THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
The Discovery of America..
America is now believed to have been discovered by Norsemen who gave it the name Vinland, ( "Markland" ) in the year 1000. They visited the American coasts, and the coasts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, many years before the famous voyage of the Genoese navigator Christopher Columbus. Roger Bacon had argued in favour of sailing west to reach the east, and there was a legend of a great continent name. "Atlantis," lying to the west, beyond the Azores.
Christopher Columbus, who, like most serious thinkers of his day, was convinced of the roundness of the earth, believed it to be not only possible but practicable to reach the east by sailing west. He was anxious to reach "Cathy" and "Cipangu" (Japan) and he "began to think, that if men could sail so far south, one might also sail west and find lands in that quarter." (From "Life of the Admiral," by Ferdinand Columbus)
For years he vainly tried to persuade various rulers to fit out an expedition for him, but it was not until 1492 that he induced Ferdinand the Catholic, King of Spain, to send him on a commission to discover a new route to Cathay. Columbus was obsessed with the idea of the riches and glories of Cathay, for he had been reading Marco Polo's book of travels. Columbus set sail with an unsatisfactory and unwilling crew, who became openly mutinous when many days passed and no land was seen. At last, when Columbus was almost in despair, and his men were threatening to put about and run for home, land was sighted.
In October, 1492, Columbus discovered the new continent and named it San Salvador, one of the Bahamas, but Columbus thought it was off the coast of Cipangu, he landed there with joy, expecting to pick up quantities of treasure.Columbus never realized that he was still far from Cathay; the magnitude of his discovery never dawned upon him. He voyaged about the Archipelago and gained a general knowledge of the islands, before returning to Spain in triumph early in 1493.
The news made a great impression, not only in Spain, but in all Europe, and further expeditions were at once organized.
He made five voyages in all, and brought back strange plants and gaily-coloured parrots, but no silks or spices.
From one voyage to the west Columbus was even sent home in chains, though he was afterwards released, the king's
disappointment was great, and a reaction set in against the explorer and he no longer found favour at court, great
discoverer that he was, he died a disappointed, discredited, and broken-hearted man.
As soon as Columbus discovery was reported in Europe, the Pope Alexander VI. (1492 - 1503 The father of Cesare Borgia.) drew an arbitrary line dividing the new lands between Spain and Portugal, to the exclusion of all other nations. As far as a line drawn 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands, everything was to belong to Portugal, west of that line, to Spain. This meant that Spain had practically a monopoly of America, and, fortified with this authority, she began to build up a new Empire.
The Naming of America.
The discovery of the islands Columbus had found were close to a new vast continent of unknown extent, a world much larger than had been supposed. It was left for a Florentine pilot, Amerigo Vespucci, to give his name to the new continent, although he only followed where Columbus had shown the way, and the name was given in 1507 through the ignorance of an obscure printer in Lorraine, who had read Amerigo's account of his voyage.
Spain in the New World
Even in the days of Columbus there had been friction between the Spaniards and the natives, and time did nothing to heal this antagonism, while the Spaniards were anything but conciliatory in their behaviour. Their cupidity had been aroused by traces of a mysterious people in the hinterland of Mexico, who seemed to have access to gold and jewels. In 1519 an expedition was fitted out in Cuba, and put under the leadership of Hernando Cortes. He was commissioned to explore Mexico, and for three months he led his men through forest and mountain until he reached the wonderful golden city of Mexico. By treachery and guile Cortes won from Montezuma, the ruler of this land, his treasures of gold and jewels, and reduced the native Aztecs to misery and degradation.
Eleven years later, Peru. with its gold and. silver mines and precious stones, was won for Spain by Pizarro. He
persuaded the innocent natives to accept the Spaniards as gods after he had conquered their host, and murdered
the king they had tried to ransom with a roomful of treasure. Pizarro took both the ransom and the homage, and
refused to spare the unfortunate king; it was in this spirit that the Spaniards achieved their conquests in the
new world, but their perfidy should not blind posterity to their wonderful courage in surmounting difficulties,
and the resolution which enabled a handful of strangers to overcome a great host defending their native land.
By this time, Central America, and the islands, and the Gull of Mexico, were becoming well known, and finding their
way on to maps of the "New
World." The Pacific
had been sighted in 1516; it was the Spaniard Vasco Nunez de Balboa, and not, as Keats thought, "stout Cortes,"
who stood "silent upon a Peak in Darien." Florida, and the mouth of the Mississippi had been explored,
and a brave Spaniard named Orleans had succeeded in forcing his way across South America, crossing the Andes, and
sailing more than 2,000 miles down the Amazon and its tributaries. Spain was firmly established in America, and
shiploads of treasure, ingots of gold and silver, bags of rubies, and Mexican embroideries, were beginning to find
their way from the New World to the old, to the chagrin and envy of all other European countries, excluded by the
Bull of 1493 from sharing in the booty.
The French in North America.
French and English fishermen established themselves on the coasts of North America in the early years of the sixteenth century. They might be excluded from "El Dorado," whence the Spaniards drew their gold, but they could join in the fisheries off Newfoundland.The mainland was first seen in 1497 by John Cabot who, with his son Sebastian, sailed from Bristol, under the patronage of Henry VII. of England and on June 24 came in sight of Labrador, perhaps the very shores that the Northmen had found five hundred years earlier. They had been disappointed in their search for the treasure they expected, but they had found wealth in the great shoals of cod round Newfoundland and the mouth of the St. Lawrence ( fish so plentiful that they could be caught in baskets.). In 1512 Sebastian Cabot sailed again for America; but a mutiny on board his vessels compelled him to return before more had been accomplished than a visit to Hudson's Bay.
In the same year Florida was discovered by Ponce de Leon. Giovanni Verazzano, a Florentine sent out by Francis I. of France in 1524, surveyed upwards of 2000 miles of coast, and discovered that portion now known as North Carolina.
Ten years afterwards, in 1534 the Frenchman Jacques Cartier explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and found Prince Edward Island. Ho hoped that the long inlet he noticed running westwards might lead him to the Pacific, and the following year he made another expedition to sail along this river. He found the natives friendly, and they quickly guided him to a precipitous mountain which he named "Mont Royal," (The name survives in Montreal the name of the town at it foot ) Cartier also named "Cap d'Espoir," anglicized as "Cape Despair."
The Spaniards had previously conquered Mexico, and a desire to extend their dominion (1519 - 21) in a northerly direction led to further discoveries in North America. The coast of California was discovered by Ximenes, and in 1539 the Gulf of California was first entered by Francisco de Ulloa. In 1578 Drake visited the north-west coast.
At the end of the century, Champlain (d. 1635), continued Cartier's explorations up the St. Lawrence, and reached Lake Ontario. He, too - and unlike the Spaniards - made friends with the Indians, whom he found to have a high standard of behaviour. Champlain founded settlements at Montreal and Quebec, which formed the nucleus of the French colonies in North America.
These discoveries were followed by those of Davis in 1585 - 87, Hudson in 1610, Bylot and Baffin in 1615 - 16, all in the north-eastern seas. By this time settlements had been made by the French, English, and Dutch. The French occupied Nova Scotia and Canada, and latterly Louisiana. Captain Behring, who was sent out in 1725 by the Empress Catharine, set at rest the disputed point whether Asia and America were separate continents. Other names associated with American maritime discovery are Cook, Meares, Vancouver, Kotzebue .
The United States originated in settlements made by the English and Dutch on the Atlantic coast, the first English
colonies within the limits of the Union were settled by two chartered companies, called the Plymouth Company and the London Company.
By the latter an expedition was sent out in 1607, and a settlement was made at Jamestown, in the present state
of Virginia while the Plymouth Company established a colony on Massachusetts Bay. Other settlers continuing to
arrive a colonial assembly was for the first time convened in 1619. At this time the foundation of the colonies
of New England was laid by the 'pilgrim fathers,' a body of Puritans numbering 100 who sailed from England in the
Mayflower, and landed in 1620 in Massachusetts Bay, where they established themselves. Then another colony was
founded in 1628 at Salem, and in 1680 still another was established in Boston. Rhode Island was first settled at
Providence in 1636 by Roger William's, who had been driven from Massachusetts for his religious and political opinions.
The states of Maryland and Virginia were colonized chiefly by English Roman Catholics and royalist refugees, while
the central states were, to a great extent, settled by Dutch and Swedes. It is impossible to enter into details
of the origin and progress of the different states now comprising the Union, but in the 17th century the Dutch
colonies
were acquired by Great
Britain.The most remarkable events of the colonial period were those connected with the wars which Great Britain
and her colonies were obliged to wage with France, and which terminated in the cession of Canada, &c., to Great
Britain in 1763 by the Peace of Paris at the close of the Seven Years' war.
American Independence
Vergennes, the acute French diplomat, had predicted before 1763:
"England will soon repent of having removed the only check which could keep her colonies in awe. She will call upon them to help in bearing the burdens they have brought upon her, and they will answer by throwing off all dependence."
His prophecy was shortly to come true, it was accurate in every detail.
The English settlements were divided into states, the colonists had the British Army to protect them, in 1759 General Wolfe captured Quebec and Canada became British and the American colonists no longer feared a French invasion.
The home Government held with justice that the colonists should share a portion of the enormous costs of the Seven Years War, by which they had gained complete security. The occasion seemed ripe for imposing a direct tax on the thirteen colonies. Statesmanship might have prevented disaster, but Chatham, whose force was now spent, uttered his warnings in vain, and short-lived ministries made a firm and consistent policy impossible.
King George III. decided that the colonists should be made to pay something towards the cost of keeping the British Army in North America. The British parliament resolved to increase the revenue by a general stamp-duty, the colonists would have to buy and affix stamps to all their newspapers, documents, leaflets and legal papers. The colonists objected because they were not represented on the government that had passed the Act. " No taxation without representation " became their slogan.
The Navigation Acts of 1660 which forbade the export of colonial produce to Europe and restricted competition in shipbuilding. High prices in America were due to lack of imports, for there were no ships to build up trade. Secondly, writs of assistants were issued, though condemned in England, to empower customs officers to search houses. Thirdly, ideas of national right were slowly growing up. The causes were excessive taxation, rioters in Boston smashed the stamp-printing machinery. The Stamp Act of 1765 was canceled but later a in 1767, a duty was imposed of three pence a pound was put on tea.
In 1773 cargoes of tea were to be sold subject to the trifling tax of 3d. a pound, when British ships loaded with tea attempted to effect a landing in the port of Boston, a number of the inhabitants, disguised as Indians, seized them and threw the cargoes into the sea the famous Boston "tea-party."
For punishment, parliament passed the Boston Port Bill, which declared that port closed to all commerce, and transferred the seat of colonial government to Salem. The "Intolerable Acts" followed whereby the port of Boston was closed, the constitution of Massachusetts annulled and, by the Quebec Act, the boundaries of Canada defined.
In 1774 Congress virtually severed all connection with the home government what were the prospects on either side? At first it seemed that all the advantage was on the side of Britain with her wealth and forces. Yet the advantage was illusory rather than real. In 1775 hostilities actually commenced when a small British force, sent from Boston to destroy the military stores at Concord, was attacked by the colonists near Lexington, and forced to retreat. Before the end of April the British governor and army were besieged in Boston by a revolutionary force of 20,000 men; the northern fortresses of Ticonderoga and Crown Point were seized; and a continental congress which assembled at Philadelphia took measures to equip an army and navy, with George Washington as commander-in-chief. On June 17 the British attacked the in-trenched position of the colonists on Bunker Hill, which commanded Boston harbour, and captured it, but in the following year they retreated to Halifax.
Despite British blunders the colonists could hardly have survived the years from 1775-1778 without the serene courage and endurance of George Washington (1732-1799).
On the 4 July. 1776, Thomas Jefferson read to Congress the famous Declaration of Independence.
' the united colonies are, and ought to he, free and independent states; that their political connection with Great Britain is, and ought to be, dissolved.'
The British government now sent an army against the colonists under the command of Sir William Howe, and in a battle on Long Island (August 1776) Washington was defeated with heavy loss. He retreated beyond the Delaware, and in order to defend Philadelphia, then the capital, was obliged to give battle on the Brandy-wine, where he was again defeated.
The turning point came in 1777, when General Burgoyne was ordered from Canada to join forces with Howe and was surrounded at Saratoga by General Gates and forced to surrender.
A year later France, Holland and Spain joined the Colonists against Britain. A half-fought action in the mouth of the Chesapeake (1781) led to Lord Cornwallis, being besieged at Yorktown in 1781. Cornwallis had to surrender, to a combined French and American force under Rochambeau and Washington, which virtually terminated the war.
A year later, Rodney's great victory at the Saints restored to Britain her lost prestige and control of the sea. But the American colonies were lost beyond retrieval.
The American Constitution
At the Peace Conference held in Paris in September 3, 1783, Britain agreed that the thirteen colonies should be free and independent states. And so the United States of America was born. In May 1787 a Convention was held at Philadelphia, where a new constitution was drafted.
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The country is a republic governed by a president elected every four years and a ministry responsible to a legislature called Congress. In its simplest form this consists in a league or union of two or more states for purposes of trade or defence. Apart from this the states live their own lives, make their own laws, and are subject to no outside interference. The modern federal state subjects its citizens to a dual control. The Constitution which created a Federal Republic of the United States established a central government, with a President as its executive head, while the law-making power was vested in Congress. This consisted of a Senate, with two members from each state, and a House of Representatives to which each state elected members in proportion to population. A Chief Justice assisted by eight judges appointed for life, presided over a Supreme Court. | |
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George Washington The First American president |
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For local government, each state has a constitution of its own, similar in all respects, but with a Governor in lieu of a President. |
The congress appointed by the thirteen states then proceeded to impose duties, establish a federal judiciary, organize the executive administration, fund the debt of the United States, and establish a national bank. In 1793 Washington was unanimously reelected president, but in 1797 he refused to be elected for a third term. During his administration the states of Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee were admitted into the Union. John Adams was elected second president, and it was while he held office that France made war upon the republic, the fighting taking place chiefly at Sea.
In 1800 the seat of government was transferred from New York, which had at first been declared the capital, to Washington, in 1802 Ohio joined the Union, and then in 1803 the whole of Louisiana was bought for fifteen million dollars, as part of the Louisiana Purchase from France. The Territory of Orleans, which consisted essentially of the present area of the state, was established in 1804. Louisiana entered the Union as the 18th state in 1812.
Great Britain still claimed the allegiance of American naturalized subjects, and the right to search American vessels for British seamen. In 1807 the British frigate Leopard overhauled the United States frigate Chesapeake, near the entrance to Chesapeake Bay, compelled her to surrender, and took off four of her men . Reparation was asked in vain; some time later all trade with France and England was prohibited by act of congress, and in June 1812 war was declared against Britain. In the different engagements which took place by sea and land the success was varied, and in 1814 peace was arranged.
In 1819 the whole northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico (Florida) was purchased from Spain, who also admitted American claims in the west. The annexation of Texas, which led to a war with Mexico in 1846-48 . The last states to join the union were Arizona and New Mexico in 1912 the acquisition of New Mexico and Upper California, were ceded to the United States on payment of the sum of 15.000,000 dollars to Mexico.
The period about 1857 was notable for the free-soil movement and the increasing difficulty of dealing with slavery.
Texas had been introduced into the Union as a slave-holding state, and the endeavor to act similarly with regard
to the territory of Kansas led to rioting. The question was still further complicated by disputes respecting the
territory of Nebraska, and the insurrection (1859) at Harper's Ferry, led by John Brown, brought the question of
the abolition of slavery to a crisis. The presidential election of 1860 turned to a great extent upon this question,
and when Abraham Lincoln, the republican candidate, was elected the slave-holding state considered themselves defeated,
and South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas formally seceded from the Union.
Civil War
The question of slavery loomed large. The northern states, whose economic conditions did not require slave labour, were for abolition. The southern states depended upon it for their stability. In 1861 the United States was engaged in a Civil War, in which the northern federal states fought the southern confederate states, who claimed the right to secede and to keep their slaves. The Southern Confederation (4th February, 1861), had Jefferson Davis as president, which was subsequently joined, after hostilities had begun, by Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas. On the preservation of the Union Abraham Lincoln, the President, took his stand, and civil war was inevitable.
The custom-houses, arsenals and United States buildings generally were seized and occupied by the Confederates in their own states, and every preparation made to organize a separate government.
The first blow was struck on April 12, 1861, the Confederates proceeding to bombard Fort Sumter, which was forced to surrender. President Lincoln then called out by proclamation 75,000 volunteers, and the first battle on a large scale took place at Bull Run, south of Washington, where the Federal forces were completely defeated. During the remainder of 1861 frequent collision took place between the rival forces at different points, Almost always to the disadvantage of the North. In the spring of 1862 General Grant captured Fort Donnelson, on the Cumberland River, and along with General Sherman obtained a victory over the Confederates at Pittsburg Landing, in Tennessee. In April the Federal fleet, under Admiral Farragut, ran past the forts at the entrance of the Mississippi, and seized New Orleans, which was occupied by the supporting land forces An attempt was then made by General M'Clellan to invest Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy, but this was prevented by the Confederate generals Lee and 'Stonewall ' Jackson, who drove back the Federals on the James River, where they established themselves. General Lee then assumed the offensive and moved with his whole army upon Washington, but he was intercepted on the banks of the Antietam by M'Clellan, and, after an obstinate fight, compelled to re-cross the Potomac, Soon afterwards M'Clellan was superseded by Burnside, and in December another advance to Richmond was commenced. This General Lee had anticipated, and in trenched himself behind the town of Fredericksburg, a position from which the Federals vainly endeavored to dislodge him. Thus the year 1862 closed with no great gain on either side. In the following April General Hooker, superseding Burnside in the command of the army of the Potomac, commenced another movement towards Richmond, but was defeated by 'Stonewall ' Jackson at Chancellorsville, where, by mischance, the latter was killed in the darkness by his own men. Following up this gain General Lee transferred his army to the valley of the Shenandoah, entered Maryland, and crossed into Pennsylvania. At Gettysburg he was obliged to turn upon the pursuing Federal forces under Meade, and after three day's desperate fighting and the loss of 15,000 men Lee was forced to retreat into Virginia. On the Mississippi the fortune of war was also in favour of the Federals. Aided by the fleet, which had dashed past Port Hudson and seized Natchez, General Grant had assumed the offensive and captured Vicksburg, while at the end of this year (1863) he inflicted severe defeat upon Bragg at Chattanooga.
On New Year's Day 1863 Slave Emancipation was proclaimed.
In 1864 General Grant, was appointed commander-in-chief of all the armies, and at once he set himself to reorganize the Federal forces. He took command of the army of the Potomac himself with which he proposed to meet Lee, while he despatched Sherman to operate against J. E Johnston, In May Grant moved his main force across the Rapidan and immediately attacked Lee in the Wilderness, where severe fighting lasted for six consecutive days. Unable to rout the Confederates, Grant endeavored by a flank movement to cut them off from Richmond, but Lee anticipated the attempt and foiled it. Thus baffled, Grant by a circuit crossed the James River, joined Butler, and attacked Petersburg, but was repelled, and obliged to begin a regular siege during the winter. Meantime Sherman, with a large Federal force, had defeated Hood (who superseded Johnston as commander in Georgia), had occupied Atlanta, crossed the country by forced marches, seized Savannah, and by Feb. 1865 was able to occupy Charleston and Wilmington. During this brilliant movement the forces under Lee and Grant had faced each other in the lines round Richmond, but in April 1865 a general advance was made by the Federals. Lee defended Petersburg and Richmond with great skill and obstinacy, but after three days sanguinary conflict the Confederate lines were broken, and Richmond lay at the mercy of the Northern armies. Lee retreated north of the Appomatox, but was closely followed by Grant, who captured the general and his whole army. The remaining Confederate armies in the field soon afterwards surrendered, and the four years war ended in favour of the Federal government. Finally the north, with its vastly superior resources, had won, the union was saved and the slaves freed. President Lincoln, had just entered (April 1865) upon his second term of the presidentship when he was assassinated in Ford's theatre at Washington by J. Wilkes Booth.
As the states returned to their allegiance to the Union they were after a time readmitted to their state and national privileges, but it was some years before the work of reconstruction was completed. The election of General Grant to the presidency in 1869 served, in some measure, to consolidate matters. His government declared their ability to pay the enormous war debt, and an attempt was made to reform the civil Service.
An amendment to the constitution was also proclaimed in March l870, and provided that no difference of race, colour, education, or religion shall debar any person from the rights of citizenship in any of the states.
This question of equal right gave rise in 1874 to considerable rioting in the Southern states between the Negro and the white population, and is still beset with problems. The difficult suppression of the Indians in the south-western states formed one of the tasks of the Grant administration. Grants government was also able by means of arbitration to bring their claim of damages against Great Britain for the depredations of the Alabama and other cruisers built there, to a favourable issue for the United States. After a presidency of two terms General Grant retired, and was succeeded by Mr. Hayes, whose election was disputed but afterwards admitted by a majority of one. At the following election (1880) the Republicans again carried their candidate, General Garfield, who, however, was struck down by the bullet of an assassin, and died 19th Sept. 1881. The vice-president, Mr. Arthur, became president in his stead, in terms of the constitution, In 1884 the Democrats succeeded in electing Grover Cleveland, who was followed by the Republican General Harrison. Mr. Cleveland then became president for a second term (1893 - 97). his successor being Mr. M' Kinley. The end of 1896 was marked by an outburst of feeling against Britain, which was accused of seeking an unwarranted extension of territory at the expense of Venezuela.
The United States abandoned their traditional policy and went to war with Spain. In 1898 it was clear that nothing short of armed intervention could save the island of Cuba, and the United States declared war. The campaign, mainly naval, was short and decisive. The Philippines were annexed and Hawaii occupied as the indispensable coaling station and naval base. By anything but peaceful means the "Pacific era," as Roosevelt called it, was begun.
As a direct consequence of her new position as a World Power, the United States was now doubly interested in obtaining control of the Isthmus of Panama. The design to cut a canal through the Isthmus was not a new one. When American interests reached the Pacific coast the need for a short and easy connection between the Atlantic and the Pacific became ever more apparent. The United States lived in constant fear that the enterprise of the British might anticipate them, and in 1850 the Clayton-Bulwer treaty was signed that a future canal might be open to all nations. Fifty-one years later, by the Hay-Pauncefote treaty, the United States were free to construct a canal. After ten years work the canal was opened for traffic in August 1914.
By the dawn of the twentieth century the United States had acquired important overseas possessions, this development of world power coincided with the birth of more cordial relations with Great Britain, and no serious differences arose with any other European Power. The United States readily took part in the Hague Conference of 1899, which established a Permanent Court of Arbitration. In 1900, American troops shared in the rescue of the Pekin Legations in the Boxer outbreak. In 1905 the mediation of President Roosevelt brought the Russo-Japanese War to a close.
The United States were at length able to draw on their own resources within their vast and wealthy territories for every want. In their self-sufficiency they stood alone as a Great Power. They were not impelled to take a part in the scramble for Africa. They did not see why successful business enterprise should lead a nation into a war. They could wear their world power "with a difference."
The possessions of the United States are Alaska, the Philippine Islands, the Hawaiian Islands, Porto Rico, Guam the Virgin Island and some Samoan Islands, as well as the Panama Canal zone.The country has an army, navy and air force, of considerable size. In 1917 the United States entered the Great War on the side of the Allies, and her statesmen had a large share in framing the Treaty of Versailles. She did not, however enter the League of Nations the author of which was her president T. Woodrow Wilson.
In America era's of expansion and extraordinary prosperity, have alternated with periods of depression, the most severe of which was in 1930 -32. The unit of currency is the dollar, and most of the currency is in paper.
