Outlines of Universal History, Designed as a Text-book and for Private Reading

by George Park Fisher

CHAPTER VI. THE UNITED STATES (1815-1890): MEXICO: SOUTH AMERICAN STATES: EASTERN ASIA.

END OF THE FEDERAL PARTY.—The end of the war with Great Britain (1812-15) was marked by the extinction of the Federal party. But the Republicans, the opposing party, were now equally zealous for the perpetuity of the Union, and were quite ready to act on a liberal construction of the Constitution with respect to the powers conferred on the General Government. This had been shown in the purchase of Louisiana: it was further exemplified in 1816 in the establishment of a national bank, and in the enactment of a protective tariff. Then, and until 1832, presidential candidates were nominated by Congressional "caucuses." James Monroe (1817-25) received the votes of all of the States but three. The absence of party division has caused his time to be designated as "the era of good feeling."

PURCHASE OF FLORIDA.—Slaves in Georgia and Alabama frequently escaped from their masters, and fled for shelter to the swamps of Florida. The Creek and the Seminole Indians were always disposed to aid them. In 1817 General Andrew Jackson was appointed to conduct an expedition against the Seminoles. He came into conflict with the Spanish authorities in Florida, where he seized Spanish forts, and built a fort of his own. Finally, in 1819, the Floridas were purchased of Spain for five million dollars, and the United States gave up its claim to the extensive territory west of the Sabine River, which was known afterwards as Texas. This became a part of Mexico two years later.

SLAVERY: THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE.—In 1820 a sectional struggle arose in Congress, on the question of the admission of Missouri as a State with a constitution permitting slavery. The slave-trade had been carried on by the States separately, before the National Constitution was formed. It was abolished by Congress in 1808, the earliest date allowed by the Constitution for the power to abolish it to be exercised. The principal founders of the government, both in the North and South, considered slavery an evil, and looked forward to its gradual extinction. In the North, where the slaves were less numerous, laws for gradual emancipation were early passed. But the rapid increase of slaves in the South, the growing demand for cotton, and the stimulus given to the production of it by the cotton-gin, made the prospect of emancipation by legislative action less probable as time advanced. The American Colonization Society was formed in 1811; and the fallacious hope was entertained by many, that the negroes might be carried back to the Liberian settlement on the African coast. The extension of slavery in the territory north-west of the Ohio had been prevented by the Congressional ordinance of 1787. When the question of the admission of Missouri to the Union came up, the members of Congress from the North and the members from the South were in hostile array on the point, and a dangerous excitement was kindled. By the exertions of Henry Clay, the "Missouri Compromise" was adopted, by which the new State was admitted with slavery in it; but, as a kind of equivalent, slavery was prohibited forever in all the remaining territory of the United States north of 36° 30' north latitude, the southern boundary of Missouri.

THE "MONROE DOCTRINE."—When the "Holy Alliance" was engaged in its crusade against liberty in Europe, it was thought that they might attempt to conquer for Spain the revolted South American republics. Canning suggested to the American minister in England, that it would be well for the United States to take action against such a scheme. President Monroe, in his annual message in 1823, said that we should consider an attempt of the allied powers to extend their system in this country, or any interference on their part for the purpose of controlling the destiny of the American States, as unfriendly action towards the United States. This is the "Monroe Doctrine." An additional statement in disapproval of future colonization on the American continents by European powers was made in the same message. This second statement was never sanctioned by the House of Representatives. It is vague, and was probably meant to exclude indirect attempts to overthrow the liberty of the new American republics. The only thing which the "Monroe Doctrine" really contains is the intimation on the part of the United States of a right to resist attempts of European powers to alter the constitutions of American communities.

The true origin and intent of the "Monroe Doctrine" are often
misunderstood. They are set forth in Woolsey's International
Law, and in his article in Johnson's Encyclopedia, "Monroe
Doctrine;" also in Webster's writings, Vol. III. p. l78, and in
Calhoun's "Speech on the Panama Question." See also Foster, A
Century of American Diplomacy, Chap. XII.

PARTIES AFTER MONROE.—At the expiration of Monroe's second term, there being no choice for president by the people, John Quincy Adams, who had long been in public life in various important stations, was chosen by the House of Representatives. His supporters combined with the adherents of Henry Clay, who became secretary of state. This alliance was loudly denounced by their opponents as a "bargain." From the close of the last war with Great Britain, a party called by their adversaries "loose constructionists" of the Constitution, of which Clay was a leader,—a party who were in favor of measures like a protective tariff, a national bank, and internal improvements,—as the making of canals,—to be undertaken by Congress,—had been growing up. It now took the name of National Republicans, which was afterwards exchanged for that of Whigs. On the other side were the "strict constructionists," who, however, differed among themselves respecting certain measures,—for example, the tariff. In their ranks Andrew Jackson belonged. Of this political tendency, John C. Calhoun of South Carolina became a leading promoter. Andrew Jackson was a favorite candidate for the presidency, and the name of Democrats was applied to his followers.

PRESIDENCY OF JACKSON.—Jackson was elevated to the presidency in 1829. He was a fearless man, an ardent patriot, with a choleric temper and an imperious will. He carried to an unexampled extent a custom, which had begun with Jefferson, of supplanting office-holders of the opposite political party by supporters of the administration. This came to be called the "spoils system," from the maxim once quoted in defense of it, that "to the victors belong the spoils."

NULLIFICATION.—During Jackson's administration, there occurred the "nullification" crisis. In 1828 a new protective tariff had been passed, which was regarded in the South, especially in South Carolina, as extremely unjust and injurious. The New England States had been averse to protection; and in 1816 Daniel Webster opposed the tariff measure as specially hurtful to the Eastern States, whose capital was so largely invested in commerce. After the protective policy had been adopted, and when, under its shield, manufacturing had been extensively established in the North, the former adversaries of protection, with Webster, as well as Clay, who had been a protectionist before, thought it unfair and destructive to do away with the tariff. Its adversaries denounced it as unconstitutional. Calhoun and his followers, moreover, contended that nullification is legal and admissible; in other words, that a law of Congress may be set aside by a State within its own limits, provided it is considered by that State a gross infraction of the Constitution. There was a memorable debate on this subject in 1830, in the United States Senate, when the State-rights theory was advocated by Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina, and the opposite doctrine defended by Webster. In 1832 South Carolina passed an ordinance declaring that the tariff laws of 1828 and 1832 were null and void, and not binding in that State. President Jackson issued a spirited proclamation in which the nullification doctrine was repudiated, and the opposite, or national, theory was affirmed, and the President's resolute intention to execute the laws of the United States was announced. The difficulty was ended by the compromise tariff introduced by Henry Clay, providing for the gradual reduction of duties (1833).

REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS.—The President was hostile to the National Bank, which he considered dangerous, as liable to be converted into a tool for partisan ends. Not being able to carry Congress with him, he assumed the responsibility, after his second election, of removing the deposits, or public funds, from its custody, or, rather, of an order for the cessation of these deposits. For this he was censured by the Senate, a majority of which regarded his act as arbitrary and unconstitutional.

ANTI-SLAVERY AGITATION.—From about this time, the agitation respecting slavery constantly increased. In the North a party arose, which, through lectures and in newspapers and pamphlets, denounced slavery as iniquitous, and called for immediate emancipation. The most prominent leader of this party was William Lloyd Garrison, and its most captivating orator was Wendell Phillips. This party advocated disunion, on account of the obligations imposed upon the North in reference to slavery by the Constitution. They were sometimes assailed by mobs in Northern cities. The major part of the people in the North desired some method of extinguishing slavery which should leave the Union intact. Meantime they were for obeying the Constitution, although the obligation to restore fugitive slaves was felt to be obnoxious, and there grew up a disposition to avoid compliance with it. The "colonizationists" diminished in number. There were various types and degrees of anti-slavery sentiment. The resolution to confine slavery, by political action, within the limits of the States where it was under the shield of local law, became more and more prevalent. In the South, on the contrary, the enmity to "abolitionism" was intense, and served to increase the popularity of the doctrine of State-rights. Slavery came to be defended as necessary under the circumstances, and as capable of justification on moral and Scriptural grounds. Occasions of reciprocal complaint between North and South, for illegal doings relating in one way or another to slavery, tended to multiply.

ANNEXATION OF TEXAS.—In 1836 Texas declared its independence of Mexico. General Sam Houston, an emigrant from Tennessee, was the leader in the revolt. He defeated the Mexicans under Santa Ana, at the San Jacinto (1836). In 1845, largely by the agency of Mr. Calhoun, Texas, by an Act of Congress, was annexed to the United States. The motive which he avowed was the fear that it might fall into the hands of England, and become dangerous to the institution of slavery in the South. The measure was strenuously opposed in the North as a scheme by which it was intended to strengthen the influence of the slaveholding States in Congress. It was favored, for the same reason, by those who were inimical to abolitionism in whatever form.

WAR WITH MEXICO.—A consequence of the acquisition of Texas was a war with Mexico. The successes of Gen. Zachary Taylor at Palo Alto and Monterey (1846), and at Buena Vista (1847), and the campaign of Gen. Winfield Scott, who captured Vera Cruz, fought his way through the pass of Cerro Gordo, and at length entered the city of Mexico (Sept. 14, 1847), compelled the Mexicans to agree to the Treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo (1848). By this treaty all claim on Texas to the Rio Grande was relinquished, together with the provinces of Upper California and New Mexico.

THE "WILMOT PROVISO."—The Wilmot Proviso was proposed in Congress, excluding slavery from all territory to be acquired from Mexico. This demand for the prevention of the further extension of slavery in the territories subject to national jurisdiction, became a rallying-cry. On the nomination of General Taylor to the presidency by the Whigs (1848), a "Free-Soil" party was organized on this basis,—the precursor of the Republican party. The convention which nominated Taylor laid on the table a motion approving of the Wilmot Proviso. The Whigs succeeded in the election, but their party lost a portion of its adherents.

CLAY'S COMPROMISE.—The application of California for admission to the Union, which, on account of the rapid growth of that community through the discovery of gold, was soon made, brought the sectional difficulty to another crisis. President Taylor died (July 9, 1850), and was succeeded by Millard Fillmore, the vice-president. The contest in Congress was soon after adjusted by Clay's compromise, by which California was admitted as a free State, Utah and New Mexico were organized into Territories without any mention of slavery, the slave-trade was prohibited in the District of Columbia, and a new fugitive-slave law was enacted, that was framed in such a way as to give great offense at the North. Webster, in a celebrated speech in favor of the compromise (March 7), gave as a reason for not insisting on the Wilmot Proviso, that the physical character of the new Territories of itself excluded slavery from them.

THE KANSAS TROUBLES.—In 1854, during the administration of Franklin Pierce, the standing sectional controversy reached a new phase. Two Territories, Kansas and Nebraska, were knocking at the doors of Congress for admission as States. Kansas lay west of Missouri, and, like Nebraska on the north, was protected from slavery by the Missouri Compromise (p. 601). But the Democrats carried through Congress a bill introduced by Mr. Douglas of Illinois, practically repealing that compromise, and leaving the matter of the toleration of slavery to be determined by the actual settlers as they might see fit. This measure was extensively regarded in the North as a breach of faith. Companies of emigrants were organized in the Northern States, to form permanent settlements in Kansas; and in order to prevent that country from becoming a free State, marauders from Missouri crossed the line, to attack them, and to harass the newly planted colonies.

THE DRED-SCOTT CASE.—James Buchanan became president in 1857. At this time the Supreme Court decided that neither negro slaves nor their descendants, slave or free, could become citizens of the United States; and added incidentally the dictum that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional, and that Congress had no right to prohibit the carrying of slaves into any State or Territory. The effect of this opinion, if embodied in a legal decision, would have been to prevent the exclusion of slavery, even by a Territorial legislature, prior to the existence of the State government. This judicial act, following upon the attitude taken by the government at Washington with reference to the Kansas troubles, greatly strengthened the numbers and stimulated the determination of the Republican party in the Northern States.

THE JOHN BROWN RAID.—An occurrence not without a considerable effect in exciting the resentment, as well as the apprehensions, of the South, was the attempt of John Brown, a brave old man of the Puritan type, whose enmity to slavery had been deepened by conflict and suffering in the Kansas troubles, to stir up an insurrection of slaves in Virginia. With a handful of armed men, he seized the United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry in Virginia. Half of his followers were killed: he himself was captured, and, after being tried and convicted by the State authorities, was hanged (Dec. 2, 1859).

SECESSION OF STATES.—In the election of 1860, Abraham Lincoln received the electoral vote of every Northern State except New Jersey. The conviction of the Southern political leaders that the anti-slavery feeling of the North, with its great and growing preponderance in wealth and population, would dictate the policy of the general government, determined them to attempt to break up the Union. The result, it was expected, would be the permanent establishment of a slave-holding confederacy, or the obtaining of new constitutional guaranties and safeguards of the institution of slavery; which, it was felt, would be undermined even if nothing more were done than to prevent the spread of it beyond the States where it existed. South Carolina passed an ordinance of secession (Dec. 20, 1860), and was followed in this act by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. The delegates of the seceding States met at Montgomery, Ala., and formed a new government under the name of the Confederate States of America (Feb. 8, 1861). Jefferson Davis was elected president, and Alexander H. Stephens vice-president. Except at Pensacola in Florida, and in Charleston, all the national property within the borders of the seceding States was seized. Efforts looking to compromise and conciliation were of no effect. After the accession of Mr. Lincoln, the purpose of the government to send supplies to the garrison of Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, caused the Confederates to attack that fortress, which the commander, Major Anderson, after a gallant defense, was obliged to surrender. President Lincoln immediately issued a proclamation calling for seventy-five thousand volunteers to serve for three months, and called Congress together (April 15). There was a great uprising in the Northern States. The President's call for troops at once met with an enthusiastic response. Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina now joined the Southern Confederacy, the capital of which was established at Richmond. Great Britain recognized the Confederate States as having the rights of belligerents (May 13). France did the same.

EVENTS OF THE WAR IN 1861-62.—Only a brief account can be given of the events of the war. General Winfield Scott was at first in command of the Union forces, and General J. E. Johnston of the forces of the Confederates. It was imagined at the North, that there could be an easy and quick advance of the Federal forces to Richmond; but the troops were not drilled, and the preparations for a campaign were wholly inadequate. The Union troops were defeated at Bull Run, or Manassas, and Washington was thrown into a panic (July 21, 1861). Congress at once adopted energetic measures for raising a large army and for building a navy. General George B. McClellan was placed in command of the forces. It was foreseen on both sides, that the result of the conflict might depend on the course taken by foreign powers, especially by England. The South counted upon the demand for cotton as certain to secure English help, direct or indirect, for the Southern cause. Mr. Charles Francis Adams was selected by Mr. Seward, the secretary of state, to represent the Union at the Court of St. James. The Confederates sent abroad Mr. Mason and Mr. Slidell to procure the full recognition of the new Confederacy by England and France. The Trent, on which they sailed, was stopped by Captain Wilkes of the United States Navy, and the commissioners taken from it. This breach of international law threatened war, which was averted by the surrender of the two captives to England. England, however, refused to assent to Louis Napoleon's proposal to recognize the independence of the seceding States; but the laxness of the British Government in not preventing the fitting out of vessels of war in her ports, to prey on American commerce, excited indignation in the United States. Palmerston was at the head of the cabinet, and Lord John Russell was secretary for foreign affairs. For the depredations of the Alabama, the tribunal chosen to arbitrate at the end of the war, and meeting at Geneva, condemned England to pay to the United States an indemnity of fifteen and a half millions of dollars. Early in 1862 Fort Henry on the Tennessee, and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland, were taken by General Ulysses S. Grant, who led the land forces, and Commodore A. H. Foote, who commanded the gunboats. At Fort Donelson nearly fifteen thousand prisoners were captured. Grant fought the battle of Pittsburg Landing, or Shiloh, which continued two days (April 6, 7), and ended in the retreat of the Confederates. Their general, A. S. Johnston, was killed, and the command of his troops devolved on Beauregard. Grant, who had been reinforced by Buell, drove the Confederates back to Corinth, Miss., nineteen miles distant. The capture of Island Number Ten, by Pope, followed; and soon Memphis was in the hands of the Union forces. Farragut ran the gauntlet of the forts at New Orleans (April 24), and captured that city. In the East the Union forces had not been so successful. The iron-sheathed frigate Merrimac destroyed the Union fleet at Hampton Roads (March 9), but was driven back to Gosport by the timely appearance of the iron-clad Union vessel, the Monitor. McClellan undertook to approach Richmond by the peninsula. The campaign lasted from March to July, and included, besides various other engagements, the important battles of Fair Oaks, and of Malvern Hill (July 1). At the end of June the Union army was driven back to Harrison's Landing on the James River. Meantime the Confederate general, Jackson, in the valley of the Shenandoah, repulsed Fremont, Banks, and McDowell, and joined General Robert E. Lee, the commander of the Confederate forces, who now pressed forward towards Washington. Pope was defeated at Manassas (Aug. 29, 30), and Lee crossed the Potomac into Maryland. He was met by McClellan, and defeated at Antietam (Sept. 17), but was able to withdraw in safety across the river. McClellan was superseded by Burnside, who was defeated by Lee at Fredericksburg (Dec. 13).

EMANCIPATION.—On the 1st of January, 1863, President Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring all slaves in States or parts of States in rebellion, to be free. This act was legally possible only as a belligerent measure, or as an exercise of the right of a commander. The refusal of the Government to carry on the war for the direct purpose of emancipation, or to adopt measures of this character before,—measures which the Constitution did not permit,—was not understood in foreign countries, and, in England especially, had tended to chill sympathy with the Northern cause. Regiments of negro soldiers were now formed.

THE FIRST SIX MONTHS OF 1863.—Hooker succeeded Burnside in command of the Potomac Army, and was defeated by Lee at Chancellorsville (May 3). There "Stonewall" Jackson, one of the best and bravest of the Confederate generals, lost his life. Lee now crossed the river, and entered Pennsylvania. This was the critical moment in the struggle. Great pains were taken, by such people in the North as were disaffected with the administration at Washington, to manifest hostility to the war, or to the method in which it was prosecuted. A riot broke out in the city of New York while the drafts for troops were in progress, and it was several days before it was put down. The defeat of Lee by Meade at Gettysburg (July 1-3) turned the tide against the Confederates; their army again retired beyond the Potomac. At the same time, in the West, General Grant captured Vicksburg with upwards of thirty thousand men (July 4), and Port Hudson was taken. The Mississippi was thus opened to its mouth. The Union navy acted effectively on the Atlantic coast, and at the end of the year nearly all the Southern ports were closed by blockades.

VICTORIES AT CHATTANOOGA.—Grant assumed command of the military division of the Mississippi, including the region between the Alleghanies and that river. With the Army of the Cumberland under Thomas, with reinforcements from Vicksburg under Sherman and from the Army of the Potomac under Hooker, he won the victories of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, at Chattanooga, Tennessee (Nov. 24 and 25). This success opened a path for the Union forces into Alabama and the Atlantic States. Sherman was sent to reinforce Burnside in Tennessee, and defeated Longstreet.

TO THE SURRENDER OF LEE.—Grant was made lieutenant-general, or first in command under the President (March 7, 1864). Three attempts to reach Richmond, made severally by McClellan, Hooker, and Burnside, had failed, as Lee's two aggressive movements had been defeated at Antietam and Gettysburg. The "border States" in the West were in the hands of the Union forces, as well as the lower Mississippi; and the blockade was maintained along the Atlantic coast. The plan now was for Sherman to secure Georgia, and to march eastward and northward into the heart of the Confederacy, starting at Chattanooga. Military operations, which had been prosecuted over so vast an extent of territory, now began to have a unity which they had greatly missed before. Grant personally took command of the Army of the Potomac. His object was to get between Lee's army and Richmond. This object was not effected; but the sanguinary battle of the Wilderness (May 5, 6), and other subsequent battles, had the effect, in the course of six weeks, to push Lee back within the fortifications of Petersburg and Richmond. During the long siege of these places, diversions were attempted by Early in Maryland and Pennsylvania; but he was repelled and defeated by Sheridan. The Confederate vessel Alabama was sunk in the English Channel by the Kearsarge (June, 1864). Farragut captured the forts in Mobile Bay. Sherman's forces, after a series of engagements, entered Atlanta, Ga., which the Confederates had been compelled to evacuate (Sept. 2). A detachment was sent by Sherman, under Thomas, after Hood, which defeated him at Nashville (Dec. 15, 16). Sherman marched through Georgia, and entered Savannah (Dec. 21). On Feb. 1, 1865, he commenced his movement northward. The attempts of General J. E. Johnston to check his advance were ineffectual. Sherman entered Columbia, S. C., and pushed on to Raleigh; Johnston, whose numbers were inferior, retiring as he approached. The efforts of Lee to break away from Grant, in order to effect a junction with Johnston, did not succeed. Sheridan's victory over Lee at Five Forks (April 1) compelled him to evacuate Petersburg. He was pursued and surrounded by Grant, and surrendered his army at Appomattox Court House (April 9). The Union forces had entered Richmond (April 2). Johnston surrendered his forces to Sherman (April 26). Jefferson Davis was captured by a body of Union cavalry in Georgia (May 10).

MURDER OF LINCOLN.—The joy felt in the North over the complete victory of the Union cause was turned into grief by the assassination of President Lincoln (April 14), who had begun his second term on the 4th of March. He was shot in a theater in Washington, by a fanatic named Booth, who imagined that he was avenging wrongs of the South. An attempt was made at the same time to murder Secretary Seward in his bed. The assailant inflicted on him severe but not fatal wounds.

Mr. Lincoln had taken a strong hold upon the affections of the people. With a large store of plain common-sense, with an even temper, an abounding good-nature, and a humor that cast wise thoughts into the form of pithy maxims and similes, he combined an unflinching firmness, and loyalty to his convictions of duty. He refused to be hurried to the issue of an edict of emancipation, which, as he judged, if prematurely framed, would lose to the Union cause the great States of Maryland, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri. Keeping steadily before him the prime object of the war, he inculcated, as he felt, malice toward none, and charity for all. What Clarendon says of Cromwell is true of Lincoln: "As he grew into place and authority, his parts seemed to be raised, as if he had had concealed faculties, till he had occasion to use them."

FINANCES IN THE WAR.—The Confederate Government had carried on the war by the issue of paper money made redeemable on the condition of success in gaining independence. This currency, of course, became worthless. The debt of the United States at the close of the war had risen from about sixty-five millions to more than twenty-seven hundred millions of dollars, not to speak of the debts incurred by States and towns.

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION.—The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution (declared in force Dec. 18, 1865) prohibited slavery in the United States. The Fourteenth Amendment (declared in force July 28, 1868) secured to all the freedmen the right of citizenship and equality under State law, and ordained that the basis of representation in each State should be reduced in proportion to any abridgment by State law of the right of suffrage in its male population. The Fifteenth Amendment (declared in force March 30, 1870) forbade the abridgment of the right to vote, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. The effect of the amendments was to confer on the blacks the civil and political rights enjoyed by the whites.

RECONSTRUCTION: ADMINISTRATION OF JOHNSON.—The Southern States were conquered communities; but the theory was held that they had not been, and could not be in law, dissevered from the Union. The difficulty of reconstructing State governments was aggravated by the fact that the bulk of the intelligent people in the seceding States were precluded, or excluded themselves, from taking part in the measures requisite for this end; by the additional fact of the ignorance of the blacks, and of the selfish greed of white adventurers who took the place of leaders among them; and by dissensions in the North, and in the administration at Washington, as to the right and lawful course to be pursued. The President, Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, became involved in a contest with the dominant Republican party in Congress, on questions pertaining to reconstruction. He was impeached and tried by the Senate (Feb. 24-May 16, 1868), but the number of votes for his conviction was one less than the number required. On the expiration of Johnson's term, General Grant was raised to the presidential office. It was complained, that the new governments instituted in the South by the freedmen and their white coadjutors were grossly corrupt and incapable, and that their "returning boards" made false results of elections. On the other hand, it was complained, that the opponents of these governments resorted to violence and fraud to intimidate their political adversaries, and to keep them out of office. The troops of the United States, which had sustained the officers appointed by the blacks and by their white allies in several of the States, were at length withdrawn; and political power was resumed throughout the South by the adverse party, or the class which had contended against what were derisively styled "carpet-bag" governments. A difficulty arose in 1876, in consequence of a dispute about the result of the presidential election. It was referred to an "Electoral Commission" appointed by Congress, and Rutherford B. Hayes was declared to be chosen (1877-1881). During his administration (Jan. 1, 1879) the banks and the government resumed specie payments, which had been suspended since an early date in the civil war. The rapid diminution of the national debt is one of the important features of later American history. The Republicans succeeded in the next national election; but General Garfield, who was chosen President, was mortally wounded by an assassin (July 2, 1881), a few months after his inauguration. Guiteau, who committed the causeless and ruthless deed, claimed to be "inspired by the Deity," but was judged to be morally and legally responsible, and died on the gallows. Chester A. Arthur, the Vice-president, filled the highest office for the remainder of the presidential term. At the election in 1884 Grover Cleveland, Governor of New York, was elected as Chief Magistrate; and the Democrats, for the first time since the retirement of Mr. Buchanan and the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln (in 1861), took the reins of power into their hands; the Republicans, however, retaining a majority in the Senate. Benjamin Harrison (Republican) succeeded Cleveland as President, 1889. The McKinley Tariff Bill, 1890, reduced the duty on some imports, but increased them heavily on others. In 1892 the four hundredth anniversary of America's discovery was celebrated, and Grover Cleveland, Democratic nominee, was again elected to the presidency. The revival of industry and prosperity in the Southern States, and efforts for popular education for the blacks as well as whites, are circumstances worthy of special record.

GRANT AND LEE.—About two months after his retirement from the presidency, General Grant began a tour of the world. He landed in San Francisco from Japan, on his return, in September, 1879, after an absence of nearly two years and a half. In 1880 an effort was made by his warm political supporters to bring him forward as a candidate of the Republicans for a third term in the presidency. This effort failed, as had a similar endeavor, made with less vigor, four years before. The remainder of his days were spent in private life. His death occurred on July 23, 1885. He was buried in New York, on Aug. 8, with distinguished honors. General Lee, the commander of the Confederate forces in the civil war, from the close of the struggle to his death (Oct. 12, 1870) was president of Washington and Lee University, at Lexington, Va.

UTAH: THE MORMONS.—The sect of Mormons was founded in Manchester, N. Y., in 1830, by Joseph Smith, a native of Vermont, who claimed to have received heavenly visions from the time when he was fifteen years old. He pretended that he was guided by an angel to the spot, near Manchester, where was buried a stone box containing a volume made up of thin gold plates, which were covered with strange characters in the "reformed Egyptian" tongue. This "Book of Mormon" was really a manuscript composed, in 1812, for quite another purpose, by one Solomon Spaulding, who had been a preacher. A copy of it made by a printer, Sidney Rigdon, fell into the hands of Joseph Smith. It contains fabulous stories of the settlement of refugees coming from the Tower of Babel to America, who were followed in 600 B.C. by a colony from Jerusalem that landed on the coast of Chili. War broke out among their descendants, from the bad part of whom the North American Indians sprung. One of the survivors of the better class of these Hebrews, named Mormon, collected in a volume the books of records of former kings and priests, which, with some additions from his son, was buried until the prophet chosen of God should appear. In style the Book of Mormon endeavors to imitate the English version of the Scriptures. On the basis of this volume and of its alleged miraculous origin, Smith founded the sect of "Latter Day Saints," as he styled them. From Kirtland, O., where they came in 1831, and where the converts were numerous, they removed to a place which they named New Jerusalem, in Jackson County, Mo. Here they were joined by Brigham Young, also a native of Vermont, a man of much energy and shrewdness. Smith was charged by the Missourians, and some of his own followers who deserted him, with outrageous crimes and frauds. The conflict between the Mormons and the Missourians resulted in the migration of the former to Nauvoo in Illinois, where a community was organized in which Smith exercised supreme power. In 1843 Smith, who was as profligate as he was knavish, professed to receive a revelation sanctioning polygamy. His bad conduct, and that of his adherents, brought on a conflict with the civil authorities. Smith, with his brother, was killed in the jail by a mob. Driven out of Nauvoo, the Mormons (1848) made their way to Utah, and founded Salt Lake City. Their systematic efforts to obtain converts brought to them a large number from the ignorant working-class in Great Britain and in Sweden and Norway. The Territory of Utah was organized by Congress in 1849. The laws and officers of the United States, however, were treated with defiance and openly resisted by Brigham Young, the Mormon leader; and he was removed from the office of governor, to which he had been appointed by President Fillmore. A contest with the United States authorities was succeeded by the submission of the Mormons in 1858. In 1871 efforts for the suppression of polygamy by law were undertaken by the Federal Government, and have since been continued with imperfect success. Brigham Young died in 1877, and was succeeded in the presidency of the Mormons by John Taylor, an Englishman. A body of anti-polygamist seceders from the Mormon community, including a son of Brigham Young, has been formed. Another Mormon sect opposed to polygamy, calling itself the "Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints," originated in 1851. The number of professed believers in the strange and grotesque tenets of Mormonism, in all the different places where its disciples are found, probably exceeds two hundred thousand.

THE FORMATION OF THE STATES.—The "District of Maine" formed a part of Massachusetts from 1651 to 1820, when it was admitted to the Union as a distinct State. Its northern boundary was not clearly defined until the treaty of 1842 between the United States and England, which was made by Mr. Webster and Lord Ashburton. The North-West Territory, which was organized in 1789, comprised the cessions north of the Ohio and as far west as the Mississippi, which had been made by the "landed States;" that is, the several States holding portions of this region. A small portion, "the Western Reserve," was retained by Connecticut until 1795, when it was sold to the National Government. Out of this "North-West Territory," there were formed five States. Connected with the name of each is the date of its admission to the Union: Ohio (1802), Indiana (1816), Illinois (1818), Michigan (1837), Wisconsin (1848). South of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi, lay the territory belonging to Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. From this, the cession of Virginia formed the State of Kentucky (1792); that of the Carolinas formed Tennessee (1796); that of Georgia formed Alabama (1819) and Mississippi (1817). The extensive territory called Louisiana was ceded by France to Spain in 1762, was ceded back to France in 1801, and purchased by the United States in 1803. From this territory, there have been formed the States of Louisiana (1812), Missouri (1820), Arkansas (1836), Iowa (1846), Minnesota (1858), Kansas (1861), Nebraska (1867), Colorado (1876), Montana and the two Dakotas (1889), Wyoming (1890), and Oklahoma and Indian Territories. From the cession of Florida by Spain (1819), the State of Florida was formed (1845). Oregon was claimed by the United States by the right of prior discovery: it was organized as a Territory in 1849; the Territory of Washington was formed from it in 1853, and Idaho in 1863. Oregon was admitted as a State in 1859, Washington in 1889, and Idaho in 1890. Texas was admitted to the Union in 1845. From the cessions of Mexico (1848) there have been formed the States of California (1850) and Nevada (1864), and the Territories of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Alaska was purchased from Russia in 1867. West Virginia was formed into a distinct State in 1863, in consequence of the secession of Virginia.