandoned.

15. Arrival of Huguenots.—France was now torn with civil and religious discord, and, as a result, Admiral Coligny, the great leader of the Huguenots, determined to found a place of refuge for his co-religionists in a more tempting part of America than Canada. Accordingly, in 1562, Jean Ribaut, under his orders, sailed for the Southern coast and discovered the present St. John’s River in Florida. He left a small colony on Port Royal Sound, but it was soon scattered. Two years later, René de Laudonnière established another settlement on the St. John’s, but the colonists were disorderly. Some of them mutinied and attempted to plunder the Spaniards in the West Indies. Learning thus of the existence of the French settlement, the Spaniards under Menendez organized a strong expedition against it. The French had meanwhile been reënforced by a fleet under Ribaut and by Sir John Hawkins, the English slave-trader and famous fighter. But in spite of these reënforcements the French did not use their opportunities, and their vessels were soon scattered by a storm. Then Menendez, who had just established himself at St. Augustine (1565), destroyed the French fort and killed or captured nearly all the Frenchmen at that time in Florida. St. Augustine, the oldest town in the United States, still stands to record this savage warfare. A little later a French soldier, Dominic de Gourges, partly avenged his countrymen; but St. Augustine was not taken, and the French crown relinquished all claims to Florida.

Champlain.

16. Champlain.—In the progressive reign of Henry IV. of France, attention was once more paid to Canada. After a colony had failed on the Isle of Sable, near Nova Scotia, and another had all but come to grief in Nova Scotia proper, Samuel de Champlain^[16] succeeded in establishing a permanent post at Quebec in 1608. In a few years, owing to the zeal of the Jesuit missionaries and the enterprise of the fur-traders, the French had obtained a firm grip upon Canada and were rapidly pushing inland.

THE ENGLISH EXPLORERS.

Sir Francis Drake.

17. English Explorations during the Reign of Elizabeth.—The English, unlike the French, were at first content with their fisheries in Newfoundland; and it was not until after 1570 that they seriously took part in the affairs of America. Their tardiness was probably at first due to the marriage of Henry VIII. with a Spanish princess, then to their own internal troubles in consequence of the Pope’s condemnation of Henry’s conduct. Finally, in the reign of Elizabeth, a love of geographical knowledge and discovery having sprung up, they turned their attention to exploring for a northwest passage to the East. Martin Frobisher made three voyages (1576–1578), and sought gold in Labrador. Francis Drake,^[17] in his voyage round the world (1577–1580), explored part of the Pacific coast of the present United States. Sir Humphrey Gilbert and his half-brother, Sir Walter Raleigh,^[18] wished to colonize as well as explore, and after one disastrous attempt Gilbert took possession of Newfoundland in the name of Queen Elizabeth. He was lost on the return voyage, but left behind him an undying reputation for courage and piety.^[19]

Sir Walter Raleigh.

18. Raleigh’s Colonies.—Raleigh continued the work of Gilbert by organizing expeditions, in which he took, however, no personal part. The first exploration was made in 1584 by Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe. These two leaders visited the coast of North Carolina, and returned bringing favorable accounts of the region, which was named Virginia, after the Virgin Queen. The next year Raleigh fitted out seven ships, and a colony was established on Roanoke Island. This in spite of several reënforcements finally proved a failure, the last colonists having disappeared in a manner never accounted for.^[20] Meanwhile the defeat of the Spanish Armada off the coast of England had rendered it quite certain that with England’s sea power established, she would be able to colonize the northern parts of America without great fear of molestation.

SUMMARY OF RESULTS.

19. Colonization in the Sixteenth Century.—As we have just seen, Spain, France, and England made many efforts during the sixteenth century to obtain permanent possessions in the New World. Spain succeeded in Mexico and Peru, and made a mere beginning in Florida. France did not really get a foothold in Canada until the first decade of the next century, and this was likewise the case with the English in Virginia. All three nations had too many things to disturb them at home to be able to put forth their full strength in establishing their claims to the new country. The work of exploration in consequence was hazardous and slow. Then, again, the precise value of the possessions they were striving for was not understood. Men chiefly sought the precious metals, and in the race for these Spain came off victor. But to obtain them she sacrificed the lives of the helpless natives and of imported negro slaves, and thus never laid the foundations for successful, thriving colonies. She injured herself, too, by accustoming her own people to the idea that the mother country ought to be supported by her colonies, and that labor was beneath a Spaniard of good blood.

20. Changes in the Theory of Colonization.—France and England, also, sought for gold and silver, but found none. The lands they occupied could be made productive, but not by the ne’er-do-well adventurers who first came out. When, however, fish and furs, and, later on, tobacco, became far more profitable than the metals would have been, the character of both English and French colonists gradually improved. The value of the new possessions was not to be perceived fully, however, until the eighteenth century, when they played a part in all the important European wars. Nor even then did statesmen at home realize that the mother country’s interests were best served by keeping her colonists prosperous. A colony was at first viewed merely as a source of revenue, and in some cases even as a dumping-ground for criminals. It is only of late that colonies have figured as outlets for superfluous population and as bases for extending commercial operations.

CHAPTER II.
the first plantations and colonies, 1607–1630.

THE SETTLEMENT OF VIRGINIA.

21. The Virginia Company.—At the beginning of the seventeenth century England undertook in earnest to plant colonies in North America. Her only important rival was France. Efforts were first directed toward the vast unoccupied stretch of country between Canada and Florida. The upper part of this region was explored, with favorable results, by Bartholomew Gosnold in 1602, by Martin Pring in 1603, and by George Weymouth in 1605. These enterprises were encouraged by the new king, James I., and Raleigh was soon out of favor. The work of colonization required coöperation; and the example of the Muscovite and East India companies led certain important citizens to obtain a charter authorizing them, as the Virginia Company, to promote and govern colonies in the unsettled region. It was a favorable time for such an undertaking, since changes in agricultural methods and other economic causes had created a spirit of unrest and filled England with men eager for employment. Besides, the passion for discovery and the energy that marked Elizabeth’s reign had by no means died out, and fortune seemed beckoning from the new shores.

22. The Sub-companies.—The Virginia Company’s charter covered a region extending from the thirty-fourth to the forty-fifth degree of north latitude. This was not to be controlled by one set of men, however, for there were two sub-companies, one consisting of the charter members living in or near London, and the other of those living in or near Plymouth. The Londoners could colonize from the thirty-fourth to the thirty-eighth degree; the Plymouth people from the forty-first to the forty-fifth, while the intervening space was left to whichever company should first colonize it, with the proviso that neither company should settle within one hundred miles of the other. This idea of competition between the companies led to nothing, and indeed the whole scheme of the charter was a cumbrous one that promised little permanent success.

Ruins of the Old
Church at Jamestown.

23. The Settlement at Jamestown.—In 1607 both sub-companies began operations. The Plymouth men sent a fleet to the coast of the present state of Maine, but the colony they tried to plant was a failure. The London Company was more fortunate. Their colonists reached Chesapeake Bay in the spring, and settled about fifty miles above the mouth of a large river, since then known as the James, in honor of the English king. They called their new settlement Jamestown, and at once began to build huts and fortifications.

24. Captain John Smith.^[21]—Their leading spirit was Captain John Smith, an adventurous and able man, who in spite of jealousies put himself at the head of affairs and saved the colony. The men sent out were mainly gentlemen adventurers seeking to mend their fortunes, and even some of the real workers followed callings not required in the wilderness. There was consequently much bickering, and soon a scarcity of provisions caused great suffering. The site of the town proved unhealthy, and the Indians encountered had to be watched. Altogether the situation was a wretched one, and but for the energy of Smith and a few others, Christopher Newport, the captain of the fleet, who had gone back to England for supplies, might have found few vestiges of a settlement on his return in 1609. Newport brought stores, but also a number of undesirable colonists. He speedily sailed back to England with a cargo of shining earth, which did not yield the gold it promised to credulous eyes. Smith besought the Company to send out good workmen to cultivate the rich soil; and after a while the promoters of the colony learned not to expect vast discoveries of gold and silver. In October, 1609, owing to an accident to his eyes, Smith left the colony, never to return.

John Smith.

25. Smith’s Character.—Smith’s relations with Virginia have been the subject of much hostile criticism. Discrepancies have been found between his earlier and his later accounts of his exploits, and some historians have been led to regard him as little more than a braggart. This is an untenable view. His management of the refractory colonists, his dealings with the Indian chief Powhatan, his wise and manly remonstrances with the London Company,—all go to show that he was an able and unselfish leader to whom the life of the struggling settlement was mainly due. On the other hand, there can be little doubt, save in the minds of his partisans, that he frequently embellished his accounts of his adventures, and that he is not the most reliable of historians. It is not at all impossible that he was really saved by Pocahontas,^[22] yet the story may be as mythical as the coat of arms granted to him by the king of Hungary.

Pocahontas.

26. Annulling of the Virginia Company’s Charter.—In 1609, the year of Smith’s departure, King James gave the Virginia Company a new charter, which defined the limits of its territory in a very vague way and increased its power over its colonists. In 1612 he gave another charter, which took in the Bermuda Islands and allowed the shareholders of the Company to hold general meetings in London. Twelve years later, when the king’s Puritan opponents had got control of these meetings and used them for political purposes, he caused the charter to be annulled by a decree of court, which was a legal though not a justifiable act. The records of the Company were preserved in a romantic way,^[23] and are now in the possession of the government at Washington.

27. Growth of Virginia.—Meanwhile the colony had had various ups and downs under several governors,—Lord Delaware, Sir Thomas Dale, the tyrannical Samuel Argall, Sir George Yeardley, and Sir Francis Wyatt,—but had on the whole become firmly established. Dale was strict, but successful in controlling the rougher elements; he also encouraged the policy of allowing settlers to become individual proprietors of land. Argall was speedily recalled for his misconduct. Liberal sentiments then prevailed in the colony, and its inhabitants were allowed, during Yeardley’s administration, to hold a yearly representative assembly, or legislature (1619), the first of its kind in America. This long step toward self-government, together with the increasing importance of the tobacco crop, gave Virginia a decided impetus, which the contemporaneous introduction of slavery, in the persons of twenty blacks landed and sold at Jamestown by a Dutch ship in 1619, did not at first affect. The presence of white slaves in the persons of indentured servants—a class recruited from convicts, vagabonds, and kidnapped children—produced some confusion. But colonists of position and means soon began to exert an influence opposed to disorder, and through Sir Francis Wyatt the Company promised to stand by its grant of free institutions.

28. Charles I. and the Virginia Burgesses.—In 1622 the colonists endured a loss of three hundred settlers, from an attack by the Indians whom they had maltreated. The collapse of the Company (1624) made Virginia a crown colony, dependent on the king, who was succeeded the next year (1625) by his son, Charles I. Charles, needing money in order to be able to govern without his Parliament, tried to get a profit out of a monopoly of the tobacco trade, but the colonial assembly, or Burgesses, as they were called, withstood him (1629). The convening of this assembly to discuss such a matter was an important precedent in the government of the crown colonies; but the assembly, although it could resist the king’s demand, could not prevent a royal governor like Sir John Harvey from making himself obnoxious.^[24]

THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW YORK.

Henry Hudson.

29. Hudson and New Amsterdam.—In the autumn of 1609 Henry Hudson,^[25] an English seaman employed by the Dutch East India Company, sailed up the river now called by his name, as far as the site of Albany. He was searching for a northwest passage to India; he found instead a good opportunity to trade with the red men, which the Dutch afterward cultivated. By 1615 houses were built on the site of Albany and of the present New York. The fur trade of New Netherland, as the region was named, was turned over to a corporation organized for that purpose, called the New Netherland Company. Politically no steps were taken at first against the English title to the country. In 1621 the Dutch West India Company took up the rôle of the New Netherland Company, and three years later sent over a number of colonists. These settled mainly near Albany; but there were other centers of population, all of which did a thriving fur trade with the Indians.

30. Organization of the Dutch Colony.—In 1626 Peter Minuit, director for the Dutch West India Company, purchased the Island of Manhattan from the Indians for a trifling amount (about twenty-five dollars), and made the town of New Amsterdam, afterward New York, the center of government. In 1629 the Company obtained a new charter and proceeded to develop a semi-feudal system of land tenure among the colonists. Individuals, styled “Patroons” (patrons), were allowed to buy tracts of land from the Indians and to settle colonists upon them. For every colony of fifty persons the Patroon was granted a large tract for himself; and as he was given political and judicial power over his colonists, New Netherland was soon in the hands of a powerful landed aristocracy, some families of which have retained a certain prestige down to the present time.

New Amsterdam.

THE PILGRIMS AT PLYMOUTH.

31. The Plymouth Colony.—The London Company and the Dutch West India Company had now established promising colonies, but the Plymouth Company had done nothing since their unsuccessful attempt in 1607. Seven years later, Captain John Smith had made a voyage along the northern coast and given the region the name of New England. Other voyages added to geographical knowledge and developed the fisheries, but the more southerly colonies for some time attracted all intending settlers, and the reorganized Plymouth Company of 1620 might have fared poorly had not accident favored them. This accident was nothing less than the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth Rock instead of somewhere within the jurisdiction of the London Company, as they at first intended.

32. The Pilgrims in Holland.—The causes that led the Pilgrims to the New World were briefly as follows. There were large numbers of English Protestants who thought that the Established Church of England had not sufficiently broken away from the Church of Rome, especially in regard to the forms of worship. Such dissatisfied Protestants were called Puritans, and those of their number who refused to commune with the Church of England were further known as Dissenters. Those Dissenters who were ruled by elders, according to the system of Calvin and Knox, were known as Presbyterians. Such as desired each congregation to be independent were called Separatists, or Brownists, or Independents. The Pilgrim Fathers were Separatists who, in order to escape persecution, had fled from the village of Scrooby to Holland. The emigrants, headed by their pastor, John Robinson, and their elder, William Brewster, numbered about one hundred. Settling first at Amsterdam, then at Leyden, they were joined by other refugees, and lived peacefully by their labors.

33. Movement of Pilgrims to America.—These Pilgrims naturally did not wish their children to become Dutchmen; so their minds turned to America. Securing a grant of land from the London Company and financial aid from London capitalists who became partners in the enterprise, they collected their effects and sailed to their new home in the Mayflower.^[26] They sighted Cape Cod on November 9, 1620. The captain, for some reason, would not sail farther southward; so after exploring the coast, the emigrants, who had already formed themselves into a body politic under a very liberal written agreement, landed at Plymouth (December 21, 1620).

34. Experiences of the Pilgrims.—Although the winter was mild, the colonists had much difficulty in obtaining shelter and food, and great loss of life was the result, Deacon John Carver, the first governor, being among the victims. William Bradford, one of the finest characters in our history, succeeded him as governor. His courage and that of his people, who believed firmly that they had the support of God, enabled the colony to pull through the crisis. Huts and a fort were built, land was cleared, and provisions and fuel laid in for the next winter. In November, 1621, fifty more of the Leyden people arrived. These were a burden to the colonists for a time, since the supply of food was small; and distribution was made, as at Jamestown, from the common stock. Settlers continued to be sent out by the London partners, but as a rule they came empty handed.

Miles Standish.

35. Success of the Pilgrims.—The colony nevertheless flourished under a patent it had obtained from the Plymouth Company. It owed much of its success to Bradford, who was often elected to the governorship, and to Captain Miles Standish, a brave soldier, not a Separatist, who was especially useful in managing the Indians. Various neighboring settlements of Englishmen who ridiculed the strict customs of the Pilgrims could not be easily dealt with; but finally the chief offenders, Thomas Morton and his associates at Merrymount, who had furnished the Indians with firearms, were put down with a stern hand. Meanwhile the communal system was abandoned for individual allotments of land. At about the same time (1627) the colonists purchased the share of the London capitalists in the enterprise.

36. Government of the Pilgrims.—They governed themselves at first by a primary assembly, then by a general court composed of two delegates from each township, elected by popular vote, together with the governor and representatives, called assistants. In 1636 a special code of laws was adopted; but on the whole the government remained as simple as were the habits of the God-fearing, thrifty people, who in many ways set an example of steadiness and perseverance to all the other colonists. It was, however, a very small settlement, and after various failures to secure its perpetuation through a royal charter, it was finally merged, in 1691, with Massachusetts^[27] (§ 60).

THE SETTLEMENT OF MASSACHUSETTS.

John Endicott.

37. The Puritans and the Founding of Massachusetts.—In 1623 some merchants of Dorchester, England, sent out a colony to the coast of Maine, which for some reason was diverted to the site of the present Gloucester in Massachusetts. Three years later the colony was almost abandoned; but John White, the Puritan rector of Trinity Church, Dorchester, fearing the aggressions of the Crown in ecclesiastical matters, advised the remaining settlers to continue at Salem, whither they had migrated, and immediately laid plans in England for planting a permanent colony. Two years later a patent was obtained from the Plymouth Company for a strip of coast land, and John Endicott^[28] led sixty persons to Salem. In 1629 the owners of the patent, who still lived in England, were organized as a Company and given a charter by the king. This charter provided for popular election of the governor and other officers, for a “general court,” or assembly, as well as for the passage of laws not conflicting with those of England.

John Winthrop.

38. Government of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay.—The new “Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England” was ostensibly to engage in trade, but in reality its founders intended to form a religious commonwealth. This could be easily done, since somehow or other no proviso that the Company should have its headquarters in England was inserted in the charter. Thus it was possible to transport the Company bodily to New England, and this a number of prominent Puritans, at a meeting held at Cambridge in 1629, agreed to do. There was to be no violent separation from the Established Church except such as was caused by distance; but uncongenial practices would be avoided, and the heavy hand of Archbishop Laud, then the strenuous Primate of England, would hardly reach across the sea. Thus many men of wealth and education, whose conservatism would naturally have prevented their taking rash steps in their opposition to the Crown, were led to join in the Massachusetts enterprise. In April, 1630, eleven vessels sailed for America, and by the end of the year about a thousand persons had emigrated to the new colony and founded such towns as Boston, Charlestown, and Watertown. They chose as governor a wealthy and highly educated Suffolk gentleman, John Winthrop,^[29] and under his able administration the colony began a career of great prosperity and importance.

CHAPTER III.
spread of plantations, 1630–1689.

THE SETTLEMENT AND GROWTH OF MARYLAND.

First Lord Baltimore.

39. The First Lord Baltimore.—Among the most important counsellors of James I. was his Secretary of State, George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore,^[30] who had been connected with both the London and Plymouth Companies. His interest in colonial matters was such that he obtained a patent for a colony in Newfoundland; but the enterprise failed in spite of his personal efforts (1621). Later he tried to get a footing in Virginia with some of his fellow-religionists (for he was a stanch Roman Catholic); but the Protestant settlers would not have them (1629). Then he secured a charter from King Charles I. for a tract which, although north of the Potomac River, was within the original bounds of Virginia. The new province was named Maryland, after Queen Henrietta Maria. Lord Baltimore died before he could utilize his grant; but his son, Cecilius Calvert, inherited it and became almost a feudal sovereign in the new region. He could declare war, appoint all officers, and confer titles. The freemen of the colony were to assist him in making laws which required no supervision in England; and the colonists were granted an unprecedented amount of religious liberty.

Cecilius Calvert,
Second Lord Baltimore.

40. The Growth of Maryland.—In November, 1633, Leonard Calvert, brother of Cecilius, crossed the ocean with two hundred colonists, and the next year the town of St. Mary’s was founded. Trouble soon arose with a prominent Virginian, William Claiborne, who had previously established a colony on Kent Island, within Baltimore’s jurisdiction. Claiborne was finally expelled, and the colonists, although many of them were Protestants, settled down peacefully. Disputes, however, soon arose with Cecilius Calvert over laws which the freemen insisted on passing; but no serious trouble occurred until the Civil War broke out in England. Then the Protestants gained the upper hand, and in 1645 Leonard Calvert was forced to flee to Virginia. He soon returned, however, and governed until his death, in 1647. After this, considerable confusion ensued; and when Virginia had been secured for the Parliamentarians (§ 42), Claiborne, who had cherished his grievances, compelled Governor Stone of Maryland to renounce his allegiance to Lord Baltimore. When Stone repudiated this agreement, Claiborne, who was a parliamentary commissioner, with the aid of an armed force deposed him, and Maryland passed under the control of the Protestants, who would not allow Roman Catholics to vote or hold office. Cromwell, however, forbade interference with the rights of the Second Lord Baltimore, and Stone, the latter’s legal representative, endeavored to overthrow the Puritan government of the colony, but was defeated in a battle at Providence in 1655. Two years later, Baltimore, through the favor of the English Parliamentarians, recovered his proprietorship and obtained control of Maryland, after a compromise had been made with the Puritan colonists and their Virginia abettors. Greater privileges were granted to the freemen, and there was a general religious toleration. Then followed the excellent administration for fourteen years (1661–1675) of Charles Calvert, the eldest son of Cecilius, who at the end of that period became the third Lord Baltimore. During his governorship many Quakers and foreign immigrants were attracted to the colony, which produced fine crops, notably of tobacco.

41. Revolts of Fendall and Coode.—In 1681 there was a slight revolt, led by a demagogue named Josias Fendall, who had previously been treacherous to the proprietor. He was aided by John Coode, a retired clergyman, and by some Virginians. The uprising was easily put down and would not have made headway had not the people been disturbed by an unpopular local law about the suffrage and by religious and economic legislation in England (§ 43). Another revolt in 1689, led by Coode, was more successful. But in two years the revolutionists were driven from power, and Maryland was made a royal province, the proprietor becoming merely a landlord.^[31]

DEVELOPMENT OF VIRGINIA.

42. Virginia under Berkeley’s First Administration.—We have seen that the royalist governor, Harvey, caused the Virginians at first to regret the gentle rule of the London Company. In 1639, however, Sir Francis Wyatt succeeded Harvey, and affairs began to improve. Three years later, Sir William Berkeley began his long and checkered career as the king’s representative. He was a brave, well-educated gentleman, but full of passions and prejudices that often brought him into conflict with the colonists. His opposition to all efforts to make the colonial government more liberal was intense. He disliked Roman Catholics and hated Puritans; hence such followers of Baltimore and such New Englanders as happened to enter Virginia’s borders, were soon made uncomfortable, as were also the Indians, who were vigorously put down in 1644. Berkeley and most of the Virginians sympathized with Charles I. in his struggle against Parliament to such an extent that after the death of that monarch the governor invited Charles II. to come to America. Charles was too wise to accept, but several thousand cavaliers did come, and thus the colony waxed strong.^[32] Parliament did not fail, however, to assert its supremacy. It appointed, as its commissioners, William Claiborne, who had played such a disturbing part in Maryland affairs and was an enterprising trader, and Richard Bennett, a man of prominence and excellent character. It also sent a frigate to the Chesapeake; and with no struggle Berkeley was superseded in 1652 by Bennett, who was elected by the Burgesses. He and his successors ruled well, on the whole, and the colony prospered.

43. Virginia under Berkeley’s Second Administration.—With the Restoration in 1660, Berkeley, who had been living quietly on his estate, was recalled, and then a period of disturbance set in. Severe measures against the Puritans alienated them. Enforcement of the Navigation Act, which compelled colonists to ship tobacco to English ports alone and to receive European goods only from vessels loaded in England, bore heavily on all classes. Then again, Charles II.’s grant of the province to two of his dissolute courtiers, Lords Arlington and Culpepper, naturally caused indignation. At the same time the bad condition of the church in the colony, and the corruption of the public officials, called for correction. The Puritans tried to revolt in 1663, but were suppressed, and matters grew worse. Berkeley became despotic and refused to call a new House of Burgesses, the old House elected in 1660 holding over and actually passing a law restricting the suffrage under which new elections would be held. To crown all, the Indians began to murder frontier settlers; but the governor, who feared printing presses and schools, feared the native militia also, and would not allow them to attack the savages.

44. Bacon’s Rebellion.—At this juncture, Nathaniel Bacon, a young member of the council, brave, honest, and hot-headed, raised, without orders, a private force and defeated the Indians (1676). Berkeley resented this unauthorized action and declared Bacon and his followers rebels. For several months a petty civil war went on, good fortune being with Bacon, who drove Berkeley out of Jamestown, and burned the place. The revolt would not have reached such dimensions had not the general situation been intolerable; but it was bound to be practically local, whatever may have been Bacon’s schemes for a general colonial uprising against the Crown. Even as a local movement it was soon ended, for Bacon’s premature death (October, 1676), whether from poison or fever, left no one to oppose Berkeley. The latter returned to power and continued his tyrannical course, executing no less than twenty-three of the leading rebels. This disgusted Charles II., who had shown much mildness toward his rebellious subjects in Great Britain. So Berkeley was recalled to England in 1677, and died there shortly after in disgrace.

45. Berkeley’s Successors.—The Virginians hailed his departure with bonfires; but in spite of his faults, Berkeley’s career is a pathetic one. He had not moved with the times. His successors in office, on the other hand, moved too fast, for they imitated the corruption of the court at London and overawed the colonists in addition to taking money from them. There were six of these governors in twenty-one years. They quarreled with the Burgesses and kept the colonists in a ferment of riots and hangings; yet the population grew, and some progress was made. A new capital was established at Williamsburg, and the College of William and Mary was founded there in 1692 by Rev. James Blair.

DEVELOPMENT OF NEW ENGLAND.

Sir Henry Vane.

46. The Progress of Massachusetts.—Although the colony of Massachusetts Bay had a most vigorous start, it was not without its troubles from the beginning. The governor’s “assistants” soon tried to concentrate power in their own hands, but the freemen (who, by law, must be church members) resisted, and a representative house was inaugurated. Voting by ballot was introduced in 1634, but it was not until ten years later that the administration of affairs was thoroughly organized under a governor and two houses. The migration of such leading Puritans as Sir Henry Vane the younger,^[33] and the proposed coming of others, did not serve to put down the democratic tendencies of the colony, which was daily increasing in population and wealth, much of the latter being due to the fisheries and the coasting trade. As a rule, the colonists were of the educated middle class, thoroughly religious and devoted to their pastors, many of whom were very able men. One of these clergymen, John Harvard,^[34] by means of a legacy and the gift of his library, assured the founding of the first college in the country, which has since grown into the great university at Cambridge that bears his name.

47. Troubles between Massachusetts and the Crown.—Meanwhile persons who had been driven out for not conforming with the ideas of church and religion held by the majority of the citizens of Massachusetts, had complained to Archbishop Laud, and that prelate and other councilors had passed laws for securing religious uniformity, obviously aimed at Massachusetts. The colony was soon up in arms, but dispatched Edward Winslow to England to try first the force of pleading. The breaking up of the Plymouth Company complicated matters, and after legal proceedings the colony’s charter was declared null and void. The colonists silently refused, however, to surrender their charter, and were saved from further external trouble, for a time, by the civil turmoils in England itself.

48. Domestic Difficulties.—Internal troubles beset them also, for they were as determined as their persecutors to have religious uniformity of their own kind. They drove out the noble pastor of Salem, Roger Williams, because he was opposed to giving political power to church members only. They disliked, moreover, his advocacy of liberal principles of toleration, as well as his theories limiting the king’s power to grant lands in America. Williams escaped in the winter of 1636, thanks partly to the kindness of Indians, to whom he was always a friend; in the spring of the same year he founded Providence Plantation on Narragansett Bay. Then Massachusetts was thrown into a ferment by a Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, who preached certain theological doctrines distasteful to the mass of the Puritans, although agreeable to some of their leading ministers. In 1637 she was banished; whereupon some of her adherents betook themselves to the island of Aquidneck, afterward called Rhode Island, where she subsequently joined them. The affair seems ridiculous now, but it disturbed the colony and marked the beginning of a tyrannical policy of repression that had evil results (§ 55).

49. Foundation of Rhode Island.—This intolerance led, however, to the more rapid settlement of New England, and was thus in part a power for good. The Hutchinsonians founded a town which they called Portsmouth, and thither, as well as to Providence, many discontented people flocked from Massachusetts, both settlements receiving bad names in consequence. In 1639 Newport was founded by Portsmouth people who dissented from Mrs. Hutchinson; but the next year the two towns united to form the colony of Rhode Island. In 1644 all the towns in the region joined to form the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, under a charter obtained by Roger Williams from the Parliamentarians. A separate charter was later obtained by a faction for Newport and Portsmouth; but finally, in 1654, the single colony was restored under Williams. It was a home of toleration, and as such reflects credit upon Roger Williams, its founder; but it was for a long time a home also of fanatics of all sorts.

50. The Connecticut Settlements.—Meanwhile settlements had been made by Massachusetts men^[35] on the Connecticut River (1635), which angered the powerful Pequot Indians and drove them to war. The Narragansetts were kept from the war-path by the entreaties of Roger Williams, but the Pequots were strong enough to harass the Connecticut towns of Hartford, Windsor, Saybrook, and Weathersfield. The Connecticut settlers appealed for aid to Massachusetts and Plymouth. A small army was raised which, under Captains John Mason and John Underhill, stormed the Indian village and almost exterminated the tribe (1637).

51. Free Government in Connecticut.—For a short time Connecticut owed allegiance to Massachusetts, but independence was assured in 1639. The people adopted a written constitution, liberal in its terms. This was the first of its kind in America, and was chiefly the work of Rev. Thomas Hooker of Hartford. In 1638 a colony was founded at New Haven by a congregation of Englishmen under Theophilus Eaton and John Davenport. Other congregations, all ultra-Puritanic, formed towns around, which were at first independent, but afterward united with New Haven. The new colony was weak, however, and was finally joined to Connecticut in 1665.

52. Evolution of New England.—Four years previously Massachusetts had absorbed the last of the towns founded in the colony of Maine, which Sir Ferdinando Gorges, a prominent member of the Plymouth Company, had been endeavoring to develop since 1622. The colony of towns planted on the Piscataqua under the grant made by the Plymouth Company to John Mason in 1629, which afterward became known as New Hampshire, was incorporated with Massachusetts by 1643.^[36] Thus one by one the New England colonies were being evolved and developed, Massachusetts, however, retaining her primacy. While local differences were soon to be detected, the people of the entire region were one in their main characteristics. They were religious after the Puritan fashion. They were brave and enterprising in extending their borders and their influence. They were thrifty and resolute in extracting wealth from their rugged soil and their storm-tossed waters.

THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY.

53. Formation of the Confederacy.—Similarity of habits, union of interests, and contiguity of territory naturally led the New England colonies early to think of establishing some form of political union. In 1637 the Connecticut people, who were menaced by the Dutch on the one hand and by the French Canadians and Indians on the other, made overtures for union to the people of Massachusetts. The latter were indifferent, but the proposition was renewed in 1639 and in 1643, and was acted upon favorably in the latter year. One reason for the final success of the movement for union was the belief that the civil turmoil in England might react on this side of the Atlantic, especially if the illiberal king should win. Accordingly, in 1643 a written constitution bound the colonies of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven in a “perpetual league of friendship and amity for offense and defense,” under the name of “The United Colonies of New England.” Each colony was independent in local matters, and each contributed two members to a commission which determined such large matters of common interest as declaring war, forming leagues, etc. In case of disagreement among the commissioners, questions were to be decided by the legislatures of the colonies.

54. The Work of the Confederacy.—The Confederacy thus established lasted theoretically forty-one years, but was really efficient only during the first twenty. The chief difficulty it had to contend with was the disproportionate burden laid upon Massachusetts, which had but one vote and yet was more heavily taxed in men and money than any other member of the league. This led to friction, but in the main, Massachusetts, being stronger than the other colonies, succeeded in directing the general policy. This was on the whole exclusive, since the people of Rhode Island and Maine were not allowed to enter the league. There was a curious disregard of England’s wishes in the matter of such a combination of dependent colonies, but at that time England had enough to do in looking after herself. Massachusetts was particularly jealous of English interference, and did not even proclaim the Protectorate of so stanch a Puritan as Cromwell. The Confederacy need not, indeed, have attracted much notice, for the commissioners acted mainly as a committee to look after the general prosperity of the colonies. But Massachusetts showed not a little boldness in passing laws against the raising of troops in the interest of King Charles. There was also, as was to be expected, quite a show of religious independence. The Presbyterians, although for a short time triumphant in England, were not so fortunate in Massachusetts; for in 1648 a synod was held at Cambridge, which defined and established a Congregational system, the principles of which have been strong in New England ever since, and have played an important part in the evolution of American democracy.

55. Trouble with the Dutch.—Meanwhile the settlers in New Haven and Connecticut came into unpleasant relations with the Dutch at New Amsterdam, on account of settlements pushed out in the direction of the latter. When England and Holland went to war in 1652, the Connecticut colonies tried to make the other members of the Confederacy engage in hostilities with the Dutch in America, but Massachusetts resisted. Cromwell sent over a fleet to Boston, which only partially succeeded in coercing Massachusetts; but before the eight hundred New Englanders gathered to attack New Amsterdam could be utilized, news came that England and Holland had made peace. Another instance of local troubles between Connecticut and Massachusetts was due to a war of trade duties between the two colonies, which came near breaking down the union. Still another cause of commotion was the arrival in Massachusetts of a few members of the newly established society of Friends, or Quakers, who astonished the staid citizens by their extravagant opposition to the state religion. Some laws were passed against them, and four were actually hanged on Boston Common. Plymouth and New Haven also treated them harshly, but Connecticut indulged in little persecution, and Rhode Island in none at all.

56. Dissolution of the New England Confederacy.—The practical breaking up of the Confederacy followed the restoration of Charles II., and was due to the fact that the king suspected that the colonies wished to separate completely from England. They had been slow to recognize his supremacy, and had harbored two of the judges that had condemned his father. At first Massachusetts managed to stave off the crisis; but in 1664 the king sent over four royal commissioners to investigate colonial affairs. After conquering the Dutch port of New Amsterdam, with the aid of Connecticut and of the troops they brought over, the commissioners quarreled with the people of Massachusetts with regard to their charter. The General Court of the colony evaded giving an answer to the king’s demands, and his agents returned home, having accomplished little. Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Plymouth were more submissive, and the first named was rewarded with a liberal charter and with the annexation of New Haven. This interference of the king with American affairs greatly weakened the Confederacy; besides, the new generation that was growing up probably did not feel the same alienation from England that their fathers had felt.

57. King Philip’s War.—Meanwhile there had been trouble with the Indians, although the New Englanders had treated them better than any of the other colonists had done—a fact strikingly exemplified in the life work of the Apostle John Eliot, who translated the Bible into a written language rather unskillfully invented for them by himself. Troubles arose in connection with Alexander and Philip, two sons of Massasoit, the friendly chief of the Pokanokets. Alexander died at Plymouth, and Philip thought the colonists had poisoned him; hence he planned a general Indian uprising, making his headquarters on Mount Hope, a peninsula running into Narragansett Bay. After many fiendish outrages had been committed on towns in Plymouth and Massachusetts, the federal commissioners enlisted a volunteer army. In December, 1675, this army attacked a palisaded fort of the Indians at what is now South Kingston, Rhode Island, and slew about one thousand warriors, half the force within the walls. Philip still continued the struggle; but the following August he was killed, to the great rejoicing of the whole of New England; for the two years’ war, since known as King Philip’s War (1675–1676), had been a frightful experience.

58. Loss of Massachusetts’ Charter.—Their own king was now to give the people of Massachusetts further trouble. Massachusetts, by extending her dominion over New Hampshire and Maine, had involved herself in disputes with the proprietors of those colonies; Church of England people were enraged at the fact that she would not tolerate their form of religious service or give them the suffrage; she was also charged with violating the navigation laws. Aggrieved at these things, Charles made New Hampshire a royal province in 1679; but his governor proved a tyrant, the people rebelled, and in six years the sway of Massachusetts was resumed. Control of Maine was lost for three years (1665–1668), but later on Massachusetts shrewdly purchased the rights of the proprietors over it. Charles intended to give Maine to his son, the Duke of Monmouth, so he had an additional pretext for demanding that Massachusetts should make a fair answer to all his complaints—a course of action which the General Court of the colony continued to evade. In 1684, weary of the evasions of Massachusetts, he caused the old trading charter to be annulled.

Sir Edmund Andros.

59. The Tyranny of Andros.—Massachusetts was now a royal colony, and in one year it exchanged masters for the worse. James II. was a devoted Roman Catholic, who had no sympathy with New England Puritans. In 1686 he sent over Sir Edmund Andros,^[37] as governor of Massachusetts, Plymouth, New Hampshire, and Maine. Andros was a servant worthy of his master, vexatious and tyrannical. He demanded the charters of Rhode Island and Connecticut; his demand was acceded to in the former colony, but in the latter it is said that the important document was hid at Hartford, in a tree since known as the “Charter Oak.” The governor was not to be foiled, however, for he declared Connecticut to be under his jurisdiction, and took in New York and the Jerseys (§ 68) as well. Thus he had the largest territory ever ruled by a provincial governor in America. He held Episcopal services in Congregational churches, suspended the writ of habeas corpus, levied illegal taxes, and made himself thoroughly obnoxious.

60. Fall of Andros: New Charters.—In the spring of 1689 news came of the accession of William and Mary, and the tyrant of the colonies was driven out, just as James had been from England. The old charters were restored for a time, but in 1691 Plymouth and Acadia (§ 98, note 1) were added to Massachusetts, and in 1692 a new charter was given the colony. By this instrument the people were still permitted to vote for representatives; but the governor was appointed by the Crown, and religious qualifications for the suffrage were abolished. Massachusetts was allowed to keep Maine, but New Hampshire was made a separate colony. Connecticut and Rhode Island recovered their charters, and the century ended with New England comparatively quiet and loyal.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE MIDDLE COLONIES.

61. The Dutch Settlers.—The Dutch West India Company fared badly at the hands of its own members, the “Patroons,” who shut it out from trading with their estates. It also had trouble, as we have seen, with New Englanders at Hartford, and likewise with the Virginians, who came trading as far north as the Delaware River. With the Indians, too, there were serious disturbances, chiefly with the Algonquins, through the mismanagement of Governor Kieft (1643–1645).

62. Attempts to check the Patroons.—The Company sought to check the power of the “Patroons” by establishing communities more or less independent of them, but the attempt did not thoroughly succeed. Political disturbances were also due in large measure to the overbearing conduct of governors, and to the lack of proper guarantees of popular liberty. In 1641, however, a council of twelve deputies from the settlements was called in to assist the governor, and a little later, under Peter Stuyvesant,^[38] this was made a self-perpetuating council. Government was rendered specially difficult on account of the mixture of population in the colony. For example, so many French Huguenots had fled thither that documents were often printed in both French and Dutch.

Peter Stuyvesant.

63. Swedish Settlement.—Meanwhile difficulties arose between the Dutch and the Swedes; for in 1638 the South Company of Sweden, which had been chartered under Gustavus Adolphus by an enterprising man, William Usselinx, sent out a former employee of the Dutch Company, Peter Minuit, to found a colony. He erected a fort on the site of what is now Wilmington, Delaware, and called the country New Sweden, under the protests, of course, of the Dutch, whose territorial claims had been invaded. New Englanders tried to establish themselves on the Schuylkill and in the present New Jersey, but were soon driven out. The Swedes persevered until Stuyvesant built a fort near one of theirs, not far from what is now Newcastle, Delaware; and four years later (1655) the Swedish Company was forced to give up its attempt at colonization.

64. New York taken by the English.—These successes of the Dutch, and the fact that their territory cut off New England from Virginia and gave Dutch traders, by means of the Hudson River, the best possible opportunity of reaching the Indians, made it impossible for England long to acquiesce in the continuance of Dutch rule in the New World. There had already been trouble in Connecticut, on Long Island, and on the Schuylkill (§§ 55 and 61), and things came nearly to a crisis in 1654, when Cromwell sent out a fleet to take New Netherland. But peace between England and Holland delayed the crisis for ten years. In 1664 Charles II., as we have seen (§ 56), renewed the English claim to the territory, and acting on his orders Colonel Nicolls menaced New Amsterdam with a small fleet, which carried English regulars and Connecticut volunteers. Governor Stuyvesant wished to hold out, but the townsmen surrendered in haste. The other Dutch settlements yielded rapidly, and the whole Atlantic coast from Maine to Florida thus became English. New Netherland was now called New York, in honor of its proprietor, the Duke of York, Charles’s brother—afterward James II. Nicolls was made governor, and the prosperity of the colony was greatly augmented.

65. Government of New York.—Dutch customs were on the whole little changed, but the form of government was modified in accordance with English precedents. The towns were provided with a local government, under an elected constable and overseers. Several towns formed a “riding,”^[39] under the jurisdiction of a sheriff; later, the ridings became counties. Thus New York had an intermediate system between the town government of New England and the county government of Virginia (§§ 82 and 89). The conduct of colonial affairs, however, depended entirely on the governor and his council. The early governors presented much the same contrasts of character as had been seen in the other colonies. Some were excellent, others were tyrannical. On the whole, the colony managed to grow and prosper, although in 1673, when England and Holland were at war, a Dutch fleet captured the town of New York. The next year the province was given back to the English by treaty, and, curiously enough, the first governor under the new English rule—Edmund Andros, the later tyrant of New England—gave the colonists an excellent administration. After a few years the people clamored for greater political privileges. An electoral assembly of deputies and certain reforms were in consequence granted by the Duke of York; but when he came to the throne as James II., he restored the old illiberal system.

66. Leisler’s Insurrection.—Relief was at hand, however; for on the news of the accession of William and Mary a German shopkeeper, Jacob Leisler, put himself at the head of the militia and drove out Francis Nicholson, who was acting as deputy for Andros. Leisler was a rash patriot, who would not give up his irregularly acquired power. Two years later he was forced to surrender, and was executed under circumstances not altogether creditable to the regular authorities. Leisler’s administration is notable for his having issued a call for a colonial congress, which came together at the town of New York, on May 1, 1690, and discussed French and Indian affairs. After Leisler, the people of New York suffered at the hands of a corrupt governor, Benjamin Fletcher, who was in league with the numerous pirates of the period; but at the end of the century his successor, the Earl of Bellomont, put down piracy and corruption, and restored order generally.

67. The Settlement of the Jerseys.—Meanwhile the country south of New York and east of the Delaware River had acquired the name of New Jersey, through the fact that in 1664 the Duke of York granted it to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, the latter of whom had been governor of the island of Jersey during the English civil war. The region for which Dutch, Swedes, and English had already struggled was still scantily populated; but the proprietors gave it a liberal form of government, and sent out as first governor Philip Carteret, nephew of Sir George, with a body of emigrants who settled at Elizabeth.

William Penn.

68. Disturbances in the Jerseys.—Other settlers came in, and by 1668 a code of laws of remarkable severity was adopted by the delegates of the people. Disturbances arose over the subject of the quit-rents paid by freeholders in discharge of services, and Lord Berkeley was so disgusted that he sold his share in the province to certain Quakers who wished to secure for their co-religionists a place of refuge in the New World. William Penn^[40] and some associates shortly afterward acquired this interest. Then a division was made between Carteret and the new proprietors, the Quakers getting less than half, which formed West New Jersey. Here they set up a liberal government, which attracted several hundred immigrants. In 1682, two years after Carteret’s death, William Penn and others purchased his interest in East New Jersey, and established another liberal government. Governor Andros of New York endeavored to assert his jurisdiction over both the Jerseys, but his attempts were defeated until 1686, when James II., by writs of quo warranto,^[41] forced the surrender of the patents. The Jerseymen, however, resisted all Andros’s attempts to tax them, and also quarreled with the proprietors, whose land rights had not been affected by the loss of their political powers. Finally, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, the proprietors, worn out with the struggle, surrendered all their rights to the Crown, and the two provinces were united into the royal colony of New Jersey.^[42]

69. The Founding of Pennsylvania.—William Penn’s interest in the colonization of West Jersey led to his taking a greater part in American affairs. In 1670 his father, an admiral in the English navy, died, and left him a claim against the government, in compensation for which he induced Charles II. to give him a charter for forty thousand square miles in America (1681). This region was named Pennsylvania in honor of the admiral, against the modest wishes of the proprietor. Penn at once offered liberal terms to colonists, and promised a thoroughly equitable government. Later in 1681, three shiploads of Quakers emigrated, and the next year Penn himself came over and founded Philadelphia. He soon convened an assembly, and a code of laws was drawn up, allowing considerable religious freedom and providing for the humane treatment of the Indians. With these savages Penn, through his shrewdness and kindness, was always successful in his negotiations, and as a result Pennsylvania did not suffer from border warfare.

70. Mixture of Population.—The mixed population for which Pennsylvania has been always noted was present from the beginning. The Dutch had a church within the region now known as Delaware, and settlements of Swedes also existed. This Delaware region came into Penn’s hands through a special grant from the Duke of York. When the whole province was divided into counties, three were made in Pennsylvania proper, and three in the small strip covered by the Duke’s grant, which became known as “The Territories.”

71. Delaware made a Province.—Penn was soon obliged to return to England, and did not come back again till the end of the century, when he paid a two years’ visit. His absence was marked by considerable political disturbance. There were boundary disputes with Maryland, and there was so much trouble in “The Territories” that in 1703 Penn made the latter the separate province of Delaware. Disputes in both provinces continued, however, and lasted, under both him and his heirs, down to the Revolution. Nevertheless, there was a marked and continuous growth in material prosperity.

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES.

72. The Settlement of the Carolinas.—As we have seen, attempts had been made to settle in the region between Spanish Florida and Virginia, both by French Huguenots and by Englishmen sent out by Raleigh. But all such efforts had failed. After the founding of Jamestown, hunters and other adventurous spirits wandered through southern Virginia into what Charles I. subsequently granted to Sir Robert Heath as “The Province of Carolina.” This grant was not used, but the Virginia Burgesses authorized exploring expeditions into the new region, and in 1653 some Virginian dissenters who had been harshly treated formed a colony in North Carolina, which they called Albemarle. Other parties, including Quakers and individual settlers, gradually pushed into the section.

73. Grant of the Carolinas to Clarendon and Berkeley.—In 1663 Charles II. turned over the province to a group of favorites, among whom were the famous historian, the Earl of Clarendon, and Sir William Berkeley, the governor of Virginia. The settlers of Albemarle had their land claims recognized, and were given a governor in the person of William Drummond, a Scotchman who had settled in Virginia. South of Albemarle, on the Cape Fear River, a number of emigrants from the island of Barbadoes had planted a colony, known as Clarendon, under the leadership of Sir John Yeamans, who continued as governor under the new proprietors. Thus there were a northern and a southern Carolina almost from the first.

74. Liberality of Proprietors.—The proprietors were very liberal to their colonists. Indeed, in the northern province the first legislature actually felt bold enough to decree that no debts contracted by settlers previous to their coming to Carolina could be collected within its borders,—a proceeding which naturally attracted some not very desirable immigrants.

75. Locke’s Constitutions.—But the proprietors made a great mistake when they intrusted to the celebrated philosopher, John Locke, the task of drawing up a scheme of government for their provinces. He prepared a document known as the “Fundamental Constitutions,” in which he seemed to forget most of the advances toward individual and popular liberty that had been made since the Middle Ages. Various divisions of the territory were to be presided over by orders of nobility known as Landgraves, Caciques, etc. The tenants were called “leetmen,” and could not leave the estate of their lord without his permission, nor could their children be anything but leetmen through all generations. It is needless to say that this scheme for a mediæval aristocracy in a land not yet cleared of forests was doomed to failure, for it at once produced discontent in the settlements, to which that of Charleston (originally Charlestown, founded in 1670) was now added.

76. Progress of the Carolinas.—For some time the proprietors left the settlers of Albemarle, or the North Carolinians, as we may now call them, severely alone, and the people managed to live by means of a rude sort of agriculture and by trade with New England. When governors were appointed for them, troubles at once ensued, and the legislature in 1688 actually drove out Governor Seth Sothel, who by his corruption and tyranny had amply deserved his fate. At Charleston, however, things went much better, and population and trade increased, while the arrival of considerable numbers of French Huguenots added greatly to the moral and intellectual advancement of the settlers. But there were some troubles. For example, the Scotch settlement at Port Royal was completely destroyed by the Spaniards; yet the proprietors would not allow the Carolinians to chastise their enemy. Then, too, the Huguenots were for some time denied political rights, and the numerous dissenters had trouble with the Church of England people. Trade restrictions and the constant presence of pirates in the harbor of Charleston and on the coast were also a source of embarrassment. Finally, there was a series of bad governors, and it was not until 1695, when one of the proprietors, John Archdale, a shrewd and good Quaker, came from England as governor, that things began to improve.

CHAPTER IV.
the country at the end of the seventeenth century.

GENERAL CONDITIONS.

77. Population.—We have now learned that of the thirteen original colonies that formed the United States, all except the youngest, Georgia, had attained individual, or semi-individual, existence by the end of the seventeenth century. The population of New England in 1700 was about one hundred and five thousand, Massachusetts, including Maine, leading with about seventy thousand, and Connecticut coming second with about twenty-five thousand. Rhode Island and New Hampshire were much smaller, containing only six thousand and five thousand respectively. Homogeneity, thrift, piety, and love of liberty characterized the population of the New England colonies, and were the presage of the great development the eighteenth century was to see. The population of the Middle colonies in 1700 was about fifty-nine thousand, New York having twenty-five thousand, the Jerseys fourteen thousand, and Pennsylvania and Delaware about twenty thousand. Homogeneity was characteristic of New Jersey alone, both New York and Pennsylvania having very mixed populations. Thrift characterized all the Middle region; but English enterprise was somewhat tempered by Dutch phlegm and Quaker sobriety. In the Southern colonies (if we may estimate from figures of 1688) there were more than twenty-five thousand persons in Maryland, sixty thousand in Virginia, and about five thousand in the Carolinas. The English race was dominant, but the presence of large numbers of black slaves, who were chiefly fit for work in the fields, checked the enterprise of the whites by confining it practically to agriculture.

78. Social Conditions.—With regard to social conditions, the tendency in the South was to form an aristocracy, based on race and the distinction between manual and other forms of labor. In New England, too, there was an aristocracy, based mainly on education and religion, but also on birth and wealth. In the Middle colonies there were traces of an aristocracy in the “Patroons” of New York and in the masters of the fairly numerous negro slaves. But on the whole, manual labor was held in esteem, and the population was democratic in its tendencies.

CHARACTERISTICS OF NEW ENGLAND.

79. Political Characteristics of New England.—The aristocracy of New England was unlike any other the world has ever seen. Its members were energetic, unusually well-educated, serious, and full of a sense of responsibility. They filled with distinction the public offices and the professions, especially the ministry. Precedence was allowed them by the merchants, farmers, and mechanics through force of custom, not through the presence of a caste system like that of slavery (although a few slaves were owned), or through the force of laws derived from the feudal system. As the masses of the people increased in wealth and culture, and learned to use the opportunities allowed them by the New World, the power of the aristocracy naturally decreased, although it continued to exert considerable influence well into the nineteenth century.

80. Professional Life.—As was to be expected in such religious communities, the clergy formed the most important section of the aristocracy. They led in all public affairs, down to the struggle for independence, and even beyond it, in spite of the loosening of religious ties that began to make itself felt in the eighteenth century. The other learned professions did not at first reach corresponding importance. There were hardly any trained barristers before the beginning of the eighteenth century, although the magistrates were men of good character and general education. The physicians, like their European brethren, used strange drugs, and prescribed heroic remedies which seem very queer to us now; and they frequently combined their profession with that of the gospel or with the trade of the barber.

81. Mechanic Arts and Commerce.—In the mechanical arts, the New Englanders were more independent than the other colonists. They imported elaborate manufactured products, but supplied themselves with the simpler ones in spite of the repressive effects of English laws. Among the most important industries were mining, timber-cutting, tanning, and distilling. Various needful commodities were manufactured in small quantities, while almost every farmer’s family made homespun cloth for its own consumption, as well as nails and similar articles. Fishing was carried on at great profit, and shipbuilding had developed considerably by the middle of the seventeenth century. The whale fisheries were specially important and attracted many adventurous men. The hardy sailors made both coast and ocean voyages, the trade with the West Indies being of great consequence, since from these islands sugar and molasses were brought home and made into rum.

82. Town Life in New England.—Boston and New Haven were the chief towns, and presented a prosperous appearance. There were many well-kept villages, which were centers of active political life, since those local affairs which were far more important to the inhabitants than the more general business of the colony, were settled by the citizens at town meetings. The houses of the people were on the whole comfortable. Each village had a school for the common branches, and soon good Latin schools were provided. Puritan simplicity prevailed in manners and dress, and, what was better, in conduct, crime being rare. There is practically but one stain on New England character during the early colonial period—the stain of persecution. We have already seen its effects in the religious intolerance displayed against churchmen and Quakers and independent thinkers like Roger Williams; but at the end of the seventeenth century it took an even worse form.

Cotton Mather.

83. The Persecution of the Witches.—Owing to political disturbances, fear of Indians, and the ravages of smallpox epidemics, the inhabitants of Massachusetts, near the end of the seventeenth century, were seized with great despondency. In common with many persons in England and in Germany they believed that the Scriptural injunction, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live,” was binding upon a modern Christian community. Under the impulse of this belief they began a persecution of many citizens, chiefly old women, for the supposed crime of witchcraft. Trials were held, presided over by learned magistrates; the testimony of frightened children was taken; and in Salem (1692) nineteen persons were hanged, and one pressed to death. Hundreds of others were arrested on suspicion, and for a time the colony seemed completely to have lost its reason. Even such a distinguished scholar and minister as Cotton Mather^[43] shared in the frenzy and defended it. But Judge Samuel Sewall (now known for a famous diary descriptive of the life of the period) made a public recantation in church of his share in the frightful business. It was indeed a terrible time, but New England emerged from it safely, and could point in extenuation to many similar outbreaks of popular frenzy in the Old World.

84. Literature.—It has been held, with much show of truth, that only a people, gifted with imagination could have been stirred into such a frenzied state of mind as characterized the New Englanders during the persecution of the witches. Unfortunately, their imaginative powers were employed too exclusively upon religious and theological themes, with the result that although much was written in New England during the seventeenth century, little truly imaginative literature was produced. Drama and fiction were non-existent, and the verse written hardly rose to the dignity of poetry. Mrs. Anne Bradstreet (1613–1672) and the Rev. Michael Wigglesworth (1631–1705, author of a quaint, grewsome poem entitled The Day of Doom) are almost the only poets worthy of mention, and their works are unread to-day. There were, on the other hand, many learned divines, like Thomas Hooker (1586–1647), John Cotton (1585–1652), Roger Williams (1607–1684), and Increase Mather (1639–1723), whose sermons and religious tracts were widely read by their contemporaries; but oblivion has fallen upon them also, save perhaps in the case of Williams. Next in importance to theology stood history, and among the historians the chief place must be given to Governors William Bradford and John Winthrop, who wrote the early annals of their respective colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay. But probably the most able and distinguished writer produced in America during the seventeenth century was the celebrated divine already mentioned, Cotton Mather (1663–1728), who was, as scholar, theologian, and historian, an epitome of the learning of the age. His best-known book, Magnalia Christi Americana (1702), is an ecclesiastical history of New England that is of great value to all students of early American annals. There was a little writing done in the Middle and Southern colonies, but it did not differ in quality from that done in New England and does not demand attention here.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MIDDLE COLONIES.

85. Social Classes and Occupations.—The Middle colonies, as we have seen, were in the main democratic, but the New York “Patroons” on their estates asserted their privileges as semi-feudal landlords, and in their town houses even lived in comparative luxury. Among the Quakers, too, in the other colonies, there were always some leading families that formed a quasi-aristocracy. The professions, as in New England, commanded the respect of the people, especially in Pennsylvania, which attracted some well-educated settlers. The masses of the people were engaged either in agriculture or in trade. Fur was the most important article of export; but grain and flour were also exported in return for foreign commodities. Manufacturing was carried on in a small way, especially by the Germans at Germantown, Pennsylvania. There was a fair amount of coast and river trade; for the roads were quite bad, except on the main post-line running from New York to Philadelphia through New Jersey, and in consequence the waterways were much used for purposes of transportation of goods and travelers.

86. Social and Political Life.—With regard to social life the Middle colonies were somewhat less sober than New England. Dancing parties, corn-huskings, and the like festivities diverted the country people; while the towns had races, cock-fights, and other similar amusements of the period. In point of elegance and fashion, New York was inferior to Boston, but was superior to Philadelphia. The English predominated in the towns; but the Dutch, with their sobriety, neatness, and narrowness of life, dominated the country districts, which did not extend much farther than Albany, or, indeed, far away from the Hudson River. The settlers of the outlying districts in both New York and Pennsylvania were rude and simple in their manner of living—were, in fact, our first backwoodsmen. Facilities for education were everywhere far inferior to those of New England, although one or two good schools existed in New York and Philadelphia. Religious influences were much mixed, owing to the variety of creeds tolerated; but Quaker sobriety was almost as strong as Puritan rigor in suppressing Sabbath-breaking and other forms of popular license. Politically, the Middle colonies were not so stable and well governed as New England. In New York and Pennsylvania taxes were heavy, and there was considerable discontent against the colonial officials and the mother country. Rioting at elections was frequent in New York. The Quakers were naturally more peaceful; indeed, their reluctance to bear arms partly prevented a complete union of the colonies for self-defense against the Indians. But all things considered, the Middle colonies in 1700 were in a prosperous condition, and had laid a foundation for the immense wealth and population they possess to-day.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SOUTHERN COLONIES.

87. Mode of Life.—The aristocracy of the Southern colonies was based partly on birth, partly on slavery, and existed chiefly because of the richness of the soil and of the fact that the numerous waterways encouraged a system of practically independent plantations. In many cases ocean-going ships could come up to private wharves, be there loaded with tobacco, indigo, rice, and other commodities, carry these to England, and return laden with manufactured articles required by the planters. It followed that retail trades and manufactures and all save minor handicrafts were practically non-existent in the South. Towns were hardly to be found. Jamestown was the seat of government in Virginia, and was resorted to by the wealthier planters for the purposes of fashion and pleasure, Williamsburg taking its place later; but for a long time Charleston was the only settlement in the South that exhibited real town life. Another result of the independent plantation system was the paucity of schools, as well as the feeble state of the Church. The richer planters employed private tutors, and often sent their sons to English universities. The middle and lower classes got practically no education. The clergy, except in South Carolina, were, as a rule, illiterate and were often immoral in conduct. The other learned professions were at a low ebb also, and education and culture were almost entirely confined to a few privileged persons.

88. Social Classes in the South.—There were four classes of society, separated by sharp distinctions. Lowest of all came the black slaves,^[44] who increased rapidly in Virginia after 1650, were numerous in Maryland, and preponderant in South Carolina. They were, on the whole, fairly well treated, though much overworked in South Carolina. Toward the end of the seventeenth century a very severe code of laws with regard to them came into existence; but it is not likely, however, that the cruel punishments allowed were often inflicted. Above the blacks were the indented white servants, who frequently came of the English criminal classes and were treated more or less harshly. Then came the small farmers and mechanics, who had little education, were fond of rough sports, and were somewhat looked down on by the planters. They possessed sturdy English virtues, however, and were jealous of their independence. The highest class, the planters, were often gentlemen of excellent birth, courteous manners, and vigorous qualities of mind and heart. Although keeping up many ties with the mother country, they were by no means subservient to it, and in political matters often resisted the colonial governors. From them were recruited many of the revolutionary leaders.

89. Isolation of the South.—Thus we see that there was nothing in the South to correspond with the town life of New England, with its enterprise, or with its educational and religious solidarity. There was nothing to correspond with the thrift of the Middle colonies. Isolation was the rule, in agriculture, commerce, and even in matters of administration. The administrative unit was the large county, hence local government was always difficult and somewhat inefficient. Society in many respects reproduced feudal aspects; but this lack of social solidarity was not without beneficial results. It fostered a love of independence, a fondness for manly sports, and a self-reliance that were to stand the people in good stead during the trials of the Revolution and of the Civil War.

90. General View of the Colonists.—On the whole, we may conclude that the English colonists at the end of the seventeenth century had made remarkable progress. They had secured firm hold of the Atlantic coast from Maine to Florida, and had absorbed the rival settlements of the Dutch and Swedes. They had pushed the Indians back and laid the foundations of national wealth in agriculture, manufacturing, fishing, and commerce. They had developed a spirit of independence and of moral sobriety, and had not allowed their intellectual powers to decline. They were increasing rapidly in numbers, and only their French and Indian foes remained to dispute their possession of the central portion of the continent.

French Explorations and Settlements

CHAPTER V.
development of the colonies, 1690–1765.

COLONIAL DISPUTES.

91. Character of the Period.—During the first quarter, or indeed the first half of the eighteenth century, colonial history contains few salient features apart from boundary disputes, quarrels with royal governors, and struggles with the French and Indians. There was a steady growth in numbers, which may be measured by the fact that from the first to the middle of the century New England increased fourfold, the Middle colonies sixfold, and the Southern colonies sevenfold in population. Wealth and general prosperity increased in fair proportion also. During such a period of development historians rarely find events of a startling or romantic nature to chronicle.

92. Charters in Danger.—The people of the various colonies were, however, disturbed from time to time by political events that were of considerable importance to them, as, for instance, by the attacks made in England upon their charters. These were in the main successfully warded off by the colonial agents in London, but they sometimes became serious. For example, it was proposed in 1715 to annex Rhode Island and Connecticut, which had liberal charters, to the royal colony of New Hampshire, which had no charter at all. In the case of the Carolinas, the proprietors, when threatened with a writ of quo warranto on account of popular disturbances in their territories, surrendered their charters to the Crown for a compensation. Thereafter royal governors were sent to both South and North Carolina, the latter province having to that time been under a deputy of the governor of the former.

93. Boundary Disputes.—Boundary disputes were very bitter between the colonies and continued, after they became states, into the nineteenth century. Connecticut especially was involved in frequent quarrels with her neighbors. New York and New Hampshire also had disputes with regard to the territory adjoining Lake Champlain. Some of the settlers of this region revolted just before the Revolution, in order to establish an independent government, which was recognized in 1777 as the state of Vermont. Pennsylvania and Maryland likewise had a dispute, which was settled by the drawing of the famous Mason and Dixon Line (1763–1767). To the south there were boundary disputes with Spain and to the west with France. The latter were to lead to serious results.

94. Quarrels with Governors.—The disputes between the colonies and their governors were numerous and bitter. Frequently the point at issue touched upon the payment of a regular salary to the governor by the colony, the colonists preferring to keep him dependent upon them by voting him supplies at irregular intervals. They argued correctly that fixed payments would be equivalent to a tax levied by the Crown, and they held out bravely, especially in Massachusetts, against all efforts on the part of the English government to force them to submit. We have already seen that some disagreements were based upon the corruption of governors, their dealings with pirates, and their general tendency to tyranny. Sometimes, as in South Carolina after the middle of the century, the governor would oppose a pernicious policy like the rash issuing of paper money, and would thus incur popular displeasure. Or he would become unpopular merely as the instrument through which the English government or the proprietors endeavored to carry out some obnoxious measure. Religious persecution of dissenters, when attempted by the governor, was sure to earn him hatred in all quarters, as in the case of Lord Cornbury in New York and New Jersey (1702–1708). Probably the disputes carried on by the Pennsylvanians against their executives over questions of taxation, etc., were more heated than those of any other colony.

VIRGINIA AND GEORGIA.

95. A Successful Governor.—There was, however, at least one thoroughly honest and efficient governor. This was Alexander Spotswood, who came out in 1710 to Virginia. He was a bluff, energetic soldier, who had been wounded at Blenheim. His coming was especially gratifying to the Virginians, since he brought them the long-craved privileges of the writ of habeas corpus. But even Spotswood found it difficult to extort money from the Burgesses in order to prepare for defenses against an expected French invasion. He did not, however, allow this opposition to render him indifferent to the interests of the colony. He sought especially to develop its mineral resources, and caused blast furnaces to be erected,—the first in the colonies. He also imported Germans to develop the vineyards, which were necessary to his scheme for making Virginia a wine-producing country. He furthermore showed his interest in the Indians by establishing a school mission.

96. The Crossing of the Blue Ridge Mountains.—The most memorable event connected with Governor Spotswood’s administration is his romantic expedition across the Blue Ridge. Little or nothing was known of the beautiful valley beyond these mountains. Spotswood set out in August, 1716, with a large cavalcade, well furnished with hunting equipments, and, according to the fashion of the times, with a quantity and variety of liquors that would now be thought excessive. It was a good deal of a frolic; but it resulted in the discovery of the splendid valley of the Shenandoah, to which river the governor gave the rather inappropriate name of the Euphrates. This region was destined soon to be settled by thrifty German colonists, and it has ever since been considered the garden spot of Virginia.^[45] Spotswood commemorated his expedition by presenting his companions with small golden horseshoes set with jewels. He had to pay for these himself, since King George I. was probably not anxious to encourage even such worthy colonial orders of knighthood as the “Knights of the Golden Horseshoe.” The king thought, perhaps, that his trusty servant did him a better service when two years later he sent out two armed ships, which conquered and rid the colonies of the notorious pirate John Theach, otherwise known as “Blackbeard.”

James Oglethorpe.

97. The Colonization of Georgia.—The country between the Savannah River and the St. John’s River in Florida, was claimed by the English; and when the Carolinas became royal provinces, this region was reserved as crown land. It soon attracted the attention of a noble-minded Englishman, James Oglethorpe.^[46] He conceived the idea that it would be an excellent place in which to establish a colony to be composed of such persons as needed a new chance in life after having been released from the then crowded debtor prisons of England. He secured the aid of a company in establishing his proposed colony, which was also intended to serve as a bulwark against the Spanish colony of St. Augustine and as an important outpost of the fur trade. The colony was styled Georgia, in honor of King George II. The company of proprietors were very liberal; they prohibited slavery and religious persecution, and provided that none of their own number should hold a salaried office. Oglethorpe came out in November, 1732, and early in the following year founded the town of Savannah. He treated the Indians well and made a firm alliance with them. In 1734 a number of German settlers arrived and added much stability to the colony. This same year Augusta was founded as an armed trading-post, and soon became the center of a large fur traffic. The English debtors, however, were not the best of colonists, and the company was wise enough to induce more Germans and some Scotch Highlanders to seek the colony. After this the growth of Georgia was certain, but very slow; for even so benevolent an enterprise could not escape internal discontent and friction, due largely to the thriftless character of the English beneficiaries.

FRENCH DISCOVERIES AND CLAIMS.

98. French Exploration of the Mississippi Valley.—From the beginning, the French colonists settled in Acadia^[47] and New France^[48] succeeded in making friends with the Indians, to an extent rarely equaled by the English. But friendship with the Hurons and Algonquins involved enmity with the enemies of the latter, the Iroquois. This in turn meant that the French would have great difficulty in penetrating New York. It also meant that their explorations would at first penetrate the western region bordered by Lake Superior and Lake Michigan. In this region they heard rumors of the Mississippi River, and in 1673 a Jesuit priest, Père Marquette, and Louis Joliet, a trader, undertook to look for it. With incomparable resolution Marquette surmounted every difficulty, and finally with his companions floated down the Wisconsin River into the mighty Mississippi, which they followed to a point below the Arkansas. Then they made their arduous way back, having accomplished one of the most magnificent voyages of exploration known in history.

La Salle.

99. The Explorations of La Salle.—Their work was finished ten years later by Robert de la Salle,^[49] who with his companions crossed from Lake Erie to the Illinois River and, after enduring many hardships, tracked the Mississippi southward to the Gulf of Mexico. There, taking possession of the region for Louis XIV. of France, La Salle named it Louisiana in his honor. He had been about four years at his work, in which he had shown a courage that has made him memorable. Two years later, in 1684, he sailed from France to plant a colony on the Mississippi; but, missing its mouth, landed on the coast of Texas. Here a fort was built, and from its occupation France got her claim to the territory as far as the Rio Grande. La Salle and his party, after suffering many hardships, determined to separate into two bands. The party led by La Salle murdered their brave commander, and finally reached the Illinois River.

100. French and English Claims.—Thus France, through the labors of her loyal subjects, had established a claim to an enormous region stretching from the mouth of the St. Lawrence, around the English colonies, to the mouth of the Mississippi, and thence to the Rio Grande. East and west the boundaries were practically the Alleghany and the Rocky mountains. But these claims were sure to be resisted, for the charters of the English colonies gave them almost indefinite rights to the westward, and they were growing too fast to be long cooped up between the Alleghanies and the Atlantic. Before the close of the seventeenth century, the struggle for predominance in the Mississippi Valley had begun, and in about seventy-five years France had been stripped of all the possessions which had been secured for her by the intrepidity and foresight of leaders who had often been but ill-supported by their king and government.

WARS WITH THE FRENCH.

101. King William’s War (1690–1697).—The colonial wars against the French for the possession of the region west of the Alleghanies are known by the names of the English sovereigns reigning at the time of hostilities; but they practically coincide with important European wars. For example, the first break in the American struggle corresponded with the famous Peace of Ryswick (1697). Indeed, throughout the eighteenth century colonial questions formed a most important factor in the numerous and destructive wars waged in Europe. The French early began to see that war must soon arise between the English colonists and their own, and about the time of the revolution which brought in William and Mary (1689), they sent over the able Count Frontenac with instructions to overrun New York. At first he had to beat off the Iroquois; but in 1690 he began that long series of horrible raids, conducted by mixed bands of French and Indians, which gives such a bloody tinge to the annals of the times and accounts for the hatred cherished for both their Christian and their savage enemies by the English colonists. First it was Schenectady, New York, that was burned and laid waste; then Salmon Falls, New Hampshire; then Fort Loyal (now Portland, Maine); then Exeter, New Hampshire. No one knew where the blow might fall next. Panic reigned among the colonies, and a meeting of delegates from several of them was held at Albany, in February, 1690, to discuss the situation (§ 66). A threefold attack on the French possessions was planned, but only that against Port Royal in Acadia, led by Sir William Phips, governor of Massachusetts, was successful. Having destroyed Port Royal, he attempted to take Quebec, while another body of troops attacked Montreal. Both expeditions were failures, and, as a result, the French ravages continued until the Peace of Ryswick, in 1697. Neither side had gained ground, but the English had suffered terribly. Massacres of the inhabitants of frontier towns made life a terror to the pioneers, and in 1697 the invaders actually sacked Haverhill, not thirty miles from Boston.

102. Queen Anne’s War (1702–1713).—Peace did not last long, for William III. was resolute in opposing the aggressions of Louis XIV. His policy was carried on after his death (in 1702) by the advisers of his successor, Queen Anne, chief among whom was the famous Duke of Marlborough, the victor of Blenheim. Massacres soon began again in New England. Port Royal was attacked unsuccessfully in 1707 and successfully in 1710, and another expedition to Quebec came to nothing. The Treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, put a stop to hostilities, and this time the English diplomats were sufficiently resolute to retain Acadia. Thenceforth Port Royal, or Annapolis, as it was now named in honor of the queen, was held by the English.

Jonathan Edwards.

103. Colonies at Peace: the “Great Awakening.”—Peace was to last for thirty years, a period which the French improved by exploring expeditions and by the building of forts to secure the great region watered by the Mississippi. Nor did the English lose sight of the vast interests at stake. They did perhaps the best thing to be done under the circumstances—they waited and grew strong in numbers and wealth, filling out as well as possible their more compact territory. They experienced also a spiritual awakening that must have strengthened the popular character in many ways. This was the “Great Awakening” which, beginning early in the century, became especially potent in 1734 under the preaching of the famous Jonathan Edwards^[50] at Northampton, Massachusetts. The religious enthusiasm spread far and wide, and after a short lull, began, in 1739–1740, to flame out afresh under the inspiration of the great revivalist, George Whitefield. This eloquent English preacher went to Georgia to join John and Charles Wesley, and there carried on the religious work which the brothers had begun. Whitefield preached throughout the colonies, stirring men everywhere, and undoubtedly producing many good results in spite of the evil consequences which a period of excitement always leaves behind it.

104. Establishment of French Forts.—After the Peace of Ryswick, Pierre le Moyne, Sieur d’Iberville, established a French settlement at Biloxi, in the present state of Mississippi. La Salle had previously built Fort St. Louis on the Illinois River, and it was now the French policy to fill up the territory between these two points with a chain of forts and settlements. Mobile was founded in 1702, New Orleans in 1718. The founder of New Orleans was Iberville’s brother, Bienville. At the other end of the line Detroit was founded in 1701, Fort Niagara was built in 1726, and Crown Point was erected on Lake Champlain in 1731. In order that Acadia might be won back if possible, the strong fortress of Louisburg was erected on Cape Breton Island.

105. King George’s War (1744–1748).—In 1744 the war known in Europe as the War of the Austrian Succession, and in America as King George’s War, was begun by a successful French attack on an English post in Nova Scotia, and by an unsuccessful attempt to take Annapolis. Great efforts were now made by Governor Shirley of Massachusetts to save Nova Scotia. He applied to the English king, but his main reliance was upon Massachusetts and her sister colonies of New England. In the spring of 1745, just one year after the commencement of hostilities, a large expedition set out to capture Louisburg, and after a siege of six weeks took that redoubtable fortress. The victory was celebrated in many long and sincere prayers of thanksgiving and in some remarkably bad poetry. But the English government was so blind to the importance of the interest at stake as to restore Louisburg to the French at the close of the war, in 1748.

Sieur de Bienville.^[51]

106. The French in the Ohio Valley.—The French now turned their attention to the task of securing the region watered by the Ohio River. In 1749 Céloron de Bienville, under orders of the governor of Canada, by means of canoe voyages and portages, reached Chautauqua Lake and thence the Allegheny River, where formal possession of the country was taken in the name of Louis XV. of France. Leaden plates with inscriptions asserting the French claim were interred at various points along the Ohio and its tributaries. Three years later a chain of forts was begun along the route taken by Bienville, the first erected being that of Presque Isle, near the present city of Erie. These movements of the French alarmed the English colonists greatly, and, most of all, Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia. This executive was interested in an American scheme for settling the Ohio region, through the agency of the so-called Ohio Company, and his colony claimed the country now threatened by the French. As soon as he heard of the new fort, he dispatched George Washington to demand the withdrawal of the French. Washington was just twenty-one years old, but he had seen life as a surveyor in the frontier counties of Virginia, and had learned to command men and to understand Indian character.

107. Washington in the West.—Washington, who was already an adjutant general, took with him only a few companions on his winter journey of seven hundred and fifty miles through the perilous wilderness. He braved numerous dangers, which he set down modestly in a journal that is still preserved. His training as a surveyor enabled him to pick out as a proper site for a fort the spot at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers where Fort Duquesne was shortly afterward built by the French, and where Pittsburg now stands. He reached Fort Le Bœuf (near the present Waterford, Pennsylvania) and gave his letter to the French commandant. The latter promised to send it on to the governor of Canada, but continued to occupy the fort. On his return journey Washington nearly lost his life while attempting to cross the Monongahela on a raft; but he finally reached Williamsburg in safety, having been absent only eleven weeks.

108. Founding of Fort Duquesne.—Dinwiddie determined to take possession of the Forks of the Ohio at once. William Trent, a trader, and some militia were hurried forward and began the erection of a fort. While the Virginians were thus occupied, and in the absence of their leader, a party of Frenchmen and Indians descended upon them and they were forced to surrender, their conquerors finishing the fort and naming it after Duquesne, the governor of Canada.

109. Washington at Fort Necessity.—Meanwhile great preparations had been made in Virginia. Washington, now lieutenant colonel, set out with a few troops to aid Trent, but heard of the surrender shortly after starting. He would not go back, but pushed on into southwestern Pennsylvania, and there at a place called Great Meadows began a fort. Having been warned of the approach of a party of French, he attacked them suddenly and completely routed them. Then he pushed on to the Ohio, but on learning that the French were advancing in numbers, finally fell back on his stockade, which he had called Fort Necessity. Here the French and Indians attacked him vigorously, and after a brave struggle he surrendered honorably on July 4, 1754.

Central North America
at the Beginning of the French and Indian War, 1755

110. The French and Indian War (1754–1763).—This was practically the beginning of what is generally called the French and Indian War, which nearly coincides with the Seven Years’ War in Europe. Both sides made extensive preparations, for the fate of a continent was now plainly seen to be in the balance. A congress of delegates from the colonies met at Albany to make a treaty with the Iroquois, and here (1754) Benjamin Franklin secured the adoption of a plan for a union of the colonies. The scheme was not approved, however, when submitted to the individual colonies, which were more or less jealous of their privileges. But if the colonists would not join to repel the foe, the English under Pitt were determined to do their best to drive out the French, not foreseeing that as a result the colonists, freed from danger at home, would be likely in a short time to form a union to secure independence. They sent out one of their ablest officers, Major General Edward Braddock, and an elaborate plan of campaign was determined on at a conference of the colonial governors assembled by him at Alexandria, Virginia. Four expeditions were to be made: one to be directed against Fort Crown Point in New York, and thence against Quebec; another, from New England, by water, against the French possessions in the northeast; the third, from Albany against Niagara; the fourth, from Fort Cumberland in Maryland against Fort Duquesne.

General Montcalm.

111. Braddock’s Defeat.—General Braddock decided to take charge of the last-named expedition. His European training had not qualified him to command in an unsettled country, and in spite of his personal efforts he found great difficulty in moving regular troops and artillery through the wilderness. He could hardly have moved at all if Franklin had not persuaded the Pennsylvania farmers to hire out their horses and wagons. In June, 1755, the army began to cut its way through the forest. All went well, though slowly, until the fort was nearly reached, when suddenly (July 9, 1755) the advanced guard came upon a large body of French and Indians. These wily foes immediately adopted border habits of warfare, and picked off their enemies from behind trees. Braddock, who had all an Englishman’s contempt for colonial ways, pronounced this method of fighting barbarous, and would not allow his men to imitate it. He insisted on using the same tactics in the backwoods of America that he had been accustomed to employ on the battlefields of Europe. There could be but one result. His men offered themselves as targets until so many were killed that a retreat had to be sounded. Even this would have been unavailing but for the fact that Washington, who was present as an aid-de-camp and had vigorously protested against his superior’s hard-headedness, used his Virginians, who had fought their enemies in backwoods fashion, to cover the retreat of the regulars. Washington performed many feats of valor throughout the day, and had several narrow escapes. Braddock, quite as brave, but entirely out of place in such a situation, was wounded just before the retreat, and died a few days later. Thus the most important of the four expeditions was a failure.

112. Acadia, Crown Point, and Niagara.—The second expedition succeeded in dispersing several thousands of the poor inhabitants of Acadia among the colonies;^[52] that against Crown Point resulted in a victory over the French on the shores of Lake George, but that against Niagara did not even reach its destination.

113. Effects of Pitt’s Policy.—Although there had been plenty of fighting along the American frontier, war was not formally declared between Great Britain and France until May, 1756. The French sent over a very able soldier, the Marquis of Montcalm,^[53] who was quite successful for about two years, and might have been altogether so but for the energy and foresight of that great English statesman, William Pitt.^[54] Pitt saw more clearly than any other man of his time how important her colonial empire was to Great Britain, and how it could best be maintained and extended. He supported Frederick the Great on the Continent, and caused renewed efforts to be made in America against the French. The fourfold attack of a few years before was again tried, with almost complete success. In 1758 Louisburg was forced to surrender; Washington captured Fort Duquesne (afterward Fort Pitt), and Fort Frontenac on Lake Ontario was destroyed. Thus the Ohio region was cut off from Quebec; but by resisting an attack on Ticonderoga, Montcalm managed to keep the French forces wedged into New York.

William Pitt, Earl of Chatham.^[55]

114. The Fall of Quebec.—The next year saw the practical conclusion of the struggle, in the fall of Quebec. This again was due indirectly to Pitt. He put James Wolfe^[56] in command of an expedition against Quebec, by way of the St. Lawrence. Wolfe landed with his troops below the city, which, rising from the summit of its precipitous hill, seemed to be impregnable. But the young general was dauntless. He performed the extraordinary feat of passing up the river under the guns of Montcalm, and landing his troops. During the night they climbed the cliffs, and by dawn were ready to offer battle on the Plains of Abraham (September 13, 1759). The conflict was hotly waged, the British eventually securing the victory, at the cost of their brave general, whose equally brave rival, Montcalm, was also killed. It would be hard to estimate the consequences of this battle.

General Wolfe.

115. The Treaty of Paris (1763).—The fall of Quebec had been preceded by the capture of the posts of Crown Point and Ticonderoga held by the French within New York. It was followed the next year by the taking of Montreal. This practically closed the war in America, but peace was not declared until 1763, when the Treaty of Paris was signed. By these victories and the peace which followed them, Great Britain obtained Canada and Cape Breton, nearly all the islands of the St. Lawrence, and all the territory east of a line running down the middle of the Mississippi River to a point just above New Orleans. Spain received all the French possessions west of this line, together with New Orleans. In return for Havana, which had been taken by the English, Spain gave up Florida to Great Britain.

116. The New Provinces.—The newly acquired territory was divided into three provinces. Canada became the Province of Quebec, part of its southern boundary line limiting the present states of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Florida was divided into two provinces, East and West Florida. A line was also drawn around the head waters of all the Atlantic-flowing rivers in the colonies, and the colonists were forbidden to settle in the reserved territory, which was set apart for the Indians. To defend these new provinces it was resolved to maintain within their borders a force of ten thousand men, who were to be supported partly by the Crown and partly by the colonies. That troops were needed was proved by the harassing though unsuccessful siege of Detroit by the Indians, led by Pontiac, chief of the Ottawas, in the spring and summer of 1763.

The British Colonies in 1764

CHAPTER VI.
causes of the revolution.

GENERAL CAUSES.

117. Tendencies toward Separation.—From the first there were certain conditions that tended to force the American colonies away from the mother country. The colonists, especially those of New England, had very generally left Great Britain for the purpose of escaping oppression; and, after the new settlements were made, the conduct of the home government was not such as to diminish the sense of wrong. It was less than thirty years after the landing at Plymouth when the first of the “Navigation Acts” marked the beginning of a policy designed to encourage British at the expense of colonial commerce (§ 43), and in 1672 this unwise course of action was carried still further. A law was passed which imposed the same duties on trade between one colony and another as on trade between America and foreign countries; and to enforce this law, custom-houses were established along the border lines between the different colonies. This naturally led to a constant and a growing friction between the royal governors who had to collect the revenue, and the colonists who had to pay it. The seventy-five years immediately before the Seven Years’ War are full of instances of the unfriendly relations between the people and the agents of the home government^[57] (§94).

George III.

118. Influence of the Seven Years’ War.—These unfriendly relations were happily interrupted by the war which resulted in the fall of Quebec and the transfer of Canada from the French to the English. The fact that the Americans were united with the English in a common cause against a common enemy drew them nearer and nearer together. In the prosecution of the war the colonists bore a prominent and honorable part, and at its close they everywhere shared in the general rejoicing. In this spirit old Fort Duquesne was given the name Pittsburg, in honor of the great statesman who had accomplished so much for the continent; and the legislature of Massachusetts voted for Westminster Abbey an elaborate monument to Lord Howe, who had fallen at Ticonderoga. It is certain that a new spirit of loyalty and devotion to the mother country had sprung up, when in 1760, one year after the fall of Quebec, George III., then a young man of twenty-two, ascended the throne. He had a great opportunity to conciliate the colonists and to increase their growing affection; but he defiantly took the opposite course.

119. George III.^[58]—The young king brought to the throne a very unfortunate mixture of good and bad qualities. He had an unblemished character; he had a strong will and was very conscientious and industrious; but he was possessed with the idea that the power of the throne should be greatly strengthened, and that all opposition to such increase of power should be put down, if need be, by main force. His ambition was to restore to the Crown the power which it had unlawfully exercised before the two English revolutions had made it subordinate to Parliament. For the accomplishment of this purpose he committed the fatal blunder of pushing aside the great statesmen he found in office and of surrounding himself with ministers who would aid him in carrying out his own policy.

120. Independent Spirit among the Colonies.—Another peculiarity of the situation was the prevalence of a decided spirit of independence of one another among the individual colonies. No effort to bring them together for purposes of common action, even against the Indians, had been successful. Even Franklin’s plan in 1754 had failed to unite them (§ 110). On the contrary, they had drawn farther and farther apart, so that a very intelligent traveler, who had visited various parts of the country, wrote in 1760, “Were the colonies left to themselves, there would soon be civil war from one end of the continent to the other.” And James Otis, one of the foremost of American patriots, said in 1765, “Were the colonies left to themselves, to-morrow America would be a mere shambles of blood and confusion before the little petty states could be united.” When George III. ascended the throne, the colonies seemed more afraid of one another than they were of England, and more likely to drift into separate nationalities like those of Europe than they were to unite in a common effort to secure independence of the mother country.

THE QUESTION OF TAXATION.

121. Excuse for the Policy.—The energetic and fatal policy of the Crown first showed itself in a determination to impose additional taxes on the Americans. There was some excuse for this policy. The Seven Years’ War had been carried on at heavy expense, and a large debt had been the result. The king claimed that this burden, chiefly incurred in an effort to protect the American colonists, should be borne, in large part, by the colonists themselves. To this claim the colonists might not have objected, if they had themselves been allowed a voice in determining their share of the tax. But the English insisted upon determining it without colonial advice.

122. The British View of the Matter.—In the course of centuries the British people had come to recognize the principle, “No taxation without representation.” But in the time of George III. representation, even in England, was absurdly imperfect. Boroughs of not more than half a dozen voters sometimes sent two members to the British Parliament, while some large towns like Manchester and Birmingham sent no representatives. The people permitted this bad state of affairs to continue, because the doctrine was held that every member of Parliament, no matter by whom he was elected, represented all the people of the kingdom, and not merely those who had chosen him. According to this theory, the colonies were as much represented in Parliament as Manchester and Birmingham; and if those towns could be taxed without direct representation, there appeared no just reason why Massachusetts and Virginia and the other colonies should complain of the same method.

123. The Colonial View of the Case.—But the colonists, and a small but very influential minority in Parliament, took another view of the case. Many of the colonies had been settled by men who had come to America for the purpose of escaping from a system which they regarded as unfair and tyrannical. Two revolutions in England had established the authority of Parliament as against the individual will of the king, but the methods of representation had not been changed. Indeed, they were worse than they had been when the Puritans came to New England, more than a hundred years before. During the intervening period the colonists had been receiving a liberal education in matters of government. In their town meetings and their provincial legislatures they had had to consider and decide a vast number of subjects, until they very naturally came to think they could understand the real requirements of the country far better than could a Parliament three thousand miles away. Some of the colonial writers denied that the British had the legal right to tax the Americans, while others claimed that, even if they had the legal right, an enforcement of that right would be contrary to the whole spirit of English liberty, and ought to be resisted.

124. Folly of the British Government.—If the British government had been wise, these differences might have been reconciled; but George III. and the friends whom he called about him could not see why Boston, New York, and Philadelphia should object to taxation while Birmingham and Manchester did not. The fact remained, however, that the colonies did object, and this important difference any wise government would have seen and taken into account. But George III. stubbornly held that if the colonies resisted the supreme authority of the king and Parliament, they must simply be forced into obedience. This doctrine, for which the king, and the king alone, was responsible, was the fatal error that cost Great Britain the American colonies.

The Pennsylvania Journal

125. Grenville’s Scheme of Taxation.—In 1764 Parliament, under the leadership of Lord Grenville, made a formal declaration that it had a right to tax the colonies, and a year later proposed to raise a tax by what was known as the “Stamp Act.” This provided that all transactions, to be lawful, must be printed, or written, on paper furnished by the government and bearing the government stamp. Even newspapers and almanacs had to be printed on this stamped paper. The cost of the stamps varied from a few cents to fifty or sixty dollars. Grenville thought this form of taxation would afford no chance to evade the custom-house, no temptation to smuggle, and would dispense with all disagreeable prying into warehouses and private dwellings in search of smuggled goods. It was believed that the act would enforce itself and produce a large revenue.

126. Spirit of the Colonies.—This belief shows how generally the spirit of the colonists was misunderstood. Only a few of the greatest and wisest of the British statesmen saw the danger in the policy proposed. These men, of whom Chatham and Burke were the leaders, did not deny the constitutional right of Parliament to tax all British subjects, but they held that it would be madness to try to enforce that right, since such an attempt would probably result in the loss of the colonies. The very thing they feared and predicted took place.

THE RESISTANCE OF THE COLONISTS.

Samuel Adams.

127. Organization for Resistance.—The colonists instantly organized a general resistance to the tax. Samuel Adams^[59] and James Otis^[60] in Massachusetts, and Patrick Henry^[61] in Virginia, were the most active of the colonial leaders. Adams sent letters in every direction denouncing the tax; Otis inflamed the people of Boston and the vicinity with his essays and his oratory; and Henry appealed to the Virginians with overpowering eloquence. A general congress representing the colonies met in New York, October 7, 1765, and passed a series of resolutions denouncing the Stamp Act as a violent encroachment on the principle, “No taxation without representation.” Lawyers agreed not to regard paper as made illegal by the absence of a stamp. Newspapers were issued bearing the sign of a skull and crossbones in place of a stamp, and boxes of stamps, on their arrival, were seized and burned.

James Otis.

128. Repeal of the Stamp Act.—It was not long before even Grenville was convinced that the Stamp Act was a failure. As it could not be enforced, and as it brought very little revenue, it was repealed the very year after it had become a law. There are, however, two ways of doing an act demanded by the people: to do it with a tact that will convey the largest amount of satisfaction; or to do it with some reservation or qualification that leaves a sting behind it. The latter course was taken by the British government, which said in substance: We repeal the act, because its enforcement will be injurious to our commercial interests, but in doing so we expressly declare “the supreme right of Parliament to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the colonies and the people of America in all ways whatever.”

129. The Townshend Acts.—The “Stamp Act” was followed by the “Townshend Acts” in 1767. One of these acts forbade the colonies to trade with the West Indies and was evidently designed to force the Americans to buy West Indian goods in Great Britain. Another provided for a new duty on all imports of glass, paper, paints, and teas. Still another, and the most obnoxious of the Townshend Acts, was one which legalized “Writs of Assistance.” Such writs had formerly been unlawfully used as a means of enforcing the statute against smuggling. These papers, by being signed in blank, so that names could be inserted at the convenience of the officer, provided a means by which any sheriff or constable could enter any man’s house to search for whatever he wanted to find.

John Dickinson.

130. Opposition to the Townshend Acts.—The Townshend Acts provoked instant opposition. Associations pledged to abstain from using any of the articles taxed, were formed in various parts of the country. The Massachusetts Assembly sent a circular letter to the other colonies, inviting them to concerted resistance; but this letter so provoked the king that he ordered the governor of Massachusetts to demand that the Assembly rescind the vote, on pain of dissolution. The Assembly promptly refused, whereupon Governor Bernard promptly dissolved it. Everywhere a similar spirit of opposition prevailed.

131. The Farmer’s Letters.—The next year, 1768, public feeling was greatly intensified and united by what were known as the Farmer’s Letters—a remarkable series of papers written by John Dickinson,^[62] a young lawyer of Philadelphia, endowed with wealth, education, and brilliant talents. He set forth with great skill the claims of the colonies and the dangers to the liberties of the people from a policy of submission. These letters were so widely read that they had a vast influence in shaping the course of the colonies.^[63]

Governor Hutchinson.

132. The Boston Massacre.—In 1768 the king sent over two regiments of soldiers to Boston for the special purpose of enforcing the obnoxious acts. In March, 1770, there was a spirited quarrel between some citizens and the soldiers in one of the streets of Boston, whereupon the troops fired upon the crowd, killing five and wounding seven others. This event, commonly known as the “Boston Massacre,” greatly widened the breach. An immense concourse gathered the next day in the Old South Meetinghouse. Samuel Adams was sent to Governor Hutchinson^[64] to demand, in the name of three thousand freemen, the removal of the soldiers from the town. The governor thought it prudent not to refuse, and sent the troops to an island in Boston Harbor.

THE TAX ON TEA.

Old South Church, Boston.^[65]

133. Partial Repeal of the Townshend Acts.—These events convinced Parliament that the Townshend Acts could not be enforced; but the government only repeated the course taken in repealing the Stamp Act. Instead of annulling the obnoxious provisions outright, they repealed the tax on all the articles except tea, but they held to the duty on this one article in order to maintain the principle. They ingeniously tried to make the tax on tea acceptable by remitting the usual duty which had to be paid on tea sent to America, when in transit it arrived in England. But it was not the cost of the tea that the Americans objected to; it was the principle of taxation.

134. General Treatment of the Tea.—As the British had no doubt the Americans would receive the tea under these conditions, large cargoes were sent to various American ports. The government commissioners appointed to receive this tea soon found that the people everywhere refused it. In Charleston large quantities were stored and afterward sold to the public; at Annapolis the tea was burned; at Philadelphia and at New York, after browbeating the commissioner into resigning, the people compelled the ships to return to England.

135. The Boston “Tea Party.”—It was in Boston, however, that the most vigorous action was taken. A large cargo had arrived in December of 1773, but the people would not allow it to be landed. The vessel no doubt would have returned to England, but the colonial officers refused to give the clearance papers required of all vessels before sailing. If the cargo was not landed within twenty days after its arrival, the custom-house officers were authorized by law to seize and land it by force. It was evident that the tea must be destroyed, or its landing could not be prevented except by open resistance. On the nineteenth day a town meeting of six or seven thousand persons met in and about the Old South Meetinghouse to decide what course to pursue. During the evening, in accordance with a general understanding, a great crowd went down to the wharf to see what would occur. When they were assembled, a small company of men, dressed as Indians, quietly rowed out to the ships, broke open more than three hundred chests of tea, and poured the contents into the harbor.

NEW LEGISLATION AND OPPOSITION.

136. The “Five Acts of 1774.”—This defiant action, though applauded in all parts of the colonies, filled the British government with indignation, and drove the ministers to the “Five Acts of 1774,” which by their unwise energy immediately precipitated the crisis. Four of these were directed against Massachusetts alone; the fifth affected all the colonies. The first of the five acts was the “Boston Port Bill.” It provided that no ships should be allowed to enter or depart from Boston Harbor until the tea that had been destroyed was paid for. This in effect put an end to the commerce of the city, and completely destroyed its prosperity. Gloucester was made the port of entry and Salem the seat of government. The second act was that for the “Impartial Administration of Justice in Massachusetts Bay,” which reflected upon the colony’s tribunals by providing for the trial in England or Nova Scotia of officials accused of murder committed in the discharge of their functions. The third was the “Massachusetts Bill,” which virtually took away the charter by vesting all power of appointment and removal exclusively in the governor appointed by the Crown. The fourth was an act which provided for the quartering of troops on the people, thus establishing the means of enforcing new laws. The fifth was the “Quebec Act,” of which the most offensive feature was the one providing that all the British territory west of the Alleghanies and north of the Ohio should henceforth be regarded as a part of Canada. As this territory was claimed by the colonies, the act was regarded as a gross infringement of their rights. The Quebec Act also gave the Roman Catholic religion throughout Canada the stamp of official recognition.

137. Opposition in Parliament.—The passage of these acts was strenuously opposed by several of the strongest men in Parliament. The opposition of Fox, Burke, Pitt, and Barré was particularly energetic. In the House of Peers, Lord Rockingham and his friends entered a protest on the journal of the House, and the Duke of Richmond declared, in his indignation, “I wish from the bottom of my heart that the Americans may resist and get the better of the forces sent against them.” But the king was determined, and Lord North, who had just been advanced to the position of prime minister, gave his general assent to the measures, though he privately tried to prevent the king from pressing the Transportation Bill.

Faneuil Hall, Boston.

138. Effect upon the Colonies.—Upon the colonies the effect of these acts was general and immediate. As soon as the provisions of the Boston Port Bill became known, the colonies all saw that they must act together or be individually crushed. Public opinion rapidly took definite form. This was largely the work of committees of correspondence, organized at Faneuil Hall, Boston, chiefly through the energy and foresight of Samuel Adams. In Virginia a similar mode of procedure was adopted the following year, and an invitation was extended to all the colonies to appoint committees for the same purpose. The work of these committees was to make each colony acquainted with the views of all the others.

Carpenters’ Hall, Philadelphia.

139. First Continental Congress.—As a result of the agitation that followed, Massachusetts, at the request of New York, called for a meeting of representatives of the various colonies, to be convened early in September, 1774. The governor of Georgia prohibited the appointment of delegates, but representatives of the twelve other colonies met on the 5th of September, in Carpenters’ Hall, in Philadelphia. This body is known as the “First Continental Congress.” It contained a large share of the ablest men in the country. After adopting a Declaration of Colonial Rights, in which the political claims of the colonies were clearly and fully set forth, they named eleven different acts, which they declared had been passed in violation of their rights since the accession of George III. They framed a petition to the king, as well as an address to the people of Great Britain, and then formed what was called “The American Association,” the object of which was to put a stop to all trade with Great Britain until the obnoxious laws should be repealed. After providing for another congress, to be held in the following spring, the meeting adjourned on the 26th of October.

THE CRISIS.

140. General Gage and the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts.—While these actions were taking place in Philadelphia, affairs were drifting to an immediate crisis in Massachusetts. General Gage, now governor of Massachusetts, as well as military commander, was fully inspired with the spirit of his royal master. He promptly sent to Chelsea for military stores and began a system of fortifications. The colonists, easily perceiving the significance of the British general’s action, took similar measures of precaution. In order to be independent of General Gage, they also organized what is known as “The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts”; and this body, on the very day when the First Continental Congress adjourned, authorized the organization of a military force, consisting of all the able-bodied men in the colony. One fourth of these were to be always ready for action, and, hence, were known as minutemen. After making provisions for supplying the army with the necessary equipment and munitions, the Provincial Congress intrusted the conduct of affairs to the general control of a Committee of Safety, of which John Hancock,^[66] a wealthy merchant of Boston, was the chairman.

John Hancock.

Statue of Minuteman
at Concord.

141. Gage’s Purpose.—It was not long before blood was shed. There were certain military stores at Concord, and General Gage determined to seize them. For this purpose he dispatched very secretly about eight hundred men, under Lieutenant Colonel Smith and Major Pitcairn. The expedition had still another object. The king having ordered the arrest of John Hancock and Samuel Adams, these leaders had withdrawn from Boston and were the guests of a friend in Lexington. Gage had learned where they were and had ordered their seizure by the troops bound for Concord. The British force, after taking the greatest precautions for secrecy, left the city on the night of the 18th of April. But the vigilant eye of a patriot, Dr. Warren, had detected the purpose of the movement.

142. The Ride of Paul Revere.—In spite of Gage’s orders that nobody should leave Boston that night, Paul Revere, a Boston goldsmith, succeeded in crossing the Charles River,—having previously attended to setting an alarm signal in the tower of the Old North Church,—and galloped by the Medford road toward Lexington, shouting at every house that the British were coming.

143. Battles of Lexington and Concord.—The minutemen instantly assembled and drew up on Lexington Common to meet the British when they appeared. Pitcairn ordered them to disperse, but seeing no signs of their moving, first fired his own pistols and then ordered a volley. Eight men were killed and ten wounded. Although the Americans fired in return, they were in no condition to offer battle. Hancock and Adams, having received the necessary warning, made timely escape. The troops pushed on to Concord, but found that the greater part of the stores had been removed. Four hundred Americans then charged across the Concord bridge and drove back the British. The minutemen were by this time streaming in from every direction, and as the British were fired upon from behind trees and fences, they had nothing to do but to beat a retreat. They were saved only by a timely reënforcement of twelve hundred men under Lord Percy. In the course of the expedition the British lost two hundred and seventy-three; the Americans, eighty-eight. The battles of Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775, proclaimed to everybody that war had begun. The readiness with which the people responded to the call was shown by the fact that among the killed and wounded on that day there were representatives of twenty-three different towns. Within less than a week General Gage found himself surrounded in Boston by a motley force of sixteen thousand Americans armed with such weapons as they could secure.

CHAPTER VII.
the campaigns of 1775 and 1776.

EARLY MOVEMENTS.

144. Continental Army and Commander in Chief.—When the Second Continental Congress came together in the spring of 1775, one of its first acts was to adopt as a continental army the forces which had enlisted in Massachusetts. It then performed an act of the greatest possible service to the cause by appointing George Washington^[67] commander in chief. Washington was forty-three years of age, and the important services he had rendered in Virginia and Pennsylvania (§§ 106-111) had given him such military knowledge and such accuracy of judgment in dealing with men as made him universally respected and admired. He accepted the appointment with a full sense of the greatness of the task, and declared that he would receive no pay, but would rely on Congress to reimburse him for his expenses.

145. Capture of Ticonderoga.—While Congress was taking these preliminary steps, there was great activity in various parts of the country. Ethan Allen and Seth Warner, with a small force from Vermont, assisted by a few men from Connecticut under Benedict Arnold, surprised and captured Fort Ticonderoga. By this success the Americans got possession of an important fort, as well as of many stores and more than two hundred cannon.

146. Fortification of Bunker Hill.—As soon as the news of Lexington and Concord spread through the colonies, troops poured in to the vicinity of Boston from Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania. Before the middle of June, Boston, on the land side, was thoroughly invested. The British had seventeen battalions of infantry and five companies of artillery, and before June their army was joined by three major generals—Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne. Late in the afternoon of June 16, General Ward, then in command of the Americans, ordered a force to take possession of Bunker Hill, a commanding point in Charlestown, just north of Boston. About twelve hundred troops under Colonel Prescott, a veteran of the French War, went over from Cambridge with spades and picks, which in the course of the night they used so industriously that the British soldiers in the morning saw strong works confronting them. But instead of obeying orders and occupying Bunker Hill, Prescott occupied Breed’s Hill, a point nearer Boston.

Boston and Environs, 1775

General Joseph Warren.

General Howe.

147. The Battle of Bunker Hill.—General Gage, wishing to dislodge the Americans at once, instead of approaching by the Neck (see map), where he could have cut off the whole force, ordered an immediate assault upon the enemy’s front. Meanwhile, in the course of the forenoon (June 17), the Americans were reënforced by about one thousand troops. These newcomers, however, had little ammunition and few bayonets. The British, numbering about three thousand, advanced under the gallant lead of General Howe. The Americans reserved their fire until the front ranks were within about fifty yards, when at the first volley so many of the assaulting force fell that the line staggered back in confusion. The second advance met with a still more disastrous repulse. In several of the companies as many as four out of five had fallen; but when the third assault was made, the ammunition of the Americans gave out, and the British were successful. Among the killed were many officers of rank, including Pitcairn, the British commander who had fired the first shot at Lexington, and General Warren,^[68] one of the foremost of the American leaders. The British lost one thousand and fifty-four in killed and wounded; the Americans, four hundred and forty-nine. The forces were relatively small, but, in proportion to the numbers on the field, the battle was one of the bloodiest engagements of modern times. On both sides the men fought with a bravery worthy of the best traditions of English courage. Of Howe’s twelve staff officers every one was either killed or wounded. The battle made it evident that untrained American recruits, when behind only temporary defenses, had no need to be afraid to meet disciplined veterans. The British government, dissatisfied with the conduct of General Gage, recalled him and he was superseded by General William Howe.^[69]

WASHINGTON IN COMMAND.

148. Difficulties confronting Washington.—Washington soon reached the scene of action, and took command of the American army on July 3, under an elm tree which still stands near Harvard University, in Cambridge, commemorating the event. The difficulties which beset him might well have disheartened a less resolute and skillful commander. His embarrassments were chiefly of three kinds. In the first place, the number of men at his command was at no time greater than the number of the regular British troops confronting him. His force had left their farms in midsummer without having enlisted for any definite period, and when the first burst of enthusiasm died away, it was very difficult to keep the ranks filled. In the second place, each of the provinces had its own laws, and consequently there was no uniformity of method and no subordination to any common authority. Washington dismissed sundry officers for insubordination, and he was obliged persistently to urge the governors of the several states to keep their quotas full.^[70] In the third place, he soon discovered that the Americans had very little ammunition. There was not enough for a single battle, and it was plain that if at any time during the fall or winter the British should make a vigorous attack, they would in all probability succeed in breaking up the American army. To supply this deficiency Washington sent messengers in every direction. He dispatched an expedition to seize the British stores at the Bermudas; he had cannon dragged on ox sleds from Ticonderoga; and he gradually collected powder from all the country towns in the region.

The Washington Elm, Cambridge.

Boston and Environs, 1776

149. The Taking of Dorchester Heights.—Notwithstanding all these discouragements, Washington drilled the army vigorously throughout the fall and winter. Early in March, 1776, he determined upon a movement which was destined to prove decisive. Dorchester Heights, projecting from the mainland south of Boston, commanded the town from this direction, as Charlestown commanded it from the north. Howe committed a fatal blunder in not establishing himself upon this point; and the consequence was, that one morning he discovered that the enterprising enemy had not only occupied the hill, but had thrown up formidable works commanding the city. A few days later, on March 9, the Americans also constructed works on Nook’s Point, which commanded the Neck and brought every part of the city within range.

150. Evacuation of Boston.—Howe, not caring to repeat the experiences of Bunker Hill, saw that he must evacuate the city. With all his troops he withdrew and sailed for Halifax, March 17, 1776, leaving the Americans in full possession. His force of veterans had been besieged for months by an army of raw troops, which did not at any time exceed in number the army of the besieged. More remarkable still, the besieging army had, during this period, been disbanded and reorganized, and during most of the winter had not had ammunition amounting to more than thirty rounds to a man. This great achievement not only inspired the colonies, but convinced the British government that it had undertaken a most formidable task. Washington, without a battle, had, by his superior strategy, maneuvered his enemy out of the city.

Colonel Benedict Arnold.

151. Expedition into Canada.—While the siege of Boston was going on, Colonel Benedict Arnold^[71] suggested that an expedition should be sent for the capture of Montreal and Quebec. Unfortunately, this unwise proposition prevailed. A part of the force under General Montgomery descended Lake Champlain and, after a difficult, brilliant campaign, took Montreal. The other command, under Arnold, after an expedition of almost indescribable hardships through the forests of Maine in the dead of winter, presented itself before Quebec. Montgomery, who had by that time advanced from Montreal, attacked the city from above while Arnold attacked it from below. Montgomery was killed while scaling the heights, and Arnold was severely wounded. Morgan, Arnold’s second in command, pressed forward and would, no doubt, have been successful, if Montgomery’s force had not been thrown into panic by the fall of their leader. Morgan and nearly all his force were taken prisoners, and the expedition was a complete failure.

152. Final Effort of Congress for Peace.—In the course of the same winter (1775–1776), Congress, then in session at Philadelphia, put forth another and a final effort to make terms with the king. A careful and formal statement of grievances was sent to England, but neither the king nor Parliament would receive it, determining instead very greatly to increase the army. This was done, partly by sending additional British troops, and partly by hiring about twenty thousand Germans from some of the lesser German princes. As these mercenaries came very largely from the duchy of Hesse, they were known throughout the war as Hessians. The fact that the British bought the services of foreigners to fight the Americans greatly exasperated the colonists.

THE WAR IN NEW YORK.

153. Washington’s Movements.—After the failure of the Canadian expedition, Washington conjectured that the British would try to get possession of the Hudson by attacking it both from the north and from the south. He had no doubt that Howe’s force would ultimately land at New York. To meet such a movement, he ordered Arnold, as soon as he should recover from his wound, to oppose any approach from the north, while he himself should transfer the greater part of his army to New York. Arriving in April, 1776, he soon found that his conjecture had been correct. Howe, as soon as he had reorganized his forces in Halifax, set sail for the mouth of the Hudson. Here he established headquarters upon Staten Island, where he received reënforcements till he had an army of about thirty thousand men. He soon had the assistance also of a formidable fleet under Admiral Lord Howe, his brother.

General Nathanael Greene.

154. Occupation of New York and Brooklyn.—Washington had not only taken possession of New York City, but had fortified Governor’s Island, as well as Brooklyn, and the New Jersey shore at Paulus Hook opposite New York. Brooklyn Heights were put in command of General Nathanael Greene,^[72] but he was suddenly stricken with fever and the command was transferred to General Israel Putnam,^[73] with Generals Sullivan and Stirling as subordinate officers, and a force of about nine thousand men.

155. Battle of Long Island.—As this position commanded the city, the British took the natural course of planning an attack from the east. Landing southeast of Brooklyn with about twenty thousand men, August 22 and 25, Howe pushed one of his divisions by a circuitous route toward the north, for the purpose of turning the flank of the Americans and making their escape in that direction impossible. In the battle of Long Island, which ensued, the Americans, having only about five thousand men in the field, were greatly outnumbered and defeated. Generals Sullivan and Stirling, with about two thousand of their men, were taken prisoners. The remainder of the army fell back and rejoined Putnam within the fortifications. Preparations were at once made for a siege. With the British force surrounding Brooklyn on the land side and with Admiral Howe’s fleet in New York Bay, the escape of the army, which Washington had now reënforced to about twelve thousand men, seemed impossible.

156. Retreat to New York.—Washington well knew that the Brooklyn army must either escape or surrender. He therefore caused all the boats and rafts of every kind that could transport men or ammunition, to be brought together from the various streams and bays in the vicinity. So skillfully was this work done, that in the course of a single foggy night, August 29, the boats were collected on the Brooklyn side of the river, and the whole army, with guns and stores, was taken across to New York. This remarkable exploit might, no doubt, have been prevented had there been greater vigilance on the part of the British fleet.

157. Evacuation of New York.—But this bit of good fortune did not enable Washington to hold New York. The British immediately sailed up the East River and prepared to land their forces, if possible, so as to intercept Washington’s army. They secured a footing, September 15, first at Kipp’s Bay, where the Thirty-fourth Street ferry now is, and later at Throg’s Neck, a few miles above; but the main force of the Americans was able to pass up the west coast of the island before the enemy could cut them off.^[74] Washington’s troops were not numerous enough to justify a pitched battle; but while retreating, he retarded and annoyed the enemy at every point. On the 28th of October he fought a slight engagement at White Plains, some thirty miles from New York, to hold the British in check while the main army should pass still farther north. The British now withdrew to Dobb’s Ferry and threatened Fort Washington.

158. Loss of Fort Washington and Fort Lee.—The lower Hudson at that time depended for its defense upon two fortifications: Fort Washington, situated near the upper end of Manhattan Island, on which the city of New York stands, and Fort Lee, on the opposite side of the river. Washington decided to abandon these defenses to the British and to establish strong fortifications some forty-five miles up the river. Congress, however, directed that Fort Washington be held, if possible; and the commander unfortunately yielded his opinion so far as to allow General Greene, who was in command of both the forts, to defend them in case he should deem successful defense possible. The result was the most serious of the early disasters of the war. The British broke through the obstructions that had been placed in the river, and having passed with their fleet above Fort Washington, surrounded it in such a way that escape was impossible. When a vigorous assault was made, nearly three thousand American troops were forced to surrender, November 16. The abandonment of Fort Lee necessarily followed.

GENERAL CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY.

Colonial Flag, 1776.

159. Lack of Union among the Colonies.—The war was not simply a war of separation; it was also in some of its features a civil war. The loss of New York, including Fort Washington, brought out the American opponents of the Revolution in great force. From the very beginning of the agitation which resulted in independence, there had been three somewhat distinct classes of people among the colonists. One class believed that on the whole the British government was the best in existence, and that the colonists would be benefited by showing a constant spirit of loyalty and fidelity to the Crown. Such people were opposed to every form of agitation that would look to the British like insubordination. The second class, while believing that there were abuses which should and would be corrected, acknowledged the supreme power of Parliament. Like the British, they did not see why their lack of representation differed very greatly in principle from the condition of some of the larger towns in England. They thought also that the abuses could in time be removed by a general and friendly agitation. The third class consisted of the out-and-out reformers. Their leaders were such men as Samuel Adams, James Otis, and Patrick Henry, who believed that if the rights of the colonies were not granted when they were pointed out, the proper course was to fight for them. As the agitation went on and the British government made blunder after blunder, the third of these classes, though at first inferior in numbers to the others, became more perfectly organized and so got the upper hand. But it is a great mistake to suppose that the American people at any time were unanimous on the subject of independence, or even of resistance. It is probable that in the second year of the war, even in New England, one fourth of the people were opposed to it; that in the Middle states the proportion was as great as one-third; and in the Southern states nearly, or quite, as great as one half.

160. The Tories.—All those who were opposed to the action of Congress naturally came to be regarded as enemies, and were known as Tories. From the first they made a vast amount of trouble. During the siege of Boston they were numerous, outspoken, and influential. They desired that the Revolutionary cause should fail. They acted as spies and carried information to the British; and whenever the patriot cause suffered any check or disaster, they did whatever they could to show that successful resistance was impossible. In the State of New York the Tories from the first were not only numerous, but very active. Soon after Washington took possession of the city he discovered that Tryon, the Tory governor, was at the bottom of a plot to capture or kill the commander in chief, and turn over the city to the enemy. Tryon escaped, but some of the other leaders were arrested and tried, and one of Washington’s own guards, who had been bribed, was publicly hanged. Though this summary procedure discouraged the Tories, they continued to be of great service to the British and of great annoyance to the Americans. In New York and in the South the struggle was attended with many of the horrors of civil war.

FAILURE OF BRITISH EXPEDITIONS.

General William Moultrie.

161. Carleton’s Expedition.—While Washington had been unsuccessfully attempting to resist the advances of the British in New York, the Americans had been more fortunate in other parts of the country. An expedition under Sir Guy Carleton, the governor of Canada, was planned to advance up the river St. John, into Lake Champlain, and down the Hudson, but it met so vigorous a resistance from Arnold near Valcour’s Island, that, although Arnold’s fleet was almost destroyed, the British were obliged to return to Montreal for winter quarters.

162. Expedition of Sir Henry Clinton.—In the South the enemy fared no better. Sir Henry Clinton, with about two thousand men, had been sent from Boston, while the siege was going on, to take possession of North Carolina; but the sturdy Scotchmen of that state, who were generally Tories, were defeated by the patriots, who immediately organized so powerful a resistance that Clinton did not attempt even to land. Reënforced a little later by a British fleet of ten ships under Sir Peter Parker, he advanced upon Charleston in South Carolina. Vigorous preparations for resistance had already been made, under the direction of General Lee. General William Moultrie^[75] constructed a low fort in Charleston Harbor, chiefly of palmetto logs and sand, which proved an effectual barrier to the British advance. The shots from the fleet sank into the spongy logs without doing much damage, while the shots from the fort were so effective as to disable nine of the ten ships (June 28). The gallantry of this defense has caused the fort ever since to be known as Fort Moultrie, although events of the War between the States have caused the neighboring Fort Sumter to become more famous. Clinton’s land force being held back for lack of suitable boats, the expedition proved a complete failure, and the British with their disabled ships returned to the North.

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

Richard Henry Lee.

163. Growing Spirit of Independence.—Of much greater importance than the events in the field were the events in Congress. At the beginning of the contest public opinion in America very generally attributed the course of Great Britain to bad leaders in Parliament rather than to the king. At first there was a strong feeling of loyalty and even affection toward George III., which would have made it easy for him to heal all differences. One effort after another had been made to induce the king to consider the petitions and remonstrances sent him, but these efforts had all failed. Even as late as the beginning of the war there was very little general thought of independence. But at the end of May, soon after the news of the first conflict at Lexington and Concord reached North Carolina, the people of Mecklenburg County assembled and passed a series of resolutions, declaring that as the mother country had pronounced the Americans rebels, the colonists were absolved from all further allegiance. This declaration seems to have attracted very little attention at the time; but as events progressed, public opinion drifted so rapidly in this direction, that early in the summer of 1776 the leading minds came one after another to the conclusion that independence was inevitable. Final action was not the result of any sudden impulse, but of most careful consideration.

Thomas Jefferson.

House in which Jefferson wrote the
Declaration of Independence, corner of
Market and Seventh Streets, Philadelphia.

164. Signing of the Declaration.—After much private discussion had revealed the opinions of the members of Congress, Richard Henry Lee,^[76] on the 7th of June, offered a resolution that “these united colonies are and ought to be independent states, and they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown.” The resolution was vigorously opposed by Dickinson of Pennsylvania and Livingston of New York, partly on the ground that a sufficient time had not yet elapsed for an answer from the king, and partly because the individual colonies had not yet authorized such action. But the colonies did not long hesitate. Most of them had already erected independent governments of their own. As early as July, 1775, Massachusetts had formed a government in which the king’s authority was practically set aside, and James Bowdoin was made chief executive officer and John Adams chief justice. Before July, 1776, all the other provinces, with the exception of New York, had taken similar measures, and more than two-thirds of them had voted for independence and had instructed their delegates to vote for Lee’s resolution. This resolution was accordingly adopted by Congress on the 2d of July. A committee, with Thomas Jefferson^[77] as chairman, had been appointed in June to draw up a formal declaration in case independence should be agreed upon. Jefferson, then only thirty-three years of age, wrote the paper which, after slight modifications by Franklin and Adams, was adopted as the Declaration of Independence, on the 4th of July, 1776. This immortal document was thus put forth as an expression of the deliberate and firm conviction of the American people that the priceless treasure of human liberty could be preserved in no other manner. As the members one after another, with a solemn sense of the danger of this momentous act, signed the memorable document, Franklin^[78] threw a gleam of sunshine upon the occasion by remarking that they must now all hang together, or they would hang separately.

Old Statehouse in Philadelphia, now
known as Independence Hall.

165. Purport and Effect of the Declaration.—The Declaration of Independence was aimed directly at the Crown. It charged the king with “repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States.” This general indictment was sustained, with some exaggerations but with essential truthfulness, by no less than eighteen accusations, or separate counts, aimed at the king, and the king alone. So far as the purpose of the colonies was defined by the Declaration, it was not a contest against the parliamentary government of Great Britain, but a contest against those unconstitutional usurpations of the Crown to which the colonies would not submit. From this point of view many modern criticisms of the document are seen to be hypercritical. However much the signers may have exaggerated specific charges, they did not exaggerate the general danger to be apprehended from the king’s self-willed conduct.

Benjamin Franklin.

Portion of the Declaration of Independence.

THE WAR IN NEW JERSEY.

166. Washington’s First Campaign in New Jersey.—After the fall of Fort Washington and the withdrawal from Fort Lee, Washington planned to concentrate the main portion of his army in New Jersey, to prevent the enemy from advancing upon Philadelphia. In crossing to New Jersey he had left General Charles Lee, with seven thousand men, at Northcastle on the east side of the Hudson. Washington now directed General Heath to fortify the Highlands about Peekskill and West Point in the strongest manner possible, and ordered General Lee to join the main army in New Jersey.

167. Disobedience and Capture of Lee.—For reasons which were long unexplained, Lee disobeyed the order of Washington, and chose to remain where he was. Repeated orders were disobeyed, but finally Lee made a show of obedience. He reached Morristown, however, with only three thousand of his seven thousand troops. Scarcely had he posted this fragment of his army on the Morristown Heights when, leaving the immediate command to Sullivan, he took quarters in a small public house some miles away. A Tory, learning of this fact, galloped eighteen miles with the news to the British, and the consequence was that Lee, in dressing gown and slippers, was taken prisoner by a troop of British dragoons. From Lee’s subsequent career (§§ 183, 184) and the discovery of his correspondence, it now seems probable that he already had traitorous designs.

168. Washington’s Difficulties and his Retreat.—The capture of Lee left Sullivan in command of the Northern army, and that officer moved at once to the support of Washington; but the difficulties of the situation seemed overwhelming. Howe and Cornwallis had crossed into New Jersey with a force more than twice as great as that of the Americans. Moreover, as the terms of enlistment expired, Washington found it almost impossible to keep his ranks full. Still worse, Howe, desiring to take advantage of the apparent lack of enthusiasm on the part of the American patriots, now made a final effort to induce them to throw down their arms. This was done under a promise of full pardon and protection to all who should abandon the Continental cause. More than three thousand persons, believing there was no possibility of success for the Americans, yielded to these allurements and deserted to the British. Tories everywhere now emerged from their obscurity and boldly asserted their allegiance to the king. Washington could not venture battle with his inferior force, but, with masterly skill, he slowly withdrew his army, crossing stream after stream with the British close on his heels. Even the broad waters of the Delaware did not baffle him. Pressed hard by superior forces, he threw his army across the river and destroyed all the boats on the opposite bank for nearly one hundred miles. His opponents found it impossible to follow, and decided to wait for the river to freeze over.

Retreat across New Jersey, 1776–1777

169. Washington turns upon his Enemy.—Howe and Cornwallis thought the war practically at an end. Deciding to leave their army east of the Delaware, with its center at Trenton and its wings at Burlington and Princeton, they returned to New York for the festivities of the holidays, where Howe was to celebrate the knighthood conferred upon him for the capture of New York. But Washington had a Christmas surprise in store for them. Including the forces of Gates and Sullivan, he now commanded about six thousand men. The loose disposition of Howe’s troops gave him an opportunity which he immediately turned to account. He decided by a secret movement to strike a hard blow at the British center. His plan was to cross the Delaware in three divisions. The right wing, under Gates and Cadwalader, was to attack the Hessians under Donop at Burlington; Ewing was to cross and attack the center at Trenton; while Washington himself, with the left wing six miles up the river, was to cross at that point and march down on the other side to attack the British flank and rear. Gates had asked and been allowed to go to Philadelphia, where he was already intriguing with Congress in order to supplant Washington. The right wing and the center found the river, filled as it was with floating ice, too difficult to cross, but Washington’s determination and skill at once showed themselves.

170. Battle of Trenton.—Just as he was ready for the advance, news came that his right and center had failed, and yet, without a moment’s hesitation, he decided himself to push on with all the greater energy.^[79] Blocks of floating ice made the crossing next to impossible. Colonel Glover, with a force of Marblehead fishermen, was put in charge of the boats. In the course of ten hours he succeeded in taking twenty-five hundred men across with their guns and munitions. They now had six miles to march in a blinding storm. After a night so cold that two men of their number were frozen to death, they reached Trenton at daybreak. Planting their guns so as to rake the streets, they made escape impossible. Colonel Rahl, of the enemy, and seventeen of his men were killed; the others surrendered (December 26). Donop, fearing to be cut off by the advance of Washington, fell back to Princeton. Washington recrossed the river with his prisoners, but on the 29th took up his position once more at Trenton. Thus the center of the British army was destroyed.

171. Advance of Cornwallis.—Howe and Cornwallis, so rudely disturbed in the midst of their Christmas festivities, saw in a moment that a blow must be struck to recover the lost ground. With a force of about eight thousand men, Cornwallis advanced by way of New Brunswick and Princeton, where he established magazines and supplies, with a strong force to guard them. The army, harassed along every mile of the way by sharpshooters, reached Trenton on the 2d of January. Meanwhile Washington had moved in a southern direction, and taken up his position on the left bank of the Assanpink, a small stream flowing into the Delaware on the north side, not far south of Trenton. The crossings were guarded with such care that Cornwallis decided to allow his men, tired from their rapid march, to rest until the following day. His plan was to attack in front and along Washington’s right flank, and so force him back upon the Delaware, where he would be obliged to surrender. After observing the situation, Cornwallis went to bed in high spirits, saying, “At last we have run down the old fox, and will bag him in the morning.”

172. The Battle of Princeton.—But in the morning the “old fox” was gone. Ordering a force of men to keep fires burning along the front of the camp, and to make a show of strengthening the breastworks, Washington, with his main army, crossed the Assanpink, and passing around the left flank of the British, fell upon the force at Princeton at daybreak. The movement, brilliantly conceived and carefully planned, was completely successful. The British force at Princeton, after losing about five hundred men, was cut in two, one part retreating to New Brunswick and the other falling back to Trenton. In this remarkable fight (January 3, 1777) the American loss was less than one hundred.

173. Retreat of Cornwallis.—When Cornwallis found an empty camp before him and heard the sound of cannon in the direction of Princeton, he fell back at once, in order to protect his stores. At Princeton the full meaning of the disaster was revealed. Washington, at no time strong enough to risk a general battle, now contented himself with destroying bridges, harassing the enemy at every point, and finally taking up a commanding position on the heights of Morristown. To support himself on either flank, he ordered Heath to come down from the highlands of the Hudson to Hackensack, and Putnam to advance from Philadelphia to Trenton. Conrwallis, finding himself thus confronted, withdrew to Paulus Hook and New York. Thus, in the dead of winter, Washington, with a greatly inferior force, had fought two successful battles, had taken prisoners numbering more than a third of his whole army, and had practically driven the British out of New Jersey. This campaign saved the Revolution.

Continental Currency.

174. Influence of Washington’s Success.—The influence of Washington’s success was shown at once in many ways. In the first place it encouraged men to reënlist. The period for which many of the recruits had gone into the army had expired on the 1st of January. They had received very little pay, and the paper money they got had now fallen greatly in value. In the face of a defeat, few would have reëntered the service; but for the payment of those who would reënlist, Washington pledged his own fortune, and thus succeeded in keeping his army intact. Another beneficial effect was shown in the influence exerted upon the British army and the Tories. Large numbers of Hessians now deserted, in order to avail themselves of the offers of land that had been made by Congress; and many men of doubtful loyalty who, a few months before, had accepted the pardon offered by Howe, now made patriotic response to the counter-proclamation of Washington, requiring that they should either retire to the British lines or take the oath of allegiance to the United States.

Marquis de Lafayette.

175. Effects of the Campaign in Europe.—But the most important result of this remarkable winter campaign was its influence on the various powers of Europe. Washington’s generalship called out the hearty commendation of Frederick the Great. In France a still greater interest was awakened. In the autumn of 1776 Franklin had been sent to Paris to secure a treaty. The sympathies of Louis XVI. were with George III.; but, on the other hand, the French people had hated England ever since the fall of Quebec. Throughout France there was also beginning to be a widespread revolutionary spirit. The disposition to recognize the independence of the United States greatly increased as soon as there was any probability of success. Though the French government still hesitated, many brave officers, such as Lafayette^[80] and De Kalb, privately offered their services to the American cause. Lafayette, not yet twenty years of age and just married, threw himself into the enterprise with unlimited enthusiasm. He fitted out a ship at his own expense, and, leaving wife and friends behind, devoted all his powers to the new cause. Along with ten other officers, he arrived in America in the spring of 1777.

176. Reorganization of the American Army.—Congress now reorganized the army and conferred upon Washington powers that were practically those of a dictator. It also called for an army of seventy-eight thousand men, sixty-six thousand from the states and twelve thousand to be raised by Washington and to be subject only to national control. But as Congress had no power to enforce its laws, the full number of troops called for was never provided. The army was, however, somewhat enlarged in size and greatly improved in quality.

George Washington.

CHAPTER VIII.
the campaign of 1777.

THE STRUGGLE FOR THE CENTER.

177. Plans of the British for 1777.—The British saw that if the next campaign was to be successful the war must be pushed forward on a much larger scale. They determined on three important movements. General Howe was to be reënforced so that while holding New York he could open the Hudson to Albany. From the north a new and more powerful expedition, under General Burgoyne, was to repeat the attempt of Sir Guy Carleton. A third expedition, under Colonel St. Leger, was to ascend the St. Lawrence into Lake Ontario, and from Oswego, after taking Fort Stanwix and clearing the Valley of the Mohawk, unite with Burgoyne and Howe in the vicinity of Albany. This comprehensive plan, if successful, would not only separate New England from the rest of the colonies, but would restore to the British the State of New York.

General Philip Schuyler.

178. Burgoyne’s Difficulties and Disappointments.—Burgoyne,^[81] ascending the St. Lawrence, entered Lake Champlain with about eight thousand men, consisting partly of British veterans and partly of Hessians. He had no difficulty in taking Fort Ticonderoga, for General Gates in providing for its defense had committed the same blunder that Howe had committed in neglecting Dorchester Heights (§ 149). On a high, rocky point just south of the fort, General Phillips, one of Burgoyne's officers, succeeded in planting siege guns; and Gates saw at once that he must withdraw. But Burgoyne had no further success. He had expected large reënforcements from the Tory inhabitants, but in this he was disappointed. The preparations for meeting the British had been admirably planned by General Philip Schuyler,^[82] who was in command of the Northern division of the army, with headquarters at Albany. His policy was to impede the march of the enemy until the Americans had time to gather strength. When Burgoyne began to press his way southward, he found that trees had been felled across every road, and the best he could do was to advance at the rate of only about a mile a day. Meanwhile the inhabitants of the region round about were rising, and sharpshooters began to harass him from every direction. When he reached Whitehall he realized that he was in danger of failing for want of provisions.

General John Stark.

179. The Bennington Expedition.—Hearing that the Americans had large stores at Bennington, Burgoyne now sent a force of about one thousand men, under two Hessian officers, Baum and Breymann, to capture them. The news of the expedition spread rapidly, and hundreds of patriots flocked to the defense. Among them was “good” Parson Allen, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, who led an eager company from the Berkshire Hills. They were commanded by General John Stark,^[83] who had already distinguished himself in the old French War, and at Bunker Hill, at Trenton, and at Princeton. With his reënforcements, Stark’s command now outnumbered Baum’s by two to one. Baum, seeing that resistance was to be offered, drew up his troops on high ground near the town and awaited an attack. On the morning of August 16, Stark stealthily threw a part of his men into the rear, while in front he led the attack in person. The Germans, thinking the troops in the rear were those “blessed” Tories they had been looking for, were thrown into confusion on the first attack from front and rear, and were soon forced to surrender. Baum was mortally wounded, and Breymann, on his way to the support of Baum, was met and defeated by a force under General Seth Warner. This exploit, one of the most brilliant of the war, cost the British two hundred and seven killed and wounded, and more than seven hundred prisoners, besides four field-pieces and a thousand stand of arms. The loss of the Americans amounted to forty killed and forty-two wounded.

180. General Schuyler Superseded.—There was much jealousy between New England and New York, and much consequent intrigue. General Gates had long been scheming with Congress for his own advancement. He and his friends were now able to point out what the people of New England could do at Bennington, as contrasted with what General Schuyler had been able to do in New York. The result of the intrigue was that General Schuyler was removed and Gates was placed in command in his stead.

General John Burgoyne.

181. Movements of Burgoyne.—No general change of policy resulted from Schuyler’s removal. Burgoyne, finding himself in danger of being hemmed in at Whitehall, was forced to move toward the west and across the Hudson. Lincoln, with the New England militia, closed in on his rear, while Putnam arrived with a force from the Highlands and Arnold returned from the Valley of the Mohawk, where he had aided in repulsing St. Leger. It became daily more evident that unless relief should arrive from General Howe, Burgoyne must either defeat the Americans or surrender his whole army. No reënforcements came, and two vigorous attempts at Freeman’s Farm and Bemis Heights were frustrated by the skill and vigor of the troops commanded by Arnold and Morgan. The source of supplies for the British was now cut off; and, attempting to retreat by way of Saratoga, Burgoyne found his army completely surrounded by a force more than twice the size of his own. On the 17th of October he was obliged to capitulate, and surrendered with his entire force of more than seven thousand men.

Burgoyne demanded, and Gates consented, that the final act should be deemed a “convention” instead of a surrender or capitulation. Hence British historians are accustomed to refer to the event as the “Convention of Saratoga.” The terms, however, were not essentially different. The troops were allowed to march out with the honors of war, and to march to Boston, where they were to embark for home. An oath was required that they would not again serve in the American war. But a misunderstanding soon ensued, and Congress repudiated the convention, in consequence of which Burgoyne and his army were not sent home, but retained as prisoners. Burgoyne, however, was permitted to go in the following spring. He soon entered Parliament and became a stanch defender of the American cause. The army was transferred to a camp at Charlottesville, Virginia. Before 1783 they had dispersed and many had settled in different parts of the country.

182. St. Leger’s Campaign.—St. Leger fared scarcely better in his Western campaign. Advancing early in the spring from Oswego, he reached, on August 3, Fort Stanwix, an important point in Oneida County, now the city of Rome. He at once began the siege. A few days later a force of about eight hundred militia, gathered in the Mohawk Valley by General Herkimer, a veteran of the French war, advanced for the relief of the fort. Near Oriskany, however, his force fell into an ambuscade prepared by Sir John Johnson, the leader of the Tories, and Brant, the greatest of Mohawk chiefs. The battle was not decisive, but the confidence of the Indians and Tories was completely broken, and the Indians rapidly deserted. General Herkimer, severely wounded, died some days afterward.^[84] The panic of the British was increased by the approach of a force under Arnold, which had been sent from Albany by Schuyler. St. Leger, attacked by a vigorous sortie from the fort on the one side, and by the surrounding patriots on the other, saw no chance of success, and accordingly beat a hasty retreat.^[85] Thus both the British expeditions in the North were complete failures.

183. Blunder of the British Government.—It had been the design of the British government that General Howe, while holding New York with a part of his force, should ascend the Hudson with the other part for the reënforcement of Burgoyne; but the British minister of war, instead of sending peremptory orders, left much to the discretion of Howe.^[86] This gave an opportunity for the scheming designs of General Lee, who was still a prisoner of war in the hands of the British. Lee had formerly been an officer in the British army, and Howe had serious thoughts of hanging him for desertion; but Washington wrote to Howe that he held five Hessian officers, whom he should treat as hostages for Lee. The British, thereupon, not daring to risk the anger of the Hessians that would surely follow an execution, concluded to hold Lee simply as prisoner of war, subject to exchange. But Lee, meantime, hoping to gain the favor of Great Britain, drew up an elaborate plan, advising the British in regard to the best method of assuring success. This treasonable paper, indorsed as “Mr. Lee’s plan, March 29, 1777,” was not discovered until eighty years after the war.

184. General Lee’s Advice.—The advice of Lee was that Howe direct all his energies to an attack upon Philadelphia; and accordingly, as soon as the British commander heard of the success of Burgoyne in taking Ticonderoga, he decided to adopt this plan. His first purpose was, while leaving New York in command of a small force, to advance with the greater part of his army across New Jersey. But Washington, detecting his purpose, threw up strong intrenchments at Middlebrook, directly athwart his path. Howe thought it not prudent either to attack directly, or, by marching around, to leave his opponent in the rear. After nearly two months of unsuccessful effort to bring Washington to battle, he changed his plan, and about the middle of July withdrew his army to Staten Island.

185. Movements of Howe.—It became evident at once to Washington that Howe’s purpose was to put his force upon a fleet and either ascend the Hudson or sail to the south. The American commander was not left very long in doubt. Leaving eighteen hundred men under Sir Henry Clinton in New York, Howe put to sea. Washington at once inferred that Howe had gone south, but it was necessary to guard against the possibility of his turning suddenly northward and advancing up the Hudson. On account of supposed obstacles in the Delaware below Philadelphia, Howe passed on one hundred miles farther, into Chesapeake Bay, and landed his army at Elkton. Hearing of Howe’s arrival, Washington turned south to meet him. In order to prevent a panic in Philadelphia, he marched his army of eleven thousand men through the city.

186. Battle of the Brandywine.—It was evident that Howe would advance upon Philadelphia without delay. Though Washington had only eleven thousand men with whom to meet Howe’s eighteen thousand, he decided to contest the advance in a battle. Accordingly the Americans were posted along the north bank of Brandywine Creek, with their center at Chadd’s Ford. The position was admirably chosen, and the forces were skillfully posted. But the British decided to force the passage by means of a flank movement. On the morning of September 11, Cornwallis, who commanded the British left, marched up the river some eighteen miles by the Lancaster road and crossed at Jeffrey’s Ford, intending to pass around and attack the Americans in the rear. The success of such a movement depended upon its secrecy. Washington, fortunately, learned of the operation in time to order Sullivan to change his front and meet Cornwallis as he approached. But for this discovery the Americans would undoubtedly have been routed and a large part of the army captured. Sullivan fought with great bravery and skill, but he was not able to repulse the enemy. In order to support Sullivan the whole American army fell back, but it fell back in good order, chiefly through the masterly skill of Greene. The Americans lost a little more than a thousand, and the loss of the British was about six hundred. The skill of the Americans in the retreat was shown by the fact that Washington opposed the advance of the British so vigorously that fifteen days were consumed by Howe in a march of twenty-six miles to the city. On September 26 the British moved into Philadelphia. Cornwallis was left in command of the city, while Howe established his headquarters at the adjacent village of Germantown.

187. Needs of the British; Battle of Germantown.—As the American army had not been crippled, it was easy for Washington to cut off the supplies of his enemy on the landward side. The British were therefore dependent upon vessels from the sea. To clear the river of obstructions a force was at once sent from Philadelphia. Washington determined to take advantage of this advance and to attack the main army at Germantown, while the British were thus temporarily weakened. Such extraordinary audacity on the part of an army which had just been defeated seems never to have entered the minds of the British. But on the evening of the 3d of October, Washington began his march, with the purpose of nothing less than the destruction or capture of Howe’s force. The town was to be approached by four roads, the army consisting of two divisions, under Greene and Sullivan. The advance arrived at the outskirts of the village at daybreak, but unfortunately a heavy fog came up, so that it was impossible for the different lines to recognize one another. The Americans advanced successfully in four different columns and seemed likely to push the British back upon the river and completely overwhelm them; but, in the center of the field, one of the brigades of General Greene’s division came into collision with one from that of General Sullivan. Each, supposing the enemy had been met, fired upon the other.^[87] A confusion resulted which gave the British time to recover, and the Americans were finally repulsed. This battle is universally considered as one of the boldest fought by the Americans, and it came wonderfully near to complete success. Howe and Cornwallis were now left for the winter in Philadelphia, while Washington took up his winter quarters at Valley Forge, only a few miles away, where he could prevent the British from foraging the country.

CHAPTER IX.
the french alliance and the campaigns of 1778 and 1779.

A WINTER OF DISCOURAGEMENT.

188. Change in the Commissariat of the Army.—Nearly a year before the close of the campaigns just described, Congress had very unwisely determined to make a change in the control of the commissariat of the army. Up to this time it had been a part of the military service and had been successfully managed by Colonel Trumbull; but it was now decided to appoint two officers,—one for procuring the supplies, and another for distributing them. This system of divided responsibility caused the greatest discomfort to the army.

189. The Winter at Valley Forge.—Washington’s force, in its winter quarters at Valley Forge, was subjected to terrible suffering. On the 22d of December two brigades became mutinous, because for three days they had gone without bread and for two days without meat. On the following day Washington informed Congress that he had in camp two thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight men “unfit for duty because they are barefooted and otherwise naked.” Even when his army first marched into winter quarters, their route could be traced on the snow by the blood that oozed from their bare and frost-bitten feet; and matters grew worse as the winter advanced. This condition was not owing to any actual want of supplies, for it was afterward found that “hogsheads of shoes, stockings, and clothing were lying at different places on the roads and in the woods, perishing for want of teams or of money to pay the teamsters.” It was in consequence of gross mismanagement on the part of the commissariat, that the winter at Valley Forge was one of such memorable suffering and death.

The Middle Atlantic States

Baron von Steuben.

190. The Coming of Baron von Steuben.—But the winter, sad as it was in most respects, brought one great advantage. Agents in Europe succeeded in persuading one of the most efficient soldiers from the staff of Frederick the Great to offer his experience to the American cause. This was Baron von Steuben.^[88] He had gone through every grade of the Prussian service up to the rank of marshal, and his knowledge of military drill caused him to be appointed inspector general of the American armies. It would be difficult to overestimate the value of his services. He found the raw American troops completely unaccustomed to the exact military methods of Europe, and he set himself to teach them all the arts and methods of the regular soldier. Taking a musket in his hand, this Prussian officer of highest rank devoted himself from morning till night to the most elementary, as well as the most intricate, parts of military drill. Thus, in the course of the terrible winter at Valley Forge, Baron von Steuben brought the army into a condition of efficiency it had never known before.

191. General Causes of Discontent.—During this winter there were numerous matters that occasioned great anxiety. It is at the present time easy to see that Washington’s plan of conducting the war was the only one that gave any promise of success. But it was one that could be easily misunderstood and misrepresented. It was possible for unfriendly critics to say that he had been driven from New York; that he had lost Philadelphia; and that he had been defeated in two important battles. It was also easy to overlook the far more important fact that he had kept his army intact, and that he had managed to fight and to avoid fighting in such a way as to keep the enemy occupied at the center so that the great object of the British campaign, the opening of the Hudson, was completely frustrated.

General Horatio Gates.

192. Intrigues of Gates and Others.—The country was not lacking in people who were ready to seize upon opportunities for slander and intrigue. John Hancock, the first president of Congress, had been ambitious for the position of commander in chief, and, as many charged, had, in consequence of his failure to obtain that office, resigned his presidency in disgust. The impetuous Samuel Adams, and even John Adams, had uttered loud complaints over what was called the “Fabian policy,” and had clamored for a short and decisive war. The success of the Northern army had enabled Gates,^[89] who was the arch-intriguer of the time, to present his claims with some show of plausibility. By distributing promises throughout the army he created a widespread sentiment in behalf of Washington’s removal and his own appointment. His friends sent letters from every quarter to members of Congress, representing that before Gates had commanded the army of the North, Burgoyne had had uninterrupted success, and that immediately after Gates’s appointment the coils were rapidly thrown about the British commander until he was compelled to surrender. Of course no mention was made of the fact that the victory at Bennington was solely due to Stark and his New England volunteers; that the repulse of St. Leger was due to Herkimer and Arnold; and that the two victories over Burgoyne were due chiefly to the vigor and skill of Arnold and Morgan.

193. The Conway Cabal.—The most conspicuous manager of the intrigue was an Irish-American officer, by the name of Conway, who had not been promoted by Washington as rapidly as he had desired. Congress, notwithstanding the opposition of Washington, was disposed to advance Conway and a number of other subordinate officers. Washington did not hesitate to express his disapproval, and even went so far as to say, “It will be impossible for me to be of any further service if such insuperable difficulties are thrown in my way.” This was very justly interpreted as a threat to resign, and it was effective. But the anger of Conway toward Washington was naturally increased. The intrigues that followed have passed into history as the “Conway Cabal.” The only success of the movement was to induce Congress to reorganize the “Board of War” and make Gates its president. Public sentiment was so overwhelmingly favorable to Washington, that Congress ventured to go no farther. Extracts from some of the letters were published and thus the whole spirit of the intrigue was revealed. The scornful silence of Washington, who never in his life condescended to defend himself, reacted greatly in his favor. In the end, the commander in chief was stronger in his position than ever. Gates resigned in disgust and returned to his plantation in Virginia.

PROSPECTS BRIGHTEN.

194. Treaty with France.—America had now single-handedly carried on the war for more than two years, but the defeat of Burgoyne and St. Leger in the North, and the vigor with which Washington conducted the campaign in New Jersey and about Philadelphia, convinced the French that the time for recognition had arrived. Treaties were signed on February 6, 1778, between France and the United States, in which France pledged herself to furnish ships, as well as men, and the Americans, on their part, agreed not to cease the conflict until Great Britain acknowledged their independence. Thereafter England was at war with France, as well as with America.

195. Howe succeeded by Sir Henry Clinton.—The French alliance obliged the British to change their plan of action. Howe, who had never believed in the British policy, now resigned and returned to England, and Sir Henry Clinton succeeded him in command. Anticipating the approach of the French fleet, and evidently fearing that the French and Americans together would prove too strong for the British at New York, Clinton decided to evacuate Philadelphia. Washington, whose army, notwithstanding the sufferings at Valley Forge, showed the effects of the careful drilling by Baron von Steuben, determined to attack the British on their northern march.

196. The Battle of Monmouth.—The place chosen was Monmouth, and the battle took place on Sunday, the 28th of June. The northern portion of the American force was ordered to attack the British on their flank, while Washington himself, by closing in upon their rear with the southern division, hoped to overwhelm them. General Charles Lee, whose treason was still unknown to Washington, had been exchanged, and, as senior major general, had command of the northern portion of the army, consisting of about six thousand men. Washington ordered him to attack Clinton’s flank with vigor, while the commander in chief himself, with a still larger force, was to attack at the moment when the enemy had been thrown into confusion. Lee, however, on reaching the British, made only a feeble show of advance and then ordered his troops to withdraw. Washington, informed of the situation by a messenger from Lafayette, rushed forward in furious anger and demanded an explanation. As no satisfactory reason for his retreat could be given, Washington ordered Lee to the rear, and, galloping along the disordered mass of retreating troops, shouted for a halt, and then reformed the lines. The results of the winter’s drill were at once felt, for in the face of the enemy and under a hard fire the American troops fell into order, wheeled about, and rushed forward to a new attack. The British were driven from the ground they had gained; but night came on, and the two armies occupied the positions held before the battle. Before morning the British resumed their way to New York.^[90] After the battle, Lee was tried by a court-martial, consisting of several of the most eminent officers in the army, and was dismissed from the service.

197. First Efforts of the French.—The first efforts of the French to assist the Americans were not fortunate. Count D’Estaing, a kinsman of Lafayette, arrived on the 8th of July with a squadron of twelve ships of the line and six frigates, and a land force on board of four thousand men. His fleet was larger than that of Clinton; but as two of his vessels could not cross the New York bar, he was not strong enough to venture an attack. The next movement was an effort to coöperate with the land force of General Sullivan in reducing Newport, Rhode Island. This point had been taken by the British soon after their expulsion from Boston, and had been held to the present time. Sullivan now approached with a large force from the land side, and D’Estaing was to prevent reënforcements by sea. It appeared certain that the post would be taken. But soon Lord Howe approached with his fleet, and D’Estaing moved out for action. In the nick of time one of the most terrific storms ever known came on and dispersed both fleets. D’Estaing felt compelled to put into Boston for repairs. While he was there word came that Clinton had sent five thousand men to relieve the Newport garrison. Lafayette galloped seventy miles in seven hours to obtain aid from D’Estaing, but it was too late. The siege had to be raised, and soon D’Estaing moved off to the West Indies. These movements of the French were very severely criticised by the Americans, and in consequence, at one time the French admiral thought seriously of taking his fleet back to France in disgust. It was only the great tact and skill of Washington that persuaded him to remain. His going to the West Indies was not without importance, for Clinton felt obliged to send five thousand troops for the support of the British in the islands.

General Anthony Wayne.

198. British Movement on the South.—The efforts thus far made to destroy the revolutionary army by striking at its center having failed, the British determined in the spring of 1779 upon a new policy. It was decided to attack the South, partly for the purpose of bringing the Southern states completely under their control, and partly for the purpose of drawing off a portion of Washington’s army. In the execution of this plan they had no difficulty in overrunning Georgia and South Carolina, but Washington understood perfectly well that the temporary loss of the Southern states would not mean the loss of the cause if the Middle states and New England could be kept together. He therefore refused to weaken his grip upon the Hudson. In July, General Anthony Wayne^[91] took by storm the seemingly impregnable position at Stony Point on the Hudson, in one of the most brilliant assaults of the war. His fearless dash, which was made at midnight, caused him to be known as “Mad Anthony.”

CONDITIONS WEST OF THE ALLEGHANIES.

199. British Control in the West.—At the outbreak of the war the vast region west of the mountains was already the field of much strife between the Indians and the few settlers that had pushed their way along the valleys into what was then the far West. The territory between the mountains and the Mississippi River, a region twice as large as the German Empire, was still an almost unbroken wilderness. French settlements had been established at Detroit, at Vincennes on the Wabash, and at Natchez, Kaskaskia, and Cahokia on the Mississippi. But these fortified hamlets since the fall of Quebec had been controlled by British garrisons. Though the region was thus under British dominion, it was claimed by Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Virginia, Maryland, North and South Carolina, and Georgia by authority of their original charters. The possession of the whole region was therefore involved in the war.

Wayne’s Dispatch to Washington.

200. Settlements in Tennessee and Kentucky.—Virginia and North Carolina were the first to send explorers and settlers into this distant region. Before the outbreak of the war, Daniel Boone^[92] had explored the Kentucky Kiver, and Virginia surveyors had gone down the Ohio as far as the present site of Louisville, which was soon after named in honor of our new ally, the reigning king of France, Louis XVI. Virginians entered the country as settlers, and their sympathy with the revolutionary movement was so intense that they named one of their principal towns Lexington, in honor of the village where the first shots had been fired. The pioneers of most influence in Tennessee were James Robertson and John Sevier, who played a part as explorers and organizers much like the parts played by Daniel Boone and James Harrod in Kentucky. In both of these regions laws were enacted and courts instituted, and when the Continental Congress met, delegates were sent to it to represent the interests of the new settlements. The one was called the State of Transylvania and the other the County of Kentucky.

Daniel Boone.

201. Border Warfare.—The early years of these settlements were periods of constant hardship and of strife with the Indians. Even before the Revolutionary War broke out, the Indians organized for systematic resistance. This was the result partly of outrageous treatment by the white settlers, and partly of repeated Indian depredations.

202. Lord Dunmore’s War.—Lord Dunmore, the last royal governor of Virginia, sent out in 1773 an injudicious order which led to an outbreak of hostilities all along the line. The immediate cause of the war was the fiendish act of a wretch by the name of Greathouse, who decoyed the family of the friendly Indian chief, Logan, consisting of nine men, women, and children, into his rum shop, and after getting them intoxicated, butchered them all in cold blood. The justly outraged Indians rushed to arms from all quarters. The war which followed was characterized by the murdering of women and children and the burning of cabins and wigwams, until it was ended by the decisive battle of Point Pleasant on the Great Kanawha, on October 10, 1774. The Indians, commanded by the Shawnee chief, Cornstalk, were utterly defeated by the settlers under Andrew Lewis, and were glad to secure peace by surrendering all their claims to lands south of the Ohio.

203. Warfare in Tennessee.—The westward movement from North Carolina through the Great Smoky Mountains into the country now known as Tennessee was also the occasion of numerous conflicts. In 1770 the settlers had reached the Watauga. Forts were erected, and the settlement soon assumed a thriving condition. But conflicts were not long postponed. The most warlike and powerful of the Southern tribes of Indians were the Cherokees, and on the outbreak of the Revolution they took sides with the British. The Indians even advanced into South Carolina and Georgia; but they were unable to hold their ground, and when in 1776 they attacked the Watauga settlement, they were so completely defeated by the troops of Robertson and Sevier that they soon afterward were willing to make peace. In 1777 they renounced the larger part of their claims to lands between the Tennessee and the Cumberland. Thus Tennessee, as well as Kentucky, was secure for the future Union.

204. Organization of Tories and Indians in the Northwest.—Meanwhile matters of no less importance were occurring on the northwest frontier. Washington fully understood the necessity of taking from the British as much as possible of that vast territory which extends from the Catskills to the Mississippi River, and which had been made a part of Canada by the Quebec Act (§ 136). This was by no means an easy task. The Six Nations (§ 3), constituting the most powerful Indian confederation ever known, were under the immediate leadership of the greatest of all Indian chiefs, Joseph Brant, and under the influence of Sir John Johnson, the most formidable of the Tories. Brant had been liberally educated in Mr. Wheelock’s School, afterward Dartmouth College, and had even visited England and had dined with Burke and Sheridan; but his education seemed only to sharpen his wits and make him the better able to use the characteristics of other Indians. Though he exerted his influence to prevent the killing of women and children, as a strategist he was unequaled among savages, and on the battlefield he could out-yell any other chief. Throughout the West the Indians had generally combined with the Tories and the British. Two forces were now organized, one at Niagara and one at Detroit, for carrying out their designs.

205. The Wyoming and Cherry Valley Massacres.—In the summer of 1778 twelve hundred Tories and Iroquois, led by John Butler, advanced stealthily from Niagara toward the southeast and fell upon the peaceful inhabitants of the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania. Hundreds of innocent inhabitants were tortured and scalped, and the horrors of the massacre sent a pang into all parts of the civilized world. Similar outrages occurred at Cherry Valley and elsewhere, and every settlement was in danger. Prisoners who refused to give information were put to torture with ingenious cruelty.

206. Sullivan’s Expedition.—In order to destroy the power of the Six Nations and put an end to this savage method of warfare, Washington decided to send out a strong force in the summer of 1779. The command of the expedition, having been declined by Gates, devolved upon Sullivan,^[93] who had orders to lay waste the entire country of the Iroquois. The right wing of his army, under General James Clinton, advanced up the valley of the Mohawk, while Sullivan himself, with a force of about five thousand men, pushed into the valley of the Susquehanna. Both forces destroyed the Indian villages and the growing crops wherever they went. Finally, meeting the united forces of Johnson, Butler, and Brant near Newtown (now Elmira), Sullivan achieved a complete victory, August 29.^[94]

General John Sullivan.

207. Destruction of the Six Nations.—Sullivan’s forces then advanced northward in two divisions, burning villages, cutting down fruit trees, and destroying the growing corn in all directions. After a successful march of more than seven hundred miles, during which he not only temporarily, but permanently, through his destruction of their harvests, broke the power of the Six Nations, Sullivan reached New Jersey in October. The suffering which resulted to the Indians from this expedition was greatly increased by the intense cold of the following winter.^[95] The horrors of the period, however, cannot be understood without a study of painful and revolting details. In no part of the country was the suffering greater than in central and eastern New York during this contest of Indians, Tories, and patriots. In Tryon County the population was reduced to one-third of its former number, and among those who remained there are said to have been three hundred widows and two thousand orphans.

THE CONQUEST OF THE NORTHWEST.

General George Rogers Clark.

208. George Rogers Clark.—An expedition of even greater importance had been undertaken the previous year, still farther west, by George Rogers Clark.^[96] Colonel Hamilton, commander of the British at Detroit, had planned a series of movements with the intention of taking possession of the whole western region north of the Ohio. Clark, a Virginian who had settled in Kentucky, had become thoroughly acquainted with frontier manners and methods. In the autumn of 1777, he learned of Burgoyne’s surrender. Divining the importance of the West, he at once sent scouts throughout the region known as the Illinois country. As a result of the information thus received, this adventurous frontiersman, only twenty-five years old, formed the bold project of conquering from the British the whole of the vast region extending from the Alleghanies to the Mississippi.

209. Clark’s Expedition.—Accordingly, having secured permission from the authorities of Virginia, Clark, taking a force of one hundred and eighty men, with boats and artillery, started in the spring of 1778, at Pittsburg, for a voyage down the river to the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi. He had no difficulty in capturing Kaskaskia, a small post not very far north of the modern Cairo. Thence he sent messengers to Vincennes, which agreed to submit to him. Later, however, he learned that the British under Colonel Hamilton had retaken the fort. Sending his cannon on a boat to patrol the Ohio and the Wabash, Clark took his men across Illinois in a winter’s march, often through mud and water knee deep, and appeared before Vincennes. The village at once yielded, and the people united with Clark in assaulting the fort. Hamilton was soon obliged to surrender with his whole force. By this brilliant expedition, the frontier was extended to the Mississippi River. The importance of the movement could hardly be understood at the time, but the history of the next hundred years revealed it in many very interesting ways.

THE VICTORIES OF PAUL JONES.

210. Early Condition of the Navy.—Before the war the Americans had no navy, for there was no national government, and the individual colonies, under the Navigation Acts, had no opportunities for the development of foreign trade. Soon after the outbreak of hostilities, however, Congress provided for arming vessels, not so much to fight the British warships as to prey upon British commerce. Franklin, as minister to France after 1778, was authorized by Congress to commission vessels to scour the waters for British prizes.

Captain John Paul Jones.

211. The Bon Homme Richard.—The most famous of these cruisers was a merchant ship that had been hastily fitted up for war and given the name of Bon Homme Richard. This vessel, commanded by John Paul Jones,^[97] a Scotchman who had renounced his country and lived some years in America, made havoc among the British merchantmen, especially in the British and Irish Channels and off the east coast of Scotland. On the 23d of September, 1779, Jones, with two small accompanying vessels, met the British frigate Serapis, with similar support, convoying a small fleet of merchantmen, off Flamborough Head. The Serapis was slightly more powerful than the Richard, but Jones did not hesitate to attack, and the result was one of the most obstinate and bloody battles in all naval history. Jones received no assistance from his attendant ships, which even fired into the Richard. After both ships had been partially disabled, Jones ran alongside the Serapis and lashed them together. From that moment a terrible battle with canister, musket balls, hand grenades, and cutlasses went on, until more than half of all the men engaged were either killed or disabled. The Serapis finally surrendered, but it was immediately found that the Richard had been so riddled with shot that it was sinking, and Jones therefore was obliged to transfer his men to the other vessel. A few hours later the Richard went down.

212. Importance of Jones’s Victory.—This desperate naval battle was important for two reasons: first, it everywhere gave the Americans a reputation as sailors; and secondly, it led to an important international dispute. Jones took the Serapis into a port in Holland. The British at once demanded that the commander of the Richard should be given up to be tried as a pirate. The Dutch refused, on the ground that Jones had done only what the British had long been doing. This, with some other complications, led to war between Holland and Great Britain. The English, in consequence, were then at war with Holland, as well as with America and France. Spain was also drawn in as the ally of France. Russia had long been apparently on the point of joining in the contest, but the Empress Catherine, before taking a final step, wrote a personal letter of inquiry to Frederick the Great, who advised her to keep out of the trouble. Thus England, left without a single ally, found herself confronted by three of the most powerful naval forces of continental Europe. The united fleets of France and Spain, even without the help of Holland, were scarcely weaker than the British fleet, and they at once threatened, while the English were occupied in America, not only to destroy the commerce of England in the open seas, but also to recover Gibraltar, and to overwhelm all the English possessions in the West Indies. The influence of these alliances on the American war may be inferred from the fact that while in 1779 the British had three hundred and fourteen thousand men under arms, not a tenth of that number were at any time in America.

CHAPTER X.
the campaigns of 1780 and 1781.

THE WAR IN THE SOUTH.

213. Clinton’s Success in the South.—Sir Henry Clinton, even without a very large force, found it possible to carry out his designs in the South with energy and success. Leaving Knyphausen a part of his force to defend New York, he started, December 26, 1779, with eight thousand men, for the South. Savannah fell into his hands, and a little later he invested Charleston. General Lincoln made the great mistake of allowing himself with five thousand men to be shut up in that city with no means of escape, and accordingly he was forced to surrender on the 12th of May, 1780, with his whole army. This was the severest blow the Americans had received. Clinton at once put Lord Cornwallis in command, after issuing a proclamation, threatening to deal with all who did not return to allegiance as traitors and rebels. He then went back to New York. South Carolina was soon overrun by the troops of Cornwallis, Tarleton, and Ferguson.

Lord Cornwallis.

214. Northward Movement of the British.—The American standards, however, were kept flying by the heroic deeds of the partisan generals, Marion and Sumter. The British advanced northward, hoping to find very little opposition before reaching Virginia. Washington recommended the appointment of Greene to the command of the Southern army; but the intriguers were successful, and Congress recalled Gates from his retirement, in the hope that the experience of Burgoyne would be repeated by Cornwallis.^[98] But in North Carolina there had been no Schuyler to plan the campaign in advance, and there was no Arnold or Morgan to assist in carrying it out. Gates revealed his inefficiency at every step; and when the two armies finally came together, on the 16th of August, 1780, his troops suffered at Camden the most disastrous defeat ever inflicted on an American army. Though the American force was superior to the British, it was routed, driven in utter confusion from the field, and dispersed. Gates himself, after committing a succession of gross blunders, crowned his ignominy by joining in the panic and finally leaving the army to its fate. In four days he reached Hillsborough, some two hundred miles away. Thus the worst fears of Washington were fully realized, and the whole South was practically in the grasp of the British. Clinton might well suppose the end to be near at hand.

THE TREASON OF BENEDICT ARNOLD.

215. Growth of Arnold’s Disaffection.—As if to complete a year of disasters, the country received a terrible shock in the treason of one of its foremost officers. Benedict Arnold, who had been one of the most skillful, as well as one of the most energetic of commanders, had been slighted in various ways. Washington had repeatedly recommended that he be advanced from brigadier to major general, but Congress promoted five officers of inferior rank over him. These facts not unnaturally soured his temper, so that he was inclined to find fault with everything. While he was in this mood Washington assigned him to the command in Philadelphia, after the withdrawal of Clinton, where he was noted for luxurious tastes and extravagant methods of life. Meanwhile he became engaged to Margaret Shippen, a beautiful daughter of one of the most prominent Tory families in Philadelphia. Before many months, his views had drifted completely over to those of the moderate Tory party. After the surrender of Burgoyne, the British government had offered the colonies all the constitutional guarantees they had asked for before the Declaration of Independence, and Arnold, as well as the Tories generally, believed that these terms should have been accepted.

216. Charges by Congress against Arnold.—Arnold was seriously contemplating the advisability of resigning his post, owing to the hostility of the Executive Council, when charges of peculation and misconduct were brought against him. Thereupon he promptly demanded an investigation. He was acquitted, not only by a committee of Congress, but afterward by a court-martial, of all the charges excepting two of very trifling importance. But he felt insulted and persecuted. His hatred of Congress became intense, and accordingly, in the course of the six months from January to July, 1780, he devised one of the most infamous schemes in history. He entered into correspondence with the British commander, for the purpose of betraying the American cause. His letters, signed “Gustavus,” were answered by the British adjutant general, Major John André, over the signature “John Anderson.” But nothing definite came of the matter until Arnold determined to ask Washington for the command of West Point, in order that this most important stronghold in the whole country might be turned over to the enemy for a good price. His request was granted, and his nefarious plans came alarmingly near to success.

217. Meeting of Arnold and André.—In September the agreement had advanced so far that a personal interview between the officers in correspondence was thought desirable. The British fleet, temporarily under the command of Admiral Rodney, who had recently come from the West Indies, showed signs of great activity. It was the intention at an opportune moment to sail up the Hudson and make a show of attacking the fort. Arnold was to surrender it, with only a faint appearance of resistance. The American traitor was to sell his country for fifty thousand dollars and a commission in the British army. On the 18th of September, Washington left the fort for a conference with Rochambeau at Hartford; and this absence afforded the coveted opportunity. André, ascending the Hudson in the British ship Vulture to a point near the fort, went ashore and passed the night with Arnold a few miles below the fortress. After some delays the agreement was completed, but in returning André was obliged to cross and go down the river along the eastern shore.

218. Arrest of André.—At Tarrytown, in a strip of neutral territory between the two armies, he was arrested by three young men headed by John Paulding. One of the party had on a Hessian uniform, and when they confronted André, who was clad in citizen’s dress, he accosted them as friends, supposing they were British. They immediately declared themselves to be Americans, however, and roughly ordered him to dismount. Proceeding to search him, they found the fatal articles of agreement in his boots. As, however, they were unsigned, Colonel Jameson, to whom the documents and the prisoner were delivered, decided to forward the papers to Washington, and to send a message concerning the affair to Arnold.

219. Escape of Arnold.—Washington returned to West Point, September 25, and received the papers soon after his arrival. The letter had reached Arnold only in time to enable him to escape by taking a boat and rowing swiftly down to the British ship which was awaiting André. When Washington read the documents he burst into tears, and with choking voice disclosed the affair to Lafayette and Knox and the other officers about him.

220. André’s Execution.—André was put upon trial by a court-martial consisting of fourteen officers, including Greene, Steuben, and Lafayette, and was pronounced guilty. Though every effort was made by Clinton to save his life, Washington was inflexible, and, on the morning of October 2, he died upon the gallows the death of a spy. Though the English have been inclined to dispute the justice of Washington’s action, the latest and most judicious of British historians of this period, Mr. Lecky, after a full examination of the facts, reaches the conclusion that his condemnation was justified by the usages of war. Benedict Arnold’s treason has properly given his name an immortality of infamy.

Place of André’s Execution.

CAUSES OF DISCOURAGEMENT.

221. Discontent in the Army.—The treason of Arnold was followed by events in the army which added to the general distress and anxiety. The best of the troops were those that had enlisted during the hopeful period just after Burgoyne’s surrender, in 1777. The term of enlistment was “three years, or during the war.” The troops claimed that, as the three years would expire at the end of December, they would then be free. The officers interpreted the law as meaning that in case the war should continue more than three years, the soldiers would be bound to service until its close. The army had many causes of complaint. Paper money issued by Congress had now become nearly worthless. With this money Congress was reluctant to pay the troops, but there was no other. At the end of December many of the regiments had received no pay for sixteen months, and supplies of clothing and shoes were so small that when January approached, many soldiers were barefooted and in rags. The winter of 1780–1781 saw scarcely less suffering than did the winter at Valley Forge.

222. Spirit of Mutiny.—On New Year’s Day, 1781, thirteen hundred Pennsylvania troops claimed that their time had expired, and, seizing six field-pieces, set out for Philadelphia to secure their rights from Congress. After much parleying, Congress, through its president, promised to give them certificates of indebtedness and their formal discharge. Thus it was settled that the men who had enlisted on the ambiguous terms might go when the three years had expired. By this decision Washington’s army not only lost its best troops, but was agitated by the mutinous spirit of others who were tempted to try the same method. On the 20th of January a part of the New Jersey troops mutinied without any adequate reason, and were not subdued until they were met by a brigade of troops from Massachusetts. The insurgents were soon brought to order, and two of the ringleaders were shot by Washington’s command. Thus came to a close the most discouraging year of the whole war.

223. Discouragements at the Beginning of 1781.—The disasters that had come to the Americans in 1780 gave the British many reasons to hope for a successful end of the contest in the summer of 1781. After the defeat of Gates at Camden there was a reasonable prospect that Cornwallis, having completely established British authority in the farther South, would be able to overrun Virginia and then unite with Clinton in overwhelming Washington. This feeling received encouragement from the discontented state of the American army, but in their predictions the British greatly underrated the ingenuity and the resources of the American commander in chief. Congress, which had chosen to disregard Washington’s former recommendation by sending Gates to the South, was now, late in 1780, when there was only a forlorn hope of success, quite willing that the commander should designate the general to meet Cornwallis. Washington selected Greene, the man he had recommended the year before. The latter did not reach Charlotte in North Carolina until the 2d of December; but he found that much had already been done by Marion, Sumter, and Morgan to counteract the effects of disaster and to keep alive the patriotic spirit.

Map of Operations in the South, 1780–1781

AMERICAN SUCCESSES IN THE SOUTH.

224. Victory at King’s Mountain.—Soon after the defeat of Gates at Camden, in the summer of 1780, Cornwallis had begun a northward movement. He sent on in advance two divisions: one under Ferguson, with about fourteen hundred men, and one under Tarleton,^[99] with about the same number. Ferguson soon found that patriots had arisen on every side. Enterprising hunters and backwoodsmen had come from all parts of the North and West, as well as from the neighboring regions, until nearly three thousand were in the path of his progress. Thwarted at every step, he was finally obliged to look for a way of retreat. His messengers to Cornwallis and his scouts were everywhere shot down as fast as they were sent out. His force was finally brought to bay on the top of King’s Mountain, where after desperate fighting it was compelled to surrender, October 7. As a result of this battle, in which Ferguson was killed and nearly four hundred men were lost, Cornwallis was obliged to fall back to Winnsborough.

Colonel Tarleton.

225. Victory at Cowpens.—Against the force of Tarleton, Greene sent General Daniel Morgan,^[100] who had already shown great ability at Quebec, at Trenton, and at Saratoga. The forces of Tarleton and Morgan were about equal. The American commander chose, as a spot for the battle, an open plain where cattle had been herded, called the “Cowpens.” The British, though wearied after a difficult march of five hours, decided to advance at once to a front attack. The first volleys of the Americans caused the enemy’s line to stagger and fall back. As the British came on a second time to the charge, Colonel Washington, a relative of the commander in chief, who led the cavalry, swept around the American left and struck the British in the flank. At this moment the Continentals rushed forward in a bayonet charge with irresistible force. The British were obliged to give way at every point, losing two hundred and thirty killed and wounded and about six hundred prisoners. Tarleton escaped with difficulty. The Americans lost only twelve killed and sixty-one wounded. The battle of the Cowpens, fought January 17, 1781, was the most brilliant American victory of the war, as Camden had been the most disastrous defeat.

General Daniel Morgan.

226. Morgan’s Race with Cornwallis.—Morgan, having now destroyed Tarleton’s force, at once set out to rejoin Greene, but, in order to do so, he had to run a race with Cornwallis for the fords of the Catawba River. Though the British commander had the shorter course, Morgan pushed on with so much greater speed that he was the first to cross and thus was able to rejoin the main army.

227. Battle of Guilford Court House.—Greene now determined, before fighting a decisive battle, to draw his enemies as far as possible away from their supplies. Sending on a part of his force in advance and placing himself in command of the rear, he kept near enough to Cornwallis to lure him on without giving him an opportunity for a decisive battle. At length, on February 9, the American forces united at Guilford Court House, only about thirty miles south of the Virginia border, and here Greene, after a delay of about one month, during which he received reënforcements, selected ground for a battle. Though the British had a smaller force, they were veterans, while the larger part of Greene’s army was composed of recent recruits. In the battle which occurred on the 15th of March, the British had the advantage, but they lost so heavily that Cornwallis did not dare to pursue the defeated army. In order to reëstablish his communications with supplies, he moved southeast for the port at Wilmington.

228. Greene’s Recovery of the South.—Greene followed him rapidly until they were near the coast. Then Greene struck into the South for the purpose of reëstablishing his authority throughout the Carolinas. His march was not resisted with any success. September 8, after a masterly campaign extending over six months, he fought and won the last battle of the series, at Eutaw Springs, about fifty miles from Charleston. Thus, within little more than a year after the disastrous defeat of Gates at Camden, the brilliant campaign of Greene drove Cornwallis into Wilmington and the remaining British forces in the South into Charleston, and had practically cleared the intervening country of the enemy.

THE CLOSE OF THE WAR.

229. Movement of Cornwallis from Wilmington.—Cornwallis, however, did not long remain on the coast. As soon as he had refreshed his army, he attempted, with the help of Arnold, to overrun Virginia. Reaching Petersburg on the 20th of May, he was able, within a short time, to take and pillage the more important towns of Virginia, including Petersburg, Richmond, Charlottesville, Portsmouth, and Williamsburg. To meet these raiders, Washington sent Lafayette with an army of Americans and French, amounting to about five thousand men. The French commander, though only twenty-three years of age, had learned from Washington the art of harassing the enemy without bringing on a general engagement. Cornwallis now had a little more than seven thousand men. After trying in vain to bring Lafayette to battle, and to get reënforcements from Clinton, he followed Clinton’s instructions by withdrawing his force to Yorktown, in order to put himself in communication with the British fleet. This was the fatal move that resulted in the loss of the British cause.

230. Plans of Washington and Rochambeau.—Two days after the British reached Petersburg, Washington had an important conference with Rochambeau at Wethersfield, Connecticut. There, it was decided to send to the West Indies for Commodore de Grasse and such ships of the French fleet as could be spared from that region. The purpose was to combine the French and Americans, either to make a joint attack upon New York, or, by a sudden movement toward the South, to overwhelm Cornwallis. De Grasse was to choose and to report whether he would go to New York, or would stop at the Chesapeake.

Operations at Yorktown

231. Plan of the Yorktown Campaign.—In due time, Washington learned that De Grasse had chosen the Southern destination, and accordingly he began at once to maneuver his force so as to lead Clinton to suppose that the purpose was a general attack on New York. He ordered all preparations to be made in New Jersey as though he intended a siege, even sending misleading dispatches, which he planned to have the British capture. So skillfully was this done, that even when the army began to move from the Hudson, the British believed it was for the purpose of a general attack upon the city from New Jersey and Staten Island. The secret of the movement was confined to the French and American commanders. Washington evidently believed with Franklin, that three persons can keep a secret only when one of them is dead. On the 19th of August, leaving a strong guard along the front line, the French and American armies commenced their Southern march. So skillfully had all plans been arranged, that Clinton learned of the movement only after the Americans had reached Philadelphia, nearly a hundred miles away. He attempted a diversion by an attack upon Connecticut, but it was impossible to retard the march, or distract the attention of Washington. The British could not follow without abandoning New York to Heath, who had been left with four thousand men on the Hudson.

232. Movement of De Grasse.—De Grasse, with a larger fleet even than had been anticipated, reached the Chesapeake on the day when Washington reached Philadelphia. The French admiral at once landed three thousand troops and turned them over to Lafayette, whose army was thus increased to about eight thousand men. The French general, knowing that Washington was not far away, threw his lines boldly across the peninsula, September 7, thus shutting Cornwallis completely in. The British now saw the James on the one side, the York River on the other, with De Grasse in the rear, and Lafayette in front. Their condition was hopeless.

233. Surrender of Cornwallis.—Though a few British ships reached the scene from the north, they were too weak to cope with the fleet of De Grasse, and there was, therefore, no possible escape. To break through the American lines was impossible, as Cornwallis was now confronted by an army more than twice the size of his own. The siege and bombardment began at once. The cannonade was continued for some days with terrific energy, till the British ammunition began to fail. The outworks were carried by an assault in two divisions,—one of Americans and the other of Frenchmen. The Americans, led by Alexander Hamilton, were the first to cross the British ramparts. This was on the 14th of October. On the 17th, just four years after the surrender of Burgoyne, Cornwallis hoisted the white flag. As soon as the preliminaries could be settled, seven thousand two hundred and forty-seven soldiers became prisoners of war.

234. Influence of the Surrender on the British Government.—The surrender of Cornwallis was virtually the end of this long and memorable contest, for it put enthusiastic life into the Americans, while it overwhelmed the British government with confusion. Those English statesmen who had opposed the war from the first so strengthened their following that they were able to sweep the king’s friends out of power and bring in a government that sympathized with their views. The king himself, though driven almost to despair by this stupendous event, was the last to recognize its real significance; but at length even George III. saw that with a war on his hands against France, Spain, and Holland, his American project, so dear to his heart, must now be given up. A new ministry, with Lord Rockingham at its head, was brought in to negotiate terms of peace.

235. Difficulties in making Peace.—There were long delays and many difficulties in arranging terms. These were greatly complicated by the fact that America had France as an ally, and France had to be consulted in regard to all the conditions. Congress had no money with which to pay off the soldiers, and no power to raise money in the individual states. Discontent among the rank and file threatened to end in the most serious revolts. Nothing but the infallible tact and skill of Washington prevented mutiny. The commander in chief, however, was inflexible in his determination that the forces should be kept up until the treaty was finally adopted. That painful period of distress and waiting at length came to an end, but it was not until September 3, 1783, nearly two years after the surrender at Yorktown, that the treaty was signed at Paris. By that act Great Britain acknowledged the independence of the country from Canada to the Floridas, and from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. The conquest of the West was thus admitted, but the northern boundary was left rather vague, owing to defective knowledge of the region.

236. Treatment of Tories.—The Americans made the mistake of refusing to grant amnesty to the adherents of the defeated party, as should always be done in civil war. The patriots, or Whigs, as they were often called, continued to persecute the Tories. Many were put to death, and thousands were obliged to flee into Canada and Nova Scotia, where their descendants still remember with bitterness the treatment of their ancestors.

237. Causes of Success.—The success of the Revolutionary War was mainly due to five causes:—

1. The unfailing courage, wisdom, and ability of Washington. Even in the darkest hours his confidence in the final issue never faltered. By the wisdom and persuasiveness of the letters which he sent to governors, members of Congress, and prominent men in all parts of the country, he inspired others with something of his own confidence and multiplied the friends of independence. His extraordinary military skill in knowing when to fight and when not to fight, enabled him to take advantage of the mistakes of the enemy and to strike a blow whenever he could hurt the cause of the British or inspire his own army with new courage.

2. The alliance and support of the French. Until the Yorktown campaign the active assistance of the French in the field was very slight, but the moral support was most important. While it inspired the Americans with new courage, it had a corresponding effect in disheartening the British, who had to fight the French in other parts of the world. But for De Grasse, the Yorktown campaign would probably not have been attempted; for, if attempted, Cornwallis could easily have been supported and relieved by the British fleet.

3. The weakness of the British commanders in the field. Gage, Howe, Burgoyne, Clinton, and Cornwallis were all greatly inferior to Washington and Greene.

4. The British, toward the end of the conflict, had four very important wars on their hands, so that they found it impossible to send large reënforcements to their armies in America.

5. The persistent spirit of the American patriots. Though often defeated, and sometimes much disheartened, they stubbornly refused to give up. Even in the dark days of 1780, when the South was overwhelmed and overrun, they never regarded the cause as lost. It was this spirit which made it possible for Washington to keep a force in the field large enough to prevent the complete success of the British.

Land Claims of the Thirteen Original States
in 1783

CHAPTER XI.
the articles of confederation and the constitution.

DIFFICULTIES OF CONFEDERATION.

238. Chaotic Condition at the Outbreak of the War.—As soon as the Declaration of Independence was adopted, the members of Congress saw that some form of general government would be necessary to bind the different parts of the country into common methods. Several of the states now had the advantage of regularly constituted governments; but the Continental Congress was without authority from any source whatever. Its members had been sent together by the different states without any mutual understanding or instructions, and consequently it had no power, except that of war, to enforce its acts.

239. Committee to frame Articles of Confederation.—On the day after the committee was appointed to frame the Declaration, a still larger committee was charged with the duty of preparing some plan of confederation. The difficulties met by this committee were almost insurmountable. The colonies were at that moment engaged in the work of framing permanent constitutions for themselves. Nor did the common cause of the war entirely sweep away the jealous differences between the states. The colonies had been settled by people of differing religious and political beliefs, and they had preferences for differing methods. The smaller colonies feared they would be absorbed, and the larger ones feared they would not have proper representation. The same spirit which made them desire to be free from the rule of the mother country made each state unwilling to be subject to the rule of the other states. As the Declaration of Independence had been aimed against the central authority of Great Britain, it was natural that they should distrust a strong central authority in the government they were about to establish. It was in the face of all these difficulties that the “Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union” were reported by the committee, only eight days after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

240. Difficulties of Agreement.—But the representatives found so many reasons for desiring changes that a final agreement was not reached by Congress until November of 1777. Then the articles had to go to the several states for ratification. The difficulties now seemed greater than ever before. According to the articles, every state was to have an equal vote with every other state, but to this equality of representation the larger states very strongly objected, while the smaller states stubbornly resisted every other method. There were also grave differences of opinion as to the executive branch of the new government.

241. Western Lands.—The ownership of the Western lands was the occasion of one of the most serious difficulties. The boundaries of some of the states were defined by their charters, while those of others were not. Six of the states claimed to extend as far west as the Mississippi River, while Virginia defined her boundary as extending to the northwest so far as to include the region which afterward formed Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The other states held that this territory had all been rescued from the British by common effort, and therefore that it should belong to the nation as a whole. This opinion finally prevailed. At length, after long and hot discussion, New York agreed to cede its Western lands to the general government, and this example was soon imitated by the others, although several states still reserved certain portions of their Western territory. After this concession, New Jersey was the first state to ratify the articles. Others followed so slowly that the ratification was not complete until Maryland signed on March 1, 1781, only a few months before the surrender at Yorktown. The delay shows the difficulty of obtaining even so little central authority as the articles provided for.

242. Weaknesses of the Confederation.—It immediately became evident that the confederation had very serious defects. Though a stronger government at the time could not have been adopted, the one obtained was of little value, except to show that a stronger government was demanded. By its provisions no measure could be taken by Congress without the vote of nine of the thirteen states, and even after the adoption of a measure, the confederation had no power to enforce it. The central government relied upon the individual states to carry out its laws, and the states had the option of enforcing obedience, or not, as they chose. Meantime the states themselves were under no restrictions. They passed revenue laws according to their own interests, and custom-houses had to be multiplied along the state borders. Whenever any tax was called for by Congress, to pay off the Continental troops or for any other purpose, some of the states would enforce its collection and others would not.

243. Dangers shown by Shays’ Rebellion and Other Disturbances.—In New Hampshire an armed force assailed the legislature at Exeter and demanded an issue of paper money. In Massachusetts, the collection of debts and taxes was forcibly resisted. The people in the central part of the state, led by Daniel Shays, collected into a motley army, and not only attacked the arsenal, but kept the state in a turmoil for more than six months. At length “Shays’ Rebellion,” as it was called, was put down by Governor Bowditch (1787), but with difficulty. Not one of the insurgents was punished. The states seemed to be growing farther and farther apart and more and more independent. There was really great danger that this tendency would go on till the United States, like Europe, would be made up of many independent nationalities. As if to make improvement impossible, the framers of the Articles of Confederation had provided that no change in them should be adopted unless agreed to by all the states. The consequence was that whenever any change was proposed, some state objected and the proposal was lost. It was a time of such perplexity and danger that it has been aptly called, “The Critical Period in American History.”

THE CONSTITUTION.

Alexander Hamilton.

244. First Effort for a Convention.—During all this time Washington, Hamilton, and Madison had been writing letters to show that a change was necessary and to devise a means of bringing it about. At length, the legislature of Virginia issued a call in 1786 for a general convention to meet at Annapolis, Maryland. But the smaller states were very shy of committing themselves to any scheme proposed by any of the larger states, and only five states responded to the call. Of course nothing could be done. The very absence of representatives, however, revealed some of the difficulties of the situation.

245. Second Effort toward a Convention.—The next year another course was adopted and with greater success. The call for the convention was issued by Congress. The purpose of the call was not to frame a new constitution, but to modify the old one. Twelve of the states appointed delegates, Rhode Island, the smallest of the commonwealths, alone standing aloof. The convention met at Philadelphia in May, 1787, and unanimously chose Washington as its president.

246. Ability in the Convention.—This convention was fortunate in having prominent representatives of all classes. Every state sent its best. Of the fifty-five members, twenty-nine had been college bred. Jefferson and John Adams were in Europe. Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry opposed the convention and remained at home. With these exceptions the most eminent men of the country were present. Washington and Franklin, by their general wisdom and great experience, represented the practical judgment of men of affairs. There were John Dickinson, whose Farmer’s Letters had done so much to bring on the Revolution (§ 131), and James Wilson, a Scotchman, one of the most learned jurists the country has ever had. Hamilton and Madison, by their varied and profound knowledge of political history, brought to the convention the advantage of the best types of general scholarship. Hamilton,^[101] though only thirty years of age, was probably the ablest political thinker in the body. But his power was neutralized by the fact that New York, the state which he represented, had opposed the convention, and had sent two delegates to do what they could to prevent success. Hamilton was further handicapped by the extreme nature of his views, for he believed in a much stronger central government than could at that time be adopted.

James Madison.

247. James Madison.—For these reasons, the main guidance of the convention fortunately fell upon James Madison,^[102] a young man less brilliant than Hamilton, but superior to him in the art of estimating what is possible. A graduate of Princeton College, he had been from his youth a devoted student of history, had made himself thoroughly acquainted with all the best books on political science, and had paid particular attention to the republican organizations of Greece, Rome, Switzerland, and Holland. From the time he was twenty-five he had taken a prominent part in the Virginia legislature and in Congress, and he thoroughly understood the weaknesses and difficulties of the Articles of Confederation. His knowledge and experience, though united with a remarkable firmness of purpose, were presented with a kindness and sweetness of manner that commended his views to all his fellow-members. Madison, therefore, was the most influential of the members in giving the Constitution the form in which it was adopted.

248. General Spirit of the Convention.—The delegates brought together the wisdom and experience gained in framing the state constitutions and from observing the prevailing difficulties. The efforts of the convention to amend the Articles of Confederation were doomed to early failure. It was soon decided to abandon them altogether and to frame an entirely new constitution. Here the smaller states caused the greatest difficulty, for they were determined to give as little power as possible to the general government, in order that they might not be overwhelmed or absorbed. In this determination were enlisted not only New York, which was then one of the less important states, but also New Hampshire, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland.

249. Representation of Slaves.—Another very serious obstacle was presented by the slave trade and the question of the representation of slaves in Congress. In the early part of the eighteenth century there were about twelve thousand slaves north of Mason and Dixon’s line, and about forty-eight thousand south of it. But at the time of the Constitutional Convention, there were about fifty thousand in the North, and not far from seven hundred thousand in the South. There had been little or no importation of slaves during the war, and the slave system was generally condemned by the best men of the South as well as by those of the North. In their opinion, it was only a question of time when it would cease altogether. But the greater number of slaves in the South made the Southern delegates determined to have them represented, while the North generally opposed such representation.

250. Strength of Central Government.—Another difficulty in the way of agreement was found in the radical differences of opinion between the members as to whether the new government was to be very weak or very strong. This was by far the most important question of all. One party held that the states should still be left with great powers, and should be practically independent; while the opposite party thought that a general government with the essential attributes of an elective monarchy was most needed. There was, however, a very general and a very natural remembrance of the fact that it was the predominating strength of the executive part of the British government that had caused separation, and there was a general disposition to avoid any similar defect.

251. Discussion of the Difficulties.—These various difficulties taxed all the faculties of the members. It sometimes seemed that not another step of progress could be made, and that the delegates would be obliged to abandon the task and go home. As discussion advanced, it became evident that no agreement could be made except through a general spirit of conciliation and compromise. The convention sat with closed doors, and for four months considered the stupendous difficulties that confronted them. At length, on the 17th day of September, 1787, they agreed upon a constitution and adjourned. It was to go into effect when ratified by the conventions of nine states.

252. Four Great Lines of Compromise.—The Constitution was built upon a basis of four great lines of mutual concession.

First, the smaller states were brought to agreement by being allowed the same representation in the Senate as the larger states; while the larger states were satisfied by being allowed to send to the House of Representatives a number of delegates to be determined by the number of inhabitants.

Second, the question of the representation of slavery in Congress was finally adjusted by providing that for determining the number of representatives of each state, Congress should add to the number of freemen three-fifths of all persons held to service. Congress was also prohibited from abolishing the foreign slave trade before 1808.

Third, the advocates of a strong central government came to an agreement with the advocates of a weak one by allowing the dividing line between the authority of the central government and of the several states to be somewhat vaguely defined, and by leaving such definition to the course of future events. It is probable that if either side had insisted on putting into words a statement authorizing its interpretation, no agreement could have been reached. This uncertainty of interpretation, though apparently necessary to an agreement on the Constitution, might be called the fundamental cause of the Civil War in 1861.

Fourth, while the President, by being made commander in chief of the army and being intrusted with the enforcement of all laws, was given great authority, he was put under rigid constitutional checks in numerous ways. In case he should exceed his authority, he could be impeached by the House of Representatives and tried by the Senate; and in case of conviction, removed from office. It was further provided that in all cases whatsoever involving differences of opinion regarding the Constitution, the Supreme Court should render authoritative decision. This authority of the Supreme Court was the most marked peculiarity of the Constitution.

Federal Hall, New York City.

253. Characteristics of the Constitution.—On the basis of these mutual concessions, the Constitution was finally adopted. It provided for three departments of government: the Legislative, to make the laws; the Executive, to execute the laws; and the Judicial, to define the laws in case of dispute. The legislature consisted of the House of Representatives, the members of which were to be chosen for two years by the people of the several states; and the Senate, consisting of two members from each state, who were to be chosen for a term of six years. The executive officer was to be a President, elected for a term of four years, by electors chosen by the people of the several states, each state to have as many electors as it had members in the Senate and the House of Representatives together. To the President was also given legislative influence through the right of veto. The judiciary was to consist of a Supreme Court, and such other courts as Congress might provide for. The judges were to be appointed by the President, with the consent of the Senate, and were to hold office during good behavior. In case of misdemeanor they could be removed by impeachment. The authority given to the Supreme Court to declare acts of Congress contrary to the Constitution, and therefore null and void, was a new element in government and made the court stronger than any other court in existence. Jefferson returned from Europe just after the completion of the work of the convention, and was almost panic stricken by fear that the plan of government, if adopted by the states, would allow, if not even encourage, the establishment of monarchy. It was many years before Jefferson’s fears were allayed. The general wisdom of these provisions, however, has been acknowledged by the whole world.

Patrick Henry.

254. Attitude of the States.—After the adoption of the Constitution by the convention, it went to the several states for ratification, and during the winter of 1787–1788 conventions in the respective commonwealths had the question of adoption under consideration. Its ratification was most strenuously opposed in Virginia, in New York, and in Rhode Island. Patrick Henry was the most eloquent of these opponents, his opposition being founded on the belief that the general government would gradually grow so strong as to interfere with the governments of the individual states. Of the states unfavorable to the Constitution, New Hampshire was the first to yield, in June, 1788. New York and Virginia soon followed. Rhode Island and North Carolina held out, and the Constitution went into effect without their consent. In order to satisfy those who thought the Federal government had too much power, ten amendments to the Constitution, embodying a Bill of Rights designed to restrict those powers, were adopted in 1791. The final adoption of the Constitution was brought about very largely through the influence of a remarkable series of letters written by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay, and afterward collected into the volume known as The Federalist.

255. Washington, the First President.—When, soon after the adoption of the Constitution, the first general election was held, it was found that every elector voted for Washington, who was therefore unanimously elected as the first President. John Adams, having the next number of votes, was elected Vice President. On April 30, 1789, they were inaugurated on the balcony of the Federal Building, on Wall Street, New York City, which was then the seat of government.

The Northwest Territory
in 1787

256. Ordinance for governing the Northwest.—While the Constitutional Convention was in session at Philadelphia, the Congress of the Confederation was in session in New York City. On the 30th of July, 1787, Congress passed the memorable “Ordinance for the Organization of Government in the Northwest,” that vast and important territory which now comprises the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and a part of Minnesota. This ordinance established among others four provisions of fundamental importance, which have contributed immensely to the development of the North Central states. These four fundamental provisions were the following:—

1. “Slavery and involuntary servitude shall forever be excluded.” This provision exempted the region from those perplexing discussions which afterward troubled Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska.

2. “Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary for the welfare of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.” In this provision common schools, high schools, normal schools, and universities found their constitutional justification, and accordingly, in all the states formed from the Northwest Territory, schools of all grades have been supported by taxation. The example thus set has been followed by all the states since admitted to the Union.

3. “The navigable rivers leading into the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence, and the carrying places between them, shall be common highways and forever free.” This provision secured that freedom of communication between the states which has encouraged very rapid material growth.

4. “The inhabitants shall forever enjoy religious freedom, the habeas corpus, trial by jury, and equal civil and political privileges.” This provision not only secured perfect independence of religious thought, but protected all the people, immigrants as well as others, in the enjoyment of political freedom.

Though the binding authority of this ordinance was subsequently declared by the Supreme Court to have been superseded by the adoption of the Constitution, its influence on the development of the Northwest was unquestionably very great.

United States in 1789

CHAPTER XII.
the country at the close of the eighteenth century.

GENERAL CONDITIONS.

257. Population and Area.—The country over which Washington began to preside in 1789 was very different from the great nation it has grown to be. Counting about seven hundred and fifty thousand slaves, the population did not quite reach four millions. Eleven years later, by the second census, that of 1800, this population had increased to 5,308,480; but the area of 827,844 square miles was not yet settled at the ratio of six and a half persons to a square mile. It was only along the Atlantic coast from Virginia to Massachusetts that the original wilderness had been fairly conquered by settlements that furnished a population of from twenty-five to ninety inhabitants to the square mile.

258. Boundary Disputes.—The boundaries of this immense and practically unoccupied area were in dispute to the north, northwest, and south. The British still kept garrisons at Detroit, Niagara, and other forts. In the region bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, Spanish claims conflicted with those of the Americans, and Spain denied the inhabitants of the new settlements beyond the Alleghanies any practical use of the lower Mississippi. A treaty with Spain in 1795 helped to mend these matters.

Blockhouse at Mackinaw,
1780.

259. The West.—The Westerners, who were thus deprived of the full use of their great waterway and whom Spanish agents endeavored to detach from the Union, were few in numbers. Kentucky and Tennessee were practically the only organized settlements; but a popular movement toward Ohio and the Northwest was beginning, and by the end of the century the Mississippi Territory had been formed in the region which Georgia claimed north of the Gulf. Most of the settlers in these outlying communities had moved westward from the frontier portions of the adjoining older states. Thus many of the immigrants to Tennessee came from North Carolina. Often they were of Scotch-Irish stock, deeply religious, hardy and frugal. They drove out the Indians, killed the wild beasts, cleared lands for their farms, and raised their large families in a rude independence. On the foundations they laid, great commonwealths have been erected which should not in their present wealth and power forget the bold adventurers who crossed the mountains in wagon trains or floated down the Ohio in large flat-bottomed boats.^[103]

260. The Older Commonwealths.—Within the original colonies state lines were much confused. Vermont did not formally succeed in throwing off New York’s claim and becoming a state until 1791. Connecticut still claimed a strip of land along the northern border of the Northwest Territory. Maine continued to constitute a district of Massachusetts. The population of all the states was chiefly of English descent and was, on the whole, homogeneous, although the amount of intercourse between state and state was still small. Virginia was the most populous of the states, Massachusetts ranking next. Each was typical of the region to which it belonged, the presence of slavery more or less retarding the South, and the comparative absence of it favoring New England.

261. Occupations.—Although the country had grown considerably in population and wealth during the eighteenth century, the people had not greatly changed in character or in their pursuits. The confusion engendered by the Revolution was slowly passing away, but the revived industries ran along much the same narrow lines as of old. At Washington’s accession to the Presidency public and private finances were in a bad shape, but speedy improvement followed the reforms of Hamilton, shortly to be described (§ 266). Agriculture was still the main calling—the nation being, on the whole, one of farmers. Commerce, however, was a surer source of wealth, especially in the East, where there was a good deal of shipping. But manufacturing was in its infancy, as we at once perceive when we learn that even in 1800 not quite four per cent of the people lived in towns.

262. The Towns.—The country people had no such incentives to flock to cities as they have to-day. There were no railroads or steamboats to make the journey easy. On the contrary, roads were bad and travel by water was both uncomfortable and dangerous. Nor were the towns, of which Philadelphia with seventy thousand inhabitants, New York with sixty thousand, Baltimore with twenty-six thousand, Boston with twenty-four thousand, and Charleston with twenty thousand, were the chief, especially attractive. Sanitation was little attended to, save in Philadelphia after the terrible yellow fever epidemics of 1793 and 1797. There were few theaters. The newspapers were small and uninfluential sheets. Good colleges and schools and libraries were scarcely to be found. Life was comparatively simple and lacking in interest and brilliancy. Indeed the country gentleman, especially in the South, found his rural sports and his rounds of social visiting more enlivening than the life led by his town friends.

Stagecoach of the time of Washington.

SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE.

263. Dominance of the Colonial Spirit.—In their mental attitude toward life the American people had changed about as little as in their occupations and customs. Although in Jonathan Edwards and Benjamin Franklin they had produced two great writers, in Franklin and Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford, 1733–1814) eminent scientists, and in Benjamin West (1738–1820) and J. S. Copley (1737–1815) distinguished painters; although they had developed as great statesmen and political writers as any country could name, they still had no literature, or art, or science worthy of being called national. In other words, though the people of the United States had won their political independence, they were still, in their modes of thought and action, dominated by the spirit of colonial dependence. There were many persons who not merely imitated English manners and dress, read English books, and wrote in the current English style, but who even shared, in the main, English political ideas and prejudices. There were others who were fully as much influenced by French modes of thought and life. Here and there, in great men like Washington or Franklin, we find a sturdy originality that smacks of the soil, and undoubtedly the plainer people were little affected by foreign ideas and customs. But the towns still preserved their colonial attitude of dependence on Europe, and this was in the main true of the prosperous country families as well. In fact, the seaboard colonies were, in a way, outskirts of Europe, just as the Western communities were outskirts of the Atlantic seaboard. There was little of the enterprise and activity which throughout America to-day keep small communities from stagnating. In short, our forefathers of three generations ago were in many ways a very different race of beings from their descendants of to-day.

264. Virtue and Happiness of the People.—Yet it would be a great mistake to suppose that the drawbacks just enumerated were in the main apparent to the American people themselves, or that they are greatly to be insisted upon in a sketch of the civilization of the period. American life might at the close of the eighteenth century seem dull and narrow to travelers from Europe, but we know that a happy, brave, free, religious people inhabited a land that yielded abundant returns to their labors, and we may readily believe that their lives were fully as useful as ours are to-day. Nor should it ever be forgotten that amid these provincial surroundings arose the greatest figure that modern history can show, and that the American people were wise enough to choose electors who would make him President.

The Areas of Freedom and Slavery in 1790

CHAPTER XIII.
the administrations of washington, 1789–1797.

EARLY LEGISLATION AND PARTIES.

265. Washington as a Statesman.—When Washington took the oath of office in New York City^[104] on April 30, 1789, few people could have foreseen that the elderly, dignified man, dressed in the picturesque costume of the period, would one day rank among the greatest statesmen of the world. His experience had been rather with military than with civil affairs. He was reserved in temper, and liked forms and ceremonies to which the masses were opposed. He had few of the arts of persuasion. His mind was not trained like that of John Adams, for example, nor was it markedly original. But he had had the training of experience, and he had what is essential to statesmanship of the first order—a great character, sobriety, dignity, perfect rectitude of purpose, knowledge of men, and willingness to trust those whom he regarded as competent—in short, wisdom as opposed to mere knowledge made Washington the great statesman we now know him to have been. He held the reins of government firmly and made few or no mistakes. He saw that the new nation should show prudence and by its dignity win the respect of other nations; and in spite of criticism, and often of frantic opposition, he kept his administrations well in line with his ideals. He avoided foreign complications and appeased or put down domestic discontent. He balanced political parties and made their leaders serve the state. When he laid down his office he explained his principles in his “Farewell Address,” which has become one of the political classics of the world. And now, after the lapse of a century, the perspective of time enables us to comprehend, in part at least, the unique grandeur of his position among men.

266. Early Legislation.—The first Congress, which was organized shortly before Washington was inaugurated, contained some eminent men, chief among them perhaps being James Madison of Virginia, in the House of Representatives, and John Adams of Massachusetts, who, as Vice President, presided over the Senate. The members were residents of the districts they represented, and their salary was at first six dollars a day. The most important work they did, after determining the rules of procedure that should govern them, was to organize those portions of the administration and government that had been left vague by the Constitution. They established the three departments of State, Treasury, and War, whose Secretaries, along with the Attorney-General, formed the President’s Cabinet.^[105] The Post-Office Department was also organized, but the Postmaster-General was not then included in the Cabinet. Congress furthermore organized the Federal judiciary along the lines of circuit and district courts that it follows at present, the Supreme Court having been authorized by the Constitution, but the number of its justices not having been settled. They also passed a tariff law giving mild protection to manufacturers, as well as a moderate system of internal duties on distilled spirits. They arranged for the payment of the foreign and domestic public debt of the United States, about fifty-four million dollars, mainly incurred to carry on the Revolution, and also, after much discussion, agreed to assume a large part, i.e. twenty-one million five hundred thousand dollars, of the debts of the individual states contracted for the same purpose. The latter measure was carried only by means of an agreement to fix the Federal capital at a point on the Potomac River (afterward Washington), in return for which concession Southern votes were secured.^[106] Finally, Congress established a National Bank with a capital of ten million dollars and a charter running twenty years, and also laid before the states twelve amendments to the Constitution which, as we have seen (§ 254), had been suggested during the state debates on the adoption of that instrument.^[107]

267. Hamilton and the Federalists.—The financial legislation mentioned in the last paragraph had been outlined in the main by Alexander Hamilton of New York, the first Secretary of the Treasury. This remarkable man had distinguished himself as a soldier and as a contributor to The Federalist in defense of the Constitution (§ 254), before Washington chose him as his chief counselor. As a financier and an administrator working under a chief, he has probably had no equal in America. In his theories of government, however, he favored a strong central administration more than a simple people suspicious of tyranny thought proper. Hence, while he easily dominated all the supporters of the new government, he failed to secure the confidence of the masses and probably would not have been given the Presidency, even if he had not fallen in a duel with Aaron Burr in 1804. He did, however, during his life direct the policy of the Federalists, as the party supporting the Union under the Constitution was called. Washington would have liked to govern without parties, but the unsettled question whether the new central government should be strong or weak necessitated a twofold division of voters. And in the end even Washington was forced more or less to take sides with Hamilton and the Federalists.

268. Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans.—Hamilton’s rival in the Cabinet was Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, who gave up his post as minister to France to accept the Secretaryship of State. Jefferson had already acquired great fame as the writer of the Declaration of Independence and other state papers. He had been governor of Virginia, and was a good legislator and administrative officer, although plainly Hamilton’s inferior in the latter respect. But he was especially strong in his thorough comprehension of the desires of the people and in his ability to criticise political institutions and measures. He believed in democracy and wished government to be simple in every respect. Being suspicious by nature, he thought that Hamilton and the Federalists were aiming to establish a strong republic that might develop into a monarchy. In order to oppose them, he drew together all the dissatisfied elements in the country, as well as all the advocates of a simple, popular government, into a party soon known as the Democratic-Republicans. Under one name or another, the two parties formed under Hamilton and Jefferson have existed to our own day. The two Secretaries naturally opposed each other in the Cabinet,^[108] and Washington had a hard task in forcing them to work together. Finally Jefferson, who had indiscreetly used the newspapers against the administration, desired to resign and return to his home at Monticello,^[109] and Washington let him go. After this, as we have just seen, the President allowed Hamilton more and more power, and the administration became practically a Federalist one, although its head was still superior to mere party considerations.

DIFFICULTIES OF ADMINISTRATION.

269. Washington’s First Term.—At the appointed time, before the expiration of his first term, Washington was elected unanimously for a second. During his first term, in which North Carolina and Rhode Island were reconciled to the Union, and Vermont and Kentucky added to it, only two events of great importance took place. These were St. Clair’s defeat and the outbreak of the French Revolution. This latter event was destined to complicate domestic politics in America after Washington had begun his second administration.

270. St. Clair’s Defeat.—The Northwestern Indians had been giving trouble since 1786, and in 1791 had destroyed the settlement of Big Bottom, in Ohio. In order to check them, it was determined to construct a line of forts from Cincinnati to Lake Michigan. General Arthur St. Clair, governor of the Northwest Territory, was beginning the work when he was entrapped in ambush, and suffered a crushing defeat (1791). He resigned, and Washington, who was moved to indignation and grief by the catastrophe, appointed “Mad Anthony” Wayne, another Revolutionary veteran, as his successor (§ 198). Wayne, a thorough soldier, proceeded cautiously, and two years later (1793) broke the power of the tribes in a battle near Vincennes. The treaty of Greenville (1795) relieved eastern Ohio from Indian menaces.

271. Genet’s Indiscretions.—Early in 1793 war was declared between France and England, and the Democratic-Republican party wished to involve America in the struggle, directly or indirectly, in the interests of her former ally. We had a treaty binding us to defend French colonies, like those in the West Indies, but this treaty had been concluded with the French monarchy, not with the Republic that had overthrown Louis XVI. After some discussion in the Cabinet, Washington issued a proclamation of strict neutrality, which naturally disappointed the French revolutionists greatly. Their minister to America, Edmond Charles Genet, landed in Charleston and began to fit out privateers and enlist men in plain defiance of the President’s proclamation. He counted on the sympathy of the people with France, and was, indeed, received with enthusiasm by many visionary citizens. But Washington stopped his privateers, and treated all his demands with such firmness that he soon lost ground. He had the insolence to make a public appeal against the administration. This foolhardy act could lead to but one result—his recall, at the request of the United States. Genet, however, though recalled, chose not to run the risk of returning to France, where the guillotine was in full operation.

John Jay.

272. Jay’s Treaty.—One of the chief events of Washington’s second administration was the ratification of the treaty with Great Britain, which bears the name of the statesman who negotiated it—John Jay,^[110] then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. There were various restrictions placed by England upon America’s trade, and the ships of the latter were being captured during the war then in progress between Great Britain and France. Native-born Americans were frequently taken from the decks of their country’s merchant vessels and pressed into the British naval service, on the pretense that they were really British born. As the two nations spoke the same language, it was often difficult to prove that this impressment was illegal. There were other troubles, connected with the failure of the British to abandon frontier posts, with boundary disputes, and with unpaid claims; hence there was much popular feeling against Great Britain. Jay, after great trouble, negotiated in the autumn of 1794 a treaty which removed some grievances, such as the unlawful occupation by the British of military posts upon American soil, but did not much improve the condition of trade, nor abate the impressment nuisance. Washington, although he was disappointed, thought that even such a treaty for twelve years would be better than a war with England. He called an extra session of the Senate in June, 1795, and after a hot debate, the treaty, slightly altered, was confirmed. There was great popular displeasure about the matter, and Jay and Washington were bitterly reviled, but in the end it was seen that they had acted wisely.

273. The Whisky Rebellion.—Another event of importance was an insurrection in western Pennsylvania in the summer and autumn of 1794, commonly known as “The Whisky Rebellion.” The moderate excise tax on whisky had outraged the rough frontiersmen of the district, since they made the liquor easily and could purchase goods in exchange for it.^[111] They threatened the tax collectors in mobs, and finally blood was shed, in July, 1794. Great excitement followed, and the government mail was robbed. Then the President called out the militia from Pennsylvania and neighboring states, and fifteen thousand men were marched over the region, encountering no opposition, and making only a few arrests. Two rough fellows were convicted of treason, but Washington pardoned them, and the insurrection was at an end.

Mount Vernon.

274. Washington Refuses a Third Term.—In 1796, in his famous “Farewell Address,” Washington declined reëlection for a third term, thus setting a precedent which has been followed ever since. He served his country from the spring of 1789 to that of 1797. During his second term his political assailants were especially venomous.^[112] As criticism hurt him sorely, he was glad to lay down his office, and retire to Mount Vernon, particularly as it seemed that the new government was now stable enough to be able to exist without him.

CHAPTER XIV.
the administration of john adams, 1797–1801.

A PERIOD OF DISSENSIONS.

John Adams.

275. The Election of John Adams.—Washington’s refusal of a third term and retirement to Mount Vernon, brought John Adams^[113] to the front as the natural choice of the Federalists for President. Hamilton, as we have seen (§ 267), was out of the question, and the services of Massachusetts’ great son during the Revolution ranked next to those of Washington now that Franklin was dead. The Democratic-Republicans naturally favored Jefferson; but there was no such elaborate campaign between the rivals as there is in our day. As the electoral system then stood, the person receiving the highest number of votes in the Electoral College became President, the person receiving the next highest number, Vice President. Hamilton tried by an intrigue to get Thomas Pinckney, of South Carolina, who was the Federalist candidate for Vice President, elected President over Adams. His scheme failed, however, for Pennsylvania and the South voted for Jefferson, who thus secured 69 votes to Adams’s 71. Jefferson, therefore, became Vice President. Congress divided, the Senate continuing Federalist, but both parties being so nearly even in the House that a few moderate Democratic-Republicans held the balance of power.

276. The X. Y. Z. Affair.—Adams took over Washington’s Cabinet, from which Hamilton had retired in 1795. In so doing he made a mistake, since the Secretaries regarded Hamilton as the leader of their party, and indulged in intrigues against their lawful chief. The new President also tried to carry out Washington’s general policy, and found himself hampered, especially with regard to France. The French had not liked the treaty the United States had concluded with their enemies, the British, through the diplomacy of Jay, and they had been imprudently dealt with by the American minister, James Monroe. Monroe’s successor, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney^[114] of South Carolina, was not well treated in France, and at once informed Adams that the French Directory would not receive another Minister from the United States until their grievances were redressed. Adams immediately called a special session of Congress, but was wise enough to send over John Marshall of Virginia and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts to act with Pinckney as commissioners. Nearly a year later news was received that an attempt had been made to make the commissioners, who had not been officially received, offer money for securing a settlement of the trouble. In other words, American envoys had been told that they must commit the crime of bribery if they wished to serve their country effectively. The names of the persons making these insulting demands were veiled under the letters X. Y. Z.—hence the matter is known as the X. Y. Z. Affair. Adams and the people at large resented this treatment of the commissioners, and a war with France was imminent. Indeed in July, 1798, American vessels of war were authorized to attack French men-of-war, and a French frigate was actually taken in February, 1799. Washington was made commander in chief of the land forces with Hamilton as second in command, but neither had occasion to serve actively.

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.

277. The Alien and Sedition Laws.—Meanwhile Adams and the Federalists, who had the sympathy of the country in the impending war, speedily lost it by passing the famous “Alien and Sedition Laws.” The editors of the Republican press, being in many cases foreign-born, had been friendly to France since the days of the French Revolution and of Genet’s mission, and had attacked Adams and his party violently. The Federalists, believing that the liberties of the country would be destroyed if this license were not checked, not only passed a rigid naturalization law, but also one providing for the removal from the country of dangerous aliens designated by the President.

278. Features of the Sedition Law.—To this act against foreigners, which was tyrannical in theory although not in practice, an even worse law was added relative to sedition. It was designed to punish persons who conspired in order to resist the government’s measures or to intimidate officeholders. It was also aimed at persons guilty of libeling the government, Congress, or the President. Practically this was to gag the press in the interest of the Federalist party. The first conspicuously effective use of the law was made against an obnoxious Republican editor named Callender. But the journalists took shelter behind public opinion, and the Federalists soon found to their sorrow that they had gone too far in their attack on popular liberties.

279. The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions.—Jefferson led the resistance to the unpopular law, and as he could hope to do nothing with Congress until a new election, he turned to the state legislatures. In those of Virginia and Kentucky, in the fall of 1798, resolutions were adopted, since known as the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions. These declared that, as the Constitution was a compact between the states, the latter have individually the right to pass judgment upon the enactments of the general government, which derives its power to make laws from the Constitution. In pursuance of this assumed right the legislatures representing the two states pronounced the Alien and Sedition Acts unconstitutional and void and called on other states to do likewise. In 1799 the Kentucky legislature passed a second series, which declared that all acts of the general government unauthorized by the Constitution ought to be nullified by the states. The immediate object and effect of these resolutions was to render the Alien and Sedition Laws unpopular and suspected. The chief effect, however, was seen later to lie in the support given by the names of Madison and Jefferson, authors respectively of the Virginia and Kentucky series, to the theory of the “compact” origin of the government and to the subsequent Carolina doctrine of nullification.

280. Dissensions in the Cabinet.—While the Federalists were defeating themselves by the laws they passed, Adams was dividing them by his policy. In order to conclude a new treaty with France, he nominated a minister to that country without consulting his Cabinet. This not only alienated his Secretaries still more, but also irritated those Federalists who had wished to fight France. Relations became so strained in the Cabinet that Timothy Pickering, a friend of Hamilton’s, had to be replaced, as Secretary of State, by John Marshall. But Adams secured his treaty (1800) through a commission of three, instead of through the Minister he had at first nominated.

281. The Presidential Election of 1800.—As a new election was approaching, Hamilton again tried to oust Adams as leader of the Federalists, but failed. Adams, with C. C. Pinckney for a colleague, received the votes of the Federalist electors but was defeated by Jefferson by eight votes (seventy-three to sixty-five). Unfortunately, however, Aaron Burr, the New York Democratic-Republican, who was supported for Vice President, got the same number of votes as Jefferson, which threw the election into the House of Representatives, where the Federalists had a majority. There was great confusion, and for a time it looked as if Burr, who was thought to be unprincipled, would be chosen. It was even believed by some persons that the Federalists would be able to keep themselves in power on the plea that old officials must hold over until new ones were legally elected. But Hamilton at last supported Jefferson, as the lesser of two evils, and through the votes of moderate Federalist congressmen, like James A. Bayard of Delaware, the Virginia statesman was elected. This solution of the problem was most fortunate, as Jefferson was plainly the choice of the people, and as civil war might have followed a successful plot to deprive him of the Presidency. As a result of the complication, the Twelfth Amendment was adopted in 1804, making it incumbent upon electors to vote specifically for a President and a Vice President. Just before retiring from office, in March, 1801, Adams made a number of appointments to office, known as the “midnight appointments.” These, as we shall see, caused Jefferson much vexation. It was not altogether fair for Adams thus to hamper his successor, nor should the Federalist President have shown his vexation at the result of the election by driving out of Washington early in the morning of March 4 in order not to be obliged to attend Jefferson’s inauguration. Adams and the Federalists generally believed, however, that Jefferson and the Republicans would begin a reign of anarchy, and some allowance must be made for what was, nevertheless, an act of great discourtesy. It is pleasant to add that the strained relations between the two statesmen were entirely mended before their deaths.

United States in 1800

CHAPTER XV.
the administrations of jefferson, 1801–1809.

JEFFERSONIAN POLICY.

282. Jefferson’s Character and General Policy.—With the advent of the popular Jefferson as President, the aristocratic Federalists, especially those of New England, thought, as we have just seen, that anarchy would ensue. Jefferson was supposed to be an opponent of all social distinctions, of strong organized government, and even of religious institutions. As a matter of fact, he was a widely cultured country gentleman who had liberal political theories, a sympathy with the masses of the people, especially the agriculturists, and a profound belief in human capacity for progress. He was too suspicious, and he often lacked dignity; he had no great executive ability and preferred rather to manage than to command, but he understood the American people as perhaps no other man has done. Furthermore, he gave in his writings the most subtle and widely current exposition of general republican ideas that has ever been given. He corresponded with leading men throughout the country and by his letters molded public opinion. His accession to power, so far from overthrowing the government, gave it a popular support it could have received in no other way; and the successive elections of his pupils, Madison and Monroe, kept the South and West fairly in the Union until the central government became strong enough under Jackson to crush incipient efforts to divide the nation. None of these three Virginian Presidents was a commanding man, but all were influential, and their policies made for harmony. Hence the period of their administrations had an importance not at first perceived. They helped to hold the agricultural slave-holding South in line with the manufacturing and commercial North and East. They made mistakes, were embarrassed by foreign complications and domestic difficulties, and had to persuade instead of rule. But they represented both the Union and the section that was most masterful and restive of control, and thus their administrations formed a necessary stage in the nation’s evolution.

Albert Gallatin.

283. The Revolution of 1801.—Another point to be remembered about these Presidents is the fact that they were all representative of the educated upper classes, and yet were in full sympathy with the common people, who had just obtained political control of the country. If they had been demagogues or as ignorant of the principles of government as many of their supporters, they might indeed have precipitated the reign of anarchy the Federalists feared. On the contrary, they governed as well as their aristocratic opponents could have done, and so the Federalist party, which had succeeded so well in establishing the government, but had unwisely ignored the wishes of the people, sank into insignificance, without any serious detriment to the nation. The Revolution of 1801, as the Democratic-Republican victory has been called, was a beneficent one, chiefly because it took place under the direction and control of trained statesmen.

John Marshall.

284. Leading Public Men.—Jefferson made a good beginning by delivering a conciliatory inaugural address^[115] and by not making a wholesale removal of Federalist officeholders. Where commissions had not been delivered to Adams’s late appointees, he withheld them, and he removed obnoxious partisans, but on the whole his attitude toward the civil service was fairly conservative. His Cabinet appointments were good, and throughout his two terms he had the cordial support of his subordinates. Madison, who was much under his influence, was a prudent and able statesman, and made a dignified Secretary of State. Albert Gallatin^[116] of Pennsylvania, as Secretary of the Treasury, proved himself second only to Hamilton as a financier. Gallatin was by birth a Swiss, and is a striking example of what a foreign-born citizen of integrity and talents can accomplish in free America. The leading man in the House of Representatives was the Virginian, John Randolph of Roanoke, one of the most brilliant and interesting figures in our history. He was too independent and one-sided, however, to work long in harmony with the administration, and became in course of time the most bitter and effective of its opponents. Another Virginian, in the judiciary department, was a formidable opponent of Jefferson. This was John Marshall,^[117] whom Adams, shortly before he left office, had made Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Marshall was a Federalist, and in favor of giving the general government broader powers than Jefferson and his party thought either right or expedient. The President and the great jurist came often into conflict, as, for example, in the Burr trial (§ 290); but on the whole the advantage rested with Marshall, since he remained in office until his death, in 1835, and since his decisions steadily helped to build up the power of the government.

MEASURES AND EVENTS.

Stephen Decatur.

285. Financial Affairs and War with the Barbary States.—One of the first matters that occupied the new administration was the reduction of taxes and the decrease of the public debt, which had grown rapidly in consequence of the preparations for war with France. The army was greatly reduced,^[118] and much less was spent on the navy—a branch of the service which had grown under Adams, but with which Jefferson, as an agriculturist, had little sympathy. He endeavored to economize in other ways, especially by doing away with internal taxes and with the unnecessary judges added by the Federalists, but he naturally found that the demands of a growing country had to be met. Still, the next ten years were distinctly a period of retrenchment, in spite of the cost of Louisiana and of the small war waged against the piratical Barbary States (1801–1806). These “pests of Christendom” had become too impudent in their demands for tribute in return for promised immunity of American shipping in the Mediterranean, and they had to be brought to their senses by the bombardment of Tripoli. The war furnished training to our sailors, and gave Lieutenant Stephen Decatur^[119] great fame for his exploit in burning one of our frigates, so that she could be of no use to the enemy.^[120]

286. The Louisiana Purchase.—This purchase was the most important feature of either of Jefferson’s administrations. The colony of Louisiana, which comprised a vast stretch of territory west of the Mississippi, had, as we have seen, been ceded by France to Spain in 1763 (§ 115). In 1800 Spain ceded it back to France. As the latter country was far more powerful and dangerous than the former, and as the ambitious Napoleon then ruled France, great alarm was felt in America at the prospect of having a rival nation grow up across the Mississippi. Affairs were made still more serious by the denial of the right of depositing their goods at the port of New Orleans to the inhabitants of our Western country. These citizens were thus unable to transfer their merchandise from river boats to ocean vessels, and were cut off from profitable markets. Even the pacific Jefferson took the alarm,^[121] and James Monroe of Virginia was dispatched to France to try to buy a strip of territory including New Orleans. Because of the impending war between Great Britain and France, and the consequent necessity of defending Louisiana, and for other reasons, Napoleon just before Monroe’s arrival made the regular American Minister, R. R. Livingston, an offer to sell the whole Louisiana region. His offer was accepted, and the price was set at fifteen million dollars, less certain claims against the French.

The Louisiana Purchase

287. Controversy over the Purchase.—Jefferson declared, consistently with his own principles, that no power to acquire territory was allowed the general government by the Constitution, and that therefore an amendment must be made to that document in order that the purchase might be valid. But an amendment would take time, and unless the bargain were closed at once the new territory might be lost forever, especially as Spain was indignant on account of Napoleon’s action. So the treaty was ratified, and a strict constructionist President furnished a weighty precedent to his political opponents. The latter, however, did not perceive the value of Louisiana to the Union, and would have been better pleased had Jefferson clung to his principles. Yet it is clear that he was right, and the Federalists wrong. The contiguity of the territory made it necessary that it should belong to the United States, and it was better to buy it than to fight for it at some future day. It is true that the boundaries of the region were unsettled, and were sure to cause trouble, and that a spread of slavery was also involved. But the people were wise when they indorsed Jefferson’s action by reëlecting him in 1804 by an overwhelming majority. Jefferson himself was wise in not speculating whether or not the states formed west of the Mississippi would adhere to the Union,—the Federalists feared they would not,—and in having the new region explored by Lewis and Clark and Lieutenant Pike. So great was the opposition of New England to this acquisition of territory by the nation, that some Federalist leaders actually thought that they might persuade the Eastern states to detach themselves from the Union. Their schemes were abortive, but were destined soon to bear bitter fruit (§§ 313-315).

288. The Election of 1804.—The election of 1804 was held under the Twelfth Amendment (§ 281). Burr, who had endeavored to secure the Presidency through Federalist help, and who was besides, as we have seen, a suspicious character, was not available for reëlection to the Vice Presidency. Jefferson was therefore given George Clinton, of New York, as a colleague. The two Federalist candidates, C. C. Pinckney and Rufus King of New York, received but fourteen electoral votes, so complete was the demoralization of the party.

289. Burr’s Conspiracy.—Burr ran as an independent candidate for the governorship of New York, but was defeated, again chiefly through the instrumentality of Hamilton. In consequence, he picked a quarrel with the latter, which led to a duel. Hamilton was killed at the first shot, and the death of so brilliant a man in such a manner aroused the indignation of the entire country.^[122] Burr became almost an outcast. As he was an ambitious schemer, he undertook in 1806 to induce a secession of the Western states from the Union. He seems also to have dreamed of playing the part of Napoleon in the New World, and of establishing an empire in Texas or Mexico. He gained the support of a well-to-do Irish gentleman named Blennerhassett, who helped to gather arms and men in Ohio and Kentucky, and as a consequence ruined himself and family. Burr also tampered with other leading citizens of the West, particularly with General Wilkinson, the American commander at New Orleans, who reported his schemes to Jefferson. After some delay, the President made use of local militia, and Burr’s expedition was reduced to a fiasco, only about one hundred men descending the Mississippi with him. He finally abandoned these, and after some wandering in the almost uninhabited territory that lay to the south of Tennessee, he was captured and sent to Richmond, Virginia, for trial (1807).

290. Burr’s Trial.—Jefferson showed great interest in the case, and almost seemed pitted against Chief Justice Marshall. The latter ordered the President to appear as a witness, but the Executive very properly refused to do anything beyond sending papers. Marshall declared that an overt act of treason must be proved, but as Burr had not yet levied war against the United States or adhered to their enemies,—actions constituting treason according to the Constitution,—and as his mustering of men had not taken place in Virginia, there was little or nothing for the prosecuting attorneys to proceed on, and the case came to an abrupt close. Marshall’s decision has probably done good in making trials for treason practically unknown in the United States. But he can hardly be acquitted of having allowed his feelings against Jefferson to get the better of him. On the other hand, Jefferson had, in his easy-going way, allowed Burr to go too far before interfering with his plans. Burr himself went to England, then returned to New York, and soon passed from public notice.

291. The Impeachment of Justice Chase.—Two years previous to the miscarriage of justice in Burr’s case, another trial of a different nature had failed almost as signally. This was the trial, before the Senate, of Justice Samuel Chase of the Supreme Court. Chase was a violent Federalist, who had been impeached by the Democratic-Republican House of Representatives for partisan conduct on the bench. He was ably defended, while John Randolph, who led the prosecution, completely mismanaged his case. The result was a failure to convict (1805).

William Pitt the Younger.

292. Troubles with Great Britain and France.—More serious matters now confronted Jefferson. Since the signing of Jay’s Treaty, American shipping had flourished, owing to the fact that being a neutral nation, the United States could convey to France and Spain the produce of their West Indian colonies, the ships of the two European countries not being serviceable on account of the war with Great Britain, whose fleets swept the ocean. By 1805, however, the jealousy of British shipowners had been aroused and the Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger, applied to American vessels what was known as the “Rule of 1756.” This prevented a neutral from enjoying, in time of war, trading privileges not allowed in time of peace. British men-of-war, therefore, began to seize American ships, and the old impressment abuses were increased. Meanwhile, Jay’s Treaty expired, and a new treaty, signed by Monroe and William Pinkney, a brilliant Maryland lawyer and orator, was not honorable to us and was not even laid before the Senate. One provision of it ran, that Great Britain would not be bound by it unless the United States undertook to resist Napoleon’s Berlin Decree of November 21, 1806. This was a paper blockade of the British Isles, in retaliation for the British blockade of the Continent. In other words, Napoleon, who by that time had humbled most of the sovereigns of Europe, had declared Continental ports closed to British ships, although he had no effective means of keeping them out. Great Britain wished to force America to take sides against France. An Order in Council of November, 1807, actually authorized the seizure of any neutral vessel on a voyage to closed ports, unless it had previously touched at a British port. To this order Napoleon replied by the Milan Decree (December, 1807), authorizing the capture of any vessel that had entered a British port. Thus American neutral trade was practically an impossibility, and an important portion of our population was seriously affected.

Fulton’s Steamboat, the
“Clermont.”

293. The Embargo.—Under these harassing circumstances, Jefferson was forced to adopt a more energetic foreign policy than at all suited his pacific disposition. Diplomatic efforts were wasted on headstrong opponents, who despised a weak, young nation. So the Non-intercourse Act, forbidding the importation of goods from Great Britain or her colonies, was passed in the spring of 1806, but did not go into effect for nearly two years; by 1808 it had been determined that mere non-importation was not a sufficiently drastic remedy, and that an embargo, forbidding all American vessels to leave for foreign ports, was necessary. In the interim, relations with Great Britain had been strained to the point of breaking, through the fact that on June 27, 1807, the British ship Leopard, acting under the orders of an admiral at Halifax, fired on the American frigate Chesapeake, and took from the latter four sailors, three of whom were American citizens.^[123] Jefferson at once ordered British warships out of American waters and tried to bring the impressment controversy to an issue, but the British merely disavowed the action of their admiral. This conduct, together with the Order in Council of November, 1807, precipitated the Embargo.

Robert Fulton.

294. Nature and Object of the Embargo.—The Embargo was partly intended to save the lives and property of the Americans—who were, nevertheless, willing to risk both on account of the great profits accruing from trade with Europe—by preventing ships from leaving port and running the risk of being captured by British men-of-war, or of being confiscated in Continental ports. Jefferson, however, had another object in view. He believed that both England and Europe would suffer so much from the loss of the American trade that the combatants would be forced to abandon their repressive measures against the ships of neutrals. He miscalculated the stubbornness and malignity of both parties, and both Non-intercourse and Embargo, instead of proving coercive, proved irritating and mischievous. Nevertheless, there was precedent in favor of the experiment, and from the point of view of general human welfare Jefferson was justified in trying it. From the point of view of politics, the experiment was disastrous, but the fact that he induced Congress to adopt it is a conclusive proof of Jefferson’s capacity to control men.

295. Difficulty of Enforcing the Embargo.—It proved very difficult, however, to enforce such legislation, for the Federalists made capital out of it, while Jefferson’s Southern supporters upheld it against their wills. New England ships rotted at their wharves, and in Virginia the staple tobacco remained unsold. Jefferson was overwhelmed with petitions to change his policy, but held out persistently. The British government also held to its former course and Napoleon to his. Before Jefferson’s second term had expired, it was quite clear that new measures must be tried in order to assert the nation’s dignity abroad and to secure civil peace at home. The pupil Madison, who became President in 1809, had to undo in part, at least, the work of the master.

CHARACTER OF JEFFERSON’S STATESMANSHIP.

Eli Whitney.

296. General View of Jefferson’s Administrations.—Viewed as a whole, Jefferson’s two administrations do not prove him to have been a great executive. He was a political philosopher rather than a practical statesman. He was more at home with ideas than with facts. But by his purchase of Louisiana he saved the country far more than his ineffective diplomacy and his Embargo cost it, and he proved conclusively that democracy was not contradictory to the idea of union. He proved also that the responsibilities of office are likely always to prevent a theorist from going to extremes; for, although the father of the strict constructionists of the Constitution, he left them the difficult task of explaining at least one very loose construction of his own. Perhaps at another period his weakness might not have been apparent. He was intellectually far in advance of his countrymen, and was thus an object of suspicion to many worthy citizens of a land which had then done little for the cause of letters or of science. On the other hand, he only slowly and partly outgrew the prejudices of the agricultural class to which he belonged. It was not until late in life that he showed sympathy with the manufacturing and commercial enterprise which was destined in a few years to make the country of Robert Fulton^[124] and Eli Whitney^[125] one of the wealthiest and most prosperous nations in the world.

297. Jefferson an Idealist.—Americans have been right in recognizing in Jefferson their main political spokesman. No other man has ever so thoroughly brought the people to his way of thinking, or so completely held his own with politicians of all degrees of ability and ambition. Congress followed his lead almost blindly, even in military matters, about which he knew little. His popularity speedily recovered from the decline it experienced during the days of the Embargo, and for nearly twenty years his home at Monticello was almost like a pilgrim’s shrine. His fame has suffered at the hands of some historians, but it is not unlikely that posterity will conclude that he was in advance not merely of his age, but of his century.

CHAPTER XVI.
the administrations of madison, 1809–1817.

OUTBREAK OF WAR.

298. Madison’s Perplexities.—Just before Madison’s accession to the Presidency the Embargo was supplanted by a non-intercourse law which permitted trade with nations not controlled by France or Great Britain. This legitimate trade and the large amount of fraudulent shipping that went on brought temporary wealth to American shipowners, and there even seemed to be a prospect of a treaty with Great Britain. People began to say that Madison was a better President than his predecessor, who continued to advise him. As a matter of fact, he was a weaker man, had a poorer Cabinet, and was soon involved in greater difficulties than those encountered by Jefferson. For British statesmanship was at that time at a very low ebb; the concessions agreed to by Erskine, the British envoy, were disavowed at home, and a new envoy actually ventured to insult Madison by accusing him of deception in negotiations relating to the prospective treaty. Yet party politics were at a still lower ebb in this country, as is shown by the fact that the Federalists showered social attentions on James Jackson, the envoy who had so grossly insulted the President. Nevertheless Congress, tired of legislation that seemed to produce no effect either on England or on France, did away with non-intercourse, with the proviso that if one of the two contending powers annulled its vexatious decrees and the other did not, non-intercourse should be maintained with the nation still holding out (“Macon’s Bill,” No. 2, May 1, 1810). Napoleon took advantage of this proviso, although really showing America very little favor. He showed enough, however, to make Great Britain appear most in the wrong, and on November 1, 1810, Madison issued a proclamation declaring trade suspended with that power. This was a sorry commentary on the proclamation of the preceding April renewing trade with Great Britain; for the sole result of the diplomacy of the year had been to let loose more American ships to be captured by the British or confiscated by the French.

John C. Calhoun.

299. War Advocated.—Madison, who was prudent like Jefferson, and who was more of a student of politics than a vigorous man of affairs, did not desire war with either Great Britain or France any more than Jefferson had done, but he was forced into hostilities with the former power before the close of his first administration. The temper of the American people had been sorely tried by the Embargo and the non-intercourse policy as well as by British arrogance throughout the whole controversy. British statesmen spoke ill of Americans when they should have tried to enlist their sympathies in the war Great Britain was waging against despotism personified in Napoleon. The British were also thought to have stirred up the Western Indians, who were crushed on Tippecanoe River by General William Henry Harrison in 1811. The Western people were thus greatly embittered against Great Britain, and Henry Clay of Kentucky represented their feelings when, as Speaker of the new House of Representatives, he helped to force Madison into consenting to war. With Clay were joined many young, high-spirited men, some of whom, like John C. Calhoun^[126] of South Carolina, while adhering to the Jefferson-Madison school of politics, were inclined to be impatient with their more cautious elders. It is said that they threatened Madison with loss of a second term if he would not agree to war with Great Britain.^[127] Their policy eventually proved beneficial to the country, since it strengthened the national spirit and showed that the new generation contained men too strong to be bound by the traditions of the Revolutionary period; but it was tardy and lacking in cosmopolitan breadth of view.

300. Outlook for the War of 1812.—Not only was the War of 1812 a political blunder in so far as it helped Napoleon by harassing Great Britain, but also owing to the condition of America at the time of its inception. The national finances were by no means adequate to its cost, and the incompetence of Gallatin’s successor in the Treasury Department made the borrowing that had to be undertaken especially burdensome. The army, too, was small and poorly officered at the first. The volunteers were brave and in the West were very anxious to serve, but they and their leaders absurdly overrated the ease with which Canada could be conquered. Henry Clay actually boasted that his Kentucky constituents could accomplish this exploit without assistance. Besides, the political discontent of New England, where the Federalists were English sympathizers, and where much capital was invested in shipping which would be cooped up during the war, made it difficult to secure militia from the very portion of the country nearest the chief seat of operations. Volunteers were indeed obtained from New England, and after a while both officers and men made a better showing in the field. But when all is said, the land operations of the war, except in the splendid instance of the battle of New Orleans, afford little cause for patriotic gratification. A prediction to this effect might have been made about the navy, for the less than two score American vessels seemed but a bagatelle in comparison with the British navy, which contained about fifty times as many.^[128] But in the end the exploits of our seamen formed almost the sole bright spot in an exceedingly gloomy period.

301. Opening of the War.—War was formally declared on June 18, 1812, the majority in neither house being overwhelming. Two days previously the obnoxious Orders in Council had been revoked. Although the news was received on this side of the ocean before hostilities had fairly begun, the government adhered to its tardy determination to fight. This course seemed justifiable since the impressment trouble and the blockade of the coasts still called for redress, and the temper of at least a part of the nation had been inflamed.

Operations in Canada,
1812–1814.

302. Hull’s Surrender.—It was easy to perceive from the outset that the theater of the war on land would be much the same as in the French and Indian War—that is, it would stretch along our northern boundary from Maine to Lake Michigan. The main attacks by the Americans would be made through Lakes Ontario and Champlain. At first, bodies of troops were moved over the border from Detroit and Buffalo. General William Hull, the governor of Michigan Territory, who led the first advance with over two thousand troops, mainly volunteers from Ohio, was ignominiously repulsed by the Canadians and surrendered Detroit in a cowardly manner (August 16, 1812), for which he was afterward court-martialed and found guilty. Hull had issued a very boastful proclamation on his entry into Canada, and his surrender of an important fortress without firing a gun was almost unpardonable, in view of such high-flown pretensions. Altogether, the Canadians under Isaac Brock, the able governor of Upper Canada, with their allies, the Indians under Tecumseh, a famous warrior and the inveterate foe of the Americans, had outmaneuvered their opponents, and proved conclusively that the volunteers, rapidly gathering in Ohio and Kentucky, would have to be well led in order to secure any success. To get such leaders was not easy, but Madison finally selected the right man in General William Henry Harrison, the victor at Tippecanoe (§ 299). It was late in the year, however, and the country was a very difficult one to penetrate. The impatient public had therefore to wait quietly for the success that was to retrieve the early losses, among which may be mentioned the capture of Fort Dearborn, on the site of the present city of Chicago.

303. Other Defeats.—Meanwhile General Van Rensselaer, of the New York militia, had gathered about six thousand eager men, and on October 13 was forced, by the general impatience for a victory, prematurely to cross the Niagara River from Lewiston to Queenstown. Hull’s surrender had left Brock free to manage the Canadian defense. The American regulars fought well, but the militia crossed only in part, and the result was another surrender. Yet the enemy also suffered heavily, for the brave Brock fell defending the heights of Queenstown, where his tall monument may now be seen. Van Rensselaer, for his part, resigned, and was succeeded by the still less capable General Alexander Smyth, who imitated Hull in bragging and in ineffectiveness, but who dismissed his volunteers to their homes instead of surrendering them. Equally futile were the attempts to reach Canada by way of Lake Champlain; and the year would have ended in complete gloom, so far as land operations were concerned, had not the Americans, in their turn, repulsed an invading force at Ogdensburg. In the latter fight Jacob Brown, a Quaker farmer of New York, showed that he was the coming general for the war in the northeast, if that war were to be carried on seriously and not with manifestoes and ill-directed sallies of raw troops. Another soldier of merit was also discovered in the person of Lieutenant Colonel Winfield Scott, a young Virginian who fought finely at Queenstown Heights.

EXPLOITS OF THE NAVY.

Captain Isaac Hull.

304. The War at Sea.—On the sea, events took a different turn from the first, although the government’s main intention was to use its few ships^[129] in guarding the chief ports. On August 19, 1812, Captain Isaac Hull^[130] of the frigate Constitution^[131] (44 guns), which had previously been chased into Boston by a British squadron, met in the Gulf of St. Lawrence the enemy’s Guerrière (38 guns), which had made an unsavory reputation for itself by searching American vessels. The American ship was somewhat the stronger, but no one could have foreseen that she would overcome her adversary within half an hour. About two months later (October 18), in a very similar contest, the American sloop of war Wasp (18 guns), under Captain Jacob Jones, took the British brig Frolic (20 guns). In consequence of these unexpected victories Great Britain’s naval prestige was greatly shaken and American pride correspondingly stimulated. Analysis has shown that the results were mainly due to the better gunnery of the Americans. Equally fortunate for the younger nation were the fights between the frigate United States (44 guns), under Captain Decatur (§ 285, note 1), and the British frigate Macedonian (38 guns); and between the Constitution, then under Captain Bainbridge, and the British Java. The former contest took place near the Madeiras, on October 25; the latter, off the coast of Brazil, on December 29, 1812. Congress immediately authorized the building of new ships, and while the British were able to sweep American commerce from the seas, the people consoled themselves with the thought of the superb victories of their ships and of the damage American privateers were doing English shipping on every ocean and sea—even within Dublin Bay itself. At last, however, reverses came, when, in 1813, the Chesapeake^[132] was captured by the British Shannon, and when our ships were blockaded in our chief harbors. But the privateers continued their exploits until they raised British rates of insurance on trading vessels to a very high percentage.

The “Constitution.”

Captain James Lawrence.

305. Victories of Perry and Harrison.—Meanwhile the war was not popular in Great Britain or in New England. The South and West still favored it, however, and Congress helped Madison by allowing him to use twenty new regiments of regulars in place of volunteers. A new Secretary of War, General Armstrong, late minister to France, took the place of Eustis, who was unfitted to cope with the difficulties of the position. But the year was to witness few signal successes beyond an important victory on Lake Erie that led to the retaking of Detroit. Captain Oliver H. Perry^[133] had a flotilla constructed at Presque Isle (now Erie), and on September 10 met and defeated the British flotilla under Captain Barclay. The British had more guns, but the Americans, after Perry had been obliged to abandon his flagship, gained a complete victory through their courage and skill. Perry, who was coöperating with Harrison, wrote the latter on the back of an old letter, “We have met the enemy and they are ours.” Harrison’s army, helped by the American ships, then passed to Detroit and afterward landed in Canada, where, at the battle of the Thames River, the British, under Colonel Proctor and their Indian allies, were completely routed (October 5). Tecumseh fell in this fight, and a portion of Upper Canada passed under American control, Michigan having been, of course, regained.^[134]

REVERSES AND SUCCESSES.

Captain Oliver H. Perry.

306. American Failures.—A great invasion of Canada and the seizure of Montreal had been planned for 1813, but it was partly abandoned, General Dearborn seizing only a few places, including York (now Toronto), which was unnecessarily burned. Brown, Scott, and others showed that American soldiers could be brave, but the campaign was on the whole a failure. General Wilkinson then succeeded Dearborn, but, like the latter, was too old for the work, and was besides at loggerheads with Secretary Armstrong and with his second in command, General Wade Hampton of South Carolina. An attack on Montreal or else on Kingston was planned, but Armstrong mixed matters up by assuming the command. Hampton failed to coöperate with Wilkinson, who had had a hard time descending the St. Lawrence, and the latter general was obliged to put his troops into winter quarters with nothing accomplished. Meanwhile the force on the weakened Niagara frontier had recrossed the river after burning the town of Newark. The British retaliated in kind and with their Indian allies did much damage on the American side of the river.

307. Jackson and the Indians.—While these events had been taking place in the North, the Southwest had not been quiet. British and Spanish emissaries were stirring up the Southern Indians to attack the Americans. The Creeks had also been excited by Tecumseh, who used a comet and an earthquake to work upon their superstitious fears. The savages massacred the white settlers at Fort Mims, Alabama, on August 30, 1813, slaying or roasting to death four hundred persons. Retaliation came swiftly. The Tennesseean volunteers under General Andrew Jackson invaded the Creek country, and with the help of troops from Mississippi completely defeated the Indians at the battle of the Horseshoe, or Tohopeka (March 27, 1814).

Operations in the East, 1814

308. Outlook for 1814.—The year 1814 opened gloomily in spite of Harrison’s and Perry’s victories. There was still much improvement needed in the methods of raising troops, the War Department was badly managed, and the finances were in a wretched condition. Worst of all, good leaders were lacking. Besides, the British navy was beginning to ravage the Atlantic coast, and Napoleon’s power being on the wane, the strength of the United Kingdom could be more fully employed against America. Russia, however, had proffered her good services as a mediator, and Gallatin and James A. Bayard were sent to St. Petersburg to join John Quincy Adams, minister at that court, in securing this powerful influence. The British government discouraged the Czar’s offers, but as it had great European interests to settle, it was not so much inclined to fight to a finish with the United States as it might otherwise have been.

Commodore Thomas Macdonough.

309. The Canadian Campaign of 1814.—Several incompetent generals having been got out of the way for one cause or another, the command on the Canadian frontier fell to the capable Brown. A mistake was made with regard to the scene of operations, but when the fighting began near Niagara Falls, Brown gave a good account of himself. At Chippewa and Lundy’s Lane (July 5 and 25), leaders like Winfield Scott distinguished themselves, and the American troops showed themselves the equals of British regulars, and won honor, if no substantial military gains. Commodore Thomas Macdonough^[135] also repeated Perry’s exploit of destroying a British flotilla—this time off Plattsburg on Lake Champlain (September 11). The result of all this fighting was little,—each side practically holding its ground,—but the Americans gained prestige.

Operations around Washington
in 1814

310. Capture of Washington.—Meanwhile British ships ravaged the Atlantic coast, and by midsummer a large fleet under Admirals Cockburn and Cochrane was collected in Chesapeake Bay. On board was General Ross with several thousand troops. Washington, Virginia, and Maryland were evidently in danger and great efforts were made to meet the invaders—unfortunately to little purpose, on account of the incapacity of Secretary Armstrong. The British landed and began their march to Washington, easily putting the undisciplined American militia to flight at Bladensburg, Maryland (August 24). Our troops evacuated Washington, and the British entered. They retaliated for the burning of York by setting fire to the White House, the unfinished Capitol, and other buildings. It was an act of vandalism that cannot be defended; but fortunately the next city attacked repulsed the invaders courageously. This was Baltimore, before which the British troops were driven back, General Ross being slain, and from which the British fleet retired after a vain bombardment of Fort McHenry (September 12 and 13). The song of “The Star Spangled Banner,” by Francis S. Key, commemorates this American victory.

END OF THE WAR.

Andrew Jackson.

311. The Battle of New Orleans.—It soon became apparent that the attacks on Washington and Baltimore had been of secondary importance, and that the real object of the British fleet was to capture New Orleans, and snatch the newly acquired Louisiana from the United States. James Monroe, who had succeeded Armstrong as Secretary of War, at once called upon the ablest soldier in the Southwest, Andrew Jackson.^[136] The latter gathered his forces, and although he first tried an expedition into Florida against the British and Indians, he set to work at the defenses of New Orleans in good season. The large British fleet effected a landing safely, and by December 23 the troops were only a few miles from the city. The main battle occurred on January 8, 1815, and the backwoodsmen behind their works destroyed the flower of the British army who had the hardihood to make a front attack. Sir Edward Pakenham, the British commander, was killed, after having been for days outgeneralled by Jackson; and at least two thousand veterans, many of whom had followed Wellington in the Spanish Peninsula, lay dead or wounded on the field. The American loss, on the other hand, was almost incredibly slight—about twenty men all told.

Southwestern Operations,
1813–1815

312. The Treaty of Ghent.—If those had been the days of the telegraph, the battle of New Orleans would not have been fought, and the American people would have had no great land victory to salve the pride that had been touched to the quick by the capture of Washington, Hull’s surrender, and other disgraceful events of the war. On December 24, 1814, American and British commissioners had signed a treaty of peace at Ghent. Adams, Gallatin, and Bayard, who were already abroad, had been joined by Henry Clay and Jonathan Russell; and the five had defended American interests very well. Gallatin was the most influential member and succeeded in curbing the zeal of Clay and Adams, who wished to press matters like the British right to navigate the Mississippi and the fisheries question, in which the people of the West and of New England took a great interest. Curiously enough, the treaty did not touch the impressment abuse, or the right of searching vessels, for the sake of which, in the main, the war had been waged. Still, after her naval victories, America was not likely to suffer in the future from such abuses. Each side restored the territory of the other that it occupied, and both felt relieved that the anomalous war was over.

THE DISAFFECTION OF NEW ENGLAND.

313. Political Events.—Political events in Madison’s second administration were naturally overshadowed by the war or else connected with it. As we have seen, the finances were badly managed, nor were the affairs of the War Department on a better footing. Congress was scarcely more efficient, especially when its Speaker, Henry Clay, was absent with the commissioners at Ghent. But the disaffection of the New England Federalists was the most serious element in the political problem. With the waning of their party and the assured success of the Democratic-Republicans, they naturally grew more rancorous. They coquetted with the British before and during the war, and they had little or no sympathy with the idea that the United States was a nation. In the debate in 1811 on the admission of Louisiana as a state, one of their leaders, Josiah Quincy of Massachusetts, actually declared that the passage of the bill would be a virtual dissolution of the Union, and that it would be the duty of some of the states, “to prepare for a separation amicably” if they could, “violently if they must.”

314. Reasons for New England’s Attitude.—This attitude seems at first wholly indefensible, but we must remember both at this juncture and in dealing later with the secession of the South, that the idea of national unison was one of very slow growth, and that threats of secession or of violent resistance to the Union had been heard already from Southern, Western, and Middle states. States were still jealous of their prestige, and the language of the Constitution lent itself to interpretations that reduced the power of the nation to a minimum. Besides, New England had suffered greatly from the enforced idleness of its shipping during the Embargo and from the captures made by the British. Consequently, just as men are always inclined to do, they held the national government responsible for matters that often lay beyond its control. Their pro-British sympathies, although certainly carried beyond the bounds of decency, may be partly extenuated for these reasons. When they went farther, and refused to put the state militia at the service of the Union, they took a dangerous step, but one not entirely indefensible on strict constructionist grounds. It was a sure precursor, however, of more determined and less defensible opposition.

315. The Hartford Convention.—Success in state elections gave the political solidarity that was needed, and the increasing pressure of hostilities in the year 1814 gave the needed stimulus, for effective opposition to the war on the part of New England. After speeches and resolutions as strenuous as those that nerved Virginia and Kentucky to their resistance of the Alien and Sedition laws, passed half a generation before by the Federalists themselves, a call was issued by Massachusetts for a convention of the New England States. This met at Hartford, Connecticut, on December 15, 1814. After a few weeks of secret debate its members issued a remarkable report. This document asserted the doctrine of states’ rights in its most naked form, suggested amendments to the Constitution of the United States looking to the protection of the interests of minorities, and demanded for the states the right to claim the customs duties collected within their own borders. This last provision would have been of itself enough to destroy the power of the Union, but fortunately there was no need even to discuss it. The commissioners sent to Washington to propose it to Congress found that peace had been declared and that their chief ground of grievance had been removed. They had, therefore, nothing to do but to hasten home in chagrin. The Federalist party did not survive their last attack upon the general government, and for several years after 1815 there was practically only one party in the country. This fact is not surprising when we remember that accession to power had rendered the leading Republicans as desirous of maintaining a fairly strong government as the moderate Federalists were.

CONSEQUENCES OF THE WAR.

316. Some Results of the War.—With the decline of Federalism came a natural increase of national democratic spirit and a lessening of the dependence on either Great Britain or France, which, as we have before seen, had characterized the generation that grew up just after the Revolution. This was a clear gain from the war. On the other hand, the interests of the sections began more sharply to diverge. The North, during the trouble with England, had taken to manufacturing, and now began to demand a really protective tariff for its “infant industries.” This policy, though encouraged by the West for the sake of certain products like hemp, was soon seen to bear hard on the South. Previous legislation on the subject (§ 266) had paved the way for an effective tariff, and the influx of British goods brought into the country after the close of the war showed that the newly developed industries, especially that of cotton manufacture, which had increased greatly since 1810, would find it hard to subsist without support. So the tariff act of 1816 was passed, in spite of the opposition of Daniel Webster, who represented New England shipping interests, and of John Randolph, who represented the agricultural South and the stricter forms of Republicanism. The rate (about twenty-five per cent), placed on imported cotton and woolen goods, was found practically prohibitive by Southern planters, who needed coarse clothes for their slaves. Thus the Southerners began to be alienated from the Democratic-Republican party, although not a few of them helped to pass the act of 1816. Among these was John C. Calhoun, whose leanings toward a strong government were still pronounced.

317. The National Bank and Internal Improvements.—The year 1816 also saw the passage of another financial measure destined to cause division later. This was the reëstablishment of a national bank, Hamilton’s bank (§ 266) having failed to secure a second charter in 1811. The financial burdens of the war had fallen in consequence upon the state banks, which had not been managed well. Hence the new bank scheme was favored even by cautious Republicans like Madison. Its establishment for twenty years, with a largely increased capital, enabled the country practically to resume a specie basis in less than a year.^[137] A fund of a million and a half dollars was paid by it to the government for the privileges granted by the charter, and the problem how to employ this sum to the best advantage brought forward still another question involving conflicting interests.

318. The Question of Internal Improvements.—At first the individual states had attended to their internal needs and had spent considerable sums, especially in improving their water-ways, but a great scheme for a system of national canals had, before the war, attracted leading Republicans. Now Calhoun proposed to use for a similar purpose the money turned in by the bank. His bill passed Congress, but Madison vetoed it, on the ground that although such improvements were desirable, a specific amendment to the Constitution was needed if the general government was to undertake them.

319. The Succession of Monroe.—This veto of Madison’s, which led the people of New York, in default of national aid, to construct their own Erie Canal, through which New York City was enabled soon to outstrip its rivals,^[138] was one of his last official acts and showed that he was still faithful to the political creed of Jefferson. He was shortly after (March 4, 1817) succeeded by his Secretary of State, James Monroe, who had proved his claim to the succession by developing the nationalistic ideas that had made Jefferson and Madison safe leaders in a very critical period. Monroe had also rendered very efficient service as temporary Secretary of War, and had endeared himself to the people of every section.

CHAPTER XVII.
the administrations of monroe, 1817–1825.

CHARACTER OF THE PERIOD.

320. Monroe’s Counselors.—Monroe^[139] was fortunate not only in having to preside over a united people, but in being able to secure good advisers. For Secretary of State he chose John Quincy Adams, son of the former President and a diplomatist of tried ability, who had done good work for the country as Minister to Russia and commissioner at Ghent (§ 312). The fact that the son of the great Federalist leader should be serving in the Cabinet of a Republican President was a signal proof of the utter demoralization of the old Federalist party. In the Treasury, Monroe placed William H. Crawford of Georgia, an able though rather intriguing man whose subsequent defeat for the Presidency and withdrawal from national life caused regret to many people. Crawford was more of a politician than a statesman, and his success showed that public leaders were undergoing a change of type. The Cabinet was made preponderatingly Southern by the appointment of Calhoun as Secretary of War and of William Wirt as Attorney-General. Its strength, however, was not decreased, for both made excellent officials, although Wirt was more an advocate and literary man than a statesman.