Four Great Americans: Washington, Franklin, Webster, Lincoln by James Baldwin
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James Baldwin >> Four Great Americans: Washington, Franklin, Webster, Lincoln
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9 FOUR GREAT AMERICANS
WASHINGTON
FRANKLIN
WEBSTER
LINCOLN
A BOOK FOR YOUNG AMERICANS
BY JAMES BALDWIN, PH.D.
CONTENTS
THE STORY OF GEORGE WASHINGTON
CHAPTER
I WHEN WASHINGTON WAS A BOY
II HIS HOMES
III HIS SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS
IV GOING TO SEA
V THE YOUNG SURVEYOR
VI THE OHIO COUNTRY
VII A CHANGE OF CIRCUMSTANCES
VIII A PERILOUS JOURNEY
IX HIS FIRST BATTLE
X THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR
XI THE MUTTERINGS OF THE STORM
XII THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR
XIII INDEPENDENCE
XIV THE FIRST PRESIDENT
XV "FIRST IN THE HEARTS OF HIS COUNTRYMEN"
THE STORY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
CHAPTER
I THE WHISTLE
II SCHOOLDAYS
III THE BOYS AND THE WHARF
IV CHOOSING A TRADE
V HOW FRANKLIN EDUCATED HIMSELF
VI FAREWELL TO BOSTON
VII THE FIRST DAY IN PHILADELPHIA
VIII GOVERNOR WILLIAM KEITH
IX THE RETURN TO PHILADELPHIA
X THE FIRST VISIT TO ENGLAND
XI A LEADING MAN IN PHILADELPHIA
XII FRANKLIN'S RULES OF LIFE
XIII FRANKLIN'S SERVICES TO THE COLONIES
XIV FRANKLIN'S WONDERFUL KITE
XV THE LAST YEARS
THE STORY OF DANIEL WEBSTER
CHAPTER
I CAPTAIN WEBSTER
II THE YOUNGEST SON
III EZEKIEL AND DANIEL
IV PLANS FOR THE FUTURE
V AT EXETER ACADEMY
VI GETTING READY FOR COLLEGE
VII AT DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
VIII HOW DANIEL TAUGHT SCHOOL
IX DANIEL GOES TO BOSTON
X LAWYER AND CONGRESSMAN
XI THE DARTMOUTH COLLEGE CASE
XII WEBSTER'S GREAT ORATIONS
XIII MR. WEBSTER IN THE SENATE
XIV MR. WEBSTER IN PRIVATE LIFE
XV THE LAST YEARS
THE STORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
CHAPTER
I THE KENTUCKY HOME
II WORK AND SORROW
III THE NEW MOTHER
IV SCHOOL AND BOOKS
V LIFE IN THE BACKWOODS
VI THE BOATMAN
VII THE FIRST YEARS IN ILLINOIS
VIII THE BLACK HAWK WAR
IX IN THE LEGISLATURE
X POLITICS AND MARRIAGE
XI CONGRESSMAN AND LAWYER
XII THE QUESTION OF SLAVERY
XIII LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS
XIV PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
XV THE END OF A GREAT LIFE
THE STORY OF GEORGE WASHINGTON
[Illustration of George Washington]
THE STORY OF GEORGE WASHINGTON
* * * * *
I.--WHEN WASHINGTON WAS A BOY.
When George Washington was a boy there was no United States. The land
was here, just as it is now, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the
Pacific; but nearly all of it was wild and unknown.
Between the Atlantic Ocean and the Alleghany Mountains there were
thirteen colonies, or great settlements. The most of the people who
lived in these colonies were English people, or the children of English
people; and so the King of England made their laws and appointed their
governors.
The newest of the colonies was Georgia, which was settled the year after
George Washington was born.
The oldest colony was Virginia, which had been settled one hundred and
twenty-five years. It was also the richest colony, and more people were
living in it than in any other.
There were only two or three towns in Virginia at that time, and they
were quite small.
Most of the people lived on farms or on big plantations, where they
raised whatever they needed to eat. They also raised tobacco, which they
sent to England to be sold.
The farms, or plantations, were often far apart, with stretches of thick
woods between them. Nearly every one was close to a river, or some other
large body of water; for there are many rivers in Virginia.
There were no roads, such as we have nowadays, but only paths through
the woods. When people wanted to travel from place to place, they had to
go on foot, or on horseback, or in small boats.
A few of the rich men who lived on the big plantations had coaches; and
now and then they would drive out in grand style behind four or six
horses, with a fine array of servants and outriders following them. But
they could not drive far where there were no roads, and we can hardly
understand how they got any pleasure out of it.
Nearly all the work on the plantations was done by slaves. Ships had
been bringing negroes from Africa for more than a hundred years, and now
nearly half the people in Virginia were blacks.
Very often, also, poor white men from England were sold as slaves for a
few years in order to pay for their passage across the ocean. When their
freedom was given to them they continued to work at whatever they could
find to do; or they cleared small farms in the woods for themselves, or
went farther to the west and became woodsmen and hunters.
There was but very little money in Virginia at that time, and, indeed,
there was not much use for it. For what could be done with money where
there were no shops worth speaking of, and no stores, and nothing to
buy?
The common people raised flax and wool, and wove their own cloth; and
they made their own tools and furniture. The rich people did the same;
but for their better or finer goods they sent to England.
For you must know that in all this country there were no great mills for
spinning and weaving as there are now; there were no factories of any
kind; there were no foundries where iron could be melted and shaped into
all kinds of useful and beautiful things.
When George Washington was a boy the world was not much like it is now.
* * * * *
II.--HIS HOMES.
George Washington's father owned a large plantation on the western shore
of the Potomac River. George's great-grandfather, John Washington, had
settled upon it nearly eighty years before, and there the family had
dwelt ever since.
This plantation was in Westmoreland county, not quite forty miles above
the place where the Potomac flows into Chesapeake Bay. By looking at
your map of Virginia, you will see that the river is very broad there.
On one side of the plantation, and flowing through it, there was a
creek, called Bridge's Creek; and for this reason the place was known as
the Bridge's Creek Plantation.
It was here, on the 22d of February, 1732, that George Washington was
born.
Although his father was a rich man, the house in which he lived was
neither very large nor very fine--at least it would not be thought so
now.
It was a square, wooden building, with four rooms on the ground floor
and an attic above.
The eaves were low, and the roof was long and sloping. At each end of
the house there was a huge chimney; and inside were big fireplaces, one
for the kitchen and one for the "great room" where visitors were
received.
But George did not live long in this house. When he was about three
years old his father removed to another plantation which he owned, near
Hunting Creek, several miles farther up the river. This new plantation
was at first known as the Washington Plantation, but it is now called
Mount Vernon.
Four years after this the house of the Washingtons was burned down. But
Mr. Washington had still other lands on the Rappahannock River. He had
also an interest in some iron mines that were being opened there. And so
to this place the family was now taken.
The house by the Rappahannock was very much like the one at Bridge's
Creek. It stood on high ground, overlooking the river and some low
meadows; and on the other side of the river was the village of
Fredericksburg, which at that time was a very small village, indeed.
George was now about seven years old.
* * * * *
III.--HIS SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS.
There were no good schools in Virginia at that time. In fact, the people
did not care much about learning.
There were few educated men besides the parsons, and even some of the
parsons were very ignorant.
It was the custom of some of the richest families to send their eldest
sons to England to the great schools there. But it is doubtful if these
young men learned much about books.
They spent a winter or two in the gay society of London, and were taught
the manners of gentlemen--and that was about all.
George Washington's father, when a young man, had spent some time at
Appleby School in England, and George's half-brothers, Lawrence and
Augustine, who were several years older than he, had been sent to the
same school.
But book-learning was not thought to be of much use. To know how to
manage the business of a plantation, to be polite to one's equals, to be
a leader in the affairs of the colony--this was thought to be the best
education.
And so, for most of the young men, it was enough if they could read and
write a little and keep a few simple accounts. As for the girls, the
parson might give them a few lessons now and then; and if they learned
good manners and could write letters to their friends, what more could
they need?
George Washington's first teacher was a poor sexton, whose name was Mr.
Hobby. There is a story that he had been too poor to pay his passage
from England, and that he had, therefore, been sold to Mr. Washington as
a slave for a short time; but how true this is, I cannot say.
From Mr. Hobby, George learned to spell easy words, and perhaps to write
a little; but, although he afterward became a very careful and good
penman, he was a poor speller as long as he lived.
When George was about eleven years old his father died. We do not know
what his father's intentions had been regarding him. But possibly, if he
had lived, he would have given George the best education that his means
would afford.
But now everything was changed. The plantation at Hunting Creek, and,
indeed, almost all the rest of Mr. Washington's great estate, became the
property of the eldest son, Lawrence.
George was sent to Bridge's Creek to live for a while with his brother
Augustine, who now owned the old home plantation there. The mother and
the younger children remained on the Rappahannock farm.
While at Bridge's Creek, George was sent to school to a Mr. Williams,
who had lately come from England.
There are still to be seen some exercises which the lad wrote at that
time. There is also a little book, called _The Young Man's Companion_,
from which he copied, with great care, a set of rules for good behavior
and right living.
Not many boys twelve years old would care for such a book nowadays. But
you must know that in those days there were no books for children, and,
indeed, very few for older people.
The maxims and wise sayings which George copied were, no doubt, very
interesting to him--so interesting that many of them were never
forgotten.
There are many other things also in this _Young Man's Companion_, and we
have reason to believe that George studied them all.
There are short chapters on arithmetic and surveying, rules for the
measuring of land and lumber, and a set of forms for notes, deeds, and
other legal documents. A knowledge of these things was, doubtless, of
greater importance to him than the reading of many books would have
been.
Just what else George may have studied in Mr. Williams's school I cannot
say. But all this time he was growing to be a stout, manly boy, tall and
strong, and well-behaved. And both his brothers and himself were
beginning to think of what he should do when he should become a man.
* * * * *
IV.--GOING TO SEA.
Once every summer a ship came up the river to the plantation, and was
moored near the shore.
It had come across the sea from far-away England, and it brought many
things for those who were rich enough to pay for them.
It brought bonnets and pretty dresses for George's mother and sisters;
it brought perhaps a hat and a tailor-made suit for himself; it brought
tools and furniture, and once a yellow coach that had been made in
London, for his brother.
When all these things had been taken ashore, the ship would hoist her
sails and go on, farther up the river, to leave goods at other
plantations.
In a few weeks it would come back and be moored again at the same place.
Then there was a busy time on shore. The tobacco that had been raised
during the last year must be carried on shipboard to be taken to the
great tobacco markets in England.
The slaves on the plantation were running back and forth, rolling
barrels and carrying bales of tobacco down to the landing.
Letters were written to friends in England, and orders were made out for
the goods that were to be brought back next year.
But in a day or two, all this stir was over. The sails were again
spread, and the ship glided away on its long voyage across the sea.
George had seen this ship coming and going every year since he could
remember. He must have thought how pleasant it would be to sail away to
foreign lands and see the many wonderful things that are there.
And then, like many another active boy, he began to grow tired of the
quiet life on the farm, and wish that he might be a sailor.
He was now about fourteen years old. Since the death of his father, his
mother had found it hard work, with her five children, to manage her
farm on the Rappahannock and make everything come out even at the end of
each year. Was it not time that George should be earning something for
himself? But what should he do?
He wanted to go to sea. His brother Lawrence, and even his mother,
thought that this might be the best thing.
A bright boy like George would not long be a common sailor. He would
soon make his way to a high place in the king's navy. So, at least, his
friends believed.
And so the matter was at last settled. A sea-captain who was known to
the family, agreed to take George with him. He was to sail in a short
time.
The day came. His mother, his brothers, his sisters, were all there to
bid him good-bye. But in the meanwhile a letter had come to his mother,
from his uncle who lived in England.
"If you care for the boy's future," said the letter, "do not let him go
to sea. Places in the king's navy are not easy to obtain. If he begins
as a sailor, he will never be aught else."
The letter convinced George's mother--it half convinced his
brothers--that this going to sea would be a sad mistake. But George,
like other boys of his age, was headstrong. He would not listen to
reason. A sailor he would be.
The ship was in the river waiting for him. A boat had come to the
landing to take him on board.
The little chest which held his clothing had been carried down to the
bank. George was in high glee at the thought of going.
"Good-bye, mother," he said.
He stood on the doorstep and looked back into the house. He saw the kind
faces of those whom he loved. He began to feel very sad at the thought
of leaving them.
"Good-bye, George!"
He saw the tears welling up in his mother's eyes. He saw them rolling
down her cheeks. He knew now that she did not want him to go. He could
not bear to see her grief.
"Mother, I have changed my mind," he said. "I will not be a sailor. I
will not leave you."
Then he turned to the black boy who was waiting by the door, and said,
"Run down to the landing and tell them not to put the chest on board.
Tell them that I have thought differently of the matter and that I am
going to stay at home."
If George had not changed his mind, but had really gone to sea, how very
different the history of this country would have been!
He now went to his studies with a better will than before; and although
he read but few books he learned much that was useful to him in life. He
studied surveying with especial care, and made himself as thorough in
that branch of knowledge as it was possible to do with so few
advantages.
* * * * *
V.--THE YOUNG SURVEYOR.
Lawrence Washington was about fourteen years older than his brother
George.
As I have already said, he had been to England and had spent sometime at
Appleby school. He had served in the king's army for a little while, and
had been with Admiral Vernon's squadron in the West Indies.
He had formed so great a liking for the admiral that when he came home
he changed the name of his plantation at Hunting Creek, and called it
Mount Vernon--a name by which it is still known.
Not far from Mount Vernon there was another fine plantation called
Belvoir, that was owned by William Fairfax, an English gentleman of much
wealth and influence.
Now this Mr. Fairfax had a young daughter, as wise as she was beautiful;
and so, what should Lawrence Washington do but ask her to be his wife?
He built a large house at Mount Vernon with a great porch fronting on
the Potomac; and when Miss Fairfax became Mrs. Washington and went into
this home as its mistress, people said that there was not a handsomer or
happier young couple in all Virginia.
After young George Washington had changed his mind about going to sea,
he went up to Mount Vernon to live with his elder brother. For Lawrence
had great love for the boy, and treated him as his father would have
done.
At Mount Vernon George kept on with his studies in surveying. He had a
compass and surveyor's chain, and hardly a day passed that he was not
out on the plantation, running lines and measuring his brother's fields.
Sometimes when he was busy at this kind of work, a tall, white-haired
gentleman would come over from Belvoir to see what he was doing and to
talk with him. This gentleman was Sir Thomas Fairfax, a cousin of the
owner of Belvoir. He was sixty years old, and had lately come from
England to look after his lands in Virginia; for he was the owner of
many thousands of acres among the mountains and in the wild woods.
Sir Thomas was a courtly old gentleman, and he had seen much of the
world. He was a fine scholar; he had been a soldier, and then a man of
letters; and he belonged to a rich and noble family.
It was not long until he and George were the best of friends. Often they
would spend the morning together, talking or surveying; and in the
afternoon they would ride out with servants and hounds, hunting foxes
and making fine sport of it among the woods and hills.
And when Sir Thomas Fairfax saw how manly and brave his young friend
was, and how very exact and careful in all that he did, he said: "Here
is a boy who gives promise of great things. I can trust him."
Before the winter was over he had made a bargain with George to survey
his lands that lay beyond the Blue Ridge mountains.
I have already told you that at this time nearly all the country west of
the mountains was a wild and unknown region. In fact, all the western
part of Virginia was an unbroken wilderness, with only here and there a
hunter's camp or the solitary hut of some daring woodsman.
But Sir Thomas hoped that by having the land surveyed, and some part of
it laid out into farms, people might be persuaded to go there and
settle. And who in all the colony could do this work better than his
young friend, George Washington?
It was a bright day in March, 1748, when George started out on his first
trip across the mountains. His only company was a young son of William
Fairfax of Belvoir.
The two friends were mounted on good horses; and both had guns, for
there was fine hunting in the woods. It was nearly a hundred miles to
the mountain-gap through which they passed into the country beyond. As
there were no roads, but only paths through the forest, they could not
travel very fast.
After several days they reached the beautiful valley of the Shenandoah.
They now began their surveying. They went up the river for some
distance; then they crossed and went down on the other side. At last
they reached the Potomac River, near where Harper's Ferry now stands.
At night they slept sometimes by a camp-fire in the woods, and sometimes
in the rude hut of a settler or a hunter. They were often wet and cold.
They cooked their meat by broiling it on sticks above the coals. They
ate without dishes, and drank water from the running streams.
One day they met a party of Indians, the first red men they had seen.
There were thirty of them, with their bodies painted in true savage
style; for they were just going home from a war with some other tribe.
The Indians were very friendly to the young surveyors. It was evening,
and they built a huge fire under the trees. Then they danced their
war-dance around it, and sang and yelled and made hideous sport until
far in the night.
To George and his friend it was a strange sight; but they were brave
young men, and not likely to be afraid even though the danger had been
greater.
They had many other adventures in the woods of which I cannot tell you
in this little book--shooting wild game, swimming rivers, climbing
mountains. But about the middle of April they returned in safety to
Mount Vernon.
It would seem that the object of this first trip was to get a general
knowledge of the extent of Sir Thomas Fairfax's great woodland
estate--to learn where the richest bottom lands lay, and where were the
best hunting-grounds.
The young men had not done much if any real surveying; they had been
exploring.
George Washington had written an account of everything in a little
note-book which he carried with him.
Sir Thomas was so highly pleased with the report which the young men
brought back that he made up his mind to move across the Blue Ridge and
spend the rest of his life on his own lands.
And so, that very summer, he built in the midst of the great woods a
hunting lodge which he called Greenway Court. It was a large, square
house, with broad gables and a long roof sloping almost to the ground.
When he moved into this lodge he expected soon to build a splendid
mansion and make a grand home there, like the homes he had known in
England. But time passed, and as the lodge was roomy and comfortable, he
still lived in it and put off beginning another house.
Washington was now seventeen years old. Through the influence of Sir
Thomas Fairfax he was appointed public surveyor; and nothing would do
but that he must spend the most of his time at Greenway Court and keep
on with the work that he had begun.
For the greater part of three years he worked in the woods and among the
mountains, surveying Sir Thomas's lands. And Sir Thomas paid him well--a
doubloon ($8.24) for each day, and more than that if the work was very
hard.
But there were times when the young surveyor did not go out to work, but
stayed at Greenway Court with his good friend, Sir Thomas. The old
gentleman had something of a library, and on days when they could
neither work nor hunt, George spent the time in reading. He read the
_Spectator_ and a history of England, and possibly some other works.
And so it came about that the three years which young Washington spent
in surveying were of much profit to him.
The work in the open air gave him health and strength. He gained courage
and self-reliance. He became acquainted with the ways of the
backwoodsmen and of the savage Indians. And from Sir Thomas Fairfax he
learned a great deal about the history, the laws, and the military
affairs of old England.
And in whatever he undertook to do or to learn, he was careful and
systematic and thorough. He did nothing by guess; he never left anything
half done. And therein, let me say to you, lie the secrets of success in
any calling.
* * * * *
VI.--THE OHIO COUNTRY.
You have already learned how the English people had control of all that
part of our country which borders upon the Atlantic Ocean. You have
learned, also, that they had made thirteen great settlements along the
coast, while all the vast region west of the mountains remained a wild
and unknown land.
Now, because Englishmen had been the first white men to see the line of
shore that stretches from Maine to Georgia, they set up a claim to all
the land west of that line.
They had no idea how far the land extended. They knew almost nothing
about its great rivers, its vasts forests, its lofty mountains, its rich
prairies. They cared nothing for the claims of the Indians whose homes
were there.
"All the land from ocean to ocean," they said, "belongs to the King of
England."
But there were other people who also had something to say about this
matter.
The French had explored the Mississippi River. They had sailed on the
Great Lakes. Their hunters and trappers were roaming through the western
forests. They had made treaties with the Indians; and they had built
trading posts, here and there, along the watercourses.
They said, "The English people may keep their strip of land between the
mountains and the sea. But these great river valleys and this country
around the Lakes are ours, because we have been the first to explore and
make use of them."
Now, about the time that George Washington was thinking of becoming a
sailor, some of the rich planters in Virginia began to hear wonderful
stories about a fertile region west of the Alleghanies, watered by a
noble river, and rich in game and fur-bearing animals.
This region was called the Ohio Country, from the name of the river; and
those who took pains to learn the most about it were satisfied that it
would, at some time, be of very great importance to the people who
should control it.
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