r^ \
n
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
VOL. Ill
^^IP^^^^^^^il^H^^^^I
1
1
â–
kSIw?
^^^^^^^^k' iJ^I^^^^^^H^i^'
^
^
^M
I 'â– ''-
^
â– :
^^^^^^^^H^HK ^^^r m*
/"
^^^^1
â–
1
^H
I ' '''
^^^^^^^^^^t^^^^^^^
1
L
1751— JAMES MADISON — 1836.
By Asher Bkown Durand, 1832.
From the original portrait in the New York Historical Society.
HISTORY
OF THK
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BY
HENRY WILLIAM ELSON
AUTHOR OF "side LIGHTS ON AMERICAN HISTORY," ETC.
With Two Hundred Illustrations Selected and
Edited by Charles Henry Hart
VOLUME III
PUBLISHED FOR
THE REVIEW OF REVIEWS COMPANY
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO.,'I,Tl>.' ;
1905
All rights reserved ' . â– .'
^^^^k.^
rfu
y im
'>»iO»>o
Copyright, 1904, 1905,
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and electrotyped. Published April, 1904. Special
edilior in five volumes, October, 1905.
Berwick k. Smith Co., Norwood, Mass , U S.A.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXI
The War of 1812
PAGE
Drifting Toward War 3
Hostilities on the Great Lakes . . . . . . . H
Victories on the Sea ........•• 18
Further Operations on the Lakes 26
The Washington Campaign 38
War in the South 42
National Finances ......... 5°
Observations .......... 53
CHAPTER XXH
Dawn of National Consciousness
Recuperating 62
The Missouri Compromise ........ 68
Monroe's Second Term ........ 7^
John Quincy Adams 86
Means of Travel and Invention 91
CHAPTER XXIII
The Reign of Jackson
American Life in 1830 98
The People's President loi
The Civil Service ......... 106
Jackson and Calhoun . 107
Nullification in South Carolina in
The Reelection and the Bank 117
Foreign Relations and Indian Wars ...... 123
Character of Jackson 126
Martin Van Buren 131
The Panic and the Independent Treasury I33
The Harrison Campaign . • 136
V
VI CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXIV
Rise of the Slavery Question
PAGE
Harrison's Brief Tenure I47
Tyler and the Whigs 149
The Story of Texas 152
Presidential Election of 1844 ISS
CHAPTER XXV
The Mexican War and the Compromise of 1850
Oregon and California 164
Zachary Taylor in Mexico 168
The Conquest of California ........ 171
The Great March upon Mexico 172
Results of the War 176
Zachary Taylor 183
Eighteen Hundred and Fifty 186
The Fugitive Slave Law in Operation 197
The Underground Railroad ........ 204
Slave Life in the South ........ 208
CHAPTER XXVI
Literature before the Civil War — National Era
Irving, Cooper, Poe and Hawthorne 219
The Great New England Masters 230
Minor Poets 247
Statesmen, Orators, and Historians 249
Miscellaneous Writers ......... 253
CHAPTER XXVII
First Century and a Half of American Art 258
ANNOTATED INDEX TO
ILLUSTRATIONS
VOLUME III
Portraits
I. Adams, John Quincy (i 767-1848). By Edward D. Mar-
chant 86
This is the last portrait taken of President Adams.
II. Benton, Thomas Hart (i 787-1858). From a daguerreo-
type 118
III. Bla K Hawk, Mukatahmishokahkaik (i 767-1838). By
George Catlin 124
This portrait of Black Hawk was taken at the close of the war,
in 1832, while he was a prisoner at Jefferson Barracks, Mo.
His Indian name is spelled in several different ways, but I have
followed the orthography of Catlin.
IV. Brock, Sir Isaac (i 769-181 2). By J. Hudson . . 14
This beautiful miniature of Brock has never before been pub-
lished, and it is the only authentic original portrait of him. It was
painted in England during his last visit there and came into the
possession of his cousin and aide-de-camp, James Brock, from whom
it passed to his wife's family and thence to Miss Mickle of Toronto,
through whose courtesy I am given the opportunity of using this
interesting and important portrait.
V. Brown, Jacob (i 775-1828). By John Wesley Jarvis . 30
VI. Bryant, William Cullen (i 794-1878). Photograph by
Brady 234
VII. Calhoun, John Caldwell (i 782-1850). By William
James Hubard 100
vii
viii ANNOTATED INDEX
VIII. Cass, Lewis (i 782-1866). Photograph by Brady . 176
IX. Clay, Henry (1777-1852). By Oliver Frazer . . 158
This is the last portrait made of Clay before he went to Cuba to
seek that relief which the southern clime did not afford to him.
Frazer was a personal friend of Clay and was painting this portrait
for himself, when James Clay saw it on the easel and was so im-
pressed with its faithfulness, that he took it away with him without
its being finished, for fear of its losing some of its fine quality.
X. Cooper, James Fenimore (1789-1851). From a daguerreo-
type . . . . . . . . . .220
XI. Decatur, Stephen (1779-18 20). By Thomas Sully . 26
Sully, in his register, records: " 1814, July 12th. Begun whole
length of Com. Decatur for City of New York. $500. Finished in
September." He also made a whole length study and a bust por-
trait of Decatur at the same time.
XII. Emerson, Ralph Waldo (i 803-1 882). By Samuel
Worcester Rowse ....... 240
I am indebted to Professor Charles Eliot Norton for the privilege
of using this exquisite drawing, which hangs in his library.
XIII. Fillmore, Millard (1800-1874). Photograph by
Brady 192
XIV. Gallatin, Albert (i 761-1849). By Gilbert Stuart . 2
I am indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Frederick W. Stevens for the
use of the photograph of this painting.
XV. Harrison, William Henry (17 73-1 841) . . . 140
I am indebted to Colonel Russell B. Harrison for permission to
use this portrait of his great-grandfather.
XVI. Hawthorne, Nathaniel (i 804-1 864). Photograph by
Mayall 230
XVII. Hayne, Robert Young (i 791-1839). By Samuel Fin-
ley Breese Morse . . . . . • .108
I am indebted to the courtesy of Theodore D. Jervey, Esq., of
Charleston, S.C, for the use of the photograph reproduced.
ANNOTATED INDEX ix
XVIII. Hull, Isaac (17 73-1843). By Gilbert Stuart . . 18
I am indebted to Dr. Isaac Hull Piatt for permission to use this
portrait.
XIX. Irving, Washington (1783-1859). From daguerreotype
by John Plumb 212
XX. Jackson, Andrew (i 767-1847). By Ralph E. W. Earl 96
Jackson is represented mounted upon his favorite horse, Sam
Patch. Earl, the painter, married a niece of Jackson's wife, and
became an inmate of the household, painting little else than por-
traits of the " Hero of New Orleans" for his many admirers, until
he was facetiously dubbed the " Court Painter."
XXI. Lawrence, James (i 781-1813). By Gilbert Stuart . 22
XXII. Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth (1807-1882). Photo-
graph by Gutekunst 238
This photograph was taken when the poet was in Philadelphia
for the Centennial Exposition.
XXIII. Madison, James (1751-1836). By Asher Brown
Durand frontis.
Painted at Montpelier for George P. Morris of the New York
Mirror. A duplicate is in the Century Club, New York.
XXIV. Marshall, John (i 755-1835). By Chester Harding 114
XXV. Monroe, James (i 758-1831). By Gilbert Stuart . 80
For the use of this portrait, which is one of a series by Stuart of
the first five Presidents, I am indebted to Mr. Coolidge,
XXVI. Morse, Samuel FiNLEY Breese ( 1 791-1872). Photo-
graph by Sarony 164
XXVII. Osceola (i 804-1 838). By George Catlin . .126
This portrait was painted only five days before Osceola's death, at
Fort Moultrie, S.C, while he was a prisoner of war.
XXVIII. Pakenham, Sir Edward Michael (1778-1815) . 44
This is a posthumous picture, the only one used in this work, the
face having been painted from a miniature which is lost. 1 am
indebted to the courtesy of Lord Longford, of the Life Guards, for
finding this portrait.
X ANNOTATED INDEX
XXIX. PoE, Edgar Allan (1809-1849). From daguerreo-
type by John Plumb ...... 226
XXX. Polk, James Knox (i 795-1849). By George Peter
Alexander Healy -154
XXXI. Randolph, John of Roanoke (17 73-1833). By
William Henry Brown 90
This very characteristic silhouette of Randolph, in riding costume
with whip and spurs, was taken at Richmond, Va., June 28, 1830,
as he was embarking for Russia. For an account of Brown and his
remarkable work, see the writer's "The Last of the Silhouettists,"
in Outlook for Oct. 6, 1900.
XXXII. Red Jacket, Sagoyewatha (1752-1830). By Robert
W. Weir 36
When the great Seneca chief sat to Weir for this painting, he
went to the studio accompanied by his interpreter and a number of
braves, all of whom showed uncommon interest in the progress of
the work. The medal he wears was given to him by Washington,
and he was never without it even when clothed in only nature's garb.
XXXIII. RoDGERs, John (17 71-1838). By Charles Willson
Peale 6
XXXIV. Scott, Winfield(i784-i866). By Miner K. Kellogg 10
XXXV. Stuart, Gilbert (175 5-1828). By himself . . 256
Stuart painted for Boydell portraits of a number of painters and
engravers, his contemporaries, as also this portrait of himself, which
passed to Henry Graves, of London, the successor of Boydell, and
on the disposal of the Graves collection, it was acquired by the
National Gallery. Stuart painted an earlier portrait of himself,
which is in the Redwood Library at Newport, and a self-sketch, in
oil, is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
XXXVI. Taney, Roger Brooke (17 77-1864). By George
Peter Alexander Healy ..... 122
XXXVIL Taylor, Zachary (1784-1850). By John Vanderlyn 172
XXXVIII. Tyler, John (1790-1862). By George Peter
Alexander Healy 146
ANNOTATED INDEX xi
XXXIX. Van Buren, Martin (i 782-1 S62). By Henry Inman 132
There is a whole length of Van Buren, by Inman, in the City Hall,
New York.
XL. Webster, Daniel (1782-1852). By Joseph Ames , 150
This is the last portrait of Webster painted from life, and was done
at the same time that Ames was painting the whole length in fishing
rig; that is, they were both on the easel at the same time.
Miscellaneous
XLI. Caricature OF Resignation OF Jackson's Cabinet, 1831 116
This was the first and is the only time that an entire cabinet
resigned in the middle of an administration, and what is more extraor-
dinary, it was caused by a woman. The " rats " bear the faces of
" the four busy B's " in the cabinet, — Berrien, Branch, Van Buren,
and Barry,
LIST OF MAPS
FULL-PAGE COLORED MAPS
PAGE
The United States in 1830 facing 96
MAPS IN THE TEXT
The Lake Region . . . 16
Washington and Vicinity 39
Battle of New Orleans ........ 47
The Erie Canal 92
The Mexican Campaign ........ I73
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
CHAPTER XXI
THE WAR OF 1812
NOTWITHSTANDING the decline in Jefferson's
popularity, many of the state legislatures invited
him to stand for a third election. But he declined ;
not on the ground taken by Washington twelve years be-
fore, but because, as he claimed, it was well to establish a
precedent for the future. He was the author, therefore, of
our unwritten law that no man serve more than eight years
in the presidency. He was one of our two or three Presi-
dents who, having served two terms, might have been
elected for a third; yet many believed that his embargo
would have rendered his election doubtful had he desired
a third term. But he did the next thing — he practically
chose his successor. It was mainly through Jefferson's
influence that his secretary of state was preferred before
the other two aspirants, James Monroe and George Clinton.
A week after the inauguration Jefferson left the Capital
City on horseback "for the elysium of domestic affections."
He reached Monticello, March 15, and in the remaining
seventeen years of his life he never again passed beyond
the bounds of his native state.^
* Jefferson's poularity soon rose to its normal standard, and as
long as he lived he was the chief adviser of his party, being in constant
I
VOL. Ill — I
2 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
The little man of quiet, simple manners, who now stood
before ten thousand people and read his inaugural address
in a "scarcely audible tone," had been a leading figure in
public life for many years, and was by training eminently
equipped for the great office. James Madison as a framer
of the Constitution had done more than any other man in
making that instrument what it is ; he had been a leader in
Congress under Washington, and had now just completed
his eight years as chief in the Cabinet of Jefferson. Cer-
tainly he knew the inner workings of the government as
few could know them. Moreover, next to his retiring chief,
Madison was the ablest man in the country, save one, Albert
Gallatin.
The new President's trouble began from the day of his
installation. He sincerely desired to make Gallatin secre-
tary of state; but there was a faction of Democrats in the
Senate, headed by Senators William B. Giles of Virginia,
Samuel Smith of Maryland, and Michael Lieb of Pennsyl-
vania, who hated Gallatin and determined to prevent his
confirmation. This faction, encouraged by George Clinton,
who was again Vice President, and aided by the Federalists,
could control the Senate, and Madison had to yield. Galla-
tin remained in the Treasury, and Robert Smith, a brother
of Senator Smith from Maryland, was made secretary of
state. The arrangement was humiliating to the President,
who was thus forced to accept for the chief place in his
Cabinet a man wholly incompetent, a man in sympathy with
correspondence with Presidents Madison and Monroe. After 1812 he
became reconciled to his old friend and rival, John Adams, and the two
were friendly correspondents as long as they lived, though they never
met again. Both died on the national holiday, July 4, 1826, but few
hours apart.
17(il — ALBERT GALLATIN — 1849.
By Gilbert Stuart, 1803.
From the original portrait in posses.sion of Frederick W. Stevens, Esq.,
New York.
Astor, Lenox ar.d Tliden
-1)
STRAINED RELATIONS WITH ENGLAND 3
a faction that used its power to weaken the administration.
For two years this arrangement dragged on, when at last
the patient Gallatin lost patience and threatened to resign
from the Cabinet. This awakened the slow-moving Madi-
son, and led him for once to play the master. He defied
the Senate faction by dismissing Robert Smith and choos-
ing James Monroe as secretary of state. The country and
even the Senate sustained him, and a signal victory was
gained for the administration.
DRIFTING TOWARD WAR
There was a delicious ray of sunshine that brought joy to
many at the beginning of the Madison administration. Mr.
Erskine, the English minister at Washington, receiving
instructions from Canning, the British foreign secretary,
announced that the Orders in Council would be withdrawn
on June 10, on condition that the President remove the non-
intercourse restriction, in as far as it concerned England.
Whereupon Madison made a proclamation suspending the
non-intercourse act with England. Great was the rejoic-
ing on all sides. The eastern ports became beehives of
industry. Vessels were quickly laden with the long-accu-
mulated produce, and in a few weeks a thousand had
launched upon the sea for foreign ports. Madison enjoyed
a moment of intoxicating popularity; but it was only a
moment. The bubble soon burst. The overzealous Erskine
had exceeded his instructions, and he was disavowed and
recalled. When the news reached America that the Orders
in Council were still in force, the President issued a new
proclamation, reviving the non-intercourse act with Great
Britain.
Francis James Jackson was then sent to replace Erskine.
4 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
Jackson was a man of much pride and little tact, who boasted
an acquaintance with "most of the sovereigns of Europe,"
and felt that he had come to treat with a lot of "savage
Democrats, half of them sold to France." He began by
accusing the administration of deception in treating with
Erskine in the knowledge that he was exceeding his in-
structions. Madison informed him that such insinuations
were inadmissible from a foreign minister dealing "with a
government that understands what it owes to itself." In
the face of this warning, Jackson, with incredible effrontery,
repeated his accusation, and was informed that no further
communications would be received from him. Thus inglo-
riously ended his diplomatic career in America.
Meanwhile our relations with France were approaching
another crisis. In the spring of 1810 the American Con-
gress removed the restrictions on foreign commerce, but
forbade intercourse with England or France if either con-
tinued hostile to our trade. This has been pronounced the
most disgraceful act on the American statute book. "When
Great Britain and France were raining upon us blows such
as no powerful nation had ever submitted to before, we
folded our hands and bowed our heads with no word of
protest, except to say that if either one of them would cease
its outrages, we should resent the insults of the other."^
Napoleon had issued his Rambouillet Decree, confiscating all
American ships found in French waters. But on learning
of this act of Congress, he offered to revoke his Berlin and
Milan decrees. This was only a contemptible trick by
which to draw more of our vessels into his trap, and all that
were entrapped were seized in accordance with a secret
order.
^Gordy, Vol. 11, p. "^2 (Revised Ed.).
TIPPECANOE 5
While our foreign relations continued in this strained
condition, an event in the Northwest recalled the attention
of the people to important matters at home. The Indians
of the Northwest had given little trouble for several years
after their defeat by Wayne in 1794. But in recent years
they had again become hostile, owing chiefly to the ambition
of a great leader, Tecumthe or Tecumseh, who belonged to
the Shawnee tribe. Tecumseh's ambition was to unite all
the tribes of that region into one great Indian nation, and
through it to restrict all further encroachments of the white
man. He was a man of remarkable eloquence and powers
of leadership, and he was assisted in his plans by his twin
brother, known as the Prophet.
The governor of Indiana Territory was William Henry
Harrison, a future President of the United States. He was
a son of Benjamin Harrison, a signer of the Declaration of
Independence, a governor of Virginia, and an intimate
friend of Washington. At the time of St. Clair's defeat by
the Indians in Ohio, young Harrison, a boy of nineteen
years, was a medical student in Philadelphia. At the advice
of both Washington and Jefferson, he left his studies and
went to the West to aid in the war against the Indians.
With a brave heart he set out to win glory for himself and
honor for his country. In 1801 he become governor of
Indiana and superintendent of Indian affairs. In September,
1809, Harrison made a treaty at Fort Wayne with the Dela-
ware, Miami, Kickapoo, and other tribes, by which three
million acres on the upper Wabash were ceded to the United
States. The twin brothers were not present, nor had the
tribe to which they belonged any part in the ownership or
sale of the lands. But when they heard of the cession, they
were wroth, and declared that the land belonged to all the
6 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
tribes, and that a part had no right to sell without the con-
sent of all. They pronounced the treaty void and threat-
ened to kill every chief that had signed it. A year passed,
and the Indians, while professing friendship for the whites,
kept up a series of outrages on the frontier. Harrison ad-
vised them that the depredations must be stopped ; but they
continued, and he prepared for an attack.
With some nine hundred men. General Harrison marched
into the Indian country in the autumn of 1811. Tecumseh
was absent in the South. His brother, the Prophet, occu-
pied the town of Tippecanoe on the Wabash. Harrison
marched on and encamped near the town. The Prophet
sent word that he wished a conference with the American
general on the morrow. Harrison, suspecting treachery,
had his men sleep on their arms, and an hour before day
next morning about five hundred Indians, with fearful yells,
emerged from the underbrush and made an attack. The
soldiers seized their guns, and a desperate struggle raged
for two hours, when the Indians broke and fled. They
abandoned their village, which the Americans burned, and
then hastened back to the white settlements. The battle of
Tippecanoe did not belong to the war with England that
was soon to come, nor had the British much, if anything, to
do with inspiring it ; but it gave Harrison an excellent mili-
tary reputation, and it prepared the people for the greater
events that were to follow.
The prophetic words of Benjamin Franklin were destined
to come true — that the war ending with the surrender of
Cornwallis was simply the war of Revolution, and that the
war of Independence was yet to be fought. Two events in
181 1 hastened the crisis with England, — the withdrawal of
our minister from London, and an impromptu duel between
1771— JOHN RODGERS — 1838.
By Charles Willson Peale, 181G.
From the original portrait in the old State House, Philadelpliia, Pa.
THE PRESIDENT AND THE LITTLE BELT 7
two vessels at sea. William Pinckney, one of the ablest
diplomats ever sent to a foreign court by the United States,
after laboring and struggling in vain for five years with the
British ministry, took "inamicable leave." This event had
stirred the ministry a little. It had led them to hasten in
appointing a minister to Washington, Augustus John
Foster, the first since the inglorious failure of Jackson a
year and a half before. While Foster was on the sea
en route for his new field of duty, the other event occurred.
On the partial reopening of our trade with France, British
armed vessels were again sent to blockade New York, and
they amused themselves capturing vessels bound for France
and impressing American seamen. One of these ships, the
Guerriere, was said to have impressed a man named Diggio,
and the secretary of the navy sent the President^ a 44-gun
frigate under Captain John Rodgers, not only to rescue
Diggio and other unfortunates, but to "protect American
commerce," to "vindicate the injured honor of our navy,"
and to support the honor of tlie flag "at any risk and cost."
This was a new spirit for the nation that had suffered
twenty years of the impressment business and had defended
itself with protests alone. Rodgers was under full sail
from Annapolis to New York, when he sighted a vessel
which he believed to be the Guerriere; but she showed no
colors, and he was not sure. He gave chase, and eight
hours later, at nightfall, the President was within hailing
distance. Rodgers shouted through his trumpet, "What
ship is that?" The answer from the stranger was an echo
of his own words, and Rodgers asked again, when instantly
a flame of fire leaped from the dark hull of the strange vessel,
and a shot was lodged in the mainmast of the President.^
'This account was given under oath by Rodgers and all his crew;
8 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
The lesson of the Chesapeake had not been thrown away;
the President was prepared. In a moment both vessels were
throwing broadsides. In fifteen minutes the strange vessel
was silenced and disabled. At daybreak next morning
Rodgers discovered that he had been fighting the Little Belt,
a British corvette of twenty guns and about half the force of
the President. Her encounter with the President proved
disastrous. Twelve men lay dead and twenty-one wounded
on her decks ; "all the rigging and sails cut to pieces, not a
brace nor a bowline left," * while one boy was wounded on
the President. This incident was hailed with delight by
the American people as the avenging of the outrage on the
Chesapeake.
Meantime Foster arrived. Pinckney, while yet in Lon-
don, had asked the significant question, What was Foster to
do when he arrived in Washington ? Foster had no power
to promise a repeal of the Orders in Council, and the admin-
istration would treat with him on no other ground. He
offered to settle the Chesapeake affair without even demand-
ing reparation for the greater disaster to the Little Belt;
but even this made no impression. Every subject brought
up by the British minister received the same answer, The
Orders in Council must be repealed. If America was In
earnest, all signs pointed to the same thing, namely, that
the United States had at last taken a stand — that if the
Orders in Council were not repealed, there would be war.
Foster wrote this to his government, but the British Cabinet,
led by the short-sighted Spencer Perceval, refused to be
moved.
but Captain Bingham of the Little Belt gave a different account, claim-