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

by George Park Fisher

THE SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, in session at Philadelphia, assumed control of military operations in all the colonies. At the suggestion first made by John Adams of Massachusetts, Colonel George Washington of Virginia was unanimously appointed commander-in-chief. His mingled courage and prudence, his lofty and unselfish patriotism, his admirable sobriety of judgment, and his rare power of self-control, connected as it was with a not less rare power of command, and with a firmness which no disaster could shake, made him one of the noblest of men. Before he reached Cambridge, where he assumed command of the gathering forces (July 3, 1775), he received the news of the battle of Bunker Hill, in which the provincial soldiers, under Putnam and Prescott, made a stand against the "regulars," as the British troops were called, and retreated only on the third assault, and when their ammunition had given out. Dr. Joseph Warren, a leading Boston patriot, was slain in the battle. Before this time, Fort Ticonderoga had been captured by Ethan Allen, and cannon been sent from it to aid in the siege of Boston (1775). But an attack on Quebec by Arnold and Montgomery, who entered Canada by different routes, failed of its object. Before British reinforcements arrived, the American troops abandoned Canada. In the attack on Quebec, Montgomery fell, and Arnold was severely wounded (Dec. 31, 1775).

INDEPENDENCE.—Only a brief sketch can here be given of the seven years' struggle of the United Colonies. On the 4th of July, 1776, the Declaration of Independence, drawn up in the main by Thomas Jefferson, and of which John Adams was the most eloquent advocate on the floor of Congress, passed that body. It was signed by the President, John Hancock, and fifty-five members. The colonies easily converted themselves into States, nearly all of them framing new constitutions. Thirteen Articles of Confederation made them into a league, under the name of the United States of America, each State retaining its sovereignty (1777). Franklin, an old man, and respected in Europe as well as at home for his scientific attainments as well as for his sturdy sagacity, went to France as their envoy. Among the soldiers who came from Europe to join the Americans were La Fayette,—a young French nobleman, who was inspired with a zeal for liberty, and was not without a thirst for fame, which, however, he desired to merit,—and Steuben, an officer trained under Frederick the Great. In Parliament, the Whig orators spoke out manfully for the American cause. The king hired German troops for the subjugation of its defenders.

THE EVENTS OF THE WAR.—The maneuvers of Washington forced Gage to evacuate Boston. The American general then undertook the defense of New York. The British forces, to the number of thirty thousand, under Gen. Howe, and Admiral Howe his brother, were collected on Staten Island. The Americans were defeated in a battle on Long Island (Aug. 27, 1776), and could not hold the city. It remained in the hands of the British to the end of the war. Washington withdrew his troops to White Plains. Fort Washington and Fort Lee were lost. The American commander, followed by Lord Cornwallis, retreated slowly through New Jersey (1776). These were serious reverses. By bold and successful attacks at Trenton and Princeton, the depressed spirits of the army and the country were revived. In the spring of 1777 Howe sought to capture Philadelphia, and landed his forces at the head of Chesapeake Bay. The Americans were defeated at Brandywine (Sept. 10); and Philadelphia, which had been the seat of Congress, was, like New York, in the possession of the British. Their policy was to isolate New England. To this end, Gen. Burgoyne, with a large army of French and Indians, came down from the north of Lake Champlain. A detachment of his forces was defeated by Stark at Bennington. Burgoyne himself was obliged to surrender, with six thousand men, to Gates, at Saratoga (Oct. 17). This event made its due impression abroad. France recognized the independence of the United States, and entered into an alliance with them. This alliance was a turning-point in the struggle. Washington's army, ill-clad and ill-fed, suffered terribly in the winter of 1777-78 at Valley Forge; but he shared in their rough fare, and their discipline was much improved by the drill which they received there from Steuben. Sir Henry Clinton left Philadelphia in order that the British forces might be concentrated in New York. He was overtaken by Washington, and the battle of Monmouth took place, which was, on the whole, a success for the Americans. The design of the British to separate New England from the rest of the States had failed. Washington was again at White Plains. They now began operations in the Southern States. Among the occurrences in this period of the war were the massacre of the settlements in the valley of the Wyoming, in Pennsylvania, by the Indian auxiliaries of the British; the surrender of Savannah, and with it Georgia and Charleston, by the Americans; the gallant storming of Stony Point, on the Hudson, by Wayne (July 15, 1779), and a brilliant naval victory of Paul Jones in a desperate engagement with two British frigates near the north-eastern coast of England (Sept. 1779). The American "partisan leaders," Marion, Sumter, and Pickens, carried forward an irregular but harassing warfare in South Carolina. At Camden, Gates was defeated by Cornwallis; and Baron de Kalb, a brave French officer, of German extraction, in the American service, fell (Aug. 16, 1780). In this year (1780) Benedict Arnold's treason was detected; and Major André, a British officer through whom Arnold had made arrangements for giving up the fortress of West Point to the enemy, was taken captive, and executed as a spy. In the next year Gen. Nathanael Greene conducted military operations in Georgia and the Carolinas with much skill, and succeeded in pressing the army of Lord Cornwallis into the peninsula formed by the York and James Rivers in Virginia. Thither the French fleet sailed under Count De Grasse; and Washington, by forced marches, was enabled to join with the French in surrounding the British works at Yorktown. On the day when Clinton left New York, at the head of his forces, to unite with Cornwallis, that officer surrendered, with his entire army of seven thousand men, to Washington (1781). This blow was fatal to the British cause. The independence of the United States was recognized by Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, and Russia (1782). The war had been prolonged by the personal obstinacy of George III., against the wishes of his minister, Lord North. The surrender of Cornwallis made it plain that further effort to conquer America was hopeless. Spain and Holland had joined hands with France, but Rodney had won a great naval victory over De Grasse (April 12, 1782). By the treaty of peace, signed at Paris and Versailles (1783), England recognized the independence of her former colonies.

AMERICA AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR.—The Congress during the war had issued paper money to the amount of twenty millions of dollars. It had no power to lay taxes, or to compel the States to pay their several portions of the public indebtedness. The States themselves were poor, and largely in debt. They surrendered, however, their unoccupied public lands to the United States. In 1787 Congress made one territory of the district north-west of the Ohio River, which Virginia had ceded, and by an ordinance excluded slavery from it for ever.

THE CONSTITUTION.—The lack of one system of law for the different States in reference to duties on imports, and on various other matters of common concern, and disorders springing up in different places, inspired an anxious desire for a stronger central government. A convention, over which Washington presided, met in Philadelphia in 1787, and formed the new Constitution. Hamilton of New York and Madison of Virginia were leading members. There was much opposition to the new plan of government which they agreed upon, but it was finally adopted by all the States. It supplied the defects of the old confederation by uniting national with federal elements. To the Senate, made up of two delegates from each State, it added a House of Representatives, where the number of members from each State was made proportionate to the population. It put the general government, within the limit of its defined functions, into a direct relation to the citizens, and gave to it judicial and executive departments to carry out and enforce its legislation. It committed to the central authority the management of foreign affairs, and various other powers necessary for the preservation of peace and unity in the land, and for the securing of the common weal of the whole country. Washington was unanimously chosen as the first president of the Republic, and John Adams was chosen vice-president. The first Congress met in New York in April, 1789, although the day appointed was March 4.

CHAPTER VI. LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND RELIGION.

LITERATURE.

I. FRANCE.

POETRY AND THE DRAMA.—The literature of France in the age of Louis XIV. was classical in its spirit. The ancient Greek and Roman writers were admired and imitated. The Renaissance was now to run its course. The French Academy, founded by Richelieu, undertook to regulate and improve the French language. Measure, finish, elegance, were demanded by the reigning taste, in all literary productions. Corneille (1606-1684), the father of French tragedy, was the most virile of the French dramatists. Racine (1639-1699), who followed, if less grand, was more pathetic. We find, however, in writers of genius,—even in the great preachers, as Bourdaloue and Massillon, who formed a type of pulpit eloquence peculiar to France,—a tendency to what seems now a stilted style. The master in comedy was Molière (1622-1673), an actor, as well as an author of inimitable humor. One of the most popular of French authors has been La Fontaine (1621-1695), whose fables have charmed multitudes by their smooth versification, as well as by their contents. Boileau (1636-1711), the Horace of France, prescribed, as a lawgiver, rules upon the "Art of Poetry," and himself wrote satires and other poems of high merit.

PROSE LITERATURE.—Bossuet (1627-1704) was an eloquent preacher and historical writer, and an expert theological polemic of the liberal Catholic school. Of a very different tone is Rochefoucauld, whose Maxims, expressed in pithy language, seek to trace all virtuous action to self-seeking. The French fondness for epigram—for terse, paradoxical statement—is exemplified even in the best writers, as, for example, Blaise Pascal. La Bruyère (1645-1696), a genial philosopher, wrote in a most attractive style a work entitled The Characters of Our Age. The metaphysician Malebranche (1638-1715) taught that we know through our spiritual union with God, or that we see all things in God. A disciple of Des Cartes, he did not strictly follow his master. Fénelon (1651-1715), illustrious for his piety as well as for his versatile authorship, wrote on religious topics and on education. Of all his writings, his Telemachus, composed for the young Duke of Burgundy, his pupil, has been the most read. The letters of Madame de Sévigné, addressed to her daughter, and not meant for publication, present most graphic descriptions of the characters and occurrences of the day.