Vickipedia

History.—The territories now occupied by the U. S. of America, though they were probably visited on their north-eastern coast by Norse navigators about the year 1000, continued the sole possession of numerous tribes of Indians (who had succeeded earlier and extinct races), until the discovery of America by Columbus, 1492. In 1498, an English expedition, under the command of Sebastian Cabot, explored the eastern coast of America from Labrador to Virginia, perhaps to Florida.

In 1513, Juan Ponce de Leon landed near St. Augustine in Florida, and explored a portion of that region in a romantic search for the Fountain of Youth. In 1520, some Spanish vessels from St. Domingo were driven upon the coast of Carolina. In 1521. by the conquests of Cortes and his followers, Mexico, including Texas, New Mexico, and California, became a province of Spain. In 1539—1542, Ferdinand de Soto led a Spanish expedition from the coast of Florida across Alabama, and discovered the Mississippi River. In 1584—1585, Sir Walter Raleigh sent two expeditions to the coast of North Carolina, and attempted to form settlements on Roanoke Island. A Spanish settlement was made at St- Augustine, Florida, 1565. Jamestown, Virginia, was settled in 1607; New York, then called the New Netherlands, 1613; Plymouth. Massachusetts, 1620. A large part of the country on the great lakes and on the Mississippi was explored by La Salle in 1682; and settlements were made by the French at Kaskaskia and Arkansas Post, 1685; Mobile and Vincennes, 1702. The early history of the various colonies which now constitute the U. S. will be found under the heads of the different states and territories. The first effort at a union of colonies was in 1643, when the settlements in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut formed a confederacy for mutual defence against the French, Dutch, and Indians, under the title of ‘ the United Colonies of New England.’

They experienced the benefits of united action in 1754, when an English grant of lands to the Ohio Company brought on the French and Indian war—the French claiming, at that period, as the first explorers, Northern New England, half of New York, and the entire Mississippi Valley. George Washington was sent on his first expedition, to remonstrate with the French authorities; ‘ and the colonies being advised to unite for genera,] defence, apian for a general government of all the English colonies was drawn up by Benjamin’ Franklin; but it was rejected by both the colonies and the crown—by the colonies, who wished to preserve their separate independence, and by the crown from a jealousy of their united strength. The colonists, however, took an active part in the war. Under Major Washington, they joined General Brad-dock in his unfortunate expedition against Fort Du Quesne, now Pittsburg; they aided in the reduction of Louisburg, Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and Niagara; and rejoiced in the conquest of Quebec, by which the vast northern regions of America became the possessions of Great Britain.

The principles of a democratic or representative government were brought to America by the earliest colonists. The colonies themselves were founded by private adventure, with very little aid from government. The Plymouth colony was for 18 years a strict democracy, and afterwards a republic under a charter from the crown. A representative and popular government was established in Virginia in 1620. It was not until the Protectorate and the reign of Charles II. that the colonies were considered as portions of the empire, to be governed by parliament, when navigation acts were passed to give English ships a monopoly of commerce. when the produce of the colonies was required to be sent to England, and duties were levied on commodities sent from one colony to another. Protests were made against these assumptions; Virginia asserted her right of self-government; and it was not until the English revolution of 1688 that settled and uniform relations with the different colonies were established.

In 1713, by the treaty of Utrecht. England, which, since the reign of Elizabeth, had imported slaves from Africa into her American and West Indian colonies, obtained a monopoly of the slave-trade, engaging to furnish Spanish America, in 33 years, with 144,000 negroes. A great slave-trading company was formed in England, one-quarter of the stock being taken by Queen Anne, and one-quarter by the king of Spain, these two sovereigns becoming the greatest slave-dealers in Christendom. By this monopoly, slavery was extended in, and to some extent forced upon all the American colonies.

At this period, there was a general feeling of loyalty towards the mother country. The sons of the more wealthy colonists, especially in the south, were educated in England; English literature pervaded the colonies; the British throne was the fountain of honor; the colonies, though distinct, and differing in origin and character—Puritan in the East, Dutch Reformed in New York, Quaker in Pennsylvania, Catholic in Maryland, and Church of England in Virginia—were yet united by language, common ties, fears, and interests.

In 1761, the enforcement of the Navigation Act against illegal traders, by general search-warrants, caused a strong excitement against the government, especially in Boston. The Admiralty enforced the law; many vessels were seized; and the colonial trade with the West Indies was annihilated. In 1765, the passing of an act of parliament for collecting a colonial revenue by stamps caused general indignation, and led to riots. Patrick Henry, in the Virginia Assembly, denied the right of parliament to tax America, and eloquently asserted the dogma, ‘ no taxation without representation.’ The first impulse was to unite against a common danger; and the first colonial congress of 28 delegates, representing 9 colonies, made a statement of grievances and a declaration of rights. The stamps were destroyed or reshipped to England, and popular societies were formed in the chief towns, called ‘ Sons of Liberty.’ In 1766, the Stamp Act was repealed, to the general joy of the colonists; but the principle of colonial taxation was not abandoned; and in 1767, duties were levied on glass, paper, printers’ colors, and tea. This renewed attempt produced, in 1768, riots in Boston, and Governor Gage was furnished with a military force of 700 to preserve order and enforce the laws. In 1773, the duties were repealed, excepting 3rf. a pound on tea. It was now a question of principle, and from north to south it was determined that this tax should not be paid. Some cargoes were stored in damp warehouses and spoiled; some sent back; in Boston, a mob, disguised as Indians, threw it into the harbor. To punish this outrage, parliament passed the Boston Port Bill, 1774, by which the chief town in New England was no longer a port of entry, and its trade transferred to Salem. The people were reduced to great distress, but received the sympathy of all the colonies, and liberal contributions of wheat from Virginia, and rice from Charleston, South Carolina.

It was now determined to enforce the government of the crown and parliament over the colonies; and a fleet, containing several ships of the line, and 10,000 troops, was sent to America; while the colonists, still asserting their loyalty, and with little or no thought of separation from the mother country, prepared to resist what they considered the unconstitutional assumptions of the government. Volunteers were drilling in every direction, and depots of provisions and military stores were being gathered. A small force being sent from Boston to seize one of these depots at Concord, Massachusetts, led to what is called the battle of Lexington, and the beginning of the war of the Revolution, April 19, 1775. The British troops were attacked on their return by the provincials, and compelled to a hasty retreat. The news of this event summoned 20,000 men to the vicinity of Boston. The royal forts and arsenals of the colonies were taken possession of, with their arms and munitions. Crown Point and Ticonderoga, the principal northern fortifications, were surprised, and their artillery and stores appropriated. A Congress of the colonies assembled at Philadelphia, which resolved to raise and equip an army of 20.000 men, and appointed George Washington commander-in-chief. June 17, Bunker Hill, in Charleston, near Boston, where 1500 Americans had hastily intrenched themselves, was taken by assault by the British troops, but with so heavy a loss (1054) that the defeat had for the provincials the moral effect of a victory. After a winter of great privations, the British were compelled to evacuate Boston, carrying away in their fleet to Halifax 1500 loyal families.

The British government now put forth a strong effort to reduce the colonies to submission. An army of 55,000, including 17,000 German mercenaries (’Hessians’ ), was sent, under the command of Sir William Howe, to put down this ‘wicked rebellion.’ The provincial Congress, declaring that the royal authority had ceased, recommended to the several colonies to adopt ’such governments as might best conduce to the safety and happiness of the people; ‘ and the thirteen colonies soon adopted constitutions as independent and sovereign states. On the 7th of June 1776, Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, offered a resolution in Congress, declaring that ‘the united colonies are, and ought to be. free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown; and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is. and ought to be, totally dissolved.’ This resolution, after an earnest debate, was adopted by the votes of 9 out of 13 colonies. A committee, consisting of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston, was instructed to prepare a declaration in accordance with the above resolution; and the celebrated Declaration of Independence, written by Mr. Jefferson, based upon the equality of men and the universal right of self government, and asserting that ‘ all government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed,’ on the 4th of July 1776, received the assent of the delegates of the colonies, which thus dissolved their allegiance to the British crown, and declared themselves free and independent states, under the general title of the thirteen United States of America—New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia—occupying a narrow line of the Atlantic coast between Canada and Florida, east of the Alleghanies, with a population of about 2,500,000.

After the evacuation of Boston, General Washington, with tin remains of his army, thinned by the hardships of winter, hastened to New York. On the 3d of July, General Howe, being joined by his brother, Admiral Lord Howe, and Sir Henry Clinton, fount himself at the head of 35,000 men; defeated the Americans or Long Island, August 27. 1776, compelled the evacuation of New York, and secured the possession of its spacious harbor, and the river Hudson. General Washington, with inferior and undisciplined forces, retreated across New Jersey, closely followed by the English, hoping to save Philadelphia. Newark, New Brunswick, Princeton, the chief towns in New Jersey, were taken, ant the British awaited the freezing of the Delaware to occupy Philadelphia. On Christmas night. General Washington, by crossing in boats among floating ice, made a successful night-attack upon a Hessian force at Trenton, and gave new courage to the desponding Americans, who recruited the army, and harassed the enemy with a winter campaign.

In the meantime, Silas Deane and Benjamin Franklin had been sent to France to solicit recognition and aid. The recognition was delayed, but important aid was privately given in money and supplies, and European volunteers—the Marquis tie Lafayette, Baron Steuben, Baron de Kalb, Kosciusko, and Pulaski, rendering the most important services. Efforts were made to induce the British colonies of Canada and Nova Scotia to unite in the struggle for independence, and an expedition was sent against Montreal and Quebec, led by Generals Montgomery and Arnold. The Canadians refused their aid; Montgomery was killed, Arnold wounded, and the remains of the expedition returned after terrible sufferings. In 1777, after several severe actions in New Jersey, generally disastrous to the Americans, the British took possession of Philadelphia; and Washington, with the remnants of his army, went into winter-quarters at Valley Forge, where they suffered from cold, hunger, and nakedness.

While Washington was unsuccessfully contending against disciplined and overwhelming forces in New Jersey, General Burgoyne was leading an army of 7000 British and German troops, with a large force of Canadians and Indians, from Canada into Northern New York, to form a junction with the British on the Hudson, and separate New England from the rest of the rebel confederacy. His march was delayed by felled trees and destroyed roads; his foraging expeditions were defeated; and after two sharp actions at Stillwater and Saratoga, with but three days’ rations left, he was compelled to capitulate, October 17; and England, in the midst of victories, heard with dismay of the loss of an entire army. The Americans gained 5000 muskets, and a large train of artillery. Feeling the need of more unity of action, articles of confederation, proposed by Franklin in 1775, were adopted in 1777, which constituted a league of friendship between the states, but not a government which had any powers of coercion.

In 1778, Lord Carlisle was sent to America by the British government with offers of conciliation; it was too late. France at the same time recognized American independence, and sent a large fleet and supplies of clothing, arms, and munitions of war to their aid; and General Clinton, who had superseded General Howe, finding his supplies at Philadelphia threatened, retreated to New York, defeating the Americans at Monmouth.

The repeated victories of the British armies, the aid afforded by great numbers of Americans who still adhered to the royal cause, and furnished during the war not less than 20,000 troops, and the alliance of large tribes of Indians, who committed cruel ravages in the frontier settlements, did little towards subjugating the country. Portions of the sea-coast of New England and Virginia were laid waste; but the king’s troops were worn out with long marches and tedious campaigns, and even weakened by victories. Spain, and then Holland, joined in the war against England, and aided the Americans. Paul Jones, with ships fitted out in French harbors, fought desperate battles under the American flag on the English coast. But the king and parliament were determined to maintain the honor of the crown and the integrity of the empire. In 1780, 85,000 seamen were raised, and 35,000 additional troops sent to America, and a strong effort was made to subjugate the Carolinas, where the war became of a bitter partisan character, and was conducted with spirit by Sumpter. Marion, and other Southern chieftains. Lord Cornwallis, with a large army, marched from Charleston, through North Carolina, pursuing, and sometimes defeating the American General Gates. Worn out with his success, he arrived in Virginia, where he was confronted by General Lafayette. In the meantime, Admiral de Varney had arrived upon the coast with a powerful French fleet, and 6000 soldiers of the elite of the French army, under Count de Rochambeau.

Cornwallis was obliged to fortify himself at Yorktown, blockaded by the fleet of Count de Grasse, and besieged by the allied army of French and Americans, waiting for Sir Henry Clinton to send him relief from New York. October 19, 1781, he was compelled to surrender his army of 7000 men—an event which produced such a change of feeling in England as to cause the resignation of the ministry, and the despatch of General Sir Guy Carleton to New York with offers of terms of peace. The preliminaries were signed at Paris, November 30, 1782; and on September 3, 1783, peace was concluded between England and France, Holland, and America. The independence of each of the several states was acknowledged, with a liberal settlement of territorial boundaries. In April, a cessation of hostilities had been proclaimed, and the American army disbanded] New York, which had been held by the English through the whole war, was evacuated November 25; on December 4, General Washington took leave of his companions in arms, and. December 23, resigned into the hands of Congress his commission as commander.

From the retreat of Lexington, April 19, 1775, to the surrender of Yorktown, October 19, 1781, in 24 engagements, including the surrender of two armies, the British losses in the field were not less than 25,000 men, while those of the Americans were about 8000.

The states were free, but exhausted, with a foreign debt of $8,000,000, a domestic debt of $30,000,000, an army unpaid and discontented, a paper-currency utterly worthless, and a bankrupt treasury. The states were called upon to pay their shares of the necessary expenditures, but they were also in debt, and there was no power to compel them to pay, or to raise money by taxation. In these difficulties, and the failure of the articles of confederation, a convention was surnamed by Congress in 1787, to revise these articles. The task was so difficult, that the Convention resolved to propose an entirely new constitution, granting fuller powers to a Federal Congress and executive, and one which should act upon the people individually as well as upon the states. The constitution was therefore framed, whose provisions have already been stated, and which is still the basis of the government; and though strongly opposed by many, who believed that the extensive powers granted by it to Congress and the executive would be dangerous to the liberties of the people, it, was, in 1787—1788, adopted, in some cases by small majorities, in 11 state conventions, and finally by the whole 13 states, chiefly through the exertions and writings of James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton.

Virginia ratified the constitution with the declaration, that she was at liberty to withdraw from the union whenever its powers were used for oppression; and New York, after Hamilton had declared that no state could ever be coerced by an armed force. The country was at this period divided into two parties : the Federalists, who were in favor of a strong centralized government, and the Anti-federalists, who held to the sovereignty and rights of the independent states. George Washington and John Adams, standing at the head of the Federalist Party, were elected President and Vice-president of the United States. The President took the oath to support the constitution in front of the City Hall in New York; and the government was organized with Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State; Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury; General Knox, Secretary of War; and John Jay, Chief Justice of the supreme court. Congress assumed the war-debts of the several states, and Chartered the bank of the United States, though its constitutional right to do so was strenuously denied by the Republican or States’ Rights party. Washington was re-elected to the presidency in 1792; but party-spirit increased, excited by the events of the French Revolution. Citizen Genet, who represented the French Republic in America, fitted out privateers against England, and his recall was demanded by the President. The Federalists took the side of England in the great European contest, while the Republicans sympathized with the Revolution. There grew up also difficulties between the English and American governments. The Americans accused the English of carrying off large numbers of negroes and other property at the close of the war; while the English accused the Americans of sequestrating the property of loyalists, which they had engaged by treaty to restore to them. These controversies were happily settled by Mr. Jay.

In 1796, Washington, worn and irritated by partisan conflicts and criticisms, refused a third election, and issued his farewell address to the people of the U. S., warning them against the dangers of party-spirit and disunion, and giving them advice worthy of one who was said to be ‘first in war, first in pence, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.’ John Adams was elected President; and Thomas Jefferson, the second choice of the people for the presidency, became, according to the rule at first adopted, Vice-president. In 1798. the commercial regulations of France, and the assertion of the right to search and capture American vessels, nearly led to a war between the two republics. In 1799, the nation, without distinction of party, mourned the death of Washington; and, in the following year, the seat of government was removed to the city he had planned for a capital, and which bears his name. The partiality of Mr. Adams for England, the establishment of a Federal army, and the passing of the Alien and

Sedition Laws, by which foreigners could be summarily banished, and abuse of the government, by speech or the press, punished, caused great political excitement, and such an increase of the Republican, or, as it was afterwards called, the Democratic party, that the President failed of a re-election in 1801; and there being no election by the people, the House of Representatives, after thirty-five ballotings, chose Thomas Jefferson, the Republican candidate, with Aaron Burr for Vice-president; and the offices of the country were transferred to the victorious party.

Internal duties, which a few years before had led to an insurrection in Pennsylvania, called the Whisky Insurrection, were abolished, and the Alien and Sedition Laws repealed. Tennessee, Kentucky, Vermont, and Ohio had now been organized as states, and admitted into the Union. In 1803, the area of the country was more than doubled by the purchase of Louisiana—the whole region between the Mississippi and Rocky Mountains—from France for $15,000.000. The infant navy waged a successful war with Tripoli. In 1805, Mr. Jefferson was elected for a second term; but Mr. Burr, having lost the confidence of his party, engaged in a conspiracy to seize upon the Mississippi Valley, and found a new empire, with its capital at New Orleans. He was tried for treason, but not convicted. The commerce of America was highly prosperous, her ships enjoying much of the carrying-trade of Europe; but, in May 1806, England declared a blockade from Brest to the Elbe, and Bonaparte, in November, decreed the blockade of the coasts of the United Kingdom. American vessels were captured by both parties, and were searched by British ships for British subjects; and those suspected of having been born on British soil, were, in accordance with the doctrine, once a subject always a subject, impressed into the naval service. Even American men-of-war were not excepted from this process. The British frigate Leopard meeting the American frigate Chesapeake, demanded four of her men, and on refusal, fired into her, and the surprised Chesapeake struck her flag. British ships were hereupon forbidden U. S. harbors.

Mr. Jefferson, following the example of Washington, declined a third election; and, in 1809. James Madison became President. The French decrees, prejudicial to neutral commerce, were revoked in 1810; but the English continued, a source of loss and irritation, while hundreds of American citizens were in forced service in British vessels. The feeling was increased by a night-encounter between the American frigate President and the British sloop-of-war Little Belt, May 16, 1811. In April 1812, an embargo was again declared by Congress, preparatory to a declaration of war against Great Britain, July i9. for which Congress voted to raise 25,000 enlisted soldiers, 50,000 volunteers, and 100,000 militia. General Hull, with 2.000 men at Detroit, invaded Canada; but on being met by a small force of British and Indians, under General Brock, recrossed the river, and made a shameful surrender; and was sentenced to death for his cowardice, but pardoned by the President. A second invasion of Canada was made near Niagara Falls by General Van Renssalaer. One thousand American” militia stormed the heights of Queenstown, and the British general, Brock, was killed; but reinforcements arriving opportunely, the heights were retaken, and nearly all the Americans were killed or driven into the Niagara, while the American general was in vain imploring a large body of militia on the opposite bank to cross over to the support of their brethren in arms. They refused, upon the ground, that the government had no constitutional right to send the militia across the frontier. The Federal party, opposed to the war, defended this doctrine, and General Van Renssalaer resigned in disgust. American disasters on the land were, however, compensated by victories at sea.

August 19, the U. S. frigate Constitution captured the British frigate Guerriere; October 18, the Wasp took the Frolic; October 25, the frigate United States captured the Macedonian; December 29, the Constitution took the Java. The Americans in most cases had the larger ships and heavier ordnance; but the immense disparity in losses showed also superior seamanship and gunnery. American privateers took 300 British vessels and 3000 prisoners. In 1813. General Proctor crossed the Detroit river with a considerable force of British and Indians, and defeated General Winchester, with the usual results of savage warfare. In April, an American army of 1700 men captured York (now Toronto), and about the same time another American force of 800 men was defeated with great loss by the Indians under Tecumseh; but the remainder of this campaign was wholly favorable to the Americans. The attempt of the British general, Prevost, on Sackett’s Harbor was repulsed; the squadron on Lake Erie, consisting of 6 vessels, 63 guns, was captured by Commodore Perry at the head of an American flotilla of 9 vessels, 54 guns; and this latter success enabled General Harrison to invade Canada, where he defeated General Proctor in the battle of the Thames, in which the great Indian warrior-chief Tecumseh was killed.

In 1813. another invasion of Canada was attempted; and York (now Toronto) was taken by General Dearborn; and an unsuccessful attempt was made to take Montreal. Villages were burned on both sides. The British also destroyed American shipping in Delaware Bay. At the same period, General Jackson defeated die Creek Indians in Alabama and Georgia, who had been excited to make war upon the frontier settlements.

In 1814, Generals Scott and Ripley crossed the Niagara, and sharp actions, with no decisive results, were fought at Chippewa and Lundy’s Lane, close by the great Cataract. General Wilkinson also invaded Canada on the Sorell River, but was easily repulsed. A British invasion, by Lake Champlain, by General Sir George Provost, with 14,000 men and a flotilla on the lake, was no more successful. On the 6th of September, the flotilla was defeated and captured in the harbor of Plattsburg, while the army was repulsed on shore, and retreated with heavy loss. In August, a British fleet ascended Chesapeake Bay, took Washington with but slight resistance, and burned the government buildings. A subsequent attack on Baltimore was unsuccessful. New York. New London, and Boston were blockaded, and a large expedition was sent against Mobile and New Orleans.

On the 8th of January 1815, General Packenham advanced with 12,000 men against the latter city, which was defended by General Jackson, at the head of 6000 militia, chiefly from Tennessee and Kentucky, aided by a small force of artillery, recruited from the Barataria pirates. The Americans were sheltered by a breast-work, and the British assault was met with so deadly afire of riflemen, that it was repulsed, with the loss of General Packenham and several officers, with 700 killed and 1000 wounded; while the entire American loss is stated to have only amounted to 71. This ill-planned and unfortunate action was fought more than a month after peace had been concluded between England and America, and was followed by two naval actions in February and March. Though during this contest fortune at first favored the Americans on the high seas, she changed sides completely from June 1813, as if to counterbalance the disasters of the British on land. June 1, the Chesapeake was taken by the Shannon; June 3, the Growler and Eagle were captured by British gun-boats; the Argus was taken by the Pelican, August 14; the Essex by the Phœbe and Cherub, March 29, 1814; the President by the Endymion, January 15, 1815; tile only counterbalancing success being the sinking of the British sloop Avon by the Wasp. September 8, 1814. In December 1814, the Federalists of New England held a convention at Hartford in opposition to the war and the administration, and threatened a secession of the New England states. See HARTFORD CONVENTION. In 1815, Commodore Decatur, who had taken a distinguished part in the recent war, commanded an expedition against the Algerians—whose corsairs had preyed on American commerce in the Mediterranean—and dictated terms to Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli.

The Democratic-Republican party having- brought the war to a satisfactory conclusion, the Federalists disappeared; and in 1817, James Monroe was elected to the presidency, almost without opposition, in what was termed ‘ the era of good feeling.’ A rapid emigration from Europe and from the Atlantic states to the richer lands of the West, had in ten years added six new states to the Union. Difficulties arose with the warlike southern Indian tribes, whose hunting-grounds were invaded; and General Jackson, sent against the Seminoles, summoned to his aid the Tennessee volunteers who had served under him against the Creeks and at New Orleans, defeated them, pursued them into Florida, took Pensacola, and banished the Spanish authorities and troops. He was, however, supported in these high-handed measures by the President; and in 1819, Florida was ceded by Spain to the United States. In 1820, Alabama and Maine, a slave and a free state, were added to the Union; and the question of the admission of Missouri arose in Congress—the question of its admission with or without slavery. At the period of the Revolution, slavery existed in all the states except Massachusetts; but it had gradually been abolished in the northern and middle states, except Delaware, and excluded from the new states between the Ohio and Mississippi by the terms on which the territory had been surrendered by Virginia to the Union. Under the constitution, slaves were not counted in full as a represented population; but by a compromise, three-fifths of their numbers were added to the whites. The slave states were almost exclusively agricultural, with free-trade interests. The free states were encouraging manufactures by protection. The two sections had already entered upon a struggle to maintain the balance of power against each other.