(1919) The Little Book of Our Country

8/9/2019 (1919) The Little Book of Our Country

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THE LITTLE BOOKOF OUR COUNTRY

EVA MARCH TAPPAN


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THE LITTLE BOOKOF OUR COUNTRYBY

EVA MARCH TAPPAN

Publiched for theLdUCATIONAL B UREAU

National War Wokk Council ofYouNc; TwLx's Christian Associations,

As:.ociATioN Press,347 Aladison Avenue, New York

1919


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THE LITTLE BOOKOF OUR COUNTRYBY

EVA MARCH TAPPAN

Published for theEducational Bureau

National War Work Council ofYoung Men's Christian Associations,

'-7Association Press^

347 Madison Avenue, New York1919


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Copyright, 1919, byEva Masch Tappam


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CONTENTSThe Discovery of America 5Why Colonies Were Founded inAmerica 10

III . How England Came to Rule inL" America 14:IV. Why There Was Trouble Between

THE Colonies and the King ofEngland 22

V. The Story of the Revolution 28VI. How the United States Formed ItsGovernment 40The Star-Spangled Banner 44How the Questions of BoundaryWere Settled 50

IX. "Our Federal Union: It Must Be^ Preserved" 56X. To the Far West 65

*XI. The United States Becomes a WorldPower 74XII. Our Country Today 82


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CHAPTER ITHE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA

Four hundred and fifty years ago no one sus-pected that there was such a land as America.Europeans knew a Httle of Africa and of Asia, butnothing of the rest of the world. They were par-ticularly eager to know more of Asia, because fromthe East, that is, from Japan, China, and India,came many of their luxuries, such as silks, pearls,jewelry, perfumes, and spices. These were broughtto Europe by long and wearisome overland jour-neys, and if there was only some way of reachingthe East by water, this trade would be mucheasier to carry on.How to find such a way was a puzzle. Mostpeople thought the earth was flat, and that if aship went too near the edge, it would slip over intono one knew what. A few learned men believed^.hat the earth was round and that by sailing westfrom Europe, one would come to the East, but noone was bold enough to push out into the watersof the unknown Atlantic. This was full of whirl-pools and all sorts of sea monsters, people thought,and was the home of evil spirits. Probably the

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6 THE LITTLE BOOK OF OUR COUNTRYwater boiled as one drew near the equator. It isno wonder that they hesitated.But in Italy there was a man who did not

hesitate. His name was Christopher Columbus.He had been a sailor most of his life, but besidessailing he had done a great deal of studying andthinking. He was one of the few who believedthat the world was round, and what was more, hewas ready to risk his life in a voyage to prove bisbelief and to teach the Christian faith to the peopleof the East.But he could not make such a voyage without

money. He asked the King of Portugal, who toldhim he was a dreamer. Then he asked the sover-eigns of Spain. After a long delay, Queen Isabellaagreed to pay the greater part of the cost of thevoyage, and Columbus set sail. He had threelittle vessels, the largest only sixty-five feet long,and a crew of unwilling sailors, most of whom hadbeen forced to go. Many a time they tried tomake him turn back; more than once they plotte^to kill him; but he still sailed on. At last, October12, 1492, ten weeks after leaving Spain, he cameto some islands. He believed that they were oUthe coast of India, and as he had reached them bysailing west, he named them the West Indies.


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THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA 7For three months he cruised about among them,then he returned to Spain.When Columbus reached Spain there was agreat celebration, for the Spaniards supposed they

were honoring the man who had discovered asnorter route to India. He had opened the way,they thought, to a trade with the East whichwould make their country rich and powerful. Onhis next voyage, everybody wanted to go with himto find the great cities which they were sure mustbe very near the West Indies. When these couldnot be found, the Spaniards were disappointed andangry; and Colymbus, who had been bold whereothers feared, who had persevered where othersyielded, who had pointed out the way to themighty western world, was allowed to die inpoverty and neglect.

If the Spaniards had known that the land whichblocked the way of Columbus was three thousandmiles wide, they would have been more discouragedthan ever; but they thought it was perhaps a vastgroup of islands, or that, even if it was a long stripof land, there must be somewhere a passagewaythrough it. The nations of western Europe wereall interested in the search for that passageway.The Italian captains were especially daring and


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8 THE LITTLE BOOK OF OUK COUNTRYskillful. One of them, named John Cabot, wasliving in England, and the English king sent himto see if he could find it. England did not care tointerfere with Spain, for at that time Spain wasthe most powerful country in Europe, thereforeCabot sailed directly west and came to land atNewfoundland or Cape Breton or possibly Labra-dor. Portugal sent out an Italian captain namedAmericus Vespucius. He went to Brazil, andwhen he reached home he published a map of thecountry and an account of his discoveries. Noone supposed that there was any connection be-tween Brazil and the land seen by Columbus andby Cabot. It was thought that Americus had dis-covered a new continent, and writers on geographybegan to call it America. After a while the namespread to include the whole double continent.This is how it happened that the country in whichwe live took its name from an Italian who neversaw it.

France, too, sent out discoverers, Jacques Cartie5;and others. They sailed up the St. LawrenceRiver; some of them floated down the Mississippialmost to the Gulf of Mexico. Spain, however, walthe most eager explorer. Spaniards visited Floridaand made long journeys through the Southwest.


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THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA " 9One of the captains sent out by Spain, a Portuguesenamed Magellan, sailed down the eastern coast ofSouth America, then up the western, then crossedthe Pacific Ocean. Magellan himself was killedby the natives on the Philippine Islands, but oneof his ships went on and so made the first voyagearound the wxrld. This proved that the earth wasround and that America was a great new continent.Many years after the voyage of John Cabot, anEnglishman, Sir Francis Drake, sailed around theworld, following much the same course as Magellan.On the way he landed on the shores of what is nowCalifornia and named the country New Albion.Another Englishman, Henry Hudson, sailing in theservice of Holland, discovered the Hudson Riverand Hudson Bay, which are named for him.So it was that within about one hundred years

after Columbus had shown the way, England,Portugal, France, Spain, and Holland all madediscoveries in the New World, and all established''claims to some of its territory.


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CHAPTER IIWHY COLONIES WERE FOUNDED IN AMERICAWhen the year 1600 had come, Europeans had a

fairly good idea of the shape of South America.Their notions of North America were rather hazy,although explorers had touched here and there onthe eastern coast and also on the western. Americalay between the two oceans, a great mass of un-known land, waiting for some one to reveal hertreasures. People still hoped to find a channelthrough this land that would afford a shorter wayto Asia, and they never gave up their search forthe "Northwest Passage," as they called it.

, Spain, however, now cared little for any route toAsia, for she was getting enormous quantities ofgold and silver from the New World. She hadexplored Florida, New Mexico, and parts of SouthAmerica, conquering the natives, seizing thewealth of their mines, and sending it back to Spain .^The Spaniards had made two permanent settle-ments in what is now the United States. Thesewere St. Augustine in Florida and Santa Fe in*New Mexico.Spain was rich, but she was not having an easy

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WHY COLONIES WERE FOUNDED Htime. The Spanish king ruled Holland as well asSpain, but he treated the Dutch so cruelly thatthey rebelled. The English came to their aid,and in 1588 Spain determined to send so mighty afleet against England that she would be com-pletely crushed. The fleet was sent, but it wasoverwhelmingly defeated. England was now freefrom all fear of Spain. She could found as manysolonies in the New World as she chose, and ifSpain dared to interfere with them, England wasstrong enough to punish her.

Within one hundred and fifty years after thedefeat cf Spain, that is, between 1588 and 1733,settlements had been made in what are now thethirteen states lying between Maine and Florida.These are the "Old Thirteen," and it is in honor ofthem that our flag contains thirteen stripes.Eleven of these states were settled by Englishmen.New York was ^tled by the Dutch and Delawareby the Swedes; but both of these states soon camefinto the hands or the English.

Even before America had any European in-habitants, it was looked upon as a refuge, as aiand of freedom, a country in which a man mighthave a chance. Thousands of men in Europe,especially in England, were in need of a chance.


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WHY COLONIES WERE FOUNDED 13They were willing to search for gold, although theyhad no idea where to search, and even if they hadfound it, they did not know how gold ore looked.These men failed, as they would have failedanywhere.Many crossed the ocean to find freedom for thepractice of their form of religion. Religiousfreedom was a new idea in those days, and for the'subjects of a king to differ from him in theirreligious belief was looked upon as quite un-allowable. Severe laws were passed against allsuch people, and it is no wonder that some of themwere ready even to leave their homes and come to acountry where they could find freedom to worshipGod as they thought most pleasing to him and totrain up their children in the ways that theybelieved right. The trading companies broughtover some men who were too poor to pay theirpassage and let them pay for it in work. Onecolony was formed of poor debtors, their fare''being paid by kind-hearted men in England, Soit was that in one way or another America was toevery one who came t her shores a land of oppor-^:unity. A man might make good use of theopportunity or he might not, but at least he hadhis chance.


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CHAPTER IIIHOW ENGLAND CAME TO RULE IN AMERICAThe great double continent lying between the

oceans had never been without people, for long'before any Europeans landed on its shoresno oneknows how longit was inhabited by many tribesof Indians. The "red men" of the South, that is,"of Mexico and South America, were partly civil-ized. They made beautiful articles of gold andsilver and understood the use of bronze. Theywove very fine cloth of cotton and of wool, and theybuilt handsome- temples. Indians much like themlive today in New Mexico and Arizona. Theylearned long ago how to build, of brick burned inthe sun, strong fortresses four and five stories high.To protect themselves against the savage Indiansaround them, they used often to build their homeshigh up on cliffs. They cultivated the ground,and discovered how to bring water down from the*)mountains in sluices to keep their cornfields frombeing parched in time of drought.The Indians with whom the English settlers had"to do were not even half civilized. Some of them

lived in long houses made by covering a frame-14


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HOW ENGLAND CAME TO RULE 15work with elm bark, but most of the Indians ofthe East hved in round wigwams or huts made ofthe bark of trees or the skins of wild animals.They cultivated the soil somewhat and raisedbeans, squashes, pumpkins, and especially maize,which we still call Indian corn. Nuts and fruitand rice grew wild; there were fish in the rivers andlakes; and there was game in the wilderness. The

* red men made fishhooks of bones; axes, knives,and arrowheads they made of stone, althoughsome of them had learned how to use copper.They made pottery of clay, and light, gracefulcanoes of the bark of the birch and the elm. Fortheir clothes they used the skins of wild animals,often ornamented with shell beads. They wor-shipped the sun, moon, lightning, wind, etc., andalso their dead ancestors. They had no generalgovernment; each tribe was independent, andtheir main business was fighting. In war, theywere savage, and they put their prisoners to death

''with cruel tortures. They never forgot to avengeany wrong done them; but on the other hand, theynever forgot to be grateful for a kindness.Such were the neighbors of the colonists. Theneeds of the red men and the white men were

exactly opposite. The red men wanted forest, so


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16 THE LITTLE BOOK OF OUR COUNTRYthat the wild animals that they -killed for foodand furs would make it their home; but the whitemen wanted land cleared for cultivation. The dif-ferent tribes were constantly at war, and when-ever the whites gave any assistance to one tribe,some other tribe was always ready to resent it.Then, too, it was an Indian custom to avenge anywrong either upon the man who had done it, orupon any member of his tribe, or upon the whole *tribe, as opportunity might offer. The Indianslooked upon all white men as belonging to onetribe, and if any white man wronged them, theywere ready to take their revenge upon any otherwhite man whom they could reach. It is smallwonder that there were wars between the whitemen and the Indians, or that, when there was anytrouble among the different colonies, the Indianswere ready to take sides or to seize the opportunityto &,venge their own wrongs.The colonists were no more quarrelsome thanother people, but they stood firmly by their respec- "^tive countries; and whenever there was war betweenFrance and England, the French and Englishcolonies promptly took it up and began to make*raids upon one another. The result was that forseventy-five years of colonial history, there was


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HOW ENGLAND CAME TO RULE 17strife among the colonists more than half the timeThe main events of the earlier warfare were the

capture of Nova Scotia and of Louisburg, a Frenchfortress on Cape Breton Island, so strong that itwas called the Gibraltar of America. Militiamenfrom New England actually ventured to attackthis fort, and somehow they succeeded in takingitthey themselves hardly understood how. Whenpeace was made, Louisburg was returned to France,greatly to the wrath of the New Englanders.The last of these colonial wars concerned the

ownership of the very soil upon which the colonistshad settled, and it is no wonder that they wereready to fight. It arose because England, France,and Spain all laid claim to land in America, andthese claims conflicted. John Cabot had landedsomewhere about the Gulf of St. Lawrence, andmany English colonies had been founded on theAtlantic coast; therefore England claimed whateverland there might be north of the Great Lakes andalso nearly all the coast. Cartier had explored theSt. Lawrence River, Quebec and Montreal had beenfounded, the French had built a line of forts alongthe Mississippi, and near its mouth they hadfounded New Orleans and other colonies; thereforeFrance made a sweeping claim to all the land


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18 THE LITTLE BOOK OF OUR COUNTRYdrained by the two great rivers and their branches.Columbus had discovered America and visitedthe West Indies, and Spaniards had conqueredMexico, had built St. Augustine in Florida andSanta Fe in New Mexico, and had done muchexploring in the southwestern part of what is now ,the United States; therefore Spain claimed anenormous tract of land in that part of the country.Here, then, was a great continent, to vast areas of ,,which France, England, and Spain had estab-lished claims, and not even the claimants them-selves knew definitely where the claims began orended. It is little wonder that they disagreed,and that at length the disagreements led to war,a war that settled the question which nationshould rule in America.The quarrel began about the boundaries of Nova

Scotia. Then came trouble about the valley of theOhio River, for there the English and the Frenchhad clashed. The Governor of Virginia sentGeorge Washington, a young man of twenty-oneyears, to warn the French that they were on theterritory of the English. It was no easy journeyover mountains and through forests in November ^weather. Sometimes it rained, and sometimes itsnowed. Little creeks had swollen to rivers and


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20 THE LITTLE BOOK OF OUR COUNTRYlead to independence. The plan was given up, butit made people talk about the advantages of unit-ing, and this rude picture was a long step towardthe union of a few years later.

For five years the war continued. When theyear 1759 had come the English formed a bold .plan for the conquest of the French colony to thenorth, that is, of Canada. The hardest part of theundertaking and the most important was the cap- ^ture of Quebec, which was left to the Englishcommander. General Wolfe. Quebec stands on alofty cliff which pushes out into the St. LawrenceRiver. The French General, Montcalm, had seento it that three sides of the town were well de-fended. On the fourth side was a broad plateaucalled the Plains of Abraham. No trouble couldcome from that direction, Montcalm thought, be-cause the only way to reach the Plains was to climbup a steep cliff. But behold! One dark nightGeneral Wolfe landed at the foot of the cliff, andsilently his men began to climb. Early in the ^morning. General Montcalm was amazed to seesome five thousand English troops drawn up readyfor battle. The English won the day, but boththe brave young commanders fell. In the follow-ing year Montreal was taken, and now the English


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HOW ENGLAND CAME TO RULE 21held all Canada. Spain took up arms to helpFrance, but was of small assistance, and lostHavana sind the Philippine Islands to the English.The treaty which was made at the close of thewar is famous for two reasons: first, it settled the

question whether England or France should rulein America, and, second, it transferred from Franceto England the widest area of land that had ever

. passed by treaty from one nation to another.France fared badly, for she had to give up everyfoot of her possessions on the continent of NorthAmerica. The city of New Orleans and all theFrench claims west of the Mississippi she gave toSpain. Her claims east of that river and city shegave to England. Two little islands in the Gulfof St. Lawrence were left to her as shelter for herfishermen. Spain then held Florida, which ex-tended to the Mississippi River; but she agreed togive it up if Havana and the Philippines were re-turned to her. So it was that at the end of the

^ French and Indian War, England held the con-tinent from the Atlantic to the Mississippi; andSpain held all from the Mississippi River west-

, ward. There had been some exploration of thesouthwestern part of this territory, but the north-western part was totally unknown.


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CHAPTER IVWm' THERE WAS TROUBLE BETWEEN THECOLONISTS AND THE KING OF ENGLANDSome of the American colonies were governed

by officers appointed by the King, some by "pro-prietors," or persons to whom the King had givengrants of land, and some, which held charters, bythe freemen of those colonies. If the King wasdispleased with a colony founded under a charter,he would sometimes take its charter away andappoint officers to govern it. In one respect, how-ever, the government of all the colonies was alike,namely, each one had its legislative assembly,whose members were elected by the people, andonly this assembly could impose taxes upon them.The English Parliament made laws for the

colonies as a w^hole, and some of these, especiallythe ones affecting their trade and manufactures,were not at all pleasing to these Englishmen inAmerica. For instance, all goods brought to thecolonies or sold by them, or even sold by onecolony to another, must be carried in either Englishor Colonial vessels. The principal colonial exportsmust be sent to England, even if other countries

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TROUBLE WITH ENGLAND 23would pay higher prices for them. If an Americanmerchant wished to buy goods in any other Europ-ean country, he must have them shipped to Eng-land, reloaded on English vessels to be brought toAmerica, and must pay duty in both England and'America. These laws were called "NavigationActs."The English Parliament also forbade manu-

*facturing. The colonists might grow wool, forinstance, but they must send it to England to bemade into cloth, and must then buy the cloth ofEnglish manufacturers. They might smelt iron,but it must he sent to England to be made intoploughshares and spades and hoes and nails, andthen resold to themat a good round profit.

If any country made such laws for her coloniestoday, we should think that her lawmakers wereinsane; but a century and a half ago these lawswere looked upon by most people in all countriesas entirely fair and proper, and they were notnearly so severe as the laws which both Franceand Spain made for their colonies. What arecolonies for, people reasoned, if not to increase the

.trade and prosperity of the mother country? As amatter of fact, however, the colonists often man-aged to evade such laws, and not only did consid-


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24 THE LITTLE BOOK OF OUR COUNTRYerable manufacturing but carried on a thrivingbusiness in smuggling, a common practice onEuropean coasts. Moreover, colonists shared inthe monopoly of the carrying trade from whichforeign vessels were excluded.At the close of the French and Indian War, the '

English King and Parliament decided to taxAmerica, to help pay the cost of the war and alsoof soldiers whom they proposed to station in this -country lest France or Spain should try to recovertheir lost American territory. Certain articles wereto be taxed, and the paper on which deeds, wills,and all legal papers were written must bear aGovernment stamp. These stamps were made inEngland, and must be bought by the colonists.This was the famous "Stamp Act."The colonists were indignant. "We are no less

Englishmen because we have crossed the seas,"they declared, "and no Parliament has any rightto tax an Englishman unless he is represented inParliament." "No taxation without representa- ttion" became the slogan of the day.The colonists had one sure weapon, and that was

to buy no goods made in England. When the ^English manufacturers found that their colon"altrade was falling off, they insisted that the Act be


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TROUBLE WITH ENGLAND 25repealed. This was done, but the following yeara new tax was laid upon tea and a few other articles.Again the colonists refused to buy, and after a whileParliament removed all taxes except one of three

* pence a pound on tea. This was planned by KingGeorge III and his party, and was regarded bythem as a brilliant way to "get even" with the

. obstinate colonials. The Dutch had been smug-gling tea into America and selling it cheaperthan the English tea company. "We will freethe company from paying duties in England,"said the King. "The colonists can then buytheir tea and also pay the tax of three pence apound for less than they can buy tea of the Dutch."The King supposed that the colonists would buythe tea that cost least. Thus the right to tax themwould be established, and this was what he wanted.The ships of tea crossed the ocean. Some of the

colonies sent it back, others stored it in damp, cellars where it soon spoiled. In Boston, a party

of men disguised as Indians threw the tea into theharbor. This is known a? the ''Boston TeaParty." The King's trick had not succeeded."Why was it that the King was so determined to

tax the colonists, and why could it not all easilyhave been settled by allowing them to send a


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26 THE LITTLE BOOK OF OUR COUNTRYrepresentative to Parliament? It was becauseexactly the same question of taxation without repre-sentation had arisen in England. If Parliamentyielded to the English in America, it must yield tothe EngLsh in England, and that was quite against the wishes of the King and his party.

This is the way it was. More than two hundredyears before this time, England had been divided -into districts, and each district was allowed tosend repesentatives to the House of Commonsaccording to the number of its inhabitants. Asyears passed, population changed. Great citiesgrew up in barren districts, and some places thathad once been fully populated became thinlypeopledindeed one district had at last no in-habitants at all. The result was that some greatcities which paid large taxes had not one repre-sentative in Parliament; while some of the thinlypopulated districts which paid very small taxeshad a number of representatives. This was grossly unjust, but it suited the politicians, becausea little bribery in a thinly populated place wouldbuy a seat in Parliament. When George III ,came to the throne, he adopted the same plan ofbribery, for he was determined to have his ownway and the only method of getting it was to make


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TROUBLE WITH ENGLAND 27sure that there was a majority in Parhament ofmen who would support whatever he wished.William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, was working tobring about a rearrangement of districts to corres-

r pond to the changes in population. This wouldhave spoiled the King's plans, and he opposed withall his might any such change. That is why George

> III and the "King's friends," as his followers werecalled, were so obstinately determined to make theAmerican colonies yield; while the greatest states-men of England and the masses of her peoplelooked upon the colonists as fighting their battles.


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CHAPTER VTHE STORY OF THE REVOLUTION

To punish Boston for her tea party, the Kingcontrived to get Parhament to pass a port bill for-bidding any -ships to enter or leave that city. Itdid not accomplish much in the way of punish-ment, for Marblehead promptly offered Bostonthe free use of her wharves and storehouses, andother colonies sent food and drove flocks of sheepand cattle into the town. Even far-away SouthCarolina sent shiploads of rice.Men from the different colonies had fought sideby side in the wars. They had learned to knowone another, and they had the same love of liberty.Ten years before this, Virginia had refused to payunjust taxes, and Patrick Henry, an eloquentspeaker, declared, "Caesar had his Brutus, Charles Ihis Cromwell, and George III""Treason, trea-son," cried some of his hearers, and he ended bysaying, "may profit by their example. If this betreason, make the most of it." The colonists nowheld a congress, which resolved that they ought tostand by Massachusetts.

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30 THE LITTLE BOOK OF OUR COUNTRYfind there. By this time the news had spread, andangry colonists, exceedingly good marksmen, wereeverywhere, especially on the road to Boston, sta-tioned behind barns and stone walls. The soldiersran


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STORY OF THE REVOLUTION 31'-valley. He was now a wealthy planter of forty-three years, devoted to the service of his country.He set out for Boston, to take command of themilitia and all other troops that could be raised todefend the country. Traveling was slow in thosetimes, and a great event came to pass more thantwo weeks before he reached Boston.

This event was the Battle of Bunker Hill.The colonists had taken a position at the top of ahill. Three times the British charged up the hill,and three times they were repulsed. But thepowder of the colonists gave out, and they had nobayonets. Of course they had to retreat, butthey retreated triumphantly, for they, the un-trained militiamen, had three times "repulsed theBritish regulars.Washington took command of the army in

Cambridge, near Boston. It was an army with-out uniforms, powder, cannon, or any arrange-ments for providing food. The men knew so little'of the duties of a soldier that when an order wasgiven they were quite inclined to suggest somedifferent plan of their own. The first thing for'Washington to do was to train his army, and onewinter was a short time for this. Early in thefollowing spring, however, he suddenly pretended


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82 THE LITIXE BOOK OF OUR COUNTRYto be about to attack the British troops in Boston.While they were in some confusion, he sUppedaround to a hill on the other side of the city. Ifthe British stayed in Boston they would be bom-barded; therefore they went aboard their ships andsailed to Halifax, leaving a good supply of storesand ammunition behind them.Thus far few of the colonists had thought of sucha thing as separating from England. They were

fighting for their rights, not for separation. Wash-ington himself said that when he took command ofthe army, he "abhorred the idea of independence."They looked upon George III as their King, andCongress had sent him a petition in the hope thathe would right their wrongs.The King, however, was bent upon having his

own way, not upon righting anybody's wrongs, andhe would not even look at their petition. On thecontrary, he did one thing that aroused the stemanger of the colonists more than anything else.Few Englishmen would take up arms against theirown countrymen, and King George now hiredGerman soldiers to cross the ocean and subdue hissubjects. Before this, the colonists had lookedupon their disagreement with the King as a sort offamily quarrel which would right itself in the end,


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STORY OF THE REVOLUTION 33but this hiring soldiers from a foreign country tocross the ocean and fight them was a differentmatter. The King was treating them Kke enemies,and they could not remain his subjects. Congressappointed Thomas Jefferson and four others toprepare a Declaration of Independence.

This was done and the Declaration was signedby representatives of the colonies. To put one'sname to this paper took a vast amount of courage.If the King won, the signers would be looked uponas leaders of a rebellion and would be promptlyhanged. "We must all hang together, or we shallhang separately," declared the witty BenjaminFranklin. As Charles Carroll took up the pen towrite his name, some one said, "You are in nodanger, for there are so many Carrolls that theKing could never find you." "I'll show him,"said Carroll, and after his name he wrote "ofCarrollton." "John Bull can read my name with-out spectacles," said John Hancock, and he wrote

ST his name so boldly that it can be read farther awaythan any other.

Up^^to this time, Massachusetts had been the'scene of the war, but the British now planned totake New York City, the Hudson River, and LakeChamplain. This would separate the Middle and


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34 THE LITTLE BOOK OF OUR COUNTRYSouthern States from New England, and eachpart of the country could then be conquered separ-ately. Also it would prevent the Americans frommaking any attack upon Canada by the easy wayof the river and the lake. It was an excellentplanif only it could have been carried out.The British took New York, and Washington

had to retreat across New Jersey. But now thefamous soldiers in Europe began to open theireyes, for this Virginia planter, whose military edu-cation had come from his own study and fromfighting Indians, was managing his retreat in amasterly fashion that won their interest andadmiration.

This untaught general was always doing some'unexpected thing. He had to retreat into Penn-sylvania, but when Christmas came and theGerman troops in Trenton were carousing, hesuddenly pushed across the Delaware River in themidst of cakes of floating ice and captured themerrymakers together with a goodly quantity ofmilitary supplies. In ways like this, Washingtonand the other American generals harassed thetroops of King George and managed affairs withsuch skill that their commander * had to admitthat his plan for separating New England from


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STORY OF THE REVOLUTION 35New York had failed and' to surrender his forcesabout one third of all the King's troops inAmericato one of Washington's generals atSaratoga.In spite of all that the Americans could do, the

British took possession of Philadelphia, Wash-ington was not strong enough to drive them away,and therefore he went into winter quarters atValley Forge, about twenty miles from Phila-delphia, where he could keep close watch uponthem. It was a cold, gloomy place. His men hadhardly clothes enough to cover themselves. Manywent barefooted for lack of shoes. Their log hutswere icy cold. Washington fed them at his ownexpense, and Mrs. Washington spent much timewith him in the dreary valley, doing her best tocheer and encourage the men.Help was coming and signs of it had already

appeared. Several officers from European armieshad come to aid the Americans, not as representing'their countries, but as individuals. They camefrom Poland, from Prussia, and from France.The best lOved of them all and dearest to the'heart of Washington was the Marquis de Lafayette,a wealthy French nobleman. He was only nine-teen years old, and one of the British generals called


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36 THE LITTLE BOOK OF OUK COUNTRYhim ''the boy," but he proved to be an excellentgeneral.

Still, no country had come out boldly on theside of the Americans. The one in which they hadmost hope was France, and Frankhn had been sentto France long before in order to seek for aid.But France hesitated, for why should she join acause which was sure to lose? After the plan to cutNew England from New York had failed, the case'was different, and the gloom of Valley Forge wasbrightened by the promise of France to lendtroops and money and to recognize the UnitedStates as an independent nation.

This did not suit King George, so he declaredwar on France and began to try to bring thecolonists to peace. He yielded all questions oftaxation, and he was more than willing thatrepresentatives from America should sit in Parlia-ment. But it was too late, and for three yearsmore the war went on.Not all the fighting was done on land by any

means. Privateers sailed up and down the coastto capture or tiestroy the ships of the enemy. JohnPaul Jones, one of these privateers, was boldenough to attack vessels just off the English coastand amazed the English navy by capturing them.


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STORY OF THE REVOLUTION 37Meanwhile, a young surveyor from Kentucky,George Rogers Clark, collected a company of back-woodsmen and drove the British out of the countrynorth of the Ohio River, a district which was laterknown as the Northwest Territory.The British now set out to conquer the South.

They had tried once before and failed, but thistime they took Savannah and overcame Georgiaand South Carolina. It was not easy workby any means, for they were opposed not onlyby troops, but by Marion, "the Swamp Fox,"and others who hid in forests and swamps anddashed out upon the enemy in just the placeswhere they were not expected.Washington sent General Greene to the South

with some interesting orders. In obedience tothem, Greene soon began to retreat toward theNorth. The British General Cornwallis supposedhimself to be pursuing Greene, but all the whileGreene was leading him onward. Somehow Corn-'wallis never could catch up with Greene and whenhe came near Yorktown in Virginia he stopped.Reinforcements would soon come, he thought, and'then he could end this troublesome war and gohome to England. Instead of that, the Frenchfleet blockaded him by sea, and Washington and


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38 THE LITTLE BOOK OF OUR COUNTRYLafayette with American and French soldiershemmed him in by land. Cornwallis was abrave man, but he was helpless. He was obligedto surrender, while the band played an old songcalled ''The World Turned Upside Down," and^one October morning, in 1781, the watchman inPhiladelphia called out, "Past three o'clock, andCornwallis is taken!" There was no more sleepfor any one that morning, for bells rang, bonfiresblazed, people marched in procession singingpatriotic songs, and houses were illuminated asbrilliantly as candles would permit.The treaty of peace was signed in 1783, and the

United States of America now held all the territorybetween Canada on the north, the Atlantic on theeast, Florida on the south, and the MississippiRiver on the west. Spain had entered the waragainst England, hoping to recover her formerterritory in America, but all that she received wasFlorida.

George III was ruler of the little Germanprovince of Hanover as well as King of England,and when he learned of Cornwallis's surrender heat first declared that he would abdicate the English'throne and go to Hanover. Before long, however,he changed his mind.


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STORY OF THE REVOLUTION 39Washington refused any payment for his services

and asked only that his expenses and what he hadspent to pay and feed his troops should be re-funded to him whenever convenient for the country,^e bade farewell to his fellow soldiers and re-turned to his home at Mount Vernon, free for therest of his days, as he supposed, from the cares andresponsibilities of public life.


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CHAPTER VIHOW THE UNITED STATES FORMED ITSGOVERNMENTThe Revolution was over, and the colonies were

now called the United States of America, but,although they were states, they were anything but,united. Each one was looking out for its owninterests and treated the others as if they wereforeign countries. For instance, when a NewJersey man sent fruit or vegetables into NewYork or Philadelphia, he had to pay duty. NewJersey got her revenge by making New York paya yearly tax of nearly $2000 on a lighthouse whichNew York had built on the New Jersey shore.Each state had its own paper money, but no statewould accept that of the others.

Congress could make war and peace, and it couldtalk, but it had little power to do anything else.It could ask the states to pay taxes, but if theydid not choose to pay, it could do nothing further.More than once some state threatened to pay^nothing toward Government expenses unless shecould have her own way in some special matter.In regard to trade, some of the states actually set

40


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HOW GOVERNMENT W AS FORMED 41up for themselves and tried to make their owntreaties with foreign countries. If a man in onestate did not choose to pay a debt to a man inanother state, there was no powef to compel him^to pay it. It is small wonder that some of thewise folk of Europe laughed and said, "ThatUnion will never last. The colonies will soon beasking to be back under English rule."No one realizes what a country without a strongcentral government fairly representing the peoplewould be until he has tried it. The Americanssoon found that their Government was not strongenough to protect them in their just rights and tokeep order in the land. Moreover, they hadfought seven years for a fair representation, andthey were not getting it. Each state sent onemember to Congress and had one vote. As thestates were very unequal in size, one memberwould represent perhaps 60,000 people and an-

^ other five times as many. This was grossly unjust,and the people at length took the matter in hand.They sent delegates to a convention held in Phila-delphia, and in that city was written the Constitu-tion of the United States.The Constitution divided the Government intothree parts: first/ the legislative or law-making


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42 THE LITTLE BOOK OF OUR COUNTRYpower, that is, Congress; second, the judicial, orlaw-interpreting power, that is, the SupremeCourt; and third, the executive, or law-executingpower, that is* the President. Only Congress,then, could make a law; if there was any doubt,about its meaning, the Supreme Court woulddecide; and the President, made commander-in-chief of the army and navy, must see that the law,was executed. The matter of representation wasmost justly settled by allowing two senators toevery state, and representatives in proportion tothe number of its inhabitants.

Washington had hoped to spend the rest of hislife in his home at Mount Vernon, but he yielded tothe wishes of his country and became its firstPresident. There was need of wisdom and astrong hand, for more than one difficulty must bemet and overcome. No country can wage warwithout money, and the new republic had bor-rowed money both of its own citizens and of

,European countries. Alexander Hamilton wasthen Secretary of the Treasury, and he took thestand that the Government ought to pay not onlythis money but also what the separate states hadborrowed, since it was all for war expenses. Thiswas done, and credit, as valuable to a countrv as


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HOW GOVERNMENT WAS FORMED 43io a man of business, was firmly established.To raise this money Hamilton advised that on

certain^ imported goods duty should be collected.This would not only pay our war debts and providetfunds to carry on the Government, but it wouldraise the price of these goods in America, and so"protect" our manufacturers, that is, make it

.possible for them to compete with the low wagespaid to workmen in Europe. Another plan ofHamilton's was the establishment of a FederalBank, whose bills would be accepted in every sta.te.Washington refused a third term. In 1797, he

made his strong, wise, far-seeing "Farewell Ad-dress" and returned to his beloved Mount Vernon.Two years later he died. The words of his eulogy,"First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts ofhis countrymen," have been so often repeated thatthey have lost their force; but think of them as ifheard for the first time. Remember that they

, were literally true. Has there ever been anotherman of whom they could be said?


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CHAPTER VIITHE STAR-SPANGLED BANNERWe had had fully as much war as we wanted, but-i

soon after the close of Washington's second termwe had to meet our old friend France in battle.She was angrj'- because we would not join her in a*war against England, and her agents declaredthat if we did not pay a large bribe we should beattacked. "Millions for defense, but not onecent for tribute," was our reply. Washington wasagain called upon to head the army, but the fight-ing was all on the sea, and soon ended with a peace.It was in this war that a new song, "Hail Colum-bia," became popular.

Before the second war with England took place,our country suddenly became larger by nearly1,000,000 square miles. The "Province of Louis-iana," which included Louisiana and a wide sweep ,of land to the northwest, had passed from Spain toFrance. France was a strong power and mightbe able to shut us from the mouth of the Mississippi ,River, or even to found a New France in America.But Napoleon, Emperor of France, expected warwith England and he began to fear that he could not


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THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER 45hold Louisiana even if he succeeded in colonizing it.Therefore he offered it to the United States at arate of about fifteen dollars a square mile. ThomasJefferson, who was then President, hastened to

close the bargain; and now the United States wastwice as large as before, and the people who hadpushed out beyond the Mississippi River and-made their homes in the wilderness no longerfeared that they might fall under the rule of anyforeign power.Our second war with England came about be-

cause of some of her acts that aroused our wrath.Englandand France, too^interfered with ourcommerce by seizing our vessels on the open sea;but England's fashion of taking, or "impressing,"any sailors whom she might claim as Englishmenand forcing them into her navy made Americansespecially indignant. We were not at all ready tofight, but we declared war. We failed in our cam-

. paigns in Canada, but we amazed England bywinning twelve battles out of fifteen on the sea..One of the most famous encounters was between,the American vessel "Chesapeake" and the British"Shannon." Captain Lawrence of the "Chesa-peake" fell mortally wounded. His last words,"Don't give up the ship!" are the war-cry of the


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46 THE LITTLE BOOK OF OUR COUNTRYAmerican navy. These words were on Commo-dore Perry's flag when he sailed out on Lake Eriein his little fleet built of unseasoned timberandwon the day. He sent back his report of the battlescribbled on a bit of paper from a letter, but itreceived a warm welcome, for it said, "We have metthe enemy, and they are ours."

It was during this war that the city of Wash-^ington was burned and President Madison and hiswife had to flee from the White House. A littlelater, Francis Scott Key of Baltimore was on boarda British vessel as an envoy when the bombard-ment of Fort McHenry began. In the darknesshe watched the bombs, waiting anxiously for "thedawn's early light" to mr.ke sure whether "theflag was still there." On the back of a letter hewrote a poem which tells the story of the night,and that poem is "The Star-Spangled Banner."In the last battle of the war, that of NewOrleans, the Americans were victorious; but it was,a needless battle, for peace had been made twoweeks earlier. News traveled slowly in thosedays.The United States was young, but growing

rapidly. Not long after the second war withEngland, we bought Florida of Spain. Our west-


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48 THE LITTLE BOOK OF OUR COUNTRYto one side, and no laws would be permitted to passthat did not favor that side. Neither party wouldyield, and it looked as if the irresistible force hadat last met the immovable body.

It chanced, however, that Maine, too, was ready,to be admitted as a state. This gave an oppor-tunity to make a bargain. The pro-slaverysenators agreed to vote for the admission of Maineas a free state provided the anti-slavery senatorswould agree to vote for the admission of Missourias a slave state. This was the famous "MissouriCompromise." It did no permanent good, for theSenate was still evenly divided, but it put off thebreak for a number of years.The real difficulty was not only about slavery,

but also about the wishes of North and South, forthese wishes were in some ways exactly opposite.The North had many manufactories, and there-fore wanted a duty on imported goods; while theSouth, which manufactured little, wanted to buyimported articles as cheaply as possible. Again,Northern manufacturers wanted to sell their goodsto the settlers in the *Tar West," and so did allthey could to induce the Government to buildcanals and deepen waterways in order to makeeasy routes to the West. The South cared nothing


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THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER 49about carrying goods to the West, and objected topaying taxes for the benefit of the North. It isno wonder that North and South disagreed.


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CHAPTER VIIIHOW THE QUESTIONS OF BOUNDARYW^RE SETTLED

This matter of slavery or no slavery, or rather,of the differing wishes of North and South, cameto the front whenever a new state asked for admit-tance. Sometimes it was complicated with otherquestions. What is now Texas had been found tobe a rich and fertile country, and some 20,000Americans had made it their home. It was underMexican rule, but Mexico was glad to have thecountry developed and had willingly granted alarge tract of land.

After a while, however, the Americans becametoo independent to please the Mexican GoveruTment, and it was made clear that they were notespecially welcome. At .this the settlers took uptheir guns and there was warfare. The Americanswon the day, drove away the Mexican forces, andestablished the "Republic of Texas." They askedto be admitted to the Union as a slave state.Then the North took alarm. This new repubhc'could easily be cut up into eight or ten states, eachof which would have two votes in the Senate, and

so


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HOW BOUNDARIES WERE SETTLED olthe Senate would then be in the hands of slave-holders. For this reason, several years passedbefore Texas became a state; she v/as finally ad-mitted in 1845. Her flag contained a single star,and that is why she was called the "Lone StarState."The trouble with Mexico set people to thinking

about other territory whose ow^nership v/as un-certain, and there was a general desire to haveboundary questions settled. One of these con-cerned the northern part of Maine. When thatline had been drawn, the question, of the boundaryof the Oregon country, which is now Oregon,Washington, and British Columbia, was taken up.Should latitude 46 or 54 40' be the northwestboundary of the United States? England said itought to be 46 because Sir Francis Drake haddiscovered the land and three English explorershad visited it. The United States claimed allterritory up to 54 40' because soon after the Revo-lution an American had discovered the ColumbiaRiver and an American expedition had exploredthe stream, andstrongest claim of allsome sixthousand Americans had made settlements in thatcountry. Naturally, they insisted upon knowingwhether they were living under English or Ameri-


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52 THE LITTLE BOOK OF OUR COUNTRYcan rule. The whole United States became inter-ested, and the people who were ready to seize agun to settle every dispute filled the land withcries of "Fifty-four forty or fight!" There provedto be no need of fighting, for commissioners fromEngland and the United States settled the matterby a compromise which drew the line at 49.A third question of boundary was not settled sopeaceably. Mexico had never admitted the inde-

pendence of Texas or the right of the United Statesto annex the Texan country; and she declared thatin any case, Texas was bounded by the NuecesRiver, while the Texans insisted that it extendedto the Rio Grande. War with Mexico followed,but it was not a war in which the whole countrywas united, for the larger Texas might be, thestronger would be the slave power. "Rememberthe Alamo!" was the battle-cry of the war, becausein the struggle between Texas and Mexico a littlegroup of Americans long held a fort named theAlamo against ten times their number. When at 'last they had to yield only six were left alive; andthese six, after being promised safety, were brutallymurdered by the Mexicans. Soon, however, the *American troops made a victorious march into theCity of Mexico and that really ended the war.


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HOW BOUNDARIES WERE SETTLED 53Mexico still owned more than half a million

square miles in what is now the United States.Part of this was the present state of California.Many thousand Indians lived in that part of thecountry. The Spanish priests had gathered theminto settlements called missions, and had taughtthem the Christian faith, agriculture, and civilizedways of living. After a while, the Mexican formof government changed, and the missions decHned.American settlers had made their way to Cali-

fornia, and when the Mexican War broke out,they began to fear lest the Mexicans should attackthem. With the help of an American exploringexpedition and a frigate off the coast, the Ameri-cans held the state. According to the treaty madeat the close of the war, we kept all land north of theRio Grande and Gila rivers, paying Mexico nearly$36,000,000, or about ten cents an acre. So itwas that by the Louisiana Purchase from France,the Florida Purchase from Spain, the Texan An-'nexation, and the Mexican Cessions, the UnitedStates, which began as a few little colonies on theAtlantic Coast, spread across the continent to the'Pacific Ocean and far sou^ilTiiito the lands borderingthe Gulf of Mexico.Only a few days before the treaty was signed,


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54 THE LITTLE BOOK OF OUR COUNTRYgold was discovered in a California stream. Nowbegan a frantic stampede from all parts of thecountry to California. Men on horseback, or inthe great canvas-covered wagons known as prairieschooners, or on foot, made a mad rush for theland of gold. Many paid their last cent for apassage by sea, feeling sure that they could soonfill their empty pockets in the West. So manythousands went that in less than three years afterthis discovery, California had population enoughto be admitted as a state.With every gain of territory the question "Slav-

ery or no slavery?" became more and more promi-nent. Often "compromises" were made in an at-tempt to satisfy both North and South. Forinstance, when California was admitted as a freestateto please the Norththe Fugitive Slave Lawwas passedto please the South . This required eventhe free states to seize and return to slavery anyslave who might have escaped to their territory.The North was indignant, and some states declared'it unlawful to assist in slave-catching. A systemcalled the "Underground Railroad" was formed inparts of the North on the way to Canada, by which*an escaped slave could be passed from one house toanother until he was safely over the Canadian line


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HOW BOUNDARIES WERE SETTLED 56The South was equally aroused by the attempt

of John Brown at Harper's Ferry to lead theNegroes of the South to free themselves. Thewrath of both sides was fanned to a flame by theappearance of Mrs. Stowe'-s "Uncle Tom's Cabin,"picturing slavery from a Northern point of view.

In Washington's "Farewell Address" he hadwarned Americans that unity of government wasthe support of that liberty which Americansprized so highly. Nevertheless, there had beenmore than once, and from different parts of thecountry, threats of separation. "If remainingin the Union is an injury to a state, that state hasa right to secede," declared the South. "Thesecession of a state would weaken and otherwiseinjure the whole Union; therefore no state has aright to secede," declared the North. "I believethis Government cannot permanently endure .halfslave and half freeI do not expect the house tofall, but I do expect it will cease to be divided,"said a tall, thoughtful man in Illinois whose namewas Abraham Lincoln. Two years later, this manbecame President of the United Statesthe great,"patient, steadfast President who was to save theUnion and to bring slavery to an end.


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CHAPTER IX^OUR FEDERAL UNION. IT MUST BE PRESERVED"The Republican party, which elected Lincoln,

was determined that slavery should not spread,but had no idea of interfering with it where italready existed. The South, however, fearedthat there would be interference, and more thantwo months before the new President was in-augurated. South Carolina declared herself nolonger a member of the Union. Six other Southernstates followed her lead, and formed the "Con-federate States of America." According to thisConfederation, slavery was to be recognized andthe protective tariff was to be abolished. JeffersonDavis of Mississippi was elected President of theConfederacy.

There was a great deal of Government propertyin the South. On South Carolina soil, for instance,there were post offices, lighthouses, and otherbuildings, and in the harbor were Fort Moultrieand Fort Sumter. ''The land on which these standis ours," declared the Confederacy, "but we are^ready to pay for the buildings," and agents weresent to Washington to make this arrangement.

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OUR FEDERAL UNION 57Major Anderson, who commanded at Fort

Moultrie, was convinced that these agents wouldnot succeed. He found that troops were beingbrought together and drilled; and he spiked the gunsof Fort Moultrie and moved his men to FortSumter, which could be defended more easily incase of an attack. Here they were bombardedby the Confederate forces until much of the forthad been burned, the rest of it was ablaze, and nofood except salt pork remained. Then, and nottill then. Major Anderson surrendered. This wasthe beginning of the Civil War.Over the country flashed the word, "The flag

of our country has been fired upon!" and theNorth rose like one man. "Why did you volun-teer?" a veteran of this war was asked. "Why?Why?" he repeated. "It was in the air. I couldno more help going than I could help breathing."Before long, Virginia and all the states south ofher southern boundary had joined the Confedera-'tion. The people of the "Border States," Dela-ware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, weredivided; some joined the Union ranks, others theIGonfederate. West Virginia and all other stateseast of the Mississippi, together with Kansas,California, and Oregon, stood by the Union. The


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58 THE LITIXE BOOK OF OUR COUNTRYrest of the country was then made up of terri-tories. Many people in Virginia and the BorderStates took the Southern side, not because theybelieved in slavery, but because they denied theright of the Federal Government to "coerce" thestates that had first seceded into remaining in theUnion against their will.The "front" in 1861 was the northern boundaryof the Confederate States, and extended from Vir-

ginia into Missouri. Each army aimed at captur-ing the capital of the other. Between these twocapitals, Washington and Richmond, was a Con-federate force and, not far from Washington wasfought the Battle of Bull Run. The Union troopswere routed; but this was such a surprise to theNorth that it aroused a stronger determination towin than a victory would have done.The Confederates wished to push up North as

far as possible. The Union forces aimed atdriving the Confederates back and also at cuttingthrough the Confederate States and separatingthem so that one part could not come to the helpof the other. That is why an army was sent alongthe northern boundary of Tennessee to the Missis-*sippi River, to secure control of that river. Thecommander of this army was General Grant. He


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OUR FEDERAL UNION 59had grown up very simply on a farm, had madehis way to West Point, and had served in theMexican War. Then he had left the army andhad tried one thing after another, not succeedingremarkably well in anything. He did not likewar, but of course when need came he offered hisservices to the Government, and it was soon seenthat he had a way of carrying through whateverlie undertook. He now pushed on to the Missis-sippi River, then to the South beyond the northernboundary of Louisiana.Meanwhile, the Union troops in the East had

been trying to reach Richmond, but had beendriven back by General Lee, commander-in-chiefof the Confederate forces. Lee was a West Pointgraduate and had also served in Mexico. He wasrecognized as a soldier of great ability, and at thebreaking out of the war he had been asked to takecommand of the Union army. Never was a manin a more difficult position. His native state,Virginia, had seceded, and Lee decided to standby Virginia rather than the Union, because hebelieved that his state had the first claim upon hisloyalty.

The Confederates now pushed north and theUnion troops pushed south, but both were unsuc-


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60 THE LITTLE BOOK OF OUR COUNTRYcessful. General Lee made a second invasion ofthe North, and in the three-days' Battle of Gettys-burg, in Pennsylvania, he was repulsed. On theday after this battle, General Grant took Vicks-burg in the West, and in a few months the entireMississippi was held by the Union, and the stateswest of it were separated from the rest of theConfederacy.

General Grant was now made Lieutenant Generalin command of all the United States troops.General Sherman was sent to subdue the Confed-erate forces in northern Georgia, while Granthimself should overpower Lee and take Richmond.Both succeeded. Sherman made his famous marchto the sea. A swath sixty miles wide was cutthrough the heart of Georgia by his army, destroy-ing railroads and telegraph lines, bridges, build-ings, and supplies. He then entered Savannah.General Grant was attacking the Confederatesabout Richmond, General Lee was forced to sur-render, and the Confederacy had come to an end.'

This is in brief the story of the Civil War on theland. The Union navy was as hard at work as thearmy. It was by its help that the Mississippi and*other rivers were won for the Union. It capturedforts and seaports and got control of bays all along


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OUR FEDERAL UNION 61the coast. One of the most famous naval battleswas that between the "Merrimac"whose namethe Confederates had changed to "Virginia" whenthey captured it and made it into an ironcladaad the "Monitor," a new style of boat inventedby John Ericsson. "It looks like a cheesebox on araft/' declared the sailors when it first appeared;but it was a powerful cheesebox, for the "Merri-mac," which had crushed one vessel, burnedanother, and was ready to destroy a third, couldnot make any impression upon it. Neither"Merrimac" nor "Monitor" could hurt the other,and after four hours of fighting the "Merrimac"withdrew. The daily papers did not come out in bigheadlines, and few people realized the importanceof this engagement; but nevertheless it put an end towooden navies and thus changed all naval warfare.Another part of the work of the Union navy was

to blockade the Southern coast and keep awaysupplies. Many other vessels besides warships,even tugs and ferryboats, were called upon tohelp, for to blockade a coast as long as ours is nosmall matter. The South was ready to pay anyprice for such articles as medicine, powder, clothes,,etc., and England and France were in desperateneed of cotton to keep their mills going. Anyone


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62 THE LITTLE BOOK OF OUR COUNTRYwho could succeed in running the blockade with aload of supplies needed by the South and couldescape with a load of cotton for England was sureof making a large sum of money out of the voyage.

Russia stood firmly by the Union, but there wasdanger that England and France would help theConfederates in order to get cotton. PresidentLincoln's "Emancipation Proclamation" put anend to that. The President is Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy, and in time of war heis given far more power than would be proper atany other time. President Lincoln declared allslaves in the Confederate States to be free. Thisact won friends in Europe, because the masses ofboth the English and the French people, even thosefactory workers who were out of employment forlack of cotton, were strongly opposed to slaverJ^Some members of the English Government whohad favored the Confederacy could now do nothingmore than to shut their eyes to the fact thatprivateers and blockade runners were being fittedout in English ports. These vessels, especiallythe "Alabama," did so much harm' to Uniojashipping that after peace was declared Englandwas required to pay a bill of $15,500,000 to theUnited States. This she did within a year.


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OUR FEDERAL UNION 63During the Civil War both prices and taxes

were high. The Government must have money,and the only way to borrow it was to pay enoughinterest to induce people to buy Governmentbonds. In 1917 our Government could borrowmoney at three and one-half per cent; but duringthe dark days of the Civil War, when it was possiblet.Viat the Union would be divided and its bondswould never be redeemed, the Government had topay on one issue of bonds seven and three-tenthsper cent interest, and on another six per cent ingold, which was at one time worth $2.86 in paper.In the North, trade and manufactures wereprosperous, but in the South matters were far dif-ferent. The South had been the field of battle.Towns, plantations, and railroads had been des-troyed. Horses, cattle, pigs, and chickens haddisappeared. Thousands of wealthy families hadlost everything. There was little manufacturingto be taxed, and the blockade prevented exporta-tion. The Confederacy had to issue an immenseamount of paper money, and as hope of success^ew less and less, the value of this paper moneydeclined. "I had one new dress during the war,"said a Southern woman. "It w^as a calico, and itcost $600 in Confederate money."


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64 THE LITTLE BOOK OF OUR COUNTRYDuring the times of "reconstruction" many-

difficult questions arose. The wise brain and kindheart that would have solved them could nolonger be called upon, for, only a few days afterLee's surrender, President Lincoln was assassinatedby a Southern sympathizer. He was deeplymourned by both North and South, for, althoughhe had done everything in his power to overcomethe Confederacy, the South realized that this manof tender sympathies and generous heart wouldhave been their best friend.Out of all this loss had come some great gains.

Slavery had been abolished forever. The questionwhether a state could leave the Union had beensettled. All the rest of the world had seen forthemselves that the United States had "come tostay."


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66 THE LITTLE BOOK OF OUR COUNTRYbut the colonists quietly divided, and the pastorand his followers marched off with their householdgoods and their cattle to the fertile lands of theConnecticut valley, and there founded Hartford,thus moving the center of population just a bitfarther west.

There was not much pleasure in journeying inthose days, or indeed for many years after theRevolution. What were called roads were ofteadeep in dust in dry weather and were swamps inwet. Much of the journeying westward w^as doneon horseback, although there were sometimesstage-coaches to be found, and occasionally a riverflowed in the right direction and made it possiblefor the emigrant to enjoy all the luxuries of a raftor even of some queerly shaped boat. Both byland and by water, there was danger of being at-tacked by Indians. The red men understood per-fectly that the coming of the white settlers woulddrive them from their hunting grounds, and theydid their best to protect their rights. Sometimes*a single Indian hidden in a forest shot at thepassers by on a raft; sometimes whole tribes at-tacked again and again the little groups of settlers^About the time of the second war with England,

steamboats began to move up and down some of


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68 THE LITTLE BOOK OF OUR COUNTRYof gold, as has been mentioned, sent thousands toCalifornia, some by the old routes, others by-steamer to the Isthmus of Panama, across theIsthmus on muleback, and then by steamer to SanFrancisco. A few years later, gold was found inColorado. Another frantic rush began, and withintv/o years Denver had become a city. After theCivil War, thousands of the returning soldiers tookup farms in the West or South; but even during tljewar, the Homestead Act passed, which permitteda settler to take up one hundred and sixty acres ofland for a home. If he persevered and cultivatedit for five years, he might become its owner by thepayment of a small fee.These settlers soon demanded railroads, and theold Oregon Trail became useful as a roadbed. By1869 there was a railroad and also a telegraph lineacross the American Continent from ocean toocean. Then there was emigration indeed, bytens of thousands. Mines were opened, farmswere cultivated, cities grew up in a night. Thgterritories developed rapidly and more and moreof them began to call for admission to the Union.The "Great American Desert" of the earlier atlasesTproved to be ready to yield lavish crops as soon asirrigation had satisfied its thirst. Fruit and grain


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TO THE FAR WEST 69lumber were soon produced on the Pacific Slope

well as gold and silver. Commerce with SouthAsia, and Australia made a beginning.

beauties and the climate of California made itfavorite pleasure ground for Eastern people.

^Not very far north of California is Alaska, whichbought of Russia soon after the Civil War forA few people grumbled about this

and declared that the only in-of our new territory were seals and polar

But surely no one need grumble aboutthe money of the United States, for in gold

furs our ''refrigerator," as some called it, haspaid for itself many times over.The last large tract of land to be opened to free

under the Homestead Act was Okla-which the Government had bought of the

In 1889, it was announced that thisof 40,000 square miles would be open toon April 22, at exactly twelve o'clock,

than 100,000 people camped close to theof the territory, and the instant that thesignal w^as given, they dashed across the

to be the first to claim the special places thathad selected on the map. In Guthrie, fourwere laid out before three o'clock with can-


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70 THE LITTLE BOOK OF OUR COUNTRYvas shops and offices and a bank. One hourlater, a newspaper was issued and a city councilelected. Only eighteen years later, Oklahomawas admitted as a state.Not all the settlers of the West were native

Americans by any means. There have been mai^ywars in Europe, and people who in this way hadlost their homes or property or sought to betterthemselves came hopefully across the Atlantic tothe' country that would give them land. In theSouth, it was cheaper for a planter to keep slavesthan to pay wages to white men, and thereforemost of these immigrants pushed on to the West orNorth. As steamboat fares grew less, the numberof immigrants increased, especially if there werehard times in Europe, or if the government of anyEuropean country was oppressive. The numberof these immigrants grew larger year by yearuntil, in 1910, more than a million stepped off thegangplank into the United States. .For a long while any one was admitted who chose

to come, but now we are more careful. We wantour country to continue to be "the land of the freeand the home of the brave," and we are glad towelcome people from other countries who wish tobecome loyal citizens. It is not just, however,


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TO THE FAR WEST 71these people to admit criminals or anarchistspersons with contagious diseases or those who

not money enough to support them untilcan find work. Such persons are refused

to our country, and the steamship linebrought them over must carry them back free

charge.This reform was badly needed. Another of

importance w^as what is known as CivilReform. In 1829, an honest, fearless manthe name of Andrew Jackson became President

he was as opinionated as he wasand if a man did not agree with him he was

that the man was stupid and willful. Therean old cartoon of Jackson dressed as a house-

and brooming a group of men out of theThis shows what he did to the men in

office, for he turned out more thanthousand of them, filling their places withof his own political party. Naturally, asas a President of the opposing party came in,

turned out Jackson's men and put in politicalof his own. This was the beginning of what

known as the ''spoils system." Up to Jackson'spostmasters, clerks, and other holders ofoffices under the Government had been


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TO THE FAR WEST 73ell in this examination assistants in Governmentwork are chosen, and if such an assistant does hiswork well and behaves himself no one can dischargeim. Most Government employees are now underCivU Service rules. Several states and largeifies and even public libraries choose workers in aimilar fashion.


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CHAPTER XITHE UNITED STATES BECOMES A WORLD POWER

In 1607, when the first permanent Enghsh settle-ment was made in America, the voyage across ^neAtlantic took one hundred and forty-five days, thatis, thirty times as many as it does today. Thiswas the same in effect as if Europe had been thiAytimes as far away as it is. It is no wonder thatthe early settlers felt almost as if they were on adistant planet . As years passed , vessels and knowl-edge of navigation improved and Europe camenearer. In 1860, the "Great Eastern" sailed fromEngland to New York in eleven days. Six yearslater she laid two permanent submarine cablesfrom Ireland to Newfoundland. Whether theUnited States wished or not, she was being swiftlybrought into closer and closer connection with theother countries of the world. European news onlya few hours old was served at American breakfas^ttables in the morning paper. Business betweenthe two continents increased with ease of com-munication. . *

Lying to the south of the United States was halfof our great double continent. A few far-sighted

74


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A WORLD POWER 75men realized a century ago that in the years to comeour relations witli South America would naturallybecome much closer. The wise founder of GirardCollege required in his will that the Spanish lan-guage should always be taught in the College, onth*e ground that our commerce would naturallyextend to the Spanish-speaking countries. Aboutthe same time a congress was held at Panama, tovvliich the United States was invited to send dele-gates; but this accomplished nothing of permanentvalue. Most people were satisfied with a smallexchange of exports and with the requirements ofthe "Monroe Doctrine," a warning given byPresident Monroe in 1823 that any attempt on thepart of European nations "to extend their systemto any portion of this hemisphere" would be re-garded by the United States as an unfriendly act.As time passed and the South American countries,

especially Argentina, Brazil, Chilethe "ABCcountries"grew strong and firmly established,the protection of the United States was no longerneeded. What was needed, however, was that thepeople of the Northern and Southern continentsfhould learn to know one another better andunderstand one another's point of view. It washoped that increased acquaintance between them


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76 THE LITTLE BOOK OF OUR COUNTRYwould increase business relations to the gain ofboth, and that in case of any possible future dis-agreement between any two of the countries, thedifficulty might be settled by arbitration. Withthese objects, the Pan-American Congress washeld in 1889, a meeting of delegates from tBteUnited States and twenty of the republics of Southand Central America, Mexico, and the West Indies.Since that time, other congresses of the same soHhave been held. For the use of the Pan-AmericanUnion one of the most beautiful public buildingsin the world has been erected in Washington.Our relations with South America, especially

with her western countries, have been made closerby the building of the Panama Canal, for whichwe bought a strip of land from the Panama Re-public. This was finished in 1914, and is open toall nations on equal terms. By striking out thelong voyage around South America, this canalhas brought Australia four thousand miles nearer toNew York City. It has even brought differentparts of our own country together, and the gold-seekers who "rounded the Horn" in 1849 couldhave shortened their voyage by 8500 miles if thej^'had waited until 1914.One of the main objects of the South American


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A WORLD POWER 77Republics in their first Congress had been to forma union against the power of Spain, and somemembers of the United States Congress had thenobjected to our sending delegates lest this shouldinvolve us in "entangling alliances!" The en-tanglements appeared, however, in 1898, evenwithout any alliances, when we were forced tointerfere in behalf of Cuba.* This island, the "Pearl of the Antilles," wasgoverned by Spain quite in seventeenth centuryfashion, that is, the mother country tried to get asmuch out cf the co'ony as possible wthout the leastregard to its welfare or happiness. -Ihe Cubanswere continually rising against Spanish rule, andthere was no safety for even the property ofAmericans at such times. Moreover, the kind ofmosquito whose bite conveys the germs of j^ellowfever flourished in Cuba, and from there epidemicsof this disease frequently spread to the UnitedStates. The island needed a thorough cleaningyp, physically and politically.

In 1895 the Cubans rose against Spain with moredetermination than ever before. The Spaniards^hut them up in camps, where thousands died ofstarvation. Our Government appealed to Spain ,^but nothing was accomplished. Three years later^


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78 THE. LITTLE BOOK OF OUR COUNTRYour battleship, the "Maine," lying in the harbor ofHavana, was blown up. Many believed thatSpaniards had committed the crime, and "Re-member the Maine!" became the headline of theAmerican newspapers and the demand of theAmerican people. The United States now recog-*nized the independence of the island, and declaredwar against Spain. This war lasted only threemonths. Our troops captured Santiago, and ouP^naval forces destroyed the Spanish fleet. TheSpaniards yielded and Cuba was free. Porto Rico,another Spanish colony, became a part of theUnited States.

Before the United States delivered up Cuba tothe Cubans, a general house-cleaning was heldunder the management cf the United States Army,and we no longer need to fear the coming of yellowfever from its shores. Whether the politicalcleaning would be as successful was a question, forthe Cubans had had no experience in self-govern-ment. They agreed to accept the guardianship*of the United States in case trouble should arisewhich they could not control. This happenedonce, and our country went to the rescue. 4

This war with Spain had results which wereunthought of when the first gun was fired. At the


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A WORLD POWER 79breaking out of hostilities, the Filipinos, as wellas the Cubans, were trj^ing to free themselves fromSpain, and to prevent this, a Spanish fleet was atManila. Commodore, afterwards Admiral, Deweywas on the Asiatic coast. He was at once sent toiilanila, where he destroyed this fleet. With theaid of American soldiers the town was captured,and the Philippines were then in the hands of theIjnited States. The Filipinos wanted a republic,but they were by no means prepared for inde-pendence. Against their opposition, the UnitedStates took charge of them, opened libraries andschools, and restored order. No promises havebeen made, but it is expected that when they havehad sufficient preparation for self-government,,the United States will withdraw and leave themindependent. For the surrender of these islandswe paid Spain 120,000,000. The island of Guam,one of the Ladrones, remained in our hands afterits conquest. It is of value as a station for coalknd other supplies.We were suddenly becoming rich in islands, forthe Hawaiian group, which had been under our|)rotection for some time, had asked to be annexed.This was done; and a little later, the SamoanIslands in the South Pacific were divided among


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80 THE LITTLE BOOK OF OUR COUNTRYEngland, Germany, and the United States.Spain, which had been the discoverer cf the West-ern World and which had founded its first perma-nent European settlements, w^as no longer thepossessor of one foot of land on this side of theocean.Japan has been our friend ever since the visit of

Commodore Perry in 1854 opened that country tocommerce. A new treaty has besn made with theJapanese with a view to strengthening the oldfriendship.With China our connection has of late years be-

come clossr and especially friendly. China is largebut not strong in a military way, and a few yearsago some of the European powers sought to getpossession of part of her territory. Ey the effortsof the United States, they were persuaded to allowthe "open door" policy to prevail and thus invitethe trade of all nations. Before this w^as settled,a powerful society, the "Boxers," set out to kill allforeigners in the land. By the aid of soldiersfrom the United States, Japan, England, France,and Russia, the Boxers were overcome. It wasplain that the Chinese Government had made n6effort to protect foreigners, and China was forcedto pay an indemnity of $33,000,000 to pay the cost


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A WORLD POWER 81of the expedition to restore order. Our share ofthis indemnity was so much more than the expedi-tion had cost us, that our Government returned$13,000,000 of the sum. China's acknowledg-ment was most graceful, for she replied thatthis money would be used for the education ofChinese students in America. These students willcarry home with them a knowledge of Americanways and ideals, and thus their education in thiscountry will do more than treaties to strengthenthe friendship between the two countries.So it is that the United States, which, separated

by two oceans from the Eastern Hemisphere, hadlived in "splendid isolation" from the troubles ofthe rest of the world, was now brought into closerconnection with the other nations and must hence-forth share their responsibilities.


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CHAPTER XIIOUR COUNTRY TODAY

In 1914, save for difficulties arising from lawless-ness in Mexico, the United States was at peace'with all the world. We were strong and busy andprosperous. Of course even the least thoughtfulamong us could see that more than one problem^would have to be solved before many years hadpassed; but we expected to be able to solve them.

Suddenly, early in August, 1914, the newspapersannounced war in Europe. Austria-Hungary,supported by Germany, had attacked Serbia, andGerman forces, in spite of treaties and agreements,had marched into Belgium and were aiming atParis. France, Russia, and England, unpreparedfor war, were hastily calling their troops togetherto defend France. Little by little it became clearthat Germany was plotting to dominate the world,that she had for many years been preparing for a*war to bring this about. She had made no secretof her intentions, but few people had looked uponthem as more than dreams. iAs the "frightfulness" of the Germans in war

became known and there was discovered in them82


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OUR COUNTRY TODAY 83a foe with neither honor nor mercy, people beganto reahze the awful danger of permitting one manto hold the power to bring such agony upon thecountries of the world. The war was no longer acontest among a group of European countries, but

* a world struggle between autocracy and democ-racy. The question whether the people of a landshould rule themselves, or whether the will and*ambition of one man or a certain class of menshould rule them, must be answered for all time.One country after another entered the war. A

few of the smaller states of Europe, helpless intheir weakness, remained neutral. For nearlythree years the United States held itself neutral,with an occasional protest against the behavior ofGermany. During that time, Germany sank thegreat passenger steamer, the "Lusitania," withAmerican citizens on board. She sank Red Crossvessels, she fired upon helpless lifeboats, she carriedon a course of rank piracy, and she broke ruth-

tlessly the international laws of mercy and decencyin warfare, laws which she herself had helped tomake. It was discovered that the United Statestwas full of her spies, and of persons whom shepaid to blow up our factories, to bring aboutctrikes, and to endeavor by every possible means


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84 THE LITTLE BOOK OF OUR COUNTRYto arouse dissension among our people. It wastime for us to enter the war. Thoughtless peoplesaid, "Why should we fight unless the Germansattack us?" Those who thought said, "We oughtto have been helping long before now."The United States entered the war, and entered''

to win. No money was spared. A general draftfilled up the ranks of her troops, and "intensivetraining" at Plattsburg and elsewhere helped to'*'provide ofiicers. Many cantonments were con-structed, real cities capable of housing 40,000 menapiece. The lives of the men were insured, thebest of food was provided, their health was care-fully looked after, books and amusements werefurnished. Never before was an army so wellcared for.Germany had not expected any armed interfer-

ence of importance on the part of the UnitedStates, for she had not thought it possible fortroops to be trained and carried across the ocean intime to be of service to the Allies; but while her*people were still being as

Documents

(1919) The Little Book of Our Country