Troubles with France.

American ministers in France.

ADAMS'S

SECTION II.

ADMINISTRATION.

[1797-1801.]

1. President Adams' adopted the federal cabinet council left by Washington, as his own. The unpleasant relations existing between France and the United States received the earliest and most earnest attention of the new administration, and by proclamation the President convened an extraordinary Congress on the 15th of May, 1797. In the mean while, our government had been insulted by the French minister here, and by the French Directory." The American minister, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, had been ordered to leave France, and that government had authorized depredations upon our com

merce.

2. Congress appointed [July] three envoys,* with Pinckney at their head, to proceed to France, and adjust all difficulties. They were refused an audience [October] with the Directory, unless they should first pay a large sum of money into the French treasury. The demand was indignantly refused." The two Federalist envoys (Marshall and Pinckney) were ordered out of the country, while Mr. Gerry, who was a Republican, and whose party sympathized with the measures of France, was allowed to remain.

3. Perceiving the futility of further attempts at negotiation, Congress,

1. John Adams was born in Massachusetts in 1735, and, with Hancock and others, early took part in the popular movement at Boston. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and for a long time a representative of the United States in Europe. He died on the 4th of July [verse 4, page 306], 1826.

2. Timothy Pickering, Secretary of State; Oliver Wolcot, Secretary of the Treasury; James M'Henry, Secretary of War; and Charles Lee, Attorney General. Washington's first cabinet had all resigned during the early part of his second term of office (the President is elected for four years), and the above named gentlemen were appointed during 1795 and 1796.

3. The Republican government of France was administered by a council called the Directory. It was composed of five members, and ruled in connection with two representative bodies, called, respectively, the Council of Ancients, and the Council of Five Hundred. The Directory was the head, or executive power of the government.

4. C. C. Pinckney, Elbridge Gerry, and John Marshall. Pinckney was an active patriot in South Carolina during the Revolution; Gerry was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence; and Marshall had been an active patriot and soldier. The latter was afterward Chief-Justice of the United States, and administered the oath to several Presidents.

5. These overtures were made by unofficial agents employed by the French Directory. It was on this occasion that Pinckney uttered that noble sentiment-"Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute."

QUESTIONS.-1. What can you tell of the beginning of President Adams's administration? What were the relations between France and the United States? 2. What occurred between the Government of the United States and France? How were United States ministers treated?

Preparations for war with France.

Peace.

Death of Washington.

during its next session,' and the country generally began to prepare for war. Quite a large standing army was authorized [May, 1798], and as Washington approved of the measure, he was appointed [July] its commander-in-chief.2 A naval armament, and the capture of French vessels of war were authorized; and a naval department, with Benjamin Stoddart of Maryland, at its head, was created. Hostilities even commenced on the ocean, and a vessel of each nation suffered capture, but the army was not summoned to the field.

3

4. The dignified and decided measures adopted by the United States, humbled the proud tone of the French Directory, and that body made overtures for a peaceful adjustment of difficulties. President Adams immediately appointed [Feb. 26, 1799] three envoys to proceed to France and negotiate for peace, but when they arrived the weak Directory was no more. The government was in the hands of Napoleon Bonaparte [Nov., 1799], as First Consul, whose audacity and energy now saved France from anarchy and utter ruin. He promptly received the United States embassadors, concluded a treaty [Sept. 30, 1800], and gave such assurances of friendly feelings, that, on the return of the ministers, the provisional army of the United States was disbanded. Its illustrious commander-in-chief had already been removed by death.

5. Washington died at Mount Vernon on the 14th of December, 1799, when almost sixty-eight years of age. No event, since the foundation of the government, had made such an impression on the public mind. The national grief was sincere, and party spirit was hushed into silence at his grave. All hearts united in homage to the memory of him who was properly regarded as the Father of his Country. Impressive funeral ceremonies were observed by Congress, and throughout the country. General Henry Lee,' of Virginia, delivered [Dec. 26, 1799] an eloquent funeral oration before the national Legislature, and the recommendation of that body for the people of the United States to wear crape on their left arms for thirty days, was generally complied with.8 The whole nation put on tokens of mourning. The death of Wash

1. Convened in November, 1797.

2. General Alexander Hamilton was appointed his lieutenant, and was the immediate and active commander-in-chief. It was hardly expected that Washington would engage in actual service.

3. The United States frigate Constellation, captured the French frigate L'Insurgente, in February, 1799. That frigate had already taken the American schooner Retaliation. On the 1st of February, 1800, the Constellation had an action with the French frigate La Vengeance, but escaped capture after a loss of one hundred and sixty men, killed and wounded.

4. Two unpopular domestic measures were adopted in the summer of 1798, known as the Alien and Sedition laws. The first authorized the President to expel from the country any alien (not a citizen) who should be suspected of conspiring against the republic It was computed that there were more than thirty thousand Frenchmen in the United States. The Sedition law authorized the suppression of publications calculated to weaken the authority of the government. These were unpopular, because they might lead to great abuses. 5. W. V. Murray, Oliver Ellsworth, and Patrick Henry. Mr. Henry declined, and William R. Davie [note 2, page 244], of North Carolina, took his place.

6. Bonaparte, Cambaceres, and the Abbe Sieyes, became the ruling power of France, with the title of Consuls, after the first had overthrown the Directory. Bonaparte was the First Consul, and was, in fact, an autocrat, or one who rules by his own will. 7. Verses 9, page 251, and 11, page 268.

8. Congress also resolved to erect a mausoleum, or monument, at Washington city, to his memory, but the resolution has never been carried into effect. A magnificent one is now in course of erection there, to be paid for by individual subscriptions.

QUESTIONS.-3. What did Congress do? What preparations for war were made? 4. What effect did these measures have? What was done by Congress? What changes had occurred in France? and what results followed? 5. What can you tell of the death of Washington? What public honors were awarded? What of public feeling?

Seat of governme it at Washington city.

Election of Jefferson.

ington made a profound impression in Europe, also. To the people there, who were aspiring for freedom, it seemed as if a bright star had disappeared from the firmament of their hopes.

2

6. Very little of general interest occurred during the remainder of Mr. Adams's administration, except the removal of the seat of the Federal Government to the District of Columbia,' during the summer of 1800; the admission [May, 1800] of the country between the western frontier of Georgia and the Mississippi river, into the Union, as the Mississippi Territory, and the election of a new President of the United States. Now, again, came a severe struggle between the Federalists and Republicans, for political power. The former nominated Mr. Adams and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, for President; the latter nominated Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, 3 for the same office. In consequence of dissensions among Federalist leaders, and the rapid development of ultra-democratic ideas among the people, the Republican party was successful. Jefferson and Burr had the same number of votes. The former was afterward elected President by the House of Representatives."

SECTION III.

JEFFERSON'S ADMINISTRATION.

[1801-1809.]

1. Mr. Jefferson was inaugurated [March 4, 1801] in the new capitol, at Washington city. The official oath was administered by

He

his revolutionary compatriot, John Marshall, then Chief-Justice of the United States. retained, for a short time, Mr. Adams's Secretaries of the Treasury and Navy, but called

1. Verse 4, page 265. A tract ten miles square, on each side of the Potomac, and ceded to the United States by Maryland and Virginia, in 1790. The city of Washington was laid out there in 1791, and the erection of the Capitol was commenced in 1793. 2. Verse 1, page 270. 3. Verse 6, page 275. 4. When the electors counted the votes, Jefferson and Burr had an equal number. The choice was therefore transferred to the House of Representatives, according to the provisions of the Constitution. The choice finally fell upon Mr. Jefferson, after thirty-five ballotings; and Mr. Burr was proclaimed Vice-President. During 1800, another enumeration of the inhabitants of the Union was made. The population was then 5,319,762, an increase of 1,400,000 in ten years. The revenue, which amounted to $4,771,000 in 1790, amounted to almost $13,000,000 in 1800.

5. Thomas Jefferson was born in Virginia in 1743. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence [verse 10, page 202], Governor of Virginia, and a foreign minister. He retired from public life in 1809, and died on the 4th of July [verse 4, page 306], 18.6. 6. Samuel Dexter, and Benjamin Stoddart.

QUESTIONS.-6. What public events occurred during the year 1800? 1. What of Jefferson's inauguration? What of his appointments to office?

Purchase of Louisiana.

War with Tripoli.

Republicans to fill the other seats in his cabinet. Mr. Jefferson made many removals from official stations.

2. Jefferson's administration was signalized, at the beginning, by the repeal of the act imposing internal duties, and other obnoxious and unpopular laws. Vigor and enlightened views marked his course; and even his political opponents confessed his forecast and wisdom in many things. During his first term, one State and two Territories were added to the confederacy. A part of the North-western Territory became a State, under the name of Ohio,* in the autumn of 1802; and in the spring of 1803, Louisiana was purchased [April, 1803] of France," for fifteen millions of dollars. Out of it two Territories were formed, called, respectively, the Territory of New Orleans, and the District of Louisiana.

3. The insolence of the piratical powers on the southern shores of the Mediterranean" became unendurable; and the United States government

COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE.

now determined to
cease paying tribute
to them. The Ba-
shaw of Tripoli de-
clared war [June 10,
1801] against the
United States; and
Captain Bainbridge

UNITED STATES FRIGATE.

was ordered to cruise in the Mediterranean

to protect American commerce. In 1803, Commodore Preble was sent thither to humble the pirates. After bringing the Emperor

1. James Madison, Secretary of State; Henry Dearborn, Secretary of War; Levi Lincoln, Attorney-General. Before the meeting of Congress, in December, he appointed Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury, and Robert Smith, Secretary of the Navy. They were both Republicans.

3. Verse 5, page 265.

4. No section of the Union had increased, in population and resources, so rapidly as Ohio. It was estimated that, during the year 1:88, full twenty thousand men, women, and children, had passed down the Ohio river, to become settlers in the North-western Territory. When Ohio was admitted as a State, it contained a population of about 72,000. When, in 1800, Ohio was formed into a Territory, the residue of the North-west Territory remained as one until 1809, when the two Territories of Indiana and Illinois were formed.

5. In violation of a treaty made in the year 1795, the Spanish Governor of Louisiana closed the port of New Orleans in 1802. Great excitement prevailed throughout the western settlements; and a proposition was made in Congress, to take forcible possession of the territory. It was ascertained that, by a secret treaty, the country had been ceded to France, by Spain. Negotiations for its purchase were immediately opened with Napoleon, and the bargain was consummated in April, 1803. The United States took peaceable possession in the autumn of that year. It contained about 85,000 mixed inhabitants, and about 40,000 negro slaves. When this bargain was consummated, Napoleon said, prophetically, "This accession of territory strengthens forever the power of the United States; and I have just given to England a maritime rival that will sooner or later humble her pride."

6. Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, in Africa. They are known as the Barbary Powers.

7. In September, 1800, Captain Bainbridge arrived at Algiers, in the frigate George Washington, with the annual tribute money [verse 14, page 269]. The dey, or governor, demanded the use of his vessel to carry an embassador to Constantinople. Bainbridge remonstrated, when the dey haughtily observed, "You pay me tribute, by which you become my slaves, and therefore I have a right to order you, as I think proper." Bainbridge was obliged to comply, for the castle guns would not allow him to pass out of the harbor. He had the honor of first displaying the American flag before the ancient city of Constantinople. The Sultan regarded it as a favorable omen of future friendship, because his flag bore a crescent or new-moon, and the American, a group of stars.

QUESTIONS.-2. What signalized Jefferson's administration? What additions were made to the Union? 3. What occurred in relation to the pirates of the Mediterranean? What can you tell of an expedition against them?

Recapture of the Philadelphia.

Expedition under Eaton and Hamet.

of Morocco to terms, he appeared before Tripoli, with his squadron. One of his vessels (the Philadelphia), commanded by Bainbridge,' struck on a rock in the harbor, while reconnoitering, and was captured [Oct. 31, 1803] by the Tripolitans. The officers were treated as prisoners of war, but the crew were made slaves.

LIEUTENANT DECATUR.

2

4. Early the following year, Lieutenant Decatur, with only seventy-six men, sailed into the harbor in the evening [Feb. 3, 1804]; and running alongside the Philadelphia (which lay moored near the castle, and guarded by a large number of Tripolitans), boarded her, killed or drove into the sea all of her turbaned defenders, set her on fire, and under cover of a heavy cannonade from the American squadron, escaped without losing a man. This bold act humbled and alarmed the bashaw; yet his capital withstood a heavy bombardment, and his gun-boats gallantly sustained a severe action [Aug. 3] with the American vessels. 5. Through the aid of Hamet Caramelli, brother of the reigning bashaw (or governor) of Tripoli, favorable terms of peace were secured the following year. The bashaw was a usurper, and Hamet, the rightful heir to the throne," was an exile in Egypt. He readily concerted with Captain William Eaton, American consul at Tunis, in a plan for humbling the bashaw, and obtaining his own restoration to rightful authority. Early in March, 1805, Eaton left Alexandria, with seventy United States seamen, accompanied by Hamet and his followers, and a few Egyptian troops. They made a journey of a thousand miles across the Libyan desert, and on the 27th of April, captured Derne, a Tripolitan city on the Mediterranean. Three weeks later [May 18], they had a successful battle with Tripolitan troops; and on the 18th of June they again defeated the forces of the bashaw, and pressed forward toward Tripoli. The terrified ruler had made terms of [June 3, 1805] with Colonel Tobias Lear, American consul-general' in the

peace

64

MOHAMMEDAN
SOLDIER.

1. William Bainbridge was born in New Jersey, in 1774. He was captain of a merchant vessel at the age of nineteen years, and entered the naval service in 1798. He was distinguished during the second War for Independence [verse 6, page 280] and died in 1833.

2. Stephen Decatur was born in Maryland, in 1779. He entered the navy at the age of nineteen years. After his last cruise in the Mediterranean, he superintended the building of gun-boats. He rose to the rank of commodore, and during the second War for Independence [verse 6, page 280] he was distinguished for his skill and bravery. He afterward humbled the Barbary Powers [note 6, page 273]; and after returning home, he was killed in a duel with Commodore Barron, in March, 1820.

3. This act greatly enraged the Tripolitans, and the American prisoners were treated with the utmost severity.

4. Bashaw, or Pacha [Pas-shaw] is the title of the governor of a province, or town, in the dominions of the Sultan (or emperor) of Turkey. These Barbary States are all under the Sultan's rule.

5. The bashaw, who was a third son, had murdered his father and elder brother, and compelled Hamet to fly for his life. With quite a large number of followers he fled into Egypt.

6. A consul is an officer appointed by a government to reside in a foreign port, to have a general super

QUESTIONS.-1. What bold act was performed in the harbor of Tripoli? What were its effects? 5. What remarkable expedition was undertaken? What did it accomplish?