[Transcriber's Notes]
The debt of England caused by the French and Indian War of 140,000,000
Pounds sterling is equivalent to about 19,000,000,000 Pounds in 2006.
Thomas Paine's pamphlet "Common Sense" is available at
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext03/comsn10a.txt
[1492-1495] indicate the following text covers this period, until the
next such appearance.
This is a list or unfamiliar (to me) words.
abatis
Defensive obstacle made by laying felled trees on top of each other
with branches, sometimes sharpened, facing the enemy.
appanage
Land or other source of revenue for the maintenance of a member of the
family of a ruling house. Whatever belongs rightfully to one's rank or
station in life. Natural or necessary accompaniment; adjunct. From the
Latin "panis"--bread or "apanar"--to nourish.
Aristides
Athenian statesman and general who fought at Marathon and Salamis. A
central figure in the confederation known as the Delian League.
encomia
Formal expression of praise; eulogy; tribute.
entails
To limit the inheritance of property to a specified succession of
heirs.
exigency
Requiring much effort or immediate action; urgent; pressing.
finical
Exacting about details; finicky; fussy; very particular.
indite
Compose or write.
lief
Gladly; willingly.
mooted
Hypothetical case argued by law students as an exercise. An ancient
English meeting of the freemen of a shire. To discuss or debate.
recreant
Cowardly, craven, unfaithful, disloyal, traitorous, apostate,
renegade.
subaltern
Lower in position or rank. British military rank below captain.
primogeniture
System of inheritance by the eldest son.
whilom
Former; erstwhile; at one time.
[End Transcriber's Notes]
After a painting by Gilbert Stuart. (The Gibbs Portrait.)
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
FROM THE EARLIEST DISCOVERY OF AMERICA
TO THE PRESENT TIME
By
E. BENJAMIN ANDREWS
CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA
FORMERLY PRESIDENT OF BROWN UNIVERSITY
With 650 Illustrations and Maps
VOLUME II.
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1912
COPYRIGHT, 1894, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
CONTENTS
PERIOD III
REVOLUTION AND THE OLD CONFEDERATION
1763--1789
CHAPTER 1. RESULTS OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR
How Important.
Vergennes's Prophecy.
England in Debt.
Tempted to Tax Colonies.
Colonies Strengthened.
Military Experience Gained.
Leaders Trained.
Fighting Power Revealed.
Best of All, Union.
How Developed.
Nothing but War could have done This.
Scattered Condition of Population then.
Difficulties of Communication.
Other Centrifugal Influences.
France no longer a Menace to the Colonies.
But a Natural Friend and Ally.
Increase of Territory at the Colonies' Disposal.
CHAPTER II. GEORGE III. AND HIS AMERICAN COLONIES
Character of the Young King.
Policy
Advisers.
Indefinite Causes Separating Colonies from England.
England Blind to These.
Ignorant of the Colonies.
Stricter Enforcement of Navigation Laws.
Writs of Assistance.
James Otis.
Stamp Act.
Opposition.
Vigorous and Widespread Retaliation by Non-importation.
England Recedes.
Her Side of the Question.
Lord Mansfield's Argument.
Pitt's.
Constitutional and Historical Considerations not Sufficient.
George III.'s Case Better Legally than Practically.
Natural Rights.
Townshend's Duties.
Massachusetts's Opposition.
Samuel Adams.
Committees of Correspondence.
The Billeting Act.
Boston Massacre.
Statement of Grievances.
The Tea.
Coercion Resolved upon.
First Continental Congress.
Drifting into War.
CHAPTER III. INDEPENDENCE AND THE NEW STATES
Slow Growth of Desire for Independence.
Why.
Early Schemes of Union.
New York Convention of 1690.
Albany Convention of 1754.
Franklin's Plan for a Confederation of Colonies.
Even in 1774 no Hint of Independence.
Hardly in 1775.
Swift Change at Last.
All the Colonies Turn to the New Idea.
Causes.
Dickinson and Harrison.
The King's Barbarity.
The Gaspe Affair.
Capture of Fort William and Mary.
Paine's "Common Sense."
Declaration of Independence Mooted.
Debated.
Drafted.
Passed and Signed.
Jefferson.
How far he Followed Earlier Utterances.
Effect of the Declaration.
Anarchy in the Colonies.
New State Governments.
New Constitutions.
Their Provisions.
Changes from the Old Order.
General Character of the Documents.
CHAPTER IV. OUTBREAK OF WAR; WASHINGTON'S MOVEMENTS
General Gage in Boston.
Lexington.
Concord.
The Retreat.
Siege of Boston.
Bunker Hill.
Warren's Fall.
Losses of the two Sides.
Washington Commander-in-Chief.
His Character.
Difficulties.
Bad Military System.
Gage Evacuates Boston.
Moultrie's Defence of Charleston Harbor.
New York the Centre of Hostilities.
Long Island Given up.
New York City also.
Forts Washington and Lee Captured.
Retreat across New Jersey.
Splendid Stroke at Trenton.
Princeton.
Brandywine and Germantown.
The Winter at Valley Forge.
Hardships.
Steuben's Arrival and Drill.
Battle of Monmouth.
CHAPTER V. THE NORTHERN CAMPAIGN
On to Canada.
Ethan Allen takes "Old Ti."
Montgomery's Advance.
Benedict Arnold's.
They attack Quebec.
Montgomery Falls.
Morgan in the Lower Town.
The Siege Raised.
Retreat.
Burgoyne's Advance.
The British Plan.
Ticonderoga again in British Hands.
On to Fort Edward.
St. Leger's Expedition.
Battle of Oriskany.
St. Leger Driven Back.
Baume's Expedition.
Battle of Bennington.
Stark.
Burgoyne in a Cul-de-sac.
Gates Succeeds Schuyler.
First Battle of Bemis's Heights or Stillwater.
Burgoyne's Position Critical.
No Tidings from Clinton.
Second Battle.
Arnold the Hero.
The Briton Retreats.
Capitulates.
Little Thanks to Gates.
Importance of Burgoyne's Surrender.
CHAPTER VI. THE SOUTHERN CAMPAIGNS
Massacres of Wyoming and Cherry Valley.
Battle of Rhode Island.
Raids.
Wayne takes Stony Point.
Paul Jones and his Naval Victory.
The War in the South.
Lincoln Surrenders.
All South Carolina Gone.
Clinton's Severity.
Bravely withstood by Southern Leaders and People.
Washington Sends Aid.
Gates and De Kalb.
Battle of Camden.
Exit Gates.
De Kalb's Valor and Death.
Arnold's Treason.
The South Prostrate.
Colonial Victory of King's Mountain.
General Greene to the South.
His History.
His Plan.
Morgan Beats Carleton at Cowpens.
Cornwallis Sweeps Northward.
Greene's Skilful Retreat.
Battle of Guilford Court-House.
Cornwallis to Virginia.
The Carolinas and Georgia Recovered.
Washington to Yorktown.
French Aid.
Cornwallis Surrenders.
Effects.
CHAPTER VII. PEACE
Peace Sentiment in England.
Reasons.
Ill Conduct of the War.
Expense.
Vain Concession.
France Aids America.
Spain too.
Lord North Wavers.
Holland Joins the Colonies.
Cornwallis's Surrender.
Franklin in France.
Influence and Skill.
Joy.
Negotiations for a Treaty of Peace.
The Treaty Signed.
Its Provisions.
Peace a Benediction.
Cessation of Hostilities.
Redcoats Depart.
New York Evacuated.
Washington's Adieu to the Army.
Resigns his Commission.
Revisits Mount Vernon.
CHAPTER VIII. AMERICAN MANHOOD IN THE REVOLUTION
Character of Revolutionary Soldiers.
Causes.
Physical Basis and Previous Training.
Bunker Hill.
Moultrie.
Marylanders at Long Island.
At Monmouth.
Nathan Hale.
Andre.
Paul Jones and his Exploit.
Ethan Allen.
Prescott.
"Old Put."
Richard Montgomery.
General Greene.
Stark.
Dan Morgan.
Other Generals.
Colonel Washington.
De Kalb.
Robert Morris, Financier.
Franklin, Diplomatist.
Washington.
Military Ability.
Mental and Moral Characteristics.
Honesty.
Modesty.
Encomia upon Him.
CHAPTER IX. THE OLD CONFEDERATION
The Revolutionary Congress.
The Articles of Confederation.
Synopsis.
Congress.
Its Powers.
Advantages of the Confederation.
Critical State of Affairs after the War.
State Sovereignty.
Antagonized by Existence of the Articles.
Faults of the Confederation.
No Power over Individuals.
Treaties.
Taxation.
War Debt.
Mutinous Spirit in Army.
Washington's Steadfastness.
Congress Menaced.
Discord of Commercial Laws.
England's Hostile Attitude.
Needed Amendments to the Articles.
Lack of a Central Power.
Northwest Territory.
Ordinance of 1787.
Its Excellence.
The Ohio Company.
Settlement at Marietta.
CHAPTER X. RISE OF THE NEW CONSTITUTION
Anarchy after the Revolution.
Shays' Rebellion.
Washington's Influence.
Continental Sects.
Hamilton's Motion for a Stronger Government.
Massachusetts's Motion.
Forwardness of Virginia.
Of Madison.
Origin of Annapolis Convention, 1786.
Its Action.
Meeting of the Constitutional Convention, 1787.
The Virginia Plan.
New Jersey Plan.
Growth of the Constitution.
Personnel of the Convention.
Its Distinguished Men.
Subsequent Careers of Many.
Rutledge.
Rufus King.
Completion of the Constitution.
Ratification.
Struggle in Massachusetts.
In Virginia.
In New York.
In North Carolina.
In Rhode Island.
"More Perfect Union" at Last.
Part Second
THE UNITED STATES UNDER THE CONSTITUTION
PERIOD I
THE UNITED STATES AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
1789-1814
CHAPTER I. THE NEW GOVERNMENT
Launching the Constitution.
Washington's First Inauguration.
Distribution of our Population in 1790.
In the States.
Cities.
New York City.
Difference between the Old Government and the New.
Status of the State.
Benefits of the New Order.
Popularity of the Constitution.
Thoroughness of First Congress.
Origin of Post-office Department.
Treasury.
Revenue and Monetary System.
Judiciary.
Secretary of War.
Leaders in First Congress.
CHAPTER II. FEDERALISM AND ANTI--FEDERALISM
Origin and Development of the Two Terms.
Policy of Federalism.
Federalists Aristocratic.
Two Stripes of Federalists.
Policy of the Anti-federalists.
Close and Liberal Constructionists.
Argument of the Federalists on Article 1., Section 8.
Reply of Anti-federalists.
Historical Facts in Support of the Latter.
CHAPTER III. DOMESTIC QUESTIONS OF WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATIONS
I. TARIFF: Restrictive Policy after the Revolution.
Object of its Advocates to Strengthen the Central Government.
Retaliatory Spirit against England.
Desire for Independence as to Military Supplies.
II. FUNDING THE DEBT: Debt at Close of Revolution.
Congress Liquidates the Domestic Federal Debt.
Assumes State Debts.
Debate on This.
Secured by a "Deal."
Scheme for Payment.
III. THE EXCISE; Excise on Spirits.
Opposition in Pennsylvania.
Result.
IV. THE BANK: Chartered by Congress.
Hostility.
Jefferson's Argument.
Hamilton's.
Good Influence of the Bank.
CHAPTER IV. RELATIONS WITH ENGLAND
Revolution in France.
Washington's Proclamation of Neutrality.
Jefferson's Criticism.
Rives's.
Arguments for Aiding France.
Results of Neutrality.
Federalist Leaning toward Great Britain.
Attitude of Great Britain.
Impressment of our Seamen.
War Imminent.
Jay's Treaty.
Fisher Ames Urges Ratification.
CHAPTER V. RELATIONS WITH THE FRENCH REPUBLIC
Federalists Condemn, Republicans Favor, the French Revolution.
Causes of its Popularity.
Justification of the Administration's Policy.
France Violates the Treaty.
Genet's High-handed Action.
His Insolence and Final Removal.
Effect of Jay's Treaty upon France.
Further Overtures to France.
Result.
Anti-federalists Confounded.
War Feeling in this Country.
Adams's Patriotic Course.
War Averted.
CHAPTER VI. DECLINE OF THE FEDERALIST PARTY
Federalist Excesses.
Alien and Sedition Acts.
Conviction of Matthew Lyon.
Results of the Federalist Policy.
Its Animus.
Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions.
These Criticised.
Unpopularity of the Federalist Measures.
This Dooms Federalism.
Federalist Dissensions.
Federalist Opposition to the Administration.
Waning Power of Federalism.
Its Good After-influence.
CHAPTER VII. THE WEST
Kentucky and Tennessee become States.
Unorganized and Organized Territory.
Settlements in the Northwest.
Centres of Population.
Early Land System.
Indian Outbreaks.
Harmar's Expedition.
Treaty with the Creeks.
Expedition of St. Clair.
Forts Built.
St. Clair's Defeat.
His Deposition from Military Command.
Wayne's Victory.
Pioneer Life.
Indiana Territory Formed.
Ohio a State.
System of Marketing Public Lands.
Mississippi Territory Organized.
CHAPTER VIII. SOCIAL CULTURE AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY
Population.
Rural Life.
Theatres.
Sports.
Lotteries.
Steam Navigation.
The Old-fashioned Muster.
Intemperance.
Introduction of Sunday-schools.
Spanish Coins.
Colonial Money still in Use.
"Fip," "Levy," "Pistareen."
Newspapers and Postal Arrangements.
Party Strife.
Innovations and Inventions.
Beginnings of the American Factory System.
Oliver Evans.
Samuel Slater.
CHAPTER IX. DEMOCRACY AT THE HELM
Jefferson's Election.
XIIth Amendment to the Constitution.
Power of Democracy.
Its Policy.
Jefferson the Typical Democrat.
His Character.
His Civil Service Policy.
Burr's Rise.
Shoots Hamilton in a Duel.
His Treason.
His Arrest.
Purchase of Louisiana.
Immense Increase of Territory.
Trouble with the Barbary Powers.
Their Insolence.
Dale's Expedition.
Further Successes.
CHAPTER X. THE WAR OF 1812
Great Britain Ignores International Law.
Impresses American Seamen.
The Chesapeake Affair.
Navigation Act and Berlin Decree.
England Questions our Neutrality.
Preparations for War.
Ill Success of Land Operations.
Harrison's Victory over Proctor.
Jackson Conquers the Creeks.
Battle of New Orleans.
Naval Victories.
Battle of Lake Erie.
Opposition of the Federalists to the War.
New England Remonstrances.
Attitude of Sects.
Treaty of Ghent.
Its Provisions.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
GEORGE WASHINGTON
BLOODY POND, NEAR LAKE GEORGE, WHICH IS SAID TO STILL CONTAIN THE BONES
OF MANY OF THOSE WHO FELL IN THE FIGHT AT
FORT WILLIAM HENRY
KING GEORGE III.
JAMES OTIS, JR.
BURNING THE STAMPS IN NEW YORK
THE BOSTON MASSACRE. (From an engraving by Paul Revere)
PINE TREE FLAG OF MASSACHUSETTS
RATTLESNAKE FLAG OF SOUTH CAROLINA
UNION FLAG. THE FIRST RECOGNIZED CONTINENTAL STANDARD, RAISED FOR THE
FIRST TIME JANUARY 2, 1776
THOMAS PAINE
A PROFILE VIEW OF THE HEIGHTS OF CHARLESTOWN
BUNKER HILL BATTLE. (From a contemporary print)
JOSEPH WARREN
GENERAL HOWE
GENERAL CHARLES LEE. (Although intended for a caricature, this is
considered an excellent likeness)
BARON VON STEUBEN
RICHARD MONTGOMERY
THE DEATH OF MONTGOMERY AT QUEBEC
GENERAL HERKIMER AT THE BATTLE OF ORISKANY
GENERAL JOHN STARK
GENERAL HORATIO GATES
JOHN PAUL JONES'S MEDAL
JOHN PAUL JONES'S MEDAL. (Reverse)
GENERAL SULLIVAN
GENERAL LINCOLN
GENERAL MARION IN CAMP
MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE
BENEDICT ARNOLD
ARNOLD'S ESCAPE
GENERAL NATHANIEL GREENE
THE SURRENDER OF CORNWALLIS AT YORKTOWN
GENERAL DANIEL MORGAN
LORD CORNWALLIS
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
FACSIMILE OF SIGNATURES TO TREATY OF PEACE
JOHN PAUL JONES
FIGHT BETWEEN THE BON HOMME RICHARD AND THE SERAPIS
GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE
THE ENCOUNTER BETWEEN TARLETON AND COLONEL WASHINGTON
DeKALB WOUNDED AT CAMDEN
THE FRANKLIN PENNY
DOLLAR OF 1794. (The first United States coin)
A SCENE AT SPRINGFIELD DURING SLAYS' REBELLION, WHEN THE MOB ATTEMPTED
TO PREVENT THE HOLDING OF THE COURTS OF JUSTICE
JOHN WESLEY
CELEBRATING THE ADOPTION OF THE CONSTITUTION IN NEW YORK
ALEXANDER HAMILTON (From a painting by John Trumbull in the Trumbull
Gallery at Yale College)
ILLICIT DISTILLERS WARNED OF THE APPROACH OF REVENUE OFFICERS
JOHN JAY. (From a painting by S. F. B. Morse in the Yale College
Collection)
JOHN ADAMS. (From a copy by Jane Stuart, about 1874, of a painting by
her father, Gilbert Stuart, about 1800-in possession of Henry Adams)
GEORGE CLINTON. (From a painting by Ezra Ames)
JOHN MARSHALL
ELERIDGE GERRY
GENERAL ARTHUR ST. CLAIR
JOSEPH BRANT OR THAYENDANEGEA
DUGOUT OF A SOUTHWESTERN PIONEER
ROBERT FULTON
FULTON'S FIRST EXPERIMENT WITH PADDLE-WHEELS
DEPARTURE OF THE CLERMONT ON HER FIRST VOYAGE
JOHN FITCH'S STEAMBOAT AT PHILADELPHIA
MASSACHUSETTS BILL OF THREE SHILLINGS IN 1741
NEW HAMPSHIRE BILL OF FORTY SHILLINGS IN 1742
MASSACHUSETTS TWOPENCE OF 1722
PINE TREE TWOPENCE
PINE TREE THREEPENCE
PINE TREE SIXPENCE
PINE TREE SHILLING
POSTAL PROGRESS, 1776-1876
COTTON PLANT
THE COTTON GIN. (From the original model)
ELI WHITNEY
THOMAS JEFFERSON. (From the painting by Gilbert Stuart--property of T.
Jefferson Coolidge)
AARON BURR. (From a painting by Vanderlyn at the New York Historical
Society)
STEPHEN DECATUR
LIEUTENANT DECATUR ON THE TURKISH VESSEL DURING THE BOMBARDMENT OF
TRIPOLI
JAMES MADISON (From a painting by Gilbert Stuart--property of T.
Jefferson Coolidge)
TECUMSEH
OLIVER H. PERRY
PERRY TRANSFERRING HIS COLORS FROM THE LAWRENCE TO THE NIAGARA
LIST OF MAPS
THE UNITED COLONIES AT THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION
PLAN OF BUNKER HILL
MAP OF MANHATTAN ISLAND IN 1776, SHOWING THE AMERICAN DEFENCES, ETC.
MAP SHOWING THE PROGRESSIVE ACQUISITION OF TERRITORY BY THE UNITED
STATES
PERIOD III.
REVOLUTION AND THE OLD CONFEDERATION
1763-1789
CHAPTER I.
RESULTS OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR
[1763]
The results of the French and Indian War were out of all proportion to
the scale of its military operations. Contrasted with the campaigns
which were then shaking all Europe, it sank into insignificance; and the
world, its eyes strained to see the magnitude and the issue of those
European wars, little surmised that they would dictate the course of
history far less than yonder desultory campaigning in America. Yet here
and there a political prophet foresaw some of these momentous indirect
consequences of the war. "England will erelong repent," said Vergennes,
then the French ambassador at Constantinople, "of having removed the
only check that could keep her colonies in awe. They no longer stand in
need of her protection. She will call on them to contribute toward
supporting the burdens they have helped to bring upon her, and they will
answer by striking off all dependence." This is, in outline, the history
of the next twenty years.
The war in Europe and America had been a heavy drain upon the treasury
of England. Her national debt had doubled, amounting at the conclusion
of peace to 140,000,000 Pounds sterling. The Government naturally
desired to lay upon its American subjects a portion of this burden,
which had been incurred partly on their behalf. The result was that new
system of taxation which the king and his ministers sought to impose
upon the colonies, and which was the immediate cause of the Revolution.
The hated taxes cannot, of course, be traced to the French and Indian
War alone as their source. England had for years shown a growing purpose
to get revenue out of her American dependencies; but the debt incurred
by the war gave an animus and a momentum to this policy which carried it
forward in the face of opposition that might otherwise have warned even
George III. to pause ere it was too late.
[1765]
While the war thus indirectly led England to encroach upon the rights of
the colonies, it also did much to prepare the latter to resist such
encroachment. It had this effect mainly in two ways: by promoting union
among the colonies, and by giving to many of their citizens a good
training in the duties of camp, march, and battle-field.
The value to the colonists of their military experience in this war can
hardly be overestimated. If the outbreak of the Revolution had found the
Americans a generation of civilians, if the colonial cause had lacked
the privates who had seen hard service at Lake George and Louisburg, or
the officers, such as Washington, Gates, Montgomery, Stark, and Putnam,
who had learned to fight successfully against British regulars by
fighting with them, it is a question whether the uprising would not have
been stamped out, for a time at least, almost at its inception.
Especially at the beginning of such a war, when the first necessity is
to get a peaceful nation under arms as quickly as possible, a few
soldier-citizens are invaluable. They form the nucleus of the rising
army, and set the standard for military organization and discipline. In
fact, the French and Indian War would have repaid the colonies all it
cost even if its only result had been to give the youthful Washington
that schooling in arms which helped fit him to command the Continental
armies. Without the Washington of Fort Necessity and of Braddock's
defeat, we could in all likelihood never have had the Washington of
Trenton and Yorktown. Besides Washington, to say nothing of Gates, Gage,
and Mercer, also there, Dan Morgan, of Virginia, began to learn war in
the Braddock campaign.
Bloody Pond, near Lake George, which is said to still contain the
bones of many of those who fell in the fight at Fort William Henry.
Again, the war prepared the colonists for the Revolution by revealing to
them their own rare fighting quality, and by showing that the dreaded
British regulars were not invincible. No foe would, at Saratoga or
Monmouth, see the backs of the men who had covered the redcoats' retreat
from the field of Braddock's death, scaled the abatis of Louisburg, or
brained Dieskau's regulars on the parapet of Fort William Henry.
But there was one thing even more necessary to the Revolutionists than
skill at arms, and that was union. Their only hope of successful
resistance against the might of England lay in concerted action, and
perhaps the most important result of the long war through which they had
been passing was the sense of union and of a common cause with which it
had inspired the thirteen colonies. This feeling was of course still
none too intense. But during the long war the colonies had drawn nearer
to one another than ever before. Soldiers from New Hampshire and North
Carolina, from Virginia and Massachusetts, bivouacked together, and
fought shoulder to shoulder. Colonial officers forgot local jealousies
in a common resentment of the contempt and neglect shown them all alike
by the haughty subalterns of the king. Mutual good-will was fostered by
the money and troops which the southern and less exposed colonies sent
to their sister commonwealths on the frontier. In these and numberless
minor ways a community of sentiment was engendered which, imperfect as
it was, yet prepared the way for that hearty co-operation which was to
carry the infant States through the fiery trial just before them.
It is important to remember, as well, not only that the war built up
this conviction of a common interest, but that nothing except the war
could have done it. The great forces of nineteenth-century
civilization--the locomotive, the telegraph, the modern daily
newspaper--which now bind sixty millions of people, spread over half a
continent, into one nation, were then unknown. The means of
communication and transportation between the colonies were very
primitive. Roads were rough, full of steeps and cuts, and in many
places, especially near cities, almost impassable with mire. It took
seven days to go by stage from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, four days
from Boston to New York. The mail service was correspondingly inadequate
and slow. At times in winter a letter would be five weeks in going from
Philadelphia to Virginia. The newspapers were few, contained little
news, and the circulation of each was necessarily confined to a very
limited area. It has been estimated that the reading-matter in all the
forty-three papers which existed at the close of the Revolution would
not fill ten pages of the New York Herald now. In connection with this
state of things consider the fact that the idea of colonial solidarity
had not then, as now, merely to be sustained. It had to be created
outright. Local pride and jealousy were still strong. Each colony had
thought of itself as a complete and isolated political body, in a way
which it is difficult for us, after a hundred years of national unity,
to conceive. Plainly a lifetime of peace would not have begotten the
same degree of consolidation among the colonies which the war, with its
common danger and common purpose, called into being in a half-dozen
years.
The war did yet another important service by removing a dangerous
neighbor of the colonies. So long as France, ambitious and warlike, kept
foot-hold in the New World, the colonies had to look to the
mother-country for protection. But this danger gone, England ceased to
be necessary to the safety of the embryo political communities, and her
sovereignty was therefore the more readily renounced. English statesmen
foresaw this danger before the Peace of Paris, and but for the
magnanimity of Pitt our western territory might after all have been left
in the hands of France.
And the cession of Canada, besides removing an enemy, helped to
transform that enemy into an active friend. Had France retained her
possessions in America, she would still have had an interest in
maintaining the colonial system, and it is doubtful if even her hatred
of England would have induced her to aid the rebellious colonies. But,
her dream of a great Western empire forever dispelled, she had much to
gain and nothing to lose by drawing sword for the American cause. The
British defeated the French at Quebec only to meet them again at
Yorktown.
One more result remains to be noted, without which what has preceded
would lose half its significance. By the Peace of Paris England
succeeded to all of France's possessions in America east of the
Mississippi; but the most valuable part of this great territory she won
only to hold in trust a few years for her colonial children. The
redcoats under Amherst and Wolfe, who thought they were fighting for
King George, were in reality winning an empire for the Young Republic.
It is not easy to feel the full significance of this. The colonies
might, indeed, have won independence even if France had retained her
grasp on the valley of the Mississippi; but so long as the new-born
nation was shut up to a narrow strip along the Atlantic coast, it would
have been a lion caged. The "conquest of Canada," says Green, "by ...
flinging open to their energies in the days to come the boundless plains
of the West, laid the foundation of the United States."
CHAPTER II.
GEORGE III. AND HIS AMERICAN COLONIES
[1760]
The year after the capture of Quebec a young king ascended the throne of
England, whose action was to affect profoundly the fortunes of the
American colonies. Of narrow mental range and plebeian tastes, but
moral, sincere, and stout-hearted, George III. assumed the crown with
one dominant purpose--to rule personally; and the first decade of his
reign was a constant struggle to free himself from the dictation of
cabinet ministers. In 1770, during the premiership of North, who was
little more than his page, the king gained the day; and for the next
dozen years he had his own way perfectly. All points of policy, foreign
and domestic, even the management of debates in Parliament, he was
crafty enough to get into his hands. To this meddling of his with state
affairs, his impracticable and fickle plans, and the stupidity of the
admirers whom his policy forced upon him, may be traced in very large
measure the breach between England and the colonies.
The Revolution, however, cannot be wholly accounted for by any series of
events which can be set down and labelled. The ultimate causes lie
deeper. Three thousand miles of ocean rolled between England and the
colonies. A considerable measure of colonial self-government was
inevitable from the first, and this, by fostering the spirit of
independence, created a demand for more and more freedom. The social
ties which had bound the early Pilgrims to their native land grew
steadily weaker with each new generation of people who knew no home but
America. The colonists had begun to feel the stirrings of an independent
national life. The boundless possibilities of the future on this new
continent, with its immense territory and untold natural wealth, were
beginning to dawn upon them. Their infancy was over. The leading-strings
which bound them to the mother-country must be either lengthened or cast
off altogether.
King George III.
But England did not see this. Most Englishmen at the beginning of George
III.'s reign regarded the colonies as trading corporations rather than
as political bodies. It was taken for granted that a colony was inferior
to the mother-country, and was to be managed in the interests of the
commercial classes at home. Conflict was therefore inevitable sooner or
later. We have to trace briefly the chief events by which it was
precipitated.
James Otis, Jr.
[1764]
In 1760-61 England tried to enforce the navigation laws more strictly.
Writs of assistance issued, empowering officers to enter any house at
any time, to search for smuggled goods. This measure aroused a storm of
indignation. The popular feeling was voiced, and at the same time
intensified, by the action of James Otis, Jr., a young Boston lawyer,
who threw up his position as advocate-general rather than defend the
hated writs, which he denounced as "instruments of slavery." "Then and
there," said John Adams, "the trumpet of the Revolution was sounded."
In May, 1764, a report reached Boston that a stamp act for the colonies
had been proposed in Parliament, to raise revenue by forcing the use in
America of stamped forms for all sorts of public papers, such as deeds,
warrants, and the like. A feeling of mingled rage and alarm seized the
colonists. It seemed that a deliberate blow was about to be struck at
their liberties. From the day of their founding the colonies had never
been taxed directly except by their own legislatures. Massachusetts, New
York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Virginia at once sent
humble but earnest protests to Parliament against the proposed
innovation.
The act was nevertheless passed in March of the next year, with almost
no opposition. By its provisions, business documents were illegal and
void unless written on the stamped paper. The cheapest stamp cost a
shilling, the price ranging upward from that according to the importance
of the document. The prepared paper had to be paid for in specie, a
hardship indeed in a community where lawsuits were very common, and
whose entire solid coin would not have sufficed to pay the revenue for a
single year. Even bitterest Tories' declared this requirement
indefensible. Another flagrant feature of the act was the provision that
violators of it should be tried without a jury, before a judge whose
only pay came from his own condemnations.
Burning the Stamps in New York.
[1765]
The effect upon the colonies was like that of a bomb in a
powder-magazine. The people rose up en masse. In every province the
stamp-distributor was compelled to resign. In Portsmouth, N. H., the
newspaper came out in mourning, and an effigy of the Goddess of Liberty
was carried to the grave. The Connecticut legislature ordered a day of
fasting and prayer kept, and an inventory of powder and ball taken. In
New York a bonfire was made of the stamps in the public square. The
bells in Charleston, S. C., were tolled, and the flags on the ships in
the harbor hung at half-mast. The colonists entered into agreements to
buy no goods from England until the act was repealed. Even mourning
clothes, since they must be imported, were not to be worn, and lamb's
flesh was abjured that more wool might be raised for home manufacture.
England's colonial trade fell off so alarmingly in consequence that
Manchester manufacturers petitioned Parliament to repeal the act,
asserting that nine-tenths of their workmen were idle. Besides these
popular demonstrations, delegates from nine colonies met in New York, in
October, 1765, often called the Stamp Act Congress, and adopted a
declaration of rights, asserting that England had no right to tax them
without their consent. During the days of the Stamp Act excitement, the
term "colonist" gave way to "American," and "English" to "British," a
term of the deeper opprobrium because Bute, the king's chief adviser,
was a Briton.
Startled by this unexpected resistance, Parliament, in January of the
next year, began to debate repeal. We must in fairness to England look
at both sides of the problem of colonial taxation. As general
administrator of colonial affairs, the English Government naturally
desired a fixed and certain revenue in America, both for frontier
defence against Indians and French and for the payment of colonial
governors. While each stood ready to defend its own territory, the
colonies were no doubt meanly slow about contributing to any common
fund. They were frequently at loggerheads, too, with their governors
over the question of salaries. On the other hand, the colonists made the
strong plea that self-taxation was their only safeguard against tyranny
of king, Parliament, or governor.
In the great debate which now ensued in Parliament over England's right
to tax America, Mansfield, the greatest constitutional lawyer of his
day, maintained--first, that America was represented in Parliament as
much as Manchester and several other large cities in England which
elected no members to the House of Commons, and yet were taxed; and,
second, that an internal tax, such as that on stamps, was identical in
principle with customs duties, which the colonies had never resisted. In
reply, Pitt, the great champion of the colonies, asserted--first, that
the case of the colonies was not at all like that of Manchester; the
latter happened not to be represented at that time because the election
laws needed reforming, while the colonies, being three thousand miles
away, could in the nature of the case never be adequately represented in
an English Parliament; and, second, that as a matter of fact a sharp
distinction had always, since the Great Charter, been made between
internal taxation and customs duties.
Had the colonies rested their case upon constitutional argument alone it
would have been relatively weak. While it was then a question, and will
be forever, whether the American settlements were king's colonies,
Parliament's colonies, or neither, but peculiar communities which had
resulted from growth, the English lawyers had a good deal of logic on
their side. Unconstitutional measures had indeed been resorted to--the
writs of assistance, taking Americans beyond sea for trial, internal
taxation; yet the real grievance lay far less in these things than in
the fact that the English constitution itself was working in a manner
contrary to colonial interests. Social considerations, too, accounted
for more bitterness than has usually been thought. Our fathers hated the
presence here of a privileged class.
George III.'s policy was therefore wiser legally than politically. This
was, in fact, his ministry's capital mistake--like Lord Salisbury's in
respect to Ireland in 1888--that it had too great regard for the mere
legal aspect of the question, ignoring the practical. The colonists were
too numerous, powerful, and far away, longer to be governed from home,
at least by the old plan. To attempt perpetuation of the old regime
might be lawful, but was certainly impracticable and stupid. Hence
Americans like Jefferson showed themselves consummate politicians in
going beyond Pitt's contention from the constitution and from precedent,
and appealing to the "natural rights" of the colonists. "Our rights,"
said Otis, in substance, "do not rest on a charter, but are inherent in
us as men." "The people" said John Adams in 1765, "have rights
antecedent to all earthly government."
[1767]
The Stamp Act was repealed in February. Its principle, however, was
immediately re-asserted by the "Declaratory Act," in which Parliament
claimed power over the colonies "in all cases whatsoever." The repeal
caused great rejoicing in America; but neither king nor Parliament had
changed policy respecting colonial affairs. There soon followed, in
rapid succession, that series of blundering acts of oppression which
completed the work begun by the Stamp Act, and drove the colonists into
rebellion.
In 1767 duties were laid upon glass, paper, painters' colors, and tea.
Massachusetts, again taking the lead, sent a circular-letter to all the
colonies, proposing a united supplication to the throne. For refusal to
rescind this letter the Massachusetts assembly was dissolved at the
command of the angry king. This refusal was the first denial of the
king's prerogative; only the authority of Parliament had been resisted
before. The soul of the colonial cause in Massachusetts at this time was
Samuel Adams, of Boston, "the last of the Puritans," a man of powerful
and logical mind, intrepid heart, and incorruptible patriotism.
America's debt to him for his work in these early years cannot be
estimated. At this juncture he organized committees of safety and
correspondence throughout Massachusetts, which led to the formation of
such committees in the other colonies. They did an invaluable work in
binding the scattered sections together, and providing for emergencies.
[1768]
The Billeting Act, which required the colonists to lodge and feed the
British troops quartered among them, added fuel to the flames. In 1768
the New York legislature refused to comply, and Parliament suspended its
legislative functions.
[1770]
In the fall of the same year, seizing as a pretext two ship-riots which
had occurred in the summer, the king stationed four regiments in Boston.
Public sentiment was shocked and indignant at this establishment of a
military guard over a peaceable community. The presence of the soldiers
was a constant source of irritation. Frequent altercations occurred
between the soldiers and the lower class of citizens. The trouble
culminated in the Boston Massacre of March 5, 1770. A squad of soldiers,
set upon by a mob of men and boys, fired into the crowd, killing three
persons and wounding eight others. That the soldiers had considerable
justification is proved by the fact that a jury acquitted all but two,
who were convicted of manslaughter, and branded. But exaggerated reports
of the occurrence spread like wildfire throughout the colonies, and
wrought powerfully for hatred against England.
[1772]
During the next two or three years there was comparative quiet.
Massachusetts, it is true, under the tutelage of Samuel Adams, grew more
radical in its demands. In 1772 the committee of Boston issued a
statement of grievances, adding, as new complaints, the sending of
persons to England for trial, restraints upon colonial manufacturers,
and a rumored plan to establish bishops over America. This statement was
approved by all the colonies, and was sent to Franklin in London. The
country as a whole, however, was weary of the strife, and would gladly
have returned to the old cordial relations with the mother-land.
The Boston Massacre.
From an Engraving by Paul Revere.
[1773]
But George III. could not rest without asserting his supremacy over
America. He made an arrangement with the East India Company by which tea
could be bought in America, spite of the hated tax, cheaper than in
England. Then, at the king's instigation, large shipments of tea were
made to America. The colonists saw through the cunning attempt, and the
tide of resistance rose higher than ever. At New York and Philadelphia
the tea-ships were forced to put to sea again without unlading. At
Charleston the tea was stored in damp cellars and soon spoiled. At
Boston there was a deadlock; the people would not let the tea be landed;
the governor would not let the ships sail without unlading. On the
evening of December 16, 1773, the tax falling due on the next day, a
party of fifty citizens, disguised as Indians, boarded the ships, and
threw three hundred and forty-two chests of tea into the harbor.
[1774]
The Boston tea-party aroused all the blind obstinacy of George III.
"Blows must decide," he exclaimed; "the guilty rebels are to be forced
to submission," The king's anger led to the Boston Port Bill, which was
passed the next year, and closed Boston harbor to all commerce. Changes
were also made in the government of Massachusetts, rendering it almost
entirely independent of the people. Town meetings were forbidden except
for elections. Poor Massachusetts, her liberties curtailed, her commerce
ruined, appealed to her sister colonies for support, and they responded
right heartily. In three weeks from the news of the Port Bill all the
colonies had made the cause of Massachusetts their own. Expressions of
sympathy and liberal gifts of money and provisions poured into Boston
from all over the country. The first Continental Congress assembled at
Philadelphia in September. All the colonies but Georgia were
represented. An earnest statement of grievances was drawn up, with a
prayer to the king for redress. The action of Massachusetts was
approved, and an agreement entered into to suspend all commerce with
England.
Things now hastened rapidly toward open war. British troops were
stationed in Boston, and began fortification. Military preparations were
making everywhere among the colonists. The train was laid. Only a spark
was needed to bring the dreaded explosion.
CHAPTER III.
INDEPENDENCE AND THE NEW STATES
[1775]
The thought of independence in the minds of the colonists was of
surprisingly slow growth. The feeling of dependence on the
mother-country and of loyalty to the king was deep-rooted and died hard.
Even union, which was a pre-requisite to a successful struggle for
independence, came slowly. The old New England Confederation, in 1643-
84, between Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven, for
defence against Indians, Dutch, and French, ended without ever having
manifested the slightest vigor. In the latter half of the seventeenth
century Virginia had alliances with some sister colonies for protection
against Indians; but there was no call for a general congress until the
French and Indian attack on Schenectady, in 1690, during King William's
War. Representatives from New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and
Plymouth met that year at New York; letters came from Virginia,
Maryland, and Rhode Island. But no permanent union was proposed here,
nor at any of the similar meetings, seven at least, which occurred
between 1690 and 1750.
The Albany Convention, which met in 1754 to prepare for the French and
Indian War, adopted a plan for union presented by Franklin, providing
for a president-general appointed and supported by the Crown, and for a
grand council of delegates elected triennially by the colonies according
to population, and empowered, within limits, to lay taxes and make laws
for the common interest of English America. Franklin believed that the
adoption of this scheme would have postponed the Revolution a century.
But, as it gave so much power to the king, it was rejected by the people
in every colony.
Even after English oppression and the diligent agency of committees of
correspondence had brought union, and delegates from the colonies had
met again and again in Congress, the thought of breaking away from the
mother-land was strange to the minds of nearly all. The instructions to
the delegates to the first Congress, in September, 1774, gave no
suggestion of independence. On the contrary, colony after colony urged
its representatives to seek the restoration of "harmony and union" with
England. This Congress branded as "calumny" the charge that it wished
"independency." Washington wrote, from the Congress, that independence
was then not "desired by any thinking man in America."
Pine Tree Flag of Massachusetts.
"AN APPEAL TO HEAVEN".
Rattlesnake Flag of South Carolina.
"DON'T TREAD ON ME".
The feeling was much the same in 1775. Pennsylvania "strictly" commanded
her representatives to dissent from any "proposition that may lead to
separation." Maryland gave similar instructions in January, 1776.
Independence was neither the avowed nor the conscious object in
defending Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775. Washington's commission as
commander-in-chief, two days later, gave no hint of it. And the New
Hampshire legislature so late as December 25, 1775, in the very act of
framing a new state government, "totally disavowed" all such aim. In the
fall of 1775 Congress declared that it had "not raised armies with the
ambitious design of separation from Great Britain."
The swift change which, a little more than six months later, made the
Declaration of Independence possible and even popular, has never yet
been fully explained. In May, 1775, John Adams had been cautioned by the
Philadelphia Sons of Liberty not to utter the word independence. "It is
as unpopular," they said, in "Pennsylvania and all the Middle and
Southern States as the Stamp Act itself." Early in 1776 this same great
man wrote that there was hardly a newspaper in America but openly
advocated independence. In the spring of 1776 the conservative
Washington declared, "Reconciliation is impracticable. Nothing but
independence will save us." Statesmen began to see that longer delay was
dangerous, that permanent union turned upon independence, and that,
without a government of their own, people would by and by demand back
their old constitution, as the English did after Cromwell's death. "The
country is not only ripe for independence," said Witherspoon, of New
Jersey, debating in Congress, "but is in danger of becoming rotten for
lack of it."
Colony after colony now came rapidly into line. Massachusetts gave
instructions to her delegates in Congress, virtually favoring
independence, in January, 1776. Georgia did the same in February, South
Carolina in March. Express authority to "concur in independency" came
first from North Carolina, April 12th, and the following May 31st
Mecklenburg County in that State explicitly declared its independence of
England. On May 1st Massachusetts began to disuse the king's name in
public instruments. May 4th, Rhode Island renounced allegiance almost in
terms. On May 15th brave old Virginia ordered her delegates in Congress
to bite right into the sour apple and propose independence. Connecticut,
New Hampshire, Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania took action in the
same direction during the following month.
[1776]
Union Flag. The first recognized Continental Standard, raised for the
first time January 2,1776.
The king's brutal attitude had much to do with this sudden change. The
colonists had nursed the belief that the king was misled by his
ministers. A last petition, couched in respectful terms, was drawn up by
Congress in the summer of 1775, and sent to England. Out of respect to
the feelings of good John Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, who still clung to
England, this address was tempered with a submissiveness which offended
many members. On its being read, Dickinson remarked that but one word in
it displeased him, the word "Congress;" to which Colonel Ben Harrison,
of Virginia, retorted that but one word in it pleased him, and that
"Congress" was precisely the word.
The appeal was idle. The king's only answer was a violent proclamation
denouncing the Americans as rebels. It was learned at the same time that
he was preparing to place Indians, negroes, and German mercenaries in
arms against them. The truth was forced upon the most reluctant, that
the root of England's obduracy was in the king personally, and that
further supplications were useless. The surprising success of the
colonial arms, the shedding of blood at Lexington, Concord, and Bunker
Hill--all which, remember, antedated the Declaration--the increase and
the ravages of the royal army and navy in America, were all efficient in
urging the colonists to break utterly and forever from the
mother-country.
[1772]
The behavior of the Gaspe officers in Narragansett Bay, their illegal
seizures, plundering expeditions on shore, and wanton manners in
stopping and searching boats, illustrate the spirit of the king's
hirelings in America at this time. At last the Rhode Islanders could
endure it no longer. Early on the morning of June 9, 1772, Captain
Abraham Whipple, with a few boatloads of trusty aides, dropped down the
river from Providence to what is now called Gaspe Point, six or seven
miles below the city, where the offending craft had run aground the
previous evening in giving chase to the Newport-Providence packet-boat,
and after a spirited fight mastered the Gaspe's company, put them on
shore, and burned the ship. There would be much propriety in dating the
Revolution from this daring act.
[1774]
Nor was this the only case of Rhode Island's forwardness in the
struggle. December 5, 1774, her General Assembly ordered Colonel
Nightingale to remove to Providence all the cannon and ammunition of
Fort George, except three guns, and this was done before the end of the
next day. More than forty cannon, with much powder and shot, were thus
husbanded for service to come. News of this was carried to New
Hampshire, and resulted in the capture of Fort William and Mary at New
Castle, December 14, 1774, which some have referred to as the opening
act of the Revolution. This deed was accomplished by fourteen men from
Durham, who entered the fort at night when the officers were at a ball
in Portsmouth. The powder which they captured is said to have done duty
at Bunker Hill.
[1776]
Most potent of all as a cause of the resolution to separate was Thomas
Paine's pamphlet, "Common Sense," published in January, 1776, and
circulated widely throughout the colonies. Its lucid style, its homely
way of putting things, and its appeals to Scripture must have given it
at any rate a strong hold upon the masses of the people. It was doubly
and trebly triumphant from the fact that it voiced, in clear, bold
terms, a long-growing popular conviction of the propriety of
independence, stronger than men had dared to admit even to themselves.
Thomas Paine.
On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, rose in Congress, and,
in obedience to the command of his State, moved a resolution "that the
united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent
States." John Adams seconded the motion. It led to great debate, which
evinced that New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and South
Carolina were not yet quite ready for so radical a step. Postponement
was therefore had till July 1st, a committee meantime being appointed to
draft a declaration.
On July 2d, after further long debate, participated in by John Adams,
Dickinson, Wilson, and many other of the ablest men in Congress, not
all, even now, favorable to the measure, the famous Declaration of
Independence was adopted by vote of all the colonies but New York, whose
representatives abstained from voting for lack of sufficiently definite
instructions. We celebrate July 4th because on that day the document was
authenticated by the signatures of the President and Secretary of
Congress, and published, Not until August 2d had all the representatives
affixed their names. Ellery stood at the secretary's side as the various
delegates signed, and declares that he saw only dauntless resolution in
every eye. "Now we must hang together," said Franklin, "or we shall hang
separately."
The honor of writing the Declaration belongs to Thomas Jefferson, of
Virginia, who was to play so prominent a part in the early political
history of the United States. At this time he was thirty-three years
old. He was by profession a lawyer, of elegant tastes, well read in
literature, deeply versed in political history and philosophy. He was
chosen to draft the instrument chiefly because of the great ability of
other state papers from his pen. It is said that he consulted no books
during the composition, but wrote from the overflowing fulness of his
mind.
It is an interesting inquiry how far the language of the document was
determined by utterances of a like kind already put forth by towns and
counties. There had been many of these, and much discussion has occurred
upon the question which of them was first. Perhaps the honor belongs to
the town of Sheffield, Mass., which so early as January 12, 1773,
proclaimed the grievances and the rights of the colonies, among these
the right of self-government. Mendon, in the same State, in the same
year passed resolutions containing three fundamental propositions of the
great Declaration itself: that all men have an equal right to life and
liberty, that this right is inalienable, and that government must
originate in the free consent of the people. It is worthy of note that
the only important change made by Congress in what Jefferson had
prepared was the striking out, in deference to South Carolina and
Georgia, of a clause reflecting on slavery.
Copies of the immortal paper were carried post-haste up and down the
land, and Congress's bold deed was everywhere hailed with enthusiastic
demonstrations of joy. The stand for independence wrought powerfully for
good, both at home and abroad. At home it assisted vacillating minds to
a decision, as well as bound all the colonies more firmly together by
committing them irreconcilably to an aggressive policy. Abroad it tended
to lift the colonies out of the position of rebels and to gain them
recognition among the nations of the earth.
Let us now inquire into the political character of these bodies of
people which this Declaration by their delegates had erected into "free
and independent States."
Five colonies had adopted constitutions, revolutionary of course, before
the decisive manifesto. There was urgent need for such action. The few
remaining fragments of royal governments were powerless and decadent.
Anarchy was threatening everywhere. Some of the royal governors had
fled. In South Carolina the judges refused to act. In other places, as
western Massachusetts, they had been forcibly prevented from acting. In
most of the colonies only small parts of the old assemblies could be
gotten together.
New Hampshire led off with a new constitution in January, 1776. South
Carolina followed in March. By the close of the year nearly all the
colonies had established governments of their own. New York and Georgia
did not formally adopt new constitutions until the next year. In
Massachusetts a popular assembly assumed legislative and executive
powers from July, 1775, till 1780, when a new constitution went into
force. Connecticut and Rhode Island, as we have seen already, continued
to use their royal charters--the former till 1818, the latter till 1842.
Nowhere was the general framework of government greatly changed by
independence. The governors were of course now elected by the people,
and they suffered some diminution of power. Legislatures were composed
of two houses, both elective, no hereditary legislators being
recognized. All the States still had Sunday laws; most of them had
religious tests. In South Carolina only members of a church could vote.
In New Jersey an office-holder must profess belief in the faith of some
Protestant sect. Pennsylvania required members of the legislature to
avow faith in God, a future state, and the inspiration of the
Scriptures. The new Massachusetts constitution provided that laws
against plays, extravagance in dress, diet, etc., should be passed.
Property qualifications continued to limit suffrage. Virginia and
Georgia changed their land laws, abolishing entails and primogeniture.
The sole momentous novelty was that everyone of the new constitutions
proceeded upon the theory of popular sovereignty. The new governments
derived their authority solely and directly from the people. And this
authority, too, was not surrendered to the government, but simply--and
this only in part--intrusted to it as the temporary agent of the
sovereign people, who remained throughout the exclusive source of
political power.
The new instruments of government were necessarily faulty and imperfect.
All have since been amended, and several entirely remodelled. But they
rescued the colonies from impending anarchy and carried them safely
through the throes of the Revolution.
CHAPTER IV.
OUTBREAK OF WAR: WASHINGTON'S MOVEMENTS
[1775]
By the spring of 1775 Massachusetts was practically in rebellion. Every
village green was a drill-ground, every church a town arsenal. General
Gage occupied Boston with 3,000 British regulars. The flames were
smouldering; at the slightest puff they would flash out into open war.
On the night of April 18th people along the road from Boston to Concord
were roused from sleep by the cry of flying couriers--"To arms! The
redcoats are coming!" When the British advance reached Lexington at
early dawn, it found sixty or seventy minute-men drawn up on the green.
"Disperse, ye rebels!" shouted the British officer. A volley was fired,
and seven Americans fell dead. The king's troops, with a shout, pushed
on to Concord. Most of the military stores, however, which they had come
to destroy had been removed. A British detachment advanced to Concord
Bridge, and in the skirmish here the Americans returned the British
fire.
Map of the United Colonies at the Beginning of the Revolution.
"By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world."
[Footnote: From R. W. Emerson's Concord Hymn, sung at the completion of
the Battle Monument near Concord North Bridge, April 19, 1836.]
Bunker Hill and Breed's Hill.
A Profile View of the Heights of Charlestown.
The whole country was by this time swarming with minute-men. The crack
of the rifle was heard from behind every wall and fence and tree along
the line of march. The redcoats kept falling one by one at the hands of
an invisible foe. The march became a retreat, the retreat almost a rout.
At sunset the panting troops found shelter in Boston. Out of 1,800
nearly 300 were killed, wounded, or missing. The American loss was about
ninety. The war of the rebellion had begun.
All that day and the next night the tramp of minute-men marching to
Boston was heard throughout New England, and by April 20th Gage was
cooped up in the city by an American army. May 25th, he received large
re-enforcements from England.
On the night of June 16th a thousand men armed with pick and spade stole
out of the American camp. At dawn the startled British found that a
redoubt had sprung up in the night on Breed's Hill (henceforward Bunker
Hill) in Charlestown. Boston was endangered, and the rebels must be
dislodged. About half-past two 2,500 British regulars marched silently
and in perfect order up the hill, expecting to drive out the "rustics"
at the first charge. Colonel Prescott, the commanding American officer,
waited till the regulars were within ten rods. "Fire!" A sheet of flame
burst from the redoubt. The front ranks of the British melted away, and
His Majesty's invincibles retreated in confusion to the foot of the
hill. Again they advance. Again that terrible fire. Again they waver and
fall back. Once more the plucky fellows form for the charge, this time
with bayonets alone. When they are within twenty yards, the muskets
behind the earthworks send forth one deadly discharge, and then are
silent. The ammunition is exhausted. The British swarm into the redoubt.
The Continentals reluctantly retire, Prescott among the last, his coat
rent by bayonets. Joseph Warren, of Boston, the idol of Massachusetts,
was shot while leaving the redoubt. The British killed and wounded
amounted to 1,054--157 of them being officers; the American loss was
nearly 500. The battle put an end to further offensive movements by
Gage. It was a virtual victory for the untrained farmer troops, and all
America took courage.
Plan of Bunker Hill.
A. Boston Battery. B. Charlestown.
C. British troops attacking. D. Provincial lines.
Bunker Hill Battle.
From a Contemporary Print.
Two days before, Congress had chosen George Washington
commander-in-chief, and on July 2d he arrived at Cambridge. Washington
was forty-three years old. Over six feet in height, and
well-proportioned, he combined great dignity with ease. His early life
as surveyor in a wild country had developed in him marvellous powers of
endurance. His experience in the French and Indian War had given him
considerable military knowledge. But his best title to the high honor
now thrust upon him lay in his wonderful self-control, sound judgment,
lofty patriotism, and sublime courage, which were to carry him, calm and
unflinching, through perplexities and discouragements that would have
overwhelmed a smaller or a meaner man.
Washington fought England with his hands tied. The Continental
government was the worst possible for carrying on war. There was no
executive. The action of legislative committees was slow and
vacillating, and at best Congress could not enforce obedience on the
part of a colony. Congress, too, afraid of a standing army, would
authorize only short enlistments, so that Washington had frequently to
discharge one army and form another in the face of the enemy. His troops
were ill-disciplined, and scantily supplied with clothing, tents,
weapons, and ammunition. Skilled officers were few, and these rarely
free from local and personal jealousies, impairing their efficiency.
[1776]
Washington found that the army around Boston consisted of about 14,500
men fit for duty. He estimated the British forces at 11,000. All the
fall and winter he was obliged to lie inactive for want of powder.
Meantime he distressed the British as much as possible by a close siege.
In the spring, having got more powder, he fortified Dorchester Heights.
The city was now untenable, and on March 17, 1776, all the British
troops, under command of Howe who had succeeded Gage, sailed out of
Boston harbor, never again to set foot on Massachusetts soil.
Joseph Warren.
June 28th, a British fleet of ten vessels opened fire on Fort Moultrie,
in Charleston harbor, S. C. The fort, commanded by Colonel Moultrie,
returned the fire with remarkable accuracy, and after an engagement of
twelve hours the fleet withdrew, badly crippled. This victory gave
security to South Carolina and Georgia for three years.
The discomfited fleet sailed for New York, where the British forces were
concentrating. The plan was to seize the Middle States, and thus keep
North and South from helping one another. August 1st, 2,500 English
troops and 8,000 Hessians arrived. The effective British force was now
about 25,000. Washington was holding New York City with about 10,000 men
fit for duty.
Driven from Long Island by the battle of August 27th, and forced to
abandon New York September 15th, Washington retreated up the Hudson, and
took up a strong position at White Plains. Here the British, attacking,
were defeated in a well-fought engagement; but as they were strongly
re-enforced on October 30th, Washington fell back to Newcastle. Early in
November, guessing that they intended to invade New Jersey and advance
on Philadelphia, he threw his main force across the Hudson.
General Howe.
The fortunes of the American army were now at the lowest ebb, so that
had Howe been an efficient general it must have been either captured or
entirely destroyed. Through the treason of Adjutant Demont, who had
deserted to Lord Percy with complete information of their weakness,
Forts Washington and Lee were captured, November 16th and 20th, with the
loss of 150 killed and wounded, and 2,634 prisoners, besides valuable
stores, small arms, and forty-three pieces of artillery. Manhattan
Island was lost. General Charles Lee, with a considerable portion of the
army, persistently refused to cross the Hudson. Washington, with the
troops remaining, was forced to retreat slowly across New Jersey, the
British army, under Cornwallis, at his very heels, often within
cannon-shot. The New Jersey people were lukewarm, and many accepted
Cornwallis's offers of amnesty. Congress, fearing that Philadelphia
would be taken, adjourned to Baltimore. December 8th, Washington crossed
the Delaware with less than 3,000 men. The British encamped on the
opposite bank of the river. The American army was safe for the present,
having secured all the boats and burned all the bridges within seventy
miles.
Map of Manhattan Island in 1776, showing the American Defences, etc.
General Charles Lee.
Although intended for a caricature, this is considered an excellent likeness.
Washington was soon re-enforced, and now had between five and six
thousand troops. He determined to strike a bold blow that would
electrify the drooping spirits of the army and the country. At Trenton
lay a body of 1,200 Hessians. Christmas night Washington crossed the
Delaware with 2,400 picked men. The current was swift, and the river
full of floating ice; but the boats were handled by Massachusetts
fishermen, and the passage was safely made. Then began the nine-mile
march to Trenton, in a blinding storm of sleet and hail. The soldiers,
many of whom were almost barefoot, stumbled on over the slippery road,
shielding their muskets from the storm as best they could. Trenton was
reached at eight o'clock on the morning of the 26th. An attack was made
by two columns simultaneously. The surprise was complete, and after a
half hour's struggle the Hessians surrendered. Nearly 1,000 prisoners
were taken, besides 1,200 small arms and six guns. Washington safely
retreated across the Delaware.
[1777]
Cornwallis, with 7,000 men, hurried from Princeton to attack the
American army. But Washington, on the night of January 2, 1777, leaving
his camp-fires burning, slipped around the British army, routed the
regiments left at Princeton, and pushing on northward went into winter
quarters at Morristown.
The next campaign opened late. It was the last of August when Howe, with
17,000 men, sailed from New York into Chesapeake Bay, and advanced
toward Philadelphia. Washington flung himself in his path at Brandywine,
September 11th, but was beaten back with heavy loss. September 26th the
British army marched into Philadelphia, whence Congress had fled.
October 4th, Washington attacked the British camp at Germantown. Victory
was almost his when two of the attacking parties, mistaking each other,
in the fog, for British, threw the movement into confusion, and
Washington had to fall back, with a loss of 1,000 men.
In December the American commander led his ragged army into winter
quarters at Valley Forge, twenty-one miles from Philadelphia. It was a
period of deep gloom. The war had been waged now for more than two
years, and less than nothing seemed to have been accomplished. Distrust
of Washington's ability sprang up in some minds. "Heaven grant us one
great soul!" exclaimed John Adams after Brandywine. Certain officers,
envious of Washington, began to intrigue for his place.
Meanwhile the army was shivering in its log huts at Valley Forge. Nearly
three thousand were barefoot. Many had to sit by the fires all night to
keep from freezing. One day there was a dinner of officers to which none
were admitted who had whole trousers. For days together there was no
bread in camp. The death-rate increased thirty-three per cent from week
to week.
Just now, however, amid this terrible Winter at Valley Forge, Baron
Steuben, a trained German soldier, who had been a pupil of Frederick
the Great, joined our army. Washington made him inspector-general, and
his rigorous daily drill vastly improved the discipline and the spirits
of the American troops. When they left camp in the spring, spite of the
hardships past, they formed a military force on which Washington could
reckon with certainty for efficient work.
Baron von Steuben.
[1778]
The British, after a gay winter in Philadelphia, startled by the news
that a French fleet was on its way to America, marched for New York,
June 18,1778. The American army overtook them at Monmouth on the 28th;
General Charles Lee--a traitor as we now know, and as Washington then
suspected, forced into high place by influence in Congress--General Lee
led the party intended to attack, but he delayed so long that the
British attacked him instead.
The Americans were retreating through a narrow defile when Washington
came upon the field, and his Herculean efforts, brilliantly seconded by
Wayne, stayed the rout. A stout stand was made, and the British were
held at bay till evening, when they retired and continued their march to
New York. Washington followed and took up his station at White Plains.
CHAPTER V.
THE NORTHERN CAMPAIGN
[1775]
At the outbreak of hostilities the thoughts of the colonists naturally
turned to the Canadian border, the old battleground of the French and
Indian War. Then and now a hostility was felt for Canada which had not
slumbered since the burning of Schenectady in 1690.
May 10, 1775, Ethan Allen, at the head of a party of "Green Mountain
Boys," surprised Fort Ticonderoga. Crown Point was taken two days later.
Two hundred and twenty cannon, besides other much-needed military
stores, fell into the hands of the Americans. Some of these heavy guns,
hauled over the Green Mountains on oxsleds the next winter, were planted
by Washington on Dorchester Heights.
In November, 1775, St. Johns and Montreal were captured by a small force
under General Montgomery. The Americans now seemed in a fair way to get
control of all Canada, which contained only 700 regular troops. It was
even hoped that Canada would make common cause with the colonies. Late
in the fall Benedict Arnold led 1,000 men up the Kennebec River and
through the wilderness--a terrible journey--to Quebec. Here he was
joined by Montgomery. On the night of December 30th, which was dark and
stormy, Montgomery and Arnold led their joint forces, numbering some
3,000, against the city. Arnold was to attack the lower town, while
Montgomery sought to gain the citadel. Montgomery had hardly passed the
first line of barricades when he was shot dead, and his troops retreated
in confusion. Arnold, too, was early wounded. Morgan, with 500 of his
famous riflemen, forced an entrance into the lower town. But they were
not re-enforced, and after a desperate street fight were taken
prisoners.
[1776]
A dreary and useless blockade was maintained for several months; until
in May the garrison sallied forth and routed the besiegers. The British
were successful in several small engagements during the summer of 1776;
and the Americans finally had to fall back to Crown Point and
Ticonderoga.
Richard Montgomery.
[1777]
In June of the next year a splendid expedition set sail from St. Johns
and swept proudly up Lake Champlain. Eight thousand British and Hessian
troops, under strict discipline and ably officered, forty cannon of the
best make, a horde of merciless Indians--with these forces General
Burgoyne, the commander of the expedition, expected to make an easy
conquest of upper New York, form a junction with Clinton at Albany, and,
by thus isolating New England from the Middle and Southern States, break
the back of the rebellion.
Ticonderoga was the first point of attack. Sugar Loaf Mountain, which
rose six hundred feet above the lake, had been neglected as too
difficult of access. Burgoyne's skilful engineers easily fortified this
on the night of July 4th, and Fort Ticonderoga became untenable. General
St. Clair, with his garrison of 3,000, at once evacuated it, and fled
south under cover of the night. He was pursued, and his rear guard of
1,200 men was shattered. The rest of his force reached Fort Edward.
The Death of Montgomery at Quebec.
The loss of Ticonderoga spread alarm throughout the North. General
Schuyler, the head of the Northern department, appealed to Washington
for re-enforcements, and fell back from Fort Edward to the junction of
the Mohawk and Hudson.
Meanwhile Burgoyne was making a toilsome march toward Fort Edward.
Schuyler had destroyed the bridges and obstructed the roads, so that the
invading army was twenty-four days in going twenty-six miles. Up to this
point Burgoyne's advance had been little less than a triumphal march;
difficulties now began to surround him like a net.
Burgoyne had arranged for a branch expedition of 700 troops and 1,000
Indians under St. Leger, to sail up Lake Ontario, sweep across western
New York, and join the main body at Albany. August 3d, this expedition
reached Fort Schuyler, and besieged it. A party of 800 militia, led by
General Herkimer, a veteran German soldier, while marching to relieve
the fort, was surprised by an Indian ambush. The bloody battle of
Oriskany followed. St. Leger's further advance was checked, and soon
after, alarmed by exaggerated reports of a second relief expedition
under Arnold, he hurried back to Canada.
At Bennington, twenty-five miles east of Burgoyne's line of march, the
Americans had a depot of stores and horses. Burgoyne, who was running
short of provisions, sent a body of 500 troops, under Baume, to capture
these stores, and overawe the inhabitants by a raid through the
Connecticut valley. About 2,000 militia hastened to the defence of
Bennington. General Stark, who had fought gallantly at Bunker Hill and
Trenton, took command. August 16th, Baume was attacked on three sides at
once, Stark himself leading the charge against the enemy's front. Again
and again his men dashed up the hill where the British lay behind
breastworks. After a fight of two hours Baume surrendered, overpowered
by superior numbers. Re-enforcements which came up a little later were
driven back with considerable loss. The Americans took 700 prisoners and
1,000 stands of arms.
General Herkimer at the Battle of Oriskany.
Burgoyne's situation was becoming dangerous. The failure of St. Leger
and the heavy loss at Bennington seriously disarranged his plans. The
troops detached to defend the posts in his rear had reduced his force to
about 6,000. He was greatly hampered by lack of provisions. Meanwhile
the American army had increased to 9,000. Schuyler had been supplanted
by Gates, who on September 12th advanced to a strong position on Bemis
Heights in the town of Stillwater. The right wing of the army rested on
the Hudson, the left on ridges and wood. In front was a ravine. On the
19th Burgoyne advanced to the attack in three columns. That led by
General Fraser, which tried to turn the American left, was the first to
engage. Arnold's wing, including Morgan's riflemen, met Fraser's
skirmishers a mile from the American lines. They were soon forced to
fall back; Burgoyne's central column came up, and the fight became
general. The battleground was covered by thick woods, with occasional
clearings, and the troops fought at close range. Four hours the battle
raged hotly. The British artillery was taken and retaken again and
again. Thirty-six of the forty-eight British gunners were either killed
or wounded. At sunset the Americans withdrew to their fortified lines,
leaving Burgoyne in possession of the field. It was a drawn battle, but
virtually a victory for the Americans. The British lost about 600, the
Americans half as many.
General John Stark.
Burgoyne's situation was now critical in the extreme. In the heart of
the enemy's country, his forces melting away while his opponents were
increasing, nearly out of provisions and his connections with his base
of supplies threatened by a party assailing Ticonderoga, Burgoyne's only
hope was that Clinton would force a passage up the Hudson. But the
latter, after capturing Forts Clinton and Montgomery early in October,
fell back to the lower Hudson and left Burgoyne to his fate.
October 7th, Burgoyne advanced a picked body of 1,500 men to reconnoitre
the American lines. Morgan's riflemen were sent out to "begin the game."
The fighting soon became even hotter than in the previous battle. In an
hour the whole British line was retreating toward the camp. At this
point Arnold, whom, because of his preference for Schuyler, Gates had
deprived of his command, filled with the fury of battle, dashed upon the
field and assumed his old command. The soldiers greeted him with cheers,
and he led them on in one impetuous charge after another. The enemy
everywhere gave way in confusion, and at dusk the Germans were even
driven from their entrenched camp. The British loss was fully 600.
General Horatio Gates.
The next day Burgoyne retreated to Saratoga, followed by Gates. The fine
army, which had set out with such high hopes only four months before,
was now almost a wreck. Eight hundred were in the hospital. On the 12th
the army had but five days' rations. Burgoyne could neither advance nor
retreat, and on the 17th he surrendered. The army were allowed free
passage to England on condition that they would not re-engage in the
war. The Americans got 35 superb cannon and 4,000 muskets. The Sunday
after the surrender, Timothy Dwight, afterward President of Yale
College, preached to Gates's soldiers from Joel ii. 20, "I will remove
far off from you the northern army."
Gates deserved little credit for the defeat of Burgoyne. Put forward by
New England influence against Schuyler, the favorite of New York, he but
reaped the results of the labors of Herkimer at Oriskany, of Stark at
Bennington, and of Schuyler in obstructing Burgoyne's advance and in
raising a sufficient army. Even in the two battles of Stillwater Gates
did next to nothing, not even appearing on the field. Arnold and Morgan
were the soul of the army on both days. Arnold's gallant conduct was at
once rewarded by a major-generalship. Schuyler, underrated and even
maligned in his day, had to wait for the approval of posterity, which he
has now fully obtained.
The surrender of Burgoyne was the most important event of the war up to
that time. It was of immense service at home, raising the country out of
the despondency which followed upon Brandywine and Germantown. Abroad it
disheartened England, and decided France to acknowledge the independence
of America and to send military aid. From the end of this year, 1777,
victory over England was a practical certainty.
CHAPTER VI.
THE SOUTHERN CAMPAIGNS
[1778]
After the summer of 1778 little of military importance occurred at the
North. July and November of that year were marked by bloody Indian
massacres at Wyoming, Pa., and Cherry Valley, N. Y., the worst in all
that border warfare which was incessant from the beginning to the end of
the Revolution. In August an unsuccessful attempt to regain Newport was
made by General Sullivan, co-operating with a French fleet under
D'Estaing. In the spring and summer of 1779, Clinton, who lay at New
York with a considerable army, closely watched by Washington, sent out
to Connecticut and the coasts of Virginia a number of plundering
expeditions which did much damage. "Mad Anthony Wayne" led a brilliant
attack against Stony Point on the Hudson, captured the British garrison,
and destroyed the fortifications. This year was also marked by a great
naval victory. Paul Jones lashed his vessel, the Bonhomme Richard, to
the British Serapis, off the northeast coast of England, and after a
desperate fight of three hours forced the Serapis to surrender.
But the brunt of the war now fell on the South, where the British,
unsuccessful in the Northern and Middle States, hoped for an easy
conquest. The capture of Savannah in December, 1778, and of Augusta the
next month, laid Georgia prostrate. The royal government was re-instated
by Prevost, the British general. Our General Lincoln, who had been
placed in command of the Southern army, assisted by D'Estaing with his
fleet, besieged Savannah, but on October 9, 1779, was repulsed with
heavy loss.
[1780]
In the spring of 1780 Clinton arrived from New York with a fleet and
troops. Charleston, S. C, was besieged by land and sea. Lincoln was
compelled to surrender with his whole army. Beaufort, Ninety-Six, and
Camden capitulated in rapid succession. Marauding expeditions overran
the State. President Andrew Jackson carried to his grave scars of hurts,
one on his head, another on his hand, given him by Tarleton's men when
he was a boy at Waxhaw. The patriots lay helpless. The loyalists
organized as militia and joined the British. Clinton, elated by success,
hoped to force the entire population into allegiance to the king. The
estates of patriots were sequestered. Any Carolinian found in arms
against the king might be, and multitudes were, hung for treason.
Clinton even issued a proclamation requiring all inhabitants to take
active part on the royalist side. Sumter, Marion, and other leaders,
gathering around them little companies of bold men, carried on a
guerilla warfare which proved very annoying to the British. They would
sally forth from their hiding-places in the swamps, surprise some
British outpost or cut off some detachment, and retreat with their
booty and prisoners before pursuit could be made.
John Paul Jones's Medal.
"Joanni Pavlo Jones" "Classis Praefecto." "Comitia American"
John Paul Jones's Medal (Reverse).
"HOSTIVM NAVIBVS" "CAPTIS AVTFVCATTS"
"AD ORAM SCOTIAE XXIII SEPT."
"MDCCLXXVIII."
"Dupre E"
But the British army in South Carolina and Georgia was 7,000 strong.
Help must come from without. And help was coming. Washington detached
from his scanty army 2,000 Maryland troops and the Delaware
regiment--all veterans--and sent them south under De Kalb, a brave
officer of German blood, who had seen long service in France. Virginia,
though herself exposed, nobly contributed arms and men. Gates, the
laurels of Saratoga still fresh upon his brow, was, against Washington's
judgment, appointed by Congress to succeed Lincoln.
Cornwallis, whom the return of Clinton to New York had left in command,
lay at Camden, S. C. Gates, as if he had but to look the Briton in the
eye to beat him, pompously assumed the offensive. On August 15th he made
a night march to secure a more favorable position near Camden.
Cornwallis happened to have chosen the same night for an attack upon
Gates. The two armies unexpectedly met in the woods, nine miles from
Camden, early in the morning of the 16th. Gates's force, increased by
North Carolina militia, was between 3,000 and 4,000. Cornwallis had
about 2,000. The American position was strong, a swamp protecting both
flanks, but at the first bayonet charge of the British veterans the raw
militia threw away their guns and "ran like a torrent." The Maryland and
Delaware Continentals stood their ground bravely, but were finally
obliged to retreat. De Kalb fell, with eleven wounds.
General Sullivan.
This heroic foreigner had been sent hither by Choiseul before the
Revolution to report to the French minister on American affairs, and at
the outbreak of war had at great cost cast in his lot with our fathers.
Sent south to aid Lincoln, he arrived only in time to be utilized by
Gates. De Kalb was the hero of Camden. Wounded and his horse shot from
under him, on foot he led his stanch division in a charge which drove
Rawdon's men and took fifty prisoners. Believing his side victorious he
would not yield, though literally ridden down by Cornwallis' dragoons,
till his wounds exhausted him. Two-fifths of his noble division fell
with him.
The whole army was pursued for miles and completely scattered. Arms,
knapsacks, broken wagons, dead horses strewed the line of retreat. The
Americans lost 900 killed and as many more prisoners. The British loss
was less than 500. Gates, who had been literally borne off the field by
the panic-stricken militia, rode in all haste two hundred miles north to
Hillsborough, N. C, where he tried to organize a new army.
General Lincoln.
The gloom created at the North by this defeat was deepened by the
startling news that Benedict Arnold, the hero of Saratoga, had turned
traitor. Smarting under a reprimand from Washington for misconduct,
Arnold agreed with Clinton to surrender West Point. The plot was
discovered by the capture of Clinton's agent, Major Andre, who was hung
as a spy. Arnold escaped to the British lines.
There was now no organized American force in the Carolinas, and
Cornwallis began a triumphant march northward. The brave mountaineers of
North Carolina and Virginia rose in arms. October 7th, 1,000 riflemen
fell upon a detachment of 1,100 British, strongly posted on King's
Mountain, N. C, and after a sharp struggle killed and wounded about 400,
and took the rest prisoners. In this battle fell one of the Tory
ancestors of the since distinguished American De Peyster family.
The King's Mountain victory filled the patriots with new hope and zeal,
and kept the loyalists from rising to support the British. Cornwallis
marched south again.
General Marion in Camp.
Gates was now removed and General Nathaniel Greene placed in charge of
the Southern department. Greene was one of the most splendid figures in
the Revolution. Son of a Rhode Island Quaker, bred a blacksmith,
ill-educated save-by private study, which in mathematics, history, and
law he had carried far, he was in 1770 elected to the legislature of his
colony. Zeal to fight England for colonial liberty lost him his place in
the Friends' Society. Heading Rhode Island's contingent to join
Washington before Boston at the first shock of Revolutionary arms, he
was soon made brigadier, the initial step in his rapid promotion.
Showing himself an accomplished fighter at Trenton, Princeton,
Germantown, Monmouth, and the battle of Rhode Island, and a first-rate
organizer as quartermaster-general of the army, he had long been
Washington's right-hand man; and his superior now sent him south with
high hopes and ringing words of recommendation to the army and people
there.
Marquis de Lafayette.
[1781]
Greene's plan of campaign was the reverse of Gates's. He meant to harass
and hinder the enemy at every step, avoiding pitched battles. January
17, 1781, a portion of his army, about 1,000 strong, under the famous
General Daniel Morgan, of Virginia, another hero of Saratoga, was
attacked at Cowpens, S. C., by an equal number of British under the
dashing Tarleton. The British, riddled by a terrible cross-fire from
Morgan's unerring riflemen, followed up by a bayonet charge, fled, and
were for twenty-four miles pursued by cavalry. The American loss was
trifling. Tarleton lost 300 in killed and wounded, and 500 prisoners,
besides 100 horses, 35 wagons, and 800 muskets.
Benedict Arnold.
Cornwallis began a second march northward. Greene's force was too weak
to risk a battle. His soldiers were poorly clad, and most of them were
without tents or shoes. He therefore skillfully retreated across North
Carolina, chased by Cornwallis. Twice the rivers, rising suddenly after
Greene had crossed, checked his pursuers. But on March 15th, re-enforced
to about 4,000, the Quaker general offered battle to Cornwallis at
Guilford Court-House, N. C. He drew up his forces on a wooded hill in
three lines one behind the other. The first line, consisting of raw
North Carolina militia, fled before the British bayonet charge, hardly
firing a shot. The Virginia brigade constituting the second line made a
brave resistance, but was soon driven back. On swept the British
columns, flushed with victory, against the third line. Here Greek met
Greek. The Continentals stood their ground like the veterans they were.
After a long and bloody fight the British were driven back. The
fugitives, however, presently rallied under cover of theartillery, when
Greene, fearing to risk more, withdrew from the field. The British lost
500; the Americans, 400, besides a large part of the militia, who
dispersed to their homes. Cornwallis, with his "victorious but ruined
army," retreated to the southern part of the State. The last of April he
forsook Carolina, and marched into Virginia with 1,400 men.
Arnold's Escape.
Greene, his force reduced to 1,800, carried the war into South Carolina.
Defeated at Hobkirk's Hill, near Camden, and compelled by the approach
of General Rawdon to raise the siege of Ninety-Six, he retreated north.
Meantime Marion and Lee had brought about the evacuation of Camden and
Augusta. Rawdon soon evacuated Ninety-Six, and moved toward the coast,
followed by Greene.
A ceaseless guerilla warfare was kept up, attended with many
barbarities. Slave-stealing was a favorite pursuit on both sides. It is
noteworthy that the followers of Sumter, fighting in the cause of
freedom, were paid largely in slaves. The whole campaign was marked by
severities unknown at the North. The British shot as deserters all who,
having once accepted royal protection, were taken in arms against the
king. In a few cases Americans dealt similarly with Americans fighting
for the British, but in general their procedure was infinitely the more
humane.
General Nathaniel Greene.
The battle of Eutaw Springs practically ended the war in the South. The
British were victorious, but all the advantages of the battle accrued to
the Americans. The British loss was nearly 1,000; the American, 600. In
ten months Greene had driven the British from all Georgia and the
Carolinas except Wilmington, Charleston, and Savannah.
Destiny decreed that Washington should strike the last blow for his
country's freedom on the soil of his own State. Cornwallis found himself
in Virginia, the last of May, at the head of 7,000 troops. He ravaged
the State, destroying $10,000,000 worth of property. Lafayette, pitted
against him with 3,000 men, could do little. In August Cornwallis
withdrew into Yorktown, and began fortifications. Lafayette's quick eye
saw that the British general had caged himself. Posting his army so as
to prevent Cornwallis's escape, he advised Washington to hasten with his
army to Virginia. Meanwhile a French fleet blocked up the mouth of
Chesapeake Bay and of James River and York River, cutting off
Cornwallis's escape by water. The last of September Washington's army,
accompanied by the French troops under Rochambeau, appeared before
Yorktown. Clinton, deceived by Washington into the belief that New York
was to be attacked, was still holding that city with 18,000 men. The
American army, 16,000 strong--7,000 French--began a regular siege.
Cornwallis was doomed.
Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.
General Daniel Morgan.
Two advanced redoubts of the British works were soon carried by a
brilliant assault in which the French and the American troops won equal
honors. On the 19th Cornwallis surrendered. The captive army, numbering
7,247, marched with cased colors between two long lines of American and
French troops, and laid down their arms.
The news of Cornwallis's surrender flew like wild-fire over the country.
Everywhere the victory was hailed as virtually ending the war. Bonfires
and booming cannon told of the joy of the people. Congress assembled,
and marching to church in a body, not as a mere form, we may well
believe, gave thanks to the God of battles, so propitious at last.
CHAPTER VII.
PEACE
[1782]
The peace party and spirit in England increased month by month.
Burgoyne's surrender had dissipated the hope of speedily suppressing the
rebellion. And as the war dragged on and Englishmen by bitter experience
came to realize the bravery, endurance, and national feeling of the
Americans, the conviction spread that three millions of such people,
separated from the mother-country by three thousand miles of boisterous
ocean, could never be conquered by force. Discouragement arose, too,
from the ill conduct of the war. There was no broad plan or consistency
in management. Generals did not agree or co-operate, and were changed
too often. Clinton and Cornwallis hated each other. Burgoyne superseded
Carleton, a better man. But for Lord Germain's "criminal negligence" in
waiting to go upon a visit before sending the proper orders, Clinton
might have met and saved Burgoyne.
There were enormous and needless expenses. By 1779 England's national
debt had increased 63,000,000 pounds; by 1782 it had doubled. Rents were
declining. The price of land had fallen one-third. Hence the war became
unpopular with the landed aristocracy. British manufacturers suffered by
the narrowing of their foreign markets. American privateers, prowling in
all seas, had captured hundreds of British merchant-men. English
sentiment, too, revolted at certain features of the war. Ravaging and
the use of mercenaries and Indians were felt to be barbarous. Time made
clearer the initial error of the government in invoking war over the
doubtful right of taxing America. An increasing number of lawyers took
the American view. Practical men figured out that each year of
hostilities cost more than the proposed tax would have yielded in a
century.
In February, 1778, Parliament almost unanimously adopted proposals to
restore the state of things which existed in America before the war, at
the same time declaring its intention not to exercise its right of
taxing the colonies. Washington spoke for America when he said, "Nothing
but independence will now do." The proposals were rejected by Congress
and by the States separately.
England's difficulties were greatly increased by the help extended to
America from abroad. France, eager for revenge on England, early in the
war lent secret aid by money and military supplies. Later, emboldened by
the defeat of Burgoyne, the French Government recognized the United
States as an independent nation. By a treaty, offensive and defensive,
the two nations bound themselves to fight together for that
independence, neither to conclude a separate peace.
The benefit from this treaty was moral and financial rather than
martial. At Yorktown, to be sure, the French forces rendered invaluable
aid. Without De Grasse's French fleet at the mouths of the York and
James rivers, the British might have relieved Cornwallis by sea. But
Congress needed money more than foreign soldiers, and without France's
liberal loans it is difficult to see how the government could have
struggled through.
Spain, too, joined the alliance of France and the United States and
declared war against England, though from no love for the young
republic. This action hastened the growth of public opinion in England
against the continuance of the American war. In the House of Commons,
Lord Cavendish made a motion for ordering home the troops. Lord North,
prime minister, threw out hints that it was useless to continue the war.
But George III., summoning his ministers, declared his unchanging
resolution never to yield to the rebels, and continued prodding the
wavering North to stumble on in his stupid course.
It was struggling against fate. The next year saw Holland at war with
England, while Catherine, Empress of Russia, was actively organizing the
Armed Neutrality, by which all the other states of Europe leagued
together to resist England's practice of stopping vessels on the high
seas and searching them for contraband goods.
Lord Cornwallis.
England was now involved in four wars, without money to carry them on.
North's majorities in Parliament grew steadily smaller. No doubt much of
the opposition was simply factious and partisan, but it had, after all,
solid basis in principle. England was fighting her own
policy--economically, for she was destined to free trade, and
politically, inasmuch as the freedom which our fathers sought was
nothing but English freedom.
The surrender of Cornwallis tipped the scale. Lord North, when he heard
the news, paced the room in agony, exclaiming again and again, "O God,
it is all over!" The House of Commons, without even a division, resolved
to "consider as enemies to His Majesty and the country" all who should
advise a further prosecution of the war. North resigned, and Shelburne,
Secretary of State in the new ministry, hastened to open peace
negotiations with Franklin at Paris.
Benjamin Franklin.
Benjamin Franklin, now venerable with years, had been doing at the court
of Versailles a work hardly less important than that of Washington on
the battlefields of America. By the simple grace and dignity of his
manners, by his large good sense and freedom of thought, by his fame as
a scientific discoverer, above all by his consummate tact in the
management of men, the whilom printer, king's postmaster-general for
America, discoverer, London colonial agent, delegate in the Continental
Congress, and signer of the Declaration of Independence, had completely
captivated elegant, free-thinking France. Learned and common folk, the
sober and the frivolous alike, swore by Franklin. Snuff-boxes,
furniture, dishes, even stoves, were gotten up a la Franklin. The old
man's portrait was in every house. That the French Government, in spite
of a monarch who was half afraid of the rising nation beyond sea, had
given America her hearty support, was in no small measure due to the
influence of Franklin. And his skill in diplomacy was of the greatest
value in the negotiations now pending.
These were necessarily long and tedious, but Jay, Franklin's colleague,
made them needlessly so by his finical refusal to treat till England had
acknowledged our independence by a separate act. This, indeed,
jeopardized peace itself, since Shelburne's days of ministerial power
were closing, and his successor was sure to be less our friend. Jay at
last receded, a compromise being arrived at by which the treaty was to
open with a virtual recognition of independence in acknowledging Adams,
Franklin, and Jay as "plenipotentiaries," that is, agents of a sovereign
power. Boundaries, fishery rights, and the treatment of loyalists and
their property were the chief bones of contention.
As the negotiations wore on it became apparent that Spain and France,
now that their vengeance was sated against England by our independence,
were more unfriendly to our territorial enlargement than England itself.
There still exists a map on which Spain's minister had indicated what he
wished to make our western bound. The line follows nearly the meridian
of Pittsburgh. This attitude of those powers excused our
plenipotentiaries, though bound by our treaty with France not to
conclude peace apart from her, for making the preliminary arrangements
with England privately. At last, on November 30, 1782, Franklin, Jay,
and John Adams set their signatures to preliminary articles, which were
incorporated in a treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United
States, France, and Spain, signed at Paris on September 3, 1783. David
Hartley signed for England. Our Congress ratified on February 14, 1784.
The treaty recognized the independence of the United States. It
established as boundaries nearly the present Canadian line on the north,
the Mississippi on the west, and Florida, which now returned to Spain
and extended to the Mississippi, on the south. Despite the wishes of
Spain, the free navigation of the Mississippi, from source to mouth, was
guaranteed to the United States and Great Britain. Fishery rights
received special attention. American fishermen were granted the
privilege of fishing, as before the war, on the banks of Newfoundland,
in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and in all other places in the sea where
the inhabitants of both countries had been accustomed to fish. Liberty
was also granted to take fish on such parts of the coast of Newfoundland
as British fishermen should use, and on the coasts, bays, and creeks of
all other British dominions in America. American fishermen could dry and
cure fish on the unsettled parts of Nova Scotia, Labrador, and the
Magdalen Islands. America agreed, for the protection of British
creditors, that debts contracted before the war should be held valid,
and should be payable in sterling money. It was also stipulated that
Congress should earnestly recommend to the several States the
restitution of all confiscated property belonging to loyalists.
"Done at Paris, this third Day of September,
In the Year of our Lord one thousand and seven hundred & eighty three.--
D. Hartley, John Adams, B. Franklin, John Jay"
Facsimile of Signatures to Treaty of Peace
[1783]
Peace came like a heavenly benediction to the country and the army,
exhausted by so long and so fierce a struggle. No general engagement
took place after the siege of Yorktown; but the armies kept close watch
upon each other, and minor skirmishes were frequent. Washington's 10,000
men were encamped near the Hudson, to see that Clinton's forces in New
York did no harm. In the South, Greene's valiant band, aided by Wayne
and his rangers, without regular food or pay, kept the British cooped up
in Charleston and Augusta.
Congress in due time declared cessation of hostilities, and on April 19,
1783, just eight years from the battle of Lexington, Washington read the
declaration at the headquarters of his army. The British had evacuated
Charleston the previous December. In July, Savannah saw the last of the
redcoats file out, and the British troops were collected at New York. On
November 25th, Sir Guy Carleton, who had superseded Clinton, embarked
with his entire army, besides a throng of refugees, in boats for Long
Island and Staten Island, where they soon took ship for England. "The
imperial standard of Great Britain fell at the fort over which it had
floated for a hundred and twenty years, and in its place the Stars and
Stripes of American Independence flashed in the sun. Fleet and army,
royal flag and scarlet uniform, coronet and ribbon, every sign and
symbol of foreign authority, which from Concord to Saratoga and from
Saratoga to Yorktown had sought to subdue the colonies, vanished from
these shores. Colonial and provincial America had ended, national
America had begun."
The American troops took possession of New York amid the huzzas of the
people and the roar of cannon. On November 25th, Washington with his
suite, surrounded by grateful and admiring throngs, made a formal entry
into the city whence he had been compelled to flee seven years before.
The time had now come when the national hero might lay down the great
burden which he had borne with herculean strength and courage through so
many years of distress and gloom. On December 4th he joined his
principal officers at the popular Fraunces's Tavern, near the Battery,
to bid them farewell. Tears filled every eye. Even Washington could not
master his feelings, as one after another the heroes who had been with
him upon the tented field and in so many moments of dreadful strife drew
near to press his hand. They followed him through ranks of parading
infantry to the Whitehall ferry, where he boarded his barge, and waving
his hat in a last, voiceless farewell, crossed to the Jersey shore.
Arrived at Annapolis after a journey which had been one long ovation,
the saviour of his country appeared before Congress, December 23d, to
resign the commission which he had so grandly fulfilled. His address was
in noble key, but abbreviated by choking emotion. The President of
Congress having replied in fitting words, Washington withdrew, and
continued his journey to the long-missed peace and seclusion of his
Mount Vernon home.
CHAPTER VIII.
AMERICAN MANHOOD IN THE REVOLUTION
[1775-1781]
It would be foolish to say that the Revolutionary soldiers never
quailed. Militia too often gave way before the steady bayonet charge of
British regulars, at times fleeing panic-stricken. Troops whose term of
service was out would go home at critical moments. Hardships and lack of
pay in a few instances led to mutiny and desertion. But the marvel is
that they fought so bravely, endured so much, and complained so little.
One reason was the patriotism of the people at large behind them.
Soldiers who turned their backs on Boston, leaving Washington in the
lurch, were refused food along the road home. Women placed rifles in the
hands of husbands, sons, or lovers, and said "Go!"
The rank and file in this war, coming from farm, work-bench,
logging-camp, or fisher's boat, had a superb physical basis for camp and
field life. Used to the rifle from boyhood, they kept their powder dry
and made every one of their scanty bullets tell. The Revolutionary
soldier's splendid courage has glorified a score of battle-fields; while
Valley Forge, with its days of hunger and nights of cold, its sick-beds
on the damp ground, and its bloody footprints in the snow, tell of his
patient endurance.
At Bunker Hill an undisciplined body of farmers, ill-armed, weary,
hungry and thirsty, calmly awaited the charge of old British
campaigners, and by a fire of dreadful precision drove them back. "They
may talk of their Mindens and their Fontenoys," said the British
general, Howe, "but there was no such fire there." At Charleston, while
the wooden fort shook with the British broadsides, Moultrie and his
South Carolina boys, half naked in the stifling heat, through twelve
long hours smoked their pipes and carefully pointed their guns. At Long
Island, to gain time for the retreat of the rest, five Maryland
companies flew again and again in the face of the pursuing host. At
Monmouth, eight thousand British were in hot pursuit of the retreating
Americans. Square in their front Washington planted two Pennsylvania and
Maryland regiments, saying, "Gentlemen, I depend upon you to hold the
ground until I can form the main army." And hold it they did.
Heroism grander than that of the battlefield, which can calmly meet an
ignominious death, was not lacking. Captain Nathan Hale, a quiet,
studious spirit, just graduated from Yale College, volunteered to enter
the British lines on Long Island as a spy. He was caught, and soon swung
from an apple tree in Colonel Rutgers's orchard, a corpse. Bible and
religious ministrations denied him, his letters to mother and sister
destroyed, women standing by and sobbing, he met his fate without a
tremor. "I only regret," comes his voice from yon rude scaffold, "that I
have but one life to give for my country." It is a shame that America so
long had no monument to this heroic man. One almost rejoices that the
British captain, Cunningham, author of the cruelty to Hale, himself met
death on the gallows, in London, 1791. How different from Hale's the
treatment bestowed upon Andre, the British spy who fell into our hands.
He was fed from Washington's table, and supported to his execution by
every manifestation of sympathy for his suffering.
John Paul Jones.
The stanch and useful loyalty of the New England clergy in the
Revolution has been much dwelt upon--none too much, however. With them
should be mentioned the Rev. James Caldwell, Presbyterian pastor at
Elizabeth, N. J., who, when English soldiers raided the town, and its
defenders were short of wadding, tore up his hymn-book for their use,
urging: "Give them Watts, boys, give them Watts."
No fiercer naval battle was ever fought than when Jones, in the old and
rotten Bon Homme Richard, grappled with the new British frigate Serapis.
Yard-arm to yardarm, port-hole to port-hole, the fight raged for hours.
Three times both vessels were on fire. The Serapis's guns tore a
complete breach in the Richard from main-mast to stern. The Richard was
sinking, but the intrepid Jones fought on, and the Serapis struck.
Fight between the Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis.
As the roll of Revolutionary officers is called, what matchless figures
file past the mind's eye! We see stalwart Ethan Allen entering
Ticonderoga too early in the morning to find its commander in a
presentable condition, and demanding possession "in the name of Almighty
God and the Continental Congress "--destined, himself, in a few months,
to be sailing down the St. Lawrence in irons, bound for long captivity
in England. We behold gallant Prescott leisurely promenading the Bunker
Hill parapet to inspirit his men, shot and shell hurtling thick around.
There is Israel Putnam--"Old Put" the boys dubbed him. He was no
general, but we forgive his costly blunders at Brooklyn Heights and
Peekskill as we think of him leaving plough in furrow at the drum-beat
to arms, and speeding to the deadly front at Boston, or with iron
firmness stemming the retreat from Bunker Hill. Young Richard Montgomery
might have been next to Washington in the war but for Sir Guy Carleton's
deadly grape-shot from the Quebec walls the closing moments of 1775.
Buried at Quebec, his remains were transferred by the State of New York,
July 8, 1818, to their present resting-place in front of St. Paul's, New
York City, the then aged widow tearfully watching the funeral barge as
it floated past Montgomery Place on the Hudson.
General Anthony Wayne.
During a four years' apprenticeship under Washington, General Greene had
caught more of his master's spirit and method than did any other
American leader, and one year's separate command at the South gave him a
martial fame second only to Washington's own. In him the great chief's
word was fulfilled, "I send you a general." A naked, starving army, an
empty military chest, the surrounding country impoverished and full of
loyalists--these were his difficulties. Three States practically cleared
of the royal army in ten months--this was his achievement. He retreated
only to advance, was beaten only to fight again. One hardly knows which
to admire most, his tireless energy and vigilance, his prudence in
retreat, his boldness and vigor in attack, his cheerful courage in
defeat, or his mingled kindness and firmness toward a suffering and
mutinous army.
John Stark, eccentric but true, famous for cool courage--how stubbornly,
with his New Hampshire boys, he held the rail fence at Bunker Hill, and
covered the retreat when ammunition was gone! But Stark's most brilliant
deed was at Bennington. "There they are, boys--the redcoats, and by
night they're ours, or Molly Stark's a widow." Those "boys," without
bayonets, their artillery shooting stones for balls, were little more
than a mob. But with confidence in him, on they rush, up, over, sweeping
Baume's Hessians from the field like a tornado. The figure of General
Schuyler comes before us--quieter but not less noble, an invalid, set to
hard tasks with little glory. His magnanimous soul forgets self in
country as he cheerfully gives all possible help to Gates, his
supplanter, and puts the torch to his own grain-fields at Saratoga lest
they feed the foe.
The Encounter between Tarleton and Colonel Washington.
And matchless Dan Morgan of Virginia, with his band of riflemen, tall,
sinewy fellows, in hunting-shirts, leggins, and moccasins, each with
hatchet, hunter's knife, and rifle, dead sure to hit a man's head every
time at two hundred and fifty yards. It was one of these men who shot
the gallant Briton, Fraser, at Bemis's Heights. Morgan became the ablest
leader of light troops then living. How gallantly he headed the forlorn
hope under the icy walls of Quebec, where he was taken prisoner, and at
Saratoga with his shrill whistle and stentorian voice called his
dauntless braves where the fight was thickest! But Cowpens was Morgan's
crowning feat. Inspiring militia and veterans alike with a courage they
had never felt before, he routs Tarleton's trained band of horse, and
then, skilful in retreat as he had been bold in fight, laughs at baffled
Cornwallis's rage.
Gladly would one form fuller acquaintance with other Revolutionary
leaders: Stirling, Sullivan, Sumter, Mad Anthony Wayne, of Monmouth and
Stony Point fame, Glover with his brave following of Marblehead
fishermen, who, able to row as well as shoot, manned the oars that
critical night when General Washington crossed to Trenton. But space is
too brief. Colonel Washington, the dashing cavalryman, was the Custer of
the Revolution. All the patriot ladies idolized him. In a hot
sword-fight with the Colonel, Tarleton had had three fingers nearly
severed. Subsequently in conversation with a South Carolina lady
Tarleton said: "Why do you ladies so lionize Colonel Washington? He is
an ignorant fellow. He can hardly write his name." "But you are a
witness that he can make his mark," was the reply.
DeKalb Wounded at Camden.
DeKalb was an American, too--by adoption. It is related that he
expostulated with Gates for fighting so unprepared at Camden, and that
Gates intimated cowardice. "Tomorrow will tell, sir, who is the coward,"
the old fellow rejoined. And tomorrow did tell. As the battle reddened,
exit Gates from Camden and from fame. We have recounted elsewhere how
like a bull De Kalb held the field. A monster British grenadier rushed
on him, bayonet fixed. DeKalb parried, at the same time burying his
sword in the grenadier's breast so deep that he was unable to extract
it. Then seizing the dead man's weapon he fought on, thrusting right and
left, till at last, overpowered by numbers, he slipped and fell,
mortally hurt.
Among the civilian heroes of the Revolution, Robert Morris, the
financier, deserves exceeding praise. Now turning over the lead ballast
of his ships for bullets, now raising $50,000 on his private credit and
sending it to Washington in the nick of time, now leading the country
back to specie payment in season to save the national credit, the
Philadelphia banker aided the cause as much as the best general in the
field.
Faithful and successful envoys as Jay and John Adams were, the
Revolution brought to light one, and only one, true master in the
difficult art of diplomacy--Franklin. Wise with a lifetime's shrewd
observation, venerable with years, preceded by his fame as scientist and
Revolutionary statesman, grand in his plain dignity, the Philadelphia
printer stood unabashed before the throne of France, and carried king
and diplomats with an art that surprised Europe's best-trained
courtiers. Never missing an opportunity, he yet knew, by delicate
intuition, when to speak and when to hold his tongue. Through
concession, intrigue, and delay, his resolute will kept steady to its
purpose. To please by yielding is easy. To carry one's point and be
pleasing still, requires genius. This Franklin did--how successfully,
our treaty of alliance with France and our treaty of peace with England
splendidly attested.
Towering above Revolutionary soldier, general, and statesman stands a
figure summing up in himself all these characters and much more. That
figure is George Washington, the most perfect human personality the
world has known. Washington's military ability has been much underrated.
He was hardly more First in Peace than First in War. That he had
physical courage and could give orders calmly while bullets whizzed all
about, one need not repeat. He was strategist and tactician too. Trenton
and Yorktown do not cover his whole military record. With troops
inferior in every single respect except natural valor, he
out-generalled Howe in 1776, and he almost never erred when acting upon
his own good judgment instead of yielding to Congress or to his
subordinates. His movements on the Delaware even such a captain as
Frederick the Great declared "the most brilliant achievements in the
annals of military action." Washington advised against the attempt to
hold Fort Washington, which failed; against the Canada campaign, which
failed; against Gates for commander in the South, who failed; and in
favor of Greene for that post, who succeeded. His army was indeed driven
back in several battles, but never broken up. At Monmouth his plan was
perfect, and it seems that he must have captured Clinton but for the
treason of Charles Lee, set, by Congress's wish, to command the van.
Indeed, of Washington's military career, "take it all in all, its long
duration, its slender means, its vast theatre, its glorious aims and
results, there is no parallel in history." [Footnote: Winthrop,
Washington Monument Oration. February 23, 1885.]
Yet we are right in never thinking of the Great Man first as a soldier,
he was so much besides. Washington's consummate intellectual trait was
sound judgment, only matched by the magnificent balance which subsisted
between his mental and his moral powers. "George had always been a good
son," his mother said. Nature had endowed him with intense passions and
ambitions, but neither could blind him or swerve him one hair from the
line of rectitude as he saw it. And he made painful and unremitting
effort to see it and see it correctly. He was approachable, but repelled
familiarity, and whoever attempted this was met with a perfectly
withering look. He rarely laughed, and he was without humor, though he
wrote and conversed well. He had the integrity of Aristides. His account
with Congress while general shows scrupulousness to the uttermost
farthing. To subordinate, to foe, even to malicious plotters against
him, he was almost guiltily magnanimous. He loved popularity, yet, if
conscious that he was right, would face public murmuring with heart of
flint. Became the most famous man alive, idolized at home, named by
every tongue in Europe, praised by kings and great ministers, who
compared him with Caesar, Charlemagne, and Alfred the Great, his head
swam not, but with steadfast heart and mind he moved on in the simple
pursuit of his country's weal. "In Washington's career," said Fisher
Ames, "mankind perceived some change in their ideas of greatness; the
splendor of power, and even the name of conqueror had grown dim in their
eyes." Lord Erskine wrote him: "You are the only being for whom I have
an awful reverence." "Until time shall be no more," said Lord Brougham,
"will a test of the progress which our race has made in Wisdom and
Virtue be derived from the veneration paid to the immortal name of
Washington." And Mr. Gladstone: "If among all the pedestals supplied by
history for public characters of extraordinary nobility and purity I saw
one higher than all the rest, and if I were required at a moment's
notice to name the fittest occupant for it, my choice would light upon
WASHINGTON." [Footnote: See Winthrop's Oration for these and other
encomia.]
CHAPTER IX.
THE OLD CONFEDERATION
[1781]
The Revolutionary Congress was less a government than an exigency
committee. It had no authority save in tacit general consent. Need of an
express and permanent league was felt at an early date. Articles of
Confederation, framed by Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, were adopted by
Congress in November, 1777. They were then submitted to the State
Legislatures for ratification. By the spring of 1779 all the States but
Maryland had given their approval. Upon the accession of the latter, on
March 1, 1781, the articles went into effect at once.
The Confederation bound the States together into a "firm league of
friendship" for common defence and welfare, and this "union" was to be
"perpetual." Each State retained its "sovereignty" and "independence,"
as well as every power not "expressly delegated" to the central
Government. Inhabitants of each State were entitled to all the
privileges of citizens in the several States. Criminals fleeing from one
State to another were to be returned.
Congress was composed of delegates chosen annually, each State being
represented by not less than two or more than seven. Each State had but
one vote, whatever the number of its delegates.
Taxation and the regulation of commerce were reserved to the State
Governments. On the other hand, Congress alone could declare peace or
war, make treaties, coin money, establish a post-office, deal with
Indians outside of the States, direct the army, and appoint generals and
naval officers. Many other things affecting all the States alike,
Congress alone could do. It was to erect courts for trial of felonies
and piracies on the high seas, and appoint judges for the settlement of
disputes between the States. It was to make estimates for national
expenses, and request of each State its quota of revenue.
To amend the Articles, the votes of the entire thirteen States were
demanded. Important lesser measures--such as those regarding war or
peace, treaties, coinage, loans, appropriations--required the consent of
nine States. Upon other questions a majority was sufficient. A
committee, composed of one delegate from each State, was to sit during
the recess of Congress, having the general superintendence of national
affairs.
The faults of the Confederation were numerous and great. Three
outshadowed the rest: Congress could not enforce its will, could not
collect a revenue, could not regulate commerce.
Congress could not touch individuals; it must act through the State
Governments, and these it had no power to coerce. Five States, for
instance, passed laws which violated the treaty provision about payment
of British creditors; yet Congress could do nothing but remonstrate.
Hence its power to make treaties was almost a nullity. European nations
did not wish to treat with a Government that could not enforce its
promises.
Congress could make requisition upon the States for revenue, but had no
authority to collect a single penny. The States complied or not as they
chose. In October, 1781, Congress asked for $8,000,000; in January,
1783, it had received less than half a million. Lack of revenue made the
Government continually helpless and often contemptible.
Yet in spite of their looseness and other faults, the adoption of the
Articles of Confederation was a forward step in American public law.
Their greatest value was this: they helped to keep before the States the
thought of union, while at the same time, by their very inefficiency,
they proved the need of a stronger government to make union something
more than a thought. The years immediately after the war were an
extremely critical period. The colonies had indeed passed through the
Red Sea, but the wilderness still lay before them. The great danger
which had driven them into union being past, State pride and jealousy
broke out afresh. "My State," not "my country," was the foremost thought
in most minds. There was serious danger that each State would go its own
way, and firm union come, if at all, only after years of weakness and
disaster, if not of war. The unfriendly nations of Europe were eagerly
anticipating such result. At this juncture the Articles of
Confederation, framed during the war when union was felt to be
imperative, did invaluable service. They solemnly committed the States
to perpetual union. Their provisions for extradition of criminals and
for inter-State citizenship helped to break down the barriers between
State and State. Congress, by discharging its various duties on behalf
of all the States, kept steadily before the public mind the idea of a
national government, armed with at least a semblance of authority.
The Franklin Penny.
"United States" "We Are One"
"Fugio" "1787" "Mind Your Business"
[1783]
The war had cost about $150,000,000. In 1783 the debt was
$42,000,000--$8,000,000 owed in France and Holland, and the rest at
home. The States contributed in so niggardly a way that even the
interest could not be paid. Five millions were owing to the army. Deep
and ominous discontent spread among officers and men. An obscure
colonel, supposed to be the agent of more prominent men, wrote to
Washington, advocating a monarchy as the only salvation for the country,
and inviting him to become king. In the spring of 1783 an anonymous
address, of menacing tone, was circulated in the army, calling upon it
for measures to force its rights from an ungrateful country.
[1785]
That the army disbanded quietly at last, with only three months' pay, in
certificates depreciated nine-tenths, was due almost wholly to the
boundless influence of Washington. How powerless the Government would
have been to resist an uprising of the army, was shown by a humiliating
incident. In June, 1783, a handful of Pennsylvania troops, clamoring for
their pay, besieged the doors of Congress, and that august body had to
take refuge in precipitate flight.
The country suffered greatly for lack of uniform commercial laws. So
long as each State laid its own imposts, and goods free of duty in one
State might be practically excluded from another, Congress could
negotiate no valuable treaties of commerce abroad.
The chief immediate distress was from this wretchedness of our
commercial relations, whether foreign or between the States at home. If
our fathers would be independent, king and parliament were determined to
make them pay dearly for the privilege. Accordingly Great Britain laid
tariffs upon all our exports thither. What was much harder to bear, an
order of the king in council, July 2, 1783, utterly forbade American
ships to engage in that British West-Indian trade which had always been
a chief source of our wealth. The sole remedy for these abuses in
dealing with England at that time was retaliation, but Congress had no
authority to take retaliatory steps, while the separate States could not
or would not act sufficiently in harmony to do so. If one imposed
customs duties, another would open wide its ports, filling the markets
of the first with British goods by overland trade, so that the customs
law of the first availed nothing. If Pennsylvania and New York laid
tariffs on foreign commodities, New Jersey and Connecticut people, in
buying imported articles from Philadelphia or New York, were paying
taxes to those greater States. North Carolina was in the same manner a
forced tributary to South Carolina and Virginia, as were portions of
Connecticut and Massachusetts to Rhode Island.
Dollar of 1794.
The First United States Coin.
"Liberty" "1794" "United States of America"
We also needed a complete system of courts, departments for foreign and
Indian affairs, and an efficient executive. The single vote for each
State was unfair, allowing one-third of the people to defeat the will of
the rest. The article requiring the consent of nine States made it
almost impossible to get important measures through Congress. Delegates
should not have been paid by their respective States. In consequence of
this provision, coupled with other things, Congress decreased in numbers
and importance. In November, 1783, less than twenty delegates were
present, representing but seven States, and Congress had to appeal to
the recreant States to send back their representatives before the treaty
of peace could be ratified.
[1787]
But the one grand defect of the Confederation, underlying all others,
was lack of power. The Government was an engine without steam. The
States, just escaped from the tyranny of a king, would brook no new
authority strong enough to endanger their liberties. The result was a
thin ghost of a government set in charge over a lot of lusty
flesh-and-blood States.
The Confederation, however, did one piece of solid work worthy of
everlasting praise. The Northwest Territory, embracing what is now Ohio,
Indiana. Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, had been ceded to the Union
by the States which originally claimed it. July 13, 1787, Congress
adopted for the government of the territory the famous Ordinance of
1787. It provided for a governor, council, and judges, to be appointed
by Congress, and a house of representatives elected by the people. Its
shining excellence was a series of compacts between the States and the
territory, which guaranteed religious liberty, made grants of land and
other liberal provisions for schools and colleges, and forever
prohibited slavery in the territory or the States which should be made
out of it. Thus were laid broad and deep the foundation for the full and
free development of humanity in a region larger than the whole German
Empire.
The passing of the Ordinance was probably due in large measure to the
influence of the Ohio Company, a colonist society organized in Boston
the year before. It was composed of the flower of the Revolutionary
army, and had wealth, energy, and intelligence. When its agent appeared
before Congress to arrange for the purchase of five million acres of
land in the Ohio Valley, a bill for the government of the territory,
containing neither the antislavery clause nor the immortal principles of
the compacts, was on the eve of passage. The Company, composed mostly of
Massachusetts men, strongly desired their future home to be upon free
soil. Their influence prevailed with Congress, eager for revenue from
the sale of lands, and even the Southern members voted unanimously for
the remodelled ordinance. The establishment of a strong and enlightened
government in the territory led to its rapid settlement. Marietta, 0.,
was founded in April, 1788, and other colonies followed in rapid
succession.
CHAPTER X.
RISE OF THE NEW CONSTITUTION
[1787]
The anarchy succeeding the Revolution was as sad as the Revolution
itself had been glorious. The Articles of Confederation furnished
practically no government with which foreign nations could deal; England
still clung to the western posts, contrary to the treaty of peace, with
no power anywhere on this side to do more than protest; the debt of the
confederacy steadily piled up its unpaid interest; the land was flooded
with irredeemable paper money, state and national; the confederacy's
laws and constitution were ignored or trampled upon everywhere; and the
arrogance and self-seeking of the several States surpassed everything
but their own contemptible weakness.
In 1786 Shays' rebellion broke out in Massachusetts. Solid money was
very scarce, and paper all but worthless, yet many debts contracted on a
paper basis were pressed for payment in hard money. The farmers swore
that the incidence of taxes upon them was excessive, and upon the
merchants too light. But the all-powerful grievance was the sudden
change from the distressing monetary injustice during the Revolution,
with the consequent increase of debts, to a rigid enforcement of
debtors' claims afterward. At this period men were imprisoned for debt,
and all prisons were frightful holes, which one would as lief die as
enter. Meetings were held to air the popular griefs, and grew violent.
In August the court-house at Northampton was seized by a body of armed
men and the court prevented from sitting. Similar uprisings occurred at
Worcester, Springfield, and Concord. The leader in these movements was
Daniel Shays, a former captain in the continental army. Governor Bowdoin
finally called for volunteers to put down the rebellion, and placed
General Lincoln in command. After several minor engagements, in which
the insurgents were worsted, the decisive action took place at
Petersham, where, in February, 1787, the rebels were surprised by
Lincoln. A large number were captured, many more fled to their homes,
and the rest withdrew into the neighboring States. Vermont and Rhode
Island alone offered them a peaceful retreat, the other States giving up
the fugitives to Massachusetts.
A Scene at Springfield, during Shays' Rebellion, when the
mob attempted to prevent the holding of the Courts of Justice.
The Shays commotion, for a long time shaking one of the stanchest States
in the Confederation, well showed the need of a far stronger central
government than the old had been or could be made. Other influences
concurred to the same conviction. Washington's influence, which took
effect mainly through his inspired letter to the States on leaving the
army, was one of these. National feeling was also furthered by the
spread of two religious sects, the Baptists and the Methodists, up and
down the continent, whose missionary preachers, ignoring State lines and
prejudices, helped to destroy the latter in their hearers.
[1785]
During the Revolution, American Methodism had been an appanage of
England. Wesley had discountenanced our effort at independence, and
when war broke out, all the Methodist preachers left the country, save
Asbury, who secreted himself somewhere in Delaware, waiting for better
days. But in 1784 this zealous body of Christians was organized as an
American affair, its clergy and laity after this displaying loyalty of
the most approved kind.
John Wesley.
Schemes had been mooted looking to a changed political order. A
proposition for a convention of the States to reform the Confederation
passed the New York Legislature in July, 1782, under the influence of
Alexander Hamilton; another passed that of Massachusetts, July, 1785,
urged by Governor Bowdoin; but because of too great love for state
independence and too little appreciation as yet of the serious nature of
the crisis, both motions failed of effect.
The idea of reform which found most favor, the only one which at first
had any chance of getting itself realized, was that of giving Congress
simply the additional power of regulating commerce. Even so moderate a
proposal as this had many enemies, especially in the South. Greatly to
her credit therefore as a Southern State, the purpose of amending the
old Articles in the direction indicated was first taken up in earnest by
Virginia. Her Legislature, soon after opening session in October, 1785,
listened to memorials from Norfolk, Suffolk, Portsmouth, and Alexandria,
upon the gloomy prospects of American trade, which led to a general
debate upon the subject. In this, Mr. Madison, by a speech far exceeding
in ability any other that was made, began that extended and memorable
career of efforts for enlarged function in our central government which
has earned him the title of the Father of the Constitution.
The result of this discussion was a bill directing the Virginia
delegation in Congress to propose amendment to the constitution giving
to Congress the needed additional power. The enemies of the bill,
however, succeeded in so modifying it by limiting the proposed grant of
power to a period of thirteen years, that Madison and its other abettors
turned against it and voted to lay it on the table.
There was in existence at this very time a joint commission
representing Virginia and Maryland, which had been raised for the
purpose of determining what jurisdiction each of the two States had over
the Potomac and in Chesapeake Bay. Madison was one of the Virginia
commissioners. A meeting had been held on March 17, 1785, at which the
commissioners agreed in their report to transcend their instructions and
to recommend to the two States uniform monetary and commercial
regulations entire, including common export and import duties. They thus
reported, adding the still further recommendation that commissioners to
work out the details of such a plan be appointed each year till it
should be completed. The Maryland Legislature adopted the report, adding
the proposition that Delaware and Pennsylvania also should be invited to
enter the system and to send commissioners.
When the commissioners' report, with Maryland's action thereon, came
before the Virginia Legislature, Madison moved, as a substitute for the
mutilated bill which had been tabled previously, that the invitation to
take part in the commission go to all the States. The motion passed by a
large majority.
[1786]
Thus originated the Annapolis Convention of 1786. Nine States appointed
delegates; all but Connecticut, Maryland, and the two Carolinas; but of
the nine only Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York
actually sent them. As the powers granted the commissioners presupposed
a deputation from each of the States, those present, after mature
deliberation, deemed it inadvisable to proceed, drawing up instead an
urgent address to the States to take "speedy measures" for another,
fuller, convention to meet on the second Monday of May, 1787, for the
same purposes as had occasioned this one. Such was the mode in which the
memorable Federal Convention came about. Its seat was Philadelphia.
[1787]
The second Monday of May, 1787, which should have witnessed the opening,
was the 14th, but on that day too few deputies had assembled. So late as
the 25th only nine States were represented. They, however, effected an
organization on the 25th and chose officers. On the 28th eleven States
were present, so that on the next day business began in earnest.
Governor Randolph read and expounded the Virginia plan for a new
government, and Charles Pinckney the South Carolina plan. Both of these
were referred to a committee of the whole to sit next day.
This Virginia plan was substantially the work of Madison, and was the
earliest sketch of the present Constitution of the United States. With
the Pinckney plan, it was worked over, debated, and amended in the
committee of the whole, until June 13th, on which day the committee rose
and reported to the Convention nineteen resolutions based almost wholly
upon the Virginia plan. These were the text for all the subsequent
doings of the Convention.
The so-called New Jersey plan was brought forward on June 15th, the gist
of it being a recurrence to the foolish idea of merely repairing the
Confederation that then was. Its strength, which was slight, consisted
in its accord with the letter of the credentials which the delegates had
brought. It was, however, emphatically rejected, the Convention
stretching instructions, ignoring the old government, and proceeding to
build from the foundations. On July 24th and 26th the resolutions, now
increased to twenty-three, were put in the hands of a committee of
detail to be reported back in the form of a constitution. They
reappeared in this shape on August 6th, and this new document was
henceforth the basis of discussion. On September 8th a new committee was
appointed to revise style and arrangement, and brought in its work
September 13th, after which additions and changes were few. The
Constitution received signature September 17th.
The Federal Convention of 1787 was the most remarkable gathering in all
our national history thus far. Sixty-five delegates were elected, but as
ten never attended, fifty-five properly made up the body. Even these
were at no time all present together. From July 5th to August 13th New
York was not represented. Rhode Island was not represented at all.
Washington was President; Franklin, aged eighty-one, the oldest member;
Gillman, of New Hampshire, aged twenty-five, the youngest. Each State
sent its best available talent, so that the foremost figures then in
American political life were present, the chief exceptions being John
Adams, Jefferson--both abroad at the time--Samuel Adams, not favorable
to the Convention, John Jay, and Patrick Henry. Eight of the members had
signed the great Declaration, six the Articles of Confederation, seven
the Annapolis appeal of 1786. Washington and a good half dozen others
had been conspicuous military leaders in the Revolution. Five had been
or still were governors of their respective States. Nearly all had held
important offices of one sort or another. Forty of the fifty-five had
been in Congress, a large proportion of them coming to the Convention
directly from the congressional session just ended in New York.
It is interesting to note how high many from this Constituent Assembly
rose after the adoption of the paper which they had indited. Washington
and Madison became Presidents, Gerry Vice-President, Langdon senator and
President of the Senate, with duty officially to notify him who was
already First in War that the nation had made him also First in Peace.
Langdon was candidate for Vice-President in 1809. Randolph was the
earliest United States Attorney-General, Hamilton earliest Secretary of
the Treasury, M'Henry third Secretary of War, succeeding General Knox.
Dayton was a representative from New Jersey in the IId, IIId, IVth, and
Vth Congresses, being Speaker during the last, then senator in the VIth,
VIIth, and VIIIth. Ellsworth and Johnson were Connecticut's first pair
of senators, Johnson passing in 1791 to the presidency of Columbia
College, Ellsworth to the national chief-justiceship to succeed Jay.
Rutledge was one of the first associate justices of the Supreme Court.
Subsequently, in July, 1795, Washington nominated him for chief justice,
and he actually presided over the Supreme Court at its term in that
year; but, for his ill-mannered denunciation of Jay's treaty, the Senate
declined to confirm him. Wilson and Patterson also each held the
position of associate justice on the supreme bench of the nation.
Rufus King, after the adoption of the Constitution, removed to New York.
He was a senator from that State between 1789 and 1795, and again
between 1813 and 1826; and Minister to England from 1796 to 1803, and
again after 1826 till his failing health compelled his resignation. He
was the federalist candidate for Vice-President in 1804 and 1808, and
for President in 1816. Sherman of Connecticut, Gillman of New Hampshire,
and Baldwin of Georgia, went into the House of Representatives and were
promoted thence to the Senate. Robert Morris of Pennsylvania, Gouverneur
Morris, now again of New York, Caleb Strong of Massachusetts, William
Patterson of New Jersey, Richard Bassett of Delaware, Alexander Martin
and Blount of North Carolina, Charles Pinckney and Butler of South
Carolina, and Colonel Few of Georgia, all became senators. Madison,
Gerry, Fitzsimmons of Pennsylvania, Carroll of Maryland, and Spaight and
Williamson of North Carolina, all wrought well in the House, but did not
reach the Senate. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was nominated for the
Presidency in 1800, on the ticket with John Adams, again in 1804, and
still again in 1808.
Jared Ingersoll was the federalist candidate for Vice-President in 1812,
on the ticket with De Witt Clinton, against Madison and Gerry. Yates
rose to be Chief Justice of the State of New York, Lansing to be its
Chancellor. Gerry and Strong of Massachusetts, Patterson of New Jersey,
Bassett of Delaware, Spaight and Davie of North Carolina, and Charles
Pinckney of South Carolina, became Governors of their States, as did
Alexander Martin, of North Carolina, a second time.
Having received final revision and signature, the Constitution was
transmitted, with a commendatory letter from Washington, to the old
Congress. Suggestions were added relating to the mode of launching it.
Congress was requested to lay the new Great Charter before the States,
and, so soon as it should have been ratified by nine of them, to fix the
date for the election by these of presidential electors, the day for the
latter to cast their votes, and the time and place for commencing
proceedings under the revised constitution. Congress complied. The
debates of the Convention, only more hot, attended ratification, which
was carried in several States only by narrow majorities.
[1788-1790]
Delaware was the first to ratify, December 7, 1787. Pennsylvania and New
Jersey soon followed, the one on the 12th of the same month, the other
on the 18th. Delaware and New Jersey voted unanimously; Pennsylvania
ratified by a vote of forty-six to twenty-three. During the first month
of the new year, 1788, Georgia and Connecticut ratified, on the 2d and
9th respectively. New Hampshire next took up the question, but adjourned
her convention to await the action of Massachusetts. In this great State
the people were divided almost equally. Of the western counties the
entire population that had sympathized or sided with Shays was bitter
against the Constitution. The larger centres and in general the eastern
part of the State favored it. The vote was had on February 6th, and
showed a majority of only 19 out of 355 in favor of the Constitution.
Celebrating the Adoption of the Constitution in New York.
The good work still remained but half done. It was a crisis.
Accordingly, early in this year, Hamilton, Madison, and Jay published
their weighty articles, since collected in the immortal volume known as
"The Federalist." These discussions seemed to have much effect. Maryland
ratified on April 28th, and South Carolina on May 23d. New Hampshire
fell into line, the necessary ninth State to ratify, June 21st. Thus the
Constitution became binding, yet it was still painfully uncertain what
the action of Virginia and New York would be. In both States the
Constitution was opposed by many of the most influential men, and after
a long and heated canvass adoption occurred in Virginia by a majority of
only ten in a vote of 168; in New York by the narrow majority of two.
Even now North Carolina and Rhode Island remained aloof. The former, not
liking the prospect of isolation, came into the Union November 21, 1789,
after the new government had been some time at work. Rhode Island, owing
to her peculiar history in the matter of religious liberty, which she
feared a closer union would jeopardize, as well as to the strength of
the paper-money fanaticism within her borders, was more obdurate. The
chief difficulty here was to get the legislature to call a convention.
The New York Packet of February 20, 1790, in a letter from Rhode Island,
tells how this was accomplished. Among the anti-adoptionists in the
senate was a rural clergyman who, prompted by his conscience, or, as one
account runs, by exhortation and the offer of a conveyance by an
influential member of the adoption party, was, when Sunday came, absent
upon his sacred work. The occasion was seized for a ballot. The senate
was a tie, but the Governor threw the casting vote for a convention.
This was called as soon as possible, and on May 29, 1790, Rhode Island,
too, at the eleventh hour, made the National Constitution her own. Not
only had a MORE PERFECT UNION been formed at last, but it included all
the Old Thirteen States.
PART SECOND
THE UNITED STATES UNDER THE CONSTITUTION
PERIOD I.
THE UNITED STATES AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
1789-1814
CHAPTER I.
THE NEW GOVERNMENT
Notified on July 2, 1788, that nine States had voted approval of the
Constitution, Congress, on September 13th, set the first Wednesday in
January, 1789, for the choice of electors, the first in February for
their ballot, and the first in March for putting the new government in
motion. The first Wednesday in March, 1789, happening to fall on the
4th, this date has since remained as the initial one for presidencies
and congresses. The First Congress had no quorum in either branch on
March 4th, and did not complete its organization till April 6th.
Washington was inaugurated on April 30th, in New York, where the First
Congress, proceeding to execute the Constitution, held its entire first
session. Its second session was in Philadelphia, the seat of Congress
thence till the second session of the VIth Congress, 1800, since which
time Congress has always met in Washington.
The inauguration of our first President was an imposing event. As the
hero moved from his house on Franklin Square, through Pearl Street to
Broad, and through Broad to Federal Hall, corner of Wall Street, people
thronged every sidewalk, door-way, window, and roof along the entire
line of march. About him on the platform after his arrival stood John
Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Baron Steuben, Generals St. Clair and Knox,
Roger Sherman, and Chancellor Livingston. Washington advanced to the
rail, placed his hand upon his breast, and, bowing low, said audibly, as
the Chancellor in his robes solemnly recited the words, "I swear, so
help me God," reverently kissing the Bible as if to add solemnity to his
oath. "It is done," cried the Chancellor; "long live George Washington,
President of the United States!" The great crowd repeated the cry. It
was echoed outside in the city, off into the country, far north, far
south, till the entire land took up that watchword, which his own
generation has passed on to ours and to all that shall come, Long live
George Washington!
Let us study for a moment the habitat of the people over which the new
Chief Magistrate was called to bear sway. By the census of 1790, the
population of the thirteen States and of the territory belonging to the
Union numbered 3,929,214. It resided almost wholly on the Atlantic coast
from Maine to Florida. Not more than five per cent of it was west of the
mountains. The line of inner settlement, now farther, now nearer, ran at
an average distance from the coast of two hundred and fifty-five miles.
The coast land of Massachusetts, southern New England, and New York was
the most densely covered. The Hudson Valley was well peopled as far as
Albany. Farms and hamlets were to be met all the way from New York
across New Jersey to the Delaware, and far up the Delaware Valley
westward from that river. Maine, still belonging to Massachusetts, had
few settlements except upon her coast and a little way inland along her
great rivers. Vermont, not yet a State and claimed by both New Hampshire
and New York, was well filled up, as was all New Hampshire but the
extreme north.
The westward movement of population took mainly four routes, the Mohawk
and Ontario, the Upper Potomac, the Southwestern Virginia, and the
Western Georgia. The Mohawk Valley was settled, and pioneers had taken
up much land on Lake Ontario and near the rivers and lakes tributary to
it. Elmira and Binghamton had been begun. Pennsylvania settlers had
pressed westward more or less thickly to the lower elevations of the
Alleghanies, while beyond, in the Pittsburgh regions, they were even
more numerous. What is now West Virginia had squatters here and there.
Virginian pioneers had also betaken themselves southwestward to the head
of the Tennessee. North and South Carolina were inhabited as far west as
the mountains, though the population was not dense. In Northern
Kentucky, along the Ohio, lay considerable settlements, and in
Tennessee, where Nashville now is, there was another centre of
civilization. In the Northwest Territory, Detroit, Vincennes, Kaskaskia,
Prairie du Chien, Mackinac, and Green River were outposts, at each of
which a few white men might have been found.
The following table shows pretty nearly the population of the several
States about the end of the Revolution:
| New Hampshire | 102,000 |
| Massachusetts | 330,000 |
| Rhode Island [1783] | 51,869 [2,342 of them negroes, |
|
|
464 mulattoes, 525 Indians.] |
| Connecticut [1782] | 208,870 |
| New York [1786] | 215,283 |
| New Jersey[1785] | 138,934 [10,500 of them negroes.] |
| Pennsylvania | 330,000 |
| Delaware | 37,000 |
| Maryland | 250,000 [80,000 of them negroes.] |
| Virginia | 532,000 [280,000 of them negroes.] |
| North Carolina | 224,000 [60,000 of them negroes.] |
| South Carolina | 188,000 [80,000 of them negroes.] |
| Georgia [rough estimate] | 80,000 [20,000 of them negroes.] |
Another table exhibits approximately the number of houses in the
principal cities of the country in 1785-86. It was customary then in
estimating population to allow seven persons to each house. This
multiplier is probably too large rather than too small.
|
Cities |
Houses |
Population, multiplying number of houses by seven. |
| Portsmouth, N. H | 450 | 3,150 |
| Newburyport | 510 | 3,570 |
| Salem, Mass | 730 | 5,210 |
| Boston | 2,200 | 15,400 |
| Providence | 560 | 3,920 |
| Newport | 790 | 5,530 |
| Hartford | 300 | 2,100 |
| New Haven | 400 | 2,800 |
| New York | 3,340 | 23,380 |
| Albany and suburbs | 550 | 3,850 |
| Trenton | 180 | 1,260 |
| Philadelphia and suburbs | 4,500 | 31,500 |
| Wilmington | 400 | 2,800 |
| Baltimore | 1,950 | 13,650 |
| Annapolis | 260 | 1,820 |
| Frederick, Md. | 400 | 2,800 |
| Alexandria | 300 | 2,100 |
| Richmond | 310 | 2,170 |
| Petersburg | 280 | 1,960 |
| Williamsburg | 230 | 1,610 |
| Charleston | 1,540 | 10,780 |
| Savannah | 200 | 1,400 |
The first New York City Directory appeared in 1786. It had eight hundred
and forty-six names, not going above Roosevelt and Cherry Streets on
the East side, or Dey Street on the West. There were then in the city
three Dutch Reformed churches, four Presbyterian, three Episcopal, two
German Lutheran, and one congregation each belonging to the Catholics,
Friends, Baptists, Moravians, and Jews. In 1789 the Methodists had two
churches, and the Friends two new Meetings. The houses in the city were
generally of brick, with tile roofs, mostly English in style, but a few
Dutch. The old Fort, where the provincial governors had resided, still
stood in the Battery. The City Hall was a brick structure, three stories
high, with wings, fronting on Broad Street. Want of good water greatly
inconvenienced the citizens, as there was no aqueduct yet, and wells
were few. Most houses supplied themselves by casks from a pump on what
is now Pearl Street, this being replenished from a pond a mile north of
the then city limits. New York commanded the trade of nearly all
Connecticut, half New Jersey, and all Western Massachusetts, besides
that of New York State itself. In short it did the importing for
one-sixth of the population of the Union. Pennsylvania and Maryland made
the best flour. In the manufacture of iron, paper, and cabinet ware,
Pennsylvania led all the States.
Over this rapidly growing portion of the human race in its widely
separated homes there was at last a central government worthy the name.
The old Articles of Confederation had been no fundamental law, not a
foundation but a homely botch-work of superstructure, resembling more a
treaty between several States than a ground-law for one. In the new
Constitution a genuine foundation was laid, the Government now holding
direct and immediate relations with each subject of every State, and
citizens of States being at the same time citizens of the United States.
Hitherto the central power could act on individuals only through States.
Now, by its own marshals, aided if need were by its army, it could
itself arrest and by its own courts try and condemn any transgressor of
its laws.
But if the State relinquished the technical sovereignty which it had
before, it did not sink to the level of an administrative division, but
increased rather in all the elements of real dignity and stability. Over
certain subjects the new constitution gave the States supreme, absolute,
and uncontrollable power. The range of this supreme state prerogative
is, in fact, wider on the whole than that of national. For national
action there must be demonstrable constitutional warrant, for that of
States this is not necessary. In more technical phrase: to the United
States what is not granted is denied, to the State what is not denied is
granted. It is a perpetual reminder of original state sovereignty, that
no State can without its consent be deprived of its equal suffrage in
the Senate. Each State also must have at least one representative.
States cannot be sued by private persons or corporations. Even upon
subjects constitutionally reserved for national law, if Congress has not
legislated state statute is valid.
Precisely as its advocates had prophesied, this revised order worked
well, bringing a blessed new feeling of security. On commerce and
business it conferred immense benefits, which rapidly became
disseminated through all classes of the population. The sense and
appearance of unity and consequent strength which the land had enjoyed
in the early days of the Revolution came back in greater completeness,
and was most gratifying to all. There was still a rankling hatred toward
England, and men hostile to central government on other grounds were
reconciled to it as the sole condition of successful commercial or naval
competition with that country.
The consequence was a wide-spread change of public feeling in reference
to the Constitution very soon after its adoption. Bitterest hostility
turned to praise that was often fulsome, reducing to insignificance an
opposition that had probably comprised a popular majority during the
very months of ratification. Many shifted their ground merely to be on
the popular side. With multitudes Washington's influence had more weight
than any argument.
The Constitution's unfortunate elasticity of interpretation also for the
time worked well. People who had fought it saw how their cherished views
could after all be based upon it. All parties soon began, therefore, to
swear by the Constitution as their political Bible. The fathers of the
immortal paper were exalted into demigods. Fidelity to the Constitution
came to be pre-eminently the watchword of those till now against its
adoption. They in fact shouted this cry louder than the Federalists, who
had never regarded it a perfect instrument of government. It came to
pass ere long that nothing would blast a public measure so instantly or
so completely as the cry of its unconstitutionality.
| 3 Captains at | $6,000 | $18,000 |
| 2 Mates at | $4,000 | 8,000 |
| 2 Passengers at | $4,000 | 8,000 |
| 14 Seamen at | $1,400 | 19,600 |
|
Total |
|
$53,600 |
| For custom, eleven per cent |
|
5,896 |
|
Grands Total |
|
$59,496 |
Later a single cruise lost us ten vessels to these half-civilized
people.
Following European precedent, Washington had made, in 1795, a
ransom-treaty with this nest of pirates, to carry out which cost us a
fat million. The captives had meantime increased to one hundred and
fifteen, though the crews of the Maria and the Dauphin had wasted away
to ten men. Nearly a million more went to the other North-African
freebooters. The policy of ransoming was, indeed, cheaper than force.
Count d'Estaing used to say that bombarding a pirate town was like
breaking windows with guineas. The old Dey of Algiers, learning the
expense of Du Quesne's expedition to batter his capital, declared that
he himself would have burnt it for half the sum.
Yet it makes one's blood hot to-day to read how our fathers paid tribute
to those thieves. The Dey had, in so many words, called us his slaves,
and had actually terrorized Captain Bainbridge, of the man-of-war George
Washington, into carrying despatches for him to Constantinople, flying
the Algerine pirate flag conspicuously at the fore. After
anchoring--this was some requital--Bainbridge was permitted to hoist the
Stars and Stripes, the first time that noble emblem ever kissed the
breeze of the Golden Horn.
[1803]
Jefferson loathed such submission, and vowed that it should cease.
Commodore Dale was ordered to the Mediterranean with a squadron to
protect our ships there from further outrage. One of his vessels, the
Experiment, soon captured a Tripoli cruiser of fourteen guns, the
earliest stroke of any civilized power for many years by way of showing
a bold front to these pestilent corsairs.
This was on August 6, 1801. In 1803 Preble was placed in command of the
Mediterranean fleet, with some lighter ships to go farther up those
shallow harbors. Bainbridge had the misfortune while in pursuit of a
Tripoli frigate to run his ship, the Philadelphia, on a rock, and to be
taken prisoner with all his crew. The sailors were made slaves.
Lieutenant Decatur penetrated the Tripoli harbor under cover of night,
and burned the Philadelphia to the water's edge. Tripoli was bombarded,
and many of its vessels taken or sunk. Commodore Barron, who had
succeeded Preble, co-operated with a land attack which some of the
Pasha's disaffected subjects, led by the American General Eaton, made
upon Tripoli. The city was captured, April 27th, and the pirate prince
forced to a treaty. Even now, however, we paid $60,000 in ransom money.
Lieutenant Decatur on the Turkish Vessel during the Bombardment of Tripoli.
CHAPTER X.
THE WAR OF 1812
[1807]
Although paying, so long as Jay's treaty was in force, for certain
invasions of our commerce, Great Britain had never adopted a just
attitude toward neutral trade. She persisted in loosely defining
contraband and blockade, and in denouncing as unlawful all commerce
which was opened to us as neutrals merely by war or carried on by us
between France and French colonies through our own ports.
The far more flagrant abuse of impressment, the forcible seizure of
American citizens for service in the British navy, became intolerably
prevalent during Jefferson's administration. Not content with reclaiming
deserters or asserting the eternity of British citizenship, Great
Britain, through her naval authorities, was compelling thousands of men
of unquestioned American birth to help fight her battles. Castlereagh
himself admitted that there had been sixteen hundred bona fide cases of
this sort by January 1, 1811. And in her mode of asserting and
exercising even her just claims she ignored international law, as well
as the dignity and sovereignty of the United States. The odious right of
search she most shamefully abused. The narrow seas about England were
assumed to be British waters, and acts performed in American harbors
admissible only on the open ocean. When pressed by us for apology or
redress, the British Government showed no serious willingness to treat,
but a brazen resolve to utilize our weak and too trustful policy of
peace.
One instance of this shall suffice. Commodore Barron, in command of the
United States war vessel Chesapeake, was attacked by the Leopard, a
British two-decker of fifty guns, outside the mouth of Chesapeake Bay,
to recover three sailors, falsely alleged to be British-born, on board.
Their surrender being refused, the Leopard opened fire. The Chesapeake
received twenty-one shots in her hull, and lost three of her crew killed
and eighteen wounded. She had been shamefully unprepared for action, and
was hence forced to strike, but Humphreys, the Leopard's commander,
contemptuously declined to take her a prize. There was no excuse
whatever for this wanton and criminal insult to our flag, yet the only
reparation ever made was formal, tardy, and lame.
James Madison.
From a painting by Gilbert Stuart--property of T. Jefferson Coolidge.
Bad was changed to worse with the progress of the new and more desperate
war between Great Britain and Napoleon. The Emperor shut the
North-German ports to Britain; Britain declared Prussian and all West
European harbors in a state of blockade. The Emperor's Berlin decree,
November, 1806, paper-blockaded the British Isles; his Milan decree,
December, 1807, declared forfeited all vessels, wherever found,
proceeding to or from any British port, or having submitted to British
search or tribute. In fine, Britain would treat as illicit all commerce
with the continent, France all with Britain. But while Napoleon, in
fact, though not avowedly, more and more receded from his position,
England maintained hers with iron tenacity.
[1810]
Sincere as was our Government's desire to maintain strict neutrality in
the European conflict, it naturally found difficulty in making England
so believe. Their opponents at home ceaselessly charged Jefferson,
Madison, and all the Republicans with partiality to France, so that
Canning and Castlereagh were misled; and they were confirmed in their
suspicion by Napoleon's crafty assumption that our embargo or
non-intercourse policy was meant to act, as it confessedly did,
favorably to France. Napoleon's confiscation of our vessels, at one time
sweeping, he advertised as a friendly proceeding in aid of our embargo.
Yet all this did not, as Castlereagh captiously pretended, prove our
neutrality to be other than strict and honest. At this time it certainly
was both. So villainously had Napoleon treated us that all Americans now
hated him as heartily as did any people in England.
[1812]
The non-intercourse mode of hostility, a boomerang at best, had played
itself out before Jefferson's retirement; and since George's ministry
showed no signs whatever of a changed temper, guiltily ill-prepared as
we were, no honorable or safe course lay before us but to fight Great
Britain. Clay, Calhoun, Quincy Adams, and Monroe--the last the soul of
the war--deserved the credit of seeing this first and clearest, and of
the most sturdy and consistent action accordingly. Their spirit proved
infectious, and the Republicans swiftly became a war party.
Most of the "war-hawks," as they were derisively styled, were from the
South and the southern Middle States. Fearing that, if it were a naval
war, glory would redound to New England and New York, which were hotbeds
of the peace party, they wished this to be a land war, and shrieked, "On
to Canada." They made a great mistake. The land operations were for the
most part indescribably disgraceful. Except the exploits of General
Brown and Colonel Winfield Scott, subsequently the head of the national
armies, not an action on the New York border but ingloriously failed.
The national Capitol was captured and burnt, a deed not more disgraceful
to England in the commission than to us in the permission. Of the
officers in command of armies, only Harrison and Jackson earned laurels.
Harrison had learned warfare as Governor of Indiana, where, on November
7, 1811, he had fought the battle of Tippecanoe, discomfiting Tecumseh's
braves and permanently quieting Indian hostilities throughout that
territory. In the new war against England, after Hull's pusillanimous
surrender of Detroit, the West loudly and at length with success
demanded "Tippecanoe" as commander for the army about to advance into
Canada. Their estimate of Harrison proved just. Overcoming many
difficulties and aided by Perry's flotilla on Lake Erie, he pursued
Proctor, his retreating British antagonist, up the River Thames to a
point beyond Sandwich. Here the British made a stand, but a gallant
charge of Harrison's Kentucky cavalry irreparably broke their lines. The
Indians, led by old Tecumseh in person, made a better fight, but in
vain. The victory was complete, and Upper Canada lay at our mercy.
Tecumseh
Andrew Jackson also began his military experience by operations against
Indians. The southern redskins had been incited to war upon us by
British and Spanish emissaries along the Florida line. Tecumseh had
visited them in the same interest. The horrible massacre at Fort Mims,
east of the Alabama above its junction with the Tombigbee, was their
initial work. Five hundred and fifty persons were there surprised, four
hundred of them slain or burned to death. Jackson took the field, and in
an energetic campaign, with several bloody engagements, forced them to
peace. By the battle of the Horse-Shoe, March 27, 1814, the Creek power
was entirely crushed.
Subsequently placed in command of our force at New Orleans, Jackson was
attacked by a numerous British army, made up in large part of veterans
who had seen service under Wellington in Spain. Pakenham, the hero of
Salamanca, commanded. Jackson's position was well chosen and strongly
fortified. After several preliminary engagements, each favorable to the
American arms, Pakenham essayed to carry the American works by storm.
The battle occurred on January 8, 1815. It was desperately fought on
both sides, but at its close Jackson's loss had been trifling and his
line had not been broken at a single point, while the British had lost
at least 2,600, all but 500 of these killed or wounded. The British
immediately withdrew from the Mississippi, leaving Jackson entirely
master of the position.
But the naval operations of this war were far the most famous, exceeding
in their success all that the most sanguine had dared to hope, and
forever dispelling from our proud foe the charm of naval invincibility.
The American frigate Constitution captured the British Guerriere. The
Wasp took the Frolic, being soon, however, forced to surrender with her
prize to the Poitiers, a much larger vessel. The United States
vanquished the Macedonian, and the Constitution the Java. One of the
best fought actions of the war was that of McDonough on Lake Champlain,
with his craft mostly gunboats or galleys. His victory restored to us
the possession of Northern New York, which our land forces had not been
able to maintain.
Oliver H, Perry.
[1813-1814]
The crowning naval triumph during the war, one of the most brilliant, in
fact, in all naval annals, was won by Oliver Hazard Perry near
Put-in-Bay on Lake Erie, September 10, 1813, over the Briton, Barclay, a
naval veteran who had served under Nelson at Trafalgar. The fleets were
well matched, the American numbering the more vessels but the fewer
guns. Barclay greatly exceeded Perry in long guns, having the latter at
painful disadvantage until he got near. Perry's flag-ship, the Lawrence,
was early disabled. Her decks were drenched with blood, and she had
hardly a gun that could be served. Undismayed, Perry, with his insignia
of command, crossed in a little boat to the Niagara. Again proudly
hoisting his colors, aided by the wind and followed by his whole
squadron, he pressed for close quarters, where desperate fighting
speedily won the battle. Barclay and his next in command were wounded,
the latter dying that night. "We have met the enemy and they are ours,"
Perry wrote to Harrison, "two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one
sloop."
Triumph far more complete might have attended the war but for the
perverse and factious federalist opposition to the administration. Some
Federalists favored joining England out and out against Napoleon. Having
with justice denounced Jefferson's embargo tactics as too tame, yet when
the war spirit rose and even the South stood ready to resent foreign
affronts by force, they changed tone, harping upon our weakness and
favoring peace at any price. Tireless in magnifying the importance of
commerce, they would not lift a hand to defend it. The same men who had
cursed Adams for avoiding war with France easily framed excuses for
orders in council, impressment, and the Chesapeake affair.
Apart from Randolph and the few opposition Republicans, mostly in New
York, this Thersites band had its seat in commercial New England, where
embargo and war of course sat hardest, more than a sixth of our entire
tonnage belonging to Massachusetts alone. From the Essex Junto and its
sympathizers came nullification utterances not less pointed than the
Virginia and Kentucky resolutions, although, considering the sound
rebukes which the latter had evoked, they were far less defensible.
Disunion was freely threatened, and actions either committed or
countenanced bordering hard upon treason. The Massachusetts Legislature
in 1809 declared Congress's act to enforce embargo "not legally
binding." Governor Trumbull of Connecticut declined to aid, as requested
by the President, in carrying out that act, summoning the Legislature
"to interpose their protecting shield" between the people and "the
assumed power of the general Government." "How," wrote Pickering,
referring to the Constitution, Amendment X., "are the powers reserved to
be maintained, but by the respective States judging for themselves and
putting their negative on the usurpations of the general Government?" A
sermon of President Dwight's on the text, "Come out from among them and
be ye separate, saith the Lord," even Federalists deprecated as hinting
too strongly at secession. This unpatriotic agitation, from which, be it
said, large numbers of Federalists nobly abstained, came to a head in
the mysterious Hartford Convention, at the close of 1814, and soon began
to be sedulously hushed--in consequence of the glorious news of victory
and peace from Ghent and New Orleans.
Perry transferring his Colors from the Lawrence to the Niagara.
While the Congregationalists, especially their clergy, were nearly all
stout Federalists, opposing Jefferson, Madison, and the war, the
Methodists and Baptists almost to a man stood up for the administration
and its war policy with the utmost vigor, rebuking the peace party as
traitors. [Footnote: The writer's grandfather, a Baptist minister, was
as good as driven from his pulpit and charge at Templeton, Mass.,
because of his federalist sympathies in this war.] Timothy Merritt, a
mighty Methodist preacher on the Connecticut circuit, has left us from
these critical times a stirring sermon on the text, Judges v. 23, "Curse
ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants
thereof; because they came not up to the help of the Lord, to the help
of the Lord against the mighty." Meroz was the federalist party and
England's ministry and army were "the mighty."
Czar Alexander, regarding our hostility as dangerous to England, with
whom he then stood allied against Napoleon, sought to end the war. The
Russian campaign of 1812 practically finished Napoleon's career, so
leaving England free to press operations in America. In April, 1814,
Paris was captured. The United States therefore accepted Alexander's
offices. Our commissioners, Adams, Clay, Gallatin, Marshall, Bayard, and
Russell met the English envoys at Ghent, and after long discussions, in
which more than once it seemed as if the war must proceed, the treaty of
Ghent was executed, December 24, 1814, a fortnight before the battle of
New Orleans.
It was an honorable peace. If we gained no territory we yielded none.
The questions of Mississippi navigation and the fisheries were expressly
reserved for future negotiations. Upon impressment and the abuse of
neutrals, exactly the grievances over which we had gone to war, the
treaty was silent, and peace men laughed at the war party on this
account, calling the war a failure. The ridicule was unjust. Had
Napoleon been still on high, or the negotiations been subsequent to the
New Orleans victory, England would doubtless have been called upon to
renounce these practices. But experience has proved that such a demand
would have been unnecessary. No outrage of these kinds has occurred
since, nor can anyone doubt that it was our spirit as demonstrated in
the war of 1812 which changed England's temper. Hence, in spite of our
military inexperience, financial distress, internal dissensions, and the
fall of Napoleon, which unexpectedly turned the odds against us, the war
was a success.
End of Volume II.