CHAPTER 25
§§ 260-262.--a. Explain by a map the American plan of campaign and show its advantages and disadvantages.
b. Describe Perry's victory. How did this turn the scale of war?
§§ 263-265.--a. Describe the escape of the Constitution from the British fleet. Describe the destruction of the Guerrière and of the Frolic. What was the reason for the American successes?
b. Why was the effect of these victories so great?
c. Why did the capture of the Chesapeake cause so much delight in England? Why are Lawrence's words so inspiring?
§§ 266, 267.--a. Compare the second plan for the invasion of Canada with the earlier one.
b. Discuss the events of Brown's campaign and its results.
c. Compare Prevost's campaign with Burgoyne's. Why was it unsuccessful?
d. What do Perry's and McDonough's victories show?
§§ 268.--a. Why were the British attacks directed against these three portions of the country?
b. Describe the attack on Washington. Was the burning of the public buildings justifiable?
c. Read the "Star-Spangled Banner" and explain the allusions.
§§ 269, 270.--a. Describe Jackson's plans for the defense of New Orleans. Why were they so successful?
b. Why did not this success of the Americans have more effect on the peace negotiations?
§§ 271, 272.--a. Why were most of the naval conflicts during the first year of the war? What is a blockade? What is a privateer?
b. What work did the privateers do?
§ 273.--a. Why was so little advance made at first toward a treaty of peace?
b. Why was the news of the treaty so long in reaching Washington?
c. What was settled by the war?
§ 274.--a. Were the Federalists or the Republicans more truly the national party?
b. What propositions were made by the Hartford Convention? If such proposals were carried out, what would be the effect on the Union?
c. Compare the principles underneath these resolutions with those of the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions.
§275.--a. Note carefully the effect of this war.
b. Why is it called the Second War of Independence?
CHAPTER 26
§§ 276, 277.--a. What is meant by the Era of Good Feeling? Is this period more important or less important than the period of war which preceded it? Why?
b. What matters occupied the attention of the people?
c. What shows the sudden increase in Western migration?
§§ 278, 279.--a. State carefully the objections to the admission of Missouri on the part of the Northerners. Why did the Southerners object to the admission of Maine?
b. Trace on a map the line between the free states and the slave states. Why was slavery no longer of importance north of this line? Why was it important south of this line?
c. Why were the free states gaining faster than the slave states?
d. Explain the Missouri Compromise. How did the Compromise postpone the conflict over slavery?
§ 280.--a. Why was Florida a danger to the United States?
b. What people in the United States would welcome the purchase of Florida?
c. What does this section show you as to Jackson's character?
§ 281.--a. Why was the Holy Alliance formed? What did the allies propose as to America?
b. How was this proposal regarded by Americans? Why?
c. How was it regarded by Englishmen? Why?
§§ 282, 283.--a. Explain carefully the four points of Monroe's message.
b. Were these ideas new? What is an "unfriendly act"?
c. What action did Great Britain take? What was the result of the declarations of the United States and Great Britain.
d. What was the new point in Monroe's message?
e. Do we still keep to the Monroe Doctrine in all respects?
CHAPTER 27
§§ 284-288.--a. Who were the candidates for President in 1824? Describe the qualities and careers of each of them. For whom would you have voted had you had the right to vote in 1824?
b. How were these candidates nominated? What is a caucus?
c. Describe the Tenure of Office Act. Should a man be given an office simply because he has helped his party?
d. In what respects was Jackson unlike the early Presidents?
e. What was the result of the election? Who was finally chosen? Why? If you had been a Representative in 1824, for whom would you have voted? voted? Why?
f. What is a majority? A plurality?
§ 289.--a. Why was the appointment of Clay a mistake?
b. What charges were made against Adams?
c. Describe the misfortunes of Adams's administration.
§§ 290, 291.--a. How are manufactures protected?
b. Why were the protective tariffs of no benefit to the Southerners?
c. Why was an attempt for a higher tariff made in 1828?
d. Explain the plan of the Jackson men. Why did the plan fail?
§ 292.--a. Describe the election of 1828.
b. How was Jackson fitted to meet difficulties?
GENERAL QUESTIONS
a. Why was the navy better prepared for war than the army?
b. Why did slaveholders feel the need of more slave territory in the Union?
c. Jackson has been called "a man of the people." Explain this title.
TOPICS FOR SPECIAL WORK
a. Early life of Andrew Jackson (to 1828).
b. A battle of the War of 1812, e.g. Lake Erie, Lundy's Lane, Plattsburg, New Orleans, or a naval combat.
c. The frigate Constitution.
d. The career of Clay, of Calhoun, of J.Q. Adams, or of Monroe.
SUGGESTIONS
The results of the War of 1812 should be carefully studied and compared with the proposals of the Hartford Convention. These last can be taught by comparison with the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions.
To the Missouri Compromise much time and careful explanation should be given. Touch upon the economic side of slavery, and explain how the continued supremacy of the slave power was threatened.
The Monroe Doctrine is another difficult topic; but it can be explained by recent history.
The election of 1824 can be carefully employed to elucidate the mode of electing President, and the struggle over the tariffs can be illustrated by recent tariff contests.
[Illustration: FLAG ADOPTED IN 1818. A star for each state and a stripe for each of the original states.]
[Illustration: UNITED STATES IN 1830]
X
THE NATIONAL DEMOCRACY,
1829-1844
Books for Study and Reading
References.--Scribner's Popular History, IV; Lodge's Webster; Coffin's Building the Nation, 251-313.
Home Readings.--Roosevelt's Winning of the West; Hale's Stories of Inventions; Wright's Stories of American Progress.
CHAPTER 28
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE IN 1830
[Sidenote: Changes in conditions.]
293. A New Race.--Between the election of President Jefferson and the election of President Jackson great changes had taken place. The old Revolutionary statesmen had gone. New men had taken their places. The old sleepy life had gone. Everywhere now was bustle and hurry. In 1800 the Federalists favored the British, and the Republicans favored the French. Now no one seemed to care for either the British or the French.
At last the people had become Americans. The Federalist party had disappeared. Every one now was either a National Republican and voted for Adams, or a Democratic Republican and voted for Jackson.
[Sidenote: Population, 1830.]
[Sidenote: Area, 1830.]
[Sidenote: Growth of the cities.]
[Sidenote: Settlement of the West.]
294. Numbers and Area.--In 1800 there were only five and one-half million people in the whole United States. Now there were nearly thirteen million people. And they had a very much larger country to live in
. In 1800 the area of the United States was about eight hundred thousand square miles. But Louisiana and Florida had been bought since then. Now (1830) the area of the United States was about two million square miles. The population of the old states had greatly increased.
Especially the cities had grown. In 1800 New York City held about sixty thousand people; it now held two hundred thousand people. But it was in the West that the greatest growth had taken place. Since 1800 Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Missouri had all been admitted to the Union.
[Sidenote: Difficulties of transport over the Alleghanies. McMaster, 252, 280-282.]
[Sidenote: The Cumberland Road.]
295. National Roads.--Steamboats were now running on the Great Lakes and on all the important rivers of the West. The first result of this new mode of transport was the separation of the West from the East.
Steamboats could carry passengers and goods up and down the Mississippi and its branches more cheaply and more comfortably than people and goods could be carried over the Alleghanies. Many persons therefore advised the building of a good wagon road to connect the Potomac with the Ohio.
The eastern end of this great road was at Cumberland on the Potomac in Maryland. It is generally called, therefore, the Cumberland Road. It was begun at the national expense in 1811. By 1820 the road was built as far as Wheeling on the Ohio River. From that point steamboats could steam to Pittsburg, Cincinnati, St. Louis, or New Orleans. Later on, the road was built farther west, as far as Illinois. Then the coming of the railroad made further building unnecessary.
[Sidenote: The Erie Canal, 1825. McMaster, 282-284.]
[Sidenote: De Witt Clinton.]
[Sidenote: Results of the building of the Erie Canal.]
296. The Erie Canal.--The best way to connect one steamboat route with another was to dig a canal. The most famous of all these canals was the one connecting the Hudson River with Lake Erie, and called the Erie Canal. It was begun in 1817 and was completed so that a boat could pass through it in 1825. It was De Witt Clinton who argued that such a canal would benefit New York City by bringing to it the produce of the Northwest and of western New York. At the same time it would benefit the farmers of those regions by bringing their produce to tide water cheaper than it could be brought by road through Pennsylvania. It would still further benefit the farmers by enabling them to buy their goods much cheaper, as the rates of freight would be so much lower by canal than they were by road. People who did not see these things as clearly as De Witt Clinton saw them, spoke of the enterprise most sneeringly and called the canal "Clinton's big ditch." It very soon appeared that Clinton was right. In one year the cost of carrying a ton of grain from Lake Erie to the Hudson River fell from one hundred dollars to fifteen dollars. New York City soon outstripped all its rivals and became the center of trade and money in the United States. Other canals, as the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, were marvels of skill. But they were not so favorably situated as the Erie Canal and could not compete with it successfully.
[Illustration: CONESTOGA WAGON AND TEAM.]
[Sidenote: The first railroads. McMaster, 285-289.]
297. Early Railroads.--The best stone and gravel roads were always rough in places. It occurred to some one that it would be better to lay down wooden rails, and then to place a rim or flange on the wagon wheels to keep them on the rails. The first road of this kind in America was built at Boston in 1807. It was a very rude affair and was only used to carry dirt from the top of a hill to the harbor. The wooden rails soon wore out, so the next step was to nail strips of iron on top of them.
Long lines of railroads of this kind were soon built. Both passengers and goods could be carried on them. Some of them were built by private persons or by companies. Others were built by a town or a state. Any one having horses and wagons with flanged wheels could use the railway on the payment of a small sum of money. This was the condition of affairs when the steam locomotive was invented.
[Illustration: AN EARLY LOCOMOTIVE.]
[Sidenote: Invention of the locomotive, 1830.]
[Sidenote: Hardships of early railroad travel.]
298. The Steam Locomotive.--Steam was used to drive boats through the water. Why should not steam be used to haul wagons over a railroad? This was a very easy question to ask, and a very hard one to answer.
Year after year inventors worked on the problem. Suddenly, about 1830, it was solved in several places and by several men at nearly the same time. It was some years, however, before the locomotive came into general use. The early railroad trains were rude affairs. The cars were hardly more than stagecoaches with flanged wheels. They were fastened together with chains, and when the engine started or stopped, there was a terrible bumping and jolting. The smoke pipe of the engine was very tall and was hinged so that it could be let down when coming to a low bridge or a tunnel. Then the smoke and cinders poured straight into the passengers' faces. But these trains went faster than canal boats or steamboats. Soon the railroad began to take the first place as a means of transport.
[Illustration: A LOCOMOTIVE OF TO-DAY.]
[Sidenote: Use of hard coal.]
[Sidenote: Growth of the cities.]
299. Other Inventions.--The coming of the steam locomotive hastened the changes which one saw on every side in 1830. For some time men had known that there was plenty of hard coal or anthracite in Pennsylvania.
But it was so hard that it would not burn in the old-fashioned stoves and fireplaces. Now a stove was invented that would burn anthracite, and the whole matter of house warming was completely changed. Then means were found to make iron from ore with anthracite. The whole iron industry awoke to new life. Next the use of gas made from coal became common in cities. The great increase in manufacturing, and the great changes in modes of transport, led people to crowd together in cities and towns. These inventions made it possible to feed and warm large numbers of persons gathered into small areas. The cities began to grow so fast that people could no longer live near their work or the shops.
Lines of stagecoaches were established, and the coaches were soon followed by horse cars, which ran on iron tracks laid in the streets.
[Illustration: AN EARLY HORSE CAR.]
[Sidenote: Growth of the school system.]
[Sidenote: Webster's "Dictionary."]
[Sidenote: American men of letters.]
[Sidenote: American men of science.]
300. Progress in Letters.--There was also great progress in learning. The school system was constantly improved. Especially was this the case in the West, where the government devoted one thirty-sixth part of the public lands to education. High schools were founded, and soon normal schools were added to them. Even the colleges awoke from their long sleep. More students went to them, and the methods of teaching were improved. Some slight attention, too, was given to teaching the sciences. In 1828 Noah Webster published the first edition of his great dictionary. Unfortunately he tried to change the spelling of many words.
But in other ways his dictionary was a great improvement. He defined words so that they could be understood, and he gave the American meaning of many words, as "congress." American writers now began to make great reputations. Cooper, Irving, and Bryant were already well known. They were soon joined by a wonderful set of men, who speedily made America famous. These were Emerson, Lowell, Longfellow, Holmes, Hawthorne, Prescott, Motley, Bancroft, and Sparks. In science, also, men of mark were beginning their labors, as Pierce, Gray, Silliman, and Dana. Louis Agassiz before long began his wonderful lectures, which did much to make science popular. In short, Jackson's administration marks the time when American life began to take on its modern form.
[Illustration: NOAH WEBSTER.]
CHAPTER 29
THE REIGN OF ANDREW JACKSON, 1829-1837
[Sidenote: Jackson's early career.]
[Sidenote: His "kitchen cabinet".]
301. General Jackson.--Born in the backwoods of Carolina, Jackson had early cross
ed the Alleghanies and settled in Tennessee. Whenever trouble came to the Western people, whenever there was need of a stout heart and an iron will, Jackson was at the front. He always did his duty. He always did his duty well. Honest and sincere, he believed in himself and he believed in the American people. As President he led the people in one of the stormiest periods in our history. Able men gathered about him. But he relied chiefly on the advice of a few friends who smoked their pipes with him and formed his "kitchen cabinet." He seldom called a regular cabinet meeting. When he did call one, it was often merely to tell the members what he had decided to do.
[Sidenote: Party machines.]
[Sidenote: The Spoils System.]
302. The Spoils System.--Among the able men who had fought the election for Jackson were Van Buren and Marcy of New York and Buchanan of Pennsylvania. They had built up strong party machines in their states. For they "saw nothing wrong in the principle that to the victors belong the spoils of victory." So they rewarded their party workers with offices--when they won. The Spoils System was now begun in the national government. Those who had worked for Jackson rushed to Washington. The hotels and boarding-houses could not hold them. Some of them camped out in the parks and public squares of the capital. Removals now went merrily on. Rotation in office was the cry. Before long Jackson removed nearly one thousand officeholders and appointed political partisans in their places.
[Sidenote: The North and the South. McMaster, 301-304.]
303. The North and the South.--The South was now a great cotton-producing region. This cotton was grown by negro slaves. The North was now a great manufacturing and commercial region. It was also a great agricultural region. But the labor in the mills, fields, and ships of the North was all free white labor. So the United States was really split into two sections: one devoted to slavery and to a few great staples, as cotton; the other devoted to free white labor and to industries of many kinds.
[Sidenote: The South and the tariff, 1829.]
[Sidenote: Calhoun's "Exposition."]
304. The Political Situation, 1829.--The South was growing richer all the time; but the North was growing richer a great deal faster than was the South. Calhoun and other Southern men thought that this difference in the rate of progress was due to the protective system. In 1828 Congress had passed a tariff that was so bad that it was called the Tariff of Abominations (p. 231). The Southerners could not prevent its passage. But Calhoun wrote an "Exposition" of the constitutional doctrines in the case. This paper was adopted by the legislature of South Carolina as giving its ideas. In this paper Calhoun declared that the Constitution of the United States was a compact. Each state was a sovereign state and could annul any law passed by Congress. The protective system was unjust and unequal in operation. It would bring "poverty and utter desolation to the South." The tariff act should be annulled by South Carolina and by other Southern states.
A Short History of the United States by Channing Page 18