THE STRUGGLE FOR NEUTRALITY
%227. Trouble with Great Britain and France.%--From the congressional
election in 1792 we may date the beginning of organized political
parties in the United States. They sprang from differences of opinion as
to domestic matters. But on a sudden in 1793 Federalists and Republicans
became divided on questions of foreign affairs.
Ever since 1789 France had been in a state of revolution, and at last
(in 1792) the people established the French Republic, cut off the heads
of the King and Queen (in 1793), and declared war on England and sent a
minister, Genet, to the United States. At that time we had no treaty
with Great Britain except the treaty of peace. With France, however, we
had two treaties,--one of alliance, and one of amity and commerce. The
treaty of alliance bound us to guarantee to France "the possessions of
the crown of France in America," by which were meant the French West
Indian Islands. When Washington heard that war had been declared by
France, and that a French minister was on his way to America, he became
alarmed lest this minister should call on him to make good the guarantee
by sending a fleet to the Indies. On consulting his secretaries, they
advised him that the guarantee applied only when France was attacked,
and not when she was the attacking party. The President thereupon issued
a proclamation of neutrality; that is, declared that the United States
would not side with either party in the war, but would treat both alike.
%228. Sympathy for France; the French Craze.%--Then began a long
struggle for neutrality. The Republicans were very angry at Washington
and denounced him violently. France, they said, had been our old friend;
Great Britain had been our old enemy. We had a treaty with France; we
had none with Great Britain. To treat her on the same footing with
France was therefore a piece of base ingratitude to France. A wave of
sympathy for France swept over the country. The French dress, customs,
manners, came into use. Republicans ceased to address each other as Mr.
Smith, Mr. Jones, Sir, or "Your Honor," and used Citizen Smith and
Citizen Jones. The French tricolor with the red liberty cap was hung up
in taverns and coffeehouses, which were the clubhouses of that day.
Every French victory was made the occasion of a "civic feast," while the
anniversaries of the fall of the Bastile and of the founding of the
Republic were kept in every great city.[1]
[Footnote 1: Read McMaster's _History of the People of the United
States_, Vol. II., pp. 89-96; _Harpers Magazine_, April, 1897.]
%229. England seizes our Ships; the Rule of 1756%.--To preserve
neutrality in the face of such a public sentiment was hard enough; but
Great Britain made it more difficult yet. When war was declared, France
opened the ports of her West Indian Islands and invited neutral nations
to trade with them. This she did because she knew that the British navy
could drive her merchantmen from the sea, and that all trade between
herself and her colonies must be carried on in the ships of
neutral nations.
Now the merchants of the United States had never been allowed to trade
with the French Indies to an unlimited extent. The moment, therefore,
they were allowed to do so, they gladly began to trade, and during the
summer of 1793 hundreds of ships went to the islands. There were at that
time four questions of dispute between us and Great Britain:
1. Great Britain held that she might seize any kind of food going to a
French port in our ships. We held that only military stores might be
so seized.
2. Great Britain held that when a port had been declared to be
blockaded, a ship bound to that port might be seized even on the high
seas. We held that no port was blockaded unless there was a fleet
actually stationed at it to prevent ships from entering or leaving it.
3. Great Britain held that our ships might be captured if they had
French goods on board. We held that "free ships made free goods," and
that our ships were not subject to capture, no matter whose goods they
had on board.
4. Great Britain in 1756 had adopted a rule that no neutral should have
in time of war a trade she did not have in time of peace.
The United States was now enjoying a trade in time of war she did not
have in time of peace, and Great Britain began to enforce her rule.
British ships were ordered to stop American vessels going to or coming
from the French West Indies, and if they contained provisions, to seize
them. This was done, and in the autumn of 1793 great numbers of American
ships were captured.
%230. Our Sailors impressed.%--All this was bad enough and excited
the people against our old enemy, who made matters a thousand times
worse by a course of action to which we could not possibly submit. She
claimed the right to stop any of our ships on the sea, send an officer
on board, force the captain to muster the crew on the deck, and then
search for British subjects. If one was found, he was seized and carried
away. If none were found, and the British ships wanted men, native-born
Americans were taken off under the pretext that one could not tell an
American from an English sailor. Our fathers could stand a great deal,
but this was too much, and a cry for war went up from all parts of
the country.
But Washington did not want war, and took two measures to prevent it.
He persuaded Congress to lay an embargo for thirty days, that is, forbid
all ships to leave our ports, and induced the Senate to let him send
John Jay, the Chief Justice, to London to make a treaty of amity and
commerce with Great Britain.
%231. Jay's Treaty, 1794.%--In this mission Jay succeeded; and though
the treaty was far from what Washington wanted, it was the best that
could be had, and he approved it.[1] At this the Republicans grew
furious. They burned copies of the treaty at mass meetings and hung Jay
in effigy. Yet the treaty had some good features. By it the King agreed
to withdraw his troops from Oswego and Detroit and Mackinaw, which
really belonged to us but were still occupied by the English. By it our
merchants were allowed for the first time to trade with the British West
Indies, and some compensation was made for the damage done by the
capture of ships in the West Indies.
[Footnote 1: The Senate ratified this treaty in the summer of 1795.]
%232. Treaty with Spain.%--About the same time (October, 1795) we
made our first treaty with Spain, and induced her to accept the
thirty-first degree of latitude as the south boundary of our country,
and to consent to open the Mississippi to trade. As Spain owned both
banks at the mouth of the river, she claimed that American ships had no
right to go in or out without her consent, and so prevented the people
of Kentucky and Tennessee from trading in foreign markets. She now
agreed that they might float their produce to New Orleans and pay a
small duty, and then ship it wherever they pleased.
%233. The Election of Adams and Jefferson, 1796%.--Washington had
been reëlected President in 1792, but he was now tired of office, and in
September, 1796, issued his "Farewell Address," in which he declined to
be the candidate for a third presidential term. In those days there were
no national conventions to nominate candidates, yet it was well
understood that John Adams, the Vice President, was the candidate of the
Federalists, and Thomas Jefferson, of the Republicans. When the votes
were counted in Congress, it was found that Adams had 71 electoral
votes, and Jefferson 68; so they became President and Vice President.
[Illustration: John Adams]
%234. Trouble with France.%--Adams was inaugurated on March 4, 1797,
and three days later heard that C. C. Pinckney, our minister to the
French Republic, had been driven from France. Pinckney had been sent to
France by Washington in 1796, but the French Directory (as the five men
who then governed France were called) had taken great offense at Jay's
treaty: first because it was favorable to Great Britain, and in the
second place because it put an end for the present to all hope of war
between her and the United States. The Directory, therefore, refused to
receive Pinckney until the French grievances were redressed.
The President was very angry at the insult, and summoned Congress to
meet and take such action as, said he, "shall convince France and the
whole world that we are not a degraded people humiliated under a
colonial spirit of fear and sense of inferiority." But the Republicans
declared so vigorously that if a special mission were sent to France all
would be made right, that Adams yielded, and sent John Marshall and
Elbridge Gerry to join Pinckney as envoys extraordinary. On reaching
Paris, three men acting as agents for the Directory met them, and
declared that before they could be received as ministers they must do
three things:
1. Apologize for Adams's denunciation of the conduct of France.
2. Pay each Director $50,000.
3. Pay tribute to France.
When the President reported this demand to Congress, the names of the
three French agents were suppressed, and instead they were called Mr. X,
Mr. Y, Mr. Z. This gave the mission the nickname "X, Y, Z mission."
%235. "Millions for Defense, not a Cent for Tribute."%--As the
newspapers published these dispatches, a roar of indignation, in which
the Federalists and Republicans alike joined, went up from the whole
country. "Millions for defense, not a cent for tribute," became the
watchword of the hour. Opposition in Congress ceased, and preparations
were at once made for war. The French treaties were suspended. The Navy
Department was created, and a Secretary of the Navy appointed. Frigates
were ordered to be built, money was voted for arms, a provisional army
was formed, and Washington was again made commander in chief, with the
rank of lieutenant general. The young men associated for defense, the
people in the seaports built frigates or sloops of war, and gave their
services to erect forts and earthworks. Every French flag was now pulled
down from the coffeehouses, and the black cockade of our own
Revolutionary days was once more worn as the badge of patriotism. Then
was written, by Joseph Hopkinson of Philadelphia,[1] and sung for the
first time, our national song _Hail, Columbia!_
[Footnote 1: The music to which we sing _Hail, Columbia!_ was called
_The President's March_, and was played for the first time when the
people of Trenton were welcoming Washington on his way to be inaugurated
President in 1789. For an account of the trouble with France read
McMaster's _History of the People of the United States_, Vol. II, pp.
207-416, 427-476.]
%236. The Alien and Sedition Acts.%--Carried away by the excitement
of the hour, the Federalists now passed two most unwise laws. Many of
the active leaders and very many of the members of the Republican party
were men born abroad and naturalized in this country. Generally they
were Irishmen or Frenchmen, and as such had good reason to hate England,
and therefore hated the Federalists, who they believed were too friendly
to her. To prevent such becoming voters, and so taking an active part in
politics, the Federalists passed a new naturalization law, which forbade
any foreigner to become an American citizen until he had lived fourteen
years in our country. Lest this should not be enough to keep them
quiet, a second law was passed by which the President had power for two
years to send any alien (any of these men who for fourteen years could
not become citizens) out of the country whenever he thought it proper.
This law Adams never used.
For five years past the Republican newspapers had been abusing
Washington, Adams, the acts of Congress, the members of Congress, and
the whole foreign policy of the Federalists. The Federalist newspapers,
of course, had retaliated and had been just as abusive of the
Republicans. But as the Federalists now had the power, they determined
to punish the Republicans for their abuse, and passed the Sedition Act.
This provided that any man who acted seditiously (that is, interfered
with the execution of a law of Congress) or spoke or wrote seditiously
(that is, abused the President, or Congress, or any member of the
Federal government) should be tried, and if found guilty, be fined and
imprisoned. This law was used, and used vigorously, and Republican
editors all over the country were fined and sometimes imprisoned.[1]
[Footnote 1: The Alien and Sedition acts are in Preston's _Documents_,
pp. 277-282.]
%237. Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions.%--The passage of these Alien
and Sedition laws greatly excited the Republicans, and led Jefferson to
use his influence to have them condemned by the states. For this purpose
he wrote a set of resolutions and sent them to a friend in Kentucky who
was to try to have the legislature adopt them.[2] Jefferson next asked
Madison to write a like set of resolutions for the Virginia legislature
to adopt. Madison became so interested that he gave up his seat in
Congress and entered the Virginia legislature, and in December, 1798,
induced it to adopt what have since been known as the Virginia
Resolutions of 1798.
[Footnote 2: Kentucky had been admitted to the Union in 1792 (see p.
213).]
Meantime the legislature of Kentucky, November, 1798, had adopted the
resolutions of Jefferson.[3]
[Footnote 3: E. D. Warfield's _Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions_. The
Resolutions are printed in Preston's _Documents_, pp. 283-298;
_Jefferson's Works_, Vol. IX., p. 494.]
Both sets declare 1. That the Constitution of the United States is a
compact or contract. 2. That to this contract each state is a party;
that is, the united states are equal partners in a great political firm.
So far they agree; but at this point they differ. The Kentucky
Resolutions assert that when any question arises as to the right of
Congress to pass any law, _each state_ may decide this question for
itself and apply any remedy it likes. The Virginia Resolutions declare
that _the states_ may judge and apply the remedy.
Both declared that the Alien and Sedition laws were wholly
unconstitutional. Seven states answered by declaring that the laws were
constitutional, whereupon Kentucky in 1799 framed another set of
resolutions in which she said that when a state thought a law to be
illegal she had the right to nullify it; that is, forbid her citizens to
obey it. This doctrine of nullification, as we shall see, afterwards
became of very serious importance.[1]
[Footnote 1: The answers of the states are printed in Elliot's
_Debates_, Vol. IV., pp. 532-539.]
%238. The Naval War with France.%--Meantime war opened with France.
The Navy Department was created in April, 1798, and before the year
ended, a gallant little navy of thirty-four frigates, corvettes, and gun
sloops of war had been collected and sent with a host of privateers to
scour the sea around the French West Indies, destroy French commerce,
and capture French ships of war.[1] One of our frigates, the
_Constellation_, Captain Thomas Truxton in command, captured the French
frigate _Insurgente_, after a gallant fight. On another occasion,
Truxton, in the _Constellation_, fought the _Vengeance_ and would have
taken her, but the Frenchman, finding he was getting much the worst of
it, spread his sails and fled. Yet another of our frigates, the
_Boston_, took the _Berceau_, whose flag is now in the Naval Institute
Building at Annapolis. In six months the little American twelve-gun
schooner _Enterprise_ took eight French privateers, and recaptured and
set free four American merchantmen. These and a hundred other actions
just as gallant made good the patriotic words of John Adams, "that we
are not a degraded people humiliated under a colonial spirit of fear and
sense of inferiority." So impressed was France with this fact that the
war had scarcely begun when the Directory meekly sent word that if
another set of ministers came they would be received. They ought to have
been told that they must send a mission to us. But Adams in this respect
was weak, and in 1800, the Chief Justice, Oliver Ellsworth, William R.
Davie, and William Vans Murray were sent to Paris. The Directory had
then fallen from power, Napoleon was ruling France as First Consul, and
with him in September, 1800, a convention was concluded.
[Footnote 2: For an account of this war, read Maclay's _History of the
United States Navy_, Vol. I., pp. 155-213.]
%239. The Stamp Tax; the Direct Tax and Fries's Rebellion,
1798.%--The heavy cost of the preparations for war made new taxes
necessary. Two of these, a stamp tax very similar to the famous one of
1765, and a direct tax, greatly excited the people. The direct tax was
the first of its kind in our history, and was laid on lands, houses, and
negro slaves. In certain counties of eastern Pennsylvania, where the
population was chiefly German, the purpose of the tax was not
understood, and the people refused to make returns of the value of their
farms and houses. When the assessors came to measure the houses and
count the windows as a means of determining the value of the property,
the people drove them off. For this some of the leaders were arrested.
But the people under John Fries rose and rescued the prisoners. At this
stage President Adams called out the militia, and marched it against the
rebels. They yielded. But Fries was tried for treason, was sentenced to
be hanged, and was then pardoned. Thus a second time was it proved that
the people of the United States were determined to support the
Constitution and the laws and put down rebellion.
%240. Washington the National Capital.%--In accordance with the
bargain made in 1790, Washington selected a site for the Federal city
on both banks of the Potomac. This great square tract of land was ten
miles long on each side, and was given to the government partly by
Maryland and partly by Virginia.[1] It was called the District of
Columbia, and in it were marked out the streets of Washington city.
[Footnote 1: In 1846 so much of the District as had belonged to Virginia
was given back to her.]
Though all possible haste was made, the President's house was still
unfinished, the Capitol but partly built, and the streets nothing but
roads cut through the woods, when, in the summer of 1800, the
secretaries, the clerks, the books and papers of the government left
Philadelphia for Washington. With the opening of the new century, and
the occupation of the new Capitol, came a new President, and a new party
in control of the government.
[Illustration: The National Capitol as it was in 1825]
%241. The Election of Thomas Jefferson.%--The year 1800 was a
presidential year, and though no formal nomination was made, a caucus of
Republican leaders selected as candidates Thomas Jefferson for
President, and Aaron Burr for Vice President. A caucus or meeting of
Federalist leaders selected John Adams and C. C. Pinckney as their
candidates. When the returns were all in, it appeared that Jefferson had
received seventy-three votes, Burr seventy-three votes, Adams sixty-five
votes, Pinckney sixty-four votes. The Constitution provided that the man
who received the highest number of electoral votes, if the choice of
the majority of the electors, should be President. But as Jefferson and
Burr had each seventy-three, neither had the highest, and neither was
President. The duty of electing a President then devolved on the House
of Representatives, which after a long and bitter struggle elected
Jefferson President; Burr then became Vice President. To prevent such a
contest ever arising again, the twelfth amendment was added to the
Constitution. This provides for a separate ballot for Vice President.
March 4, 1801, Jefferson, escorted by the militia of Georgetown and
Alexandria, walked from his lodgings to the Senate chamber and took the
oath of office.{1} He and his party had been placed in power in order to
make certain reforms, and this, when Congress met in the winter of 1801,
they began to do.
[Footnote 1: For a fine description of Jefferson's personality, read
Henry Adams's _History of the United States_, Vol. I., pp. 185-191. As
to the story of Jefferson riding alone to the Capitol and tying his
horse to the fence, see Adams's _History_, Vol. I, pp. 196-199;
McMaster's _History_, Vol. II., pp. 533-534.]
%242. The Annual Message.%--While Washington and Adams were
presidents, it was their custom when Congress met each year to go in
state to the House of Representatives, and in the presence of the House
and Senate read a speech. The two branches of Congress would then
separate and appoint committees to answer the President's speech, and
when the answers were ready, each would march through the streets to the
President's house, where the Vice President or the Speaker would read
the answer to the President. When Congress met in 1801, Jefferson
dropped this custom and sent a written message to both houses--a
practice which every President since that time has followed.
%243. Republican Reforms.%--True to their promises, the Republicans
now proceeded to repeal the hated laws of the Federalists. They sold all
the ships of the navy except thirteen, they ordered prosecutions under
the Sedition law to be stopped, they repealed all the internal taxes
laid by the Federalists, they cut down the army to 2500 men, and
reduced the expenses of government to $3,700,000 per year--a sum which
would not now pay the cost of running the government for three days. As
the annual revenue collected at the customhouses, the post office, and
from the sale of land was $10,800,000, the treasury had some $7,000,000
of surplus each year. This was used to pay the national debt, which fell
from $88,000,000 in 1801 to $45,000,000 in 1812, and this in spite of
the purchase of Louisiana.
[Illustration: Thomas Jefferson]
%244. The Purchase of Louisiana.%--When France was driven out of
America, it will be remembered, she gave to Spain all of Louisiana west
of the Mississippi River, together with a large tract on the east bank,
at the river's mouth. Spain then owned Louisiana till 1800, when by a
secret treaty she gave the province back to France.[1]
[Footnote 1: Adams's _History of the United States, _Vol. I., pp.
352-376.]
For a while this treaty was really kept secret; but in April, 1802, news
that Louisiana had been given to France and that Napoleon was going to
send out troops to hold it, reached this country and produced two
consequences. In the first place, it led the Spanish intendant (as the
man who had charge of all commercial matters was called) to withdraw the
"right of deposit" at New Orleans, and so prevent citizens of the United
States sending their produce out of the Mississippi River. In the second
place, this act of the intendant excited the rage of all the settlers in
the valley from Pittsburg to Natchez, and made them demand the instant
seizure of New Orleans by American troops. To prevent this, Jefferson
obtained the consent of Congress to make an effort to buy New Orleans
and West Florida, and sent Monroe to aid our minister in France in
making the purchase.
When the offer was made, Napoleon was about going to war with England,
and, wanting money very much, he in turn offered to sell the whole
province to the United States--an offer that was gladly accepted. The
price paid was $15,000,000, and in December, 1803, Louisiana was
formally delivered to us.
%245. Louisiana.%--Concerning this splendid domain hardly anything
was known. No boundaries were given to it either on the north, or on the
west, or on the south. What the country was like nobody could tell.[1]
Where the source of the Mississippi was no white man knew. In the time
of La Salle a priest named Hennepin had gone up to the spot where
Minneapolis now stands, and had seen the Falls of St. Anthony (p. 63).
But the country above the falls was still unknown.
[Footnote 1: In a description of it which Jefferson sent to Congress in
1804, he actually stated that "there exists about one thousand miles up
the Missouri, and not far from that river, a salt mountain. This
mountain is said to be one hundred and eighty miles long and forty-five
in width, composed of solid rock salt, without any trees or even
shrubs on it."]
%246. Explorations of Lewis and Clark.%--That this great region ought
to be explored had been a favorite idea of Jefferson for twenty years
past, and he had tried to persuade learned men and learned societies to
organize an expedition to cross the continent. Failing in this, he
turned to Congress, which in 1803 (before the purchase of Louisiana)
voted a sum of money for sending an exploring party from the mouth of
the Missouri to the Pacific. The party was in charge of Meriwether Lewis
and William Clark. Early in May, 1804, they left St. Louis, then a
frontier town of log cabins, and worked their way up the Missouri River
to a spot not far from the present city of Bismarck, North Dakota, where
they passed the winter with the Indians. Resuming their journey in the
spring of 1805, they followed the Missouri to its source in the
mountains, after crossing which they came to the Clear Water River; and
down this they went to the Columbia, which carried them to a spot where,
late in November, 1805, they "saw the waves like small mountains rolling
out in the sea." They were on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. After
spending the winter at the mouth of the Columbia, the party made its way
back to St. Louis in 1806.
%247. The Oregon Country.%--Lewis and Clark were not the first of our
countrymen to see the Columbia River. In 1792 a Boston ship captain
named Gray was trading with the Pacific coast Indians. He was collecting
furs to take to China and exchange for tea to be carried to Boston, and
while so engaged he discovered the mouth of a great river, which he
entered, and named the Columbia in honor of his ship. By right of this
discovery by Gray the United States was entitled to all the country
drained by the Columbia River. By the exploration of this country by
Lewis and Clark our title was made stronger still, and it was finally
perfected a few years later when the trappers and settlers went over the
Rocky Mountains and occupied the Oregon country.[1]
[Footnote 1: Barrows's _Oregon_; McMaster's _History_, Vol. II., pp.
633-635.]
[Illustration: Mouth of the Columbia River]
%248. Pike explores the Southwest.%--While Lewis and Clark were
making their way up the Missouri, Zebulon Pike was sent to find the
source of the Mississippi, which he thought he did in the winter of
1805-06. In this he was mistaken, but supposing his work done, he was
dispatched on another expedition in 1806. Traveling up the Missouri
River to the Osage, and up the Osage nearly to its source, he struck
across Kansas to the Arkansas River, which he followed to its head
waters, wandering in the neighborhood of that fine mountain which in
honor of him bears the name of Pikes Peak. Then he crossed the mountains
and began a search for the Red River. The march was a terrible one. It
was winter; the cold was intense. The snow lay waist deep on the plains.
Often the little band was without food for two days at a time. But Pike
pushed on, in spite of hunger, cold, and suffering, and at last saw,
through a gap in the mountains, the waters of the Rio Grande. Believing
that it was the Red, he hurried to its banks, only to be seized by the
Spaniards (for he was on Spanish soil), who carried him a prisoner to
Santa Fé, from which city he and his men wandered back to the United
States by way of Mexico and Texas.
[Illustration: %EXPLORATION OF THE SOUTHWEST% BY ZEBULON M. PIKE
%1806-1807%]
%249. Astoria founded.%--The immediate effect of these explorations
was greatly to stimulate the fur trade. One great fur trader, John Jacob
Astor of New York, now founded the Pacific Fur Company and made
preparations to establish a line of posts from the upper Missouri to the
Columbia, and along it to the Pacific, and supply them from St. Louis by
way of the Missouri, or from the mouth of the Columbia, where in 1811 a
little trading post was begun and named Astoria. This completed our
claim to the Oregon country. Gray had discovered the river; Lewis and
Clark had explored the territory drained by the river; the Pacific Fur
Company planted the first lasting settlement.
SUMMARY
1. In 1793 France made war on Great Britain. The United States was bound
by the treaty of alliance of 1778 to "guarantee" the French possessions
in America.
2. This treaty, and the coming of the French minister, forced Washington
to declare the United States neutral in the war.
3. His proclamation of neutrality was resented by the Republicans, who
now became sympathizers with France. The Federalists, who were strongest
in the commercial states, became the anti-French or English party.
4. When France declared war on England, she opened her ports in the West
Indies to the merchant trade of the United States.
5. England held that we should not have a trade with France when at war,
for we had not had it when France was at peace. This was an application
of the "Rule of 1756." In 1793-1794, therefore, England began to seize
our ships coming from the French ports.
6. This so excited the Republicans that they attempted to force the
country into war with England.
7. To prevent war, Washington sent Jay to London, where he made our
first commercial treaty with Great Britain.
8. This offended the French Directory, who refused to receive our new
minister and sent him out of France.
9. War with France now seemed likely. But Adams, in the interest of
peace, sent three commissioners to Paris to make a new treaty. They were
met with demands for tribute and came home.
10. The greatest excitement now prevailed in the country. The Navy
Department was created, a navy was built by the people, and a
provisional army raised. The old French treaties were suspended, and a
naval war began.
11. The popular anger against the Republicans (the French party) gave
the Federalists control of Congress, whereupon they passed the Alien and
Sedition laws.
12. Against these Virginia and Kentucky protested in a set of
resolutions.
13. In the election of 1800 the Federalists were defeated, and the
Republicans secured control of the Federal government.
14. In 1800 Spain ceded Louisiana to France, whereupon the Spanish
official at New Orleans shut the Mississippi to American commerce.
15. The whole West cried out against this and demanded war. But
Jefferson offered to buy West Florida from France. Napoleon thereupon
offered to sell all Louisiana, and we bought it (1803).
16. The new territory as yet had no boundaries; but it was explored in
the northwest by Lewis and Clark, and in the southwest by Pike.
17. The discovery of the Columbia River in 1792, the exploration of the
country by Lewis and Clark, and the founding of Astoria established our
claim to the Oregon country.
FRANCE A REPUBLIC, 1792.
------------------------
|
______________|________________
DECLARES WAR ON ENGLAND (1793).
|
______________________|___________________________
| |
| |
Opens her ports |
to neutral trade. Sends a minister to the United States.
------------------------- ---------------------------------------
1. England asserts rule This brought up the questions:
of 1756. 1. Shall he be received?--Yes.
2. Seizes our ships in 2. Is the old alliance applicable
the West Indies. to offensive war?--No.
3. Impresses our sailors. 3. Shall the United States
| be neutral?--Yes.
|
| Washington issues a proclamation
| of neutrality.
| |
--------------------------------
|
Struggle for neutrality.
-----------------------------------------------
| |
Republicans oppose it. Federalists support it.
Attempt retaliation on Great Britain. Lay embargo.
Are aided by Federalists. Prepare for war.
| |
-----------------------------------------------
|
Washington sends Jay to England. Jay's treaty made (1794).
|
-------------------------------------------
| |
1. France takes offense. Violently opposed by the Republicans.
2. Rejects Pinckney.
3. Republicans demand a special mission.
4. Adams yields and sends X, Y, Z mission.
5. Insulted by Directory.
6. Excitement at home leads to
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Establishment of Navy Department. Creation of a navy.
Provisional army. Washington, Lt. Gen.
Naval war with France.
Alien and Sedition laws. Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions.
Increased taxation. The direct tax.
Fries's rebellion.
Defeat of Adams and election of Jefferson (1800).
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Introduces reforms.
Annual message.
Buys Louisiana.
Exploration of the Northwest.