NEW MEN AND NEW LAWS.
John Ad-ams was one of the men who gave his help to write out
the "Dec-la-ra-tion of In-de-pend-ence," of which you have been
told. That was, as you know, the first step to make us free.
In it we had made known that we would make our own laws, and
no one should rule us but those in our own land. John Ad-ams
had gone to France at the end of the great war, and had been
one to help make the French our friends. In his time. Wash-ing-ton
was made the home of the Pres-i-dents.
This town took its name from our great chief, and he was the
one to pick out a place for the new site. This home we call
the White House. At this time France did not seem to hold to
the old ties that had made us friends. When our men were sent
to her courts, she would not hear them, and there were some
sea fights with our ships. It would seem that a new war must
come out of this, and Wash-ing-ton had a call from his home
to take the head of the troops. But there was no war, for Na-po-le-on,
a young man, who had shown great tact and strength, got things
in his own hands in France, and we made peace through him with
the French.
There were some who did not like John Ad-ams, for the laws that
he made. One of these laws gave him the right to seize and send
out of our States those who came here from strange lands, though
none could prove they had done wrong. So, though he was a great
man, he did not get votes for a new term.
And now the hour had come when Wash-ing-ton must die. All felt
how much they were in debt to him, for the way he had led them
in the war, and his wise rule in time of peace. He had made
all men his friends in the end, and in the great hall at Wash-ing-ton,
it was then said--the words live to this day, that he was "First
in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of all." He
was sick a long time; and his last words were: "I die hard,
but I do not fear to go!"
No new States came in while Ad-ams had the rule; but the land
grew in worth, and more homes were made here. But there was
a great stretch of wild land still, where the bears and the
wolves could prowl in the woods at will, and no smoke from the
fire on a home hearth was seen in the air.
Jef-fer-son was the third man whom the land chose to be their
chief. He was well known as one of the first to frame the Dec-la-ra-tion.
At this time there was a war of France with Eng-land, and we
had hard work to keep clear of both. For France had made a law
that we should not help her foe; and Eng-land had done the same.
And both sides would take our ships at sea, if they thought
they made trade with the foe. So our ships had hard times, and
did not know what way to steer, lest one should seize them and
take all they had on board. More than this, Eng-land said she
had a right to search our ships and see if we had her men on
board of them, and to take such if found. And once or twice
it came to pass, that they took the whole crew of a ship, so
that there was not a man left in it to sail it.
One day a man-of-war went to search one of our ships for men,
they said, who had run from them. They were in sight of one
of our forts; but when our men would not let the search be made,
a fire was made on our ship, and they took four of the men,
and hung one of them. This was bad for our trade, and made a
great stir in our midst, and woke up the old wrath at Eng-land.
So Con-gress, with a wish to give Eng-land tit for tat, as you
would say, made a law that we should not trade with her, and
our ships should not go out of our own ports. But this, you
know, hurt us more than it hurt Eng-land; and, for a time, Jef-fer-son
came in for a share of the hard thoughts, as though it were
all his fault. Those whose trade had been hurt by the law felt
as if he had been to blame, and the cause of loss to them. There
were, too, on the sea a band of sea thieves, as we might call
them. They were men who came from a wild race, far off, who
would seize ships when they could, and take all the crew and
hold them for slaves, till their friends would pay a good price
for them. It was no strange thing in those days to hear read
out in church the names of those who were slaves to such men.
Great sums of gold were sent to set our men free. At last we
made some terms with these thieves of the sea, but they would
not keep the peace.
Then John Ad-ams sent out four ships to fight these men. We
did not own but six war ships in those days. One of these had
the bad luck to run on the shore in that strange land, so the
foe took it, and the crew were made slaves. There was a brave
young man in one of our ships, who made a plan to get back the
lost boat, which had the same name as the town of "Phil-a-del-phia."
He thought if we could not get her from the foe it would be
best to burn her, so that they could not use her for their own
ends. So he took a small boat which had been won from the foe
in a fight, and put some of our own men in her, and stole up
to the side of the "Phil-a-del-phia" by night. If he was seen--it
was thought to be a boat load of friends--but they soon went
to work, and when they got on board, the fight was short and
fierce. The "Phil-a-del-phia" was theirs in no time; but they
found they could not move her, so they set her on fire, and
set sail once more, and did not lose a man. All this won a name
and fame for the young man, whose name was De-ca-tur, and in
time there grew up such a fear of him in those wild States that
they were glad to make peace and take no more slaves.
[Illustration: DE-CA-TUR BURN-ING THE "PHIL-A-DEL-PHIA."]
Jef-fer-son's mode of life was not like Wash-ing-ton's had been.
He did not care for fine things or a state-coach, but was plain
in all his ways. He did not go to the House in a coach and six,
but rode on a horse which he would tie to a post while he went
in to read his speech. In time he did not go at all, but sent
the speech to be read by some one, and so it is done in our
day. He had no state times for the folk to come and see him;
but on New Year's day and the Fourth of July his doors were
flung wide, and all might call who had the wish to do so. He
did not let men know when his birth day came, so that no feasts
should be kept, and odes made on it. He made the debt of the
land less in his time. He thought that all men had a right to
vote, and at that time there were those who did not hold such
views.
[Illustration: SLAVES IN FIELD OF SUGAR CANE.]
There was one great law that came to pass in Jef-fer-son's time.
This was to keep out the slave trade. This trade tore the black
man from his home, and sold him to those who would pay the most.
He must leave his wife, his boys and girls, and see them no more,
and be brought in the dark hold of a ship to a strange land,
where he did not know their speech. Here he must work at his
strange tasks, with no hope and no joy in his life. Jef-fer-son
felt that the slave trade was wrong, and he had the wish to
see it brought to an end. He thought it gave us a bad name.
But there were those in Con-gress who did not feel in that way.
They said if it was right to hold slaves at all, it could not
be wrong to bring them here. So the talk grew fierce, some on
this side and some on that; but, in the end, the law was made.
Spite of this law, the trade went on by stealth for years, though
the ships of more lands than one came to the aid of the slaves
to break up this bad trade. In the States there was no law to
say that slaves should not be bought and sold, and so this went
on till the last war.
One grand thing that came to be made in the time of Jef-fer-son
was the steam boat. There were ships with sails, and boats that
went by oars, but none that went by steam. The first one that
was made would go four miles an hour; but it was not on the
same plan as those we have now. The first made like those now
in use, was built by Rob-ert Ful-ton, in 1807. Men then had
not much faith in it, and would laugh at it as they do at most
new things. Ful-ton said no one spoke a kind word of it; but
when they came to see the launch, and took note of its speed,
those who came to mock were glad to cheer.
The first steam boat made on his plan was the "Cler-mont," and
went at the rate of five miles an hour, spite of wind and tide.
As it went on its way, it sent such a great mass of sparks up
in the air, and the noise of its wheels was so loud that when
the crews of the ships that came in its way saw it, they would
drop on their knees in fright, and pray to be kept safe from
this strange thing. But, in time, more were made, and men saw
that there was naught to fear in these great steam boats, though
they did seem to breathe out fire and smoke. Still, at first,
they did not dare to cross the sea in them.
[Illustration: FUL-TON'S "CLER-MONT" STEAM-ER.]
There was a great tract of land in the west, which Jef-fer-son
bought for the U-nit-ed States from the French. Part of it is
now known as the State of Lou-i-si-ana, and took its name from
the French King. One of the great streams of the world runs
through it. Do you know its name?
Jef-fer-son sent men to find out all they could of this land
he had bought; what kind of tribes of red men were in it, what
wild beasts were in the wood, and what sort of plants grew there.
These men took with them food, fire arms, and gifts for the
chiefs of the red men. They were gone two or three years; and
made their camps in the woods, when the cold and storm were
so great they could not go on. They went up the great stream
to the falls where no white man had been, and then they went
on and found the source of the stream. They wrote of all they
saw, and men read it in their homes. They read of new tribes
of red men; of herds of wild beasts, so large that one herd
would take up a stream a mile wide. They said some of tribes
were poor, but some had good homes and fine steeds, which they
would sell for a few beads. They found, too, they could make
a great trade for furs with these tribes. There was one man
who made a post for this trade. It is said he bought furs by
the weight, and would put his hand or foot in the scale, and
call it a pound. You may think how much fur it would take to
weigh them down.
The next chief of our land was James Mad-i-son. When he came
in, he found that men were once more in a state of wrath with
Eng-land. You see they felt it hard that our ships should have
to let Eng-land stop them and search them as she chose. So at
last it came to war, and at first we did not win at all. The
red men took part with our foe; and one chief, by name of Te-cum-seh,
made a plan to join all the tribes of In-di-ans in war on the
whites. He took part in all the fights, and made a brave stand,
but he fell at last.
Though we did not win much on land, we had good luck on the
sea. We took one of Eng-land's ships; but then they in turn
took one of ours, and a brave man, who fought with his crew
at the head of it, fell, shot with his death wound. "Don't give
up the ship!" was his cry with his last breath.
These words, "Don't give up the ship," were put on a flag, which
was held in a great fight that took place at that time. There
were nine ships on our side, and six on the side of the foe.
This flag was put on our flag ship, and a brave man fought for
it. His name was Per-ry. The flag ship was lost; but Per-ry
flew to a small boat with his flag, and got to the next ship.
He fought so well that he won the day, and the Brit-ish lost
all their six ships. Such a thing had not been known till that
time. When the Brit-ish gave up, Per-ry wrote, "We have met
the foe, and they are ours!"
There was war for three years; and in the last year the Brit-ish
took some of our towns on the coast south, and set fire to the
State Hall and Pres-i-dent's house at Wash-ing-ton. They made
a raid on New Or-leans, but we had a man there who built up
miles of bales for a sort of breast works, and fought back of
them with our troops, so they did not get that town; and this
was the last fight of the war.
Peace was made, and both sides were glad to sign it. From this
time the Eng-lish laid claim to no right of search in our ships.
This was known for a time as the "Late War," but since then we
have had more wars, so it would not do to call it by that name
now. But from that day we have had peace with Eng-land, and
may it long last.
Now came a time of peace when the land grew, and men went west
and made homes, and built flour mills, and cut down trees, so
that in a short time a wild place would change in to a town;
and you would see a church spire point up to the sky, and a
school with its crowd of young ones at their tasks.