Two squadrons were therefore fitted out, under Commodores Decatur and Bainbridge. The former sailed from New York in May, 1815, and proceeding up the Mediterranean, captured, in June, two Algerine brigs; after which, sailing to Algiers, the Dey was so much alarmed, that he cheerfully signed a treaty very advantageous to the Americans. Proceeding then to Tunis and Tripoli, Decatur also obtained satisfaction for various aggressions, after which he joined Bainbridge at Gibraltar, and resigning to him the command, the latter visited the three piratical cities, whose submission was complete.
In order to secure the tranquillity of the western and north-western frontiers, measures were taken to form treaties of peace with all the various tribes which had lately been in hostility with the United States. A congress of chiefs met for this purpose at Detroit, in the month of September, when alliances of friendship were made, by means of which extensive portions of territory were ceded, and the tribes acknowledged to be under the protection of the republic.
The charter of the former National Bank having expired since 1811, a second National Bank, called the Bank of the United States, was incorporated by charter for twenty-four years, with a capital of 35,000,000 dollars.
In December, the territory of Indiana was admitted into the Union as a state, and the territory of Mississippi divided, and the western portion admitted into the Union as the State of Mississippi, while the eastern portion became the territory of Alabama. During the same month two piratical establishments—the refuge also of runaway negroes, the one on Amelia Island, on the coast of Florida, the other at Galveston, on the coast of Texas—were broken up.
The time for the election of president being now come, James Monroe was chosen, and Daniel D. Tomkins vice-president.
About the year 1790, establishments for the home manufacture of coarse cotton fabrics were commenced in the state of Rhode Island. The embarrassments to which commerce was subjected increased the demand for these goods, and large capitals were invested in manufacturing establishments. At the close of the war, however, when British goods were again imported, it was found that, owing to the great improvements in machinery, merchants were able to afford their goods at a much lower price than the American manufacturer. In order, therefore, to enable the manufacturer to withstand this formidable competition, a new tariff was formed in 1816, by which the double imposts which had been laid during the war were removed, and an increased duty imposed on various manufactured goods. The return of peace, however, though it embarrassed the mercantile interests, gave a stimulus to agriculture, and thousands of citizens who found themselves impoverished, removed westward, where lands were cheaper and more fertile than in the eastern states. Emigration from England also set in like a spring-tide, and so great was the increase of an active and valuable population, that within two years of the establishment of peace, six new states had sprung up in the recent wilderness.[[78]]
The African Colonisation Society for Free Blacks originated in this year, not under the auspices of government, but that of private individuals. It is questionable, however, whether this scheme is one of pure benevolence, although much is said of Africa being civilised and christianised by this means; and the slave born in America, perhaps of the second or third generation, is expatriated when shipped over to Africa. Is not the true benevolence and the true Christianity rather to gradually, wisely and justly abolish slavery—to prepare the black man to be a good and useful citizen of a great and free country, and more productive to his master as a servant than as a slave?
Madison’s second term of office expiring, he declined, as his predecessors had done, a third re-election; and on March 4th, 1817, James Monroe was elected president, and Daniel D. Tomkins re-elected vice-president.
Peace and prosperity go hand-in-hand, and with prosperity a wise nation seeks to promote by every possible means the improvement and comfort of the people. Hence great public works were now undertaken by the American States governments; roads and canals were constructed in every part of the Union, the wealthy and enterprising state of New York, at the head of which was De Witt Clinton, taking the lead. The great western canal, connecting Lake Erie with the Hudson, and the northern canal, connecting that river with the waters of Lake Champlain, were completed. A great road was also constructed by order of congress, which, passing through the seat of government, connected the eastern with the western states. Military posts were established for the security of the frontiers at the mouth of St. Peter’s on the Mississippi, and at the mouth of the Yellow Stone River on the Missouri, above 1,800 miles above its junction with the Mississippi. Thus was the influence of civilisation radiating like light into the far wilderness.
Towards the close of 1817, the Seminole Indians and the remnant of the Creeks commenced depredations on the frontiers of Georgia and Alabama. The hostile spirit of the Indians was further incited by another Indian prophet and two English traders, Arbuthnot and Ambrister, who had taken up their residence among the Indians. General Gaines was sent against them, but his force being insufficient for the purpose, General Jackson was ordered to take the field and to demand aid from the governors of the adjacent states. Jackson knew where he was most likely to find the aid he needed; and inviting volunteers from Western Tennessee, soon saw himself at the head of 1,000 men. With these he marched into the Indian territory, which he presently overran, meeting with no opposition from the Seminoles, who had fled into Florida. Once in Florida, Jackson seemed to think it as well, in the words of a homely proverb, to kill two birds with one stone; accordingly he attacked and took possession of St. Mark’s, a feeble Spanish post, and removed, in a very summary manner, the Spanish authorities to Pensacola; where meeting with Arbuthnot and Ambrister, had them tried by court-martial and executed, after which he took possession of Pensacola and shipped off the authorities to Havanna.