A Short History of the United States by Edward Channing

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[Illustration: THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. As designed by Thomas
Jefferson.]

[Sidenote: Eli Whitney.]

[Sidenote: His cotton gin, 1793. _McMaster_, 195-196.]

234. Whitney's Cotton Gin, 1793.--Eli Whitney was a Connecticut
schoolmaster. He went to Georgia to teach General Greene's children. He
was very ingenious, and one day Mrs. Greene suggested to him that he
might make a machine which would separate the cotton fiber from the
cotton seed. Whitney set to work and soon made an engine or gin, as he
called it, that would do this. The first machine was a rude affair. But
even with it one slave could clean one hundred pounds of cotton in a
day. Mrs. Greene's neighbors promptly broke into Whitney's shop and
stole his machine. Whitney's cotton gin made the growing of cotton
profitable and so fastened slavery on the South. With the exception of
the steam locomotive (p. 241) and the reaper (p. 260), no invention has
so tremendously influenced the history of the United States.

[Sidenote: Early manufactures.]

235. Colonial Manufactures.--Before the Revolutionary War there
were very few mills or factories in the colonies. There was no money to
put into such undertakings and no operatives to work the mills if they
had been built. The only colonial manufactures that amounted to much
were the making of nails and shoes. These articles could be made at home
on the farms, in the winter, when no work could be done out of doors.

[Sidenote: New manufactures established.]

[Sidenote: Invention of cotton spinning machinery.]

236. Growth of Manufactures, 1789-1800.--As soon as the new
government with its wide powers was established, manufacturing started
into life. Old mills were set to work. While the Revolution had been
going on in America, great improvements in the spinning of yarn and the
weaving of cloth had been made in England. Parliament made laws to
prevent the export from England of machinery or patterns of machinery.
But it could not prevent Englishmen from coming to America. Among the
recent immigrants to the United States was Samuel Slater. He brought no
patterns with him. But he was familiar with the new methods of
spinning. He soon built spinning machinery. New cotton mills were now
set up in several places. But it was some time before the new weaving
machinery was introduced into America.

CHAPTER 23

JEFFERSON'S ADMINISTRATIONS

[Sidenote: Jefferson's political ideas. _Higginson_ 239; _McMaster_,
216.]

[Sidenote: Republican simplicity.]

237. President Jefferson.--Thomas Jefferson was a Republican. He
believed in the republican form of government. He believed the wisdom of
the people to be the best guide. He wished the President to be simple
and cordial in his relations with his fellow-citizens. Adams had ridden
to his inauguration in a coach drawn by six cream-colored horses.
Jefferson walked with a few friends from his boarding house to the
Capitol. Washington and Adams had gone in state to Congress and had
opened the session with a speech. Jefferson sent a written message to
Congress by a messenger. Instead of bowing stiffly to those who came to
see him, he shook hands with them and tried to make them feel at ease in
his presence.

[Sidenote: Proscription of Republicans by the Federalists.]

[Sidenote: Adams's midnight appointments.]

238. The Civil Service.--One of the first matters to take
Jefferson's attention was the condition of the civil service. There was
not a Republican office-holder in the government service. Washington, in
the last years of his presidency, and Adams also had given office only
to Federalists. Jefferson thought it was absolutely necessary to have
some officials upon whom he could rely. So he removed a few Federalist
officeholders and appointed Republicans to their places. Adams had even
gone so far as to appoint officers up to midnight of his last day in
office. Indeed, John Marshall, his Secretary of State, was busy signing
commissions when Jefferson's Attorney General walked in with his watch
in hand and told Marshall that it was twelve o'clock. Jefferson and
Madison, the new Secretary of State, refused to deliver these
commissions even when Marshall as Chief Justice ordered Madison to
deliver them.

[Sidenote: The Judiciary Act, 1801.]

[Sidenote: Repealed by Republicans]

[Sidenote: Jefferson and appointments.]

239. The Judiciary Act of 1801.--One of the last laws made by the
Federalists was the Judiciary Act of 1801. This law greatly enlarged the
national judiciary, and Adams eagerly seized the opportunity to appoint
his friends to the new offices. The Republican Congress now repealed
this Judiciary Act and "legislated out of office" all the new judges.
For it must be remembered that the Constitution makes only the members
of the Supreme Court sure of their offices. Congress also got rid of
many other Federalist officeholders by repealing the Internal Revenue
Act (p. 167). But while all this was done, Jefferson steadily refused to
appoint men to office merely because they were Republicans. One man
claimed an office on the ground that he was a Republican, and that the
Republicans were the saviors of the republic. Jefferson replied that
Rome had been saved by geese, but he had never heard that the geese were
given offices.

[Illustration: THOMAS JEFFERSON.] "Honest friendship with all nations,
entangling alliances with none, ... economy in the public expense, the
honest payment of our debts, and sacred preservation of the public
faith."--_Jefferson's First Inaugural._

[Sidenote: Expenses diminished.]

[Sidenote: Internal taxes repealed.]

[Sidenote: Army and navy reduced.]

[Sidenote: Part of the debt paid. _McMaster_, 217-218.]

240. Paying the National Debt.--Jefferson was especially anxious to
cut down the expenses of the government and to pay as much as possible
of the national debt. Madison and Gallatin worked heartily with him to
carry out this policy. The repeal of the Internal Revenue Act took much
revenue from the government. But it also did away with the salaries of a
great many officials. The repeal of the Judiciary Act also put an end to
many salaries. Now that the dispute with France was ended, Jefferson
thought that the army and navy might safely be reduced. Most of the
naval vessels were sold. A few good ships were kept at sea, and the rest
were tied up at the wharves. The number of ministers to European states
was reduced to the lowest possible limit, and the civil service at home
was also cut down. The expenses of the government were in these ways
greatly lessened. At the same time the revenue from the customs service
increased. The result was that in the eight years of Jefferson's
administrations the national debt shrank from eighty-three million
dollars to forty-five million dollars. Yet in the same time the United
States paid fifteen million dollars for Louisiana, and waged a series of
successful and costly wars with the pirates of the northern coast
of Africa.

[Sidenote: The Spaniards in Louisiana and Florida. _McMaster_, 218-219.]

[Sidenote: France secures Louisiana.]

241. Louisiana again a French Colony.--Spanish territory now
bounded the United States on the south and the west. The Spaniards were
not good neighbors, because it was very hard to make them come to an
agreement, and next to impossible to make them keep an agreement when
it was made. But this did not matter very much, because Spain was a weak
power and was growing weaker every year. Sooner or later the United
States would gain its point. Suddenly, however, it was announced that
France had got back Louisiana. And almost at the same moment the Spanish
governor of Louisiana said that Americans could no longer deposit their
goods at New Orleans (p. 170). At once there was a great outcry in the
West. Jefferson determined to buy from France New Orleans and the land
eastward from the mouth of the Mississippi.

[Illustration: JACKSON SQUARE, NEW ORLEANS.]

[Illustration: ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.]

[Sidenote: Napoleon's policy.]

[Sidenote: He offers to sell Louisiana.]

242. The Louisiana Purchase, 1803.--When Napoleon got Louisiana
from Spain, he had an idea of again founding a great French colony in
America. At the moment France and Great Britain were at peace. But it
soon looked as if war would begin again. Napoleon knew that the British
would at once seize Louisiana and he could not keep it anyway. So one
day, when the Americans and the French were talking about the purchase
of New Orleans, the French minister suddenly asked if the United States
would not like to buy the whole of Louisiana. Monroe and Livingston, the
American ministers, had no authority to buy Louisiana. But the purchase
of the whole colony would be a great benefit to the United States. So
they quickly agreed to pay fifteen million dollars for the whole of
Louisiana.

[Sidenote: Louisiana purchased, 1803. _Higginson_, 244-245; _Eggleston_,
234; _Source-Book_, 200-202.]

[Sidenote: Importance of the purchase.]

243. The Treaty Ratified.--Jefferson found himself in a strange
position. The Constitution nowhere delegated to the United States power
to acquire territory (p. 164). But after thinking it over Jefferson felt
sure that the people would approve of the purchase. The treaty was
ratified. The money was paid. This purchase turned out to be a most
fortunate thing. It gave to the United States the whole western valley
of the Mississippi. It also gave to Americans the opportunity to
explore and settle Oregon, which lay beyond the limits of Louisiana.

[Illustration: THE UNITED STATES IN 1803.]

[Sidenote: Lewis and Clark, 1804-6. _Higginson_, 245-247; _McMaster_,
219-221;_Source-Book_, 206-209.]

[Sidenote: The mouth of the Oregon.]

244. Lewis and Clark's Explorations.--Jefferson soon sent out
several expeditions to explore the unknown portions of the continent.
The most important of these was the expedition led by two army officers,
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, brother of General George Rogers
Clark (p. 116). Leaving St. Louis they slowly ascended the muddy
Missouri. They passed the site of the present city of Omaha. They passed
the Council Bluffs. The current of the river now became so rapid that
the explorers left their boats and traveled along the river's bank. They
gained the sources of the Missouri, and came to a westward-flowing
river. On, on they followed it until they came to the river's mouth. A
fog hung low over the water. Suddenly it lifted. There before the
explorers' eyes the river "in waves like small mountains rolled out in
the ocean." They had traced the Columbia River from its upper course to
the Pacific. Captain Gray in the Boston ship _Columbia_ had already
entered the mouth of the river. But Lewis and Clark were the first white
men to reach it overland.

[Sidenote: Amendment as to the election of President.]

[Sidenote: The Twelfth Amendment, 1804.]

245. The Twelfth Amendment, 1804.--Four presidential elections had
now been held under the method provided by the Constitution. And that
method had not worked well (pp. 171, 176). It was now (1804) changed by
the adoption of the Twelfth Amendment which is still in force. The old
machinery of presidential electors was kept. But it was provided that
in the future each elector should vote for President and for
Vice-President on separate and distinct ballots. The voters had no more
part in the election under the new system than they had had under the
old system. The old method of apportioning electors among the states was
also kept. This gives to each state as many electors as it has Senators
and Representatives in Congress. No matter how small its territory, or
how small its population, a state has at least two Senators and one
Representative, and, therefore, three electors. The result is that each
voter in a small state has more influence in choosing the President than
each voter in a large state. Indeed, several Presidents have been
elected by minorities of the voters of the country as a whole.

[Sidenote: Jefferson reelected, 1804.]

[Sidenote: Strength of the Republicans.]

246. Reelection of Jefferson, 1804.--Jefferson's first
administration had been most successful. The Republicans had repealed
many unpopular laws. By the purchase of Louisiana the area of the United
States had been doubled and an end put to the dispute as to the
navigation of the Mississippi. The expenses of the national government
had been cut down, and a portion of the national debt had been paid. The
people were prosperous and happy. Under these circumstances Jefferson
was triumphantly reelected. He received one hundred and sixty-two
electoral votes to only fourteen for his Federalist rival.

[Illustration: STEPHEN DECATUR.]

CHAPTER 24

CAUSES OF THE WAR OF 1812

[Sidenote: The African pirates. _Higginson_, 237-239; _Eggleston_,
228-229.]

[Sidenote: Tribute paying.]

[Sidenote: Jefferson ends this system.]

[Sidenote: _Hero Tales_, 103-113.]

247. The North Africa Pirates.--Stretching along the northern
shores of Africa from Egypt westward to the Atlantic were four states.
These states were named Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers, and Morocco. Their
people were Mohammedans, and were ruled over by persons called Deys or
Beys, or Pachas. These rulers found it profitable and pleasant to attack
and capture Christian ships. The cargoes of the captured vessels they
sold at good prices, and the seamen and passengers they sold at good
prices too--as slaves. The leading powers of Europe, instead of
destroying these pirates, found it easier to pay them to let their ships
alone. Washington and Adams also paid them to allow American ships to
sail unharmed. But the pirates were never satisfied with what was paid
them. Jefferson decided to put an end to this tribute paying. He sent a
few ships to seize the pirates and shut up their harbors. More and more
vessels were sent, until at last the Deys and Beys and Pachas thought it
would be cheaper to behave themselves properly. So they agreed to
release their American prisoners and not to capture any more American
ships (1805). In these little wars American naval officers gained much
useful experience and did many glorious deeds. Especially Decatur and
Somers won renown.

[Sidenote: European fighters attack American commerce. _McMaster_,
224-226.]

248. America, Britain, and France.--Napoleon Bonaparte was now
Emperor of the French. In 1804 he made war on the British and their
allies. Soon he became supreme on the land, and the British became
supreme on the water. They could no longer fight one another very
easily, so they determined to injure each other's trade and commerce as
much as possible. The British declared continental ports closed to
commerce, and Napoleon declared all British commerce to be unlawful. Of
course under these circumstances British and Continental ships could not
carry on trade, and American vessels rapidly took their places. The
British shipowners called upon their government to put an end to this
American commerce. Old laws were looked up and enforced. American
vessels that disobeyed them were seized by the British. But if any
American vessel obeyed these laws, Napoleon seized it as soon as it
entered a French harbor.

[Sidenote: Impressment. _Eggleston_, 240.]

249. The Impressment Controversy.--With the British the United
States had still another cause of complaint. British warships stopped
American vessels and took away all their seamen who looked like
Englishmen. These they compelled to serve on British men-of-war. As
Americans and Englishmen looked very much alike, they generally seized
all the best-looking seamen. Thousands of Americans were captured in
this way and forced into slavery on British men-of-war. This method of
kidnaping was called impressment.

[Sidenote: The embargo, 1807. _Eggleston_, 241; _McMaster_, 226-227,
228.]

[Sidenote: Failure of the embargo. _Source-Book_, 209-211.]

250. The Embargo, 1807-1809.--Jefferson hardly knew what to do. He
might declare war on both Great Britain and on France. But to do that
would surely put a speedy end to all American commerce. In the old days,
before the Revolutionary War, the colonists had more than once brought
the British to terms by refusing to buy their goods (pp. 84, 85).
Jefferson now thought that if the people of the United States should
refuse to trade with the British and the French, the governments both of
Great Britain and of France would be forced to treat American commerce
properly. Congress therefore passed an Embargo Act. This forbade vessels
to leave American ports after a certain day. If the people had been
united, the embargo might have done what Jefferson expected it would do.
But the people were not united. Especially in New England, the
shipowners tried in every way to break the law. This led to the passing
of stricter laws. Finally the New Englanders even talked of seceding
from the Union.

[Illustration: AN EARLY STEAM FERRYBOAT, ABOUT 1810.]

[Sidenote: Outrage on the _Chesapeake_, 1807. _McMaster_, 227.]

251. The Outrage on the _Chesapeake_, 1807.--The British now added
to the anger of the Americans by impressing seamen from the decks of an
American warship. The frigate _Chesapeake_ left the Norfolk navy yard
for a cruise. At once the British vessel _Leopard_ sailed toward her and
ordered her to stop. As the _Chesapeake_ did not stop, the _Leopard_
fired on her. The American frigate was just setting out, and everything
was in confusion on her decks. But a coal was brought from the cook's
stove, and one gun was fired. Her flag was then hauled down. The British
came on board and seized four seamen, who they said were deserters from
the British navy. This outrage aroused tremendous excitement. Jefferson
ordered all British warships out of American waters and forbade the
people to supply them with provisions, water, or wood. The British
offered to restore the imprisoned seamen and ordered out of American
waters the admiral under whose direction the outrage had been done. But
they would not give up impressment.

[Sidenote: Madison elected President, 1808.]

252. Madison elected President, 1808.--There is nothing in the
Constitution to limit the number of times a man may be chosen President.
Many persons would gladly have voted a third time for Jefferson. But he
thought that unless some limit were set, the people might keep on
reelecting a popular and successful President term after term. This
would be very dangerous to the republican form of government. So
Jefferson followed Washington's example and declined a third term,
Washington and Jefferson thus established a custom that has ever since
been followed. The Republicans voted for James Madison, and he was
elected President (1808).

[Illustration: MODERN DOUBLE-DECKED FERRYBOAT.]

[Sidenote: Non-Intercourse Act, 1809.]

253. The Non-Intercourse Act, 1809.--By this time the embargo had
become so very unpopular that it could be maintained only at the cost of
civil war. Madison suggested that the Embargo Act should be repealed,
and a Non-Intercourse Act passed in its place. Congress at once did as
he suggested. The Non-Intercourse Act prohibited commerce with Great
Britain and with France and the countries controlled by France. It
permitted commerce with the rest of the world. There were not many
European countries with which America could trade under this law. Still
there were a few countries, as Norway and Spain, which still maintained
their independence. And goods could be sold through them to the other
European countries. At all events, no sooner was the embargo removed
than commerce revived. Rates of freight were very high and the profits
were very large, although the French and the British captured many
American vessels.

[Sidenote: The Erskine treaty.]

[Sidenote: The British minister Jackson. _Source-Book_, 212-213]

254. Two British Ministers.--Soon after Madison's inauguration a
new British minister came to Washington. His name was Erskine, and he
was very friendly. A treaty was speedily made on conditions which
Madison thought could be granted. He suspended non-intercourse with
Great Britain, and hundreds of vessels set sail for that country. But
the British rulers soon put an end to this friendly feeling. They said
that Erskine had no authority to make such a treaty. They refused to
carry it out and recalled Erskine. The next British minister was a
person named Jackson. He accused Madison of cheating Erskine and
repeated the accusation. Thereupon Madison sent him back to London. As
the British would not carry out the terms of Erskine's treaty, Madison
was compelled to prohibit all intercourse with Great Britain.

[Sidenote: Still another policy. _McMaster_, 229-230.]

[Sidenote: French trickery.]

[Sidenote: British trickery.]

255. British and French Trickery.--The scheme of non-intercourse
did not seem to bring the British and the French to terms much better
than the embargo had done. In 1810, therefore, Congress set to work and
produced a third plan. This was to allow intercourse with both Great
Britain and France. But this was coupled with the promise that if one of
the two nations stopped seizing American ships and the other did not,
then intercourse with the unfriendly country should be prohibited.
Napoleon at once said that he would stop seizing American vessels on
November 1 of that year if the British, on their part, would stop their
seizures before that time. The British said that they would stop seizing
when Napoleon did. Neither of them really did anything except to keep on
capturing American vessels whenever they could get a chance.

[Sidenote: Indians of the Northwest. _Eggleston_, 242.]

[Sidenote: Tecumthe.]

256. Indian Troubles, 1810.--To this everlasting trouble with Great
Britain and France were now added the horrors of an Indian war. It came
about in this way. Settlers were pressing into Indiana Territory west of
the new state of Ohio. Soon the lands which the United States had bought
of the Indians would be occupied. New lands must be bought. At this time
there were two able Indian leaders in the Northwest. These were
Tecumthe, or Tecumseh, and his brother, who was known as "the Prophet."
These chiefs set on foot a great Indian confederation. They said that no
one Indian tribe should sell land to the United States without the
consent of all the tribes of the Confederation.

[Sidenote: Battle of Tippecanoe, 1811.]

257. Battle of Tippecanoe.--This determined attitude of the Indians
seemed to the American leaders to be very dangerous. Governor William
Henry Harrison of Indiana Territory gathered a small army of regular
soldiers and volunteers from Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. He marched to
the Indian settlements. The Indians attacked him at Tippecanoe. He beat
them off and, attacking in his turn, routed them. Tecumthe was not at
the battle. But he immediately fled to the British in Canada. The
Americans had suspected that the British were stirring up the Indians to
resist the United States. The reception given to Tecumthe made them feel
that their suspicions were correct.

[Illustration: MEDAL PRESENTED TO HENRY CLAY.]

[Sidenote: Henry Clay.]

[Sidenote: John C. Calhoun.]

258. The War Party in Congress.--There were abundant reasons to
justify war with Great Britain, or with France, or with both of them.
But there would probably have been no war with either of them had it not
been for a few energetic young men in Congress. The leaders of this war
party were Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun. Clay was born in Virginia,
but as a boy he had gone to Kentucky. He represented the spirit of the
young and growing West. He was a true patriot and felt angry at the way
the British spoke of America and Americans, and at the way they acted
toward the United States. He was a very popular man and won men to him
by his attractive qualities and by his energy. Calhoun was a South
Carolinian who had been educated in Connecticut. He was a man of the
highest personal character. He had a strong, active mind, and he was
fearless in debate. As with Clay so with Calhoun, they both felt the
rising spirit of nationality. They thought that the United States had
been patient long enough. They and their friends gained a majority in
Congress and forced Madison to send a warlike message to Congress.

[Sidenote: Madison's war message, 1812. _McMaster>_, 231;
_Source-Book_, 214-216.]

259. Madison's Reasons for War, 1812.--In his message Madison
stated the grounds for complaint against the British as follows: (1)
they impressed American seamen; (2) they disturbed American commerce by
stationing warships off the principal ports; they refused to permit
trade between America and Europe; (4) they stirred up the western
Indians to attack the settlers; (5) they were really making war on the
United States while the United States was at peace with them. For these
reasons Madison advised a declaration of war against Great Britain, and
war was declared.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

CHAPTER 22

Sec.Sec. 228, 229.--_a_. Draw a map showing the states and territories in
1800.

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