The Missouri Compromise--Erie Canal Opened--Political Parties and Great
National Issues--President Jackson Crushes the United States Bank--South
Carolina Pronounces the Tariff Law Void--Jackson's Energetic Action--A
Compromise--Territory Reserved for the Indians--The Seminole War--
Osceola's Vengeance--His Capture and Death--The Black Hawk War--Abraham
Lincoln a Volunteer--Texas War for Independence--Massacre of the Alamo
--Mexican Defeat at San Jacinto--The Mexican President a Captive--Texas
Admitted to the Union--Oregon--American Statesmen Blinded by the Hudson
Bay Company--Marcus Whitman's Ride--Oregon Saved to the Union--The "Dorr
War."
The Missouri Compromise, by which Congress, after admitting Missouri as a
slave State, took the parallel of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes as a
dividing line through the rest of the Louisiana Purchase, between slavery
and freedom, averted for another generation the great struggle between
North and South. At peace with the rest of the world, the United States
had time to devote to national development without the distraction of
war, and financial questions, the tariff and internal improvements
engrossed the attention of Congress and of the States. The opening of the
Erie Canal, connecting Lake Erie with the Hudson River, in 1825, made
central New York the great highway of commerce and of travel, and New
York gradually became the leading State of the Union in population,
wealth and trade. There was a strong agitation in favor of a general
system of roads and canals, connecting the various parts of the country,
and to be constructed at the expense of the nation, and not of the
States. The party known as National Republicans, direct successors of the
Federalists, supported this proposition, and also advocated a high tariff
on imports and an extension of the charter of the United States Bank,
about to expire in 1836. The Democratic Republicans, now known simply as
Democrats, denied the constitutional authority of the national government
to construct roads and canals, or to impose a tariff except for revenue,
or to charter a national bank. During the administration of John Quincy
Adams the National Republicans succeeded in having tariff laws enacted in
1824 and 1828, which gave substantial and, in the view of the Democrats,
excessive protection to domestic manufactures.
General Andrew Jackson was elected President in 1828, after a most bitter
contest, in which John Quincy Adams was his opponent. Jackson
claimed--and the evidence seems to support his claim--that the United
States Bank had used all its influence against him, and had even made
antagonism to Jackson a condition of mercantile accommodation. He had
long before been prejudiced against the bank through the stupid red
tapeism of an agent of the bank in New Orleans who stood by a rule not
intended for emergencies when Jackson needed money for his army. He was
convinced that not only all the power of the bank, but all the power
which the Federal Government could exert to defeat him had been exerted,
and being victorious in despite of this opposition, he resolved to crush
the bank and to make a clean sweep of the officeholders. The old
pamphlets in the Astor Library which tell the story of the bank's
struggle to escape annihilation are almost pathetic reading. The giant
was prostrate, and his enemy had no mercy. In 1832 Jackson vetoed the
bill to renew the charter of the bank. Re-elected President in 1832 by an
overwhelming majority of votes in the Electoral College, Jackson, in the
following year, removed the public money which had been deposited in the
United States Bank, and distributed it among various State banks. The
Senate censured Jackson, but the censure was expunged after a long
struggle, in which Senator Thomas Hart Benton, of Missouri, championed
the President.
The opposition to a tariff for protection was very bitter in the South,
where the people regarded the tariff duties as a tribute exacted from
them for the benefit of the North. This feeling was especially strong in
South Carolina, where a State convention undertook to pronounce the
tariff law null and void, and held out a threat of secession should the
Federal Government attempt to collect the duties. The States of Alabama,
Tennessee and Georgia took firm ground against nullification, and on
December 10, 1832, President Jackson issued his famous proclamation,
exhorting all persons to obey the laws, and denouncing the South Carolina
ordinance. "I consider then," said the President, "the power to annul a
law of the United States, assumed by one State, incompatible with the
existence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the
Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every
principle on which it was founded, and destructive of the great object
for which it was formed." The President declared it to be his intent to
"take care that the laws be faithfully executed," and he warned the
citizens of South Carolina that "the course they are urged to pursue is
one of ruin and disgrace to the very State whose rights they affect to
support." Major Heileman, commanding the United States troops at
Charleston, was instructed to be vigilant in defeating any attempt to
seize the forts in that harbor, and two companies of artillery were
ordered to Fort Moultrie. The Unionist sentiment in South Carolina itself
was strong, and the crisis fortunately passed without any attempt to
carry into execution the nullification ordinance. Excitement ran high,
however, until the adoption in March, 1833, of a compromise tariff, which
provided for a gradual reduction of duties.
* * *
General Jackson in his annual message of 1830, recommended the devotion
of a large tract of land, west of the Mississippi, to the use of the
Indian tribes yet remaining east of that river, and Congress, in 1834,
enacted that "all that part of the United States west of the Mississippi
River, and not within the States of Missouri and Louisiana, or the
Territory of Arkansas, shall be considered the Indian country." This was
the origin of the present Indian Territory, gradually reduced in area by
the successive formation of States and Territories. The Seminoles of
Florida naturally objected to removal from the land of their ancestors to
a far-distant region, and under the leadership of a brave and skillful
chief named Osceola they resisted the troops sent to coerce them into
obedience. The most memorable event of the war was the massacre of Major
Dade and about one hundred soldiers in an ambuscade, December 28, 1835.
On the same day Osceola with a small party of followers killed and
scalped General Wiley Thomson, of the United States army and five of
Thomson's friends. Before the opening of hostilities Thomson had put
Osceola in irons on account of his refractory attitude, and the Indian
chief long planned the act of vengeance which he thus signally executed.
The war lasted almost seven years, and was attended with a distressing
loss of life and property. Not less than 9000 United States troops were
in the Seminole territory in the latter part of 1837, and while the
Indians were more than once severely chastised when brought to an
engagement, it was almost impossible to pursue them in their native
everglades. Osceola was taken prisoner when in conference, under a flag
of truce, with General Jesup, of the United States army, but the
Seminoles maintained the struggle under other leaders, and it was not
until 1842 that peace was established, and the Indians driven to
surrender. Osceola did not live to see the defeat of the cause for which
he had fought so resolutely. He died of fever at Fort Moultrie on the
last day of 1839.
* * *
The Black Hawk War in the Northwest was, as usual with Indian wars, a
struggle on the part of the red men to retain the lands of their fathers.
Black Hawk was a noted chief of the Sacs and Foxes, and he claimed that
the original treaty by which his tribe sold all their lands in Illinois
to the United States was made by only four chiefs, and that they were
drunk when they signed it. Assuming this charge to be true it remains
that the provisions of the first treaty were confirmed by two subsequent
treaties, the last in 1830, when the principal chief, Keokuk, made the
final cession to the United States of all the country owned by the Sacs
and Foxes east of the Mississippi River. This was done without the
knowledge of Black Hawk, whose indignation was greatly aroused upon
hearing of the negotiation. Black Hawk was yet more enraged when he
found, in April, 1831, that during the absence of himself and his people
from their village on a hunting expedition a fur-trader had purchased
from the government the ground on which the village stood, and was
preparing to cultivate the field upon which the Indians had for many
years raised their corn. This was in violation of the letter and spirit
of the treaty, which provided that the Indians could occupy their lands
until they were needed for settlement, and the frontier settlements were
yet fifty miles distant. War soon followed between the whites and
Indians, Abraham Lincoln, afterward President of the United States, being
enlisted as a volunteer. Colonel Zachary Taylor, afterward President, was
one of the officers in command of the United States troops. After
fighting with varied fortunes for several months, Black Hawk was defeated
with the loss of many warriors, and fled to a village of the Winnebagoes.
The latter escorted the fallen chieftain to the United States authorities
at Prairie du Chien. "Black Hawk is an Indian," said the captive warrior,
speaking in the third person. "He has done nothing an Indian need be
ashamed of. He has fought the battles of his country against the white
men, who come year after year to cheat them and take away their lands. He
will go to the world of spirits contented." Black Hawk was well treated
as a prisoner, taken to Washington to visit the President, and liberated
after peace had been made.
* * *
During Jackson's second term the American settlers in Texas succeeded,
after a conflict attended by signal heroism and ferocity, in securing
their independence of Mexico. The massacre of the Alamo by the Mexicans
under Santa Anna, will always be remembered in American history. The
Mission of the Alamo, which the Texans defended to the death against
overwhelming numbers, was entirely isolated from the town of San Antonio.
It consisted of several buildings, and a convent yard, surrounded by high
and thick walls, having partly, like all the old missions, the character
of a fortress. Fourteen pieces of artillery were mounted for the defence,
and the garrison, when it entered the Alamo, consisted of one hundred and
forty-five men, untrained in arms, except in the use of the rifle. Their
leader was Lieutenant Colonel William Barret Travis, a native of North
Carolina, and second in command was Colonel James Bowie, inventor of the
terrible bowie-knife. Santa Anna, the President of Mexico, was in
personal command of the attacking forces, numbering between 6000 and 7000
men. He declared that he would grant no quarter. The troops ordered to
the assault numbered 2500, or about twenty-five Mexicans to one American.
The deadly fire from the Alamo twice repelled the enemy, but they were
driven on by the blows and shouts of their officers, and at the third
attempt they scaled the wall, and carried the defences. While life lasted
the Texans fought. They had agreed to blow up the buildings in the last
extremity, but Major T. C. Evans, when about to fire the magazine, was
struck down by a bullet. Not a defender who could be found was spared.
Five Texans who had hidden themselves were taken before Santa Anna. At a
word from that monster of cruelty they were at once dispatched with
bayonets.
The Alamo was not long unavenged. The massacre took place on March 6,
1836. On April 21, the Texans, led by General Sam Houston, met the
Mexicans at San Jacinto. The Texans numbered 743; the Mexicans about
1400, with Santa Anna in command. Houston, by strategy worthy of greater
fame, had managed to come upon the Mexican President when the latter was
separated from the larger part of his forces. Determined to win or die,
Houston destroyed a bridge which afforded the only retreat for his men or
escape for the enemy. The Texans delivered one volley at close range, and
then clubbed their rifles or drew their bowie-knives, with the
cry--"Remember the Alamo!" In fifteen minutes the Mexicans were in
flight, pursued by the yelling Texans. "Me no Alamo! Me no Alamo!" cried
the terrified fugitives. The Texans did not stay their hands until they
had killed six hundred and thirty and wounded two hundred and eight of
their cowardly foes. The remainder of the Mexicans were allowed to
surrender, and were not maltreated as prisoners. Santa Anna was captured
while hiding in the grass at some distance from the battlefield, and
brought, a pallid and trembling captive, before Houston. The latter
spared the tyrant's life, and placed a guard to protect him. The battle
of San Jacinto virtually put an end to the war, and Texas remained the
Lone Star Republic, until admitted to the American Union in 1845.
* * *
This period witnessed also the successful assertion of American title to
that extensive and productive region now divided into the States of
Oregon, Washington and Idaho. President Jefferson had seen almost with
the vision of prophecy the future of that distant portion of the
Louisiana Purchase. "I looked forward with gratification," he said in his
later years, "to the time when the descendants of the settlers of Oregon
would spread themselves through the whole length of the coast, covering
it with free, independent Americans, unconnected with us but by the ties
of blood and interest, and enjoying, like us, the rights of
self-government." And yet, for forty years after the treaty which
transferred to the United States the possessions of France in America,
the leading statesmen of our republic, Jefferson excepted, remained blind
to the value of America's domain on the Pacific. In 1810, John Jacob
Astor's American Fur Company undertook to establish a post upon what they
regarded as American soil, at a place which the founders called Astoria.
The Hudson Bay Company then claimed Oregon as part of their territory,
and when the War of 1812 broke out the British attacked Astoria, took the
Americans prisoners, and changed the name of the post to Fort George. The
Astor attempt to found a settlement in Oregon was not without favorable
bearing on American claims to that territory, especially as the
enterprise had the sanction of the United States Government, and a United
States naval officer commanded the leading vessel in the expedition.
Under the treaty of Ghent, Astoria was to be restored to its original
owners, but it was not until 1846 that this act of justice was
consummated. In 1818 it was mutually agreed that each nation should
equally enjoy the privileges of all the bays and harbors on that coast
for ten years, and this agreement was renewed in 1827 for an indefinite
time. Practically this meant the occupation of the country by the Hudson
Bay Company, which found its forests and waters a mine of fur-bearing
wealth. The most eminent of America's statesmen, so far as the Pacific
Northwest was concerned, seemed to be under the spell of their own
ignorance and of the Hudson Bay Company's misrepresentations. The great
Senator Benton said that, "The ridge of the Rocky Mountains may be named
as a convenient, natural and everlasting boundary." Winthrop, of
Massachusetts, quoted and commended this statement of Benton, and
McDuffie of South Carolina declared that the wealth of the Indies would
be insufficient to pay the cost of a railroad to the mouth of the
Columbia. While the nation was stirred up over a boundary dispute
involving a comparatively small district in the Northeast--settled by the
Ashburton Treaty in 1842--Oregon, with its extensive territory and
magnificent natural wealth was treated as unworthy of controversy. But
for the patriot missionary, Marcus Whitman, who in the winter of 1842-43
made a perilous journey from his mission post in Oregon to Washington, to
stir up the American Government to a sense of its duty, and of the
imminent danger of the seizure of Oregon by the British, that valuable
region would in all probability have passed under British dominion. "All
I ask," said Doctor Whitman to President Tyler, "is that you won't barter
away Oregon or allow English interference until I can lead a band of
stalwart American settlers across the plains; for this I will try to do."
The President promised; the settlers went, and Oregon was saved.[1] For a
time it seemed that war might result, but the two nations at length
compromised on a boundary line at forty-nine north latitude.
[1] It is sad to know that this patriot missionary and his admirable
wife were massacred in 1847, with a number of other persons, at
their mission station of Waiilatpwi by the very Indians they were
educating. There is reason to believe the massacre was indirectly
the result of Whitman's service to his country in rescuing Oregon
from the Hudson Bay Company. The treaty of 1846 greatly irritated
that powerful corporation, and this feeling inevitably spread to
the Indians who depended upon the company for supplies, and who
naturally sympathized with its policy of keeping the land for
fur-bearing animals and savage humanity. It is unnecessary to
suspect the company or the Roman Catholic missionaries attached to
the company of any plot against Whitman's life. It was sufficient
for the savages to know that the company hated Whitman, and that the
American Protestant missionaries sought to convert them not only to
Christianity, but also to industry.
During President Tyler's administration Rhode Island was the scene of a
commotion known as the "Dorr War." While the property qualification for
voters had been discarded in nearly every Northern State, Rhode Island
still adhered to the system of government provided in the King Charles
charter of 1663, which restricted the franchise to freeholders and their
eldest sons. This restriction gave occasion for many abuses, mortgagees
often exercising control over the votes of their debtors, and citizens
who paid taxes on mortgaged property being sometimes denied the privilege
of voting on the ground that they did not possess sufficient equity in
their estates. The majority of the people desired a frame of government
in accord with the spirit of American institutions, but were resisted by
the minority in actual power. The party of reform, therefore, held an
election in defiance of the charter, adopted a new constitution arid
chose Thomas W. Dorr governor, along with other general officers and a
General Assembly. The Dorr legislature met in a foundry and passed
various laws, which they had no power to enforce. The charter government
called out the militia, the Dorrites also took arms, and for some time
there was danger of a collision. The Dorrites were ultimately dispersed
without a battle, and the charter government remained in power. From a
sanitary standpoint it was a healthy war, as more people were probably
benefited by the outing than injured by bullets and bayonets.[2] Dorr was
afterward sentenced to State Prison for life, but was pardoned after a
few years, and his sentence expunged by vote of the legislature, from the
records of the court. A constitution embodying most of the reforms for
which the Dorrites had striven was legally adopted, and Rhode Island
settled down to its customary calm and prosperity.
[2] The "Dorr war," however, was very real to the people of Rhode
Island. About thirteen years ago the writer was present in the
office of the clerk of a Rhode Island town, when an old lady
entered, and told the clerk that she wanted to see the record of a
deed. Upon being asked to indicate the probable date, she said it
was "before the war." On inquiry by the clerk it appeared that she
meant the "Dorr war."