PRESIDENT THOMAS JEFFERSON

In 1801 Washington, D.C., was a new city on the Potomac Riv­er. The city was planned by Pierre L'Enfant, a Frenchmen, who was helped by Benjamin Banneker, a black American known for his work in science and mathematics. It was far from ready. The streets were muddy paths. Workers were still trying to finish the govern­ment buildings. Thomas Jefferson stayed in a boarding house until he could move into the unfinished "presidential mansion".

During his two terms as President, Jefferson kept the national government strong, but he also encouraged greater democracy. Taxes were lowered, the army and the navy were kept small. He tried to deal peacefully with the Indians, and to stay on friendly terms with powerful countries like Britain and France. More men gained the right to vote as some property limitation had been re­moved. One of Jefferson's best-known sayings was: "The gov­ernment that governs least governs best".

Jefferson looked ahead when considering the problem of Amer­ican expansion to the West. He realized that for years to come, Americans would feel drawn to the western lands. He sent a group of explorers led by two army officers, Meriwether Lewis and Wil­liam Clark, through the wilderness to the Pacific Ocean. After a year and a half of hard traveling, the expedition finally reached the shores of the Pacific. Besides, Jefferson had agreed to the sur­prising offer made by the French government to purchase much of the western land owned by France, and called the Louisiana Territory. The new land doubled the size of the United States. This decision proved to be of great importance though there were many opponents to it at that time. Historians have called this Lou­isiana Purchase the greatest bargain in history.

Thomas Jefferson finished his second term as President in 1809. James Madison was elected the next President. Madison was a Virginian, like Jefferson, and the two men were close friends.

 

2. THE WAR OF 1812

In 1803, war had broken out again between France and Great Britain, and each of them wanted to stop American ships from trad­ing with its enemy. The ships were seized, and kidnapped American sailors were forced to serve on British ships. Settlers on the western frontier were also in danger. Indian raids against frontier settlements were increasing. A powerful Shawnee leader named Tecumseh was trying to unite the tribes against the settlers (later he joined the Brit­ish and was killed in a battle). From their colony of Canada, the British might try to gain control of the Old Northwest.

The country was not prepared to fight a war, the army and navy had been kept small by Jefferson and Madison. The navy had only sixteen ships. Like Jefferson, President James Madison wanted to avoid war. And New England merchants were opposed to war.

Congressmen from the West and the South were the ones most eager for war hoping to conquer Canada and to gain Spanish Flor­ida (Spain was Britain's ally). Finally this political grouping (they were called War Hawks) got their way, and the United States de­clared war on Great Britain in the spring of 1812.

Despite many problems, American forces tried to capture Can­ada. Three different invasions were tried, and all three failed. The British struck back and captured Detroit. The war dragged on for two years. Neither side was able to win.

In 1814 British troops landed on the Atlantic coast and marched on Washington. American forces were taken by surprise and fled. Even President Madison was forced to leave the city. Some gov­ernment buildings were burnt. Soon afterward, British ships sailed into Baltimore harbor and attacked Fort McHenry. The attack was heavy, but the American forces did not surrender and the British failed to capture the fort.

In January 1815, at New Orleans, came the greatest triumph for American forces. General Andrew Jackson was in charge of defending the city against the British attack, the defenses were well prepared, and the Battle of New Orleans was an American victory.

The British, having defeated France, were tired of war. Both the American and the British governments were eager for peace. The war increased Americans' feeling of patriotism, they had pride in their country, their army and navy. For many years, the British navy had ruled the seas, so the British were surprised to lose battles to American ships like the Constitution. The Consti­tution became known as "Old Ironsides" because the British could not sink it.

The Spanish government could not keep the American settlers out of Florida, and in 1819 Spain gave up all of Florida to the United States.

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IV. IN THE MID-CENTURY: MOVING WEST

1. THE TEXAS REPUBLIC

Just west of the Louisiana was the region known as Texas, which was a huge land with wide-open spaces and not many peo­ple. During the 1500 's, Spanish explorers had traveled in that area. Later the Spaniards established missions in Texas, and a few set­tlers lived on widely scattered cattle farms called ranchos.

In 1821, the country of Mexico gained its freedom from Spain, and Texas came under the rule of the Mexican government. To settle in Texas, people had to agree to obey Mexican laws and become Mexican citizens. The Mexican government welcomed the new settlers at first, but when the American settlers greatly outnumbered the Mexican ones, it passed a law against their coming to Texas. Twice the United States government tried to buy this territory, but Mexico said no.

But in 1833 there was a revolution in Mexico, and a general named Santa Anna made himself head of the government. He had promised to give more freedom to Texans, but did not do that. So, on March 2, 1836, the American and Mexican settlers declared their independence from Mexico and formed the Republic of Texas.

There was fierce fighting with Santa Anna's forces. The battle of the Alamo (near San Antonio), for example, lasted for thirteen days , and all its defenders were killed. General Sam Houston or­ganized the army and got it prepared for new attacks. Finally, Santa Anna's forces surrendered, and he was taken prisoner. The war was over, and Sam Houston was named President of the new re­public. A place for a capital city was chosen on the banks of the Colorado River and it was given the name of Austin. Over the capital flew a flag with a single star in the center, and people called Texas the Lone Star Republic.

The Texans asked the United States Congress to take over, or annex, their territory. But Congress refused to act for fear of some political complications, so, for almost ten years, Texas continued to be an independent state. During this period of time, feelings in the United States changed, and early in 1845 Congress invited Texas to join the country. The people of the Lone Star Republic agreed, and Texas became the 28th state. It was the largest state in the Union.

CALIFORNIA

During the 1840's, more Americans began to make the long journey to the Pacific Northwest. They went by thousands, travel­ing in covered wagons. The supporters of the westward expan­sion got the name of expansionists. Both the United States and Great Britain wanted to own the Oregon Country. Since 1818, they had agreed to share the territory.

South of Oregon was the area called California, which was owned by Mexico. President James K. Polk was in favor of ex­panding the borders of the United States wherever possible and believed California should become American territory. He offered to buy it from Mexico, but the Mexican government refused. In 1846 the war began over some local border problem, and Polk and Congress declared war against Mexico. American troops, led by General Zachary Taylor, won some battles, and Mexico was forced to surrender.

There was also fighting in California, and people there rang up a flag with a picture of a grizzly bear on it and called Califor­nia the Bear Flag Republic. Soon American troops arrived, and the Bear Flag was lowered and the American flag was raised, thus making California part of the United States, but still it was not a state.

Mexico and the United States signed a peace treaty in 1848. The Mexican government had to give up a huge piece of land, called the Mexican Cession. Thousands of Spanish-speaking peo­ple became citizens of the United States. The growth was immense, and this was shown in the new maps of the nation.

One day in 1848, James Marshal, who worked for John Sutter, a land-owner, found something glittering in the water of a stream near the site where he was building a sawmill. It proved to be gold. The news spread like wildfire. By early 1849, the gold rush was on. Thousands of people dropped what they were doing and joined the rush. Sometimes a whole family would go together, but most gold-seekers were men who left their families behind. The people who joined the gold rush became known as the forty-nin­ers. Even people from Europe and China arrived.

Small mining towns grew, with names like Dry Gulch, Hang-town, and Red Dog. People with food, clothes, or tools to sell could charge high prices. There was little or no law in the mining towns, fights arid raids by outlaws were common. People formed groups called vigilantes to keep order, and they would arrest, try, and hang a person (sometimes innocent) on the place.

Slowly, life settled down. Big mining companies moved in and took over the gold fields. Sheriffs and marshals enforced the law, tents and shacks were replaced by houses and stores made of wood and brick. Some people left not having found the treasure they dreamed of. Some people worked on cattle ranches, others found jobs and business opportunities in towns. Stagecoach companies were started to speed up travel and mail delivery.

Because of the gold rush in 1849, California had enough peo­ple to form a state that year. Californians held a convention and wrote a constitution. Then California asked to join the Union as a new state.

V. THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th CENTURY

1. NORTH AND SOUTH. POLITICAL PARTIES

As cotton became more important in the South, so did the sla­very. Northerners feared that slavery would spread over more and more of the country. North and South grew apart in other ways besides slavery. The North had more industry. The South was most­ly farms. There were more large cities in the North, and more and more immigrants settled there. The two sections were becoming less and less alike.

In 1850, after the Mexican War, Congress had to decide whether slavery would be allowed in the new lands or not. Some southern­ers were even saying their states would leave the Union if the new lands were not open to slavery. Congress accepted the plan, which was called the Compromise - each state was to choose whether its territory would be slave or free. Fighting went on in some plac­es. Slavery became an important question in elections, as voters wanted to elect a person who felt the same way they did.

In 1854 a group of men had decided to start a new political party around the idea that slavery must not be allowed in the territories. They called it the Republican Party. Democrats could not agree about slavery. Southern Democrats wanted to allow slavery in all the territories. Northern Democrats thought that the people of each territory should decide about the slavery for themselves. In the election of 1860 Abraham Lincoln won the election . He was not an abolitionist, he did not plan to end slavery in the South, but he was determined that slavery would not spread to the territories and was also eager to save the Union, as he did not believe the southern states had a right to secede.

Soon after Lincoln was elected, seven southern states left the Union. Later, four others joined them. These eleven states called themselves the Confederate States of America, or the Confedera­cy. They explained that they considered slaves as property, and they felt themselves no longer protected by the Constitution.

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