agitated by the aggressions of the British navy. England and France were engaged in war. The British authorities struck blow after blow against the trade between France and foreign nations; and Napoleon retaliated. The plan adopted by the two powers was to blockade each other's ports with men-of-war. By such means the commerce of the United States was greatly injured.

13. In May of 1806, England blockaded the whole coast of France. American vessels, approaching the French ports, were seized as prizes. In the following November, Bonaparte issued a decree blockading the British isles. Again American merchantmen were subjected to seizure. In January of the next year, Great Britain retaliated by prohibiting the French coasting-trade. These measures were all in violation of the laws of nations.

14. Great Britain next set up her peculiar claim of citizenship, that whoever is born in England remains through life a subject of England. English cruisers were authorized to search American vessels for persons suspected of being British subjects. Those who were taken were impressed as seamen in the English navy.

15. On the 22d of June, 1807, the frigate Chesapeake was hailed near Fortress Monroe, by a British man-of-war, called the Leopard. British officers came on board and demanded to search the vessel for deserters. The demand was refused and the ship cleared for action. But before the guns could be charged, the Leopard poured in a destructive fire, and compelled a surrender. Four men were taken from the captured ship, three of whom proved to be American citizens. Great Britain disavowed this outrage, and promised reparation; but the promise was never fulfilled.

16. The President issued a proclamation forbidding British ships of war to enter American harbors. On the 21st of December, Congress passed the EMBARGO ACT, by which all American vessels were detained in the ports of the United States. The object was to cut off commercial intercourse with France and Great Britain. But the measure was of little avail; and after fourteen months the embargo act was repealed. Mean while, in November of 1808, the British government published an "order in council," prohibiting all trade with France and her allies. Thereupon Napoleon issued the "Milan decree," forbidding all trade with England and her

colonies. By these outrages the commerce of the United States was wellnigh destroyed.

17. While the country was thus distracted, Robert Fulton was building THE FIRST STEAMBOAT. This event exercised a vast influence on the future development of the nation.

It was of great importance to the people of the inland States that

their rivers

should be en

livened with

rapid naviga

tion. This,

without the application of steam, was impossible. Ful

ton was an

Irishman by descent and a Pennsylvanian by birth. His education in

boyhood was

ROBERT FULTON.

imperfect, but

was afterward improved by study at London and Paris. Returning to New York, he began the construction of a steamboat. When the ungainly craft was, completed, Fulton invited his friends to go on board and enjoy a trip to Albany. On the 2d of September, 1807, the crowds gathered on the shore. The word was given, and the boat did not move. Fulton went below. Again the word was given, and the boat moved. On the next day the company reached Albany. For many years this first rude steamer, called the Clermont, plied the Hudson.

18. Jefferson's administration drew to a close. The territorial area of the United States had been vastly extended.

Burr's wicked

conspiracy had come to naught. Pioneers were pouring into the valley of the Mississippi. The woods by the river-shores resounded with the cry of steam. But the foreign relations of the United States were troubled. The President declined a third election, and was succeeded by James Madison of Virginia. For VicePresident George Clinton was reëlected.

RECAPITULATION.

Jefferson puts Democrats in office.-Ohio is admitted.-Indiana and Mississippi organized.-Louisiana is purchased.-The Territory of Orleans set off.John Marshall chief-justice.-The Mediterranean pirates.-Preble is sent against them.-The Philadelphia is captured.-Retaken and burned.-The siege of Tripoli.-Yusef signs a treaty.-Burr kills Hamilton.-Jefferson is reëlected.Michigan is organized.--Lewis and Clarke explore Oregon.-Burr's conspiracy.He is tried for treason.-British aggressions on American commerce.-England blockades the French coast.-Napoleon retaliates.-Great Britain forbids the coasting-trade.-The English theory of citizenship.-The Leopard attacks the Chesapeake.-Passage of the Embargo Act.-The Orders in Council and Milan Decree.-Fulton and his steamboat.-Summary.

THE

CHAPTER XLVII.

MADISON'S ADMINISTRATION AND WAR OF 1812.

new President had been a member of the Continental Congress, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and secretary of state under Jefferson. He owed his election to the Democratic party, whose sympathy with France and hostility to Great Britain were well known. On the 1st of March, the embargo act was repealed by Congress, and another measure adopted by which American ships were allowed to go abroad, but were forbidden to trade with Great Britain. Mr. Erskine, the British minister, now gave notice that by the 10th of June the "orders in council," so far as they affected the United States, should be repealed.

2. In the following spring Bonaparte issued a decree for the seizure of all American vessels that might approach the ports of France.

But in November, the decree was reversed, and all

!

restrictions on the commerce of the United States were removed. But the government of Great Britain adhered to its former measures, and sent ships of war to enforce the "orders in council."

3. The affairs of the two nations were fast approaching a crisis. The government of the United States had fallen completely under control of the party which sympathized with France. The American people, smarting under the insults of Great Britain, had adopted the motto of FREE TRADE AND SAILORS' RIGHTS, and had made up their minds to fight. The elections, held between 1808 and 1811, showed the drift of public opinion; the sentiment of the country was that war was preferable to national disgrace.

4. In the spring of 1810 the third census of the United States was completed. The population had increased to seven million two hundred and forty thousand souls. The States now numbered seventeen; and several new Territories were preparing for admission into the Union. The rapid march of civilization westward had aroused the jealousy of the Red men, and Indiana Territory was afflicted with an Indian war.

5. Tecumtha, chief of the Shawnees-a brave and sagacious warrior-and his brother, called the Prophet, were the leaders of the revolt. Their plan was to unite all the nations of the Northwest Territory in a final effort to beat back the whites. When, in September of 1809, Governor Harrison met the chiefs of several tribes at Fort Wayne, and purchased three million acres of land, Tecumtha refused to sign the treaty, and threatened death to those who did. In 1810 he visited the nations of Tennessee and exhorted them to join his confederacy.

6. Governor Harrison stood firm, sent for soldiers, and mustered the militia of the Territory. The Indians began to prowl through the Wabash Valley, murdering and stealing. The governor then advanced to Terre Haute, built Fort Harrison, and hastened toward the town of the Prophet, at the mouth of the Tippecanoe. When within a few miles of this place, Harrison was met by Indian ambassadors, who asked for a conference on the following day. Their request was granted; and the American army encamped for the night. The place selected was a piece of high ground covered with

oaks.

Before daybreak on the morning of the 7th of November, 1811, the savages, seven hundred strong, crept through the marshes, surrounded Harrison's position, and burst upon the camp. But the American militia fought in the darkness, held the Indians in check until daylight, and then routed them in several vigorous charges. On the next day, the Americans burned the Prophet's town and soon afterward returned to Vincennes.

7. Meanwhile, Great Britain and the United States had come into conflict on the ocean. On the 16th of May, Commodore Rodgers, commanding the frigate President, hailed a vessel off the coast of Virginia. Instead of a polite answer, he received a cannonball in the mainmast. Rodgers responded with a broadside, silencing the enemy's guns. In the morning-for it was already darkthe hostile ship was found to be the British sloop-of-war Little Belt. This event produced great excitement throughout the country.

8. On the 4th of November, 1811, the twelfth Congress of the United States assembled. Many of the members still hoped for peace; and the winter passed without decisive measures. On the 4th of April, 1812, an act was passed laying an embargo for ninety days on all British vessels within the harbors of the United States. But Great Britain would not recede from her hostile attitude. Before the actual outbreak of hostilities, Louisiana, the eighteenth State, was, on the 8th of April, admitted into the Union. Her population had already reached seventy-seven thousand.

9. On the 19th of June, a declaration of war was made against Great Britain. Vigorous preparations for the conflict were made by Congress. It was ordered to raise twenty-five thousand regular troops and fifty thousand volunteers. The several States were requested to call out a hundred thousand militia. A national loan of eleven million dollars was authorized. Henry Dearborn, of Massachusetts, was chosen commander-in-chief of the army.

10. The war was begun by General William Hull, governor of Michigan Territory. On the 1st of June, he marched from Dayton with fifteen hundred men. For a full month, the army toiled through the forests to the western extremity of Lake Erie. Arriving at the Maumee, Hull sent his baggage to Detroit. But the British at Malden were on the alert, and captured Hull's boat with