# VFW Volume 5: "A Moderate View Of The Missouri Compromise"



## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This post is to introduce a Kindle version of Volume 5 of the series entitled "AMERICA Great Crises In Our History Told by Its Makers" which was published as a print version by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. This fifth volume covers the period 1803 to 1820. This Kindle version is published in partnership with the VFW who receive 50% of sales revenue.

The thread title refers to the latest extract from this volume which will be found at the end of the thread.

*REVIEWERS WANTED!* If you would like to review any of the books in this series, PM me with your Amazon email address and I will gift copies to you.

This is the publisher's description of Volume 5.

The fifth volume in this 12 volume series covers the period from 1803 to 1820.
It begins with a description of the early Washington city and ends with a number
of different views of the Missouri Compromise. In between you will read
accounts of the Barbary Pirates, the Hamilton - Burr duel and the exploration of
the west. Finally, after a description of early life in the new United States,
we explore the growing friction between England and the new United States which
lead to the War of 1812 in which the borders between the US and Canada were
established.

*IF you would like a review copy of this or any of the other volumes in this series please PM me and I will gift a copy to you via Amazon.*


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Library4Science-

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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from Volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*Why And How Burr Killed Hamilton*

HAMILTON'S POSITION-FROM HIS PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE
_
A SHORT time before the Hamilton - Burr duel was fought on July 11, 1804, Alexander Hamilton wrote the first of the accompanying statements, taken from his biography by Allan McLane Hamilton (Scribner's) . The second document is Hamilton's opinion of Aaron Burr, expressed in a confidential letter to a friend, John Rutledge, dated January 4, 1801. Hearing of this, Burr demanded of Hamilton a "prompt unqualified acknowledgment or denial," and to the latter's reply Burr rejoined: "Having considered your letter attentively, I regret to find in it nothing of that sincerity and delicacy which you profess to value. Political opposition can never absolve gentlemen from the necessity of a rigid adherence to the laws of honor and the rules of decorum.

Hamilton's letter to his wife was dated a week be-fore the duel, of which the final document is a report in the New York Evening Post of July 12, 1804._

ON MY expected interview with Colonel Burr, I think it proper to make some remarks explanatory of my conduct, motives and views.

I was certainly desirous of avoiding this interview for the most cogent reasons.

1. My religious and moral principles are strongly opposed to the practice of duelling, and it would ever give me pain to be obliged to shed the blood of a fellow creature in a private combat forbidden by the laws.

2. My wife and children are extremely dear to me, and my life is of the utmost importance to them, in various views.

3. I feel a sense of obligation towards my creditors; who in case of accident to me, by the forced sale of my property, may be in some degree sufferers. I did not think myself at liberty as a man of probity, lightly to expose them to this hazard.

4. I am conscious of no ill will to Colonel Burr, distinct from political opposition, which, I trust, has proceeded from pure and upright motives.

Lastly, I shall hazard much, and can possibly gain nothing by the issue of the interview.

But it was, as I conceive, impossible for me to avoid it. There were intrinsic difficulties in the thing, and artificial embarrassments, from the manner of proceeding on the part of Colonel Burr.

Intrinsic, because it is not to be denied, that my animadversions on the political principles, character, and views of Colonel Burr have been extremely severe; and on different occasions, I, in common with many others, have made very unfavorable criticisms on particular instances of the private conduct of this gentleman.

In proportion as these impressions were entertained With sincerity, and uttered with motives and for purposes which might appear to me commendable, would be the difficulty (until they could be removed by evidence of their being erroneous) of explanation or apology. The disavowal required of me by Colonel Burr, in a general and indefinite form, was out of my Power, if it had really been proper for me to submit to be so questioned; but I was sincerely of opinion that this could not be, and in this opinion, I was confirmed by that of a very moderate and judicious friend whom I consulted. Besides that, Colonel Burr appeared to me to assume, in the first instance, a tone unnecessarily peremptory and menacing, and in the second, positively offensive. Yet I wished, as far as might be practicable, to leave a door open to accommodation. This, I think, will be inferred from the written communications made by me and by my direction, and would be confirmed by the conversations between Mr. Van Ness and myself, which arose out of the subject.

I am not sure whether, under all the circumstances, I did not go further in the attempt to accommodate, than a punctilious delicacy will justify. If so, I hope the motives I have stated will excuse me.


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from Volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*The Lewis And Clark Expedition*

By Reuben Gold Thwaites.
_
THWAITES, the American historian, has written the best general account of this famous exploring expedition, based upon the journals kept by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, who were sent by President Jefferson, authorized by Congress, in 1804, to explore the Louisiana Territory recently purchased from France. This account is taken from Thwaites' "Rocky Mountain Explorations," published by D. Appleton & Company.

Starting from St. Louis, Missouri, on May 14, 1804, the party of thirty-five men and one woman (Sacajawea) did not get back to the Mississippi River until September, 1806, having traveled 8,500 miles to and from the Pacific coast.

In recognition of the exploit, Captain Lewis, who had been Jefferson's secretary, received a grant of land and was appointed Governor of Louisiana. Clark, who was a brother of George Rogers Clark, the Revolutionary frontiersman, became Governor of the Northwest Territory._

AT FOUR in the afternoon of the fourteenth of May, 1804, "all in health and readiness to set out," the expedition left camp at River Dubois, "in the presence of many of the neighboring inhabitants, and proceeded on under a gentle brease up the Missouri." Clark was in charge of the embarkation, for Lewis was attending to the last business details in St. Louis. The flotilla consisted of three craft a keel boat fifty-five feet long, drawing three feet of water, carrying a sail, propelled by twenty-two oars, with both forecastle and cabin, and the center guarded by a breastwork, for attacks from Indians were feared, especially on the lower reaches of the Missouri; a pirogue or open boat with seven oars, and another with six, both of them carrying sails. The party comprised, in addition to Clark, three sergeants (Ordway, Pryor, and Floyd), twenty-three privates, two interpreters (Drouillard and Charbonneau), Charbonneau's Indian squaw Sacajawea, and the ***** York.

Lewis had not expected Clark to leave until the fifteenth, but the latter's plans were perfected a day ahead of time, and he was anxious to be off. Arriving the following noon at St. Charles, then a French hamlet of some four hundred and fifty inhabitants "pore, polite, and harmonious," his journal aptly describes them he lay there until the twentieth, when his friend joined him, the latter having been accompanied twenty-four miles overland from St. Louis by several citizens of that place, and a small knot of United States military officers, who had but recently taken part in the territorial transfer from France. At their head was Captain Stoddard, serving as military governor of Upper Louisiana, pending its reorganization by Congress.

The people of St. Charles hospitably entertained the visitors, and on the following day the expedition set out "under three Cheers from the gentlemen on the bank." During the succeeding two or three days many settlers flocked to the shores to watch the little fleet toiling up the great muddy stream, and good-naturedly to wish the company joy in their undertaking. On the twenty-fifth of May the explorers Passed La Charette, the last white settlement on the river the home of Daniel Boone, still a vigorous hunter at a ripe, old age. Upon the sixth of June buffalo signs were seen; on the eleventh they first shot bears.

Rapids were now frequently met with, necessitating the use in the swift water of towing-lines and kedge-anchors, a work much impeded by heavy growths, along the banks, of bushes and gigantic weeds. "Ticks and musquiters," and great swarms of "knats," begin to be "very troublesome," necessitating smudge fires and mosquito-bars. The men frequently suffer from snake-bites, sunstroke and stomach complaints. Both Lewis and Clark now play the part of physicians, and administer simple, though sometimes drastic, remedies for these disorders; the journals make frequent mention of strange doses and vigorous bleeding. Sometimes storms drench them in their rude camp; or, suddenly bursting upon their craft in open river, necessitate great ado with anchors and cables until the flurry is over.

Two days later (August 20th) occurred the first and only death. Sergeant Charles Floyd, a man of firmness and resolution, being "taken very bad all at once with a Biliouse Chorlick. . . . Died with a great deal of composure." This event took place a short distance below the present Sioux City, about 850 miles above the mouth of the Missouri.


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

*Crossing The Great Divide*

By Captain Meriwether Lewis.
_
IN THIS vivid record of one Of the most dramatic stages of their journey from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, Captain Lewis, writing in his journal on August 17, 1805, tells of his and Captain William Clark's experiences in crossing the Rocky Mountains. That feat accomplished, the party started down the Columbia River on October 16, and on November 7 came in sight of the Pacific Ocean, on the shores of which they spent the winter of 1805-6.

Both Lewis and Clark kept elaborate and valuable journals which, however, were not published during their lifetime. A paraphrase by Nicholas Biddle, a friend of Jefferson's, appeared in 1814 and has run through several editions. Not until 1903 were these historic treasures published in complete form, the accompanying extract being a part of the first authentic record of the expedition._

THIS morning I arose very early and dispatched Drewyer and the Indian down the river. Sent Shields to hunt. I made McNeal cook the remainder of our meat which afforded a slight breakfast for ourselves and the chief. Drewyer had been gone about two hours when an Indian who had straggled some little distance down the river returned and reported that the white men were coming, that he had seen them just below. They all appeared transported with joy, and the chief repeated his fraternal hug. I felt quite as much gratified at this information as the Indians appeared to be. Shortly after Captain Clark arrived with the interpreter Charbono, and the Indian woman, who proved to be a sister of the Chief Cameahwait. The meeting of those people was really affecting, particularly between Sah-cah-gar-we-ah [Sacajawea] and an Indian woman, who had been taken prisoner at the same time with her and who, had afterwards escaped from the Minnetares and rejoined her nation. At noon the canoes arrived, and we had the satisfaction once more to find ourselves all together, with a flattering prospect of being able to obtain as many horses shortly as would enable us to prosecute our voyage by land should that by water be deemed unadvisable.

We now formed our camp just below the junction of the forks on the larboard side in a level smooth bottom covered with a fine turf of greensward. Here we unloaded our canoes and arranged our baggage on shore; formed a canopy of one of our large sails and planted some willow brush in the ground to form a shade for the Indians to set under while we spoke to them, which we thought it best to do this evening. Accordingly about 4 P. M. we called them together and through the medium of Labuish, Charbono and Sah-cah-gar-we-ah, we communicated to them fully the objects which had brought us into this distant part of the country, in which we took care to make them a conspicuous object of our own good wishes and the care of our government. We made them sensible of their dependence on the will of our government for every species of merchandise as well for their defense and comfort; and apprised them of the strength of our government and its friendly dispositions towards them. We also gave them as a reason why we wished to penetrate the country as far as the ocean to the west of them was to examine and find out a more direct way to bring merchandise to them. That as no trade could be carried on with them before our return to our homes that it was mutually advantageous to them as well as to ourselves, that they should render us such aids as they had it in their power to furnish in order to hasten our voyage and of course our return home, that such were their horses to transport our baggage without which we could not subsist, and that a pilot to conduct us through the mountains was also necessary if we could not descend the river by water, but that we did not ask either their horses or their services without giving a satisfactory compensation in return, that at present we wished them to collect as many horses as were necessary to transport our baggage to their village on the Columbia where we would then trade with them at our leisure for such horses as they could spare us.


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our Country.

*Alexander Hamilton To His Wife Elizabeth Hamilton*

THIS letter, my very dear Eliza, will not be delivered to you unless I shall first have terminated my earthly career, to begin, as I humbly hope, from redeeming grace and divine mercy, a happy immortality.

If it had been possible for me to have avoided the interview, my love for you and my precious children would have been alone a decisive motive. But it was not possible, without sacrifices which would have rendered me unworthy of your esteem. I need not tell you of the pangs I feel from the idea of quitting you, and exposing you to the anguish which I know you would feel. Nor could I dwell on the topic lest it should unman me.

The consolations of Religion, my beloved, can alone support you; and these you have a right to enjoy. Fly to the bosom of your God and be comforted.

With my last idea I shall cherish the sweet hope of meeting you in a better world.

Adieu best of wives, best of women.

Embrace all my darling children for me.


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our Country.

*The Battle Of The Thames*

By Henry M. Breckenridge.

_THIS account of the battle fought on the Thames River in Ontario, thirty miles east of Detroit, in which the celebrated Indian chief Tecumseh was killed, is from Breckenridge's "History of the War of 1812." During the war the author was a U. S. Judge of Louisiana.

The battle Was fought on October 5, 1813, between an American force of about 3,000 under General William Henry Harrison, of Tippecanoe fame, and a British force of about 700 under General Proctor, aided by Tecumseh and 2,000 redskins.

The American cavalry was commanded by Colonel Richard M. Johnson, who is credited with having personally killed Tecumseh. Proctor was soon afterwards disgraced for his conduct during the battle.

Following this account of the Battle of the Thames is Tecumseh's speech to Proctor, shortly before the battle. It was found among Proctor's papers, and printed in the "National Intelligencer" in 1813._

ON the 5th of October they reached the place where the enemy had encamped the night before. Colonel Wood was now sent forward by the commander-in-chief to reconnoiter the British and Indian forces; and he very soon returned with information that they had made a stand a few miles distant and were ready for action. General Proctor had drawn up his regular forces across a narrow strip of land covered with beech trees, flanked on one side by a swamp, and on the other by the river; their left rested on the river supported by the larger portion of their artillery, and their right on the swamp. Beyond the swamp, and between it and another morass still further to the right, were the Indians under Tecumseh. This position was skillfully chosen by Proctor, with regard to locality, and the character of his troops; but he committed an irreparable oversight in neglecting to fortify his front by a ditch, and in drawing up his troops "in open order, that is, with intervals of three or four feet between the files--a mode of array which could not resist a charge of cavalry. His whole force consisted of about eight hundred regular soldiers and two thousand Indians.

The American troops, amounting to something more than three thousand men, were now disposed in order of battle. General Harrison had at first ordered the mounted men to form in two lines, opposite to the Indians; but he soon observed that the underwood here was too close for cavalry to act with any effect. He was aware of the egregious error committed by Proctor as above mentioned, and well knew the dexterity of backwoodsmen in riding, and in the use of the rifle, in forest ground, so he immediately determined that one battalion of the mounted regiment should charge on the British regulars. The other was left to confront the Indians.

The requisite arrangements were made, and the army had moved forward but a short distance, when the enemy fired. This was the signal for our cavalry to charge; and, although the men and horses in the front of the column at first recoiled, they soon recovered themselves, and the whole body dashed through the enemy with irresistible force. Instantly forming in the rear of the British, they poured on them a destructive fire, and were about to make a second charge, when the British officers, finding it impossible, from the nature of the ground and the panic which prevailed, to form their broken ranks, immediately surrendered.

On the left, the battle was begun by Tecumseh with great fury. The galling fire of the Indians did not check the advance of the American columns; but the charge was not successful, from the miry character of the soil and the number and closeness of the thickets which covered it. In these circumstances, Colonel Johnson ordered his men to dismount, and leading them up a second time, succeeded after a desperate contest in breaking through the line of the Indians and gaining their rear. Notwithstanding this, and that the colonel now directed his men to fight them in their own mode, the Indians were unwilling to yield the day; they quickly collected their principal strength on the right and attempted to penetrate the line of infantry. At first they made an impression on it; but they were soon repulsed by the aid of a regiment of Kentucky volunteers led on by the aged Shelby, who had been posted at the angle formed by the front line and Desha's division.


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*The "Bird-Woman" Who Guided Lewis And Clark*

By Grace Raymond Hebard.

_SACAJAWEA, which is the Indian name for Bird-Woman, was a Shoshone guide whom Lewis and Clark refer to in their journals as the only woman who accompanied them on their famous expedition in 1804-06. This account of her, by Grace Raymond Hebard, Librarian of the University of Wyoming, taken from The Journal of American History, is based upon the Lewis and Clark records and upon other authentic sources recently come to light.

Several memorials have been erected to Sacajawea. The first was through an appropriation from the Wyoming Legislature to erect a monument over her grave at the Shoshone Agency, Wyoming. There Sacajawea is believed to have died in 1884, at the age of one hundred and sixteen years.

On one occasion at the risk of her life, Sacajawea rescued from a swamped canoe the records of the expedition and other articles of great value to explorers.

TO have one's deeds extolled after a century has passed, when they were hardly recognized when executed, has been the common fate particularly of that class of individuals known as explorers; for the service rendered must be subjected to the test of time and the benefits derived as a result of the exploration must be carefully weighed before applause may be adequately given._

The only woman who accompanied Lewis and Clark across the continent to the Pacific Coast during the seasons of 1804-6, did not in her lifetime receive any personal recognition of the services she rendered these explorers during their unparalleled journey to the then unknown Northwest. But the century that has passed since that event has brought a keener appreciation of her services from those who have taken interest to examine and unravel records of her deeds as a genius of a guide. This woman was a Shoshone Indian who was known by the name of Sacajawea. As she was a wife of a French interpreter, Touissant Charboneau, conventionality might demand that she be known as Mrs. Charboneau; but we prefer to call her more familiarly by her tribal name, because it was her native instincts and intelligence that gave her a place in history rather than that she was the wife of an interpreter. The story of the part that Sacajawea played in this continental expedition is as fascinating as a piece of knighthood fiction; that it is history adds to the charm.

Wyoming was not traversed by these explorers either on the journey to the coast or on the return, yet it claims the distinction of having had this Indian woman guide a resident within its borders for many years and holds now all that is mortal of this "native born American." The facts leading to the establishment beyond doubt of the identity of the Wyoming woman with that of the woman guide are presented in detail now for the first time. This statement of identity has been met with ridicule, doubt, suspicion, denial. Ridicule has been turned to consideration; doubt to belief; suspicion to admission; denial to acceptance for fact after fact has been presented and corroborated by those of unquestioned integrity.

Sacajawea's life has two periods: that about which we know; that about Which nothing can be learned. It is this latter period that has been the stumbling block, "the winter of our discontent." We see her in the vigor of her splendid young womanhood; she disappears as mysteriously as she appeared; when she again is visible it is as the aged Sacajawea, white-haired and well preserved, whose fatal ailment could only be attributed to "old age."

When Lewis and Clark with their party of men, in the fall of 1804, reached the Mandan Indian Villages, not far from the present site of Bismarck, North Dakota, they engaged an Indian interpreter who was to accompany them in the spring on their farther western voyage. This French Canadian interpreter, Charboneau, had at that time at least two wives, Sacajawea, the younger, having been sold to him as a slave when she was a child of five years. When he made her his wife she was about fourteen years old. The following year, February 11th, 1805, she gave birth to a son who was destined to occupy a unique position in the expedition which continued its western journey on the seventh of April of that same year. Sacajawea strapped her little papoose, not yet two months old, on her back and practically carried him in this cuddled position, with his view of the surrounding country limited to what he could see from over his mother's shoulder, to the coast and return, a distance of over 5,000 miles. This youthful traveler has been known as "Little Touissant," "Little Charboneau," but he was called "Baptiste" by Clark and also at various other times when, grown older, he in his turn acted as guide, for he possessed the native instincts and cleverness characteristic of his mother. It is as "Baptiste" that he was known at the time of his death and his children have taken this as their family name.


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*Perry's Own Account Of The Battle Of Lake Erie*

LETTER FROM PERRY AT ERIE TO COMMODORE CHAUNCEY AT SACKETT's HARBOR, LAKE ONTARIO, JULY 19TH.

_THE first and second of these letters, dated at Erie, July 19 and 23, 1813, were written by Captain Oliver Hazard Perry to Commodore Chauncey at Sackett's Harbor, Lake Ontario. They are followed by two communications from Perry to General William Henry Harrison in Ohio, the second communication being the famous dispatch of September 10, 1813, briefly informing Harrison of the victory.

The concluding documents are Perry's official account of the battle, addressed from Put-in-Bay on September 13 to the Secretary of the Navy; and the report of Captain R. H. Barclay, the British commander, who had served under Nelson at Trafalgar, dated September 12 from Lake Erie.

Not only do these documents give a vivid account of the historic battle, but they record the great exertions Perry made to build and man the squadron which furthered the conquest of Upper Canada._

THE enemy's fleet of six sail are now off the bar of this harbor. What a golden opportunity if we had men!, Their object is no doubt either to blockade or attack us, or to carry provisions and reinforcements to Malden. Should it be to attack us, we are ready to meet them. I am constantly looking to the eastward; every mail and every traveler from that quarter is looked to as the harbinger of the glad tidings of our men being on their way. I am fully aware how much your time must be occupied with the important concerns of the other lake. Give me men, sir, and I will acquire both for you and myself honor and glory on this lake, or perish in the attempt. Conceive my feelings; an enemy within striking distance, my vessels ready, and not men enough to man them. Going out with those I now have is out of the question. You would not suffer it were you here. I again ask you to think of my situation: the enemy in sight, the vessels under my command more than sufficient, and ready to make sail, and yet obliged to bite my fingers with vexation for want of men. I know, my dear sir, full well, you will send me the crews for the vessels as soon as possible; yet a day appears an age. I hope that the wind or some other cause will delay the enemy's return to Malden until my men arrive, and I will have them.

LETTER FROM PERRY AT ERIE TO COMMODORE CHAUNCEY AT SACKETT'S HARBOR, JULY 23D

I have this moment had the very great pleasure of receiving yours by Mr. Champlin, with the seventy men. The enemy are now off this harbor with the Queen Charlotte, Lady Prevost, Chippeway, Erie and Friend's Good Will. My vessels are all ready. For God's sake, and yours, and mine, send me men and officers, and I will have them all in a day or two. Commodore Barclay keeps just out of the reach of our gunboats. I am not able to ship a single man at this place. I shall try for volunteers for our cruise. Send on the commander, my dear sir, for the Niagara. She is a noble vessel. Woolsey, Brown, or Elliott I should like to see amazingly. I am very deficient in officers of every kind. Send me officers and men, and honor is within our grasp. The vessels are all ready to meet the enemy the moment they are officered and manned. Our sails are bent, provisions on board, and, in fact, everything is ready. Barclay has been bearding me for several days; I long to have at him. However anxious I am to reap the reward of the labor and anxiety I have had on this station, I shall rejoice, whoever commands, to see this force on the lake, and surely I had rather be commanded by my friend than by any other. Come, then, and the business is decided in a few hours. Barclay shows no disposition to avoid the contest.


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*The First Seminole War*

By James Parton.

_PARTON, in his "Life of Jackson," gives this most interesting and trustworthy account of the campaign General Andrew Jackson conducted against the Florida Seminoles in 1817-18. Parton was almost contemporary with the period, having been born in 1822.

The American invasion of Florida, then Spanish territory, was provoked by depredations the Indians had committed at the instigation of the English traders, Arbuthnot and Ambrister, who were hanged by order of Jackson after a court-martial trial. The case aroused much controversy, the majority of the military committee of the House of Representatives condemning the action. It was approved by the House, however, on a vote of 103 to 62.

During the discussion the Spanish minister signed a treaty ceding Florida to the United States. Had Jackson failed in his campaign, it is unlikely that the treaty would have been negotiated._

UPON the conclusion of peace with Great Britain the army was reduced to ten thousand men, commanded by two major-generals, one of whom was to reside at the North and command the troops stationed there, and the other to bear military sway at the South. The generals selected for these commands were General Jacob Brown for the Northern division, and General Andrew Jackson for the Southern, both of whom had entered the service at the beginning of the late war as generals of militia. General Jackson's visit to Washington on this occasion was in obedience to an order, couched in the language of an invitation, received from the Secretary of war soon after his return from New Orleans; the object of his visit being to arrange the posts and stations of the army.

The feeling was general at the time that the disasters of the War of 1812 was chiefly due to the defenseless and unprepared condition of the country, and that it was the first duty of the Government, on the return of peace, to see to it that the assailable points were fortified. "Let us never be caught napping again"; "In time of peace prepare for war," were popular sayings then. On these and all other subjects connected with the defense of the country the advice of General Jackson was asked and given. His own duty, it was evident, was first of all to pacify, and if possible satisfy, the restless and sorrowful Indians in the Southwest. The vanquished tribe, it was agreed, should be dealt with forbearingly and liberally. The general undertook to go in person into the Indian country and remove from their minds all discontent. He did so.

It is not possible to overstate his popularity in his own State. He was its pride, boast and glory. Tennesseeans felt a personal interest in his honor and success. His old enemies either sought reconciliation with him or kept their enmity to themselves. His rank in the army, too, gave him unequaled social eminence; and, to add to the other felicities of his lot, his fortune now rapidly increased, as the entire income of his estate could be added to his capital, the pay of a major-general being sufficient for the support of his family. He was forty-nine years old in 1816. He had riches, rank, power, renown, and all in full measure.

But in 1817 there was trouble again among the Indians the Indians of Florida, the allies of Great Britain during the War of 1812, commonly known by the name of Seminoles. Composed in part of fugitive Creeks, who scouted the treaty of Fort Jackson, they had indulged the expectation that on the conclusion of peace they would be restored by their powerful ally to the lands wrested from the Creeks by Jackson's conquering army in 1814. This poor remnant of tribes once so numerous and powerful had not a thought, at first, of attempting to regain the lost lands by force of arms. The best testimony now procurable confirms their own solemnly reiterated assertions that they long desired and endeavored to live in peace with the white settlers of Georgia. All their "talks," petitions, remonstrances, letters, of which a large number are still accessible, breathe only the wish for peace and fair dealing. The Seminoles were drawn at last into a collision with the United States by a chain of circumstances with which they had little to do, and the responsibility of which belongs not to them.

The Government, in the absence of a general officer from the scene of hostilities, resolved upon ordering General Jackson to take command in person of the troops upon the frontiers of Georgia. On the 22d of January, General Jackson and his "guard" left Nashville amid the cheers of the entire population. The distance from Nashville to Fort Scott is about four hundred and fifty miles. In the evening of March 9th, forty-six days after leaving Nashville, he reached Fort Scott with eleven hundred hungry men. No tidings yet of the Tennessee troops under Colonel Hayne! There was no time to spend, however, in waiting or surmising. The general found himself at Fort Scott in command of two thousand men, and his whole stock of provisions one quart of corn and three rations of meat per man. There was no supply in his rear, for he had swept the country on his line of march of every bushel of corn and every animal fit for food. He had his choice of two courses only: to remain at Fort Scott and starve, or to go forward and find provisions. It is not necessary to say which of these alternatives Andrew Jackson selected. "Accordingly," he wrote, "having been advised by Colonel Gibson, quartermaster-general, that he would sail from New Orleans on the 12th of February with supplies, and being also advised that two sloops with provisions were in the bay, and an officer had been dispatched from Fort Scott in a large keelboat to bring up a part of their loading, and deeming that the preservation of these supplies would be to preserve the army, and enable me to prosecute the campaign, I assumed the command on the morning of the 10th, ordered the live stock to be slaughtered and issued to the troops, with one quart of corn to each man, and the line of march to be taken up at twelve meridian."

It was necessary to cross the swollen river, an operation which consumed all the afternoon, all the dark night succeeding, and a part of the next morning. Five days' march along the banks of the Appalachicola past the scene of the massacre of Lieutenant Scott brought the army to the site of the old ***** Fort on Prospect Bluff. On the way, however, the army, to its great joy, met the ascending boat-load of flour, when the men had their first full meal since leaving Fort Early, three weeks before. Upon the site of the ***** Fort, General Jackson ordered his aide, Lieutenant Gadsden, of the engineers, to construct a fortification, which was promptly done, and named by the general Fort Gadsden, in honor, as he said, of the "talents and indefatigable zeal" of the builder.


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*The Indian Defends His Religion*

By Red Jacket.

_RED JACKET, whose Indian name was Sagoyewatha, signifying "he keeps them awake," made this speech against the foundation of a Christian mission among the Senecas, in 1805. His English name was acquired through his pride in a scarlet coat given him shortly after the Revolution by a British officer.

Red Jacket's eloquence won him a place of power in the councils of his tribe, and he has been considered the best orator the Indian race ever produced.

Though at first strongly in favor of the education of his people, Red Jacket subsequently opposed both schools and Christianity. Late in life he became a confirmed drunkard, and was deposed by a council of chiefs in 1827, but was soon restored to his old rank. Another of his appellations is "the last of the Senecas."_

FRIEND AND BROTHER: It was the will of the Great Spirit that we should meet together this day. He orders all things and has given us a fine day for our council. He has taken His garment from before the sun and caused it to shine with brightness upon us. Our eyes are opened that we see clearly; our ears are unstopped that we have been able to hear distinctly the words you have spoken. For all these favors we thank the Great Spirit, and Him only.

Brother, this council fire was kindled by you. It was at your request that we came together at this time. We have listened with attention to what you have said. You requested us to speak our minds freely. This gives us great joy; for we now consider that we stand upright before you and can speak what we think. All have heard your voice and all speak to you now as one man. Our minds are agreed.

Brother, you say you want an answer to your talk before you leave this place. It is right you should have one, as you are a great distance from home and we do not wish to detain you. But first we will look back a little and tell you what our fathers have told us and what we have heard from the white people.

Brother, listen to what we say. There was a time when our forefathers owned this great island. Their seats extended from the rising to the setting sun. The Great Spirit had made it for the use of the Indians. He had created the buffalo, the deer, and other animals for food. He made the bear and the beaver. Their skins served us for clothing. He had scattered them over the country and taught us how to take them. He had caused the earth to produce corn for bread. All this He had done for His red children because He loved them. If we had some disputes about our hunting-ground they were generally settled without the shedding of much blood.

But an evil day came upon us. Your forefathers crossed the great water and landed on this island. Their numbers were small. They found friends and not enemies. They told us they had fled from their own country for fear of wicked men and had come here to enjoy their religion. They had asked for a small seat. We took pity on them, granted their request, and they sat down among us. We gave them corn and meat; they gave us poison in return.

The white people, brother, had now found our country. Tidings were carried back and more came among us. Yet we did not fear them. We took them to be friends. They called us brothers. We believed them and gave them a larger seat. At length their numbers had greatly increased. They wanted more land ; they wanted our country. Our eyes were opened and our minds became uneasy. Wars took place. Indians were hired to fight against Indians, and many of our people were destroyed. They also brought strong liquor among us. It was strong and powerful, and had slain thousands.

Brother, our seats were once large and yours were small. You have now become a great people, and we have scarcely a place left to spread our blankets. You have got our country, but are not yet satisfied; you want to force your religion upon us.

Brother, continue to listen. You say that you are sent to instruct us how to worship the Great Spirit agreeably to His mind; and, if we do not take hold of the religion which you white people teach, we shall be unhappy hereafter. You say that you are right and we are lost. How do we know this to be true? We understand that your religion is written in a Book. If it was intended for us, as well as you, why has not the Great Spirit given to us, and not only to us, but why did He not give to our forefathers the knowledge of that Book, with the means of understanding it rightly? We only know what you tell us about it. How shall we know when to believe, being so often deceived by the white people?

Brother, you say there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it? Why not all agreed, as you can all read the Book?

Brother, we do not understand these things. We are told that your religion was given to your forefathers and has been handed down from father to son. We also have a religion which was given our forefathers and has been handed down to us, their children. We worship in our way. It teaches us to be thankful for all the favors we receive, to love each other, and to be united. We never quarrel about religion.

Brother, the Great Spirit has made us all, but He has made a great difference between His white and His red children. He has given us different complexions and different customs.

To you He has given the arts. To these He has not opened our eyes. We know these things to be true. Since He has made so great a difference between us in other things, why mays we not conclude that He has given us a different religion according to our understanding?

The Great Spirit does right. He knows what is best for His children; we are satisfied. Brother, we do not wish to destroy your religion or take it from YOU. We only want to enjoy our own.

Brother, you say you have not come to get our land or our money, but to enlighten our minds. I will now tell you that I have been at your meetings and saw you collect money from the meeting. I can not tell what this money was intended for, but suppose it was for your minister; and, if we should conform to your way of thinking, perhaps you may want some from us.

Brother, we are told that you have been preaching to the white people in this place. These people are our neighbors. We are acquainted with them. We will wait a little while and see what effect your preaching has upon them. If we find it does them good, makes them honest, and less disposed to cheat Indians, we will consider again of what you have said.

Brother, you have now heard our answer to your talk, and this is all we have to say at present. As we are going to part, we will come and take you by the hand, and hope the Great Spirit will protect you on your journey and return you safe to your friends.


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*The Seeds Of War*

By John Quincy Adams.

_IT is in his biography of James Madison that J. Q. Adams, sixth President of the United States and son of our second President, discusses the origin of the War of 1812 and reviews its long period of brewing. American grievances had been accumulating steadily since Trafalgar.

More than 900 American ships had been seized by the British and more than 550 by the French, while, as Carl Schurz records, in his "Life of Henry Clay," who was John Quincy Adams's Secretary of State, "the number of American citizens impressed as British seamen, or kept in prison if they refused to serve, was reported to exceed 6,000." It was estimated that "as many more had been impressed of whom no information had been obtained." Remonstrances made by the American government "had been treated with haughty disdain."_

IN the first wars of the French revolution Great Britain had begun by straining the claim of belligerent, as against neutral rights, beyond all the theories of international jurisprudence, and even beyond her own ordinary practice. There is in all war a conflict between the belligerent and the neutral right, which can in its nature be settled only by convention. And in addition to all the ordinary asperities of dissension between the nation at war and the nation at peace, she had asserted a right of man-stealing from the vessels of the United States. The claim of right was to take by force all sea-faring men, her own subjects, wherever they were found by her naval officers, to serve their king in his wars. And under color of this tyrant's right, her naval officers, down to the most beardless midshipman, actually took from the American merchant vessels which they visited, any seaman whom they chose to take for a British subject. After the treaty of November, 1794, she had relaxed all her pretensions against the neutral rights, and had gradually abandoned the practice of impressment till she was on the point of renouncing it by a formal treaty stipulation.

At the renewal of the war, after the Peace of Amiens, it was at first urged with much respect for the rights of neutrality, but the practice of impressment was soon renewed with aggravated severity, and the commerce of neutral nations with the colonies of the adverse belligerent was wholly interdicted on the pretense of justification, because it had been forbidden by the enemy herself in the time of peace. This pretension had been first raised by Great Britain in the Seven Years' War, but she had been overawed by the armed neutrality from maintaining it in the war the American Revolution.

In the midst of this war with Napoleon, she suddenly reasserted the principle, and by a secret order in council, swept the ocean of nearly the whole mass of neutral commerce. Her war with France spread itself all over Europe, successively involving Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Prussia, Austria, Russia, Denmark and Sweden. Not a single neutral power remained in Europe and Great Britain, after annihilating at Trafalgar the united naval power of France and Spain, ruling thenceforth with undisputed dominion upon the ocean, conceived the project of engrossing even the commerce with her enemy by intercepting all neutral navigation. These measures were met by corresponding acts of violence, and sophistical principles of national law, promulgated by Napoleon, rising to the summit of his greatness, and preparing his downfall by the abuse of his elevation.

Through this fiery ordeal the administration of Mr. Jefferson was to pass, and the severest of its tests were to be applied to Mr. Madison. His correspondence with the ministers of Great Britain, France and Spain, and with the ministers of the United States to those nations during the remainder of Mr. Jefferson's administration, constitute the most important and most valuable materials of its history. His examination of the British doctrines relating to neutral trade will hereafter be considered a standard treatise on the law of nations; not inferior to the works of any writer upon those subjects since the days of Grotius, and every way worthy of the author of Publius and Helvidus. There is indeed, in all the diplomatic papers of American statesmen, justly celebrated as they have been, nothing superior to this dissertation, which was not strictly official. It was composed amid the duties of the Department of State, never more arduous than at that time in the summer of 1806. It was published unofficially, and a copy of it was laid on the table of each member of Congress at the commencement of the session in December, 1806.

The controversies of conflicting neutral and belligerent rights continued through the whole of Mr. Jefferson's administration, during the latter part of which they were verging rapidly to war. He had carried the policy of peace perhaps to an extreme. His system of defense by commercial restrictions, dry-docks, gunboats and embargoes, was stretched to its last hair's breadth of endurance. Far be it from me to speak of this system or of its motives with disrespect. If there be a duty, binding in chains more adamantine than all the rest the conscience of a Chief Magistrate of this Union, it is that of preserving peace with all mankind peace with the other nations of the earth peace among the several States of this Union peace in the hearts and temper of our own people. Yet must a President of the United States never cease to feel that his charge is to maintain the rights, the interests and the honor no less than the peace of his country nor will he be permitted to forget that peace must be the offspring of two concurring wills; that to seek peace is not always to ensure it.

He must remember, too, that a reliance upon the operation of measures, from their effect on the interests, however clear and unequivocal of nations, can not be safe against a counter-current of their passions; that nations, like individuals, sacrifice their Peace to their pride, to their hatred, to their envy, to their jealousy, and even to the craft, which the cunning of hackneyed politicians not unfrequently mistakes for policy; that nations, like individuals, have sometimes the misfortune of losing their senses, and that lunatic communities, which can not be confined in hospitals, must be resisted in arms, as a single maniac is sometimes restored to reason by the scourge; that national madness is infectious, and that a paroxysm of it in one people, especially when generated by the Furies that preside over war, produces a counter-paroxysm in their adverse party. Such is the melancholy condition as yet of associated man. And while in the wise but mysterious dispensations of an overruling Providence, man shall so continue, the peace of every nation must depend not alone upon its own will, but upon that concurrently with the will of all others.


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*The British Side At New Orleans*

By George Robert Gleig.

_IT was evident that the longer an attack was delayed, the less likely was it to succeed; that something must be done immediately every one perceived, but how to proceed was the difficulty. If we attempted to storm the American lines, we should expose ourselves to almost certain destruction from their artillery; to turn them, seemed to be impossible; and to draw their troops by any maneuvering from behind their entrenchments, was a thing altogether out of the question._

. . . It was determined to divide the army, to send part across the river, who should seize the enemy's guns, and turn them on themselves; while the remainder should at the same time make a general assault along the whole entrenchment.

. . . According to the preconcerted plan, Colonel Thornton's detachment was to cross the river immediately after dark. They were to push forward, so as to carry all the batteries, and point the guns before daylight; when, on the throwing up of a rocket, they were to commence firing upon the enemy's line, which at the same moment was to be attacked by the main of our army.

. . . But, unfortunately, the loss of time nothing could repair. Instead of reaching the opposite bank, at latest by midnight, dawn was beginning to appear before the boats quitted the canal . . . day had already broken, and the signal rocket was seen in the air, while they were yet four miles from the batteries, which ought hours ago to have been taken.

In the meantime, the main body armed and moved forward some way in front of the pickets. There they stood waiting for daylight, and listening with the greatest anxiety for the firing which ought now to be heard on the opposite bank. But this attention was exerted in vain, and day dawned upon them long before they desired its appearance. Nor was Sir Edward Pakenham disappointed in this part of his plan alone. Instead of perceiving everything in readiness for the assault, he saw his troops in battle array, indeed, but not a ladder or fascine upon the field. The 44th, which was appointed to carry them, had either misunderstood or neglected their orders; and now headed the column of attack, without any means being provided for crossing the enemy's ditch, or scaling his rampart.

The indignation of poor Pakenham on this occasion may be imagined, but cannot be described. Galloping towards Colonel Mullens, who led the 44th, he commanded him instantly to return with his regiment for the ladders, but the opportunity of planting them was lost, and though they were brought up, it was only to be scattered over the field by the frightened bearers. For our troops were by this time visible to the enemy. A dreadful fire was accordingly opened upon them, and they were mowed down by hundreds, while they stood waiting for orders.

Seeing that all his well-laid plans were frustrated, Pakenham gave the word to advance, and the other regiments, leaving the 44th with the ladders and fascines behind them, rushed on to the assault. On the left, a detachment of the 95th, 21st, and 4th, stormed a three gun battery and took it. Here they remained for some time in the expectation of support; but none arriving, and a strong column of the enemy forming for its recovery, they determined to anticipate the attack, and pushed on. The battery which they had taken was in advance of the body of the works, being cut off from it by a ditch, across which only a single plank was thrown. Along this plank did these brave men attempt to pass ; but being opposed by overpowering numbers, they were repulsed; and the Americans, in turn, forcing their way into the battery, at length succeeded in recapturing it with immense slaughter. On the right, again, the 21st and 4th being almost cut to pieces and thrown into some confusion by the enemy's fire, the 93rd pushed on and took the lead. Hastening forward, our troops soon reached the ditch; but to scale the parapet without ladders was impossible. Some few, indeed, by mounting one upon another's shoulders, succeeded in entering the works, but these were instantly overpowered, most of them killed, and the rest taken; while as many as stood without were exposed to a sweeping fire, which cut them down by whole companies. It was in vain that the most obstinate courage was displayed. They fell by the hands of men whom they absolutely did not see; for the Americans, without so much as lifting their faces above the rampart, swung their fire-locks by one arm over the wall, and discharged them directly upon their heads. The whole of the guns, likewise, from the opposite bank, kept up a well directed and deadly cannonade upon their flank ; and thus were they destroyed without an opportunity being given of displaying their valor, or obtaining so much as revenge.

Poor Pakenham saw how things were going, and did all that a general could do to rally his broken troops. Riding towards the 44th which had returned to the ground, but in great disorder, he called out for Colonel Mullens to advance; but that officer had disappeared, and was not to be found. He, therefore, prepared to lead them on himself, and had put himself at their head for that purpose, when he received a slight wound in the knee from a musket ball, which killed his horse. Mounting another, he again headed the 44th, when a second ball took effect more fatally, and he dropped lifeless into the arms of his aide-de-camp.

Nor were Generals Gibbs and Keane inactive. Riding through the ranks, they strove by all means to encourage the assailants and recall the fugitives; till at length both were wounded, and borne off the field. All was now confusion and dismay. Without leaders, ignorant of what was to be done, the troops first halted and then began to retire ; till finally the retreat was changed into a flight, and they quitted the ground in the utmost disorder. But the retreat was covered in gallant style by the reserve. Making a forward motion, the 7th and 43d presented the appearance of a renewed attack; by which the enemy were so much awed, that they did not venture beyond their lines in pursuit of the fugitives.

While affairs were thus disastrously conducted in this quarter, the party under Colonel Thornton had gained the landing place. On stepping ashore, the first thing they beheld was a rocket thrown up as a signal that the battle was begun. This unwelcome sight added wings to their speed. Forming in one little column, and pushing forward a single company as an advanced guard, they hastened on, and in half an hour reached a canal along the opposite brink of which a detachment of Americans was drawn up. To dislodge them was the work of a moment. . . . This, however, was only an outpost. The main body was some way in the rear, and amounted to no fewer than 1500 men.

It was not long, however, before they likewise presented themselves. Like their countrymen on the other side, they were strongly entrenched, a thick parapet with a ditch covering their front; while a battery upon their left swept the whole position, and two field pieces commanded the road. Of artillery, the assailants possessed not a single piece, nor any means, beyond what nature gave, of scaling the rampart. Yet nothing daunted by the obstacles before them, or by the immense odds to which they were opposed, dispositions for an immediate attack were made.

. . . The sailors raising a shout, rushed forward, but were met by so heavy a discharge of grape and cannister, that for an instant they paused. Recovering themselves, however, they again pushed on; and the 85th dashing forward to their aid, they received a heavy fire of musketry, and endeavored to charge. A smart firing was now for a few minutes kept up on both sides, but our people had no time to waste in distant fighting, and accordingly hurried on to storm the works; upon which, a panic seized the Americans, they lost their order, and fled, leaving us in possession of their tents, and of eighteen pieces of cannon.

When in the act of storming these lines, the word was passed through our ranks, that all had gone well on the opposite bank. This naturally added to the vigor of the assault; but we had not followed our flying enemy above two miles, when we were commanded to halt. The real state of the case had now reached us, and the same messenger who brought the melancholy news, brought likewise an order to return.

. . . General Lambert, on whom the chief command had devolved, very prudently determined not to risk the safety of his army by another attempt upon works evidently so much beyond their strength. He considered, and considered justly that his chances of success were in every respect lessened by the late repulse. . . . A retreat, therefore, while yet the measure appeared practicable, was resolved upon, and towards that end were all our future operations directed.


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*The Burning Of Washington*

By "Dolly" Madison.

_DOLLY" MADISON, wife of President James Madison, wrote this letter to her sister, Anna, on August 23, 1814, the day before the City of Washington was burned by the British forces commanded by General Ross and Admiral Cockburn. The portrait of George Washington, to which she refers, was painted partly by Gilbert Stuart, and completed by Winstanley, with Colonel Smith, son-in-law of President John Adams, as a model for the unfinished body and limbs. As she was fleeing the city, she encountered her husband, and they spent a sleepless night at the home of a friend near Georgetown, Virginia, "gazing at the flames, which looked as if nothing could stop them in their mad fury."

Supplementing this document is an account by a British soldier, who was present at the capture and burning of Washington. He published, after the war, "A Narrative of the Campaign of the British Army at Washington and New Orleans."_

MY husband left me yesterday morning to join General Winder. He inquired anxiously whether I had courage or firmness to remain in the President's house until his return on the morrow, or succeeding day, and on my assurance that I had no fear but for him, and the success of our army, he left, beseeching me to take care of myself, and of the Cabinet papers, public and private. I have since received two dispatches from him, written with a pencil. The last is alarming, because he desires I should be ready at a moment's warning to enter my carriage, and leave the city; that the enemy seemed stronger than had at first been reported, and it might happen that they would reach the city with the intention of destroying it. I am accordingly ready; I have pressed as many Cabinet papers into trunks as to fill one carriage; our private property must be sacrificed, as it is impossible to procure wagons for its transportation. I am determined not to go myself until I see Mr. Madison safe, so that he can accompany me, as I hear of much hostility towards him. Disaffection stalks around us. My friends and acquaintances are all gone, even Colonel C. with his hundred, who were stationed as a guard in this enclosure. French John (a faithful servant), with his usual activity and resolution, offers to spike the cannon at the gate, and Jay a train of powder, which would blow up the British, should they enter the house. To the last proposition I positively object, without being able to make him understand why all advantages in war may not be taken.

Wednesday Morning, twelve o'clock. Since sunrise I have been turning my spy-glass in every direction, and watching with unwearied anxiety, hoping to discover the approach of my dear husband and his friends; but, alas! I can descry only groups of military, wandering in all directions, as if there was a lack of arms, or of spirit to fight for their own fireside.

Three o'clock. Will you believe it, my sister? we have had a battle, or skirmish, near Bladensburg, and here I am still, within sound of the cannon! Mr. Madison comes not. May God protect us! Two messengers, covered with dust, come to bid me fly; but here I mean to wait for him. . . . At this late hour a wagon has been procured, and I have had it filled with plate and the most valuable portable articles, belonging to the house. Whether it will reach its destination, the "Bank of Maryland," or fall into the hands of British soldiery, events must determine. Our kind friend, Mr. Carroll, has come to hasten my departure, and in a very bad humor with me, because I insist on waiting until the large picture of General Washington is secured, and it requires to be unscrewed from the wall. This process was found too tedious for these perilous moments; I have ordered the frame to be broken, and the canvas taken out. It is done! and the precious portrait placed in the hands of two gentlemen of New York, for safe keeping. And now, dear sister, I must leave this house, or the retreating army will make me a prisoner in it by filling up the road I am directed to take. When I shall again write to you, or where I shall be to-morrow, I cannot tell!


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*The Surrender Of Detroit*

GENERAL HULL'S STATEMENT IN His OWN DEFENSE.

_FOLLOWING the declaration of war in 1812, General Hull marched his troops into Canada. There he remained inactive while the British gathered their forces and when they made or, attack he surrendered.

Hull had evidently been much shaken by the recent massacre of detachments of his troops, and historians are inclined to lighten the blame given to him at the time, but there is no doubt that in surrendering his command he left a vast territory defenseless.

This letter from General Hull to the Secretary of War was dated at Fort George, August 16th, 1812, ten days after the surrender for which he was court-martialed and sentenced to death. This, however, was commuted because of his age.

The disfavor in which Hull was held by his fellow officers is shown by this report to the War Department made a few weeks later by Lewis Cass who became Governor of the territory in 1813 and later Secretary of War and Minister to France._

ENCLOSED are the articles of capitulation, by which the Fort of Detroit has been surrendered to major general Brock, commanding his Britannic majesty's forces in Upper Canada, and by which the troops have become prisoners of war. My situation at present forbids me from detailing the particular causes which have led to this unfortunate event. I will, however, generally observe, that after the surrender of Michilimakinac, almost every tribe and nation of Indians, excepting a part of the Miamies and Delawares, north from beyond Lake Superior, west from beyond the Mississippi, south from the Ohio and Wabash, and east from every part of Upper Canada, and from all the intermediate country, joined in open hostility, under the British standard, against the army I commanded, contrary to the most solemn assurances of a large portion of them to remain neutral: even the Ottawa chiefs from Arbecrotch, who formed the delegation to Washington the last summer, in whose friendship I know you had great confidence, are among the hostile tribes, and several of them distinguished leaders. Among the vast number of chiefs who led the hostile bands, Tecumseh, Marpot, Logan, Walk-in-the-Water, Split Log, &c., are considered the principals. This numerous assemblage of savages, under the entire influence and direction of the British commander, enabled him totally to obstruct the only communication which I had with my country. This communication had been opened from the settlements in the state of Ohio, two hundred miles through a wilderness, by the fatigues of the army, which I marched to the frontier on the river Detroit. The body of the lake being commanded by the British armed ships, and the shores and rivers by gun boats, the army was totally deprived of all communication by water. On this extensive road it depended for transportation of provisions, military stores, medicine, clothing, and every other supply, on pack horses all its operations were successful until its arrival at Detroit, and in a few days it passed into the enemy's country, and all opposition seemed to drop before it. One month it remained in possession of this country, and was fed from its resources. In different directions, detachments penetrated sixty miles in the settled part of the province, and the inhabitants seemed satisfied with the change of situation, which appeared to be taking place ; the militia from Amherstburg were daily deserting, and the whole country, then under the control of the army, was asking for protection. The Indians, generally, in the first instance, appeared to be neutralized, and determined to take no part in the contest. The fort of Amherstburg was eighteen miles below my encampment. Not a single cannon or mortar was on wheels suitable to carry before this place. I consulted my officers, whether it was expedient to make an attempt on it with the bayonet alone, without cannon, to make a break in the first instance. The council I called was of the opinion it was not. The greatest industry was exerted in making preparation, and it was not until the 7th of August, that two 24 pounders, and three howitzers were prepared. It was then my intention to have proceeded on the enterprise. While the operations of the army were delayed by these preparations, the clouds of adversity had been for some time and seemed still thickly to be gathering around me. The surrender of Michilimakinac opened the northern hive of Indians, and they were swarming down in every direction. Reinforcements from Niagara had arrived at Amherstburg under the command of Colonel Proctor. The desertion of the militia ceased. Besides the reinforcements that came by water, I received information of a very considerable force under the command of Major Chambers, on the river Le French, with four field pieces, and collecting the militia on his route, evidently destined for Amherstburg ; and in addition to this combination, and increase of force, contrary to all my expectations, the Wyandots, Chippewas, Ottawas, Pottawatamies, Munsees, Delawares, &c., with whom I had the most friendly intercourse, at once passed over to Amherst-burg, and accepted the tomahawk and scalping knife. There being now a vast number of Indians at the British post, they were sent to the river Huron, Brownstown, and Maguago to intercept my communication. To open this communication, I detached Major Van Horn of the Ohio volunteers, with two hundred men, to proceed as far as the river Raisin, under an expectation he would meet Captain Brush with one hundred and fifty men, volunteers from the state of Ohio, and a quantity of provision for the army. An ambuscade was formed at Brownstown, and Major Van Horn's detachment defeated and returned to camp without effecting the object of the expedition.

In my letter of the 7th instant you have the particulars of that transaction, with a return of the killed and wounded. Under this sudden and unexpected change of things, and having received an express from General Hall, commanding opposite the British shore on the Niagara river, by which it appeared that there was no prospect of a cooperation from that quarter, and the two senior officers of the artillery having stated to me an opinion that it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to pass the Turkey river and river Aux Cannard, with the 24 pounders, and that they could not be transported by water, as the Queen Charlotte, which carried eighteen 24 pounders, lay in the river Detroit above the mouth of the river Aux Cannard; and as it appeared indispensably necessary to open the communication to the river Raisin and the Miami, I found myself compelled to suspend the operation against Amherstburg, and concentrate the main force of the army at Detroit. Fully intending at that time, after the communication was opened, to re-cross the river, and pursue the object at Amherstburg, and strongly desirous of continuing protection to a very large number of the inhabitants of Upper Canada, who had voluntarily accepted it under my proclamation, I established a fortress on the banks of the river, a little below Detroit, calculated for a garrison of 300 men. On the evening of the 7th, and morning of the 8th instant, the army, excepting the garrison of 250 infantry, and a corps of artillerists, all under the command of Major Denny of the Ohio volunteers, re-crossed the river, and encamped at Detroit. In pursuance of the object of opening the communication, on which I considered the existence of the army depending, a detachment of 600 men, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Miller, was immediately ordered. For a particular account of the proceedings of this detachment, and the memorable battle which was fought at Maguago, which reflects the highest honor on the American arms, I refer you to my letter of the 13th of August instant, a duplicate of which is enclosed, marked G. Nothing however but honor was acquired by this victory; and it is a painful consideration, that the blood of seventy-five gallant men could only open the communication, as far as the points of their bayonets extended. The necessary care of the sick and wounded, and a very severe storm of rain, rendered their return to camp indispensably necessary for their own comfort. Captain Brush, with his small detachment, and the provisions being still at the river Raisin, and in a situation to be destroyed by the savages, on the 13th instant in the evening, I permitted Colonels McArthur and Cass to select from their regiment four hundred of their most effective men, and proceed an upper route through the woods, which I had sent an express to Captain Brush to take, and had directed the militia of the river Raisin to accompany him as a reinforcement. The force of the enemy continually increasing, and the necessity of opening the communication, and acting on the defensive, becoming more apparent, I had, previous to detaching Colonels McArthur and Cass on the 11th instant, evacuated and destroyed the fort on the opposite bank. On the 13th, in the evening, General Brock arrived at Amherstburg about the hour that Colonels McArthur and Cass marched, of which at that time I had received no information. On the 15th I received a summons from him to surrender Fort Detroit, of which the paper marked A is a copy. My answer is marked B. At this time I had received no information from Colonels McArthur and Cass.


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*American Ways Of Life In 1811*

By John Melish.

_JOHN MELISH was a Scotch textile manufacturer who visited this country for the purpose of collecting considerable sums of money owed him by mercantile customers. His "Travels in the United States of America," from which the accompanying observations are taken, was published in two volumes in Philadelphia, in 1812. His chief interest was in American trade and economic conditions.

Among those with whom he reports conversations was President Jefferson, who believed Norfolk, Virginia, would soon outstrip New York and Boston, and rival New Orleans, as an American seaport. Melish also reports Jefferson as stating that turnpike roads would be general throughout the country in less than twenty years. The introductory article describes a Fourth of July celebration at Louisville, Georgia, in 1811._

THIS being the anniversary of American Independence, the day was ushered in by the firing of great guns; and military companies had collected in Louisville [Georgia] from the whole country round. On my return to the tavern, I found a considerable number of the military assembled there. I was waited on by a committee of the artillery company, and received a very polite invitation to dine with them, which I accepted with pleasure, being anxious to observe the mode of celebrating this day, so important in the annals of America.

About 3 o'clock we sat down to dinner. The captain took his place at the head of the table, the oldest lieutenant at the foot; the committee gave the different orders, and all were on an equal footing. Several of the State officers dined with them.

After dinner they drank Madeira wine to a series of toasts, one for each State, which had been previously prepared. Among the number were "The Day We Celebrate;- "The Land We Live In;- "The President of the United States; - "Memory of General Washington;" "Memory of Benjamin Franklin; - "Memory of John Pierce," etc. Each toast was followed by a discharge of artillery, and the music played an appropriate air. A number of excellent songs were sung, and the afternoon was spent with great conviviality and good humor.

Having several calls to make in the town, I left the table early, but returned again in the evening, when I found that the cordial drop had added greatly to the elevation of the animal spirits of the company. They had also received an addition to their number, by several military officers high in command, among whom was Major-General Jackson. Having occasion to give a toast, I availed myself of that opportunity to impress them with favorable sentiments towards my native country. America had been long regarded with a jealous eye by the councils of Britain, and an almost total alienation of affection was the consequence. I knew that Mr. Fox's administration was favorably disposed towards America, and I was inclined, as far as I had opportunity, to impress the Americans with that belief. Accordingly, after thanking the company for the honor they had conferred upon me, and assuring them of my own friendly regard for the country, I proposed as a toast, "Mr. Fox, and the independent Whigs of Britain. May their joint endeavors with the government of the United States be the means of reconciling the differences between the two countries ; and to the latest prosperity may Americans and Britons hail one another as brothers and as friends." This was cordially received, and drank accordingly; and immediately after I was introduced to and politely received by the visiting officers.

A BACKWOODS BREAKFAST

AS I proposed to ride to New Philadelphia, 36 miles from Coshocton, and the road was altogether new to me, and often crossed the river, I was anxious to be gone as soon as possible, and urged the landlady to make all the haste she could. She said she would have the breakfast ready in a minute; but the first indication I saw of dispatch was a preparation to twist the necks of two chickens. I told her to stop, and she gave me a look of astonishment.

"Have you any eggs?" said I. "Yes, plenty," replied she, still keeping in a stooping posture, with the chicken in her hand. "Well," said I, "just boil an egg, and let me have it, with a little bread and tea, and that will save you and I a great deal of trouble." She seemed quite embarrassed, and said she never could set down a breakfast to me like that. I assured her I would take nothing else. "Shall I fry some ham for you along with the eggs?" said she. "No," said I, "not a bit." "Well, will you take a little stewed pork?" "No." "Preserve me, what will you take, then?" "A little bread and tea, and an egg." "Well, you're the most extraordinary man that I ever saw; but I can't set down a table that way."

I saw that I was only to lose time by contesting the matter farther; so I allowed her to follow her own plan as to the cooking, assuring her that I would take mine as to eating. She detained me about half an hour, and at last placed upon the table a profusion of ham, eggs, fritters, bread, butter and some excellent tea. All the time I was at breakfast she kept pressing me to eat; but I kept my own council, and touched none of the dishes, except the bread, tea and an egg. She affected great surprise, and when I paid her the ordinary fare, a quarter of a dollar, she said it was hardly worth anything. I mention the circumstance to show the kind of hospitality of the landlady, and the good living enjoyed by the backwoods people.


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*Our First Protective Tariff*

By John Randolph, of Roanoke.

_RANDOLPH was a planter as well as a Democratic Congressman and Senator from Virginia. A proud and haughty descendant of Pocohontas, he was renowned for his eloquence wit, sarcasm, invective and eccentricity. He seldom wrote or spoke without denouncing something or somebody. He opposed the War of 1812, and the Missouri Compromise, stigmatizing the Northern Members of Congress who voted for the latter as: "doughfaces." Yet, in his will, he manumitted his 318 slaves and provided for their maintenance in a free state.

After the War of 1812 Randolph was a firm advocate of States' rights, although he had earlier broken with Jefferson or that principle. In this speech delivered in 1816, he denounces our first protective tariff measure as a blow aimed at the agricultural, as distinguished from the manufacturing, interests of the country. The economic conditions following the War of 1812 brought the tariff question before the country where it has remained for over a century._

MY honorable colleague (Mr. Sheffey) has said, that the case of the manufacturers is not fairly before the House. True! it is not fairly before the House. It never can be fairly before the House; whenever it comes before us, it must come unfairly, not as "a spirit of health but a goblin damned" not "bringing with it airs from Heaven, but blasts from Hell it ought to be exorcised out of the House: for, what do the principles about which such a contest is maintained amount to, but a system of bounties to manufacturers, in order to encourage them to do that which, if it be advantageous to do at all, they will do, of course, for their own sakes; a largess to men to exercise their own customary callings, for their own emolument; and Government devising plans, and bestowing premiums out of the pockets of the hard working cultivator of the soil, to mold the productive labor of the country into a thousand fantastic shapes ; barring up, all the time, for that perverted purpose, the great, deep, rich stream of our prosperous industry.

Such a case, sir, I agree with the honorable gentleman, cannot be fairly brought before the House. It eventuates in this: whether you, as a planter will consent to be taxed, in order to hire another man to go to work in a shoemaker's shop, or to set up a spinning jenny. For my part I will not agree to it, even though they should, by way of return, agree to be taxed to help us to plant tobacco; much less will I agree to pay all, and receive nothing for it. No, I will buy where I can get manufactures cheapest; I will not agree to lay a duty on the cultivators of the soil to encourage exotic manufactures; because, after all, we should only get much worse things at a much higher price, and we, the cultivators of the country, would in the end pay all. Why do no gentlemen ask us to grant a bounty for the encouragement of making flour? the reason is too plain for me to repeat it; then why pay a man much more than the value for it, to work up our own cotton into clothing, when, by selling my raw material, I can get my clothing much better and cheaper from Dacca.

Sir, I am convinced that it would be impolitic, as well as unjust, to aggravate the burdens of the people, for the purpose of favoring the manufacturers; for this government created and gave power to Congress, to regulate commerce and equalize duties on the whole of the United States, and not to lay a duty but with a steady eye to revenue. With my good will, sir, there should be none but an ad valorem duty on all articles, which would prevent the possibility of one interest in the country being sacrificed, by the management of taxation, to another.

What is there in those objects of the honorable gentleman's solicitude, to give them a claim to be supported by the earnings of the others? The agriculturists bear the whole brunt of the war and taxation, and remain poor, while the others run in the ring of pleasure, and fatten upon them. The agriculturists not only pay all, but fight all, while the others run. The manufacturer is the citizen of no place, or any place ; the agriculturist has his property, his lands, his all, his household gods to defend; and, like that meek drudge, the ox, who does the labor, and ploughs the ground, and then, for his reward, takes the refuse of the farm yard, the blighted blades and the mouldy straw, and the mildewed shocks of corn for his support; while the commercial speculators live in opulence, whirling in coaches, and indulging in palaces; to use the words of Dr. Johnson, coaches, which fly like meteors, and palaces, which rise like exhalations. Even without your aid, the agriculturists are no match for them. Alert, vigilant, enterprising, and active, the manufacturing interests are collected in masses, and ready to associate at a moment's warning, for any purpose of general interest to their body. Do but ring the fire bell, and you can assemble all the manufacturing interests of Philadelphia, in fifteen minutes. Nay, for matter of that, they are always assembled, they are always on the Rialto; and ******* and Antonio meet there every day, as friends, and compare notes, and lay plans, and possess in trick and intelligence, what, in the goodness of God to them, the others can never possess.

It is the choicest bounty to the ox that he cannot play the fox or the tiger. So it is to one of the body of agriculturists that he cannot skip into a coffeehouse, and shave a note with one hand, while with the other he signs a petition to Congress, portraying the wrongs and grievances and sufferings he endures, and begging them to relieve him; yes, to relieve him out of the pockets of those whose labors have fed and enriched, and whose valor has defended them. The cultivators, the patient drudges of the other orders of society, are now waiting for your resolution. For, on you it depends, whether they shall be left further unhurt, or be, like those in Europe reduced, gradatim, and subjected to another squeeze from the hard grasp of power. Sir, I have done.


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*What Inspired "The Star-Spangled Banner"*

By Francis Scott Key.

_IT is curious that Francis Scott Key, in this letter to his friend John Randolph, of Roanoke, describing the circumstances which moved him to write "The Star-Spangled Banner," should make no mention of the hymn itself. The letter appears in a biography of Key by a descendant, Francis Scott Key-Smith, who supplements the letter with his own historical observations.

It is known that the hymn had its birth amid the gunfire of the British attack upon the defenses near Baltimore on September 13, 1814. Its author, a lawyer who at one time was District Attorney of the District of Columbia, was on an errand, under a flag of truce, to the British fleet, but was detained while the bombardment of Fort McHenry was taking place. Nightlong he watched the progress of the fight and in the morning, seeing the Stars and Stripes still waving triumphantly, conceived the patriotic song which he completed that evening._

YOU will be surprised to hear that I have spent eleven days in the British fleet. I went with a flag to endeavor to save poor old Dr. Beans a voyage to Halifax, in which we fortunately succeeded. They detained us until after their attack on Baltimore, and you may imagine what a state of anxiety I endured. Sometimes when I remembered it was there the declaration of this abominable war was received with public rejoicings, I could not feel a hope that they would escape; and again when I thought of the many faithful whose piety lessens that lump of wickedness I could hardly feel a fear.

To make my feelings still more acute, the Admiral had intimated his fears that the town must be burned, and I was sure that if taken it would have been given up to plunder. I have reason to believe that such a promise was given to their soldiers. It was filled with women and children. I hope I shall never cease to feel the warmest gratitude when I think of this most merciful deliverance. It seems to have given me a higher idea of the "forbearance, long suffering, and tender mercy" of God, than I had ever before conceived.

Never was a man more disappointed in his expectations than I have been as to the character of British officers. With some exceptions they appeared to be illiberal, ignorant and vulgar, and seem filled with a spirit of malignity against everything American. Perhaps, however, I saw them in unfavorable circumstances.

Between two and three o'clock in the morning the British, with one or two rocket and several bomb-vessels manned by 1,200 picked men, attempted, under cover of darkness, to slip past the fort and up the Patapsco, hoping to effect a landing and attack the garrison in the rear.

Succeeding in evading the guns of the fort, but unmindful of Fort Covington, under whose batteries they next came, their enthusiasm over the supposed success of the venture gave way in a derisive cheer, which, borne by the damp night air to our small party of Americans on the Minden, must have chilled the blood in their veins and pierced their patriotic hearts like a dagger.

Fort Covington, the lazaretto, and the American barges in the river now simultaneously poured a galling fire upon the unprotected enemy, raking them fore and aft, in horrible slaughter. Disappointed and disheartened, many wounded and dying, they endeavored to regain their ships, which came closer to the fortifications in an endeavor to protect the retreat. A fierce battle ensued. Fort McHenry opened the full force of all her batteries upon them as they repassed, and the fleet responding with entire broadsides made an explosion so terrific that it seemed as though mother earth had opened and was vomiting shot and shell in a sheet of fire and brimstone.

The heavens aglow were a seething sea of flame, and the waters of the harbor, lashed into an angry sea by the vibrations, the Minden rode and tossed as though in a tempest. It is recorded that the houses in the city of Baltimore, two miles distant, were shaken to their foundations. Above the tempestuous roar, intermingled with its hubbub and confusion, were heard the shrieks and groans of the dying and wounded. But alas! they were from the direction of the fort. What did it mean? For over an hour the pandemonium reigned. Suddenly it ceased all was quiet, not a shat fired or sound heard, a deathlike stillness prevailed, as the darkness of night resumed its sway. The awful stillness and suspense were unbearable.

[I turned my] eyes in the direction of the fort and its flag, but the darkness had given place to a heavy fog of smoke and mist which now enveloped the harbor and hung close down to the surface of the water.

Sometime must yet elapse before anything definite might be ascertained. At last it came. A bright streak of gold mingled with crimson shot athwart the eastern sky, followed by another and still another, as the morning sun rose in the fullness of his glory, lifting "the mists of the deep," crowning a "Heaven-blest land" with a new victory and grandeur.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

On his own account Mr. Key-Smith writes that his ancestor, the author of "The Star-Spangled Banner," "was soon able to see the American flag through a vista in the smoke and vapor. As it caught 'The gleam of the morning's first beam,' and, 'in full glory reflected shone in the stream' his proud and patriotic heart knew no bounds; the wounds inflicted 'by the battle's confusion' were healed instantly as if by magic; a new life sprang into every fiber, and his pent-up emotions burst forth with an inspiration in a song of praise, victory, and thanksgiving as he exclaimed:

'Tis the Star-Spangled Banner, Oh I long may it wave,

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.'

"As the morning's sun arose, vanquishing the darkness and gloom ; lifting the fog and smoke and disclosing his country's flag, victorious, bathed in the delicate hues of morn, only an inspiration caught from such a sight can conceive or describe, and so only in the words of his song can be found the description.

"The first draft of the words were emotionally scribbled upon the back of a letter which he carried in his pocket and of which he made use to jot down some memoranda of his thoughts and sentiments."

"Copies of the song were struck off in handbill form, and promiscuously distributed on the street. Catching with popular favor like prairie fire it spread in every direction, was read and discussed, until, in less than an hour, the news was all over the city.

"Picked up by a crowd of soldiers assembled, some accounts put it, about Captain McCauley's tavern, next to the Holiday Street Theater, others have it around their tents on the outskirts of the city, Ferdinand Durang, a musician, adapted the words to the old tune of 'Anacreon in Heaven,' and, mounting a chair, rendered it in fine style.

"On the evening of the same day it was again rendered upon the stage of the Holiday Street Theater by an actress, and the theater is said to gave gained thereby a national reputation. In about a fortnight it had reached New Orleans and was publicly played by a military band, and shortly thereafter was heard in nearly, if not all, the principal cities and towns throughout the country."


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*The Battle Of Tippecanoe*

By General William Henry Harrison.

_GENERAL HARRISON made this report of his victory at Tippecanoe to Governor Scott, of Kentucky, from Vincennes, December 13, 1811. It was published simultaneously in the Frankfort Argus, the Kentucky Gazette and the Lexington Reporter. The battle had been fought on November 7.

Harrison's victory over the Shawnees, led by The Prophet, brother of the better known Indian chief, Tecumseh, made him famous and did much to make him the ninth President of the United States in the memorable "Tippecanoe and Tyler too' campaign.

Under Harrison was an American force of 800 men, opposed to 5,000 or 6,000 Indians. Less than 200 whites were killed and wounded. The number of Indian fatalities, though undoubtedly large, is not definitely known. At the time of the battle Tecumseh was in the South trying to Persuade the Creeks, Choctaws and Cherokees to join in his projected federation._

I HAD the pleasure to receive your favor of the 27th ult. by the mail of Wednesday last; and I beg you to accept my sincere thanks for the friendly sentiments it contains.

You wish me to give you some account of the late action, that you "may be the better enabled to do me justice against the cavils of ignorance and presumption." I would do this with great pleasure, but the Legislature of the Territory being about to close its session, and having an unusual pressure of business, I am unable to give you such an account as would be satisfactory. There is, however, the less need of this as my official account to the government will probably reach you nearly as soon as this letter. It appears to me from some of the hints contained in some of your newspapers, that the charge of error in the planning or execution of the late expedition, has been more particularly aimed at the President than myself. I most sincerely thank these gentlemen for placing me in such good company; and it is hardly necessary to inform you, that the charge against the administration is as unfounded in this instance as in all the others, which have flowed from the same source. The orders of the government with regard to the expedition, evince as much wisdom as humanity. It was determined to protect its citizens, but if possible, to spare the effusion of human blood this last object was prevented; but by whom? Why, in a great measure by those very persons who are now complaining because a battle could not be won without loss. At least in this Territory, the clamor is confined to those who opposed the expedition to the utmost of their power, and by whose exertions in circulating every falsehood, that malice and villainy could invent: the militia were prevented from turning out; and instead of a force of from 12 to 1,500 men which I expected to have had, I was obliged to march from Fort Harrison with less than 800: my personal enemies have united with the British agents in representing that the expedition was entirely useless, and The Prophet as one of the best and most pacific of mortals, a perfect Shaker in principle, who shuddered at the thought of shedding blood. Every one of his aggressions upon us was denied or palliated and excused with as much eagerness as is the conduct of Great Britain by this same description of people in the Atlantic States. A party sent by The Prophet fired upon and wounded one of our sentinels, upon our own ground; the fact was at first boldly denied, "the man was shot by one of your own people" and I believe it was even asserted that he shot himself. When the whole circumstance was brought to light, these indefatigable gentry, shifted their ground and asserted that "the poor Indian fired in his own defence, and that he was merely gratifying an innocent curiosity in creeping to see what was going on in our camp, and that if he had not shot the sentry, the sentry would, have shot him."

I regret exceedingly that the friends of Colonel Daviess should think it was necessary to his fame to suppose a difference of opinion between him and myself, which never existed; that I had slighted advice from him which was never given, and that to give color to this they had listened to stories with regard to the operations of the army that were absolutely without foundation. If the utmost cordiality and friendship did not exist between the Colonel and myself from the time of his joining the army until his death, I have been very much deceived; if our military opinions were not almost always in unison, those which he expressed (and no man who knew him will accuse him of hypocrisy,) were not his own; the Colonel's messmates, Major G. R. C. Floyd and Captain Piatt, are well acquainted with the entire confidence which subsisted between us; they are acquainted with circumstances which indisputably established the fact; and they and others know that I was the object of his eulogy, to an extent which it would be indelicate in me to repeat. Colonel Daviess did indeed advise me as to measures the day before the action, in which he was joined by all the officers around me whether the advice was good or bad is immaterial to the present discussion, since it was followed to the extent that it was given. It is not necessary to express my opinion of the Colonel's merits at this time, since it will be found in my official letter, and I have no doubt that it will be satisfactory to his friends.

With regard to my own conduct, my dear Sir, it is not in my power to enter into a defence of it, unless I were to know in what particular it has been arraigned. However I may with safety rely for my defence upon the opinion of my army. Believing most sincerely that you do feel that "lively interest in my fame and fortune" which you profess, I am sure you will peruse with interest the inclosed declaration, signed by all the field officers of the army, (one only who was absent,) and the resolutions entered into by the militia of this country who served upon the expedition; the testimony of men who fought and suffered by my side, ought, I should suppose, to be conclusive.

An idea seems to prevail in your State, that in the action of the 7th the whole army was completely surprised, and that they were placed in a situation where bravery only decided the contest, and where there was no opportunity whatever for the exercise of military skill of any kind; this was, however, far from being the case. It is true that the two companies forming the left angle on the rear line, (Barton's and Geiger's) were attacked before they were formed, and that some of the men were killed in coming out of their tents; but it is equally true that all the other companies were formed before they were fired on, and that even those two companies lost but very few men before they were able to resist. Notwithstanding the darkness, the order of battle, (such as had been previously prescribed) was taken by all the troops the officers were active, the men cool and obedient, and perhaps, there never was an action where (for the number of men engaged) there were so many changes of position performed; not in disorder and confusion, but with military propriety the companies, both regulars and militia, were extended, or contracted, wheeled, marched, and made to file up by word of command. My orders (and they were not a few) were obeyed with promptitude and precision. And if I am not most grossly deceived, that mutual dependence which ought to exist between a commander and his army was reciprocally felt.

It has been said that the Indians should have been attacked upon our arrival before their town, on the evening of the 6th. There were two reasons which prevented this, first, that the directions which I received from the government, made it necessary that I should endeavor, if possible, to accomplish the object of the expedition (the dispersion of the Prophet's force) without bloodshed, and, secondly, that the success of an attack by day upon the town was very problematical.


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*Washington City In Its Infancy*

By Abigail Adams.

_ABIGAIL ADAMS, wife of our second President, John Adams, wrote this letter in Washington, November 21, 1800, to her daughter in Milton, Massachusetts. It was near the end of Adams's administration that Washington became the seat of the Federal government, its site having been selected by President Washington in 1791, at the request of Congress.

During the first few years, as this letter intimates, the large scale on which the plans for the city were drawn was in such striking contrast to its actual size that it was derisively called "The City of Magnificent Distances," "The Wilderness City," and so on.

Mrs. Adams was one of the most influential women of her day. Her husband's published letters to her indicate a woman of keenness, sagacity and geniality, and they illuminate the history and social life of the time._

I ARRIVED here on Sunday last, and without meeting with any accident worth noticing, except losing ourselves when we left Baltimore, and going eight or nine miles on the Frederick road, by which means we were obliged to go the other eight through woods, where we wandered two hours without finding a guide or the path. Fortunately, a straggling black came up with us, and we engaged him as a guide, to extricate us out of our difficulty; but woods are all you see from Baltimore until you reach the city, which is only so in name. Here and there is a small cot, without a glass window, interspersed among the forests, through which you travel miles without seeing any human being. In the city there are buildings enough, if they were compact and finished, to accommodate Congress and those attached to it; but as they are, and scattered as they are, I see not great comfort for them.

The river, which runs up to Alexandria, is in full view of my window, and I see the vessels as they pass and repass. The house is upon a grand and superb scale, requiring about thirty servants to attend and keep the apartments in proper order, and perform the ordinary business of the house and stables; an establishment very well proportioned to the President's salary. The lighting the apartments, from the kitchen to parlors and chambers, is a tax indeed; and the fires we are obliged to keep to secure us from daily agues is another very cheering comfort. To assist us in this great castle, and render less attendance necessary, bells are wholly wanting, not one single one being hung through the whole house, and promises are all you can obtain. This is so great an inconvenience that I know not what to do, or how to do. The ladies from Georgetown and in the city have many of them visited me. Yesterday I returned fifteen visits but such a place as Georgetown appears why, our Milton [ Massachusetts ] is beautiful. But no comparisons if they will put me up some bells, and let me have wood enough to keep fires, I design to be pleased.

I could content myself almost anywhere three months; but, surrounded with forests, can you believe that wood is not to be had, because people cannot be found to cut and cart it! Briesler entered into a contract with a man to supply him with wood. A small part, a few cords only, has he been able to get. Most of that was expended to dry the walls of the house before we came in, and yesterday the man told him it was impossible for him to procure it to be cut and carted. He has had recourse to coals ; but we cannot get grates made and set. We have, indeed, come into a new country.

You must keep all this to yourself, and when asked how I like it, say that I write you the situation is beautiful, which is true. The house is made habitable, but there is not a single apartment finished, and all with-inside, except the plastering, has been done since Briesler came. We have not the least fence, yard, or other convenience without, and the great unfinished audience-room I make a drying-room of, to hang up the clothes in. The principal stairs are not up, and will not be this winter. Six chambers are made comfortable; two are occupied by the President and Mr. Shaw; two lower rooms, one for a common parlor, and one for a levee-room. Upstairs there is the oval room, which is designed for the drawing-room, and has the crimson furniture in it. It is a very handsome room now; but, when completed it will be beautiful.

If the twelve years in which this place has been considered as the future seat of government had been improved, as they would have been if in New England, very many of the present inconveniences would have been removed. It is a beautiful spot, capable of every improvement, and, the more I view it the more I am delighted with it.

Since I sat down to write I have been called down to a servant from Mount Vernon, with a billet from Major Custis, and a haunch of venison, and a kind, congratulatory letter from Mrs. Lewis, upon my arrival in the city, with Mrs. Washington's love, inviting me to Mount Vernon, where, health permitting, I will go before I leave this place.

The Senate is much behindhand. No Congress has yet been made. 'Tis said is on his way, but travels with so many delicacies in his rear that he can not get on fast, lest some of them should suffer.

Thomas comes in and says a House is made; so tomorrow, though Saturday, the President will meet them. Adieu, my dear. Give my love to your brother, and tell him he is ever present upon my mind.


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*The Monroe Doctrine*

By President James Monroe.

_THE Monroe Doctrine, so-called, was a growth, the germinal seeds of which were planted in the virgin soil of the Republic. Rooted in the conviction that the United States should not become involved in European broils, it was brought to maturity by President Monroe in 1823 when, in a message to Congress, he definitely forbade foreign colonization and intervention in this hemisphere.

The colonization passage referred to a boundary dispute in the northwest between Russia, Great Britain and the United States. The intervention passage related to the proposed action of the Holy Alliance toward reimposing the Spanish yoke upon South American colonies then in revolt, the independence of which the United States had recognized.

The development of the historic doctrine may be traced in the accompanying extracts taken from his messages and addresses dating from March 4, 1817, to December 7, 1824._

DANGERS from abroad are not less deserving of attention. Experiencing the fortune of other nations, the United States may be again involved in war, and it may in that event be the object of the adverse party to overset our government, to break our Union, and demolish us as a nation. Our distance from Europe and the just, moderate and pacific policy of our government may form some security against these dangers, but they ought to be anticipated and guarded against. . . . (March 4, 1817.)

It was anticipated at an early stage that the contest between Spain and the colonies would become highly interesting to the United States. It was natural that our citizens should sympathize in events which affected their neighbors. It seemed probable also that the prosecution of the conflict along our coast and in contiguous countries would occasionally interrupt our commerce and otherwise affect the persons and property of our citizens. These anticipations have been realized. Such injuries have been received from persons acting under authority of both the parties, and for which redress has in most instances been withheld. Through every stage of the conflict the United States have maintained an impartial neutrality, giving aid to neither of the parties in men, money, ships, or munitions of war. They have regarded the contest not in the light of an ordinary insurrection or rebellion, but as a civil war between parties nearly equal, having as to neutral powers equal rights. Our ports have been open to both, and every article the fruit of our soil or of the industry of our citizens which either was permitted to take has been equally free to the other. Should the colonies establish their independence, it is proper now to state that this government neither seeks nor would accept from them any advantage in commerce or otherwise which will not be equally open to all other nations. The colonies will in that event become independent States, free from any obligation to or connection with us which it may not then be their interest to form on the basis of a fair reciprocity. . . . (December 2, 1817.)

By a circular note addressed by the ministers of Spain to the allied powers, with whom they are respectively accredited, it appears that the allies have undertaken to mediate between Spain and the South American provinces, and that the manner and extent of their interposition would be settled by a congress which was to have met at Aix-la-Chapelle in September last. From the general policy and course of proceeding observed by the allied powers in regard to this contest it is inferred that they will confine their interposition to the expression of their sentiments, abstaining from the application of force. I state this impression that force will not be applied with the greater satisfaction because it is a course more consistent with justice and likewise authorizes a hope that the calamities of the war will be confined to the parties only, and will be of shorter duration.

From the view taken of this subject, founded on all the information that we have been able to obtain, there is good cause to be satisfied with the course heretofore pursued by the United States in regard to this contest, and to conclude that it is proper to adhere to it, especially in the present state of affairs. . (November 16, 1818.)

This contest has from its commencement been very interesting to other powers, and to none more so than to the United States. A virtuous people may and will confine themselves within the limit of a strict neutrality; but it is not in their power to behold a conflict so vitally important to their neighbors without the sensibility and sympathy which naturally belong to such a case. It has been the steady purpose of this government to prevent that feeling leading to excess, and it is very gratifying to have it in my power to state that so strong has been the sense throughout the whole community of what was due to the character and obligations of the nation that very few examples of a contrary kind have occurred.

The distance of the colonies from the parent country and the great extent of their population and resources gave them advantages which it was anticipated at a very early period would be difficult for Spain to surmount. The steadiness, consistency, and success with which they have pursued their object, as evinced more particularly by the undisturbed sovereignty which Buenos Ayres has so long enjoyed, evidently give them a strong claim to the favorable consideration of other nations. These sentiments on the part of the United States have not been withheld from other powers, with whom it is desirable to act in concert. Should it become manifest to the world that the efforts of Spain to subdue these provinces will be fruitless, it may be presumed that the Spanish Government itself will give up the contest. In producing such a determination it can not be doubted that the opinion of friendly powers who have taken no part in the controversy will have their merited influence. . . . (December 7, 1819.)

. . . No facts are known to this government to warrant the belief that any of the powers of Europe will take part in the contest, whence it may be inferred, considering all circumstances which must have weight in producing the result, that an adjustment will finally take place on the basis proposed by the colonies. To promote that result by friendly counsels with other powers, including Spain herself, has been the uniform policy of this government. . . . (November 14, 1820.)

This contest was considered at an early stage by my predecessor a civil war in which the parties were entitled to equal rights in our ports. This decision, the first made by any power, being formed on great consideration of the comparative strength and resources of the parties, the length of time, and successful opposition made by the colonies, and of all other circumstances on which it ought to depend, was in strict accord with the law of nations. . . . (March 5, 1821.)


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*The First Voyage Of The Clermont*

By an Eye-Witness.

IT WAS the early autumn of the year 1807 that a knot of villagers was gathered on a high bluff just opposite Poughkeepsie, on the west bank of the Hudson, attracted by the appearance of a strange, dark looking craft, which was slowly making its way up the river. Some imagined it to be a sea monster, while others did not hesitate to express their belief that it was a sign of the approaching judgment. What seemed strange in the vessel was the substitution of lofty and straight black smoke-pipes rising from the deck, instead of the gracefully tapered masts that commonly stood on the vessels navigating the stream, and, in place of the spars and rigging, the curious play of the working-beam and pistons and the slow turning and splashing of the huge and naked paddle-wheels met the astonished gaze. The dense clouds of smoke, as they rose wave upon wave, added still more to the wonderment of the rustics.

This strange looking craft was the Clermont on her trial trip to Albany, and of the little knot of villagers mentioned above, the writer, then a boy in his eighth Year, with his parents, formed a part; and I well remember the scene, one so well fitted to impress a lasting picture upon the mind a child accustomed to watch the vessels that passed up and down the river.

The forms of four persons were distinctly visible on the deck as she passed the bluff, one of whom, doubtless, was Robert Fulton, who had on board with him all the cherished hopes of years, the most precious cargo the wonderful boat could carry.

On her return trip the curiosity she excited was scarcely less intense; the whole country talked of nothing but the sea monster belching forth fire and smoke. The fishermen became terrified and rowed homewards, and they saw nothing but destruction devastating their fishing grounds, while the wreaths of black vapor and the rushing noise of the paddle-wheels, foaming with the stirred up waters, produced great excitement among the boatmen, until it was more intelligent than before; for the character of that curious boat, and the nature of the enterprise which she was pioneering, had been ascertained.

From that time, Robert Fulton, Esq., became known and respected as the author and builder of the first steam packet, from which we plainly see the rapid improvement in commerce and civilization. Who can doubt that Fulton's first packet boat has been the model steamer? Except in finer finish and greater size, there is no difference between it and the splendid steamships now crossing the Atlantic. Who can doubt that Fulton saw the meeting of all nations upon his boats, gathering together in unity and harmony, that the "freedom of the seas would be the happiness of the earth"? Who can doubt that Fulton saw the world circumnavigated by steam, and that his invention was carrying the messages of freedom to every land, that no man could tell all its benefits, or describe all its wonders? What a wonderful achievement! What a splendid triumph!


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*The "Constitution" Captures The "Guerriere"*

By Captain Isaac Hull.

_CAPTAIN HULL drafted this report to the Secretary of the Navy of the capture of the English frigate Guerriere by the Constitution ("Old Iron-sides") while he Was bringing his prize into Boston harbor on August 19, 1812, eleven days after the engagement. In this, as in most of the naval battles of the War of 1812, the gunnery of the Americans 'was far superior to that of the British. However, this was the first time for many years that a British man-of-war had surrendered to about equal force.

Soon after the famous action, Which occurred off Cape Race, Captain Hull generously resigned his command of the Constitution in order to give other naval officers a chance, there being more men than ships.

Captain Orme, whose report follows that of Captain Hull, Was an American officer who had been captured by the Guerriere off Newfoundland only a fen, days before the battle with the Constitution._

I HAVE the honor to inform you, that on the 19th inst. at 2 P.M. being in Lat. 41 42' and Long. 55 48', with the Constitution under my command, a sail was discovered from the masthead bearing E. by S. or E. S. E. but at such a distance we could not tell what she was. All sail was instantly made in chase, and soon found we came up with her. At 3 P.M. could plainly see, that she was a ship on the starboard tack under easy sail, close on a wind; at half past 3 P.M. made her out to be a frigate; continued the chase until we were within about three miles, when I ordered the light sails to be taken in, the courses hauled up, and the ship cleared for action.

At this time the chase had backed his maintop-sail, waiting for us to come down. As soon as the Constitution was ready for action, I bore down with intention to bring him to close action immediately; but on our coming within gun-shot she gave us a broadside and filled away, and wore, giving us a broadside on the other tack, but without effect; her shot falling short. She continued wearing and maneuvering for about three quarters of an hour, to get a raking position, but finding she could not, she bore up, and ran under her top-sails and jib, with the wind on her quarter. I immediately made sail to bring the ship up with her, and five minutes before 6 P.M. being alongside within half pistol-shot, we commenced a heavy fire from all our guns, double shorted with round and grape, and so well directed were they, and so warmly kept up, that in 15 minutes his mizzenmast went by the board and his main yard in the slings, and the hull, rigging, and sails very much torn to pieces. The fire was kept up with equal warmth for 15 minutes longer, when his mainmast and foremast went, taking with them every spar, excepting the bowsprit. On seeing this we ceased firing, so that in thirty minutes after, we got fairly alongside the enemy ; she surrendered, and had not a spar standing, and her hull below and above water so shattered, that a few more broadsides must have carried her down.

After informing you, that so fine a ship as the Guerriere, commanded by an able and experienced officer, had been totally dismasted, and otherwise cut to pieces so as to make her not worth towing into port, in the short space of thirty minutes, you can have no doubt of the gallantry and good conduct of the officers and ship's company I have the honor to command; it only remains therefore for me to assure you that they all fought with great bravery; and it gives me great pleasure to say, that from the smallest boy in the ship to the oldest seaman, not a look of fear was seen. They all went into action, giving three cheers, and requested to be laid close alongside the enemy.

Enclosed I have the honor to send you a list of killed and wounded on board the Constitution [total, 14] , and a report of the damages she has sustained; also a list of killed and wounded on board the enemy [total 77, and 24 missing], with his quarter bill, &c.


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*Capture And Destruction Of The "Java"*

By Commodore William Bainbridge.

_THE reputation Bainbridge possessed when the United States Navy was organized in 1798, enhanced by his conduct in the war with Tripoli, in which his ship, the Philadelphia, ran aground while chasing corsairs, secured him a prominent naval position in the War of 1812. Early in the struggle he was put in command, as commodore, of a squadron consisting of the Constitution, Essex and Hornet, all of which rendered valiant service.

On December 29, 1812, when his flagship, the famous Constitution, encountered the English frigate Java off Bahia, Brazil, the Hornet and Essex were cruising to the north and had no part in the action.

In 1815 Bainbridge was made commander of a squadron of twenty sails fitted out against Algiers, but the war was averted. Later, as chief of the board of naval commissioners, he acquitted himself on shore with the distinction that had marked his career at sea._

AT 9 A.M. discovered two strange sails on the weather bow. At 10, discovered the strange sails to be ships, one of them stood in for the land, and the other stood off shore in a direction towards us. At 10.45, we tacked ship to the northward and westward, and stood for the sail standing towards us. At 11 A.M. tacked to the southward and eastward, hauled up the mainsail and took in the royals. At 11.30, made the private signal for the day, which was not answered, and then set the mainsail and royals to draw the strange sail off from the neutral coast, and separate her from the sail in company.

Wednesday, 30th Dec., 1812 (Nautical time) In lat. 13 deg. 6m. S and long. 38 W. 10 leagues from the coast of Brazil. Commences with clear weather and moderate breezes from E. N. E. hoisted our ensign and pendant. At 15 minutes past meridian, the ship hoisted her colors, an English ensign, having a signal flying at her main red, yellow, red.

At 1.26 P.M. being sufficiently from the land, and finding the ship to be an English frigate, took in the mainsail and royals, tacked ship and stood for the enemy. At 1.50 P.M. the enemy bore down with an intention of raking us, which we avoided by wearing. At 2 P.M. the enemy being within half a mile of us, and to windward, and having hauled down his colors, except an Union Jack at the mizen-mast-head, induced me to give orders to the officer of the 3d division to fire one gun ahead of the enemy to make him show his colors, which being done, brought on a fire from us of the whole broadside, on which the enemy hoisted his colors and immediately returned our fire. A general action with round and grape then commenced, the enemy keeping at a much greater distance than I wished, but could not bring him to close action without exposing ourselves to several rakes. Considerable maneuvers were made by both vessels to rake and avoid being raked. The following minutes were taken during the action:

At 2.10 P.M. Commenced the action within good grape and cannister distance, the enemy to windward (but much further than I wished).

At 2.30 our wheel was shot entirely away.

2.40 determined to close with the enemy, notwithstanding his raking set the fore and mainsail, and luff'd up to him.

2.50 the enemy's jib-boom got foul of our mizenrigging.

3.00 the head of the enemy's bowsprit and jib-boom shot away by us.

3.05 shot away the enemy's foremast by the board. 3.15 shot away his main-top-mast just above the cap.

3.40 shot away gaff and spanker-boom.

3.55 shot away his mizen-mast nearly by the board.

4.05 having silenced the fire of the enemy completely, and his colors in the main rigging being down, supposed he had struck, then hauled aboard the courses to shoot ahead to repair our rigging, which was extremely cut, leaving the enemy a complete wreck; soon after, discovered the enemy's flag was still flying hove to, to repair some of our damage.

4.20 the enemy's main-mast went nearly by the board.

4.50 wore ship and stood for the enemy.

5.25 got very close to the enemy in a very effectual raking position, athwart his bows, and was at the very instant of raking him, when he most prudently struck his flag, for had he suffered the broadside to have raked him, his additional loss must have been extremely great, as he laid an unmanageable wreck upon the water. After the enemy had struck, wore ship and reefed the topsails, then hoisted out one of the only two remaining boats we had left out of eight, and sent Lieutenant Parker, first of the Constitution, to take possession of the enemy, which proved to be his Britannic majesty's frigate Java, rated 38 but carrying 49 guns, and manned with upwards of 400 men, commanded by Captain Lambert, a very distinguished officer, who was mortally wounded.

The action continued from the commencement to the end of the fire, one hour and fifty-five minutes. The Constitution had 9 killed and 25 wounded. The enemy had 60 killed and 101 certainly wounded; but by a letter written on board the Constitution by one of the officers of the Java, and accidentally found, it is evident the enemy's wounded must have been considerably greater than as above stated, and must have died of their wounds previously to their being removed. The letter states 60 killed and 170 wounded. The Java had her own complement of men complete, and upwards of 100 supernumeraries, going to join the British ships of war in the East Indies, also several officers, passengers, going out on promotion. The force of the enemy in number of men, at the commencement of the action, was no doubt considerably greater than we have been able to ascertain, which is upwards of 400 men. The officers were extremely cautious in discovering the number. By her quarter bill she had one man more stationed to each gun than we had.

The Constitution was very much cut in her sails and rigging, and many of her spars injured. At 7 P.M. the boat returned with Lieutenant Chads, the first lieutenant of the enemy's frigate, and Lieutenant-General Hislop (appointed Governor of Bombay), Major Walker and Captain Wood belonging to his staff.

Captain Lambert of the Java was too dangerously wounded to be removed immediately. The cutter returned on board the prize for the prisoners, and brought Captain Marshall, master and commander of the British navy, who was a passenger on board, as also several other naval officers destined for ships in the East Indies.

The Java was an important ship, fitted out in the completest manner to carry Lieutenant-General Hislop and his staff to Bombay, and several naval officers for different ships in the East Indies ; and had despatches for St. Helena, Cape of Good Hope, and every British establishment in the India and China seas. She had on board copper for a 74 and two brigs building at Bombay, and I expect a great many other valuables ; but every thing was blown up in her, except the officers' baggage, when we set her on fire at 3 P.M. on the 1st of January, 1813, (nautical time).


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*Life In Central New York State*

FARMERS and mechanics are best adapted to the country, and, if they are industrious they are sure to succeed. A farmer can get a quarter section of land, 160 acres, for 560 dollars, with eight years to pay it. If he is industrious, he may have the whole cleared and cultivated like a garden by the end of that time; when, in consequence of the rise on property, by the increase of population, and the cultivation by his individual industry, his land may be worth 50 dollars per acre, or 8,000 dollars; besides his stock of cattle, etc., which may be worth half as much more. Mechanics are well paid for their labor; carpenters have 1 dollar per day and their board; if they board themselves, 1 dollar 25 cents. Other trades have in proportion, and living is cheap. Flour is about 5 dollars per barrel; beef 4 cents per lb.; fowls 12 1/2 cents each; fish are plentiful and cheap. A mechanic can thus earn as much in two days as will maintain a family for a week, and by investing the surplus in houses and lots, in a judicious manner, he may accumulate money as fast as the farmer, and both may be independent and happy.

Indeed, these two classes cannot too highly prize the blessings they enjoy in this country, nor be sufficiently grateful to the Almighty Disposer of all events, for casting their lot in a land where they have advantages so far transcending what the same classes have in any other. I know there are many who hold a different opinion, but I must take the liberty to dissent from it, and the reader who has traveled with me thus far, will allow that my opinion is not founded either on a partial or prejudiced view of the subject; it is deduced from plain, unvarnished facts, which no reasoning can set aside, nor sophistry invalidate. What would the farmers, and mechanics, and manufacturers in Britain give to be in the same situation? There (I speak particularly of Scotland) a farmer pays from 7 to 28 dollars per acre, yearly, for the use of his farm, besides the taxes and public burdens. He gets, in many instances, a lease of 19 years, and is bound to cultivate the ground in a certain way, prescribed by the tenure of his lease. If he improves the farm, the improvements are for another, not for him; and, at the end of the lease, if another is willing to give one shilling more than he, or if the proprietor has a favorite, or wishes to turn two or more farms into one, or has taken umbrage at his politics, or his religion, or anything else regarding him or his family, he will not get a renewal of the lease. Many a family have I known who have been ruined in this way. Being turned out of a farm, they retire to a town or city, where their substance is soon spent, and they pine away in poverty, and at last find a happy relief in the cold grave. Nor is there any remedy; the lands are nearly all entailed on the great families, and the lords of the soil are the lords of the law; they can bind the poor farmer in all cases whatsoever.

Compare this with the situation of the American farmer. He cultivates his own soil, or if he has none, he can procure it in sufficient quantity for 200 or 300 dollars. If he has no money he can get credit, and all that is necessary to redeem his credit is to put forth his hand and be industrious. He can stand erect on the middle of his farm, and say, "This ground is mine. From the highest canopy of heaven down to the lowest depths, I can claim all that I can get possession of within these bounds; fowls of the air, fish of the seas, and all that pass through the same." And, having a full share of consequence in the political scale, his equal rights are guaranteed to him. None dare encroach upon him; he can sit under his own Vine and under his own fig tree, and none to make him afraid.

Look at the mechanic and manufacturer; in America they can earn from 6 to 9 dollars per week, and have provisions so reasonable, that they have their wheat-bread and roast-beef, or roast-pork, or fowl every day, and accumulate property for old age and their offspring. In Britain they can earn from a dollar and a half to three dollars per week, and pay at the rate of 14 or 15 dollars for a barrel of flour, and from 16 to 22 cents per lb. for beef. But, why do I talk of flour and beef? Small, indeed, is the portion of these that fall to their lot. No; they are doomed to drag out a miserable existence on potatoes and oat-meal, with this further curse entailed upon them, that, by the mandate of the powers that be, they are bound to the soil ; they cannot, they dare not leave their country, except by stealth!


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*Decatur Captures And Burns The "Philadelphia"*

By James Fenimore Cooper.

_COOPER, from whose early authoritative "History of the Navy of the United States" is taken this spirited account of an act which Admiral Nelson, the hero of Trafalgar, pronounced "the most daring of the age," was singularly well qualified to describe such an exploit. He himself had been a midshipman in the early American Navy, and had seen service in the Mediterranean, where Decatur immortalized himself on February 16, 1804, during our war with Tripoli.

This was the last struggle by Europeans or Americans with the notorious corsairs or pirates of North Africa, who had made war on commerce in the Mediterranean for several centuries. Their depredations had become particularly bold and atrocious in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, merchant ships being subject to capture unless tribute had been paid.

In 1815 Decatur negotiated a treaty with the North African States which ended the enslaving of Americans._

AT half-past eleven, Tripoli then being in plain sight, distant a little more than a league, satisfied that he could neither overtake the chase, nor force her ashore, Captain Bainbridge, of the Philadelphia, ordered the helm a-port, to haul directly off the land into deep water. The next cast of the lead, when this order was executed, gave but eight fathoms, and this was immediately followed by casts that gave seven, and six and a half. At this moment, the wind was nearly abeam, and the ship had eight knots way on her. When the cry of "half-six" was heard, the helm was put hard down, and the yards were ordered to be braced sharp up. While the ship was coming up fast to the wind, and before she had lost any of her way, she struck a reef forward, and shot up on it, until she lifted between five and six feet.

This was an appalling accident to occur on the coast of such an enemy, at that season of the year, and with no other cruiser near! It was first attempted to force the vessel ahead, under the impression that the best water was to seaward; but on sounding around the ship, it was found that she had run up with such force as to lie nearly cradled on the rocks; there being only 14 feet of water under the fore-chains, while the ship drew, before striking, 18 1/2 feet forward. Astern there were not 18 feet of water, instead of 20 1/2, which the frigate needed.

The ship had no sooner struck than the gunboats run down alongside of her, and took possession. The barbarians rushed into the vessel, and began to plunder their captives. Not only were the clothes which the Americans had collected in their bags and bundles, taken from them, but 'many officers and men were stripped half-naked. They were hurried into boats, and sent to Tripoli, and even on the passage the business of plundering went on. The officers were respected little more than the common men, and, while in the boat, Captain Bainbridge himself was robbed of his epaulets, gloves, watch, and money. His cravat was even torn from his neck. He wore a miniature of his wife, and of this the Tripolitans endeavored to deprive him also, but, a youthful and attached husband, he resisted so seriously that the attempt was relinquished.

Means had been found to communicate with Captain Bainbridge; and several letters were received from that officer, pointing out different methods of annoying the enemy. In a letter of the date of the 5th of December, 1803, Captain Bainbridge suggested the possibility of destroying the Philadelphia, which ship was slowly fitting for sea, there being little doubt of her being sent out as a cruiser, as soon as the mild season should return. Commodore Preble listened to the suggestion, and being much in the society of the commander of the vessel that was most in company with the Constitution, Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, he mentioned the project to that spirited officer. The expedition was just suited to the ardor and temperament of Decatur, and the possession of the prize at once afforded the means of carrying it into effect.

It is scarcely necessary to say that the accommodations were none of the best, with so many persons cooped up in a vessel of between forty and fifty tons; and to make the matter worse, it was soon found that the salted meat put on board was spoiled, and that there was little besides bread and water left to subsist on. The weather, however, was pleasant, and the wind favorable, and the two vessels got in sight of Tripoli on the afternoon of the 9th. To prevent suspicions, the Intrepid now went ahead of the Siren.

The orders of Lieutenant-Commander Decatur were clear and simple. The spar-deck was first to be carried, then the gun-deck; after which a distribution of the party was made, in order to set fire to the ship.

As the ketch drew in with the land, the ship became visible. She lay not quite a mile within the entrance, riding to the wind, and abreast of the town. Her foremast, which had been cut away while she was on the reef, had not yet been replaced, her main and mizzentopmasts were housed, and her lower yards were on the gunwales. Her lower standing rigging, however, was in its place, and, as was shortly afterward ascertained, her guns were loaded and spotted. Just within her lay two corsairs, with a few gunboats, and a galley or two.

About 10 o'clock the Intrepid reached the eastern entrance of the bay, or the passage between the rocks and the shoal. The wind was nearly east, and, as she steered directly for the frigate, it was well abaft the beam. There was a young moon, and as these bold adventurers were slowly advancing into the hostile port all around them was tranquil and apparently without distrust. For near an hour they were stealing slowly along, the air gradually failing, until their motion became scarcely perceptible.

Most of the officers and men of the ketch had been ordered to lie on the deck, where they were concealed by low bulwarks, or weather-boards, and by the different objects that belong to a vessel. As it is the practice of those seas to carry many men even in the smallest craft, the appearance of ten or twelve would excite no alarm, and this number was visible. The Commanding officer himself stood near the pilot, Mr. Catalano, who was to act as interpreter. The quartermaster at the helm was ordered to stand directly for the frigate's bows, it being the intention to lay the ship aboard in that place, as the mode of attack which would least expose the assailants to her fire.

The Intrepid was still at a considerable distance from the Philadelphia, when the latter hailed. The pilot answered that the ketch belonged to Malta, and was on a trading voyage ; that she had been nearly wrecked, and had lost her anchors in the late gale, and that her commander wished to ride by the frigate during the night. This conversation lasted some time, Decatur instructing the pilot to tell the frigate's people with what he was laden, in order to amuse them, and the Intrepid gradually drew nearer, until there was every prospect of her running foul of the Philadelphia, in a minute or two, and at the very spot contemplated. But the wind suddenly shifted, and took the ketch aback. The instant the southerly puff struck her, her head fell off and she got a stern-board; the ship, at the same moment, tending to the new current of air. The effect of this unexpected change was to bring the ketch directly under the frigate's broadside, at the distance of about forty yards, where she lay perfectly becalmed, or, if anything, drifting slowly astern, exposed to nearly every one of the Philadelphia's larboard guns.

Not the smallest suspicion appears to have been yet excited on board the frigate, though several of her people were looking over the rails, and notwithstanding the moonlight. So completely were the Turks deceived, that they lowered a boat, and sent it with a fast. Some of the ketch's men, in the mean time, had got into her boat, and had run a line to the frigate's forechains. As they returned, they met the frigate's boat, took the fast it brought, which came from the after part of the ship, and passed it into their own vessel. These fasts were put into the hands of the men, as they lay on the ketch's deck, and they began cautiously to breast the Intrepid alongside of the Philadelphia, without rising. As soon as the latter got near enough to the ship, the Turks discovered her anchors, and they sternly ordered the ketch to keep off, as she had deceived them; preparing, at the same time, to cut the fasts. All this passed in a moment, when the cry of "Amerikanos" was heard in the ship. The people of the Intrepid, by a strong pull, brought their vessel alongside of the frigate, where she was secured, quick as thought. Up to this moment, not a whisper had betrayed the presence of the men concealed. The instructions had been positive to keep quiet until commanded to show themselves; and no precipitation, even in that trying moment, deranged the plan.


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*British Official Account Of The Battle Of Lake Erie*

THE REPORT OF CAPTAIN BARCLAY.

THE last letter, dated the 6th instant, informed you that, unless certain intimation was received of more seamen being on their way to Amherstburg, I should be obliged to sail with the squadron, deplorably manned as it was, to fight, the enemy (who blockaded the port), to enable us to get supplies of provisions and stores of every description; so perfectly destitute of provisions was the port that there was not a day's flour in store, and the crews of the squadron under my command were on half allowance of many things, and, when that was done, there was no more. Such were the motives which induced Major-General Proctor (whom by your instructions I was directed to consult, and whose wishes I was enjoined to execute, as far as related to the good of the country) to concur in the necessity of a battle being risked, under the many disadvantages which I labored, and it now remains for me, the most melancholy task, to relate to you the unfortunate issue of that battle, as well as the many untoward circumstances that led to that event. No intelligence of seamen having arrived, I sailed on the 9th instant, fully expecting to meet the enemy next morning, as they had been seen among the islands; nor was I mistaken.

Soon after daylight they were seen in motion in Put-in-Bay, the wind then at south-west and light, giving us the weather gauge, I bore up with them, in hopes of bringing them to action among the islands, but that intention was soon frustrated by the wind suddenly shifting to the southeast, which brought the enemy directly to windward. The line was formed according to a given plan, so that each ship might be supported against the superior force of the two brigs opposed to them.

About ten the enemy had cleared the islands and immediately bore up, under easy sail, in a line abreast, each brig being also supported by the small vessels. At a quarter before 12, I commenced the action by a few long guns; about a quarter past, the American Commodore, also supported by two schooners, one carrying four long 12 pounders, the other a long 32 and 24 pounder, came close to action with the Detroit; the other brig of the enemy, apparently destined to engage the Queen Charlotte, supported in like manner by two schooners, kept so far to windward as to render the Queen Charlotte's 20 pounder carronades useless, while she was, with the Lady Prevost, exposed to the heavy and destructive fire of the Caledonia, and four other schooners, armed with heavy and long guns, like those I have already described. Too soon, alas! was I deprived of the services of the noble and intrepid Captain Finnis, who soon after the commencement of the action fell, and with him fell my greatest support; soon after Lieutenant Stokes, of the Queen Charlotte, was struck senseless by a splinter, which deprived the country of his services at this very critical period. As I perceived the Detroit had enough to contend with, without the prospect of a fresh brig, provincial Lieutenant Irvine, who then had charge of the Queen Charlotte, behaved with great courage, but his experience was much too limited to supply the place of such an officer as Captain Finnis, hence she proved of far less assistance than I expected.

The action continued with great fury until half past two, when I perceived my opponent drop astern, and a boat passing from him to the Niagara (which vessel was at this time perfectly fresh), the American Commodore seeing that as yet the day was against him (his vessel having struck soon after he left her) and also the very defenseless state of the "Detroit," which ship was now a perfect wreck, principally from the raking fire of the gun boats, and also that the Queen Charlotte was in such a situation that I could receive very little assistance from her, and the Lady Prevost being at this time too far to leeward, from her rudder being injured, made a noble, and alas! too successful an effort to regain it, for he bore up, and, supported by his small vessels, passed within pistol shot, and took a raking position on our bow, nor could I prevent it, as the unfortunate situation of the Queen Charlotte prevented us from wearing; in attempting it we fell on board her; my gallant first Lieutenant, Garland, was now mortally wounded, and myself so severely that I was obliged to quit the deck. Manned as the squadron was, with not more than 50 British seamen, the rest a mixed crew of Canadians and soldiers, and who were totally unacquainted with such a service, rendered the loss of officers more sensibly felt, and never in any action was the loss more severe, every officer commanding vessels, and their seconds, was either killed or wounded so severely as to be unable to keep the deck.

Lieutenant Buchan, in the Lady Prevost, behaved most nobly, and did everything that a brave and experienced officer could do in a vessel armed with 12 pound carronades, against vessels carrying long guns. I regret to state that he was severely wounded. Lieutenant Bignal, of the Dover, commanding the Hunter, displayed the greatest intrepidity; but his guns being small (two four and six pounders) he could be of much less service than he wished. Every officer in the Detroit behaved in the most exemplary manner. Lieutenant Inglis showed such calm intrepidity, that I was fully convinced that, on leaving the deck, I left the ship in excellent hands; and for an account of the battle after that I refer you to his letter, which he wrote me for your information. Mr. Hoffmeister, purser of the Detroit, nobly volunteered his services on the deck, and behaved in a manner that reflects the highest honor on him. I regret to add that he is very severely wounded in the knee. Provincial Lieutenant Purvis, and the military officers, Lieutenants Garden, of the Royal Newfoundland Rangers, and O'Keefe of the 41st regiment, behaved in a manner which excited my warmest admiration; the few British seamen I had, behaved with their usual intrepidity, and as long as I was on deck the troops behaved with a calmness and courage worthy of a more fortunate issue to their exertions.

The weather gage gave the enemy a prodigious advantage, as it enabled them not only to choose their position, but their distance also, which they did in such a manner as to prevent the carronades of the Queen Charlotte and Lady Prevost from having much effect; while their long guns did great execution, particularly against the Queen Charlotte. Captain Perry has behaved in a most humane and attentive manner, not only to myself and officers, but to all the wounded. I trust that, although unsuccessful, you will approve of the motives that induced me to sail under so many disadvantages, and that it may be hereafter proved that under such circumstances the honor of His Majesty's flag has not been tarnished. I enclose the list of killed and wounded.


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*The Battle Of Lake Champlain*

By James Fenimore Cooper.

_HAD this naval battle on Lake Champlain not been fought and won by the Americans under Captain Thomas Macdonough off the town of Plattsburg, September 11, 1814, a British army of 11,000 men would in all probability have invaded New York and the War of 1812 might have been indefinitely prolonged. As a result of this victory, the plan of invasion by land was abandoned, and the British forces under Sir George Prevost retreated into Canada.

Cooper, from whose "History of the Navy of the United States" this account is taken, became a midshipman in 1808 and saw various forms of service before resigning in 1811, and becoming in later years not only a distinguished historian, but the greatest pioneer American novelist.

This engagement made Macdonough famous as "The Hero of Lake Champlain." He received a gold medal from Congress and an estate on Cumberland Head, near Plattsburg, from the Legislature of Vermont._

IN the autumn of 1814 the enemy contemplated an invasion of the northern and least populous counties of New York, with a large force, following the route laid down for General Burgoyne, in his unfortunate expedition of 1777. It was most probably intended to occupy a portion of the northern frontier, with the expectation of turning the circumstance to account in the pending negotiations, the English commissioners soon after advancing a claim to drive the Americans back from their ancient boundaries, with a view to leaving Great Britain the entire possession of the lakes. In such an expedition the command of Champlain became of great importance, as it flanked the march of the invading army for more than a hundred miles, and offered, so many facilities for forwarding supplies, as well as for annoyance and defense. Until this season neither nation had a force of any moment on that water, but the Americans had built a ship and a schooner, during the winter and spring; and when it was found that the enemy was preparing for a serious effort the keel of a brig was laid. Many galleys, or gunboats, were also constructed.

On the 6th of September Captain Macdonough ordered the galleys to the head of the bay, to annoy the English army, and a cannonading occurred which lasted two hours. The wind coming on to blow a gale that menaced the galleys with shipwreck, Mr. Duncan, a midshipman of the Saratoga, was sent in a gig to order them to retire. It is supposed that the appearance of the boat induced the enemy to think that Captain Macdonough himself had joined his galleys; for he concentrated a fire on the galley Mr. Duncan was in, and that young officer received a severe wound, by which he lost the use of his arm. Afterward one of the galleys drifted in, under the guns of the enemy, and she also sustained some loss, but was eventually brought off.

Captain Macdonough had chosen an anchorage a little to the south of the outlet of the Saranac. His vessels lay in a line parallel to the coast, extending north and south, and distant from the western shore nearly two miles. The last vessel at the southward was so near the shoal as to prevent the English from passing that end of the line, while all the ships lay so far out toward Cumberland Head as to bring the enemy within reach of carronades, should he enter the bay on that side.

The total force of the American present consisted of fourteen vessels, mounting eighty-six guns and containing about 850 men, including officers and a small detachment of soldiers, who did duty as marines, none of the corps having been sent on Lake Champlain. To complete his order of battle, Captain Macdonough directed two of the galleys to keep inshore of the Eagle, and a little to windward of her, to sustain the head of the line; one or two more to lie opposite to the interval between the Eagle and Saratoga; a few opposite to the interval between the Saratoga and Ticonderoga; and two or three opposite the interval between the Ticonderoga and Preble. The Americans were, consequently, formed in two lines, distant from each other about forty yards; the large vessels at anchor, and the gallery under their sweeps.

The force of the enemy was materially greater than that of the Americans. His largest vessel, the Confiance, commanded by Captain Downie in person, had the gundeck of a heavy frigate, mounting on it an armament similar to that of the Constitution or United States, or thirty long twenty-fours. . . . The whole force of Captain Downie consisted of sixteen or seventeen vessels, as the case may have been, mounting in all, ninety-five or ninety-six guns, and carrying about one thousand men.

The guard-boat of the Americans pulled in shortly after the sun had risen, and announced the approach of the enemy. As the wind was fair, a good working breeze at the northward and eastward, Captain Macdonough ordered the vessels cleared, and preparations made to fight at anchor. Eight bells were striking in the American squadron as the upper sails of the English vessels were seen passing along the land, in the main lake, on their way to double Cumberland Head.

The enemy was now standing in, close-hauled, the Chubb looking well to windward of the Eagle, the vessel that lay at the head of the American line, the Linnet laying her course for the bows of the same brig, the Confiance intending to fetch far enough ahead of the Saratoga to lay that ship athwart hawse, and the Finch, with the gunboats, standing for the Ticonderoga and Preble.

As the enemy filled the American vessels sprung their broadsides to bear, and a few minutes were passed in the solemn and silent expectation, that, in a disciplined ship, precedes a battle. Suddenly the Eagle discharged, in quick succession, her four long eighteens. In clearing the decks of the Saratoga some hen-coops were thrown overboard, and the poultry had been permitted to run at large. Startled by the reports of the guns, a young cock flew upon a gun-slide, clapped his wings and crowed. At this animating sound the men spontaneously gave three cheers. This little occurrence relieved the usual breathing time between preparation and the combat, and it had a powerful influence on the known tendencies of the seamen.

Still Captain Macdonough did not give the order to commence, although the enemy's galleys now opened; for it was apparent that the fire of the Eagle, which vessel continued to engage, was useless. As soon, however, as it was seen that her shot told, Captain Macdonough himself sighted a long twenty-four, and the gun was fired. This shot is said to have struck the Confiance near the outer hawse-hole, and to have passed the length of her deck, killing and wounding several men, and carrying away the wheel. It was a signal for all the American long guns to open, and it was soon seen that the English commanding ship, in particular, was suffering heavily. Still the enemy advanced, and in the most gallant manner, confident if he could get the desired position, that the great weight of the Confiance would at once decide the fate of the day. But he had miscalculated his own powers of endurance. The anchors of the Confiance were hanging by the stoppers, in readiness to be let go, and the larboard bower was soon cut away, as well as a spare anchor in the larboard fore-chains.

The English vessels came to in very handsome style, nor did the Confiance fire a single gun until secured; although the American line was now engaged with all its force. As soon as Captain Downie had performed this duty, in a seaman-like manner, his ship appeared a sheet of fire, discharging all her guns at nearly the same instant, pointed principally at the Saratoga. The effect of this broadside was terrible in the little ship that received it. After the crash had subsided Captain Macdonough saw that nearly half his crew was on the deck, for many had been knocked down who sustained no real injuries. It is supposed, however, that about forty men, or near one-fifth of her complement, were killed and wounded on board the Saratoga by this single discharge. The hatches had been fastened down, as usual, but the bodies so cumbered the deck that it was found necessary to remove the fastenings and to pass them below. The effect continued but a moment, when the ship resumed her fire as gallantly as ever. Among the slain was Mr. Peter Gamble, the first lieutenant. By this early loss but one officer of that rank, Acting Lieutenant Lavallette, was left in the Saratoga. Shortly after, Captain Downie, the English commanding officer, fell also.

The rear of the American line was certainly its weakest point; and having compelled the little Preble to retreat, the enemy's galleys were emboldened to renew their efforts against the vessel ahead of her, which was the Ticonderoga. This schooner was better able to resist them, and she was very nobly fought. Her spirited commander, Lieutenant-Commandant Cassin, walked the taffrail, where he could watch the movements of the enemy's galleys, and showers of canister and grape, directing discharges of bags of musket-balls, and other light missiles, effectually keeping the British at bay. Several times the English galleys, of which many were very gallantly fought, closed quite near, with an intent to board; but the great steadiness on board the Ticonderoga beat them back, and completely covered the rear of the line for the remainder of the day. So desperate were some of the assaults, notwithstanding, that the galleys have been described as several times getting nearly within a boathook's length of the schooner, and their people as rising from the sweeps in readiness to spring.

While these reverses and successes were occurring in the rear of the two lines, the Americans were suffering heavily at the other extremity. The Linnet had got a very commanding position, and she was admirably fought; while the Eagle, which received all her fire, and part of that of the Confiance, having lost her springs, found herself so situated as not to be able to bring her guns fairly to bear on either of the enemy's vessels. Captain Henley had run his topsail-yards, with the sails stopped, to the mastheads, previously to engaging, and he now cut his cable, sheeted home his topsails, cast the brig, and running down, anchored by the stern, between the Saratoga and Ticonderoga, necessarily a little inshore of both. Here he opened fire afresh, and with better effect, on the Confiance and galleys, using his larboard guns. But this movement left the Saratoga exposed to nearly the whole fire of the Linnet, which brig now sprung her broadside in a manner to rake the American ship on her bows.


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*Secession Threatened In New England*

By James Schouler.

_ATTENDED by delegates from Massachusetts, headed by Harrison Crap Otis, its originator; Connecticut and other New England States, the Memorable Hartford Convention Was in session from December 15, 1814, to January 5, 1815. Its deliberations were secret, and it has been charged with being treasonable in designing the dissolution of the Union. As a fact, the object of the Convention was to devise means not only of defense against foreign powers, but for safeguarding the rights of the separate States against alleged encroachments of the Federal government. No treasonable intention could be proved.

This account is from Schouler's "History of the United States" (Dodd, Mead & Company), the best and fullest narrative of the period in American history between the Revolution and the Civil War.

Following it are the resolutions adopted by the Hartford Convention, which were submitted to the Legislatures of the States represented._

WHEN the invader appears honest citizens must choose sides. Forced at length to defend their own homes and firesides, Massachusetts and Connecticut now felt the recoil of unpatriotic behavior. Instead of trusting their governors with the local defense as the administration had done with States which upheld the war, the President now insisted upon retaining the exclusive control of military movements. Because Massachusetts and Connecticut had refused to subject their militia to the orders of the War Department, Monroe declined to pay their expenses. The cry was raised by peace men in consequence that the National government had abandoned New England to the common enemy. Upon this false assumption for false, candor must pronounce it, inasmuch as government was maturing all the while a consistent plan of local defense the Massachusetts leaders made hasty proclamation that no choice was left between submitting to the enemy, which could not be thought of, and appropriating to the defense of the States the revenues derived from her people, which had hitherto been spent elsewhere. The Massachusetts Legislature appropriated $1,000,000 to support a State army of 10,000 men. And Otis, who inspired these measures, brought Massachusetts to the point of instituting a delegate convention of Eastern States this convention to meet at Hartford. A Hartford convention was no new project to Otis's own mind.

The day for assembling was fixed at December 15th. Twelve delegates were appointed by the Massachusetts Legislature, men of worth and respectability, chief of whom were Cabot and Otis. In Connecticut, whose Legislature was not slow to denounce Monroe's conscription plan as barbarous and unconstitutional, a congenial delegation of seven was made up Goodrich and Hillhouse, hoary men of national renown, at the head. Rhode Island's Legislature added four more to the list. So deep-rooted, however, was the national distrust of this movement that Vermont and New Hampshire shrank from giving the Convention a public sanction. New Hampshire had a Republican council; while in Vermont the Plattsburg victory stirred the Union spirit; Chittenden himself having changed in official tone after the war became a defensive one. Violent county conventions representing fractions of towns chose, however, three delegates, two in New Hampshire and one in Vermont, whose credentials being accepted by the convention, the whole number of delegates assembled at Hartford was twenty-six.

This Hartford Convention remains famous in American history only as a powerful menstruum in national politics. What its most earnest projectors had hoped for was left but half done; but that half work condemned to political infamy twenty-six gentlemen highly respectable. Lawyers, they were, of State eminence, for the most part, and all of high social character, but inclined, like men of ability more used to courts than conventions, to treat constituencies like clients, and spend great pains over phraseology. Perhaps, indeed, these had been selected purposely to play the lion's part, that moderate fellow-citizens, Unionists at heart, whose conversion was essential, might not quake at the roar of the Convention.

What bold measures were possible? One may ask. Pickering's Confederacy of 1804 would have embraced New York, perhaps Pennsylvania. But these Eastern Federalists, with that clannishness at which Hamilton himself had marveled, were now circumscribed within the limits of New England, and of that section, moreover, but three States out of five had delegations at Hartford worthy of the name. The first effort to assemble a New England convention was, we have seen, in 1808-9. The second, if John Quincy Adams may be believed, was in 1812, immediately after the declaration of war against Great Britain, and that project Dexter defeated by a speech in Faneuil Hall. The third, and present, though partially successful, by bringing delegates into conference, was, like the Stamp Act Congress, or the Annapolis Conference of 1786, an instrument necessarily for later and riper designs. The American Confederacy, the American Union, are each the product of begetting conventions; nor without prudence were States now forbidden to enter into agreements or compacts with one another without the consent of Congress. The Hartford Convention may well have justified dire forebodings, for it did not dissolve finally, as a mass-meeting might have done, upon a full report, but contingently adjourned to Boston.

Organized on the appointed day in Hartford, then a town of four thousand inhabitants, by the choice of George Cabot as president, and Theodore Dwight as secretary, the present convention remained in close session for three continuous weeks. Of irregular political assemblies the worst may be suspected when proceedings are conducted in secrecy; and never, certainly, were doors shut more closely upon a delegate, and professedly a popular convention, than upon this one; not even doorkeeper or messenger gaining access to the discussion. Inviolable secrecy was enjoined upon every member, including the secretary, at the first meeting, and once more before they dispersed, notwithstanding the acceptance of their final report. The injunction was never removed. Not before a single State legislature whose sanction of this report was desired, not to any body of those constituents whose votes were indispensable to the ultimate ends, if these ends were legally pursued, was that report elucidated. Four years afterward, when the Hartford Convention and its projectors bent under the full blast of popular displeasure, Cabot delivered to his native State the sealed journal of its proceedings, which had remained in his exclusive custody; but that when opened was found to be a meager sketch of formal proceedings, and no more; making no record of yeas and nays, stating none of the amendments offered to the various reports, attaching the name of no author to a single proposition, in fine, carefully suppressing all means of ascertaining the expression or belief of individual delegates.


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*Testimony From The Trial Of Aaron Burr*

By Jacob Allbright.

_THIS is the testimony on which the prosecution mainly depended to convict Colonel Burr at his third and last trial at Richmond, Virginia, in 1807-8. Burr had been previously arrested at Frankfort, Kentucky, and had been successfully defended by Henry Clay in an exciting trial. He was again arrested at Natchez, Mississippi, in January, 1807, but was released by the Grand Jury, and in February of that year he was arrested the third time, charged with both treason and a misdemeanor. To convict him of treason, proof of an overt act was necessary. To establish such proof, reliance was placed chiefly on Allbright's testimony. Burr Was not convicted.

The real purpose of his attempted western expedition has never been satisfactorily explained, but it certainly was not politically honorable._

MR. HAY. Our object is to prove by his testimony the actual assemblage of men on Blennerhassett's island, and it goes of course to prove directly the overt act.

Jacob Allbright. The first I knew of this business was, I was hired on the island to help to build a kiln for drying corn, and after working some time, Mrs. Blennerhassett told me, that Mr. Blennerhassett and Colonel Burr were going to lay in provisions for an army for a year. I went to the mill, where I carried the corn to be ground after it had been dried. I worked four weeks on that business in the island. Last fall (or in September) after Blennerhassett had come home (he had been promising me cash for some time) I stepped up to him. He had no money at the time; but would pay me next day, or soon. Says he, "Mr. Allbright, you are a Dutchman." But he asked me first and foremost, whether I would not join with him and go down the river? I told him, I did not know what they were upon; and he said, "Mr. Allbright, we are going to settle a new country." And I gave him an answer, that I would not like to leave my family. He said, he did not want any families to go along with him. Then he said to me, "You are a Dutchman, and a common man; and as the Dutch are apt to be scared by high men, if you'll go to New Lancaster, where the Dutch live, and get me twenty or thirty to go with us, I will give you as many dollars." New Lancaster was some distance off. I went home then, and gave him no answer upon that. In a few days after the boats came and landed at the island. The snow was about two or three inches deep, and I went out a hunting. I was on the Ohio side; I met two men; I knew they belonged to the boats, but I wanted to find out; and they asked me whether I had not given my consent to go along with Blennerhassett down the river? As we got into a conversation together they named themselves Colonel Burr's men, belonging to the boats, landed at the island. When they asked me, whether I had not consented to go down with Blennerhassett, I put a question to them. I told them I did not know what they were about; and one of the gentlemen told me, they were going to take a silver mine from the Spanish. I asked the gentlemen, whether they would not allow, that this would raise war with America? They replied, no. These were only a few men; and if they went with a good army, they would give up the country and nothing more said about it. I had all this conversation with the two men. These men showed me what fine rifles they had, going down the river with them. Then I went to the island and Blennerhassett paid me off in Kentucky notes. People however didn't like these notes very well, and I went over to the bank at Kanhawa to change them. I got two of the notes changed; and one, a ten dollar note, was returned to my hand, for which I wished to get silver from Blennerhassett. I went to the island the day the proclamation came out. But before I went to Blennerhassett's house, I heard he was not at home, but at Marietta. I went on the Virginia side, where I met three other men, belonging to the boats, with three complete rifles. They made a call upon me, to take them to the island in my canoe, and I accepted [excepted?] to it; but afterwards I carried the third man, who stood close by my canoe, over to the island. After being some time on the island, I went down to the four boats. Blennerhassett was not at home yet; and I met some of the boat people shooting at a mark. They had a fire between the bank and boats. I saw this in the day time.

Mr. Hay. How many boats were there?

Answer. Four.

I waited at the house till Blennerhassett came home. He appeared very much scared. One of the boatmen came up to him for something, and he told him, "Don't trouble me, I have trouble enough already." He went up to his chamber; and I saw no more of him. I asked ail old gentleman who was there, and with whom I was well acquainted, to go up to his chamber, and change my note for silver. He did go, and brought me silver. By and by I heard that they were going to start that night. Thinks I, "I'll see the end of it." This was the night of the very day that Blennerhassett got back from Marietta. He got back before night. When night came on, I was among the men and also in the kitchen; and saw the boat-men running bullets. One of them spoke out to the others, "Boys, let's mould as many bullets, as we can fire twelve rounds." After that, I saw no more till after twelve o'clock at night. Then Blennerhassett came down from the chamber, and called up some of his servants; he had four or five trunks. There were not trusty hands enough to carry them to the boats; and some person called after my name, and asked me to help them; and I carried one of the trunks and moved along with them. When we got down, some person, I don't particularly know who, but think it was Blennerhassett himself, asked me to stand by the trunks, till they were put in the boats. When the last of them went off, I saw men standing in a circle on the shore. I went up to them; perhaps they were five or six rods from me. The first thing that I noticed, was their laying plans and consulting bow Blennerhassett and Comfort Tyler should get safe by Galliopolis. One Nahum Bennett was called forward, and when he came, Blennerhassett asked him, whether he had not two smart horses? Nahum Bennett answered no; he had but one. Then Blennerhassett told him to go to Captain Dennie, and get his sorrel horse; and Nahum Bennett told him, that the sorrel horse had no shoes on; and Blennerhassett said, the roads were soft and would not hurt the horse. Blennerhassett told Nahum Bennett to meet him and Comfort Tyler with the horses, somewhere about Galliopolis: Bennett inquired how he was to find him out, should he inquire for him? "No." "Have you no friends there?" "No." Mrs. Blennerhassett then came forward, and she told Blennerhassett and Comfort Tyler, that they must take a canoe and get into it before they got to Galliopolis, and sail down the stream of the Ohio; for nobody would mind a couple of men going down the stream. She said she'd pay for the canoe. Blennerhassett told Nahum Bennett to take the two horses and pass round Galliopolis before day, and then they might surround [go round] Galliopolis. After that, a man by the name of Tupper, laid his hands upon Blennerhassett, and said, "Your body is in my hands, in the name of the commonwealth." Some such words as that he mentioned. When Tupper made that motion, there were seven or eight muskets leveled at him. Tupper looked about him and said, "Gentlemen, I hope you will not do the like." One of the gentlemen who was nearest, about two yards off, said, "I'd as lieve as not." Tupper then changed his speech, and said he wished him to escape safe down the river, and wished him luck. Tupper before told Blennerhassett he should stay and stand his trial. But Blennerhassett said no; that the people in the neighborhood were coming down next day to take him, and he would go. Next day after, I saw the Wood county militia going down. The people went off in boats that night about one.

Question. All?

Answer. All but one, who was a doctor. All belonging to the boats had some kind of arms. Some of the boats were on the shore and some not.

Mr. Hay. How many men were there in all?

Answer. About twenty or thirty: I did not, however, count them. Every man belonging to the boats that I took notice of, had arms.

Mr. Coleman (one of the jury). What day, month, or year, was this?

Answer. In the fall of the year. I don't recollect the month or particular time, but there was snow on the ground.

Mr. Hay. Do you recollect whether it snows in September?

Answer. I do not know.

Mr. Sheppard (one of the jury). Was Tupper a magistrate or officer?

Answer. I know not.

Question. Where had Blennerhassett been? Answer. In Kentucky.

Mr. Wirt. Had you seen Colonel Burr on the island?

Answer. Yes.

Question. Was he there before Blennerhassett went to Kentucky?

Answer. He was.

Question. Did the boats quit the island at the time of hearing about the proclamation?

Answer. Yes.

Question. Did the Wood county militia go there next day?

Answer. Yes.

Question by Mr. Parker (one of the jury) . . . . How long did Aaron Burr remain on the island?

Answer. I do not recollect.

Question by the same. How long had he been there before the departure of the boats?

To this question, he first answered, that he did not know; and that Mr. Burr never returned back to the island: but after some reflection he said, that he had been there about six weeks before the departure of the boats.


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*The Battle Of New Orleans*

By Major Arsene Lacarriere Latour, Jackson's chief engineer.

_MAJOR LATOUR is regarded as the most, if not only, trustworthy contemporary historian of the Louisiana campaign conducted by General Jackson. His position made him Well qualified for his task, and he has treated the subject without bias. The battle took place January 8, 1815, fifteen days after the Treaty of Ghent was signed. Of the 7,000 veterans of the Napoleonic wars who fought at New Orleans under General Pakenham, one of Wellington's commanders, 2,500 were shot down, including Pakenham himself and Generals Gibbs and Keane. The American loss was 8 killed and 13 wounded. The attention the Battle of New Orleans attracted in Europe added enormously to American prestige.

Gleig, who gives the British side, was an Oxford man who had served as volunteer under Wellington before embarking for America. His account of the engagement in which he took part is considered the most trustworthy written from the English side._

A LITTLE before day break, our outpost came in without noise having perceived the enemy moving forward in great force. At last dawn discovered to us the enemy occupying two-thirds of the space between the wood and the Mississippi. Immediately a Congreve rocket went off from the skirt of the wood, in the direction of the river. This was the signal for the attack. At the same instant, the twelve-pounder of battery No. 6, whose gunners had perceived the enemy's movement, discharged a shot. On this all his troops gave three cheers, formed in close column of about sixty men in front, in very good order, and advanced nearly in the direction of battery No. 7, the men shouldering their muskets, and all carrying fascines, and some with ladders. A cloud of rockets preceded them, and continued to fall in showers during the whole attack. Batteries Nos. 6, 7 and 8, now opened an incessant fire on the column, which continued to advance in pretty good order, until, in a few minutes, the musketry of the troops of Tennessee and Kentucky, joining their fire with that of the artillery, began to make an impression on it, which soon threw it into confusion.

It was at that moment that was heard that constant rolling fire, whose tremendous noise resembled rattling peals of thunder. For some time the British officers succeeded in animating the courage of their troops, and making them advance, obliquing to the left, to avoid the fire of battery No. 7, from which every discharge opened the column, and mowed down whole files, which were almost instantaneously replaced by new troops coming up close after the first: but these also shared the same fate, until at last, after twenty-five minutes continual firing, through which a few platoons advanced to the edge of the ditch, the column entirely broke, and part of the troops dispersed, and ran to take shelter among the bushes on the right. The rest retired to the ditch where they had been when first perceived, four hundred yards from our lines.

There the officers with some difficulty rallied their troops, and again drew them up for a second attack, the soldiers having laid down their knapsacks at the edge of the ditch, that they might be less encumbered. And now, for the second time, the column, recruited with the troops that formed the rear, advanced. Again it was received with the same rolling fire of musketry and artillery, till, having advanced without much order very near our lines, it at last broke again, and retired in the utmost confusion.

The attack on our lines had hardly begun, when the British commander-in-chief, the honorable Sir Edward Packenham, fell a victim to his own intrepidity, while endeavoring to animate his troops with ardor for the assault. Soon after his fall, two other generals, Keane and Gibbs, were carried off the field, dangerously wounded. A great number of officers of rank had fallen: the ground over which the column had marched, was strewed with the dead and the wounded. Such slaughter on their side, with no loss on ours, spread consternation through their ranks, as they were now convinced of the impossibility of carrying our lines, and saw that even to advance was certain death. In a word, notwithstanding the repeated efforts of some officers to make the troops form a third time, they would not advance, and all that could be obtained from them, was to draw them up in the ditch, where they passed the rest of the day.

I deem it my indispensable duty to do justice to the intrepid bravery displayed in that attack by the British troops, especially by the officers. . . . The British soldiers showed, on this occasion, that it is not without reason they are said to be deficient in agility. The enormous load they had to carry contributed indeed not a little to the difficulty of their movement. Besides their knapsacks, usually weighing nearly thirty pounds, and their musket, too heavy by at least one third, almost all of them had to carry a fascine from nine to ten inches in diameter, and four feet long, made of sugar-canes perfectly ripe, and consequently very heavy, or a ladder from ten to twelve feet long.

The duty of impartiality, incumbent on him who relates military events, obliges me to observe that the attack made on Jackson's lines, by the British, on the 8th of January, must have been determined on by their generals without any consideration of the ground, the weather or the difficulties to be surmounted, before they could storm lines defended by militia indeed, but by militia whose valor they had already witnessed, with soldiers bending under the weight of their load, when a man, unencumbered and unopposed, would that day have found it difficult to mount our breastwork at leisure and with circumspection, so extremely slippery was the soil.


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*The Treaty Of Ghent, Concluding The War Of 1812*

_THE Peace of Ghent, which formally ended the War of 1812, was a peace without victory. It was only brought about through a drastic elimination from the treaty of all important questions in dispute. It was signed on December 24, 1814, ratified by the Senate on February 17, 1815, and was proclaimed by President Madison on the following day.

The American commissioners were John Quincy Adams, whose accompanying report of the negotiations appears in his "Memoirs"; Albert Gallatin, Henry Clap, James A. Bayard and Jonathan Russell. The British representatives were Lord Gambier, Henry Goulburn and William Adams.

The Treaty, mainly the handiwork of Gallatin, failed to mention the impressment of American seamen, the chief cause of the war, or the Newfoundland fishery claims recognized in the Treaty of 1783; or the question as to naval forces on the Great Lakes, or the rights of neutrals. All these were subjects of much subsequent negotiation._

HIS Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, desirous of terminating the war which has unhappily subsisted between the two countries, and of restoring, upon principles of perfect reciprocity, peace, friendship and good understanding between them, have, for that purpose, appointed their respective Plenipotentiaries, that is to say:

His Britannic Majesty, on his part, has appointed the Right Honorable James Lord Gambier, late Admiral of the White, now Admiral of the Red Squadron of His Majesty's fleet, Henry Goulburn, Esquire, a member of the Imperial Parliament, and Under Secretary of State, and William Adams, Esquire, Doctor of Civil Laws; and the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, has appointed John Quincy Adams, James A. Bayard, Henry Clay, Jonathan Russell, and Albert Gallatin, citizens of the United States;

Who, after a reciprocal communication of their respective full powers, have agreed upon the following articles:

Article I.

There shall be a firm and universal peace between His Britannic Majesty and the United States, and between their respective countries, territories, cities, towns and people, of every degree, without exception of places and persons. All hostilities, both by sea and land, shall cease as soon as this treaty shall have been ratified by both parties, as hereinafter mentioned. All territory, places and possessions whatsoever, taken by either party from the other during the war, or which may be taken after the signing of this treaty, excepting only the islands hereinafter mentioned, shall be restored without delay, and without causing any destruction or carrying away any of the artillery or other public property originally captured in the said forts or places, and which shall remain therein upon the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty, or any slaves or other private property. And all archives, records, deeds and papers, either of a public nature or belonging to private persons, which, in the course of the war, may have fallen into the hands of the officers of either party, shall be, as far as may be practicable, forthwith restored and delivered to the proper authorities and persons to whom they respectively belong. Such of the islands in the Bay of Passamaquoddy as are claimed by both parties, shall remain in the possession of the party in whose occupation they may be at the time of the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty, until the decision respecting the title to the said islands shall have been made in conformity with the fourth article of this treaty. No disposition made by this treaty as to such possession of the islands and territories claimed by both parties shall, in any manner whatever, be construed to affect the right of either.

Article II.

Immediately after the ratifications of this treaty by both parties, as hereinafter mentioned, orders shall be sent to the armies, squadrons, officers, subjects and citizens of the two Powers to cease from all hostilities. And to prevent all causes of complaint which might arise on account of the prizes which may be taken at sea after the said ratifications of this treaty, it is reciprocally agreed that all vessels and effects which may be taken after the space of twelve days from the said ratifications, upon all parts of the coast of North America, from the latitude of twenty-three degrees north to the latitude of fifty degrees north, and as far eastward in the Atlantic Ocean as the thirty-sixth degree of west longitude from the meridian of Greenwich, shall be restored on each side: that the time shall be thirty days in all other parts of the Atlantic Ocean north of the equinoctial line or equator, and the same time for the British and Irish Channels, for the Gulf of Mexico, and all parts of the West Indies; forty days for the North Seas, for the Baltic, and for all parts of the Mediterranean; sixty days for the Atlantic Ocean south of the equator, as far as the latitude of the Cape of Good Hope; ninety days for every other part of the world south of the equator; and one hundred and twenty days for all other parts of the world, without exception.

Article III.

All prisoners of war taken on either side, as well by land as by sea, shall be restored as soon as practicable after the ratifications of this treaty, as hereinafter mentioned, on their paying the debts which they have contracted during their captivity. The two contracting parties respectively engage to discharge, in specie, the advances which may have been made by the other for the sustenance and maintenance of such prisoners.

Article IV.

Whereas it was stipulated by the second article in the treaty of peace of one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, that the boundary of the United States should comprehend all islands within twenty leagues of any part of the shores of the United States, and lying between lines to be drawn due east from the points where the aforesaid boundaries, between Nova Scotia on the one part, and East Florida on the other, shall respectively touch the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic Ocean, excepting such islands as now are, or heretofore have been, within the limits of Nova Scotia; and whereas the several islands in the Bay of Passamaquoddy, which is part of the Bay of Fundy, and the Island of Grand Menan, in the said Bay of Fundy, are claimed by the United States as being comprehended within their aforesaid boundaries, which said islands are claimed as belonging to His Britannic Majesty, as having been, at the time of and previous to the aforesaid treaty of one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, within the limits of the Province of Nova Scotia; In order therefore, finally to decide upon these claims, it is agreed that they shall be referred to two Commissioners to be appointed in the following manner, viz: One Commissioner shall be appointed by His Britannic Majesty, and one by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof; and the said two Commissioners so appointed shall be sworn impartially to examine and decide upon the said claims according to such evidence as shall be laid before them on the part of His Britannic Majesty and of the United States respectively. The said Commissioners shall meet at St. Andrews, in the Province of New Brunswick, and shall have power to adjourn to such other place or places as they shall think fit. The said Commissioners shall, by a declaration or report under their hands and seals, decide to which of the two contracting parties the several islands aforesaid do respectively belong, in conformity with the true intent of the said treaty of peace of one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three. And if the said Commissioners shall agree in their decision, both parties shall consider such decision as final and conclusive. It is further agreed that, in event of the two Commissioners differing upon all or any of the matters so referred to them, or in the event of both or either of the said Commissioners refusing, or declining, or willfully omitting to act as such, they shall make, jointly or separately, a report or reports, as well to the Government of His Britannic Majesty as to that of the United States, stating in detail the points on which they differ, and the grounds upon which their respective opinions have been formed, or the grounds upon which they, or either of them, have so refused, declined, or omitted to act. And His Britannic Majesty and the Government of the United States hereby agree to refer the report or reports of the said Commissioners to some friendly sovereign or State, to be then named for that purpose, and who shall be requested to decide on the differences which may be stated in the said report or reports, or upon the report of one Commissioner, together with the grounds upon which the other Commissioner shall have refused, declined or omitted to act, as the case may be. And if the Commissioner so refusing, declining or omitting to act, shall also willfully omit to state the grounds upon which he has so done, in such manner that the said statement may be referred to such friendly sovereign or State, together with the report of such other Commissioner, then such sovereign or State shall decide ex parte upon the said report alone. And His Britannic Majesty and the Government of the United States engage to consider the decision of such friendly sovereign or State to be final and conclusive on all the matters so referred.


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*Discussing The Terms Of Peace*

By Commissioner John Quincy Adams.

DECEMBER, 12, 1814. Lord Gambier said that they did not consider the fisheries within their jurisdiction as rights, but merely as privileges granted.

Dr. Adams said that it would be very easy to draw a proviso by which it should be agreed to negotiate upon the two subjects, and yet without implying an abandonment on the part of the United States of their claim.

I said, if he thought it so easy, I would thank him to undertake it. I did not believe it possible. We had drawn up, and now proposed, a general article founded on a precedent in the Treaty of 1794, engaging to negotiate upon all the subjects of difference unadjusted, which would include those of the Mississippi navigation, and the fisheries within the British jurisdiction.

They read our article, and immediately rejected it, finding the word commerce in it.

Mr. Gallatin proposed to leave that word out.

Adams and Goulburn still rejected the article. Adams still said we might draw a proviso reserving our construction of the Treaty of 1783 and agreeing to negotiate on the two subjects; and added that he mentioned it because he believed that if the other question about the islands could be got rid of, the British government would be disposed to some accommodation upon this.

Mr. Bayard drew a proviso for the purpose, and handed it over the table.

They read it, and Lord Gambier immediately said, "l, for one, can never agree to that."

Mr. Bayard asked what the object of the article, as proposed by the British Plenipotentiaries, was.

Adams and Goulburn said it was sent to them from England; they were not to account for the motive of their Government in proposing that or any other article.

Mr. Bayard said he did not ask them for the motive of their Government, but for the object of the article. He supposed gentlemen would at least be authorized to explain that.

Dr. Adams said they had sent us the article as they had received it, and we must construe it for ourselves; he had only said (and it was merely his individual opinion; he would not wish to be understood as pledging the opinion of his Government, or even of his colleagues), but he had said he thought we might easily agree to an article with a proviso reserving our claim to the right by the Treaty of 1783.

Mr. Gallatin asked, if we could find any expedient to come to an agreement upon the other article, whether the British Plenipotentiaries were authorized to accede to any modification of this, so that we might sign the treaty, without another reference to England.

Mr. Goulburn said they did not know. We had sent them three alternatives for their last paragraph of the eighth article. One of these alternatives had been adopted in England, and sent back to them, modified into this article. We had offered them the navigation of the Mississippi, clogged with conditions which would render it of no effect, confining their access to a single point, and upon a payment of full duties upon merchandise intended merely to pass through our territories for exportation.

Mr. Gallatin said that had not been our intention. The access would be given sufficient for all the purposes of transporting the merchandise, and by our laws a drawback from the duties was allowed upon the exportation of goods the benefit of which would be allowed, of course, to the merchandise only passing through for exportation. "But surely, said he, "you could not expect to introduce into the United States your goods and merchandise duty free."

"And," said Mr. Clay, "as you had drawn the first paragraph, you might have gone from Quebec through any part of our territories."

Mr. Goulburn said, "No, that was not their intention."

Mr. Gallatin then took the Mississippi and fisheries article, proposed some alterations to it, and, Mr. Goulburn hesitating upon them, Gallatin said that we labored under great inconvenience and disadvantage in the negotiation. We had no opportunity of communicating with our Government, and were continually obliged to take responsibility upon ourselves, while they referred to their Government for every detail.

22d. . . . As soon as I came into my chamber, Mr. Gallatin brought me the [British] note. It agrees to be silent upon the navigation of the Mississippi and the fisheries, and to strike out the whole of the eighth article.

Mr. Clay soon after came into my chamber, and, on reading the British note, manifested some chagrin. He still talked of breaking off the negotiation, but he did not exactly disclose the motive of his ill humor, which was, however, easily seen through. He would have much preferred the proposed eighth article, with the proposed British paragraph, formally admitting that the British right to navigate the Mississippi, and the American right to the fisheries within British jurisdiction, were both abrogated by the war. I think his conversation with Lord Gambier on the subject last week, at their dinner, the day before we sent our note, had the tendency to induce the British to adhere to their paragraph, and that Clay is disappointed at their having given it up; and he has so entire an ascendency over Mr. Russell, though a New England man and claiming to be a Massachusetts man, that Russell repeatedly told me last week, when I assured him that I would not sign the treaty with an article admitting that our right to any part of the fisheries was forfeited, that he should be sorry to sign a treaty without me, but that he did not think that part of the fisheries an object for which the war should be continued; that he was for insisting upon it as long as possible, but for giving it up at last, if the British would not sign without it. We agreed to meet at half-past seven o'clock this evening.

24th. . . . A few mistakes in the copies were rectified, and then the six copies were signed and sealed by the three British and the five American Plenipotentiaries. Lord Gambier delivered to me the three British copies, and I delivered to him the three American copies, of the treaty, which he said he hoped would be permanent; and I told him I hoped it would be the last treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States. We left them at half-past six o'clock.

25th. Christmas-day. The day of all others in the year most congenial to proclaiming peace on earth and good will to men.

. . . We received shortly after dinner a note from the Intendant, informing us that he had just received an official communication of the conclusion of the peace, and inviting us to dine with him on Wednesday next, to celebrate the event.

27th. . . . Mr. Gallatin had suggested . . . that we ought to make to the British Government an official communication of our full power to negotiate a treaty of commerce. The proposition was now renewed, and after some discussion it was agreed that Mr. Gallatin should make a draft of a note for that purpose.

[28th.] Lord Gambier told me that . . . he heard we were to send them a note, proposing the negotiation of a treaty of commerce. Mr. Clay had met this morning Mr. Goulburn and Dr. Adams, and given them the information. Dr. Adams said that their powers were expired, and he doubted whether they could even receive the note.

[January 5, 1815.] . . . Another important question arose, how we were to dress for the banquet of this day. To settle it, Mr. Smith, at my request, called upon Mr. Goulburn, and enquired how he proposed to go. He answered, in uniform, and we accordingly all went in uniform. The banquet was at the Hotel de Ville, and was given by subscription by the principal gentlemen of the city. We sat down to table about five o'clock, in the largest hall of the building, fitted up for the occasion with white cotton hangings. The American and British flags were intertwined together under olive-trees, at the head of the hall. Mr. Goulburn and myself were seated between the Intendant and the Mayor, at the center of the crosspiece of the table. There were about ninety persons seated at the table. As we went into the hall, "Hail Columbia" was performed by the band of music. It was followed by "God Save the King," and these two airs were alternately repeated during the dinnertime, until Mr. Goulburn thought they became tiresome. I was of the same opinion.

The Intendant and the Mayor alternately toasted "His Britannic Majesty," and "the United States," "the Allied Powers," and "the Sovereign Prince," "the Negotiators," and "the Peace." I then remarked to Mr. Goulburn that he must give the next toast, which he did. It was "the Intendant and the Mayor; the City of Ghent, its prosperity; and our gratitude for their hospitality and the many acts of kindness that we had received from them." I gave the next and last toast, which was, "Ghent, the city of peace; may the gates of the temple of Janus, here closed, not be opened again for a century!"


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*Defining The Powers Of The Federal Government*

By John Marshall, Chief-Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

_IN writing the decision in the celebrated bank case of McCulloch vs. Maryland, from which this extract is taken, Chief-Justice Marshall clearly defines the relations between the State and' Federal governments. Holding to Federalist theories, this most famous of American jurists has never been excelled in the capacity to present a legal proposition from every angle, resolving an argument by the most subtle analysis into its ultimate principles, and applying them to the decision of the case in question.

As Chief-Justice for thirty-four pears, he so expounded the Constitution as to make clear for the first time the nature of the National government and to forecast the lines along which, in actual development as well as in judicial interpretation, the nation was to proceed. The case in which Marshall delivered this decision was argued in 1819._

THE first question made in the cause is, has Congress power to incorporate a bank?

This government is acknowledged by all to be one of enumerated powers.

Among the enumerated powers, we do not find that of establishing a bank or creating a corporation. But there is no phrase in the instrument which, like the Articles of Confederation, excludes incidental or implied powers; and which requires that every thing granted shall be expressly and minutely described. . . A Constitution, to contain an accurate detail of all the subdivisions of which its great powers will admit, and of all the means by which they may be carried into execution, would partake of the prolixity of a legal code, and could scarcely be embraced by the human mind. It would probably never be understood by the public. Its nature, therefore, requires, that only its great outlines should be marked, its important objects designated, and the minor ingredients which compose those objects be deducted from the nature of the objects themselves. That this idea was entertained by the framers of the American Constitution, is not only to be inferred from the nature of the instrument, but from the language. Why else were some of the limitations, found in the 9th section of the 1st article, introduced? It is also, in some degree warranted by their having omitted to use any restrictive term which might prevent its receiving a fair and just interpretation. In considering this question, then, we must never forget, that it is a Constitution we are expounding.

Although, among the enumerated powers of government, we do not find the word "bank," or "incorporation," we find the great powers to lay and collect taxes; to borrow money; to regulate commerce; to declare and conduct a war; and to raise and support armies and navies. The sword and the purse, all the external relations, and no inconsiderable portion of the industry of the nation, are intrusted to its government.

It can never be pretended that these vast powers draw after them others of inferior importance, merely because they are inferior. Such an idea can never be advanced. But it may, with great reason, be contended, that a government, intrusted with such ample powers, on the due execution of which the happiness and prosperity of the nation so vitally depends, must also be intrusted with ample means for their execution. The power being given, it is the interest of the nation to facilitate its execution. It can never be their interest, and cannot be presumed to have been their intention, to clog and embarrass its execution by withholding the most appropriate means. Throughout this vast Republic, from the St. Croix to the Gulf of Mexico, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, revenue is to be collected and expended, armies are to be marched and supported. The exigencies of the nation may require, that the treasure raised in the North should be be transported to the South, that raised in the East conveyed to the West, or that this order should be reversed. Is that construction of the Constitution to be preferred which would render these operations difficult, hazardous, and expensive? Can we adopt that construction, (unless the words imperiously require it,) which would impute to the framers of that instrument, when granting these powers for the public good, the intention of impeding their exercise by withholding a choice of means?

It is not denied, that the powers given to the government imply the ordinary means of execution. That, for example, of raising revenue, and applying it to national purposes, is admitted to imply the power of conveying money from place to place, as the exigencies of the nation may require, and of employing the usual means of conveyance. But it is denied that the government has its choice of means; or, that it may employ the most convenient means, if, to employ them, it be necessary to erect a corporation.

. . . The power of creating a corporation is never used for its own sake, but for the purpose of effecting something else. No sufficient reason is, therefore, perceived, why it may not pass as incidental to those powers which are expressly given, if it be a direct mode of executing them.

But the Constitution of the United States has not left the right of Congress to employ the necessary means, for the execution of the powers conferred on the government, to general reasoning. To its enumeration of powers is added that of making "all laws which shall be necessary and proper, for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution, in the government of the United States, or in any department thereof."

The counsel for the State of Maryland have urged various arguments, to prove that this clause, though in terms a grant of power, is not so in effect; but is really restrictive of the general right, which might otherwise be implied, of selecting means for executing the enumerated powers.

But the argument on which most reliance is placed, is drawn from the peculiar language of this clause. Congress is not empowered by it to make all laws, which may have relation to the powers conferred on the government, but such only as may be "necessary and proper" for carrying them into execution. The word "necessary" is considered as controlling the whole sentence, and as limiting the right to pass laws for the execution of the granted powers, to such as are indispensable, and without which the power would be nugatory. That it excludes the choice of means, and leaves to Congress, in each case, that only which is most direct and simple.

Is it true, that this is the sense in which the word necessary" is always used? Does it always import an absolute physical necessity, so strong, that one thing, to which another may be termed necessary, cannot exist without that other? We think it does not. . . . It is essential to just construction, that many words which import something excessive, should be understood in a more mitigated sense in that sense which common usage justifies. The word "necessary" is of this description . . . in its construction, the subject, the context, the intention of the person using them, are all to be taken into view.

Let this be done in the case under consideration. The subject is the execution of those great powers on which the welfare of a nation essentially depends. It must have been the intention of those who gave these powers, to insure, as far as human prudence could insure, their beneficial execution. This could not be done by confining the choice of means to such narrow limits as not to leave it in the power of Congress to adopt any which might be appropriate, and which were conducive to the end. This provision is made in a constitution intended to endure for ages to come, and, consequently, to be adapted to the various crises of human affairs. To have prescribed the means by which government should, in all future time, execute its powers, would have been to change, entirely, the character of the instrument, and give it the properties of a legal code. It would have been an unwise attempt to provide, by immutable rules, for exigencies which, if foreseen at all, must have been seen dimly, and which can be best provided for as they occur. To have declared that the best means shall not be used, but those alone without which the power given would be nugatory, would have been to deprive the legislature of the capacity to avail itself of experience, to exercise its reason, and to accommodate its legislation to circumstances. If we apply this principle of construction to any of the powers of the government, we shall find it so pernicious in its operation that we shall be compelled to discard it.

Take, for example, the power "to establish post-offices and post-roads." This power is executed by the single act of making the establishment. But, from this has been inferred the power and duty of carrying the mail along the post-road, from one post-office to another. And, from this implied power, has again been inferred the right to punish those who steal letters from the post-office, or rob the mail. It may be said, with some plausibility, that the right to carry the mail, and to punish those who rob it, is not indispensably necessary to the establishment of a post-office and post-road. This right is, indeed, essential to the beneficial exercise of the power, but not indispensably necessary to its existence.

If this limited construction of the word "necessary" must be abandoned in order to punish, whence is derived the rule which would reinstate it, when the government would carry its powers into execution by means not vindictive in their nature? If the word necessary means needful requisite," "essential," "conducive to," in order to let in the power of punishment for the infraction of law, why is it not equally comprehensive when required to authorize the use of means which facilitate the execution of the powers of government without the infliction of punishment?

But the argument which most conclusively demonstrates the error of the construction contended for by the counsel for the State of Maryland, is founded on the intention of the convention, as manifested in the whole clause. To waste time and argument in proving that, without it, Congress might carry its powers into execution, would be not much less idle than to hold a lighted taper to the sun.

The result of the most careful and attentive consideration bestowed upon this clause is, that if it does not enlarge, it cannot be construed to restrain the powers of Congress, or to impair the right of the legislature to exercise its best judgment in the selection of measures, to carry into execution the constitutional powers of the government. If no other motive for its insertion can be suggested, a sufficient one is found in the desire to remove all doubts respecting the right to legislate on that vast mass of incidental powers which must be involved in the constitution, if that instrument be not a splendid bauble.

We admit, as all must admit, that the powers of the government are limited, and that its limits are not to be transcended. But we think the sound construction of the Constitution must allow to the national legislature that discretion, with respect to the means by which the powers it confers are to be carried into execution, which will enable that body to perform the high duties assigned to it, in the manner most beneficial to the people. Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the Constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited, but consist with the letter and spirit of the Constitution, are constitutional.


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*An Apprehensive View Of The Missouri Compromise*

By Thomas Jefferson.

_THE Missouri Compromise was the first of the great measures that followed the spirit of mutual accommodation found in the Constitution itself. It was an arrangement between the free and slave States, embodied in an Act of Congress approved March 6, 1820, which provided for the admission of Missouri into the Union as a slave State, but which prohibited slavery in all other Louisiana territory north of the southern boundary line of Missouri.

Jefferson betrays both apprehension and alarm for the future of the Union, in these three letters written in 1820. It is the Southern view of a lukewarm slaveholder. Following it is the Northern view taken from the journal of John Quincy Adams, then (1820) Secretary of State. His prophecy of civil war, in the third paragraph, was fulfilled in 1861. Niles, whose moderate view follows, founded (1815) and edited "Niles' Weekly Register," the files of which are an invaluable record of contemporary events._

ALTHOUGH I had laid down as a law to myself, never to write, talk, or even think of politics, to know nothing of public affairs, and therefore had ceased to read newspapers, yet the Missouri question aroused and filled me with alarm. The old schism of Federal and Republican threatened nothing, because it existed in every State, and united them together by the fraternism of party. But the coincidence of a marked principle, moral and political, with a geographical line, once conceived, I feared would never more be obliterated from the mind; that it would be recurring on every occasion and renewing irritations, until it would kindle such mutual and mortal hatred, as to render separation preferable to eternal discord. I have been among the most sanguine in believing that our Union would be of long duration. I now doubt it much, and see the event at no great distance, and the direct consequence of this question; not by the line which has been so confidently counted on; the laws of nature control this; but by the Potomac, Ohio and Missouri, or more probably, the Mississippi upwards to our northern boundary.

I CAN say, with conscious truth, that there is not a man on earth who would sacrifice more than I would to relieve us from this heavy reproach, in any practicable way. The cession of that kind of property, for so it is misnamed, is a bagatelle which would not cost me a second thought, if, in that way, a general emancipation and expatriation could be effected; and, gradually, and with due sacrifices, I think it might be. But as it is, we have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other.

Of one thing I am certain, that as the passage of slaves from one State to another, would not make a slave of a single human being who would not be so without it, so their diffusion over a greater surface would make them individually happier, and proportionally facilitate the accomplishment of their emancipation, by dividing the burden on a greater number of coadjutors. An abstinence too, from this act of power, would remove the jealousy excited by the undertaking of Congress to regulate the condition of the different descriptions of men composing a State. This certainly is the exclusive right of every State, which nothing in the Constitution has taken from them and given to the general government. Could Congress, for example, say, that the non-freemen of Connecticut shall be freemen, or that they shall not emigrate into any other State?

I regret that I am now to die in the belief, that the useless sacrifice of themselves by the generation of 1776, to acquire self-government and happiness to their country, is to be thrown away by the unwise and unworthy passions of their sons, and that my only consolation is to be, that I live not to weep over it. If they would but dispassionately weigh the blessings they will throw away, against an abstract principle more likely to be effected by union than by scission, they would pause before they would perpetrate this act of suicide on themselves, and of treason against the hopes of the world.

THE Missouri Question is a mere party trick. The leaders of federalism, defeated in their schemes of obtaining power by rallying partisans to the principle of monarchism, a principle of personal not of local division, have changed their tack, and thrown out another barrel to the whale. They are taking advantage of the virtuous feelings of the people to effect a division of parties by a geographical line; they expect that this will insure them, on local principles, the majority they could never obtain on principles of federalism; but they are still putting their shoulder to the wrong wheel; they are wasting jeremiads on the miseries of slavery, as if we were advocates for it. Sincerity in their declamations should direct their efforts to the true point of difficulty, and unite their counsels with ours in devising some reasonable and practicable plan of getting rid of it.

Some of these leaders, if they could attain the power, their ambition would rather use it to keep the Union together, but others have ever had in view its separation. If they push it to that, they will find the line of separation very different from their 36 of latitude, and as manufacturing and navigating States, they will have quarreled with their bread and butter, and I fear not that after a little trial they will think better of it, and return to the embraces of their natural and best friends. But this scheme of party I leave to those who are to live under its consequences. We who have gone before have performed an honest duty, by putting in the power of our successors a state of happiness which no nation ever before had within their choice. If that choice is to throw it away, the dead will have neither the power nor the right to control them. I must hope, nevertheless, that the mass of our honest and well-meaning brethren of the other States, will discover the use which designing leaders are making of their best feelings, and will see the precipice to which they are lead, before they take the fatal leap.


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*A Northern View Of The Missouri Compromise*

By John Quincy Adams.

I HAD some conversation with Calhoun on the slave question pending in Congress. He said he did not think it would produce a dissolution of the Union, but, if it should, the South would be from necessity compelled to form an alliance, offensive and defensive, with Great Britain.

I said that would be returning to the colonial state.

He said, yes, pretty much, but it would be forced upon them. I asked him whether he thought, if by the effect of this alliance, offensive and defensive, the population of the North should be cut off from its natural outlet upon the ocean, it would fall back upon its rocks bound hand and foot, to starve, or whether it would not retain its powers of locomotion to move southward by land. Then, he said, they would find it necessary to make their communities all military. I pressed the conversation no further; but if the dissolution of the Union should result from the slave question, it is as obvious as anything that can be foreseen of futurity, that it must shortly afterwards be followed by the universal emancipation of the slaves.

After this meeting, I walked home with Calhoun, who said that the principles which I had avowed were just and noble; but that in the Southern country, whenever they were mentioned, they were always understood as applying only to white men. Domestic labor was confined to the blacks, and such was the prejudice, that if he, who was the most popular man in his district, were to keep a white servant in his house, his character and reputation would be irretrievably ruined.

I said that this confounding of the ideas of servitude and labor was one of the bad effects of slavery; but he thought it attended with many excellent consequences. It did not apply to all kinds of labor not, for example, to farming. He himself had often held the plough; so had his father. Manufacturing and mechanical labor was not degrading. It was only manual labor the proper work of slaves. No white person could descend to that. And it was the best guarantee to equality among the whites. It produced an unvarying level among them. It not only did not excite, but did not even admit of inequalities, by which one white man could dominate over another.

I told Calhoun I could not see things in the same light. It is, in truth, all perverted sentiment mistaking labor for slavery, and dominion for freedom. The discussion of this Missouri question has betrayed the secret of their souls. In the abstract they admit that slavery is an evil, they disclaim all participation in the introduction of it, and cast it all upon the shoulders of our old Grandam Britain. But when probed to the quick upon it, they show at the bottom of their souls pride and vain glory in their condition of masterdom. They fancy themselves more generous and noble-hearted than the plain freemen who labor for subsistence. They look down upon the simplicity of a Yankee's manners, because he has no habits of overbearing like theirs and cannot treat ******* like dogs.

The impression produced upon my mind by the progress of this discussion is, that the bargain between freedom and slavery contained in the Constitution of the United States is morally and politically vicious, inconsistent with the principles upon which alone our Revolution can be justified; cruel and oppressive, by riveting the chains of slavery, by pledging the faith of freedom to maintain and perpetuate the tyranny of the master; and grossly unequal and impolitic, by admitting that slaves are at once enemies to be kept in subjection, property to be secured or restored to their owners, and persons not to be represented themselves, but for whom their masters are privileged with nearly a double share of representation. The consequence has been that this slave representation has governed the Union. Benjamin portioned above his brethren has ravined as a wolf. In the morning he has devoured the prey, and at night he has divided the spoil. It would be no difficult matter to prove, by reviewing the history of the Union under this Constitution, that almost everything which has contributed to the honor and welfare of the nation has been accomplished in despite of them or forced upon them, and that everything unpropitious and dishonorable, including the blunders and follies of their adversaries, may be traced to them. I have favored this Missouri Compromise, believing it to be all that could be effected under the present Constitution, and from extreme unwillingness to put the Union at hazard. But perhaps it would have been a wiser as well as a bolder course to have persisted in the restriction upon Missouri, till it should have terminated in a convention of the States to revise and amend the Constitution. This would have produced a new Union of thirteen or fourteen States unpolluted with slavery, with a great and glorious object to effect, namely, that of rallying to their standard the other States by the universal emancipation of their slaves. If the Union must be dissolved, slavery is precisely the question upon which it ought to break. For the present, however, this contest is laid asleep.


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## Library4Science (Apr 13, 2011)

This is an excerpt from volume 5 of America, Great Crises in our History.

*A Moderate View Of The Missouri Compromise*

By Hezekiah Niles.

IT IS established (so far as large majorities in both houses of Congress can establish it), that the power to check the progress of a slave population within the territories of the United States, exists by the Constitution; but admitted that it was not expedient to exert that power in regard to Missouri and Arkansas. The latter depended on many considerations of no ordinary importance: the safety and feelings of the white population in several of the States appeared to be involved in it, and the rights and feelings of others were as deeply concerned in the subject at large. In this conflict of interests, among persons who possibly desired the same ultimate issue, though their views of it were diametrically opposed, a spirit of conciliation prevailed and a compromise was effected.

The people of those sections of country in which there are few or no slaves or persons of color, very imperfectly appreciate the wants, necessities or general principle of others differently situated. Collectively, the latter deprecate slavery as severely as the former, and dread its increase but individual cupidity and rashness acts against the common sentiment, in the hope that an event which everybody believes must happen, may not happen in their day. It is thus that too many of us act about death; we are sure it must come, yet we commit wrong to acquire property, just as if we should hold and enjoy it forever! That the slave population will, at some certain period, cause the most horrible catastrophe, cannot be doubted those who possess them act defensively in behalf of all that is nearest and dearest to them, when they endeavor to acquire all the strength and influence to meet that period which they can; and hence the political and civil opposition of these to the restriction which was proposed to be laid on Missouri, &c. They have the offensive population, and no feasible plan has yet been contrived to rid them of it, if they were disposed so to do. Will the people of any of the States, so much alive to humanity, pass acts to encourage emancipation by agreeing to receive the emancipated what will they do, what can they do, to assist the people of others to relieve themselves of their unfortunate condition? It is easy to use severe terms against the practice of slavery but let us first tell the Southern people what they can safely do to abolish it, before we, by wholesale, condemn them.

No one can hate slavery more than I do it is a thing opposed to every principle that operates on my mind, as an individual and, in my own private circle, I do much to discourage it. I am, also, exceedingly jealous of it, so far as it affects my political rights as a citizen of the United States, entitled to be fairly and fully represented, and no more. But I can make great allowances for those who hold slaves in districts where they abound where, in many cases, their emancipation might be an act of cruelty to them and of most serious injury to the white population. Their difference of color is an insuperable barrier to their incorporation within the society; and the mixture of free blacks with slaves is detrimental to the happiness of both, the cause of uncounted crimes. Yet I think that some have urged their defensive character too far without a proper respect for the rights and feelings of others, whose business it is also to judge on the matter, as applicable to an extension of the evil. But we advocated the compromise, as fixing certain points for the future government of all the parties concerned; believing that the moral and political evil of spreading slavery over Missouri and even in Arkansas, was not greater than that which might have arisen from restriction, though to restrict was right in itself. The harmony of the Union, and the peace and prosperity of the white population, most excited our sympathies. We did not fear the dreadful things which some silly folks talked of, but apprehended geographical oppositions which might lead to the worst of calamities. We had no pleasant feeling on the compromise, for bad was the best that could be done. Nevertheless, we hoped that the contest was at an end, and that things would settle down and adapt themselves to the agreement which necessity imposed.

Thus situated, it was with no little concern that we saw in the constitution which Missouri was about to offer for the sanction of Congress, new causes of collision. The objectionable provisions cannot be of any use to the new State, as to the things which they aim at. We are willing to believe that they were unthinkingly introduced; but they have the appearance of braving opposition, and of manifesting a spirit which the meekest man feels disposed to resist to say nothing of one of them as being contrary to the Constitution of the United States that to prevent the emigration and settlement of free blacks and mulattoes. It appears that some of the former and a number of the latter are entitled to bounty lands, for services rendered in the late war: if their lots should be in Missouri, it is idle to pretend they may not settle upon and enjoy them, if they please. But we are not disposed to examine the subject in detail the principle adopted by the convention of Missouri, to give our opinion of it in a few words, is destructive of the federative character of our great compact, and may just as well apply to the exclusion of persons with black hair or blue eyes; and no one can seriously apprehend injury from the emigration of free people of color to a slave-holding state. It would be about as reasonable as to expect that the Mississippi will discharge her waters into the lakes, instead of naturally to disembogue them into the Gulf of Mexico.

The result, in the House of Representatives, was anticipated; but we did think that both Houses, with large majorities, would have so decided, as to striking out the offensive provisions, for the sake of harmony, in the spirit of the compromise: all would then have been well, and a great deal of time, trouble and anxiety saved. We totally reject the idea that anything which it is the business of Congress to do, should be left to the judiciary or any other power. With due deference to the eminent gentleman who proposed it, we regret that he did it; for had his plan been adopted, who can tell where the precedent would have stopped? But we think it more strange that, because Missouri was empowered to make a constitution, it should be argued that Congress was bound to accept it. Why, then, are constitutions offered, referred to committees, and sanctioned by both Houses? All this is mere mummery, if they are to be accepted at any rate as contended for by some of the members. No one wishes harm to the people of Missouri they are of our own kindred and lineage; they may have urged their claims imprudently, and, in our belief, have mistaken their true interests but they have a right to judge for themselves; and if that judgment is repugnant to the general opinion or principle on the matter, they will yield it, we trust, to the law, and respect the majority.

We had written thus far when we first saw the resolution offered by Mr. Eustis, in the House of Representatives, on Tuesday last. . . . It precisely meets our wishes, so far as it goes, and may accomplish all that either party is really just now disposed to contend for. The anti-restriction members, as well as others, regretted the existence of certain clauses in the constitution of Missouri, as unnecessary, and calculated only to create doubts and excite opposition. Let them be expunged by the unanimous voice of Congress, and then we shall hope for an obliteration of the feelings which this unfortunate controversy has given birth to, and that all will be willing to disavow sectional interests within the body of the Republic; the peace and prosperity of which can only be maintained by a spirit of forbearance and moderation: and, if we must differ in opinion, let us differ like rational beings, and grant to others the rights which we assume for ourselves, always recollecting that the fairly expressed will of the majority must govern.


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