THE SLAVE TRADE.
Mad-i-son had two terms of rule, and then Mon-roe was the next
choice of the land. He had fought in the great war, and had
a high place in the States. He had shown that he was a brave
man, and was the one sent to France when our land bought Lou-i-si-ana.
When he was made Pres-i-dent, he made a tour of all the posts
north and east, to see what strength they would have in case
of war. He wore a blue coat that was home-spun, and was plain
in all his dress. He won the hearts of all by his frank ways.
He met all men as friends, and had no pride and pomp to keep
them far off; he was as one of them. He thought more of the
good of his land than his own. One said of him, "If we could
turn his soul in side out, not a spot could be found on it."
When he came to die, he was poor in purse but rich in a good
name.
The red men were not at peace in his time, and there was one
more cause of strife, and that was the slaves. Since the first
ship load of slaves had been brought in, the trade had grown
more and more at the South. The men at the North had grown to
like this trade less and less. It had been thought at first
it would soon die out, but they saw this would not be the case.
At last there was a strife each time that a State, that held
slaves, would want to come in. The free States would cry out
that it was wrong to have more slave States.
Those at the South said that when a free State was brought in,
there ought to be a slave State too, or else the North would
grow too strong, and have things all their own way. And so there
was a fight when the time came for the State of Mis-sou-ri to
come in. I do not mean that they went to war with shot and shell.
This was a war of words. The North said that it was wrong to
buy and sell men, and to break up homes; that it was bad for
the men who held slaves, and for those in bonds, and that the
first men of the land had the wish to get rid of it. The South
said that if the great men of the land had the wish to get rid
of it, they still kept their own slaves; that it was the best
state for the black men; that they could learn more than in
their own wild land; that white men could not work out of doors
in the hot time, and so the crops could not be grown if the
black man was made free.
At last Con-gress let Mis-sou-ri come in as a slave State, but
made a law that a line should be drawn in the land. North of
this line there could be no slaves. South of it men could keep
slaves or not, just as they chose; men look on this now as a
weak move. At that time the slaves were few, and the trade not
great, so it might have been put down with more ease. But with
time it grew so strong that it took long years and a great war
to crush it out. Five new States came in while Mon-roe was at
the head of the land.
John Quin-cy Ad-ams came next. He was the son of the Pres-i-dent
of the same name, and had been nine years old when he heard
the Dec-la-ra-tion read from the State House in Bos-ton. Since
then the land had grown to a vast size, and was at peace. Much
was done in his time to make our land thrive and grow. The red
men were made to move west, and their lands were bought.
In his time, the first rail road was built. It was but three
miles long, and it was a horse that drew the car and not steam.
The first use of steam came in more late from Eng-land. The
first steam car did not make much speed; but it was thought
to be a great thing. Still there were those who said it would
not be worth much; that it could not draw its own weight, but
that its wheels would spin round and round on the rail. Some
thought that if it were made to go, it would be bad for the
farms; would scare off the cows and sheep, and the smoke would
make the sheep's wool black. But their fears were laid at rest
in time by the sight of these cars as they ran on in peace,
and brought none of these ills to pass.
[Illustration: FIRST STEAM EN-GINE.]
In the same year the land had to mourn the death of two great
men. Strange to say, they went on the same day, and that was
the Fourth of July. Both these men had put their names on the
great Dec-la-ra-tion, and they had grown to be strong friends.
Jef-fer-son heard the fire of a gun, just as he went. His last
words were, "Is this the Fourth?"
Ad-ams, who lay near to death, saw the sun set and heard the
shouts from those who kept the day in his town. He sent them
word to hold fast the rights that day had brought them; and
the old man could hear the cheer that they gave at his words.
At this time there was a great talk of a sort of tax to be put
on all goods brought here from far lands. This we call a tar-iff,
and we hear a great deal of it in this day. There are those
who think a high tax should be put on all goods made out of
our own land, so as to keep them out and give those made here
a chance. There are some who think that all trade should be
free; and that ships should sail here with what they choose
and land it, with no one to see what it is, and put a tax on
it.
Ad-ams, in his time, was for a high tax, and for this cause
he did not have but one term as our chief. Those who did not
want the tax had the most votes, and they chose An-drew Jack-son
for the next man. He had been well known in the war, and had
built up those breast works in New Or-leans of which we have
told you, from which our men beat the Brit-ish.
While he was chief, there were some in the South who felt that
the North had more than its share of the wealth of the land.
You see there were more great mills and more goods made in the
North, and the tax on strange goods was too much help to those
at home. At least this was so thought by the South, and they
had a plan to cut loose and set up a new band of States. They
had drills of their young men, and got arms, and had made choice
of a man to lead them. His name was John C. Cal-houn, and he
was to be their first chief. But Jack-son said that "if a State
could go out of the band of States when it chose, we would come
to naught;" and he sent troops and ships of war to the South,
and put a stop to all the stir in a short time.
Tribes of the red men had gone out to the far West, but there
were those who would not move. There was a tribe in Flor-i-da
who fought for a long time in the swamps of that land. Some
slaves who had run away from their homes were with them. One
of the chiefs of the red men had a slave for a wife, and when
she went with him to one of our forts, she was held and kept
as a slave, and the chief was put in chains. When he got free,
he made a vow to pay up the white man for all he had borne,
and for the loss of his wife. So he led the red men in this
war. His name was Os-ce-o-la. He was caught at last, and kept
in one of our forts till he died. But the war went on for years,
at a great cost of life, till few of that tribe were left in
the land. And this war cost three times as much as had been
paid for the whole of the State of Flor-i-da.
This war had so much to do with slaves, that all the talk on
the slave trade came up once more. There was a man of that class
of which we have told you--one of the Friends, or Quak-ers,
who put in print his views, that some plan should be made by
which all slaves should be freed in time.
Then a young man, by name of Gar-ri-son, wrote that the best
way was to set all free at once. This made a great stir, and
some said he should be brought to court and made to take back
his words. But he said, "I will speak out what I feel. I will
not go back an inch, and I will be heard." And just at this
time, to make things worse, and stir up great fear in the land,
a slave in Vir-gin-ia, got a mob of black men, and they went
from house to house and put all to death who came in their way.
Gar-ri-son did not like war, and he would not have blood shed;
but there were those who laid all the fault of this at his door.
They said he taught the slave he had a right to be free, and
so this black man rose and took his rights. The slave who had
done so much harm was at last caught, and put in jail and then
hung.
Jack-son thought it would be well for Con-gress to pass a bill,
that no thing on the slave trade should go through the mails;
but that bill did not pass. Some were made friends to Jack-son
by this strong course, when the South had a plan to break up
our States, and leave the North; but, of course, there were
those who did not like him for the same cause. He had both strong
friends and foes; but made so good a rule, that he put the land
out of debt, and had a sum left to share with the States. Much
new land was bought in his time.
Jack-son was a great man. He had come from poor folks, and as
a boy he was more fond of sports than of books. His life had
its ups and downs. Once he was in the hands of the foe, and
told he must clean some boots for them. It was too much for
a free born A-mer-i-can to clean Brit-ish boots. It made his
blood boil, and he said with scorn that he would not do such
work. He was not mild or meek, you know, but had a strong will
of his own. And he kept his word spite of blows, and was sent
to jail. There the poor boy had small pox. He knew not where
to turn when he got out of jail, for he was poor, and had no
one left to help him. He had more than one fight in his time,
and scars that he did not gain in war. He was brave through
and through, and won fame where he went. He was in his old home
when he drew his last breath in peace.
When Mar-tin Van Bu-ren came in, the talk on the slave trade
grew worse. A slave child by the name of Med, who had been brought
to Bos-ton by a man, was said to be free by the Court of that
State, as she had trod on free soil. But at the same time some
of the dames who met to take the slaves' part, were set on by
a mob, and Gar-ri-son, who stood up to make them a speech, was
bound with ropes. Then this fierce mob set to work to drag him
through the streets; but some friends got hold of him, and had
to lodge him in jail to save his life. Two schools for the blacks
were set on fire; and one man in the West, who was a great friend
of the slave, met his death at the hands of a mob.
Just at this time there was a plan to bring in Tex-as as a slave
State, and this shook the land from North to South. Long pleas
with the names of a great mass of folks were sent to Con-gress,
to beg them not to let Tex-as come in as a slave State. John
Quin-cy Ad-ams, it is said, spoke an hour a day for twelve days,
on the side of those who would make Tex-as a free State. They
put off the strife at that time, and did not bring Tex-as in
at all. Con-gress made a rule, that no bills that spoke of slaves
should be brought in, and this was in force for ten years.
In Van Bu-ren's time there was a great crash in trade, and hard
times in the land. He did not make the hard times, still he
had but one term for that cause. Men felt a hope that a new
man might bring in a new state of things. They chose Har-ri-son,
who had fought in a brave way in the wars with the red men.
He came from the far West, where his home had once been in a
log house. So he had the name of the Log Cabin man, and the
poor men in the land all felt proud that one of their own kind
was their chief; one who had made his way out of the ranks.
There was a print of that log cabin on all sorts of things,
and toys were made in that form, and songs were made on it,
and sung when men met.
The new Pres-i-dent did not live but one month, and so for the
rest of the four years, John Ty-ler took the rule; but he did
not please those who had cast their votes for him. He would
not let their bills pass: one of which was to form a States
Bank, on which the Whigs had all set their hearts. The State
of Tex-as was brought in at this time.
You have all seen the wires which stretch from pole to pole
in the streets of our great towns, and in lone roads by field
and wood. You know what they are for, and how by means of them
you can send word to a friend in time of need, or hear from
those you love in a flash. It may be a death that is told, or
some news of joy that they can not wait to send by the slow
way of the post.
[Illustration: SAM-UEL F. B. MORSE.]
Well, when James K. Polk was thought of as a good man to make
chief of the land, the news was the first that had been sent
on these wires. The first lines built were made here, and went
from Bal-ti-more to Wash-ing-ton. Morse was the name of the
man who found out how to send news on wires in this way.
At this time there were two great men of whom you should hear,
for their names are on the list of fame, which has stood the
test of time. One was Hen-ry Clay. He was born in the West,
and was poor, but he made his way from the small log school
house, where he went to learn his first task, to rank with the
great men of our land. He could win men to be his friends, when
they had made up their minds to hate him. He had a strong will,
and kept true to his own aims. He spoke with such grace and
force that he could sway men's minds and thrill their hearts.
He has said, "I owe all I have won in life to one fact, that
when I was a boy, and for some years, as I grew up, I would
learn and speak what I read in books. More than one off hand
speech did I make in a corn field or in the woods, or in a barn,
with but an ox or horse to hear me. It is to this I owe much
that has gone to shape and mould my course in life."
One man, who was not his friend, said at his death, "If I were
to write on the stone that marks his place of rest, I would
place there these words: 'Here lies one who led men by his own
force for long years; but did not swerve from the truth, or
call in lies to help him.'"
One more great man died on the same day as Clay. His name was
Web-ster. He was a great states man. He went to school but a
few weeks in all his life. He was then so shy that he could
not pluck up heart to speak a piece in the school. He did not
think that in time to come his words would stir the land. He
says, "I was brave in my own room, and would learn the piece
and speak it there; but when the day came, and I would see all
eyes turn to me, and they would call out my name, I could not
rise from my seat."
In all things but this he stood well at school, and he had a
great wish to learn. But he knew they were all poor at home,
and he felt that he must go to work and help them, fond as he
was of his books. When he heard that he was to go on; that he
should have a chance to make his dream true, he was full of
joy. "I see yet," he said, "the great hill up which we went
that day in the snow. When I heard the news, I could not speak
for joy. There were such a crowd of young ones in our home,
I did not see how they could spare the funds. A warm glow ran
through me; I had to weep."
When he was through school, he at once rose to a high place.
He was at the head of all who spoke in the House. He was grand
and great, but he had a sense of fun in him. Once some one came
to him with one of those books where the names of friends or
great men are kept, with the wish that he would write his name
by the side of John Ad-ams. He wrote:
"If by his name I write my own,
'Twill take me where I am not known;
And the cold words will meet my ear,
Why, friend, and how did you come here?"
When his death was known, there was grief in the length and
breadth of the land. No death since that of Wash-ing-ton was
made such a theme for speech.