Charles A. Beard and Mary R. Beard - History of the United States

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HISTORY

OF THE

UNITED STATES

BY

CHARLES A. BEARD

AND

MARY R. BEARD

New York

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

1921

_All rights reserved_

COPYRIGHT, 1921,

BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.

Set up and electrotyped. Published March, 1921.

Norwood Press

J.S. Cushing Co.--Berwick & Smith Co.

NORWOOD, MASS., U.S.A.

PREFACE

As things now stand, the course of instruction in American history in
our public schools embraces three distinct treatments of the subject.
Three separate books are used. First, there is the primary book, which
is usually a very condensed narrative with emphasis on biographies and
anecdotes. Second, there is the advanced text for the seventh or eighth
grade, generally speaking, an expansion of the elementary book by the
addition of forty or fifty thousand words. Finally, there is the high
school manual. This, too, ordinarily follows the beaten path, giving
fuller accounts of the same events and characters. To put it bluntly, we
do not assume that our children obtain permanent possessions from their
study of history in the lower grades. If mathematicians followed the
same method, high school texts on algebra and geometry would include the
multiplication table and fractions.

There is, of course, a ready answer to the criticism advanced above. It
is that teachers have learned from bitter experience how little history
their pupils retain as they pass along the regular route. No teacher of
history will deny this. Still it is a standing challenge to existing
methods of historical instruction. If the study of history cannot be
made truly progressive like the study of mathematics, science, and
languages, then the historians assume a grave responsibility in adding
their subject to the already overloaded curriculum. If the successive
historical texts are only enlarged editions of the first text--more
facts, more dates, more words--then history deserves most of the sharp
criticism which it is receiving from teachers of science, civics, and
economics.

In this condition of affairs we find our justification for offering a
new high school text in American history. Our first contribution is one
of omission. The time-honored stories of exploration and the
biographies of heroes are left out. We frankly hold that, if pupils know
little or nothing about Columbus, Cortes, Magellan, or Captain John
Smith by the time they reach the high school, it is useless to tell the
same stories for perhaps the fourth time. It is worse than useless. It
is an offense against the teachers of those subjects that are
demonstrated to be progressive in character.

In the next place we have omitted all descriptions of battles. Our
reasons for this are simple. The strategy of a campaign or of a single
battle is a highly technical, and usually a highly controversial, matter
about which experts differ widely. In the field of military and naval
operations most writers and teachers of history are mere novices. To
dispose of Gettysburg or the Wilderness in ten lines or ten pages is
equally absurd to the serious student of military affairs. Any one who
compares the ordinary textbook account of a single Civil War campaign
with the account given by Ropes, for instance, will ask for no further
comment. No youth called upon to serve our country in arms would think
of turning to a high school manual for information about the art of
warfare. The dramatic scene or episode, so useful in arousing the
interest of the immature pupil, seems out of place in a book that
deliberately appeals to boys and girls on the very threshold of life's
serious responsibilities.

It is not upon negative features, however, that we rest our case. It is
rather upon constructive features.

_First._ We have written a topical, not a narrative, history. We have
tried to set forth the important aspects, problems, and movements of
each period, bringing in the narrative rather by way of illustration.

_Second._ We have emphasized those historical topics which help to
explain how our nation has come to be what it is to-day.

_Third._ We have dwelt fully upon the social and economic aspects of our
history, especially in relation to the politics of each period.

_Fourth._ We have treated the causes and results of wars, the problems
of financing and sustaining armed forces, rather than military strategy.
These are the subjects which belong to a history for civilians. These
are matters which civilians can understand--matters which they must
understand, if they are to play well their part in war and peace.

_Fifth._ By omitting the period of exploration, we have been able to
enlarge the treatment of our own time. We have given special attention
to the history of those current questions which must form the subject
matter of sound instruction in citizenship.

_Sixth._ We have borne in mind that America, with all her unique
characteristics, is a part of a general civilization. Accordingly we
have given diplomacy, foreign affairs, world relations, and the
reciprocal influences of nations their appropriate place.

_Seventh._ We have deliberately aimed at standards of maturity. The
study of a mere narrative calls mainly for the use of the memory. We
have aimed to stimulate habits of analysis, comparison, association,
reflection, and generalization--habits calculated to enlarge as well as
inform the mind. We have been at great pains to make our text clear,
simple, and direct; but we have earnestly sought to stretch the
intellects of our readers--to put them upon their mettle. Most of them
will receive the last of their formal instruction in the high school.
The world will soon expect maturity from them. Their achievements will
depend upon the possession of other powers than memory alone. The
effectiveness of their citizenship in our republic will be measured by
the excellence of their judgment as well as the fullness of their
information.

C.A.B.
M.R.B.

NEW YORK CITY,
February 8, 1921.

=A SMALL LIBRARY IN AMERICAN HISTORY=

_=SINGLE VOLUMES:=_

BASSETT, J.S. _A Short History of the United States_
ELSON, H.W. _History of the United States of America_

_=SERIES:=_

"EPOCHS OF AMERICAN HISTORY," EDITED BY A.B. HART

HART, A.B. _Formation of the Union_
THWAITES, R.G. _The Colonies_
WILSON, WOODROW. _Division and Reunion_

"RIVERSIDE SERIES," EDITED BY W.E. DODD

BECKER, C.L. _Beginnings of the American People_
DODD, W.E. _Expansion and Conflict_
JOHNSON, A. _Union and Democracy_
PAXSON, F.L. _The New Nation_

CONTENTS

PART I. THE COLONIAL PERIOD

CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE GREAT MIGRATION TO AMERICA 1
The Agencies of American Colonization 2
The Colonial Peoples 6
The Process of Colonization 12

II. COLONIAL AGRICULTURE, INDUSTRY, AND COMMERCE 20
The Land and the Westward Movement 20
Industrial and Commercial Development 28

III. SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PROGRESS 38
The Leadership of the Churches 39
Schools and Colleges 43
The Colonial Press 46
The Evolution in Political Institutions 48

IV. THE DEVELOPMENT OF COLONIAL NATIONALISM 56
Relations with the Indians and the French 57
The Effects of Warfare on the Colonies 61
Colonial Relations with the British Government 64
Summary of Colonial Period 73

PART II. CONFLICT AND INDEPENDENCE

V. THE NEW COURSE IN BRITISH IMPERIAL POLICY 77
George III and His System 77
George III's Ministers and Their Colonial Policies 79
Colonial Resistance Forces Repeal 83
Resumption of British Revenue and Commercial Policies 87
Renewed Resistance in America 90
Retaliation by the British Government 93
From Reform to Revolution in America 95

VI. THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 99
Resistance and Retaliation 99
American Independence 101
The Establishment of Government and the New Allegiance 108
Military Affairs 116
The Finances of the Revolution 125
The Diplomacy of the Revolution 127
Peace at Last 132
Summary of the Revolutionary Period 135

PART III. FOUNDATIONS OF THE UNION AND NATIONAL POLITICS

VII. THE FORMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION 139
The Promise and the Difficulties of America 139
The Calling of a Constitutional Convention 143
The Framing of the Constitution 146
The Struggle over Ratification 157

VIII. THE CLASH OF POLITICAL PARTIES 162
The Men and Measures of the New Government 162
The Rise of Political Parties 168
Foreign Influences and Domestic Politics 171

IX. THE JEFFERSONIAN REPUBLICANS IN POWER 186
Republican Principles and Policies 186
The Republicans and the Great West 188
The Republican War for Commercial Independence 193
The Republicans Nationalized 201
The National Decisions of Chief Justice Marshall 208
Summary of Union and National Politics 212

PART IV. THE WEST AND JACKSONIAN DEMOCRACY

X. THE FARMERS BEYOND THE APPALACHIANS 217
Preparation for Western Settlement 217
The Western Migration and New States 221
The Spirit of the Frontier 228
The West and the East Meet 230

XI. JACKSONIAN DEMOCRACY 238
The Democratic Movement in the East 238
The New Democracy Enters the Arena 244
The New Democracy at Washington 250
The Rise of the Whigs 260
The Interaction of American and European Opinion 265

XII. THE MIDDLE BORDER AND THE GREAT WEST 271
The Advance of the Middle Border 271
On to the Pacific--Texas and the Mexican War 276
The Pacific Coast and Utah 284
Summary of Western Development and National Politics 292

PART V. SECTIONAL CONFLICT AND RECONSTRUCTION

XIII. THE RISE OF THE INDUSTRIAL SYSTEM 295
The Industrial Revolution 296
The Industrial Revolution and National Politics 307

XIV. THE PLANTING SYSTEM AND NATIONAL POLITICS 316
Slavery--North and South 316
Slavery in National Politics 324
The Drift of Events toward the Irrepressible Conflict 332

XV. THE CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION 344
The Southern Confederacy 344
The War Measures of the Federal Government 350
The Results of the Civil War 365
Reconstruction in the South 370
Summary of the Sectional Conflict 375

PART VI. NATIONAL GROWTH AND WORLD POLITICS

XVI. THE POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC EVOLUTION OF THE SOUTH 379
The South at the Close of the War 379
The Restoration of White Supremacy 382
The Economic Advance of the South 389

XVII. BUSINESS ENTERPRISE AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 401
Railways and Industry 401
The Supremacy of the Republican Party (1861-1885) 412
The Growth of Opposition to Republican Rule 417

XVIII. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GREAT WEST 425
The Railways as Trail Blazers 425
The Evolution of Grazing and Agriculture 431
Mining and Manufacturing in the West 436
The Admission of New States 440
The Influence of the Far West on National Life 443

XIX. DOMESTIC ISSUES BEFORE THE COUNTRY (1865-1897) 451
The Currency Question 452
The Protective Tariff and Taxation 459
The Railways and Trusts 460
The Minor Parties and Unrest 462
The Sound Money Battle of 1896 466
Republican Measures and Results 472

XX. AMERICA A WORLD POWER (1865-1900) 477
American Foreign Relations (1865-1898) 478
Cuba and the Spanish War 485
American Policies in the Philippines and the Orient 497
Summary of National Growth and World Politics 504

PART VII. PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRACY AND THE WORLD WAR

XXI. THE EVOLUTION OF REPUBLICAN POLICIES (1901-1913) 507
Foreign Affairs 508
Colonial Administration 515
The Roosevelt Domestic Policies 519
Legislative and Executive Activities 523
The Administration of President Taft 527
Progressive Insurgency and the Election of 1912 530

XXII. THE SPIRIT OF REFORM IN AMERICA 536
An Age of Criticism 536
Political Reforms 538
Measures of Economic Reform 546

XXIII. THE NEW POLITICAL DEMOCRACY 554
The Rise of the Woman Movement 555
The National Struggle for Woman Suffrage 562

XXIV. INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY 570
Cooeperation between Employers and Employees 571
The Rise and Growth of Organized Labor 575
The Wider Relations of Organized Labor 577
Immigration and Americanization 582

XXV. PRESIDENT WILSON AND THE WORLD WAR 588
Domestic Legislation 588
Colonial and Foreign Policies 592
The United States and the European War 596
The United States at War 604
The Settlement at Paris 612
Summary of Democracy and the World War 620

APPENDIX 627

A TOPICAL SYLLABUS 645

INDEX 655

MAPS

PAGE
The Original Grants (color map) _Facing_ 4

German and Scotch-Irish Settlements 8

Distribution of Population in 1790 27

English, French, and Spanish Possessions in America, 1750
(color map) _Facing_ 59

The Colonies at the Time of the Declaration of Independence
(color map) _Facing_ 108

North America according to the Treaty of 1783
(color map) _Facing_ 134

The United States in 1805 (color map) _Facing_ 193

Roads and Trails into Western Territory (color map) _Facing_ 224

The Cumberland Road 233

Distribution of Population in 1830 235

Texas and the Territory in Dispute 282

The Oregon Country and the Disputed Boundary 285

The Overland Trails 287

Distribution of Slaves in Southern States 323

The Missouri Compromise 326

Slave and Free Soil on the Eve of the Civil War 335

The United States in 1861 (color map) _Facing_ 345

Railroads of the United States in 1918 405

The United States in 1870 (color map) _Facing_ 427

The United States in 1912 (color map) _Facing_ 443

American Dominions in the Pacific (color map) _Facing_ 500

The Caribbean Region (color map) _Facing_ 592

Battle Lines of the Various Years of the World War 613

Europe in 1919 (color map) _Between_ 618-619

"THE NATIONS OF THE WEST" (popularly called "The
Pioneers"), designed by A. Stirling Calder and modeled by
Mr. Calder, F.G.R. Roth, and Leo Lentelli, topped the Arch
of the Setting Sun at the Panama-Pacific Exposition held at
San Francisco in 1915. Facing the Court of the Universe
moves a group of men and women typical of those who have
made our civilization. From left to right appear the
French-Canadian, the Alaskan, the Latin-American, the
German, the Italian, the Anglo-American, and the American
Indian, squaw and warrior. In the place of honor in the
center of the group, standing between the oxen on the tongue
of the prairie schooner, is a figure, beautiful and almost
girlish, but strong, dignified, and womanly, the Mother of
To-morrow. Above the group rides the Spirit of Enterprise,
flanked right and left by the Hopes of the Future in the
person of two boys. The group as a whole is beautifully
symbolic of the westward march of American civilization.

[Illustration: _Photograph by Cardinell-Vincent Co., San Francisco_

"THE NATIONS OF THE WEST"]

HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES

PART I. THE COLONIAL PERIOD

CHAPTER I

THE GREAT MIGRATION TO AMERICA

The tide of migration that set in toward the shores of North America
during the early years of the seventeenth century was but one phase in
the restless and eternal movement of mankind upon the surface of the
earth. The ancient Greeks flung out their colonies in every direction,
westward as far as Gaul, across the Mediterranean, and eastward into
Asia Minor, perhaps to the very confines of India. The Romans, supported
by their armies and their government, spread their dominion beyond the
narrow lands of Italy until it stretched from the heather of Scotland to
the sands of Arabia. The Teutonic tribes, from their home beyond the
Danube and the Rhine, poured into the empire of the Caesars and made the
beginnings of modern Europe. Of this great sweep of races and empires
the settlement of America was merely a part. And it was, moreover, only
one aspect of the expansion which finally carried the peoples, the
institutions, and the trade of Europe to the very ends of the earth.

In one vital point, it must be noted, American colonization differed
from that of the ancients. The Greeks usually carried with them
affection for the government they left behind and sacred fire from the
altar of the parent city; but thousands of the immigrants who came to
America disliked the state and disowned the church of the mother
country. They established compacts of government for themselves and set
up altars of their own. They sought not only new soil to till but also
political and religious liberty for themselves and their children.

THE AGENCIES OF AMERICAN COLONIZATION

It was no light matter for the English to cross three thousand miles of
water and found homes in the American wilderness at the opening of the
seventeenth century. Ships, tools, and supplies called for huge outlays
of money. Stores had to be furnished in quantities sufficient to sustain
the life of the settlers until they could gather harvests of their own.
Artisans and laborers of skill and industry had to be induced to risk
the hazards of the new world. Soldiers were required for defense and
mariners for the exploration of inland waters. Leaders of good judgment,
adept in managing men, had to be discovered. Altogether such an
enterprise demanded capital larger than the ordinary merchant or
gentleman could amass and involved risks more imminent than he dared to
assume. Though in later days, after initial tests had been made, wealthy
proprietors were able to establish colonies on their own account, it was
the corporation that furnished the capital and leadership in the
beginning.

=The Trading Company.=--English pioneers in exploration found an
instrument for colonization in companies of merchant adventurers, which
had long been employed in carrying on commerce with foreign countries.
Such a corporation was composed of many persons of different ranks of
society--noblemen, merchants, and gentlemen--who banded together for a
particular undertaking, each contributing a sum of money and sharing in
the profits of the venture. It was organized under royal authority; it
received its charter, its grant of land, and its trading privileges from
the king and carried on its operations under his supervision and
control. The charter named all the persons originally included in the
corporation and gave them certain powers in the management of its
affairs, including the right to admit new members. The company was in
fact a little government set up by the king. When the members of the
corporation remained in England, as in the case of the Virginia Company,
they operated through agents sent to the colony. When they came over the
seas themselves and settled in America, as in the case of Massachusetts,
they became the direct government of the country they possessed. The
stockholders in that instance became the voters and the governor, the
chief magistrate.

[Illustration: JOHN WINTHROP, GOVERNOR OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY
COMPANY]

Four of the thirteen colonies in America owed their origins to the
trading corporation. It was the London Company, created by King James I,
in 1606, that laid during the following year the foundations of Virginia
at Jamestown. It was under the auspices of their West India Company,
chartered in 1621, that the Dutch planted the settlements of the New
Netherland in the valley of the Hudson. The founders of Massachusetts
were Puritan leaders and men of affairs whom King Charles I incorporated
in 1629 under the title: "The governor and company of the Massachusetts
Bay in New England." In this case the law did but incorporate a group
drawn together by religious ties. "We must be knit together as one man,"
wrote John Winthrop, the first Puritan governor in America. Far to the
south, on the banks of the Delaware River, a Swedish commercial company
in 1638 made the beginnings of a settlement, christened New Sweden; it
was destined to pass under the rule of the Dutch, and finally under the
rule of William Penn as the proprietary colony of Delaware.

In a certain sense, Georgia may be included among the "company
colonies." It was, however, originally conceived by the moving spirit,
James Oglethorpe, as an asylum for poor men, especially those imprisoned
for debt. To realize this humane purpose, he secured from King George
II, in 1732, a royal charter uniting several gentlemen, including
himself, into "one body politic and corporate," known as the "Trustees
for establishing the colony of Georgia in America." In the structure of
their organization and their methods of government, the trustees did not
differ materially from the regular companies created for trade and
colonization. Though their purposes were benevolent, their transactions
had to be under the forms of law and according to the rules of business.