THE UNITED STATES IN 1800.
VIII
THE JEFFERSONIAN REPUBLICANS, 1801-1812
Books for Study and Reading
References.--Higginson's Larger History, 344-365;
Scribner's Popular History, IV, 127-184; Schouler's
Jefferson.
Home Reading.--Coffin's Building the Nation;
Drake's Making the Ohio Valley States; Hale's Man Without
a Country and Philip Nolan's Friends.
CHAPTER 22
THE UNITED STATES IN 1800
Area.
Population.
228. Area and Population, 1800.--The area of the United
States in 1800 was the same as at the close of the Revolutionary
War. But the population had begun to increase rapidly. In 1791
there were nearly four million people in the United States. By 1800
this number had risen to five and one-quarter millions. Two-thirds
of the people still lived on or near tide-water. But already nearly
four hundred thousand people lived west of the Alleghanies. In 1791
the centre of population had been east of Baltimore. It was now
eighteen miles west of that city (p. 157).
Philadelphia.
New York.
The new capital.
229. Cities and Towns in 1800.--Philadelphia was the
largest city in the United States. It had a population of seventy
thousand. But New York was not far behind Philadelphia in
population. Except these two, no city in the whole United States
had more than thirty thousand inhabitants. The seat of government
had been removed from Philadelphia to Washington. But the new
capital was a city only in name. One broad long street,
Pennsylvania Avenue, led from the unfinished Capitol to the
unfinished White House. Congress held its sessions in a temporary
wooden building. The White House could be lived in. But Mrs. Adams
found the unfinished reception room very convenient for drying
clothes on rainy Mondays. A few cheaply built and very
uncomfortable boarding-houses completed the city.
Roads, coaches, and inns.
Traveling by water.
230. Traveling in 1800.--The traveler in those days had a
very hard time. On the best roads of the north, in the best coach,
and with the best weather one might cover as many as forty miles a
day. But the traveler had to start very early in the morning to do
this. Generally he thought himself fortunate if he made twenty-five
miles in the twenty-four hours. South of the Potomac there were no
public coaches, and the traveler generally rode on horseback. A few
rich men like Washington rode in their own coaches. Everywhere,
north and south, the inns were uncomfortable and the food was poor.
Whenever it was possible the traveler went by water. But that was
dangerous work. Lighthouses were far apart, there were no public
buoys to guide the mariner, and almost nothing had been done to
improve navigation.
THE "CLERMONT," 1807.
The first steamboat.
Fulton's steamboat, 1807. Higginson, 241-242.
231. The Steamboat.--The steamboat came to change all
this. While Washington was still President, a queer-looking boat
sailed up and down the Delaware. She was propelled by oars or
paddles which were worked by steam. This boat must have been very
uncomfortable, and few persons wished to go on her. Robert Fulton
made the first successful steamboat. She was named the
Clermont and was launched in 1807. She had paddle wheels and
steamed against the wind and tide of the Hudson River. At first
some people thought that she was bewitched. But when it was found
that she ran safely and regularly, people began to travel on her.
Before a great while steamboats appeared in all parts of the
country.
Western pioneers.
Settlements on the Ohio. Eggleston, 232-234;
Higginson, 243.
232. Making of the West.--Even before the Revolutionary
War explorers and settlers had crossed the Alleghany Mountains. In
Washington's time pioneers, leaving Pittsburg, floated down the
Ohio River in flatboats. Some of these settled Cincinnati. Others
went farther down the river to Louisville, in Kentucky, and still
others founded Wheeling and Marietta. In 1811 the first steamboat
appeared on the Western rivers. The whole problem of living in the
West rapidly changed. For the steamboat could go up stream as well
as down stream. Communication between the new settlements, and New
Orleans and Pittsburg, was now much safer and very much easier.
Cotton growing.
Beginning of exportation, 1784.
233. Cotton Growing in the South.--Cotton had been grown
in the South for many years. It had been made on the plantations
into a rough cloth. Very little had been sent away. The reason for
this was that it took a very long time to separate the cotton fiber
from the seed. One slave working for a whole day could hardly clean
more than a pound of cotton. Still as time went on more cotton was
grown. In 1784 a few bags of cotton were sent to England. The
Englishmen promptly seized it because they did not believe that so
much cotton could be grown in America. In 1791 nearly two hundred
thousand pounds of cotton were exported from the South. Then came
Whitney's great invention, which entirely changed the whole history
of the country.
[Illustration: THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. As designed by Thomas
Jefferson.]
Eli Whitney.
His cotton gin, 1793. McMaster, 195-196.
234. Whitney's Cotton Gin, 1793.--Eli Whitney was a
Connecticut schoolmaster. He went to Georgia to teach General
Greene's children. He was very ingenious, and one day Mrs. Greene
suggested to him that he might make a machine which would separate
the cotton fiber from the cotton seed. Whitney set to work and soon
made an engine or gin, as he called it, that would do this. The
first machine was a rude affair. But even with it one slave could
clean one hundred pounds of cotton in a day. Mrs. Greene's
neighbors promptly broke into Whitney's shop and stole his machine.
Whitney's cotton gin made the growing of cotton profitable and so
fastened slavery on the South. With the exception of the steam
locomotive (p. 241) and the reaper (p. 260), no invention has so
tremendously influenced the history of the United States.
Early manufactures.
235. Colonial Manufactures.--Before the Revolutionary War
there were very few mills or factories in the colonies. There was
no money to put into such undertakings and no operatives to work
the mills if they had been built. The only colonial manufactures
that amounted to much were the making of nails and shoes. These
articles could be made at home on the farms, in the winter, when no
work could be done out of doors.
New manufactures established.
Invention of cotton spinning machinery.
236. Growth of Manufactures, 1789-1800.--As soon as the
new government with its wide powers was established, manufacturing
started into life. Old mills were set to work. While the Revolution
had been going on in America, great improvements in the spinning of
yarn and the weaving of cloth had been made in England. Parliament
made laws to prevent the export from England of machinery or
patterns of machinery. But it could not prevent Englishmen from
coming to America. Among the recent immigrants to the United States
was Samuel Slater. He brought no patterns with him. But he was
familiar with the new methods of spinning. He soon built spinning
machinery. New cotton mills were now set up in several places. But
it was some time before the new weaving machinery was introduced
into America.
CHAPTER 23
JEFFERSON'S ADMINISTRATIONS
Jefferson's political ideas. Higginson 239;
McMaster, 216.
Republican simplicity.
237. President Jefferson.--Thomas Jefferson was a
Republican. He believed in the republican form of government. He
believed the wisdom of the people to be the best guide. He wished
the President to be simple and cordial in his relations with his
fellow-citizens. Adams had ridden to his inauguration in a coach
drawn by six cream-colored horses. Jefferson walked with a few
friends from his boarding house to the Capitol. Washington and
Adams had gone in state to Congress and had opened the session with
a speech. Jefferson sent a written message to Congress by a
messenger. Instead of bowing stiffly to those who came to see him,
he shook hands with them and tried to make them feel at ease in his
presence.
Proscription of Republicans by the Federalists.
Adams's midnight appointments.
238. The Civil Service.--One of the first matters to take
Jefferson's attention was the condition of the civil service. There
was not a Republican office-holder in the government service.
Washington, in the last years of his presidency, and Adams also had
given office only to Federalists. Jefferson thought it was
absolutely necessary to have some officials upon whom he could
rely. So he removed a few Federalist officeholders and appointed
Republicans to their places. Adams had even gone so far as to
appoint officers up to midnight of his last day in office. Indeed,
John Marshall, his Secretary of State, was busy signing commissions
when Jefferson's Attorney General walked in with his watch in hand
and told Marshall that it was twelve o'clock. Jefferson and
Madison, the new Secretary of State, refused to deliver these
commissions even when Marshall as Chief Justice ordered Madison to
deliver them.
The Judiciary Act, 1801.
Repealed by Republicans.
Jefferson and appointments.
239. The Judiciary Act of 1801.--One of the last laws
made by the Federalists was the Judiciary Act of 1801. This law
greatly enlarged the national judiciary, and Adams eagerly seized
the opportunity to appoint his friends to the new offices. The
Republican Congress now repealed this Judiciary Act and "legislated
out of office" all the new judges. For it must be remembered that
the Constitution makes only the members of the Supreme Court sure
of their offices. Congress also got rid of many other Federalist
officeholders by repealing the Internal Revenue Act (p. 167). But
while all this was done, Jefferson steadily refused to appoint men
to office merely because they were Republicans. One man claimed an
office on the ground that he was a Republican, and that the
Republicans were the saviors of the republic. Jefferson replied
that Rome had been saved by geese, but he had never heard that the
geese were given offices.
[Illustration: THOMAS JEFFERSON.] "Honest friendship with all
nations, entangling alliances with none, ... economy in the public
expense, the honest payment of our debts, and sacred preservation
of the public faith."--Jefferson's First Inaugural.
Expenses diminished.
Internal taxes repealed.
Army and navy reduced.
Part of the debt paid. McMaster, 217-218.
240. Paying the National Debt.--Jefferson was especially
anxious to cut down the expenses of the government and to pay as
much as possible of the national debt. Madison and Gallatin worked
heartily with him to carry out this policy. The repeal of the
Internal Revenue Act took much revenue from the government. But it
also did away with the salaries of a great many officials. The
repeal of the Judiciary Act also put an end to many salaries. Now
that the dispute with France was ended, Jefferson thought that the
army and navy might safely be reduced. Most of the naval vessels
were sold. A few good ships were kept at sea, and the rest were
tied up at the wharves. The number of ministers to European states
was reduced to the lowest possible limit, and the civil service at
home was also cut down. The expenses of the government were in
these ways greatly lessened. At the same time the revenue from the
customs service increased. The result was that in the eight years
of Jefferson's administrations the national debt shrank from
eighty-three million dollars to forty-five million dollars. Yet in
the same time the United States paid fifteen million dollars for
Louisiana, and waged a series of successful and costly wars with
the pirates of the northern coast of Africa.
The Spaniards in Louisiana and Florida.
McMaster, 218-219.
France secures Louisiana.
241. Louisiana again a French Colony.--Spanish territory
now bounded the United States on the south and the west. The
Spaniards were not good neighbors, because it was very hard to make
them come to an agreement, and next to impossible to make them keep
an agreement when it was made. But this did not matter very much,
because Spain was a weak power and was growing weaker every year.
Sooner or later the United States would gain its point. Suddenly,
however, it was announced that France had got back Louisiana. And
almost at the same moment the Spanish governor of Louisiana said
that Americans could no longer deposit their goods at New Orleans
(p. 170). At once there was a great outcry in the West. Jefferson
determined to buy from France New Orleans and the land eastward
from the mouth of the Mississippi.
[Illustration: JACKSON SQUARE, NEW ORLEANS.]
[Illustration: ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.]
Napoleon's policy.
He offers to sell Louisiana.
242. The Louisiana Purchase, 1803.--When Napoleon got
Louisiana from Spain, he had an idea of again founding a great
French colony in America. At the moment France and Great Britain
were at peace. But it soon looked as if war would begin again.
Napoleon knew that the British would at once seize Louisiana and he
could not keep it anyway. So one day, when the Americans and the
French were talking about the purchase of New Orleans, the French
minister suddenly asked if the United States would not like to buy
the whole of Louisiana. Monroe and Livingston, the American
ministers, had no authority to buy Louisiana. But the purchase of
the whole colony would be a great benefit to the United States. So
they quickly agreed to pay fifteen million dollars for the whole of
Louisiana.
Louisiana purchased, 1803. Higginson,
244-245; Eggleston, 234; Source-Book, 200-202.
Importance of the purchase.
243. The Treaty Ratified.--Jefferson found himself in a
strange position. The Constitution nowhere delegated to the United
States power to acquire territory (p. 164). But after thinking it
over Jefferson felt sure that the people would approve of the
purchase. The treaty was ratified. The money was paid. This
purchase turned out to be a most fortunate thing. It gave to the
United States the whole western valley of the Mississippi. It also
gave to Americans the opportunity to explore and settle Oregon,
which lay beyond the limits of Louisiana.
THE UNITED STATES IN 1803.
Lewis and Clark, 1804-6. Higginson, 245-247;
McMaster, 219-221; Source-Book, 206-209.
The mouth of the Oregon.
244. Lewis and Clark's Explorations.--Jefferson soon sent
out several expeditions to explore the unknown portions of the
continent. The most important of these was the expedition led by
two army officers, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, brother of
General George Rogers Clark (p. 116). Leaving St. Louis they slowly
ascended the muddy Missouri. They passed the site of the present
city of Omaha. They passed the Council Bluffs. The current of the
river now became so rapid that the explorers left their boats and
traveled along the river's bank. They gained the sources of the
Missouri, and came to a westward-flowing river. On, on they
followed it until they came to the river's mouth. A fog hung low
over the water. Suddenly it lifted. There before the explorers'
eyes the river "in waves like small mountains rolled out in the
ocean." They had traced the Columbia River from its upper course to
the Pacific. Captain Gray in the Boston ship Columbia had
already entered the mouth of the river. But Lewis and Clark were
the first white men to reach it overland.
Amendment as to the election of President.
The Twelfth Amendment, 1804.
245. The Twelfth Amendment, 1804.--Four presidential
elections had now been held under the method provided by the
Constitution. And that method had not worked well (pp. 171, 176).
It was now (1804) changed by the adoption of the Twelfth Amendment
which is still in force. The old machinery of presidential electors
was kept. But it was provided that in the future each elector
should vote for President and for Vice-President on separate and
distinct ballots. The voters had no more part in the election under
the new system than they had had under the old system. The old
method of apportioning electors among the states was also kept.
This gives to each state as many electors as it has Senators and
Representatives in Congress. No matter how small its territory, or
how small its population, a state has at least two Senators and one
Representative, and, therefore, three electors. The result is that
each voter in a small state has more influence in choosing the
President than each voter in a large state. Indeed, several
Presidents have been elected by minorities of the voters of the
country as a whole.
Jefferson reëlected, 1804.
Strength of the Republicans.
246. Reëlection of Jefferson, 1804.--Jefferson's
first administration had been most successful. The Republicans had
repealed many unpopular laws. By the purchase of Louisiana the area
of the United States had been doubled and an end put to the dispute
as to the navigation of the Mississippi. The expenses of the
national government had been cut down, and a portion of the
national debt had been paid. The people were prosperous and happy.
Under these circumstances Jefferson was triumphantly
reëlected. He received one hundred and sixty-two electoral
votes to only fourteen for his Federalist rival.
[Illustration: STEPHEN DECATUR.]
CHAPTER 24
CAUSES OF THE WAR OF 1812
The African pirates. Higginson, 237-239;
Eggleston, 228-229.
Tribute paying.
Jefferson ends this system.
Hero Tales, 103-113.
247. The North Africa Pirates.--Stretching along the
northern shores of Africa from Egypt westward to the Atlantic were
four states. These states were named Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers, and
Morocco. Their people were Mohammedans, and were ruled over by
persons called Deys or Beys, or Pachas. These rulers found it
profitable and pleasant to attack and capture Christian ships. The
cargoes of the captured vessels they sold at good prices, and the
seamen and passengers they sold at good prices too--as slaves. The
leading powers of Europe, instead of destroying these pirates,
found it easier to pay them to let their ships alone. Washington
and Adams also paid them to allow American ships to sail unharmed.
But the pirates were never satisfied with what was paid them.
Jefferson decided to put an end to this tribute paying. He sent a
few ships to seize the pirates and shut up their harbors. More and
more vessels were sent, until at last the Deys and Beys and Pachas
thought it would be cheaper to behave themselves properly. So they
agreed to release their American prisoners and not to capture any
more American ships (1805). In these little wars American naval
officers gained much useful experience and did many glorious deeds.
Especially Decatur and Somers won renown.
European fighters attack American commerce.
McMaster, 224-226.
248. America, Britain, and France.--Napoleon Bonaparte
was now Emperor of the French. In 1804 he made war on the British
and their allies. Soon he became supreme on the land, and the
British became supreme on the water. They could no longer fight one
another very easily, so they determined to injure each other's
trade and commerce as much as possible. The British declared
continental ports closed to commerce, and Napoleon declared all
British commerce to be unlawful. Of course under these
circumstances British and Continental ships could not carry on
trade, and American vessels rapidly took their places. The British
shipowners called upon their government to put an end to this
American commerce. Old laws were looked up and enforced. American
vessels that disobeyed them were seized by the British. But if any
American vessel obeyed these laws, Napoleon seized it as soon as it
entered a French harbor.
Impressment. Eggleston, 240.
249. The Impressment Controversy.--With the British the
United States had still another cause of complaint. British
warships stopped American vessels and took away all their seamen
who looked like Englishmen. These they compelled to serve on
British men-of-war. As Americans and Englishmen looked very much
alike, they generally seized all the best-looking seamen. Thousands
of Americans were captured in this way and forced into slavery on
British men-of-war. This method of kidnaping was called
impressment.
The embargo, 1807. Eggleston, 241;
McMaster, 226-227, 228.
Failure of the embargo. Source-Book, 209-211.
250. The Embargo, 1807-1809.--Jefferson hardly knew what
to do. He might declare war on both Great Britain and on France.
But to do that would surely put a speedy end to all American
commerce. In the old days, before the Revolutionary War, the
colonists had more than once brought the British to terms by
refusing to buy their goods (pp. 84, 85). Jefferson now thought
that if the people of the United States should refuse to trade with
the British and the French, the governments both of Great Britain
and of France would be forced to treat American commerce properly.
Congress therefore passed an Embargo Act. This forbade vessels to
leave American ports after a certain day. If the people had been
united, the embargo might have done what Jefferson expected it
would do. But the people were not united. Especially in New
England, the shipowners tried in every way to break the law. This
led to the passing of stricter laws. Finally the New Englanders
even talked of seceding from the Union.
[Illustration: AN EARLY STEAM FERRYBOAT, ABOUT 1810.]
Outrage on the Chesapeake, 1807.
McMaster, 227.
251. The Outrage on the Chesapeake, 1807.--The
British now added to the anger of the Americans by impressing
seamen from the decks of an American warship. The frigate
Chesapeake left the Norfolk navy yard for a cruise. At once
the British vessel Leopard sailed toward her and ordered her
to stop. As the Chesapeake did not stop, the Leopard
fired on her. The American frigate was just setting out, and
everything was in confusion on her decks. But a coal was brought
from the cook's stove, and one gun was fired. Her flag was then
hauled down. The British came on board and seized four seamen, who
they said were deserters from the British navy. This outrage
aroused tremendous excitement. Jefferson ordered all British
warships out of American waters and forbade the people to supply
them with provisions, water, or wood. The British offered to
restore the imprisoned seamen and ordered out of American waters
the admiral under whose direction the outrage had been done. But
they would not give up impressment.
Madison elected President, 1808.]
252. Madison elected President, 1808.--There is nothing
in the Constitution to limit the number of times a man may be
chosen President. Many persons would gladly have voted a third time
for Jefferson. But he thought that unless some limit were set, the
people might keep on reëlecting a popular and successful
President term after term. This would be very dangerous to the
republican form of government. So Jefferson followed Washington's
example and declined a third term, Washington and Jefferson thus
established a custom that has ever since been followed. The
Republicans voted for James Madison, and he was elected President
(1808).
[Illustration: MODERN DOUBLE-DECKED FERRYBOAT.]
Non-Intercourse Act, 1809.
253. The Non-Intercourse Act, 1809.--By this time the
embargo had become so very unpopular that it could be maintained
only at the cost of civil war. Madison suggested that the Embargo
Act should be repealed, and a Non-Intercourse Act passed in its
place. Congress at once did as he suggested. The Non-Intercourse
Act prohibited commerce with Great Britain and with France and the
countries controlled by France. It permitted commerce with the rest
of the world. There were not many European countries with which
America could trade under this law. Still there were a few
countries, as Norway and Spain, which still maintained their
independence. And goods could be sold through them to the other
European countries. At all events, no sooner was the embargo
removed than commerce revived. Rates of freight were very high and
the profits were very large, although the French and the British
captured many American vessels.
The Erskine treaty.
The British minister Jackson. Source-Book, 212-213
254. Two British Ministers.--Soon after Madison's
inauguration a new British minister came to Washington. His name
was Erskine, and he was very friendly. A treaty was speedily made
on conditions which Madison thought could be granted. He suspended
non-intercourse with Great Britain, and hundreds of vessels set
sail for that country. But the British rulers soon put an end to
this friendly feeling. They said that Erskine had no authority to
make such a treaty. They refused to carry it out and recalled
Erskine. The next British minister was a person named Jackson. He
accused Madison of cheating Erskine and repeated the accusation.
Thereupon Madison sent him back to London. As the British would not
carry out the terms of Erskine's treaty, Madison was compelled to
prohibit all intercourse with Great Britain.
Still another policy. McMaster, 229-230.
French trickery.
British trickery.
255. British and French Trickery.--The scheme of
non-intercourse did not seem to bring the British and the French to
terms much better than the embargo had done. In 1810, therefore,
Congress set to work and produced a third plan. This was to allow
intercourse with both Great Britain and France. But this was
coupled with the promise that if one of the two nations stopped
seizing American ships and the other did not, then intercourse with
the unfriendly country should be prohibited. Napoleon at once said
that he would stop seizing American vessels on November 1 of that
year if the British, on their part, would stop their seizures
before that time. The British said that they would stop seizing
when Napoleon did. Neither of them really did anything except to
keep on capturing American vessels whenever they could get a
chance.
Indians of the Northwest. Eggleston,
242.
Tecumthe.
256. Indian Troubles, 1810.--To this everlasting trouble
with Great Britain and France were now added the horrors of an
Indian war. It came about in this way. Settlers were pressing into
Indiana Territory west of the new state of Ohio. Soon the lands
which the United States had bought of the Indians would be
occupied. New lands must be bought. At this time there were two
able Indian leaders in the Northwest. These were Tecumthe, or
Tecumseh, and his brother, who was known as "the Prophet." These
chiefs set on foot a great Indian confederation. They said that no
one Indian tribe should sell land to the United States without the
consent of all the tribes of the Confederation.
Battle of Tippecanoe, 1811.
257. Battle of Tippecanoe.--This determined attitude of
the Indians seemed to the American leaders to be very dangerous.
Governor William Henry Harrison of Indiana Territory gathered a
small army of regular soldiers and volunteers from Ohio, Kentucky,
and Indiana. He marched to the Indian settlements. The Indians
attacked him at Tippecanoe. He beat them off and, attacking in his
turn, routed them. Tecumthe was not at the battle. But he
immediately fled to the British in Canada. The Americans had
suspected that the British were stirring up the Indians to resist
the United States. The reception given to Tecumthe made them feel
that their suspicions were correct.
[Illustration: MEDAL PRESENTED TO HENRY CLAY.]
Henry Clay.
John C. Calhoun.
258. The War Party in Congress.--There were abundant
reasons to justify war with Great Britain, or with France, or with
both of them. But there would probably have been no war with either
of them had it not been for a few energetic young men in Congress.
The leaders of this war party were Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun.
Clay was born in Virginia, but as a boy he had gone to Kentucky. He
represented the spirit of the young and growing West. He was a true
patriot and felt angry at the way the British spoke of America and
Americans, and at the way they acted toward the United States. He
was a very popular man and won men to him by his attractive
qualities and by his energy. Calhoun was a South Carolinian who had
been educated in Connecticut. He was a man of the highest personal
character. He had a strong, active mind, and he was fearless in
debate. As with Clay so with Calhoun, they both felt the rising
spirit of nationality. They thought that the United States had been
patient long enough. They and their friends gained a majority in
Congress and forced Madison to send a warlike message to
Congress.
Madison's war message, 1812. McMaster>,
231; Source-Book, 214-216.
259. Madison's Reasons for War, 1812.--In his message
Madison stated the grounds for complaint against the British as
follows: (1) they impressed American seamen; (2) they disturbed
American commerce by stationing warships off the principal ports;
they refused to permit trade between America and Europe; (4) they
stirred up the western Indians to attack the settlers; (5) they
were really making war on the United States while the United States
was at peace with them. For these reasons Madison advised a
declaration of war against Great Britain, and war was declared.
QUESTIONS AND TOPICS
CHAPTER 22
§§ 228, 229.--a. Draw a map showing the states
and territories in 1800.
b. How and why had the center of population changed since
1791? Where is it now?
c. Why did so many people live near tide water? Do the
same reasons exist to-day?
§§ 230-232.--a. What were the "best roads" in
1800?
b. Describe the dangers and discomforts of traveling in
1800.
c. What were the early steamboats like?
§§ 233, 234.--a. What fact hindered the growth
of cotton on a large scale in colonial times?
b. How did Whitney's cotton gin change these
conditions?
§§ 235, 236.--a. Why had manufacturing received
so little attention before the Revolution?
b. How did the new government encourage
manufacturing?
CHAPTER 23
§ 237.--a. How did Jefferson's inauguration
illustrate his political ideas?
b. Compare his method of opening Congress with that
employed by Washington and Adams. Which method is followed
to-day?
§§ 238.--a. What is the Civil Service? How had
Washington and Adams filled offices? Was their action wise?
§§ 239.--a. Explain the Judiciary Act of
1801.
b. What power has Congress over the Judiciary?
(Constitution, Art. III).
§§ 240.--a. What was Jefferson's policy toward
expenses? How did he carry it out? What was the result of these
economies?
b. Was the reduction of the navy wise? What conditions
make a large navy necessary?
§§ 241-244.--a. When and how had Louisiana
changed hands since its settlement? Why were the Spaniards poor
neighbors?
b. How did the United States acquire Louisiana?
c. Trace on a map the boundaries of the Louisiana
Purchase. Compare its value to-day with the price paid.
d. What important discoveries did Lewis and Clark
make?
§§ 245, 246.--a. Give instances which
illustrate the disadvantages of the old way of electing the
President and Vice-President.
b. Explain carefully the changes made by the Twelfth
Amendment, and show how a President may be elected by a minority of
the voters.
CHAPTER 24
§§ 247.--a. Describe the doings of the African
pirates. Why had Washington and Adams paid them?
b. Describe Jefferson's action and state the results.
§§ 248, 249.--a. Compare the power of France
and Great Britain at this time.
b. How did they try to injure one another? How did they
treat American ships?
c. Explain the impressment of sailors by the British.
§§ 250, 251.--a. Describe the difficulties of
Jefferson's position.
b. Give instances of refusal to buy British goods and the
results.
c. Explain the Embargo Act. Why was it a failure?
d. Describe the outrage on the Chesapeake. Was the
offer of the British government enough? What more should have been
promised?
§§ 252, 253.--a. What were Jefferson's
objections to a third term? What custom was established by these
early Presidents?
b. Where have we found Madison prominent before?
c. Explain the difference between the Embargo Act and the
Non-Intercourse Act.
§§ 254, 255.--a. Describe the attempt to renew
friendly intercourse with Great Britain.
b. What do you think of Napoleon's treatment of the
United States?
§§ 256.--a. What caused the trouble with the
Indians?
b. Describe Harrison's action. How were the British
connected with this Indian trouble?
§§ 257-259.--a. How did all these affairs
affect the relations between the United States and Great
Britain?
b. Explain the attitude of Clay and Calhoun.
c. What is meant by the "rising spirit of
nationality"?
d. Illustrate, by facts already studied, the reasons
given in Madison's message.
GENERAL QUESTIONS
a. How has machinery influenced the history of the United
States?
b. Draw a map showing the extent of the United States in
1802 and 1804.
c. What were the four most important things in
Jefferson's administrations? Why do you select these?
TOPICS FOR SPECIAL WORK
a. Robert Fulton or Eli Whitney.
b. Exploration of the Northwest.
c. War with the African pirates.
d. Life and manners in 1800.
SUGGESTIONS
The purchase of Louisiana and the early development of the West
are leading points in this period. With the latter must be coupled
the important inventions which made such development possible.
Commercial questions should receive adequate attention and should
be illustrated by present conditions.
Jefferson's attitude toward both the Louisiana Purchase and the
enforcement of the Embargo Act is an illustration of the effect
which power and responsibility have on those placed at the head of
the government. This can also be illustrated by events in our own
time.
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