STATE HOUSE AND HIGH STREET, COLUMBUS, OVIEW OF THE STATE HOUSE AND HIGHST., COLUMBUS, OHIO.VIEW OF LAKE ERIE AND GREAT CENTRAL DEPOTVIEW OF LAKE ERIE AND GREAT CENTRAL DEPOT, CLEVELAND.On the 24th of December, a treaty of peace was signed at Ghent. But before its arrival, the last and most memorable battle of the war was fought at New Orleans. On the 8th of January, 1815, the American forces, amounting to about six thousand, chiefly militia, under the command of General Jackson, intrenched before the city, were attacked by fifteen thousand British troops, commanded by Sir Edward Packenham. After three charges, in which they were swept down with incredible slaughter, the British fled in confusion, leaving their dead and wounded on the field of battle. General Packenham was killed while rallying his troops to the second charge; General Gibbs, who succeeded in command, fell mortally wounded in the third charge. The loss of the British in killed was seven hundred; in wounded, fourteen hundred; in prisoners, five hundred: in all, twenty-six hundred. The Americans lost seven killed and six wounded. The joy excited by this victory was merged in the still livelier joy with which the news of the treaty of peace was soon after received. On the 17th of February, the treaty was ratified by the president and senate. This treaty made no allusion to the causes of the war, and settled none of the matters in dispute, and for which it was professedly declared. All parties, however, welcomed the return of peace. At a subsequent convention, signed by plenipotentiaries of the two countries appointed for the purpose, various articles for the regulation of commerce between England and the United States were adopted. Before the expiration of the time within which, by the treaty, all vessels taken by either party were to be held good prizes, several engagements at sea were fought, and several captures made. Among them the American frigate President was captured by a British squadron; and the British ships Cyane, Levant, and Penguin, were taken by the Americans.At the next session of congress, a bill was passed incorporating the Bank of the United States, with a capital of thirty-five millions of dollars. The charter was to continue in force until the third of March, 1836. This measure was the subject of a very earnest and protracted debate both as to its constitutionality, and as to the principles on which the bank should be established.Mr. Madison was succeeded in the office of president by James Monroe, March 4, 1817. The country was now at peace, but its condition was by no means prosperous. Commerce had not yet revived, and the manufactures which had been carried on during the war were entirely broken down by the influx of foreign merchandise. In 1818, a war broke out between the Seminoles and the United States, occasioned by the removal of some Indians from lands ceded to the United States by the Creeks in 1814. The Indians were entirely subdued by General Jackson. In 1819, another convention was made between Great Britain and the United States, granting to American citizens the right to fish on the banks of Newfoundland; establishing a portion of the northern boundary; and extending for ten years longer the commercial convention concluded four years before.A treaty was also this year concluded with Spain, by which East and West Florida, with the islands adjacent, were ceded to the United States.On the 4th of March, 1821, Mr. Monroe was unanimously elected to a second term of office. Much less unanimity, however, was displayed in the deliberations of the next congress. Some important commercial acts were passed; revolutionary soldiers were provided for by pensions; and the ratio of population and representation fixed at one representative to forty thousand inhabitants.The year 1824 is signalized in the annals of the country by a visit from La Fayette, the friend and companion-in-arms of Washington, to whose services in the dark day of the revolutionary war the nation owed so much. He passed about a year in the country, visiting every part of it, and receiving everywhere the most enthusiastic tokens of homage and gratitude. He returned to his own country in a national frigate prepared for the purpose, and named, in honor of him, the Brandywine—the name of the battle in which he was wounded nearly fifty years before. During his visit, congress appropriated two hundred thousand dollars, and a township of land in Florida, as an acknowledgment of his eminent services.Mr. Monroe retired from office with the respect and good will of all parties. His administration of affairs, both foreign and domestic, had been uninfluenced by party spirit, and characterised by uprightness, prudence, and good sense. The country was everywhere peaceful and prosperous. No choice of a successor to Mr. Monroe having been made by the electors, the choice devolved upon the house of representatives.On the 4th of March, 1825, John Quincy Adams was inaugurated president of the United States.Among the noticeable events during this administration, the first to be mentioned is a controversy between the general government and the executive of Georgia, in relation to certain lands held by the Cherokees and Creeks of that state. The general government had agreed to extinguish, for the benefit of Georgia, the Indian title to those lands—‘whenever it could be peaceably done, upon reasonable terms.’ But the Creeks, at a national council, refused to alienate their territory. After the council had broken up, and a majority of the chiefs had departed, a few who remained were induced to make a treaty, ceding the lands in question to the United States. This treaty was repudiated by the Creek nation. But the governor of Georgia determined to act upon it as valid. To prevent a war, the president ordered General Gaines to repair to the Creek country, for the protection of the Indians; and directed Governor Troup of Georgia to suspend his intended measures. Congress approved the course of the president; and at length a treaty was formed with the Creeks, which gave satisfaction to all parties except the state of Georgia.The most important among the measures which occupied the first session of the twentieth congress, was the revision of the tariff, with a view to afford protection to American manufactures. The principle of a protective tariff was warmly opposed by the south, and by a large portion of the commercial body at the north; while the details of the bill which was passed were far from satisfactory to the friends of protection.During Mr. Adams’ administration the prosperity of the United States had increased to an unexampled height. Agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, were every where flourishing. The public debt which at the close of the war, amounted to nearly one hundred and fifty millions of dollars, was almost extinguished. The annual revenue largely exceeded the demands of the government; and at the close of Mr. Adams’ term, there was a surplus of more than five millions in the treasury.On the 4th of March, 1829, Andrew Jackson was inaugurated president of the United States.CINCINNATI OHIOCINCINNATI OHIO.SANDUSKY CITY, OHIO.SANDUSKY CITY, O.Among the most important measures which engaged the attention of the twenty-first congress, were, the modification of the tariff; Indian affairs; internal improvements; and the renewal of the charter of the United States bank. It was not until 1832 that a memorial came before congress for the renewal of the charter of the United States bank. A bill to that effect passed both houses of congress; but on the 10th of July it was returned by the president with objections. The policy of making appropriations for internal improvements was adopted during Mr. Jefferson’s term of office, and had continued through all succeeding administrations. To this policy General Jackson was opposed, and accordingly returned, with his veto, several bills making such appropriations. In 1832, the hostility of the south to the protective tariff assumed in South Carolina an attitude dangerous to the peace of the country. A convention of delegates assembled at Columbia, November 24; pronounced the acts of congress imposing duties for protection unconstitutional, and of no binding force in that state; and that it was the duty of the state legislature to pass laws to prevent the payment or enforcement of such duties. The remedy thus proposed received the name of nullification. President Jackson immediately issued a proclamation, containing an admirable exposition of the principles and powers of the general government, and expressing a firm determination to maintain the laws. This only increased the exasperation in South Carolina: the governor of the state, by the authority of the legislature, issued a counter-proclamation, urging the people to be faithful to their primary allegiance to the state, and to resist the general government in any attempt to enforce the tariff laws. General orders were also issued to raise volunteers for repelling invasion, and supporting the rights of the state. General Jackson hereupon addressed a message to congress recommending such measures as would enable the executive to suppress the spirit of insubordination, and sustain the laws of the United States.Everything thus betokened a civil war. But an appeal to South Carolina by the general assembly of Virginia, and the passage of a bill modifying the tariff (introduced by Henry Clay, and commonly known as the ‘compromise act’), joined with a manifestation of firmness and energy on the part of the executive, served to allay the ferment in South Carolina, and led to a repeal of the nullifying ordinances.On the 4th of March, 1833, Andrew Jackson entered on a second term of office. The charter of the United States bank being about to expire, the president who had before expressed to Congress his doubts of the expediency of continuing that institution the depositary of the funds of the United States, directed the secretary of the treasury, Mr. Duane, to remove the government deposits from the bank. This Mr. Duane declined to do. He was immediately removed from office by the president; and Mr. Taney was appointed in his place, by whom the deposits were removed, and placed in the custody of several State banks. This measure was strongly censured by a resolution which passed the senate, June 9, 1834.The country was now disturbed with serious apprehensions of a collision with France. By a treaty, negotiated in 1831, by Mr. Rives, the French government had agreed to make indemnity for spoliations committed on American commerce during the reign of Napoleon; but it had failed to fulfill its stipulations. In December, 1834, the president recommended reprisals upon French commerce. This was deemed by Congress not expedient at present. Happily, however, the danger of hostile collision was removed in the course of the next year by the action of the French government in making provision to fulfill its stipulations.The most important act of the first session of the twenty-fourth Congress, which began December 7th, 1835, was a law directing the deposit, under certain regulations, of the moneys of the United States in several of the State banks, and distributing the surplus revenue among the several States.In December, 1835, one of the most destructive fires on record occurred in the city of New York. The amount of property destroyed is computed not to have fallen much short of twenty millions of dollars, without estimating the injury and loss from suspension and derangement of business.Near the close of this year, the Seminole Indians, refusing to remove from Florida to the lands appropriated for them west of the Mississippi, the country became involved in a war with them; and it was not until 1842 that they were finally subdued and sent west.On the 11th of July, 1836, the receivers of public money were instructed, by a circular from the treasury department, to receive nothing but gold and silver in payment for public lands.On the 16th of January, 1837, the ‘expunging resolution’ (so called) introduced by Mr. Benton, passed the senate by a small majority. By this act the resolution of the senate passed June 9, 1834—censuring the president for removing Mr. Duane, and ordering the withdrawal of the United States deposits from the bank of the United States—was expunged from the journal of the senate. Against this proceeding, Mr. Webster, of Massachusetts, in behalf of himself and his colleagues, read a solemn protest.On the 4th of March, 1837, Martin Van Buren became president of the United States. Mr. Van Buren’s administration was, in its general policy, a continuation of that of his predecessor. Scarcely, however, had he entered upon office, when the country was overwhelmed by one of the most severe commercial revulsions ever known. For several years previous, the wildest spirit of speculation had prevailed throughout the country. Vast public works were undertaken by States and chartered companies; immense importations of foreign goods were made; and real estate, especially lots in cities and towns, went up a hundred fold beyond its intrinsic value. The multitude of State banks that had been chartered, after the expiration of the charter of the United States bank, and the consequent excessive expansion of the paper currency, had contributed to increase the spirit of speculation. At length a crisis came; and the revulsion was proportionately severe. Some idea of it may be formed from the fact that a list of failures in the city of New York (including only the more considerable, and omitting hundreds of less importance), shows a total amount of more than sixty millions of dollars. All credit, all confidence was at an end. On the 10th of May, all the banks of the city of New York suspended specie payments, and the suspension became general throughout the country. The general government became involved in the universal embarrassment—the banks in which its deposits were placed having stopped in the general suspension. The government still insisted, however, upon all postages and duties being paid in specie or its equivalent, and even refused its own checks and drafts when offered in payment of custom-house bonds. In this state of things, the president convoked an extra session of Congress, which began on the 4th of September. Agreeably to the recommendation of the executive, as measures for the immediate relief of the general government, Congress passed a law postponing to the 1st of January, 1839, the payment to the States of the fourth installment of the surplus revenue; and authorizing the issue of ten millions of treasury notes, to be receivable in payment of public dues. The president also recommended the ‘separation of the fiscal operations of the government from those of corporations or individuals.’ A bill in accordance with this recommendation—commonly called the sub-treasury bill, placing the public money in the hands of certain receivers-general, subject to the order and control of the treasurer of the United States—passed the senate, but was lost in the house.BATTLE MONUMENT, BALTIMOREBATTLE MONUMENT, BALTIMORE.BOMBARDMENT OF VERA CRUZBOMBARDMENT OF VERA CRUZ.At the next regular session of congress (December, 1837—July, 1838), a reissue of treasury notes was authorized. The sub-treasury system was again urged upon the attention of congress, but was not adopted. On the 13th of August, 1838, the banks throughout the country generally resumed specie payments: but in October following, the banks of Philadelphia again suspended, and their example was followed by the banks in Pennsylvania, and in all the states south and west. The banks of New York and New England continued to pay specie. The twenty-sixth congress commenced its first session December2d, 1839. Among its acts, two only need be mentioned: one for taking thesixth censusof the United States; the other, ‘for the collection, safe keeping, transfer, and disbursement, of the public revenue’—being the sub-treasury system so earnestly recommended by the president. At the second session of this congress, nothing was done of sufficient importance to find a place in this sketch.The administration of Mr Van Buren was drawing to a close. He was a candidate for reëlection; William Henry Harrison, of Ohio, was the candidate of the opposition. After a contest unprecedented for intensity of political excitement, Mr. Van Buren was defeated.On the 4th of March, 1841, William Henry Harrison was inaugurated president of the United States. Scarcely had the new president entered upon his office, and organized his administration by the appointment of his cabinet, when he was stricken with sickness; and on the 4th April, one month from the day of his inauguration, he expired. ‘In death, as in life, the happiness of his country was uppermost in his thoughts.’By the death of General Harrison, John Tyler, of Virginia, the vice president, became, according to the constitution, president of the United States. The passage of a general bankrupt law was one of the earliest measures passed by congress. This law was, however, subsequently repealed. The tariff was modified with a view to further protection of American industry.Among the most memorable events of this administration is thetreaty of Washington, concluded in September, 1842, between Great Britain and the United States, by Lord Ashburton and Daniel Webster, by which the differences about the boundary line between Maine and Lower Canada, long a matter of dispute and ill-blood, were amicably and satisfactorily adjusted.The disturbances in Rhode Island are a less agreeable subject of record; though happily the apprehensions they excited have been dispelled. In 1841, a convention of inhabitants of Rhode Island framed a new constitution, giving the right of suffrage (which under the existing government was extremely limited) to all free white inhabitants; and proceeded to organize a new government under this constitution. They elected a legislative body, and chose Thomas W. Dorr governor of the state. All these proceedings were considered as unlawful and revolutionary by those opposed to them, inasmuch as they had taken place without any legal warrant, and without being in any way initiated by the lawful and actual government. A civil war seemed inevitable. The legal government applied to the president of the United States, who detached several companies of troops to Newport to await events. Dorr mustered a considerable force of armed men, with two pieces of artillery, and made an ineffectual attempt to gain possession of the arsenal at Providence. Shortly after, he took a position at Chepachet, where his force was increased by volunteers from New York and other states. Upon the approach of a body of the state militia, under General M’Neil, Dorr and his party broke ground and fled, June 25th, 1842. His government fell to pieces.On the 4th of March, 1845, James K. Polk was inaugurated president. The most important event of this year was the voluntary annexation of Texas to the American Union. In 1846, a war broke out between Mexico and the United States. A rapid succession of brilliant victories by the troops under Generals Taylor and Scott, soon placed the capital and all the strongholds of Mexico in the hands of the victors; but the power to dictate the terms of a peace were used with moderation. The government of the United States assumed the payment of all the claims of its own citizens against Mexico, and agreed to pay $15,000,000 for a boundary line beginning at the mouth of the Rio Grande, then up that stream to the southern boundary of New Mexico, then across to the river Gila, and down to its mouth; with free navigation to the Gulf of California, and thence across to the Pacific. The treaty was concluded May 30th, 1848. In the same year gold was first discovered in the newly-acquired territory of California.On the 4th of March, 1849,Gen.Zachary Taylor was inaugurated president of the United States. He died in July, 1850, and was succeeded by the vice-president, Millard Fillmore. In September, 1850, California was admitted into the Union. On the 4th of March, 1853, Franklin Pierce was inaugurated president. The ‘Gadsden Treaty,’ by which the Mesilla Valley was acquired from Mexico, was made Dec. 30, in the same year. By act of June 29, 1854, $10,000,000 were appropriated to carry out the treaty; $7,000,000 to be paid upon exchange of ratifications, and $3,000,000 as soon as the boundary line should be surveyed and established.Thus have been briefly sketched the leading events, political and civil, of the history of the United States, from the first feeble and scattered colonial establishments to the formation of a great and prosperous nation. The great problem of the possibility of a permanent and well-ordered republic, on so extensive a scale, doubtless yet remains to be solved. It depends on theINTELLIGENCEandVIRTUEof the people, whether it shall be solved as the friends of free institutions desire. Theoretically the most perfect of all forms of human government, it requires, beyond any other, the presence of these conditions to preserve it from becoming practically the worst.STATE HOUSE, WISCONSINSTATE HOUSE, WISCONSIN.
STATE HOUSE AND HIGH STREET, COLUMBUS, OVIEW OF THE STATE HOUSE AND HIGHST., COLUMBUS, OHIO.
VIEW OF THE STATE HOUSE AND HIGHST., COLUMBUS, OHIO.
VIEW OF LAKE ERIE AND GREAT CENTRAL DEPOTVIEW OF LAKE ERIE AND GREAT CENTRAL DEPOT, CLEVELAND.
VIEW OF LAKE ERIE AND GREAT CENTRAL DEPOT, CLEVELAND.
On the 24th of December, a treaty of peace was signed at Ghent. But before its arrival, the last and most memorable battle of the war was fought at New Orleans. On the 8th of January, 1815, the American forces, amounting to about six thousand, chiefly militia, under the command of General Jackson, intrenched before the city, were attacked by fifteen thousand British troops, commanded by Sir Edward Packenham. After three charges, in which they were swept down with incredible slaughter, the British fled in confusion, leaving their dead and wounded on the field of battle. General Packenham was killed while rallying his troops to the second charge; General Gibbs, who succeeded in command, fell mortally wounded in the third charge. The loss of the British in killed was seven hundred; in wounded, fourteen hundred; in prisoners, five hundred: in all, twenty-six hundred. The Americans lost seven killed and six wounded. The joy excited by this victory was merged in the still livelier joy with which the news of the treaty of peace was soon after received. On the 17th of February, the treaty was ratified by the president and senate. This treaty made no allusion to the causes of the war, and settled none of the matters in dispute, and for which it was professedly declared. All parties, however, welcomed the return of peace. At a subsequent convention, signed by plenipotentiaries of the two countries appointed for the purpose, various articles for the regulation of commerce between England and the United States were adopted. Before the expiration of the time within which, by the treaty, all vessels taken by either party were to be held good prizes, several engagements at sea were fought, and several captures made. Among them the American frigate President was captured by a British squadron; and the British ships Cyane, Levant, and Penguin, were taken by the Americans.
At the next session of congress, a bill was passed incorporating the Bank of the United States, with a capital of thirty-five millions of dollars. The charter was to continue in force until the third of March, 1836. This measure was the subject of a very earnest and protracted debate both as to its constitutionality, and as to the principles on which the bank should be established.
Mr. Madison was succeeded in the office of president by James Monroe, March 4, 1817. The country was now at peace, but its condition was by no means prosperous. Commerce had not yet revived, and the manufactures which had been carried on during the war were entirely broken down by the influx of foreign merchandise. In 1818, a war broke out between the Seminoles and the United States, occasioned by the removal of some Indians from lands ceded to the United States by the Creeks in 1814. The Indians were entirely subdued by General Jackson. In 1819, another convention was made between Great Britain and the United States, granting to American citizens the right to fish on the banks of Newfoundland; establishing a portion of the northern boundary; and extending for ten years longer the commercial convention concluded four years before.
A treaty was also this year concluded with Spain, by which East and West Florida, with the islands adjacent, were ceded to the United States.
On the 4th of March, 1821, Mr. Monroe was unanimously elected to a second term of office. Much less unanimity, however, was displayed in the deliberations of the next congress. Some important commercial acts were passed; revolutionary soldiers were provided for by pensions; and the ratio of population and representation fixed at one representative to forty thousand inhabitants.
The year 1824 is signalized in the annals of the country by a visit from La Fayette, the friend and companion-in-arms of Washington, to whose services in the dark day of the revolutionary war the nation owed so much. He passed about a year in the country, visiting every part of it, and receiving everywhere the most enthusiastic tokens of homage and gratitude. He returned to his own country in a national frigate prepared for the purpose, and named, in honor of him, the Brandywine—the name of the battle in which he was wounded nearly fifty years before. During his visit, congress appropriated two hundred thousand dollars, and a township of land in Florida, as an acknowledgment of his eminent services.
Mr. Monroe retired from office with the respect and good will of all parties. His administration of affairs, both foreign and domestic, had been uninfluenced by party spirit, and characterised by uprightness, prudence, and good sense. The country was everywhere peaceful and prosperous. No choice of a successor to Mr. Monroe having been made by the electors, the choice devolved upon the house of representatives.
On the 4th of March, 1825, John Quincy Adams was inaugurated president of the United States.
Among the noticeable events during this administration, the first to be mentioned is a controversy between the general government and the executive of Georgia, in relation to certain lands held by the Cherokees and Creeks of that state. The general government had agreed to extinguish, for the benefit of Georgia, the Indian title to those lands—‘whenever it could be peaceably done, upon reasonable terms.’ But the Creeks, at a national council, refused to alienate their territory. After the council had broken up, and a majority of the chiefs had departed, a few who remained were induced to make a treaty, ceding the lands in question to the United States. This treaty was repudiated by the Creek nation. But the governor of Georgia determined to act upon it as valid. To prevent a war, the president ordered General Gaines to repair to the Creek country, for the protection of the Indians; and directed Governor Troup of Georgia to suspend his intended measures. Congress approved the course of the president; and at length a treaty was formed with the Creeks, which gave satisfaction to all parties except the state of Georgia.
The most important among the measures which occupied the first session of the twentieth congress, was the revision of the tariff, with a view to afford protection to American manufactures. The principle of a protective tariff was warmly opposed by the south, and by a large portion of the commercial body at the north; while the details of the bill which was passed were far from satisfactory to the friends of protection.
During Mr. Adams’ administration the prosperity of the United States had increased to an unexampled height. Agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, were every where flourishing. The public debt which at the close of the war, amounted to nearly one hundred and fifty millions of dollars, was almost extinguished. The annual revenue largely exceeded the demands of the government; and at the close of Mr. Adams’ term, there was a surplus of more than five millions in the treasury.
On the 4th of March, 1829, Andrew Jackson was inaugurated president of the United States.
CINCINNATI OHIOCINCINNATI OHIO.
CINCINNATI OHIO.
SANDUSKY CITY, OHIO.SANDUSKY CITY, O.
SANDUSKY CITY, O.
Among the most important measures which engaged the attention of the twenty-first congress, were, the modification of the tariff; Indian affairs; internal improvements; and the renewal of the charter of the United States bank. It was not until 1832 that a memorial came before congress for the renewal of the charter of the United States bank. A bill to that effect passed both houses of congress; but on the 10th of July it was returned by the president with objections. The policy of making appropriations for internal improvements was adopted during Mr. Jefferson’s term of office, and had continued through all succeeding administrations. To this policy General Jackson was opposed, and accordingly returned, with his veto, several bills making such appropriations. In 1832, the hostility of the south to the protective tariff assumed in South Carolina an attitude dangerous to the peace of the country. A convention of delegates assembled at Columbia, November 24; pronounced the acts of congress imposing duties for protection unconstitutional, and of no binding force in that state; and that it was the duty of the state legislature to pass laws to prevent the payment or enforcement of such duties. The remedy thus proposed received the name of nullification. President Jackson immediately issued a proclamation, containing an admirable exposition of the principles and powers of the general government, and expressing a firm determination to maintain the laws. This only increased the exasperation in South Carolina: the governor of the state, by the authority of the legislature, issued a counter-proclamation, urging the people to be faithful to their primary allegiance to the state, and to resist the general government in any attempt to enforce the tariff laws. General orders were also issued to raise volunteers for repelling invasion, and supporting the rights of the state. General Jackson hereupon addressed a message to congress recommending such measures as would enable the executive to suppress the spirit of insubordination, and sustain the laws of the United States.
Everything thus betokened a civil war. But an appeal to South Carolina by the general assembly of Virginia, and the passage of a bill modifying the tariff (introduced by Henry Clay, and commonly known as the ‘compromise act’), joined with a manifestation of firmness and energy on the part of the executive, served to allay the ferment in South Carolina, and led to a repeal of the nullifying ordinances.
On the 4th of March, 1833, Andrew Jackson entered on a second term of office. The charter of the United States bank being about to expire, the president who had before expressed to Congress his doubts of the expediency of continuing that institution the depositary of the funds of the United States, directed the secretary of the treasury, Mr. Duane, to remove the government deposits from the bank. This Mr. Duane declined to do. He was immediately removed from office by the president; and Mr. Taney was appointed in his place, by whom the deposits were removed, and placed in the custody of several State banks. This measure was strongly censured by a resolution which passed the senate, June 9, 1834.
The country was now disturbed with serious apprehensions of a collision with France. By a treaty, negotiated in 1831, by Mr. Rives, the French government had agreed to make indemnity for spoliations committed on American commerce during the reign of Napoleon; but it had failed to fulfill its stipulations. In December, 1834, the president recommended reprisals upon French commerce. This was deemed by Congress not expedient at present. Happily, however, the danger of hostile collision was removed in the course of the next year by the action of the French government in making provision to fulfill its stipulations.
The most important act of the first session of the twenty-fourth Congress, which began December 7th, 1835, was a law directing the deposit, under certain regulations, of the moneys of the United States in several of the State banks, and distributing the surplus revenue among the several States.
In December, 1835, one of the most destructive fires on record occurred in the city of New York. The amount of property destroyed is computed not to have fallen much short of twenty millions of dollars, without estimating the injury and loss from suspension and derangement of business.
Near the close of this year, the Seminole Indians, refusing to remove from Florida to the lands appropriated for them west of the Mississippi, the country became involved in a war with them; and it was not until 1842 that they were finally subdued and sent west.
On the 11th of July, 1836, the receivers of public money were instructed, by a circular from the treasury department, to receive nothing but gold and silver in payment for public lands.
On the 16th of January, 1837, the ‘expunging resolution’ (so called) introduced by Mr. Benton, passed the senate by a small majority. By this act the resolution of the senate passed June 9, 1834—censuring the president for removing Mr. Duane, and ordering the withdrawal of the United States deposits from the bank of the United States—was expunged from the journal of the senate. Against this proceeding, Mr. Webster, of Massachusetts, in behalf of himself and his colleagues, read a solemn protest.
On the 4th of March, 1837, Martin Van Buren became president of the United States. Mr. Van Buren’s administration was, in its general policy, a continuation of that of his predecessor. Scarcely, however, had he entered upon office, when the country was overwhelmed by one of the most severe commercial revulsions ever known. For several years previous, the wildest spirit of speculation had prevailed throughout the country. Vast public works were undertaken by States and chartered companies; immense importations of foreign goods were made; and real estate, especially lots in cities and towns, went up a hundred fold beyond its intrinsic value. The multitude of State banks that had been chartered, after the expiration of the charter of the United States bank, and the consequent excessive expansion of the paper currency, had contributed to increase the spirit of speculation. At length a crisis came; and the revulsion was proportionately severe. Some idea of it may be formed from the fact that a list of failures in the city of New York (including only the more considerable, and omitting hundreds of less importance), shows a total amount of more than sixty millions of dollars. All credit, all confidence was at an end. On the 10th of May, all the banks of the city of New York suspended specie payments, and the suspension became general throughout the country. The general government became involved in the universal embarrassment—the banks in which its deposits were placed having stopped in the general suspension. The government still insisted, however, upon all postages and duties being paid in specie or its equivalent, and even refused its own checks and drafts when offered in payment of custom-house bonds. In this state of things, the president convoked an extra session of Congress, which began on the 4th of September. Agreeably to the recommendation of the executive, as measures for the immediate relief of the general government, Congress passed a law postponing to the 1st of January, 1839, the payment to the States of the fourth installment of the surplus revenue; and authorizing the issue of ten millions of treasury notes, to be receivable in payment of public dues. The president also recommended the ‘separation of the fiscal operations of the government from those of corporations or individuals.’ A bill in accordance with this recommendation—commonly called the sub-treasury bill, placing the public money in the hands of certain receivers-general, subject to the order and control of the treasurer of the United States—passed the senate, but was lost in the house.
BATTLE MONUMENT, BALTIMOREBATTLE MONUMENT, BALTIMORE.
BATTLE MONUMENT, BALTIMORE.
BOMBARDMENT OF VERA CRUZBOMBARDMENT OF VERA CRUZ.
BOMBARDMENT OF VERA CRUZ.
At the next regular session of congress (December, 1837—July, 1838), a reissue of treasury notes was authorized. The sub-treasury system was again urged upon the attention of congress, but was not adopted. On the 13th of August, 1838, the banks throughout the country generally resumed specie payments: but in October following, the banks of Philadelphia again suspended, and their example was followed by the banks in Pennsylvania, and in all the states south and west. The banks of New York and New England continued to pay specie. The twenty-sixth congress commenced its first session December2d, 1839. Among its acts, two only need be mentioned: one for taking thesixth censusof the United States; the other, ‘for the collection, safe keeping, transfer, and disbursement, of the public revenue’—being the sub-treasury system so earnestly recommended by the president. At the second session of this congress, nothing was done of sufficient importance to find a place in this sketch.
The administration of Mr Van Buren was drawing to a close. He was a candidate for reëlection; William Henry Harrison, of Ohio, was the candidate of the opposition. After a contest unprecedented for intensity of political excitement, Mr. Van Buren was defeated.
On the 4th of March, 1841, William Henry Harrison was inaugurated president of the United States. Scarcely had the new president entered upon his office, and organized his administration by the appointment of his cabinet, when he was stricken with sickness; and on the 4th April, one month from the day of his inauguration, he expired. ‘In death, as in life, the happiness of his country was uppermost in his thoughts.’
By the death of General Harrison, John Tyler, of Virginia, the vice president, became, according to the constitution, president of the United States. The passage of a general bankrupt law was one of the earliest measures passed by congress. This law was, however, subsequently repealed. The tariff was modified with a view to further protection of American industry.
Among the most memorable events of this administration is thetreaty of Washington, concluded in September, 1842, between Great Britain and the United States, by Lord Ashburton and Daniel Webster, by which the differences about the boundary line between Maine and Lower Canada, long a matter of dispute and ill-blood, were amicably and satisfactorily adjusted.
The disturbances in Rhode Island are a less agreeable subject of record; though happily the apprehensions they excited have been dispelled. In 1841, a convention of inhabitants of Rhode Island framed a new constitution, giving the right of suffrage (which under the existing government was extremely limited) to all free white inhabitants; and proceeded to organize a new government under this constitution. They elected a legislative body, and chose Thomas W. Dorr governor of the state. All these proceedings were considered as unlawful and revolutionary by those opposed to them, inasmuch as they had taken place without any legal warrant, and without being in any way initiated by the lawful and actual government. A civil war seemed inevitable. The legal government applied to the president of the United States, who detached several companies of troops to Newport to await events. Dorr mustered a considerable force of armed men, with two pieces of artillery, and made an ineffectual attempt to gain possession of the arsenal at Providence. Shortly after, he took a position at Chepachet, where his force was increased by volunteers from New York and other states. Upon the approach of a body of the state militia, under General M’Neil, Dorr and his party broke ground and fled, June 25th, 1842. His government fell to pieces.
On the 4th of March, 1845, James K. Polk was inaugurated president. The most important event of this year was the voluntary annexation of Texas to the American Union. In 1846, a war broke out between Mexico and the United States. A rapid succession of brilliant victories by the troops under Generals Taylor and Scott, soon placed the capital and all the strongholds of Mexico in the hands of the victors; but the power to dictate the terms of a peace were used with moderation. The government of the United States assumed the payment of all the claims of its own citizens against Mexico, and agreed to pay $15,000,000 for a boundary line beginning at the mouth of the Rio Grande, then up that stream to the southern boundary of New Mexico, then across to the river Gila, and down to its mouth; with free navigation to the Gulf of California, and thence across to the Pacific. The treaty was concluded May 30th, 1848. In the same year gold was first discovered in the newly-acquired territory of California.
On the 4th of March, 1849,Gen.Zachary Taylor was inaugurated president of the United States. He died in July, 1850, and was succeeded by the vice-president, Millard Fillmore. In September, 1850, California was admitted into the Union. On the 4th of March, 1853, Franklin Pierce was inaugurated president. The ‘Gadsden Treaty,’ by which the Mesilla Valley was acquired from Mexico, was made Dec. 30, in the same year. By act of June 29, 1854, $10,000,000 were appropriated to carry out the treaty; $7,000,000 to be paid upon exchange of ratifications, and $3,000,000 as soon as the boundary line should be surveyed and established.
Thus have been briefly sketched the leading events, political and civil, of the history of the United States, from the first feeble and scattered colonial establishments to the formation of a great and prosperous nation. The great problem of the possibility of a permanent and well-ordered republic, on so extensive a scale, doubtless yet remains to be solved. It depends on theINTELLIGENCEandVIRTUEof the people, whether it shall be solved as the friends of free institutions desire. Theoretically the most perfect of all forms of human government, it requires, beyond any other, the presence of these conditions to preserve it from becoming practically the worst.
STATE HOUSE, WISCONSINSTATE HOUSE, WISCONSIN.
STATE HOUSE, WISCONSIN.