A New History of the United States / The greater republic, embracing the growth and achievements of our country from the earliest days of discovery and settlement to the present eventful year

by Charles Morris

From time to time new domains were added to the great republic. In 1819 Florida was purchased from Spain. In 1845 Texas was added to the Union. In 1846 the Oregon country was made part of the United States. In 1848, as a result of the Mexican War, an immense tract extending from Texas to the Pacific was acquired, and the land of gold became part of the republic. In 1853 another tract was purchased from Mexico, and the domain of the United States, as it existed at the beginning of the Civil War, was completed. It constituted a great section of the North American continent, extending across it from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and north and south from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, a fertile, well-watered, and prolific land, capable of becoming the nursery of one of the greatest nations on the earth. Beginning, at the close of the Revolution, with an area of 827,844 square miles, it now embraced 3,026,484 square miles of territory, having increased within a century to nearly four times its original size.

In 1867 a new step was taken, in the addition to this country of a region of land separated from its immediate domain. This was the territory of Alaska, of more than 577,000 square miles in extent, and whose natural wealth has made it a far more valuable acquisition than was originally dreamed of. In 1898 the Greater Republic, as it at present exists, was completed by the acquisition of the island of Porto Rico in the West Indies, and the Hawaiian and Philippine Island groups in the Pacific Ocean. These, while adding not greatly to our territory, may prove to possess a value in their products fully justifying their acquisition. At present, however, their value is political rather than industrial, as bringing the United States into new and important relations with the other great nations of the earth.

The growth of population in this country is shown strikingly in the remarkable development of its cities. In 1790 the three largest cities were not larger than many of our minor cities to-day. Philadelphia had forty-two thousand population, New York thirty-three thousand, and Boston eighteen thousand. Charleston and Baltimore were still smaller, and Savannah was quite small. There were only five cities with over ten thousand population. Of inland towns, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with something over six thousand population, was the largest. In 1890, one hundred years afterwards, New York and Philadelphia had over one million each, and Chicago, a city not sixty years old, shared with them this honor. As for cities surpassing those of a century before, they were hundreds in number. A similar great growth has taken place in the States. From the original thirteen, hugging closely the Atlantic coast, we now possess forty-five, crossing the continent from ocean to ocean, and have besides a vast territorial area.

The thirteen original States, sparsely peopled, poor and struggling for existence, have expanded into a great galaxy of States, rich, powerful, and prosperous, with grand cities, flourishing rural communities, measureless resources, and an enterprise which no difficulty can baffle and no hardship can check. Our territory could support hundreds of millions of population, and still be much less crowded than some of the countries of Europe. Its products include those of every zone; hundreds of thousands of square miles of its soil are of virgin richness; its mineral wealth is so great that its precious metals have affected the monetary standards of the world, and its vast mineral and agricultural wealth is as yet only partly developed. Vast as has been the production of gold in California, its annual output is of less value than that of wheat. In wheat, corn, and cotton, indeed, the product of this country is simply stupendous; while, in addition to its gold and silver, it is a mighty storehouse of coal, iron, copper, lead, petroleum, and many other products of nature that are of high value to mankind.

In its progress towards its present condition, our country has been markedly successful in two great fields of human effort, in war and in peace. A brief preliminary statement of its success in the first of these, and of the causes of its several wars, may be desirable here, as introductory to their more extended consideration in the body of the work. The early colonists had three enemies to contend with: the original inhabitants of the land, the Spanish settlers in the South, and the French in the North and West. Its dealings with the aborigines has been one continuous series of conflicts, the red man being driven back step by step until to-day he holds but a small fraction of his once great territory. Yet the Indians are probably as numerous to-day as they were originally, and are certainly better off in their present peaceful and partly civilized condition than they were in their former savage and warlike state.

The Spaniards were never numerous in this country, and were forced to retire after a few conflicts of no special importance. Such was not the case with the French, who were numerous and aggressive, and with whom the colonists were at war on four successive occasions, the last being that fierce conflict in which it was decided whether the Anglo-Saxon or the French race should be dominant in this country. The famous battle on the Plains of Abraham settled the question, and with the fall of Quebec the power of France in America fell never to rise again.

A direct and almost an immediate consequence of this struggle for dominion was the struggle for liberty between the colonists and the mother-country. The oppressive measures of Great Britain led to a war of seven years' duration, in which more clearly and decisively than ever before the colonists showed their warlike spirit and political genius, and whose outcome was the independence of this country. At its conclusion the United States stepped into line with the nations of the world, a free community, with a mission to fulfill and a destiny to accomplish—a mission and a destiny which are still in process of development, and whose final outcome no man can foresee.

The next series of events in the history of our wars arose from the mighty struggle in Europe between France and Great Britain and the piratical activity of the Barbary States. The latter were forced to respect the power of the United States by several naval demonstrations and conflicts; and a naval war with France, in which our ships were strikingly successful, induced that country to show us greater respect. But the wrongs which we suffered from Great Britain were not to be so easily settled, and led to a war of three years' continuance, in which the honors were fairly divided on land, but in which our sailors surprised the world by their prowess in naval conflict. The proud boast that "Britannia rules the waves" lost its pertinence after our two striking victories on Lake Erie and Lake Champlain, and our remarkable success in a dozen conflicts at sea. Alike in this war and in the Revolution the United States showed that skill and courage in naval warfare which has recently been repeated in the Spanish War.

The wars of which we have spoken had a warrant for their being. They were largely unavoidable results of existing conditions. This cannot justly be said of the next struggle upon which the United States entered, the Mexican War, since this was a politician's war pure and simple, one which could easily have been avoided, and which was entered into with the avowed purpose of acquiring territory. In this it succeeded, the country gaining a great and highly valuable tract, whose wealth in the precious metals is unsurpassed by any equal section of the earth, and which is still richer in agricultural than in mineral wealth.

The next conflict that arose was the most vital and important of all our wars, with the exception of that by which we gained our independence. The Constitution of 1787 did not succeed in forming a perfect Union between the States. An element of dissension was left, a "rift within the lute," then seemingly small and unimportant, but destined to grow to dangerous proportions. This was the slavery question, disposed of in the Constitution by a compromise, which, like every compromise with evil, failed in its purpose. The question continued to exist. It grew threatening, portentous, and finally overshadowed the whole political domain. Every effort to settle it peacefully only added to the strain; the union between the States weakened as this mighty hammer of discord struck down their combining links; finally the bonds yielded, the slavery question thrust itself like a great wedge between, and a mighty struggle began to decide whether the Union should stand or fall. With the events of this struggle we are not here concerned. They are told at length in their special place. All that we shall here say is this: While the war was fought for the preservation of the Union, it was clearly perceived that this union could never be stable while the disorganizing element remained, and the war led inevitably to the abolition of slavery, the apple of discord which had been thrown between the States. The greatness of the result was adequate to the greatness of the conflict. With the end of the Civil War, for the first time in their history, an actual and stable Union was established between the States.