History of the United States in Words of One Syllable

by Helen Wall Pierson

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.

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.

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.