History of the American nation

COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE
DAVIS, CALIFORNIA

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W1LLIAM McKINLEY

HISTOFCT

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AMERICAN NATION

By

WILLIAM J. JACKMAN

JACOB H. PATTON
JOHN LORD

THEODORE ROOSEVELT
GEO. F. HOAR
JAMES BRYCE
GROVER CLEVELAND
CHAS. A. DANA
HORACE PORTER

ROSSITER JOHNSON
ROGER SHERMAN
JOHN HAY
HERBERT WELCH
GEO. WM. CURTIS
HENRY W. GRADY
JOHN H. VINCENT
HENRY CABOT LODGE

BENJ. F. TRACY, and Others

Edition de Luxe

VOLUME VIII

PRESS ASSOCIATION.

CHICAGO

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

LIBRARY

COPYRIGHT 1911

L, W. WALTER COMPANY

REVISED AND REPRINTED 1920

WHITMAN PUBLISHING COMPANY

RACINE, WISCONSIN

CONTENTS.

VOLUME VIII

OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT

Page
The Government of Cities. ..\ 2237

Working of City Governments 2242

PARTY POLITICS AND PUBLIC OPINION

Political Parties and History 2251

Nominating Conventions 2260

How Public Opinion Rules 2265

BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC

Introduction 2271

L George Washington 2273

II. Benjamin Franklin 2288

III. Thomas Jefferson 2303

IV. Alexander Hamilton 2318

V. John Jay 2335

VI. John Adams 2349

VII. George Clinton 2364

VIII. Samuel Adams . ..2377

2236 CONTENTS

Page
IX. Philip Livingston 2393

X. Roger Sherman 2403

XL Philip John Schuyler 2416

XII. James Madison 2430

XIII. Patrick Henry 2444

XIV. Henry Knox 2459

XV. Abraham Lincoln 2475

OFFICIAL STORY OF THE AMERICAN OPERA
TIONS IN THE WORLD WAR

From General John J. Pershing's Report to Secretary

of War . ..2491-2543

OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER X
THE GOVERNMENT OP CITIES

The growth of great cities has been among the
most significant and least fortunate changes in tlie
character of the population of the United States dur
ing the century and more that has passed since 1787.
The ratio of persons living in cities exceeding 8,000
inhabitants to the total population was, in 1790, 3.35
per cent., in 1840, 8.52, in 1880, 22.57, and in 1890,
29.12. And this change has gone on with accelerated
speed notwithstanding the enormous, extension of
settlement over the vast regions of the West. Need
less to say that a still larger and increasing propor
tion of the wealth of the country is gathered into the
larger cities. Their government is therefore a mat
ter of high concern to America.

We find in all the larger cities :==*

A mayor, head of the executive, and elected di
rectly by the voters within the city.

Certain executive officers or boards, some directly
elected by the city voters, others nominated
by the mayor or chosen by the city legislature.

A legislature consisting usually of two, but some
times of one chamber, directly elected by the
city voters.

Judges, usually elected by the city voters, but
sometimes appointed by the State.

What is this but the frame of a State government
applied to the smaller area of a city? The mayor

2238 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

corresponds to the governor, the officers or boards to
the various State officials and boards elected, in most
cases, by the people ; the aldermen and common coun
cil (as they are generally called) to the State Senate
and House or Assembly ; the city elective judiciary to
the State elective judiciary.

The mayor is by far the most conspicuous figure in
city governments. He holds office, sometimes for
one year, but now more frequently for two, three, or
even five years. In some cities he is not reeligible.
He is directly elected by the people of the whole city,
and is usually not a member of the city legislature.
He has, almost everywhere, a veto on all ordinances
passed by that legislature, which, however, can be
overriden by a two-thirds majority. In many cities
he appoints some among the heads of departments
and administrative boards, though usually the ap
proval of the legislature or of one branch of it is re
quired. Quite recently some city charters have gone
so far as to make him generally responsible for all
the departments, though limiting his initiative by
the right of the legislature to give or withhold sup
plies, and making him liable to impeachment for mis
feasance. He receives a considerable salary, vary
ing with the size of the city, but sometimes reaching
$10,000, the same salary as that allotted to the jus
tices of the Supreme Federal Court. It rests with
him, as the chief executive officer, to provide for the
public peace, to quell riots, and, if necessary, to call
out the militia. He often exerts a pretty wide dis
cretion as to the enforcement of the law ; he may, for
instance, put in force Sunday Closing Acts or regula
tions, or omit to do so.

The practical work of administration is carried on
by a number of departments, sometimes under one
head, sometimes constituted as boards or commis
sions. The most important of these are directly

OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT 2239

elected by the people, for a term of one, two, three,
or four years. Some, however, are chosen by the
city legislature, some by the mayor with the ap
proval of the legislature or its upper chamber. In
most cities the chief executive officers have been dis
connected from one another, owing no common al
legiance, except that which their financial depend
ence on the city legislature involves, and communi
cating less with the city legislature as a whole than
with its committees, each charged with some one
branch of administration, and each apt to job it.

Education has been generally treated as a distinct
matter, with which neither the mayor nor the muni
cipal legislature has been suffered to meddle. It is
committed to a Board of Education, whose members
are separately elected by the people or appointed by
the mayor, and who levy (though they do not them
selves collect) a separate tax, and have an executive
staff of their own at their disposal.

The city legislature usually consists in small cities
of one chamber, in large cities of two, the upper of
which generally bears the name of the Board of Al
dermen, the lower that of the Common Council. All
are elected by the citizens, generally in wards, but
the upper house occasionally by districts or on what
is called a "general ticket," i.e., a vote over the whole
city. Usually the common council is elected for one
year, or at most for two years, the upper chamber
frequently for a longer period. Both are usually un
paid in the smaller cities, sometimes paid in the
larger. All city legislation, that is to say, ordin
ances, by-laws, and votes of money from the city
treasury, are passed by the council or councils, sub
ject in many cases to the mayor's veto. Except in
a few cities governed by very recent charters, the
councils have some control over at least the minor
officials. Such control is exercised by committees, a

2240 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

method borrowed from the State and national legis
latures, and suggested by the same reasons of con
venience which have established it there, but proved
by experience to have the evils of secrecy and irre
sponsibility as well as that of disconnecting the de
partments from one another.

The city judges are only in so far a part of the
municipal government that in most of the larger
cities they are elected by the citizens, like the other
chief officers. There are usually several superior
judges, chosen for terms of five years and upwards,
and a larger number of police judges or justices, gen
erally for shorter terms. Occasionally, however, the
State has prudently reserved to itself the appoint
ment of judges.

The election of city officers is usually made to coin
cide with that of State officers, perhaps also of Fed
eral congressmen. This saves expense and trouble.
But as it not only bewilders the voter in his choice of
men by distracting his attention between a large
number of candidates and places, but also confirms
the tendency, already strong, to vote for city officers
on party lines, there has of late years been a move
ment in some cities to have the muncipal elections
fixed for a different date from that of State or Fed
eral elections, so that the undistracted and non-parti
san thought of the citizens may be given to the
former. When parties put forward questionable
men, a non-partisan list, or so-called "citizens' ticket,"
may be run by a combination of respectable men of
all parties. Sometimes this attempt succeeds.

The functions of city governments may be distri
buted into three groups — (a) those which are dele
gated by the State out of its general coercive and
administrative powers, including the police power,
the granting of licenses, the execution of laws relat
ing to adulteration and explosives ; (b) those which

OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT 2241

though done under general laws are properly matters
of local charge and subject to local regulation, such
as education and the care of the poor ; and (c) those
which are not so much of a political as of a purely
business order, such as the paving and cleansing of
streets, the maintenance of proper drains, the provi
sion of water and light. In respect of the first, and
to some extent of the second of these groups, the city
may be properly deemed a political entity ; in respect
of the third it is rather to be compared to a business
corporation or company, in which the taxpayers are
shareholders, doing, through the agency of the city
officers, things which each might do for himself,
though with more cost and trouble. All three sets
of functions are dealt with by American legislation
in the same way, and are alike given to officials and
a legislature elected by persons of whom a large
part pay no direct taxes. Education, however, is
usually detached from the general city government
and entrusted to a separate authority, while in some
cities the control of the police has been withheld or
withdrawn from that government, and entrusted to
the hands of a separate board.

Taxes in cities, as in rural districts, are levied upon
personal as well as real property ; and the city tax is
collected along with the county tax and State tax by
the same collectors. There are, of course, endless
varieties in the practice of different States and cities
as to methods of assessments and to the minor im
posts subsidiary to the property tax. Both real and
personal property are usually assessed far below their
true value, the latter because owners are reticent,
the former because the city assessors are anxious to
take as little as possible of the State and county bur
den on the shoulders of their own community, though
in this patriotic effort they are checked by the county
and State Boards of Equalization. Taxes are usu-

2242 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

ally so much higher in the larger cities than in the
country districts or smaller muncipalities, that there
is a strong tendency for rich men to migrate from
the city to its suburbs in order to escape the city
collector. Perhaps the city overtakes them, extend
ing its limits and incorporating its suburbs; per
haps they fly farther afield by the railway and make
the prosperity of country towns twenty or thirty
miles away. The unfortunate consequence follows,
not only that the taxes are heavier for those who
remain in the city, but that the philanthropic and
political work of the city loses the participation of
those who ought to have shared in it. For a man
votes in one place only, the place where he resides,
and is taxed on his personalty, although he is taxed
on his real property wherever it is situated, perhaps
in half a dozen cities or counties. And where he has
no vote, he is neither eligible for local office nor
deemed entitled to take a part in local political agita
tion.

CHAPTER XI

THE WORKING OF CITY GOVERNMENTS

Two tests of practical efficiency may be applied to
the government of a city : What does it provide for
the people, and what does it cost the people ? In the
United States generally constant complaints are di
rected against the bad paving and cleansing of the
streets, the non-enforcement of the laws forbidding
gambling and illicit drinking, and in some places
against the sanitary arrangements and management
of public buildings and parks. This is all that can be
said here in regard to the first test.

The other test, that of expense, is easily applied.
Both the debt and the taxation of American cities
have risen with unprecedented rapidity, and now
stand at an alarming figure.

OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT 2243

There is no denying that the government of cities
is the one conspicuous failure of the United States.
The deficiencies of the national government tell but
little for evil on the welfare of the people. The
faults of the State governments are insignificant
compared with the extravagance, corruption, and
mismanagement which mark the administrations of
most of the great cities. There is not a city with a
population exceedin j 200,000 where the poison germs
have not sprung inia a vigorous life; and in some of
the smaller ones, down to 70,000, it needs no micro
scope to note the results of their growth. Even in
cities of the third rank similar phenomena may ocsa-
sionally be discerned.

For evils which appear wherever a large population
is densely aggregated, there must be some general
and widespread causes. What are these causes? I
must restrict myself to a brief enumeration of the
chief sources of the malady, and the chief remedies
that have been suggested for or applied to it.

The following have been suggested* as the causes :

1. Incompetent and unfaithful governing boards
and officers.

2. The introduction of State and national politics
into municipal affairs.

3. The assumption by the legislature of the direct
control of local affairs.

Besides these three causes there are what may be
called mechanical defects in the structure of muni
cipal governments. There is a want of methods for
fixing public responsibility on the governing persons
and bodies. If the mayor jobs his patronage he can
throw large part of the blame on the aldermen or
other confirming council, alleging that he would have
selected better men could he have hoped that the al
dermen would approve his selection. If he has failed

*By the New York commissioners of 1876, appointed "to devise a plan
for the government of cities in the State of New York."

2244 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

to keep the departments up to their work, he may
argue that the city legislature hampered him and
would not pass the requisite ordinances. Each house
of a two-chambered legislature can excuse itself by
pointing to the action of the other, or of its own com
mittees, and among the numerous members of the
chambers — or even of one chamber if there be but
one — responsibility is so much divided as to cease to
come forcibly home to any one. The various boards
and officials have generally ha( little intercommuni
cation ; and the fact that some were directly elected
by the people made these feel themselves independ
ent both of the mayor and the city legislature. The
mere multiplication of elective posts distracted the
attention of the people, and deprived the voting at
the polls of its efficiency as a means of reproof or
commendation.
The following remedies have been proposed : — *

(a) A restriction of the power of the State legisla
ture to interfere by special legislation with municipal
governments or the conduct of municipal affairs.

(b) The holding of municipal elections at a differ
ent period of the year from State and national elec
tions.

(c) The vesting of the legislative powers of muni
cipalities in two bodies : — A board of aldermen, elect
ed by the ordinary (manhood) suffrage, to be the
common council of each city. A board of finance of
from six to fifteen members, elected by voters who
had for two years paid an annual tax on property as
sessed at not less than $500, or a rent (for premises
occupied) of not less than $250. This board of fin
ance was to have a practically exclusive control of
the taxation and expenditure of each city, and of the
exercise of its borrowing powers, and was in some
matters to act only by a two-thirds majority.

*By the before-mentioned commissioners.

OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT 2245

(d) Limitations on the borrowing powers of the
municipality, the concurrence of the mayor and two
thirds of the State legislature, as well as of two-
thirds of the board of finance being required for any
loan except in anticipation of current revenue.

(e) An extension of the general control and ap
pointing power of the mayor, the mayor being him
self subject to removal for cause by the governor of
the State.

[Through the new Constitution of the State of
New York, adopted in 1894, some changes have been
secured in the direction of remedies above specified.]

Among the other reforms in city government
which I find canvassed in America are the following :

(a) Civil service reform, i.e., the establishment of
examinations as a test for admission to posts under
the city, and the bestowal of these posts for a fixed
term of years, or generally during good behavior, in
stead of leaving the civil servant at the mercy of a
partisan chief, who may displace him to make room
for a party adherent or personal friend.

(b) The lengthening of the terms of service of
the mayor and heads of departments, so as to give
them a more assured position and dimmish the fre
quency of elections. — This has been done to some ex
tent in recent charters.

(c) The vesting of almost autocratic executive
power in the mayor and restriction of the city legis
lature to purely legislative work and the voting of
supplies. This also finds place in recent charters,
and has worked, on the whole, well. It is, of course,
a remedy of the "cure or kill" order. If the people
are thoroughly roused to choose an able and honest
man, the more power he has the better ; it is safer in
his hands than in those of city councils. If the vot
ers are apathetic and let a bad man slip in, all may
be lost till the next election. I do not say "all is

2246 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

lost," for there have been remarkable instances of
men who have been sobered and elevated by power
and responsibility.

(d) The election of a city legislature, or one
branch of it, or of a school committee, on a general
ticket instead of by wards. — When aldermen or coun-
cilmen are chosen by the voters of a small local area,
it is assumed, in the United States, that they must
be residents within it ; thus the field of choice among
good citizens generally is limited. It follows also that
their first duty is deemed to be to get the most they
can for their own ward ; they care little for the general
interests of the city, and carry on a game of barter
in contracts and public improvements with the rep
resentatives of other wards. Hence the general
ticket system is preferable.

(e) The limitation of taxing powers and borrow
ing powers by reference to the assessed value of the
taxable property within the city. — Restrictions of
this nature have beeil largely applied to cities as well
as to counties and other local authorities. The re
sults have been usually good, yet not uniformly so,
for evasions may be practiced. Such restrictions are
now often found embodied in State Constitutions,
and have, so far as I could ascertain, generally di
minished the evil they are aimed at.

The results of these various experiments and of
others are now being watched with eager curiosity
by the municipal reformers of the United States.
The question of city government is that which chiefly
occupies practical publicists, and which newspapers
and magazines incessantly discuss, because it is ad
mittedly the weak point of the country. That ad
aptability of the institutions to the people and their
conditions, which judicious strangers admire in the
United States, and that consequent satisfaction of
the people with their institutions, which contrasts so

OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT 2247

agreeably with the discontent of European nations,
is wholly absent as regards municipal administra
tion. Wherever there is a large city there are loud
complaints, and Americans who deem themselves in
other respects a model for the Old World are in this
respect anxious to study Old World models, those
particularly which the cities of Great Britain pre
sent.

But the newer frames of government are an im
provement upon the older. Good citizens are more
active. Party spirit is less permitted to dominate
and prevert municipal politics,

PARTY POLITICS AND PUBLIC
OPINION

PARTY POLITICS AND PUBLIC
OPINION

CHAPTER I

POLITICAL PARTIES AND THEIR HISTORY

In the United States, the history of party begins
with the Constitutional Convention of 1787 at Phila
delphia. In its debates and discussions on the draft
ing of the Constitution there were revealed two op
posite tendencies, which soon afterward appeared on
a larger scale in the State conventions, to which
the new instrument was submitted for acceptance.
There were the centrifugal and centripetal tendencies
— a tendency to maintain both the freedom of the
individual citizen and the independence in legislation,
in administration, in jurisdiction, indeed in every
thing except foreign policy and national defense, of
the several States ; an opposite tendency to subordin
ate the States to the nation and vest large powers in
the central Federal authority.

The advocates of central national authority, led by
Hamilton, had begun to receive the name of Federal
ists, and to act pretty constantly together, when an
event happened which, while it tightened their union,
finally consolidated their opponents also into a party.
Shis was the creation of the French Republic and its
declaration of war against England. The Federal
ists, who were shocked by the excesses of the Terror
of 1793, counseled neutrality, and were more than
ever inclined to value the principle of authority, and
to allow the Federal power a wide sphere of action.

2252 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

The party of Jefferson, who had now retired from
the administration, was pervaded by sympathy with
French ideas, was hostile to England, whose attitude
continued to be discourteous, and sought to restrict
the interference of the central government with the
States, and to allow the fullest play to the sentiment
of State independence, of local independence, of per
sonal independence. This party took the name of
Republicans or Democratic Republicans, and they are
the predecessors of the present Democrats. Both
parties were, of course, attached to republican gov
ernment — that is to say, were alike hostile to a mon
archy. But the Jeffersonians had more faith in the
masses and in leaving things alone, together with
less respect for authority, so that in a sort of general
way one may say that while one party claimed to be
the apostles of Liberty, the other represented the
principle of Order.

These tendencies found occasions for combating
one another, not only in foreign policy and in current
legislation, but also in the construction and applica
tion of the Constitution. Like all documents, and
especially documents which have been formed by a
series of compromises between opposite views, it was
and is susceptible of various interpretations, which
the acuteness of both sets of partisans was busy in
discovering and expounding. While the piercing in
tellect of Hamilton developed all those of its provi
sions which invested the Federal Congress and Presi
dent with far-reaching powers, and sought to build
up a system of institutions which should give to
these provisions their full effect, Jefferson and his
coadjusters appealed to the sentiment of individual
ism, strong in the masses of the people, and without
venturing to propose alterations in the text of the
Constitution, protested against all extensions of its
letter, and against all the assumptions of Federal au-

OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT 2253

thority which such extensions could be made to
justify. Thus two parties grew up with tenets, lead
ers, impulses, sympathies, and hatreds, — hatreds
which soon became so bitter as not to spare the noble
and dignified figure of Washington himself.

At first the Federalists had the best of it, for the
reaction against the weakness of the old Confedera
tion which the Union had superseded disposed sensi
ble men to tolerate a strong central power. The
President, though not a member of either party, was,
by force of circumstances, as well as owing to the in
fluence of Hamilton, practically with the Federalists.
But during the presidency of John Adams, who suc
ceeded Washington, they committed grave errors.
When the presidential election of 1800 arrived,"it was
seen that the logical and oratorical force of Hamil
ton's appeals to the reason of the nation told far less
than the skill and energy with which Jefferson play
ed on their feelings and prejudices. The Republi
cans triumphed in the choice of their chief, who re
tained power for eight years to be peaceably succeed
ed by his friend Madison for another eight years, and
his disciple Monroe for eight years more. Their
long-continued tenure of office was due not so much
to their own merits, for neither Jefferson nor Mad
ison conducted foreign affairs with success, as to the
collapse of their antagonists. The Federalists never
recovered from the blow given in the election of 1800.
They lost Hamilton by death in 1803. No other
leader of equal gifts appeared, and the party, which
had shown little judgment in the critical years
1810-'14, finally disappears from sight after the sec
ond peace with England in 1815.

This period (1788-1824) may be said to constitute
the first act in the drama of American party history.
The people, accustomed hitherto to care only for
their several commonwealths, learn to value and to

2254 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

work their new national institutions. They become
familiar with the Constitution itself, as partners get
to know, when disputes arise among them, the provi
sions of the partnership deed under which their busi
ness has to be carried on. It is found that the exist
ence of a central Federal power does not annihilate
the States, so the apprehensions on that score are
allayed. It is also discovered that there are unfore
seen directions, such for instance as banking and
currency, through which the Federal power can
strengthen its hold on the nation. Differences of
view and feeling give rise to parties,yet parties are
formed by no means solely on the basis of general
principles, but owe much to the influence of promin
ent personalities, of transient issues, of local inter
ests or prejudices.

Although the Federalists were in general the ad
vocates of a loose and liberal constitution of the Con
stitution, because such a construction opened a wider
sphere to Federal power, they were ready, whenever
their local interests stood in the way, to resist Con
gress and the Executive, alleging that the latter
were overstepping their jurisdiction. In 1814 sev
eral of the New England States, where the opposi
tion to the war then being waged with England was
strongest, sent delegates to a convention at Hartford,
which, while discussing the best means for putting
an end to the war restricting the powers of Congress
in commercial legislation, was suspected of meditat
ing a secession of the trading States from the Union.
On the other hand, the Republicans did not hesitate
to stretch to their utmost, when they were them
selves in power, all the authority which the Constitu
tion could be construed to allow to the Executive and
the Federal government generally.

The disappearance of the Federal party between
1815 and 1820 left the Republicans masters of the

OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT 2255

field. But in the United States if old parties vanish
nature produces new ones. Sectional divisions -soon
arose among the men who joined in electing Monroe
in 1820, and under the influence of the personal hosti
lity of Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson (chosen
President in 1828), two great parties were again
formed (about 1830) which some few years later ab
sorbed the minor groups. One of these two parties
carried on, under the name of Democrats, the dogmas
and traditions of the Jeffersonian Republicans. It
was the defender of States' Rights and of a restric
tive construction of the Constitution ; it leaned main
ly on the South and the farming classes generally,
and it was therefore inclined to free trade. The
other section, which called itself at first the National
Republican, ultimately the Whig party, represented
many of the views of the former Federalists, such as
their advocacy of a tariff for the protection of manu
factures, and of the expenditure of public money on
internal improvements. It was willing to increase
the army and navy, and like the Federalists found
its chief, though by no means its sole, support in the
commercial and manufacturing parts of the country,
that is to say, in New England and the Middle States.
Meantime a new question far more exciting, far more
menacing, had arisen. In 1819, when Missouri ap
plied to be admitted into the Union as a State, a
sharp contest broke out in Congress as to whether
slavery should be permitted within her limits, nearly
all the Northern members voting against slavery,
nearly all the Southern members for. The struggle
might have threatened the stability of the Union but
for the compromise adopted next year, which, while
admitting slavery in Missouri, forbade it for the fu
ture north of lat. 36° 30'. The danger seemed to
have passed, but in its very suddenness there had
been something terrible. Jefferson, then over seven-

2256 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

ty, said that it startled him "like a fire-bell in the
night." After 1840 things grew more serious, for,
whereas up till that time new States had been ad
mitted substantially in pairs, a slave State balancing
a free State, it began to be clear that this must
shortly cease, since the remaining territory out of
which new States would be formed lay north of the
line 36° 30'. As every State held two seats in the
Senate, the then existing balance in that chamber
between slave States and free States would evidently
soon be overset by the admission of a large number
of the latter. The apprehension of this event, with
its probable result of legislation unfriendly to slav
ery, stimulated the South to the annexation of Texas,
and made them increasingly sensitive to the growth,
slow as that growth was, of Abolitionist opinions at
the North.

The question of the extension of slavery west of
the Missouri river had become by 1850 the vital and
absorbing question for the people of the United
States, and as in that year California, having or
ganized herself without slavery, was knocking at
the doors of Congress for admission as a State, it had
become an urgent question which evoked the hottest
passions, and the victors in which would be victors
all along the line. But neither of the two great par
ties ventured to commit itself either way. The
Southern Democrats hesitated to break with those
Democrats of the Northern States who sought to re
strict slavery. The Whigs of the North, fearing to
alienate the South by any decided action against the
growing pretensions of the slave-holders, temporized
and suggested compromises which practically served
the cause of slavery. They did not perceive that in
trying to preserve their party they were losing hold
of the people, alienating from themselves the men
who cared for principle in politics, sinking into a

OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT 2257

mere organization without a faith worth fighting for.
That this was so presently appeared. The Democra
tic party had by 1852 passed almost completely un
der the control of the slave-holders, and was adopt
ing the dogma that Congress enjoyed under the Con
stitution no power to prohibit slavery in the Terri
tories. This dogma obviously overthrew as uncon
stitutional the Missouri compromise of 1820. The
Whig leaders discredited themselves by Henry Clay's
compromise scheme of 1850, which, while admitting
California as a free State, appeased the South by the
Fugitive Slave Law. They received a crushing de
feat at the presidential election of 1852 ; and what
remained of their party finally broke in pieces in
1854 over the bill for organizing Kansas as a Terri
tory in which the question of slaves or no slaves
should be left to the people, a bill which of course re
pealed the Missouri compromise. Singularly enough,
the two great orators of the party, Henry Clay and
Daniel Webster, both died in 1852, wearied with
strife and disappointed in their ambition of reaching
the presidential chair. Together with Calhoun, who
passed away two years earlier, they are the orna
ments of this generation, not indeed rising to the
stature of Washington or Hamilton, but more re
markable than any, save one, among the statesmen
who have followed them. With them ends the sec
ond period in the annals of American parties, which,
extending from about 1820 to 1856, includes the rise
and fall of the Whig party. Most of the controver
sies which filled it have become matter for history
only. But three large results, besides the general
democratization of politics, stand out. One is the
detachment of the United States from the affairs of
the Old World. Another is the growth of a sense of
national life, especially in the Northern and Western
States, along with the growth at the same time of a

2258 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

secessionist spirit among the slave-holders. And
the third is the development of the complex machin
ery of party organization, with the adoption of tha
principle on which that machinery so largely rests,
that public office is to be enjoyed only by the adher
ents of the President for the time being.

The Whig party having begun to vanish, the
Democrats seemed to be for the moment, as they had
been once before, left in possession of the field. But
this time a new antagonist was quick to appear.
The growing boldness of the slave-owners had begun
to alarm the Northern people, when they were start
led by the decision of the Supreme Court, pronounced
in the case of the slave, Dred Scott, which laid down
the doctrine that Congress had no power to forbid
slavery anywhere, and that a slave-holder might
carry his slaves with him where he pleased, seeing
that they were mere objects of property, whose pos
session the Constitution guaranteed. This hastened
the formation of a new party, which took in 1856 the
name of Republican, and whose presidential candi
date in the same year was John C. Fremont. At the
same time it threw an apple of discord among the
Democrats. In 1860 the latter could not agree upon
a candidate for President. The Southern wing
pledged themselves to one man, the Northern wing
to another; a body of hesitating and semi-detached
politicians put forward a third. Thus the Republi
cans through the divisions of their opponents tri
umphed in the election of Abraham Lincoln, pres
ently followed by the secession of eleven slave States.

The Republican party, which had started by pro
claiming the right of Congress to restrict slavery,
and had denounced the Dred Scott decision, was of
course throughout the Civil War the defender of the
Union and the asserter of Federal authority, stretch
ed, as was unavoidable, to lengths previously un-

OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT 2259

heard of. When the war was over, there came the
difficult task of reconstructing the now reconquered
slave States, and of securing the position in them of
the lately liberated negroes. The outrages perpe
trated on the latter, and on white settlers in some
parts of the South, required further exertions of
Federal authority, and made the question of the limit
of that authority still a practical one, for the old
Democratic party, almost silenced during the war,
had now reappeared in full force as the advocate of
State rights, and the watchful critic of any undue
stretches of Federal authority. It was found neces
sary to negative the Dred Scott decision and set at
rest all questions relating to slavery and to the poli
tical equality of the races by the adoption of three
important amendments to the Constitution. The
troubles of the South by degrees settled down as the
whites regained possession of the State governments,
and the Northern troops were withdrawn. In the
presidential election of 1876 the war question and
negro question had become dead issues, for it was
plain that a large and increasing number of the vot
ers were no longer, despite the appeals of the Repub
lican leaders, seriously concerned about them. This
election marks the close of the third period, which
embraces the rise and overwhelming predominance
of the Republican party.

Two permanent oppositions may, I think, be dis
cerned running through the history of the parties,
sometimes openly recognized, sometimes concealed
by the urgency of a transitory question. One of
these is the opposition between a centralized and a
federalized government. The former has been the
watchword of the Democratic party. The latter was
seldom distinctly avowed, but was generally in fact
represented by the Federalists of the first period, the
Whigs of the second, the Republicans of the third.

2260 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

The other opposition, though it goes deeper and is
more pervasive, has been less clearly marked in
America, and less consciously admitted by the Amer
icans themselves. It is the opposition between the
tendency which makes some men prize the freedom
of the individual as the first of social goods, and that
which disposes others to insist on checking and regu
lating his impulses. The opposition of these two
tendencies, the love of liberty and the love of order,
is permanent and necessary, because it springs differ
ences in the intellect and feelings of men which one
finds in all countries and at all epochs.

CHAPTER II
NOMINATING CONVENTIONS

In every American election there are two acts of
choice, two periods of contest. The first is the selec
tion of the candidate from within the party by the
party ; the other is the struggle between the parties
for the place. Frequently the former of these is
more important, more keenly fought over, than the
latter, for there are many districts in which the pre
dominance of one party is so marked that its candi
dates is sure of success, and therefore the choice of
a candidate is virtually the choice of the officer or
representative.

The process is similar in every State of the Union,
and through all elections to office, from the lowest to
the highest, from that of common councilman for a
city ward up to that of President of the United
States. But, of course, the higher the office, and the
larger the area over which the election extends, the
greater are the efforts made to secure the nomina
tion, and the hotter the passions it excites.

Like most political institutions, the system of

OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT 2261

nominating the President by a popular convention is
the result of a long process of evolution.

From 1789 till 1800 there were no formal nomina
tions ; from 1800 till 1824, nominations were made by
congressional caucuses ; from 1824 till 1840, nomina
tions irregularly made by State legislatures and
popular meetings were gradually ripening towards
the method of a special gathering of delegates from
the whole country. This last plan has held its
ground from 1840 till the present day, and is so ex
actly conformable to the political habits of the peo
ple that it is not likely soon to disappear.

Its perfection, however, was not reached at once.
The early conventions were to a large extent mass
meetings. The later and present ones are regularly-
constituted representative bodies, composed exclu
sively of delegates, each of whom has been duly
elected at a party meeting in his own State, and
brings with him his credentials.

The Constitution provides that each State shall
choose as many presidential electors as it has per
sons representing it in Congress, i.e., two electors to
correspond to the two senators from each State, and
as many more as the State sends members to the
House of Representatives.

Now, in the nominating convention each State is
allowed twice as many delegates as it has electoral
votes. The delegates are chosen by local conven
tions in their several States, viz., two for each con
gressional district by the party convention of that
district, and four for the whole State (called dele-
gates-at-large) by the State convention. As each
convention is composed of delegates from primaries,
it is the composition of the primaries which deter
mines of the local conventions, and the composi
tion of the local conventions which determines that
of tthe national. To every delegate there is added

2262 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

a person called his "alternate," chosen by the local
convention at the same time, and empowered to re
place him in case he cannot be present in the national
convention. If the delegate is present to vote, the
alternate is silent ; if from any cause the delegate is
absent, the alternate steps into his shoes.

Each State delegation has its chairman, and is ex
pected to keep together during the convention. It
usually travels together to the place of meeting;
takes rooms in the same hotel; has a recognized
headquarters there ; sits in a particular place allotted
to it in the convention hall; holds meetings of its
members during the progress of the convention to
decide on the course which it shall from time to time
take. These meetings, if the State be a large and
doubtful one, excite great interest, and the sharp-
eared reporter prowls around them, eager to learn
how the votes will go. Each State delegation votes
by its chairman, who announces how his delegates
vote ; but if his report is challenged the roll of dele
gates is called, and they vote individually. Whether
the votes of a State delegation shall be given solid
for the aspirant whom the majority of the delega
tion favors, or by the delegates individually, accord
ing to their preferences, is a point which has excited
bitter controversy. The present practice of the Re
publican party (so settled in 1876 and again in 1880)
allows the delegates to vote individually, even when
they have been instructed by a State convention to
cast a solid vote. The Democratic party, on the
other hand, sustains any such instruction given to
the delegation and records the vote of all the State
delegates for the aspirant whom the majority among
them approve. This is the so-called unit rule. If,
however, the State convention has not imposed the
unit rule, the delegates vote individually.

For the sake of keeping up party life in the terri-

OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT 2263

tories and in the Federal District of Columbia, dele
gates from them are admitted to the national con
vention, although the territories and district have
no votes in a presidential election.

So much for the composition of the national con
vention: we may now go on to describe its proceed
ings.

It is held in the summer immediately preceding a
presidential election, usually in June or July, the elec
tion falling in November. A large city is always
chosen, in order to obtain adequate hotel accommo
dation, and easy railroad access.

Business begins by the calling of the convention to
order by the chairman of the National Party Com
mittee. Then a temporary chairman is nominated,
and, if opposed, voted on ; the vote sometimes giving
an indication of the respective strength of the fac
tions present. Then the secretaries and the clerks
are appointed, and the rules which are to govern the
business are adopted. After this, the committees,
particularly those on credentials and resolutions, are
nominated, and the convention adjourns till their re
port can be presented.

The next sitting usually opens, after the custom
ary prayer, with the appointment of the permanent
chairman, who inaugurates the proceedings with a
speech. Then the report of the committee on reso
lutions (if completed) is presented. It contains
what is called the platform, a long series of resolu
tions embodying the principles and programme of
the party, which has usually been so drawn as to
conciliate every section, and avoid or treat with prud
ent ambiguity those questions on which opinion with
in the party is divided. Any delegate who objects
to a resolution can move to strike it out or amend it ;
but it is generally sustained in the shape it has re
ceived from the practiced hands of the committee.

2264 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

Next follows the nomination of aspirants for the
post of party candidate. The roll of States is called,
and when a State is reached to which an aspirant in
tended to be nominated belongs, a prominent delegate
from that State mounts the platform, and proposes
him in a speech extolling his merits, and sometimes
indirectly disparaging the other aspirants. Another
delegate seconds the nomination, sometimes a third
follows; and then the roll-call goes on till all the
States have been despatched, and all the aspirants
nominated. The average number of nominations is
seven or eight ; it rarely exceeds twelve.

Thus the final stage is reached, for which all else
has been but preparation — that of balloting between
the aspirants. The clerks call the roll of States from
Alabama to Wyoming, and, as each is called, the
chairman of its delegation announces the votes, e.g.,
six for A, five for B, three for C, unless, of course,
under the unit rule, the whole vote is cast for that
one aspirant whom the majority of the delegation
supports. When all have voted, the totals are made
up and announced. If one competitor has an abso
lute majority of the whole number voting, accord
ing to the Republican rule, a majority of two thirds
of the number voting, according to the Democratic
rule, he has been duly chosen, and nothing remains
but formally to make his nomination unanimous. If,
however, as has usually happened of late years, no
one obtains the requisite majority, the roll is called
again, in order that individual delegates and delega
tions (if the unit rule prevails) may have the oppor
tunity of changing their votes ; and the process is re
peated until some one of the aspirants put forward
has received the required number of votes. Some
times many roll-calls take place.

When a candidate for the presidency has been thus
found, the convention proceeds similarly to deter-

OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT 2265

mine its candidate for the vice-presidency. The
work of the convention is then .complete, and votes
of thanks to the chairman and other officials con
clude the proceedings. The two nominees are now
the party candidates, entitled to the support of the
party organizations and of loyal party men over the
length and breadth of the Union.

CHAPTER III
HOW PUBLIC OPINION RULES

Of all the experiments which America has made,
that of ruling by public opinion best deserves study,
for her solution of the problem differs from all previ
ous solutions, and she has shown more boldness in
trusting public opinion, in recognizing and giving ef
fect to it, than has yet been shown elsewhere. Tow
ering over Presidents and State governors, over Con
gress and State legislatures, over conventions and
the vast machinery of party, public opinion stands
out, in the United States, as the great source of
power, the masters of servants who tremble before it.

Congress sits for two years only. It is strictly
limited by the Constitution, which is a fundamental
law placed out of its reach, and by the co-existence
of the State governments, which the Constitution
protects. It has (except by way of impeachment)
no control over the Federal Executive, which is di
rectly named by and responsible to the people. So,
too, the State legislatures sit for short periods, do
not appoint the State Executives, are hedged in by
the prohibitions of the State Constitutions. The
people frequently legislate directly by enacting or
altering a Constitution. The principle of popular
sovereignty could hardly be expressed more unmis
takably. The only check on the mass is that which
they have themselves imposed, and which the anci-

2266 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

ent democracies did not possess, the difficulty of
changing a rigid Constitution. And this difficulty is
serious only as regards the Federal Constitution.

As this is the most developed form of popular gov
ernment, so is it also the form which most naturally
produces what I have called government by public
opinion. Popular government may be said to exist
wherever all power is lodged in and issues from the
people. Government by public opinion exists where
the wishes and views of the people prevail, even
before they have been conveyed through the regular
law-appointed organs, and without the need of their
being so conveyed. Where the power of the people
is absolute, legislators and administrators are quick
to catch its wishes in whatever way they may be in
dicated, and do not care to wait for the methods
which the law prescribes. This happens in America.

A consideration of the nature of the State govern
ment as of the national government will show that
legal theory as well as popular self-confidence gives
birth to this rule of opinion. Supreme power resides
in the whole mass of citizens. They have prescrib
ed, in the strict terms of a legal document, the form
of government. They alone have the right to change
it, and that only in a particular way. They have
committed only a part of their sovereignty to their
executive and legislative agents, reserving the rest
to themselves. Hence their will, or, in other words,
public opinion, is constantly felt by these agents to
be, legally as well as practically, the controlling au
thority. In England, parliament is the nation, not
merely by a legal fiction, but because the nation looks
to parliament only, having neither reserved any au
thority to itself nor bestowed any elsewhere. In
America, Congress is not the nation, and does not
claim to be so.

The ordinary functions and business of govern-

OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT 2367

ment, the making of laws, the imposing of taxes, the
intrepretation of laws and their execution, the ad
ministration of justice, the conduct of foreign rela
tions, are parceled out among a number of bodies and
persons whose powers are so carefully balanced and
touch at so many points that there is a constant risk
of conflicts, even of deadlocks. The master, how
ever, is at hand to settle the quarrels of his servants.
If the question be a grave one, and the mind of the
country clear upon it, public opinion throws its
weight into one or other scale, and its weight is de
cisive. Should opinion be nearly balanced, it is no
doubt difficult to ascertain, till the next election ar
rives, which of many discordant cries is really the
prevailing voice. The general truth remains that a
system of government by checks and balances speci
ally needs the presence of an arbiter to incline the
scale in favor of one or other of the balanced au
thorities, and that public opinion must, therefore,
be more frequently invoked and more constantly ac
tive in America than in other countries.

Those who invented this machinery of checks and
balances were anxious not so much to develop public
opinion as to resist and build up breakwaters against
it. The efforts made in 1787 to divide authority
and, so to speak, force the current of the popular will
into many small channels, instead of permitting it to
rush down one broad bed, have really tended to exalt
public opinion above the regular legally-appointed
organs of government. Each of these organs is too
small to form opinion, too narrow to express it, too
weak to give effect to it. It grows up not in Con
gress, not in State legislatures, not in those great
conventions which frame platforms and choose candi
dates, but at large among the people. It is expressed
in voices everywhere. It rules as a pervading and
impalpable power, like the ether which, as physicists

2268 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

say, passes through all things. It binds all the parts
of the complicated system together and gives them
whatever unity of aim and action they possess.

In the United States public opinion is the opinion
of the whole nation, with little distinction of social
classes. The politicians find no difficulty in keeping
in touch with outside opinion. They do not aspire
to the function of forming opinion. The opinion of
the nation is the resultant of the views, not of a num
ber of classes, but of a multitude of individuals, di
verse, no doubt, from the one another, but for the
purposes of politics far less diverse than if they were
members of groups defined by social rank or by prop
erty.

The consequences are noteworthy. One is, that
statesmen cannot, as in Europe, declare any senti
ment which they find telling on their friends or their
opponents in politics to be confined to the rich, or to
those occupied with government, and to be opposed
to the general sentiment of the people. In America
you cannot appeal from the classes to the masses.
Divisions of opinion are vertical and not horizontal.
Obviously this makes opinion more easily ascer
tained, while increasing its force as a governing
power, and gives the people, that is to say, all classes
in the community a clearer and stronger conscious
ness of being the rulers of their country than Euro
pean peoples have. Every man knows that he is
himself a part of the government, bound by duty as
well as by self-interest to devote part of his time and
thoughts to it. He may neglect this duty, but he
admits it to be a duty. So the system of party or
ganizations already described is built upon this the
ory; and as this system is more recent, and is the
work of practical politicans, it is even better evid
ence of the general acceptance of the doctrine than
are the provisions of Constitutions.

THE BUILDERS OF THE
REPUBLIC

SOME OF THE GREAT AMERICANS WHO HAVE

HELPED TO MAKE THE MARVELOUS

HISTORY OF THE NATION

With an Introduction by
THOMAS H. RUSSELL, A. M., LL. D.

INTRODUCTION

In the evolution of the United States of America
many men of note have played historic parts and
no history of the nation is complete without a bio
graphical review of the statesmen, soldiers and pub
licists who may be justly classed and characterized
as builders of the Republic.

Some of the great American patriots lived and
labored contemporaneously with George Washington
and supplemented his efforts in the field and in coun
cil, bending their energies to the task of starting the
new nation aright. Their achievements rank high in
the world's history of patriotic endeavor. Their
names are enshrined in the hearts of a mighty peo
ple; their life histories are worthy of the closest
study and every intelligent American should be ac
quainted with the leading facts and incidents of their
remarkable careers, which are interestingly disclosed
in the following pages.

The creation of the American Union involved two
gigantic struggles. The first was the War for Inde
pendence, the second a political struggle over the Fed
eral Constitution to settle our form of national gov
ernment. Some there were who bore an honorable
part in both the military and the political conflict —
soldiers who were statesmen and statesmen who
served the new-born nation with credit as soldiers.
Others gained historic fame in a single field. Thus
the names of Madison and Marshall are closely identi
fied with the Constitution, while the fame of Patrick
Henry rests upon the military struggle of the Revo
lution proper.

The lives of fifteen of these great builders of the
Republic have been covered here in biographical
sketches that successfully depict the personality un
derlying each career. Fourteen of these selected
characters belong to the Revolutionary period, and
one, Abraham Lincoln, to the important period of
national reconstruction in the nineteenth century.
The work of Lincoln was that of a successful re-
builder. He corrected errors and supplied omissions
in the original plans of the national structure,
strengthened its foundations, and embellished the
fabric by the light of experience gained through
three-quarters of a century of trying test.

In these historical sketches the student of Amer
ican history will find the latest results of investiga
tion and critical thought regarding the eminent char
acters of the Revolution. A wealth of material bear
ing upon that period has been brought to light in re
cent years and many of our past opinions respecting
the men and events of the Revolutionary era now re
quire modification, if not complete change. Hence
these historical studies of the builders of the Repub
lic will be found to possess an absorbing interest for
every reader, even for those who believe tnemselves
well versed in the history of the nation. — T. H. R.

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC

GEORGE WASHINGTON

Born, February 22, 1732; Died, December 14, 1799.

Men like all other living beings are molded by
their environment. On the broad surface of the
earth, the highest development of humanity has
taken place at a few particular points. At these
places the stress and clash of opposing forces have
necessitated the production of specialized and usual
ly higher types, and in obedience to the necessity the
higher type has come into being. The northern and
central parts of England are such localities. For
centuries they were the scenes of the struggle be
tween racial, religious, social, and political tenden
cies in which by degrees men of a powerful heroic
nature were evolved from a simpler ancestry.

The county of Durham in the former, and of
Northampton in the latter, are of especial interest
to an American, because the former was the cradle
and the latter the second home of the Washington
race. In the former shire were bred the men, who
with colleagues of Cumberland and Northumber
land resisted the forays and invasions of the fierce
warriors of the North, while in the latter shire were
bred the strong soldiers, who upheld the banners of
England in a thousand battles on both land and sea.
As far back as 1264 the Washington family was
conspicuous for its physical prowes«, intelligence

'2274 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

and martial skill. In this year, William Washington,
of Washington Parish, was an English Knight who
upheld most valorously King Henry III in the Bat
tle of Lewes. He was a worthy descendant of the
Saxon Captains, who conquered that part of Eng
land in preceding generations from the Celtic own
ers of the soil.

In the fifteenth century the family moved from
Durham to Northampton where their many excellent
qualities procured for them a hearty welcome. They
came by way of Lancashire and were drawn south
ward toward the Capital by the allurements of
wealth and power. In 1533, Laurence Washington
was made Chief Magistrate of Northampton, and
thirteen years later he was again elected to the
same high honor. His great grandsons John and
Andrew crossed the ocean in 1657, and settled in
Westmoreland county, Virginia, where they be
came owners of vast estates and growers of wheat
and tobacco. Their coming had a political motive,
as they had served under the luckless monarch
Charles I, and had fought bravely for that king at
Nasby and other engagements. During the four
hundred years of which we have records, the male
members of the family were marked by great vigor,
a deep moral nature and sound common sense. They
were never brilliant nor impulsive. They were capi
tal representatives of the landed gentry of Eng
land, the class intermediate between the nobility
and the common people, which has always been the
bone and sinew of Great Britain.

The change of environment brought into being
new qualities. The Washingtons who remained in
the old country, kept on the even tenor of their
ways, and neither added to nor subtracted from the
record of their race. But those in America were in
fected by the intenser life, which marked the New

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2275

World from its first settlement. The American
branch culminated in George, son of Augustine
Washington and Mary Ball. While his magnificent
physique, military talent and common sense were
seemingly derived from the paternal stock, from
his mother he inherited a gentleness, a sweetness of
disposition, an altruism and regard for the graces,
which made the man so beloved from childhood
unto death.

His first schooling was under John Hobby, who
combined the three functions of being a farmer,
teacher and parish sexton, and who according to a
wit of that time "was in every sense a very grave
teacher." His secondary education was under Mr.
Henry Williams, who was a profound scholar in
mathematics and a mere child in English branches.
Owing to this fact, Washington's education was
singularly one-sided, and to those who did not un
derstand the conditions under which he had grown
up, his mental status was a mystery. He talked
and spoke in masterly manner, while his writing and
spelling were fearful to contemplate.

He received a schooling however of which little
or nothing is recorded, but which must have in
fluenced his life more than all other things com
bined. This was the training from his mother. In
her, duty was united to love, and her only aim was
to make her boys upright, cultured Christian gen
tlemen. She was their playmate as well as teacher.
She read aloud to them and in turn made them
read aloud to her, correcting as they went every
little slip of the boyish tongue. Her library was
small, and from the modern point of view narrow
in scope and limited in variety, but what there was
she made the best use of in her power. There was
much practical wisdom in her maternal instincts.
She saw the beneficence of physical strength and

2276 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

endurance, and encouraged her boys in athletic
sports and games. She applauded them heartily
when they excelled in jumping and wrestling, and
sorrowed with them when they were vanquished,
as did occur sometimes in their competitions. Ow
ing to the fine inheritance from the father, as well
as to their home influences the sons excelled in
manly sports, and George from the first towered
above all his playmates and friends.

Love is a divine contagion, and the warm maternal
affection was answered by an equally strong filial
feeling. This is best evidenced by one act, almost
heroic, on the part of the future President. He had
long been eager to be an officer in the British army.
Finally, through his brother Laurence, he obtained
a midshipman's warrant. This was a high honor
in those days, and every young man for miles
around envied him his newly gained distinction.
His outfit and order to report for duty had arrived,
and he, proud and happy, went to bid his mother
good-by. Her grief was almost unutterable, and so
affected the strong son that he threw up his com
mission and began the profession of land surveyor,
which his mother preferred to that of a naval
officer.

At eighteen he had become a successful surveyor,
and was doing a large business. Many of his deeds
and charts are still to be seen in the records of
Stafford, Westmoreland, King George, Caroline,
Kichmond and Essex counties, Virginia.

Partly under the influence of the muse, and part
ly under that of the tender passion, he began about
this period to write poetry, and very bad poetry,
too. When he was rejected by Miss Grimes, he re
corded his anguish in a funeral poem, preserved in
Mount Vernon, which begins:

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2277

My poor restless heart
Wounded by Cupid's dart.

This is merely one of many, and all of them are
deliciously bad. They survey well and when meas
ured by compasses and rulers may be classed
along with his maps and surveying plans.

Between 1749 and 1752, he devoted his leisure
time to military science and to broad sword and
rapier fencing, becoming remarkably well informed
in the one and an expert master of the latter. When
nineteen years of age, he was appointed Adjutant-
General of local militia. In 1753 his fame must have
spread abroad, because he was selected by Governor
Dinwiddie as a special commissioner to go to the
commandant of the French army which had been
establishing military posts on the Ohio River and
inquire by what authority he was invading British
soil. Washington performed this perilous task with
signal success. Its dangers were so great that few
people expected him ever to return. It was such a
demonstration of corporeal strength, courage, and
intelligence that as Irving says in commenting up
on it : "From that moment, he was the rising hope
of Virginia."

Human nature beneath the varnish of civilization
is still savage. We adore the strong man as much
today as in the times of Samson and Achilles. The
young Virginia giant, who had demonstrated the
possession of an intelligence, shrewdness and valor
worthy of his magnificent frame, was now a com
manding figure in the Commonwealth. Immediately
afterwards, a force was dispatched against the
French, Washington being appointed Colonel. He
refused the post upon the modest plea that he was
unfit, but accepted the Lieutenant-Colonelcy of the
expedition. He received command of the vanguard

2278 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

and started several days ahead of the main body.
At Great Meadows, he learned that French troops
were approaching him with a view to surprise his
force. He turned the tables by marching ten miles
through the forest on a dark rainy night and sur
prised them, killing or capturing nearly all the ene
my, numbering a hundred. The skill with which
the victory was achieved evinced strong military
talent, and was prophetic of his future career.

In 1775 he became aide-de-camp to General Brad-
dock, and took part in the luckless expedition
against Fort DuQuesne. Against Washington's
remonstrance, Braddock employed conventional
European tactics in marching, and was ambushed
and routed. Only the courage, coolness and genius of
Washington saved the army from annihilation.

Though a blow at British prestige, the defeat
put more laurels upon Washington than if it had
been a victory. So strongly had he impressed him
self upon the public- mind, that he was appointed
Commander-in-Chief of all the forces raised or to be
raised in Virginia. He took part in the campaign
of 1758, where he again won honors by his gal
lantry and skill. January, 1759, saw him happily
married to Mrs. Martha Custis, of White House,
near Williamsburg. The honeymoon closed by his
taking his seat in the House of Burgesses, to which
he had been, in the meantime, elected.

Here, when he entered the Assembly hall, he re
ceived a remarkable ovation, the members rising and
cheering like mad. He tried to acknowledge the
honor with a speech, but blushed and was unable to
proceed. There was a painful silence, broken by
the chairman who said: "Sit down, Mr. Washing
ton. Your modesty equals your valor, and that sur
passes the power of any language, I possess." Wash
ington, tradition says, remarked to Patrick Henry

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2279

afterwards: "that but for his diffidence, the Bur
gesses would have had a very enjoyable speech."

During the next fourteen years, his life was un
eventful. He attended the House of Burgesses,
where he was prominent by reason of his efficiency
and common sense, but where he never made a
speech so far as is recorded. The rest of his time
he devoted to his estate, his family and out-door
sports. Unlike the planters of his time he did not
indulge in the hard drinking bouts so popular in
the olden days. His kind-heartedness made him
idolized throughout his part of the State. He was
singularly generous and hospitable, his house In his
own words "being a well crowded tavern." He took
a deep interest in his neighbors and went out of his
way to patch up a truce whenever there was ill-will
or litigation among his acquaintances.

During this period he kept himself well informed
in regard to current events, and though conserva
tive in his views, he was firm in his opposition to
the attitude of the British Administration. His
views were well expressed in August, 1773, when in
a discussion upon British imposts, he said,

"I will raise a thousand men, subsist them at my
own expense and march with them at their head
for the relief of Boston."

Elected to the First Continental Congress in 1774,
he went to Philadelphia and took a foremost part
in the proceedings. He was a member of the Com
mittee which drew the famous address to the "Peo
ple of Great Britain." His work in this short-lived
body, which adjourned in October, was summed up
by Patrick Henry, who when asked the name of the
ablest man in the Congress, replied, "If you refer to
eloquence, John Rutledge of South Carolina, is our
greatest orator, but if you speak of solid informa
tion, practical ability and sound judgment, Colonel

2280 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

George Washington is unquestionably the greatest
man on the floor."

The second Continental Congress, to which he
was elected a member, assembled at Philadelphia
in May, 1775, and unanimously elected him Com-
mander-in-Chief of all the Continental forces. In
an age, where the use of arms was a general ne
cessity, and a country which abounded in adventur
ous spirits, this action was most significant. He
received his commission on June 17th, and on July
2nd reached Cambridge.

He had under him seventeen thousand troops, raw
and undisciplined, so that he was compelled to train
his men while at the same time he was besieging
the British. He succeeded in both, and compelled
the British to evacuate the city of Boston on March
17, 1776.

England now began to mass its forces in the col
onies and a period of gloom was the result. The
Battle of Long Island in the summer of 1776 lost
New York, and after this came the sufferings of
Monmouth, Brandywine, Germantown and Valley
Forge, and then the sun came out and night changed
to day in the great victory of Yorktown in 1781.
In these weary years, Washington showed the stuff
which heroes are made of. Patience, hope, courage,
endurance, self-control and self-sacrifice shone out
over and above his military and administrative
genius. Deceived by friends, injured by rivals, and
betrayed by those that he trusted, he never des
paired and never faltered. It was a crucible in which
most men would have vanished, but through which
Washington came not only unscathed, but greater
and nobler than when he entered it. Even in the
darkest hour he never lost his spirit. What could
be more felicitous than his making a decoration for
bravery among his soldiers by sewing upon the

N
THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2281

breast of their uniforms a red flannel heart. He
was too poor to make one of more ambitious ma
terial and took the only thing which came to hand.

In May, 1782, came a temptation of a different
sort. The soldiers, who were dissatisfied with the
administration, and the class which believed in
monarchial rule formed a movement to make him
king. Had he accepted there would have been no
power sufficient to prevent. But not for a second
would he listen to the proposal. He expressed him
self with such force concerning the proposition that
the author, Colonel Nicola, and the men behind him,
gave up the idea forever.

Again he returned to his home at Mount Vernon
and resumed his duties as a simple country gentle
man. He led the Virginia delegation at the Phila
delphia convention of 1787, and was unanimously
elected its President. On April 6, 1789, the electoral
votes of the states were opened and counted, and
Washington, who had received every ballot of the
ten states which took part in the choice, was de
clared President of the United States of America.

He began his administration on April 30, 1789,
and for eight years labored to his utmost for the
welfare of the Republic. It was no easy task. New
conditions had brought about new ideas and leaders,
and everywhere there were controversy and political
antagonism. In his own cabinet, Jefferson of Vir
ginia and Knox of Massachusetts were bitterly op
posed to Hamilton of New York. Congress was di
vided into warring factions, and among the common
people there was endless bickering upon all matters
pertaining to the State. On September 19, 1796,
he wrote his famous address declining a third elec
tion. The fourth of March saw him an honored
visitor at the inaugural of his successor, John

2282 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

Adams, after which he resumed his old life as a
citizen at Mount Vernon.

The following July 3rd, when war seemed immi
nent with France, he yielded to the entreaties of the
American people and accepted a Commission as
Lieutenant-General and Commander-in-Chief of all
the armies raised or to be raised in the United
States. Into this work, he plunged with all the
vigor of youth, and while engaged in the multifari
ous duties of his office he weakened his constitution
already enfeebled by the years and on December 12,
1799, took a severe cold from which he died two days
afterwards.

No earthly magnate ever received such recogni
tion after death from the people he had governed.
Not until then did the world realize the singular
grandeur of the man's life. Now that he had passed
away all recognized that in him had been one of the
great characters of history. The obsequies were
celebrated, not only in every hamlet of the Repub
lic, but in all the great civilized lands of the world.
France went into mourning, and even Great Britain,
whose pride he had humbled, joined in paying tribute
to his memory. The tide of affection has never
waned. Throughout the length and breadth of the
Union are statues and other monuments. One of
the great states bears his name, while the number
of counties, cities, towns, avenues, streets and
buildings styled after him would fill a small volume.

It was the majesty of the man which compelled
the admiration of the world. It was the soul within
which won all hearts. Beneath the statesman, sol
dier and executive was a spirit full of joy and sun
light. The cares of State or of armies never blinded
him to the smaller relations and associations of life.
He was as courteous to a common soldier as to a

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2283

general, and as kindly to the pickaninnies of his farm
as to the children of the statesmen of his cabinet.
He was broad in his sympathies and liberal in his be
liefs. In his diary, written at a time when religious
prejudices were bitter, may be found the eloquent
entry :

"September 4th: Went to the Presbyterian meet
ing in the forenoon and the Romish Church in the
afternoon/'

Though an unswerving Christian himself, he al
lowed full latitude to the beliefs of others. Three of
his warmest friends and admirers were Thomas
Paine, an infidel, Thomas Jefferson a Deist, who
was styled an Atheist in those days, and Benjamin
Franklin, who was what the present age would call
an Agnostic. Though a clumsy versifier, he had
the poet's soul. He loved beauty and enjoyed its
manifestations in flower, bird and beast, in river,
forest and landscape, in buildings, paintings and hu
manity itself. Toward women his attitude was in
variably that of the admirer and worshipper. Yet
beneath his adoration of womanhood he had a keen
practical knowledge of her infirmities. To Captain
Ben Walker, who came to him for sympathy in some
love affair, Washington laughingly said:

"Women do not die of such trifles. Write to her,
Captain, and add another chapter to her book of suf
ferings."

Diplomatic was his practice of sending compli
mentary and even flattering remarks about fair
friends to mutual acquaintances. He knew that the
latter would invariably read the letter to the former,
and in this way he would make both happy. There
was a certain drollery in the way in which he carried
on this method by the wholesale. Posterity, in col
lecting his letters as a priceless heritage to history,

2284 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

has found that the great President wrote the same
story or set of finely turned compliments to not one
but a dozen different friends, each one of whom, of
course, thought he or she was the sole possessor of
the attentions. It is easy to see how Washington
must have chuckled to himself as he manifolded
these agreeable epistles.

Most of the world's great soldiers have been
marked by sternness or reserve. Few have been
characterized by a warm heart and sunny disposi
tion. Washington at Mount Vernon was the incar
nation of kindness. He sympathized with the small
est animals on his plantation and looked after their
ailments with as much assiduity as a mother does
to her child. He would lead wet chickens into the
kitchen where they might get dry, nurse his dogs
when ill, attend his horses when injured, and take a
deep interest in his cattle. It is scarcely conceivable
that the founder of the great western Republic
should have made such entries in his diary as this:

"Annointed all my hounds (as well old dogs as
puppies) which have the mange, with hog's lard and
brimstone."

In duck hunting he could give points to President
Cleveland, while in fishing he had angled for nearly
every denizen of American waters, salt and fresh.
He was a model farmer and made his estate pay well
to its owner. With characteristic enterprise he
bought and raised the finest varieties of seeds and
the best specimens of farm animals. At agricultural
fairs in several states he carried off prizes for to
bacco, wheat, barley, horses, mules, bulls, cows, and
sheep. He seemed as proud of one trophy from an
agricultural fair as he did of mementoes of historical
value. This was a massive silver cup carrying the
inscription :

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2285

1790

A Premium from the Agricultural
Society of South Carolina

to

GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON
For Raising the Largest Jackass

In reading this aloud to his friends he would some
times add, "and nothing personal intended."

His favorite indoor amusements were cards and
billiards, at both of which he played for small table
stakes. At the former he was not skillful but at the
latter he played a little above mediocrity.

He had a hearty love for the theater, and es
pecially of wholesome drama. His taste for the
stage was so strong that it extended even to ama
teur performances. Nor were these his only di
version. The circus, menagerie and concert, ap
pealed to him irresistibly. He had the American
weakness for sideshows, and visited waxworks,
marionettes, Punch and Judy-shows, dancing bears
and other catch-penny attractions.

His favorite quotations were from Addison,
Shakespeare, and Sterne. The authors he preferred
were Robertson, Vertot, Sully, Voltaire, Goldsmith,
Adam Smith, Homer, Burns, Lord Chesterfield,
Swift, Smollet, Fielding, and Cervantes, in addition
to the three mentioned. He was not a reading man
with the exception of works on the science of war
and agriculture.

His was the hearty speech of the period, but much
purer and cleaner than that of his compeers. If
statesmanship be the creation of great plans and the
working along certain pre-established lines Wash
ington was not a statesman, but if it be a higher
matter than th,is and based upon the principle that
nations like individuals will prosper when guided by

2286 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION

a high morality, and that the best course for a com
monwealth is one marked by liberty, opportunity
and rectitude, he will take rank among the great
leaders of the world. His Christianity was organic
and not superficial. He knew that right was bound
to progress and triumph, and that evil was of its
own nature ephemeral and self destructive. Certain
that the Lord would take care of His own and that
the universe moved according to Divine will, he was
content with leaving things as they were or at the
most of making such changes as would give a wider
latitude to political action or improve the moral
aspect of public affairs. He seconded heartily the
endeavors of others to introduce reforms in both
State and Nation. When these were once started,
he aided to the best of his ability. Though nomi
nally a Federalist, his strong religious bent and per
haps his deep love for his fellow-beings made him
a member of the Jeffersonian rather than the Ham
ilton school of thought. His refusal of a crown and
the scorn he poured upon the ideas which the deco
ration represented throw light upon his opinions as
does the eagerness with which he resigned the
Presidency at the expiration of a second term. He
did not have the fear so common to ordinary states
men that the country could not get along without
him at the helm.

To every field a flower is born;

To every heavenly house a star;

The moon drives fast night's spectral car;
The sun, the chargers of the morn.
Unto each commonwealth there comes

The man of prophecy or fate—*
A warrior 'mid the roll of drums,

A hero from a higher state.

They loom, the landmarks of our race,

Embodying each the living thought
Wherewith his time and place are fraught,
Which years deface but not efface.

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2287

They stand like stupendous chain

Of statues in the Chinese land,
Which, stretching leagues along the plain.

At last is swallowed in the sand.

Each figure is a runic score

Of doom and deed, of hope and need,

Which he who runs may lightly read,
And he who waits may ponder o'er,
How different are the tales they tell

To ears which have been turned aright,
Of thraldom's force and evil's spell,

Of Freedom's strength and manhood's might.

The conquerors hold the thrones they wrought,

While o'er them sages tower and seers;

Still larger rise the pioneers
Of progress and of human thought;
And far above these are the forms

Of those who lived to make men free,
Or nobly died in war's fierce storms

As sacrifice to liberty.

The Gracchi and Aristides:

Bozzaris and Rienzi great,

With Cromwell, uncrowned king of fate;
The princes of the Maccabees;
Stout Winkelried, brave Bolivar;

And Toussaint L'Ouverture, the bold;
Wallace, the flaming Highland star,

Of chivalry the perfect mould.

And many another doughty soul
Who strove and struggled, dared and died;

But greater than these glorified,

Of conquerors, whom hosts extol,

Or kings or pontiffs of the past,
Is he whom years will look upon

In awe and wonder to the last, —
Is he our father, Washington.

In speech, the counselor and sage;

In deed, the gentle man and true;

In peace, a sunbeam to pursue;
In war, the leader of his age.
A model of the olden time,

A model for our own compeers;
And ever stately and sublime,

A model for all coming years,

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Born, January 17, 1706; Died, April 17, 1790.

To the question, who has been the best repre
sentative of Anglo-Saxon genius, the United States
can answer by pointing to its great son, Ben
jamin Franklin. Now that more than a century has
elapsed since his death, it is becoming easy to meas
ure him among the many brilliant men of his period.
He seems a laughing, big-hearted, intellectual Goth,
leading a happy life amid a world of pigmies. His
titanic energies were expanded in a dozen channels
and in each, brought him lasting fame had he done
naught else. Journalism and authorship, humor and
philosophy, science and invention, statecraft and dip
lomacy, patriotism and philanthropy were success
fully wooed and won by by this indomitable child
of the New World.

Like George Washington, his race came from
Northamptonshire in England, but unlike his im
mortal colleague, he was the youngest of seventeen
children of a man who was not overblessed with
worldly goods. Washington had the advantages of
the wealth and culture which Virginia afforded in
the early part of the 18th century. Franklin after
only a single twelvemonth at a grammar school
began life's struggle at ten years of age, cutting
candle wicks and filling candle molds. He was pre
cocious, physically and mentally, learning to read
and write fluently before going to school and dis
playing in conversation and conduct the knowledge

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2289

of a man when he had not entered his teens. Before
he was twelve, he was the bookworm of his family ;
but unlike most bookworms he did not allow his
reading and studies to interfere with the care of
his body. At twelve he was apprenticed to a print
ing shop and before he was sixteen, he had learned
the trade; written, printed and peddled his own
poems and songs; obtained a knowledge of logic,
geometry, rhetoric, religious criticism and general
science. Ere he was seventeen, people regarded
him as a dangerous infidel.

Tiring of life in Boston, he left that city in 1723,
stopped at New York and settled in Philadelphia.
Relying upon the windy promises of Governor, Sir
William Keith, who was to furnish him with the
equipment of a publishing office, he went to London
to buy the plant for a journal, but was compelled
to support himself. He spent two years in the Brit
ish metropolis and then voyaged to the City of
Brotherly Love. Three years later, he became pro
prietor of the Pennsylvania Gazette and made it so
popular by his wit, humor and able writing that it
brought him in a handsome income. This would
have utilized all the energies of an average man but
it seems to have been no tax upon Franklin. In
addition to his journalistic and literary work, he
was the chief member of a debating society called
the Junto which he founded shortly after coming
from England. This club developed into the Ameri
can Philosophical Society which for many years was
the most noted learned body in the New World. He
continued his scientific studies and made many use
ful inventions and discoveries, including improved
chimney flues, the open stove, and culminating in
the demonstration that lightning was an electrical
discharge, for which he received the Copley Medal
from the Royal Society of Great Britain.

2290 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

His wit and levity found vent in the famous book
Poor Richard's Almanac, the first book work of
literary humor produced in the colonies and which
immediately became a classic. How he did all this
work is a mystery. Yet in addition to the forego
ing, he took a lively interest in government affairs,
accepting the position of Assembly clerk in 1736,
of Postmaster of Philadelphia in 1737, and of Depu
ty Postmaster-General for the British Colonies in
America in 1753. Besides increasing the facilities
and efficiency of the service, he made it what had
always been pronounced impossible, self -supporting
and then profitable.

In 1754, he displayed a statesmanship of the high
est type and unconsciously planned a national or
ganization similar to that which hundreds of minds
and innumerable political forces have since brought
into being. There was a prospect of war with
France and the Colonial governors issued a call for
a Colonial Congress to be held at Albany. The im
portance of the matter escaped nearly all eyes; but
seven colonies, those of New England, New York,
Pennsylvania and Maryland sending delegates. The
only newspaper which took especial cognizance of
the subject was Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette in
which, Franklin himself displayed a humorous il
lustration of the political conditions of the time over
the motto, "Unite or Die."

At Albany the great sage recommended a union
of the thirteen colonies under a single centralized
government but with local autonomy to each mem
ber. He advocated a "Central Council" correspond
ing to Congress, which was to have sole power to
legislate on matters concerning the Colonies as a
whole. It was to impose taxes, conduct civil gov
ernment and have a national army. The President
was to be the executive and was to possess a veto

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2291

power upon the actions of the Council. It was a
hundredfold superior to the articles of confedera
tion under which the thirteen States existed from
the close of the Revolution until 1789. Not until
the last date did men realize the difficulties which
beset the government of the New World: not until
after they had studied and debated for months and
years under the strongest pressure possible did they
evolve the present Constitution which was practi
cally a second edition of the so-called "Albany Plan"
of Benjamin Franklin.

Two other acts of his career deserve notice as il
lustrating phases of his many-sided genius. In 1731
he founded the Philadelphia Library and broached
the ideas which are now being developed into the
Public Library system of the country. Twelve years
later, he projected the noble academy which be
came the University of Pennsylvania. Here, he as
tonished pedagogues on both sides of the ocean by
taking strong ground in favor of the useful as op
posed to the ornamental studies as he termed them,
which must have been rank heresy to every collegian
of the period. Franklin's conception of a university
was an institution which would fit men for the pro
fessions and such callings as demanded special cul
ture or intellectual training. This idea was worked
into concrete fact in Germany forty years after
wards, but did not crystallize into reality in the
United States until the latter part of the nineteenth
century, more than a century afterwards. Like the
"Albany Plan" and his discoveries in electrical sci
ence it tends to show that the immortal Pennsyl-
vanian was at least fifty years ahead of the time
in which he lived; that he was a strange combina
tion of the broad versatile intellect of the latter
part of the Nineteenth century; joined to the sub-

2292 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

erb physique and vigorous good nature of the middle
of the Eighteenth.

If at the age of fifty-one Franklin had retired,
or had passed away, he would even then have beeu
regarded as one of the great characters in Colonial
history. But now began the second chapter of his
career in which he was to achieve national and in
ternational fame of the most splendid type. He
went over to England as a representative of the
Pennsylvania Assembly but was received with the
honors due to a brilliant genius and a famous dis
coverer. The envoy was smaller than the man.
Five years were passed in Great Britain (1757-1762)
during which he was made a social, literary and
political lion.

The question of the taxation of proprietary es
tates which he argued before the Privy Council was
decided in his favor and he was complimented by that
body for his erudition and eloquence. Oxford made
him an LL.D. and Edinburgh University followed
the example. He won the friendship of many of the
leading men of England, of whom a large number
have left written testimony of their high apprecia
tion of his sterling character and varied accomplish
ments. So strong were the friendships contracted at
this period that they were unaffected by the bitter
ness and zealotry aroused by the war that was ere
long to follow.

In 1762 he returned to Philadelphia, where he
was received as a conquering hero. The people
flocked to welcome him, the Assembly thanked him
in a set of formal resolutions, and the leading men
of the Colony vied with one another in extending
hospitality to him. He had proved himself so faith
ful a servant that in 1764, he was again sent to
England to argue against the Passage of the Stamp
Act. This time, he remained in the Mother Coun-

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2293

try for eleven years during which period he was
the official agent of Massachusetts, New Jersey and
Georgia and actually if not formally the envoy of
the Thirteen Colonies. His vast personality soon
made him conspicuous in France as well as Eng
land. On the one hand he gained the hearts of such
men as Edmund Burke, Erasmus Darwin, Lord Shel-
burne, Lord Howe, David Hartley, and Dr. Priestley.
On the other, he incurred the bitter hostility of the
Lord North party and the leading courtiers about
the throne. Doubtless the highest compliment he
received was the warning which George III gave to
his ministers against "that crafty American, who
was more than a match for you all." This is one of
the few evidences of sanity which that extraordinary
monarch ever manifested.

Franklin's conduct during this exciting period was
characterized by energy and industry, urbanity and
wisdom, courage and zeal. His course was difficult.
He was unconquerably determined to uphold the
rights and liberties of the Colonies and he was op
posed to any action which might tend to bring
about civil war. Doubtless, he saw that the latter
was inevitable and in his heart he knew that every
year gained by conciliation and discussion meant in
creased strength and ability on the part of his fellow
countrymen across the sea to make a successful re
sistance to Great Britain, when the final clash did
come.

For although it has been overlooked by most
chroniclers, no one knew better than Franklin the
rapid growth that was taking place in the New
World. The English court looked at the Colonists
as a lot of headstrong rebellious Englishmen, who
could be put down by a few regiments of soldiers.
They did not seem to realize that for sixty years,
there had been a steady influx of vigorous young

2294 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

men and women from the Old World, Scotch from
Scotland, Scotch-Irish from the North of Ireland,
Palatines from Germany and smaller numbers from
Holland, Scandinavia which then included Finland,
France and even Spain. Franklin was thoroughly
informed upon this topic. He had already figured
out with great skill the German element in the
population of Pennsylvania, New York and New
Jersey and was apparently the first to call attention
to the fact that there was a possibility of Penn
sylvania becoming Teutonic rather than Anglo-
Saxon in character. He was sneered at, at the time,
but after years proved the accuracy of his judg
ment. He saw that there were already enough stal
wart immigrants in America to constitute a for
midable army if they could once be organized. This
opinion undoubtedly underlaid the conciliatory meth
ods which he practiced during the decade of his
career in London. Not until the first shedding of
blood did he leave the British Capital, where dur
ing the last year of his residence he had been treat
ed with ignominy and insult.

He arrived in Philadelphia May 5, 1775, and with
in twenty-four hours the Pennsylvania Assembly
unanimously elected him a delegate to the Second
Continental Congress. In London, he had favored
conciliation and peace; in Philadelphia he favored
independence and war. He was one of the commit
tee of five which drafted the Declaration of Inde
pendence and not long after the adoption of that
instrument he was sent as a special envoy to France
to secure an alliance with that country against
Great Britain. Congress could not have picked out
a better man. He had had sixteen years of diplo
matic experience. In his leisure hours he had mas
tered French and gained a good colloquial knowl
edge of Italian and Spanish. His writings and dis-

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2295

coveries were known to every French scholar and
he had already made the acquaintanceship and even
the friendship of the eminent Frenchmen who fre
quented the salons of London while he was a resi
dent of that capital. Many of them had enjoyed his
hospitality in Craven street, which at one season
was the headquarters of the literary lights of both
countries.

Mercurial Paris received him with open arms and
placed him on a pedestal second only to Voltaire.
Turgot said of him, "He tore the lightning from the
skies ; the sceptre from the tyrant's hand." Diderot,
D'Alembert, Condorcet Condillac and the members
of the school of thought known as the Encylcoped-
ists pronounced him, "the incarnation of all prac
tical wisdom."

His diplomatic labors form one of the brightest
chapters in the history of international negotia
tions. It is difficult after the lapse of more than a
century to realize the dangers and obstacles he en
countered. In England, there were really three po
litical tendencies, the one represented by Lord
North whose policy was the suppression of the re
bellion no matter what the cost ; a second headed by
Lord Shelburne favored reconciliation or compro
mise ; while a third which had no particular head be
lieved in what was termed justice. In France, the
conditions were equally varied. The ministry es
poused the American cause from hatred of England
and a desire to humiliate and if possible ruin that
nation. It is no longer a secret that Vergennes, the
French minister and his colleagues, had planned a
long, slow and costly war which would injure Great
Britain irretrievably; the conversion of Canada,
Louisiana and the territory west of the Alleghanies
into French territory; the temporary liberation of
the Colonies and their eventual absorption into a

2296 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

New France. For liberty, right and justice they did
not care one centime, but they used these as shib
boleths, wherewith to curry popular favor both at
home and in other European countries.

Spain, then much stronger than in the next cen
tury, was an important factor and might under al
tered circumstances hold the balance of power. Hol
land had still a considerable Navy, a small but well
disciplined Army and was therefore another factor
of importance in the game of world politics. How
shrewdly Franklin conducted his mission is known
and loved by every American heart. In masterly
manner, he obtained heavy annual loans from the
French treasury, a gift of nine million livres; a
guarantee upon a loan of ten million livres to be
raised in Holland and the adoption of the Treaty of
February 6, 1778, whereby the Armies and Navies
of France were moved forward to assist the cause
of independence. But for this, the Revolution would
have failed and the Colonies been rendered desolate
for fifty years.

In 1783, the Treaty of Peace was adopted between
England and the colonies and the latter became a
new face at the Council table of the nations. In the
negotiation of this instrument, Franklin was superb
ly seconded by Adams and Jay and more especially
the latter. It was Jay, who first established satis
factorily the double game which was being played
by Vergennes in Paris and Luzerne, the French
Minister, at Philadelphia.

Franklin added one more laurel to his crown by
negotiating a treaty between the Prussian Kingdom
in which was an article favoring the abolition of
privateering. This was the first attempt in history
made toward the diminution of the horrors of war
and the development of morality in the relations be
tween nations.

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2297

September, 1785, saw his work finshed abroad
and him returning to America. Scarcely more than
arrived he was chosen Governor of the State of
Pennsylvania, and was re-elected in 1786 and 1787.
During the last named year he was a delegate to
the convention which framed the present Constitu
tion. His final public act was in 1790, when as Pres
ident of the Anti-Slavery Society, he sent a memorial
to Congress entreating for the abolition of the slave
trade and the emancipation of the slaves. The slave
owners were indignant and their spokesman, Gen
eral James Jackson of Georgia, made a fiery speech
in which he attempted to demonstrate the sanctity
of the institution by texts from the Scripture.

Franklin promptly wrote an answer which was
published in the National Gazette and was laughed
at by the people for many years. It was a parody
on Jackson's address even more solemn, stilted and
hypocritical put into the mouth of a councilor of
the Divan of Algiers and fortified by numerous texts
from the Koran. He wrote it within four weeks of
his death.

Where great energy is united to perfect health
joyousness is the invariable result. The dyspeptic
and the anaemic are crabbed and irritable while the
great athlete is kindliness incarnate. Franklin's
happy spirit was extraordinary. It became suave im
perturbability in public life, wit and humor in liter
ary work, fun and nonsense in conversation and cor
respondence, and gentleness in the social and do
mestic relations. He is one of the few revolution
ary characters who never seems to have lost his
temper or to have expressed his wrath in vigorous
profanity. His exceeding serenity is manifestly il
lustrated by the many portraits and descriptions of
him which all indicate a happy countenance. In the
popular mind, he was regarded as a placid Quaker

2298 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

on account of that sect being supposed to have no
ill nature in its composition. Yet as a matter of
fact he was not a Quaker, nor a sectarian of any
sort. His views in this respect being about half way
between those of a Deist and an Agnostic.

If he had any particular faith it was the religion
of good humor. He instinctively saw the funny side
of everything. When on one occasion he had ar
ranged to kill a turkey by an electrical current, an
ticipating the present system of electrocution in
New York, he was careless in handling the wires
and received a shock which rendered him almost
senseless, he summed it up by smiling and saying:
"I meant to kill a turkey and instead I nearly killed
a goose."

He had a genius for personalities but turned them
all against himself. He summed up his practice
in this respect in the epigram "Thou canst not joke
an enemy into a friend but thou mayst a friend into
an enemy."

No man had a keener knowledge of the imperfec
tions of humanity.

To the question of how to obtain a knowledge of
a woman's faults and the genuineness of her virtues,
Franklin answered,

"Commend her among her female acquaintances."

What could be more felicitous than his description
of "Glib tongues who can lie like ten epitaphs."

He pictured a grasping woman in a single sen
tence,

"Mary's mouth costs her nothing for she never
opens it but at others' expense."

There is a world of quiet wit in the declaration,

"He that is of opinion money will do everything
may well be suspected of doing everything for
money."

The modern epigram of the self-made man who

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2299

worshipped his creator is but a variant of Frank
lin's,

"Who falls in love with himself has no rivals."

Lewis Carroll must have had Poor Richard in his
mind's eye when he referred to the onion for it was
the latter that said,

"Onions can make e'en heirs and widows weep."

Mark Twain's inimitable exaggeration was fore
stalled by Franklin in his story of two sailors, who
were hauling out a cable. One of them said, "it
is a long heavy cable; I wish we could see the end
of it." "Damn me," said the other, "if I believe it
has any end. Somebody has cut it off."

In his domestic and social relations, he was affec
tionate and sunny. To his wife, who intellectually
was his inferior, but who was a faifhf ul and untir
ing helpmate, he was warmly devoted. His feeling
toward her is well shown in two letters which have
been preserved :

"You may think perhaps that I can find many
amusements here (England) to pass the time agree
ably. It is true the regard and friendship I meet
with from persons of worth and the conversation
of ingenious men give me no small pleasure ; but at
this time of life domestic comforts afford the most
solid satisfaction, and my uneasiness at being ab
sent from my family, and longing desire to be with
them, make me often sigh in the midst of cheerful
company."

"My Dear Love : I hoped to have been on the sea
in my return by this time ; but I find I must stay a
few weeks longer, perhaps for the summer ships.
Thanks to God I continue well and hearty; and I
hope to find you so, when I have the happiness once
more of seeing you."

His social genius was extraordinary. In addition
to his multifarious talents was his singular power

2300 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

of adaptability. With diplomats he was a Talley
rand, with scientists a Lavoisier, among literary
people his conversation was usually the gem of every
assemblage. With women he was gallant, courteous,
witty and interesting. He could even adapt himself
to sailors, peasants, children and slaves, but no mat
ter how serious the situation or even inappropriate
the time and place his humor bubbled up forever.
To a clergyman, who complained of non-attendance
at his church Franklin suggested "that if he would
serve liquid refreshments after prayers the church
would be crowded." When told that in Congress he
and his friends "must hang together," he answered
quickly "or else be hanged separately." When asked
what was the most serious duty of a Congressman,
he answered that it was "to keep silent. He that
speaks much is much mistaken."

About the best specimen of his humorous fancy
was the epitaph, he composed for his own tomb
stone:

"The Body

of
Benjamin Franklin,

Printer,
(Like the Cover of an Old Book

its contents torn out,
and stripped of its lettering and gilding),

lies here, food for worms;

yet the work' itself shall not be lost,

for it will (as he believed) appear once more

in a new

and more beautiful edition,
corrected and amended

by
the author."

THE BUILDERS OP THE REPUBLIC 2301

Sometimes his wit rose up into high philosophy.
General Sherman's declaration that "war is hell,"
may have been more forcible but was not so preg
nant as Franklin's statement that, "there never was
a good war nor a bad peace."

He summed up scientific utilitarianism in the sim
ple question,

"What signifies philosophy that does not apply to
some use?"

To Benjamin Franklin the nation owes an eternal
debt of gratitude. He was a patriot, who gave him
self to public service in the darkest hours of the
commonwealth and who strove valiantly and un
tiringly, not in the battlefield where fame and glory
offer their enchanting mirage, but in the council
chamber and the cabinet. He seems to have had no
ambition but to use his own phrase "to be of some
use." Despite his commanding talents, he was
modest, and neither sought praise nor reward nor
looked down upon others less gifted than himself.
He was a typical democrat and measured men by
their personalities and not by the accidents of birth,
title, rank, office or wealth. Essentially a lover of
his fellow man, he never allowed difference to be
come rancor or opposition to become enmity. He
was on friendly terms with every sect and upon his
recommendation his friend, Rev. John Carroll, was
appointed the first Roman Catholic Bishop of
America.

He perceived the instinctive craving of man for
religion and while he had no particular faith him
self, he did not employ analogy to shake the faith of
others. On the contrary he opposed Thomas
Paine's "Age of Reason" upon the ground that the
book would do no good in destroying faith of those,
whose conduct was based upon that faith, and would

2302 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

doubtless do harm to others whose evil tendencies
were controlled by their religious beliefs alone.

His was the first name in American literature
and the excellence of his workmanship impressed it
self upon every nation in Europe. To him, Ameri
can education owes its first impetus toward scientific
research. His own investigations exerted consider
able influence, while even more powerful was the re
sult of his friendship with the great leaders of ad
vanced thought in England and France.

Most of the great men of his time were charac
terized by or possessed an intangible suggestion of
the place to which they belong. Unconsciously we
refer to Jefferson as of Virginia, Hamilton as of
New York and Adams as of Massachusetts, but
Franklin brings up, not a colony nor a State, but an
entire Continent. He was the great American !

THOMAS JEFFERSON

Born, April 2, 1743; Died, July 4, 1826.

Of all the great men of the Revolution, Thomas
Jefferson was the best incarnation of the Amer
ican character. Its virtues and defects, its en
ergy and iconoclasm, its egotism and common sense,
its reckless waste of energy and its matchless pow
er of achievement found in him a perfect exempli
fication. Born in 1743, he inherited more than ordi
nary sterling virtues from both lines of descent.
His father, Peter Jefferson, possessed a herculean
physique, a love of literature, a talent for mathe
matics, agriculture and public affairs. His mother,
Jane Randolph, was a good type of the women of
her period, being beautiful, well-bred, accomplished,
a skillful housewife and careful business manager.

The characteristics of both parents appeared in
the son, making him exceptionally well rounded, a
virtue which has both advantages and disadvant
ages. His father was wealthy and the broad estate
of Shadwell in Albemarle County, Virginia, where he
first saw the light, gave ample opportunity for the
full development of his powers, physical and mental.
Educated at William and Mary College, he made his
mark there for tireless industry, high scholarship
and unusual versatility. Like Washington, he was
a natural athlete and from childhood took a deep
delight in open air exercise. When a mere boy he
was skillful in woodcraft and at the age of twelve
could swim a river upon his horse as well as an ex-

2304 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

pert cavalryman. In walking, running and jump
ing, climbing, swimming and diving, in dancing and
open-air sports he was a leader among the young men
of his neighborhood. While Washington bears the
reputation of having been the great athlete of the
Revolutionary leaders, it may be questioned if in an
all-round contest he would not have been found in
ferior to the great Jefferson. To this superb physi
cal development may be ascribed Jefferson's extra
ordinary power of work. No man ever led a more
strenuous life and none could have performed what
he achieved without a body whose muscles and nerves
were of the highest excellence.

Frequently in mature life he would write fourteen
and even sixteen hours a day and at the end of his
labor would not complain of fatigue, but on the con
trary be ready to engage in a discussion upon sci
ence, art, the classics, politics or geology.

He became a lawyer when twenty-four years of
age and soon distinguished himself as practitioner
and advocate. Up to this time the personality of
the man had not been disclosed. Of a hundred
young Virginians he was simply a trifle stronger and
a little better informed than the rest. Yet shrewd
observers had noticed qualities which did not appear
upon the surface. The neighbors declared "Thomas
Jefferson is more inquisitive than a New England-
er." The slaves of Albermarle County said "Mr.
Tom Jefferson knows more than anybody in the
world," and a few intimate friends insisted that be
neath his reticence was a power of thought and ex
pression so marked as to astonish them even when
applied to the most trivial topics. Like wealthy
young men of his time, he entered public life on
coming of age, being then appointed vestryman and
Justice of the Peace.

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2305

When twenty-six years of age, he was elected to
the House of Burgesses. His first step was in keep
ing with his character and might be imitated by
every public man today. It was a resolution which
he made "never to engage while in public office in
any kind of enterprise for the improvement of my
fortune."

The session of the legislature was a brief one,
lasting five days, but in this short period Jefferson
showed his opinions in a way which left no doubt
in the minds of the public as to his independence,
love of liberty and fearless opposition to wrongful
precedent and tradition. He spoke and voted in
favor of the four resolutions, respecting taxation,
representation and colonial co-operation, which were
denounced by the ultra-royalists as treason. In ad
dition to this he made a strong argument favoring
the repeal of the colonial statute which obliged an
owner freeing slaves to send them out of the colony.
The two actions taken together throw a clear light
upon his character. In each, he was a radical of radi
cals. In the former, he incurred the enmity of the
Crown, but gained the amity of the Colonists ; in the
latter, he alienated the affections of the slave-own
ing caste which was his own and gained the good
will of an insignificant few. The former was good
politics, the latter was the worst possible as a mat
ter of mere expediency. The young man struck at
tryanny from without and also from within.

Even at that time he realized, though it may have
been in but a vague way, that there might be as
much tyranny under the form or in the name of
liberty as under the iron rule of monarchy.

The next six years were devoted to the hardest
study and work. It may be that the man had some
premonition of what the Future held in store for him

2306 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

and prepared himself accordingly. Beside attend
ing to his vast farm and law practice, he set aside
so many hours a day for study, making, it would
seem, special topics of parliamentary law, statutory
reform, military science, invention and discovery as
applied to daily life, national and international juris
prudence, literature and composition. So symmetric
mentally in other respects, he was strangely deficient
in two qualities, the poetic and humorous. He wrote
excellent verse but as he smilingly admitted, "It
was entirely free from the Divine Afflatus," while
to wit and fun, he appears to have been almost in
sensible. This poetic deficiency extended into the
realm of music. Upon the violin he played with rare
mechanical exactness but without any soul what
ever. To this fact was due the witticism, "that
Patrick Henry was the only thing which prevented
Thomas Jefferson from being the worst fiddler in
the world."

In this period rumblings of the coming war were
heard and the minds of the Virginians were turned
almost exclusively to political discussion. While
Jefferson did not neglect his other duties to bestow
much time upon public affairs, he preserved no dis
creet silence as to his own convictions. In every
question, he was against the Crown and for the
Colonies.

In March, 1775, he was sent to Richmond as a
delegate to the convention which met in that city
to consider what action the colonies should take.
While the tone of the proceedings was conventional
it was almost radical in its sentiments toward liber
ty and independence. Among other things done was
the appointment of a committee including Washing
ton, Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee
and Benjamin Harrison which should place the peo-

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2307

pie of Virginia upon a military footing. The last
act of the Convention was to appoint Jefferson an
alternate to the Continental Congress to fill any va
cancy that might occur in the delegation. The fore
thought was wise as a vacancy occurred not long
after and Jefferson immediately took his seat in the
body at Philadelphia on June 1st, 1775.

His industry and study now made him invaluable
to the other colonial leaders. Though a poor speaker
on the floor of the House he was an unrivalled
committeeman. Every reference to him at that time
praises his ability in high terms and pays tribute as
well to his fascinating conversation in the lobby
and the salon. So admirable was his record that
upon his return to Virginia, he was re-elected a dele
gate, being the third of the seven chosen to repre
sent the colony. His fame had gone abroad so that
he and Washington were now the two recognized
leaders of Virginia.

On June 10, 1776, he was made chairman of the
committee of five which drafted the Declaration of
Independence, his colleagues being four men of the
same tremendous personality as himself, Benjamin
Franklin, Roger Sherman, John Adams, and Robert
R. Livingston. There was much business on hand
and after the committee had outlined their opinions,
they requested their chairman to compose the reso
lution to be offered which he did. it is said, in the
lodging he occupied. The proposed declaration oc
casioned hot comment and debate. The discussion
consumed three days, July 2, 3 and 4, 1776. The
original document was revised and amended, but in
the main left as Jefferson penned it. It was finally
passed, the vote being accelerated according to Jef
ferson by the extreme heat of the afternoon and the
merciless onslaught of a cloud of flies which invaded

2308 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

Assembly Hall. Shortly afterwards, he was appoint
ed upon the committee to select a motto for the new
Republic and to him probably more than any other
members is due the choice of what Congress adopted,
"E Pluribus Unum."

That his conduct in Congress had pleased his con
stituency was evidenced by their electing him in his
absence a member of the Virginia legislature. To
the surprise of many, he resigned his delegateship
and returned to Virginia to enter upon the duties of
his new office. The action was worthy of the man.
The Mother of Presidents was at that time more
tied and bound by red tape and ancient laws than
any other colony. Jefferson had determined to re
form its legal, political and ecclesiastical conditions
and took advantage of the opportunity which was
presented to him. In the three years' fight which
followed, he played a heroic part, subordinating all
interests that were opposed to his conceptions of
progress and of right. Among the changes for which
he struggled and which he carried through in this
period or which were finished in the following six
years were the abolition of entail, primogeniture,
tithes, ecclesiastical jurisdictions, the old common-
law system of courts and procedure, the status of
citizenship and the so-called Blue Laws as to minor
offenses. In these matters, he was more than an
iconoclast, he was also a preserver. Up to his time
no care had been bestowed upon the matter of
statutes and precedents and no work contained the
laws of the colony. Jefferson from the time he be
gan study for the bar up to his election had devoted
much time to compiling the ancient records and to
him was due their preservation from oblivion. This
knowledge made him more than a match for conser
vative legislators who opposed his views. When a

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2309

man who was arguing against a law was compelled
to appeal to his opponent for the text which he was
defending, it made a situation whose very incon
gruity refuted the best argument which could be
made.

Some of these ancient statutes were veritable
curiosities of feudal antiquity. Thus one set of laws
were founded upon the Biblical doctrine of an eye
and a tooth for a tooth authorizing and directing
the Sheriff to inflict these hideous punishments when
ever so commanded by the Court. Some of the re
forms antagonized the ultra-clerical element of the
Colony. He abolished primogeniture and so aroused
the enmity of the landed aristocracy. He led a mag
nificent and successful fight against ecclesiastical
oppression and established absolute religious freedom
in the Commonwealth. While much credit is due to
his colleagues, more especially Francis Lightfoot
Lee, George Wythe, and George Mason, upon him
self devolved the brunt of the battle.

In 1779, he was elected Governor of the State, a
position which made the next two years the busiest
and most exciting of his life. Besides performing
his gubernatorial duties, he was obliged as Comman-
der-in-Chief of the Colony to keep up both the men
and the resources of the Virginia regiments in the
Continental army. The State was poor and often
times he was compelled to draw upon his own pri
vate fortune. In addition, General Washington and
Congress drew upon him for supplies for General
Gates, then conducting a campaign in the South.
He was obliged to assist in a defensive campaign
against the Indians on the West, and had to care for
and guard the British and Hessian prisoners of war,
who were consigned to him or to Virginia by their
captors. This was enough to break down any gov-

2310 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

ernor, but more was to follow. A British expedition
under the command of Benedict Arnold invaded Vir
ginia and captured Richmond, but Jefferson's terrific
energy had prepared for even this contingency. The
militia came trooping in from every quarter, and
Arnold, after holding the city twenty-three hours,
beat a hasty retreat to his vessels and sailed down
the James, escaping capture only by a strong breeze
which sprung up and enabled him to get beyond the
range of the Virginia marksmen. Four times in
1781 the Virginia governor had to run away from
the capital upon the approach of British armies.

He was re-elected governor in 1780, but declined
a third term. In 1781 he was sent back to Con
gress. The honor was repeated two years afterward,
when he rendered invaluable services to the nation
as chairman of the Committee on Currency. The
primary form of the present monetary system was
devised by Gouverneur Morris of New York, but
was cumbrous in some of its details. Jefferson's
keen common sense saw the faults of the new plan,
struck them out and offered to the representatives
of the nation the decimal system of mills, cents,
dimes, dollars and eagles which has ever since been
employed by the country. It is a great pity that his
views in these matters could not have been adopt
ed in whole rather than in part. He urged with
great eloquence the application of the decimal meth
od to weights and measures, but was too far ahead
of his time. His ideas were voted down only to
come up again in the first decade of the Twentieth
Century.

In 1784 he was a Joint Envoy to France, where
he joined Benjamin Franklin and John Adams. The
following year he was made sole Minister Plenipo
tentiary to that kingdom. In the discharge of his

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2311

diplomatic duties, he introduced what was then a
novel departure. From the legation he sent circu
lar communications to the American colleges re
specting the new inventions, discoveries, processes
and books of Europe, and to various farms and
friends, he sent seeds, roots, and nuts for agricultur
al experiment and trial at home. For the planters
of South Carolina, he procured with the greatest
difficulty a large amount of Italian rice, which was
then considered the best in the world. The Italian
government prohibited its exportation, but Jeffer
son succeeded after many fruitless attempts in get
ting a quantity across the frontier and forwarding
it to the United States. From this seed came the
famous South Carolina staple which has been a
standard ever since.

In September, 1789, he was appointed Secretary
of State, and the following March entered upon the
duties of his office. His colleagues were Alexander
Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Knox,
Secretary of War, and Edmund Randolph, Attorney
General.

It was here that the differences began which
were to develop into the great political parties of
the United States. Jefferson had lived four years
in France and had seen the evils and monstrosities
of monarchical government. He had gone down
among the common people, studied them as critically
as he had studied books in his younger life and had
come to understand their nature. These four years
had made him an unchangeable foe to all monarchi
cal government and a deep lover of the common
people. Hamilton on the other hand had from the
time of his coming to America, when a mere boy,
been the associate of the best classes in American
society. He was what was called an aristocrat, who

2312 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

believed in a strong if not a monarchical govern
ment, and had a distrust of popular suffrage. Knox,
a man cast in a military mold shared Hamilton's
sentiments, so that the Cabinet was hopelessly di
vided in its opinions respecting the very cornerstone
of American institutions. Their differences increased
so rapidly, that each desired to resign office ere a
few months had passed, and only the wonderful tact
and suavity of Washington kept the Cabinet from
going to pieces. In January, 1794, Jefferson resigned
and went back to his farm at Monticello. He was
embittered with public life and declared that noth
ing would tempt him to accept office. But without
knowing it, the knowledge of his opinions had gone
abroad and he had become an idol in the hearts of
hi sfellow countrymen. In 1796, to his surprise, he
was almost elected President, John Adams receiving
seventy-one electoral votes, and he sixty-eight, which
under the law made him Vice-President.

His incumbency was a happy chapter of his life.
On account of his political opinions, he was left out
of the President's councils, and was therefore able
to give his time to study and to taking part in the
proceedings of the Philosophical Society, then the
only large learned organization in the New World.
Here, he startled those who had merely known him
as a lawyer and legislator by his marvelous memory,
quick perceptions and universal culture. He spoke
on every subject, and was a recognized authority in
nearly every field of thought. By his work in these
sessions, he won the admiration of a class which
he might never otherwise have gained. No other
man prominent in political life, excepting Franklin,
had his tastes in this regard, so that his prestige
in the Philosophical Society was altogether unique.

During this period he compiled his famous Manu-

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2313

al of Parliamentary Law and Practice, which has
been an authority ever since in countries which em
ploy representative government. The Presidential
election of 1800 was a peaceful revolution. The
Federalist or Republican party went down to defeat,
never to rise again, and the new Republican party
became the governing force of the nation. Jefferson
was elected President. His eight years in office,
for he was re-elected at the expiration of his first
term, constitute one of the great chapters in the his
tory of the Republic. Its first feature was the adop
tion of an almost Spartan simplicity in the conduct
of the executive.

For his guiding principle he adopted the rule of
refusal to receive any attention or compliment that
would not have been paid to him as a private citi
zen. He especially avoided anything that savored of
monarchy or class distinction. Perhaps he went too
far. He certainly obtained for this country a bad
name for official manners and etiquette, and started
hundreds of funny stories told at the expense of
American statesmen, some of which are still related
abroad to this very day. Yet even if he did, it was
a blessing in disguise. It made pageantry, useless
form and ceremony ridiculous in the eyes of the peo
ple and established a precedent which has been kept
up to the present time. Yet one can well wish that
he had not received the proud ambassadors of
Europe with shabby clothes and run-down slippers,
and that he had not wandered around his residence
and grounds attired in the comfortable but not al
together elegant style of a Virginia planter walking
through his fields.

The second feature was the suppression of the
Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean by Decatur
and the other heroes of his squadron. Third and

2314 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

greatest of all was the Louisiana Purchase. The
vastness of this transaction was surpassed only by
his plans in 1807, which were never however carried
into execution. At that time he proposed a scheme
for removing the Spanish flag from the Western
world by annexing Florida, Mexico and Cuba. He
said that Spain's existence in the New World was
an anachronism, and that her ensign would by the
very nature of things be taken down ere many years
had rolled by. His opinion was prophetic, and was
confirmed long afterwards by the independence of
Mexico and the Spanish-American war of 1808.

He retired from office in 1809, at sixty-six years
of age. The latter part of his life was as active as
any other. Its main work was the establishment of
the public school system in his state, and the foun
dation of the University of Virginia. Working with
a zeal which nothing could discourage, he achieved
some results, but nothing in comparison with his
ideals. Though a Virginian, and loved by the Vir
ginians, he really belonged to the present century
and not to the beginning of the Nineteenth. The
public school system, which he intended should sur
pass those of the New England and Middle States,
was started upon a weak basis, and never received
the support which it deserved and which Jefferson
declared to be indispensable for universal education.
The noble university of his dreams found a poor
realization in an institution to which the legislature
doled out $15,000 a year.

In private life, Jefferson was singularly sweet,
kindly and generous. Though born to great wealth,
he died almost in destitution through the sacrifices
he made for the nation and through his life-long
altruism. Though a careful business man, he never
allowed commercialism to influence his heart. To

THE BUILDERS OP THE REPUBLIC 2315

those who needed, he gave freely, even when it
meant deprivation to himself. Belonging to an age
where conviviality was universal and the sexual code
not observed with excessive zeal, he was temperate
in his drinking and remarkably good morally.
Moral standards have changed, and it would be un
fair to measure the men of the Eighteenth century
by the canons of the Twentieth. Estimated by the
rules of his own time he towered above the com
munity. To the very end, he preserved a strong love
for children, and took or made believe take an in
terest in all that concerned them. His letters and
reported conversations with his children and grand
children, and with the little folks of his neighbor
hood wherever he lived, show him to have had a
heart as warm and caressing as that of a mother.

He had high ideals of womanhood, and was a
staunch advocate of girls' training, intellectual and
physical as well as moral and social. Every woman
he claimed should walk and dance systematically
every day in order to develop health, strength and
vigor as well as grace and beauty. She should study
and master not only English, but French and classic
literatures, in order to be in touch with the great
world around her. In his love making Thomas Jef
ferson was a singular combination of shyness and
egotism. He indulged in sentiment, but it was not
the sentiment of morbidity so much as of fun, or
deliberate nonsense. To one young lady who was
quite pretty, and who seemed to look upon him with
eyes of favor he told his love, but added, "I cannot
engage myself because it will interfere with my
studies and my plans for a trip to Europe, but it
might be well for you to wait, because when I get
back from abroad I will resume the suit openly."

He burned incense upon the altars of at least

2316 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

eight Virginia belles before he met his fate. This
was Mrs. Martha Wayles Skelton, daughter of a
wealthy lawyer, and a noted belle and musician. His
courtship seems to have been a long one, lasting at
least one year and a half and probably two years.
The youthful widow undoubtedly liked him from the
first, but with a woman's instinct played with him
until she got tired. She was a brilliant conversa
tionalist and thoroughly informed upon current
events. She met him squarely upon the intellectual
plane, and in addition their musical tastes were very
similar. Much of their courtship found expression
in duets, she playing upon the spinet and he upon
the fiddle which was so heartily detested by his
friends. Some of his rivals declared that he carried
his fiddle to the widow's house to protect him from
all competition in love, so no ordinary man could
stand his execrable playing for more than a half
hour. According to tradition the pretty widow was
so zealous a musician that whenever Jefferson played
out of tune, she would rise from the spinet and box
his ears. This so pleased the admiring young law
yer that after the first punishment he flatted with
great regularity thereafter in order to receive chas
tisement anew. Beneath his composure there was
much nervousness, as was evidenced by the fact that
in writing the marriage license bond he described
his future wife as a spinster!

Their married life proved very happy, but was
brief in duration, lasting but ten years. There were
six children, all girls, of whom Martha the first and
Mary the fourth survived infancy.

For an epitaph on his wife's tomb, he wrote the
following:

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2317

To the Memory of Martha Jefferson

Daughter of John Wayles

Born October 19th, 1748 O. S.;

Intermarried with Thomas Jefferson January 1st,

1772; Torn from him by Death

September 6th, 1782;

"If in the melancholy shades below
The flames of friends and lovers cease to glow
Yet mine shall sacred last; mine undecayed
Burn on through death and animate my shade."

Jefferson died July 4, 1826, at almost the same
hour as his friend and colleague John Adams, and
just fifty years after the Declaration of Independ
ence.

Congress has erected a shaft over his grave at
Monticello. A better and grander monument is the
University of Virginia. But the greatest of his
monuments, the one which will last when the shaft
has crumbled away and the university has given
place to other institutions of learning, is the Lou
isiana Purchase, already the seat of a mighty people
and destined to be a commonwealth whose power
and splendor will go down through centuries to
come.

ALEXANDER HAMILTON
Born, January 11, 1757; Died, July 12, 1804.

A long line of Scotch soldiers of noble blood blended
with one of fearless Huguenot zealots in the Island
of Nevis of the West Indies to form Alexander
Hamilton. In 1757, these islands offered no field for
either martial genius or religious enthusiasm. The
eyes of the babe opened upon a rich, tropical land
scape rather than upon camp and court, and about
his cradle were none of the fierce bickerings which
had marked the religious conditions of France in
former years.

So far as environment was concerned, the place
tended to develop bucolic ease rather than ambition
or energy. In this child's case, heredity was stronger
than environment. The indomitable will of the
Scotchman and the precocious talent of the French
man expressed themselves in his growth from the
very first. His family was poor, his father being
an unsuccessful business man, and the educational
facilities of the place were very limited. Yet the
boy seems to have taken advantage of every op
portunity and to have acquired a learning by the
time he was twelve years old which made him the
mental equal of many grown men.

Letters written when he was thirteen, have been
preserved, which in style and diction might have
been composed by sober college professors. He had
of course the rare advantage of well bred parents
which is an education in itself. To them, rather

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2319

than to any school was undoubtedly due his power
of expression in both English and French. From a
Jewess, who kept a small school, he obtained some
knowledge of Hebrew, enough at least to make him
a nine days' wonder to the community. This fact
in itself amounts to but little. A knowledge of He
brew in those days was confined almost exclusively
to members of the Jewish race. That he knew enough
of the language to excite comment evidences a lin
guistic talent more than ordinary.

At twelve, adversity compelled him to earn his
own livelihood. He became the clerk in the count
ing house of Nicholas Cruger, a wealthy merchant
doing business in New York and St. Croix in the
West Indies, who belonged to a distinguished New
York colonial family. The merchant and the senior
clerks took a friendly interest in their new em
ploye.

At this time, and for several years afterwards,
he must have been an odd specimen of boyhood.
Small, slender and rather weakly in appearance, he
was so handsome and yet so old-fashioned as to at
tract notice. Both his conversation and letters were
a trifle pedantic, and only when he was aroused did
his impetuosity and strong mental power become
manifest. Some of his letters written at this period
have been preserved and throw a curious light upon
his unfolding character. They show him to have
been ambitious, upright, patient, quick to learn and
ever eager for some opportunity through which he
might get ahead in the race of life. At one time he
seems to have looked forward to becoming a great
merchant and making a fortune; at another his
Scotch ancestry cropped out and he pictured him
self as carving a way to fame and fortune with the
sword ; while on still another occasion, he gave ut-

2320 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

terance to a vague desire to win laurels in the realm
of statesmanship. The two latter aims were
prophetic. The boy was to make himself one of the
immortals in both war and statecraft, but was never
to obtain the magical touch of Midas.

He was a faithful clerk, and by the time he was
fourteen years old took charge of the business in the
absence of his superiors. Commercial life in the
tropics was very quiet in the Eighteenth century.
At times there would be a rush of business, and
then again for days there would be little or nothing
to do. Most men take advantage of this alternation
for purposes of diversion, but young Hamilton ap
parently utilized it for study, and literary work.
During this time, he read carefully in English,
French and classical works, and now and then at
tempted original composition.

By degrees these unusual habits were brought
to the notice of influential citizens and when he was
fifteen, some friends and relatives raised a small
fund and sent him to the American colonies, where
they hoped the boy would be able to better himself.
He came to Boston in October, 1772, and traveled
thence to New York, where he was entertained by
eminent citizens to whom he had brought letters of
introduction from the Rev. Dr. Hugh Knox. Through
the good offices of his new found friends, he was
enabled to enter the famous school of Francis Bar
ber at Elizabeth, N. J., and to have a home at "Lib
erty Hall," the residence of William Livingston,
the fighting Governor of New Jersey during the
Revolution. The latter fact must have exercised
a profound influence upon his after life. Livings
ton himself was a man of commanding personality
and his hospitable home was the headquarters of
the brightest intellects of New York and New Jer-

THE BUILDERS OP THE REPUBLIC 2321

sey. Despite his youth, the boy was soon on good
terms with his seniors, all of whom seem to have
taken a deep fancy to him. In his studies he worked
with tireless energy so that in two years he was
ready for college. He intended to matriculate at
Princeton, but on account of some arbitrary features
of its curriculum, he entered King's College, now
Columbia University, in the winter of 1774. In his
class were James de Peyster and Edward C. Mon-
crieff. In the classes above him were Samuel Auch-
muty, who became a general in the British army,
Richard Auchmuty afterwards a British surgeon,
Samuel Bayard, John William Livingston and
Jacobus Remsen.

Of the forty odd students that were then en
rolled in Columbia, more than one-half were to play
parts in the Revolution. Before the war broke out
college feeling was as much Tory as Revolutionary,
but with the beginning of hostilities a majority of
the students took sides with the people against the
Crown.

Hamilton was not one of those who changed.
From the very first he espoused the cause of liber
ty, and was outspoken in his sentiments. Yet he
was no demagogue. When in May, 1775, a mob
broke into the campus intending to harm if not to
kill the Rev. Myles Cooper, President of the Col
lege, Hamilton was the first to spring upon the col
lege steps and make a spirited protest against the
contemplated outrage. Aided by Robert Troup, who
had been graduated the year before, he held the mob
back by his eloquence, wit and audacity, until the
worthy president had escaped from a rear window,
attired in the spectral garments of the night.

In April, 1776, the College was transformed into
military quarters by the Committee of Safety, and

2322 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

Hamilton and his sixteen colleagues wei3 compelled
to relinquish their studies.

His political career had begun before this time.
In July, 1774, at a mass meeting held in "The
Fields" whose object was to protest against the at
titude of the Tory majority in the Assembly, Ham
ilton made his maiden speech. He was not upon the
programme of the day, but was so interested in the
affairs of the time, that when there came a pause
in the speaking he stepped forward and addressed
the great throng in front of him. The sound of his
own voice made him nervous at first, but the dis
composure wore away, and for twenty-five minutes
he held his hearers spellbound. He spoke clearly,
logically, and above all with a force and earnestness
which commanded attention and respect. When he
closed, he was cheered to the echo. In the fall of
that year Hamilton wrote two tracts in reply to Tory
publications which had attacked Congress and its
measures. Tracts were a favorite weapon of con
troversy in those days and Hamilton's work was so
clever as to win the applause of all the Colonial
leaders of the city. What increased his reputation
was the anonimity of the publications. For sev
eral weeks, people were guessing as to the author
ship, and ascribing this to various popular leaders.
The disclosure that they were written by a hereto
fore unknown author, and that this author was but
seventeen years of age, made the young man the
cynosure of all eyes.

In 1775-1776, Hamilton devoted all his leisure time
to revolutionary work. He saw the power of the
press even in those days, when four pages were the
limit of a publication, and contributed editorials, es
says and letters of admirable quality. He spoke at
many public meetings, took up the study of military

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2323

science, and foreseeing that war was inevitable, he
joined a company commanded by Major Fleming.
His hard work brought fruit, sooner if possible,
than he expected.

In the spring of 1776, the New York Convention
decreed the establishment of an artillery company.
Among the applicants for the command was Hamil
ton. His popularity and literary skill made him the
favorite choice of the appointing power, but his
competitors declared that he did not possess suffi
cient knowledge for the position. An examination
was held and Hamilton, owing to his studies and
his work under Major Fleming passed successfully.
He recruited the company to its full complement,
and in equipping it he spent all the money he had
in the world, even a small remittance which he had
just received from Nevis. Many of the volunteer
officers of that time treated war very much as if it
were a parade, but Hamilton fell into no such error.
He drilled his men early and late, and would have
been voted a martinet within a fortnight but for his
unfailing good humor, high spirits and charming
courtesy. In three weeks his company showed the
result of continuous drilling. Shortly afterwards,
when General Greene arrived to inspect the troops,
he was so impressed with the soldierly qualities of
the command, that he complimented Hamilton and
introduced him to George Washington, with a spe
cial recommendation. Thus began the friendship
between the two men which was to exert so power
ful an influence upon the young collegian's future.
The campaign opened, and Hamilton first smelled
powder at the Battle of Long Island. Here he cov
ered the American retreat in so able a manner as
to win praises from his seniors. At White Plains
he again won laurels, and aroused Washington's ad-

2324 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

miration by offering to lead a storming party and
recapture Fort Washington.

Participating in the Trenton and Princeton cam
paign he showed such gallantry, that in March,
1777, when little more than twenty years old, he
was an aide-de-camp with the rank of Lieutenant-
Colonel.

He served until February, 1781, when he resigned.
Retaining his commission, he again entered the field
and took part in the Battle of Yorktown on the 14th
of October, 1781, carrying the British redoubts at
the point of the bayonet at the head of a regiment
of light infantry. After the surrender of Corn-
wallis, he resigned his commission. In 1798, how
ever, when troubles with France were brewing, and
a large army was authorized with Washington as
General-in-Chief, Hamilton was appointed Inspec
tor-General with the rank of Major-General, at
Washington's request. Upon Hamilton devolved the
task of organizing the army, which duty he per
formed with prudence and zeal. When Washington
died in 1799, he was made commander. As the
clouds of war passed from view, the army was dis
banded and Hamilton closed his martial career.

Of equal importance with his record as a soldier
in the Revolution was his management of Wash
ington's correspondence. The two men made a re
markable combination. Washington was charac
terized by strong common sense, clearness of judg
ment and rare urbanity, Hamilton, by a brilliant
imagination, a keen sense of the value of words and
an insatiable love for work. Enough of the cor
respondence has been preserved to make us wonder
how one man could have done so much. He took
seemingly as great a care in answering the letter of
a poor widow or an offended farmer as in com-

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2325

municating with the leaders in Congress. He aid
ed Washington in drawing the latter's more im
portant papers and more especially his proclama
tions. He certainly assisted in writing many ad
dresses. He was in every sense Washington's right
hand man. The four years in which he acted as
aide-de-camp were an education of the highest type.
Critics have noticed the steady improvement in
Hamilton's correspondence during that period. His
associates were the generals and the ablest men
of the army, and among his correspondents were
nearly all the national leaders.

His master^ of French made him the idol of the
officers under Lafayette and Rochambeau. The
activity of the young man's intellect was extraordi
nary. When only twenty-three years of age, he
wrote a letter to Robert Morris upon national
finances, which might be added to the text books of
modern financial science. Even at that early
period, he evinced a general knowledge and a per
ception of the great principles underlying govern
ment and social organization, which were equal if
not superior to those of the statesmen of the time.

In the dark days of the Revolution he never des
paired, but looked forward with absolute confidence
to the establishing of a new government and a new
civilization upon this continent, and had already be
gun to formulate the best lines of growth for the
unborn nation.

His greatest triumph occurred in 1780 when he
wooed and won Elizabeth Schuyler, daughter of Gen
eral Philip Schuyler.

The Schuylers were among the landed aristocracy
of New York, and the general was one of the com
manding figures of the epoch. The union was as
happy as it was wise. The bride had received the

2326 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

best education which women could obtain in those
years, and in addition to this had had the invalua
ble assistance of her parents, who were people of
culture, in her studies and reading. The comments
which have come down from that period describe
her as having been second only to Theodosia Burr
in intellectuality and attractiveness. The attach
ment between the two lasted to the end of his life,
and found expression in some of the most beautiful
love letters extant. The love making occurred at
Morristown when that place was under martial law
and many delightful stories are treasured by the
family of how Hamilton went about from day to day
in a happy daze. On one occasion, it is said, he
walked into a stream not far from the main road,
and on another he forgot the pass word and coun
tersign which he had given out himself a few hours
previously. The young lover was held up at mid
night at the point of the bayonet by a sentry and
compelled to wait until relieved by a small boy, the
son of a dear friend to whom he had given the
countersign earlier in the evening. Even then, to his
disgust, the sentry required a few minutes in order
to satisfy himself that this extraordinary mode of
procedure was permissible under camp rules.

After the victory of Yorktown he took up the
study of the law, and by working with characteristic
energy, he managed to prepare himself so well that
in the summer of 1782 he passed his examination
and was -admitted to the bar.

Hamilton was a jurist rather than a lawyer. He
cared little for technicalities, and founded his entire
mental system upon clear logic and accurate gen
eralization. In practice, there were many members
of the bar, who perhaps surpassed him in technical
knowledge, but when it came to jurisprudence, mat-

BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2327

ters of public policy, equity and the construction
and interpretation of statutes, he was easily one of
the best lawyers in the Empire city. Had Hamil
ton devoted himself exclusively to the legal profes
sion, he would have won fame as he did in states
manship, but the country had greater need for his
genius in other fields than at the bar. His high
talents caused offices to seek him. In June 1782,
Robert Morris appointed him Receiver of Taxes
for New York. In the same year the legislature
elected him a member of Congress.

Between 1783 and 1787, Hamilton fought man
fully against the bitter prescriptive tendencies which
had been adopted against the Tories. At one time
it looked as if the Colonies were about to start on
a career similar to that which has disgraced the
South American republics and made civilization so
slow and incomplete in the Spanish- American lands.
Against this tendency Hamilton fought with all his
ability and fire. He incurred the enmity of the mob
and of the demagogues whose position was that of
the people they desired to lead. But he won the es
teem of the thoughtful and upright, and by degrees
he converted many who had opposed his opinions.
This part of his career is too often overlooked in
the splendor of his military achievements and his
political triumphs, but after all it may be ques
tioned if his work along these lines was not of as
much benefit to the Republic as his services in the
field and forum. In 1786, he took up the memorable
struggle of good government against anarchy. The
outlook at the time was pitiable in the extreme.
The thirteen colonies had degenerated into thirteen
bankrupt and discredited communities. The tendency
toward liberty had been carried to the extreme. It
had passed into home rule, thence into individualism,

2328 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

and even to separatism. In every State there were
symptoms of rupture into still smaller political units,
and at many points men had begun to arm them
selves for their own protection against their neigh
bors. The tendency for the time being was toward
a chaos similar to that which occurred after the
collapse of the Roman Empire.

Hamilton attacked these conditions with almost
irresistible fury. He devoted enough of his time
to the law to supply the immediate wants of his
family, and all the rest of his energy and thought
he gave to his people.

He carried on a campaign that was local, state
and national all at once. By correspondence, by
powerful articles to the press, by political councils
and by public orations, he began to stir up the coun
try in a manner which soon made his name familiar
to every household. It may be that the dislike and
disgust which the anarchistic conditions had pro
duced in his mind had as a matter of reaction made
him too firm a believer in strong government. At
any rate he soon became the national representa
tive of government by the iron hand and utterly
opposed to all the other schools, of whom General
George Clinton and John Hancock were prominent
exponents.

The form of government which he had in mind
was an aristocratic or oligarchic republic rather than
a democracy. Cavil as much as we may, he un
doubtedly believed in a government based on prop
erty rights, or else confined to electors with prop
erty qualifications. He did not, it would seem, have
faith in the common people, and judging from the
experience of the country at that time there was
no raison d'etre for such faith.

Neither did he believe in State rights or State

THE BUILDERS OP THE REPUBLIC 2329

sovereignty. Under his plan the States would have
borne the same relation to the Nation as the British
shires to the Crown. It was in fact the British
Constitution modified to suit American conditions,
and colored and perhaps improved by Hamilton's
own personal genius.

How far Hamilton believed in all his extreme
theories may be questioned. He had a deep knowl
edge of human nature, and he realized that among
the leaders of the people there were very few who
had the courage of their convictions. By going to
the extreme as he did he raised the conceptions, of
his fellow citizens and familiarized them with ideas,
which they themselves would not have dared to
formulate. With the vigor of a strong man, he
seized the wild beast of anarchy by the throat and
taught the other leaders of the land that the creat
ure was dreadful only when left alone to pursue its
own free will.

He brought home to everybody the necessity of
checks in popular government to prevent the in
jury occasioned by sudden waves of public feel
ing. While his system was not adopted; while it
could not have been adopted, — many of the principles
which it expressed were adopted and became the
skeleton of the American Republic.

It was during this giant struggle that he/ assisted
by Madison and Jay, wrote the great series of es
says known as The Federalist, — essays which from
either a literary, legal or political aspect will always
be regarded as among the masterpieces of the
English tongue. They were the best chapters in the
literature of the period. The newspapers of the day
teemed with carefully written a,rticles upon the
same topics, and the printing presses turned out
broadsides and pamphlets by hundreds. All of these

2330 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

are forgotten while The Federalist remains today
undimmed and unimpaired.

In the New York campaign, which followed the
Constitutional convention, Hamilton seems to have
been everywhere and everybody. His work in this
contest can never be exaggerated. The people of
New York were opposed to the new Constitution, the
politicians were against it, and the task of inducing
the Empire State to adopt the new instrument
seemed hopeless. The Constitutional convention at
the beginning was nearly two-thirds against the
proposed measure. Yet in face of all these odds,
Hamilton led his forces to victory. He threw him
self into the fight body, mind and soul and by a dis
play of oratory, parliamentary skill, personal mag
netism, tact and judgment he overcame opposition
and had the Convention adopt the Constitution by a
majority of three. While New York at that time
was but the fourth State of the Union, neverthe
less its refusal to ratify would have continued and
probably increased the disorganization which pre
vailed throughout the land. Things would have gone
from bad to worse, and the only hope would have
been in a dictator with an army. The change from
lawlessness to order, — from anarchy to good gov
ernment was due more to Alexander Hamilton than
to any other single man in the Thirteen Colonies.

Under the new Constitution, Washington was
elected President of the United States, and in Sep
tember of 1789, he appointed Hamilton Secretary of
the Treasury. He was but thirty-two years old, his
family was growing up, his law business had be
gun to flourish and every material inducement was
for him to remain at the bar and decline the posi
tion, whose salary was only $3,500 a year. Never-

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2331

theless his patriotism induced him to accept the of
fer promptly.

Hamilton's administration of the Treasury is one
of the noblest chapters in American history. If his
policy had any fault, that fault lay in its being
ahead of the time. He recommended the decimal
system and applied it to our money. He advocated
a national bank, and in arguing its constitutionality,
displayed almost as much ability as did Chief Jus
tice Marshall afterwards. He urged a fiscal policy
which should aid home manufacturers, and in this
way he called the father of the protective tariff. He
took the strongest ground for upholding the na
tional credit and honor, and advocated many meth
ods which after years have proven to be feasible
and wise. When he resigned from the Treasury in
1795, the national credit was upon a firm basis, and
in every direction prosperity was manifested. He
resumed the practice of the law, and in a few months
his practice was upon the old basis.

For twelve months he lived in a small but pic
turesque house in Pine street. Thence he moved to
a more pretentious residence at No. 24 Broadway,
where he lived until 1802, when he acquired a coun
try seat some eight miles distant. This he named
the "Grange" and here he was domiciled to the time
of his death in 1804. Hamilton was very fond of
home life, and every day indulged in his favorite
pastime of driving to and from the city with his chil
dren. In the family archives are accounts of his
accompanying his daughter Angelica when she sang
and played upon the piano, of his story telling and
his long walks and talks with his sons and daugh
ters.

The letters of Mrs. Church, his wife's sister, both
before and after his resignation from the Treasury,

2332 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

show graphically his limited income and his desire
to spend more time with his wife and little ones.

In December 1794, he wrote the following:

"You say I am a politician and good for nothing.
What will you say when you learn that after Janu
ary next, I shall cease to be a politician at all. I
have formally and definitely announced my inten
tion to resign at that period and have ordered a
house to be taken for me in New York.

"My dear Eliza has been lately very ill. Thank
God, she is now quite recovered except that she con
tinues somewhat weak. My absence on a certain
expedition was the cause. You will see notwithstand
ing your disparagement of me, I am still of conse
quence to her.

"Don't let Mr. Church be alarmed at my retreat!
all is well with the public. Our insurrection is most
happily terminated. Government has gained by it
reputation and strength, and our finances are in a
most flourishing condition. Having contributed to
place those of the nation on a good footing, I go to
take a little care of my own; which need my care
not a little.

"Love to Mr. Church. Betsy will add a line or
two."

He could not, however, keep aloof from the po
litical arena. The acknowledged leader of the Fed
eralist party, he also represented a great tendency
in the American people. In politics, using the word
in its lower sense, Hamilton does not belong to the
first rank. His ideals were too high for him to
descend to methods which were in vogue and re
spectable, but did not meet with his approval. In
his choice of assistants, he was often careless and
gave offense by neglecting to recognize ambitious
and deserving men.

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2333

Quick to resent what he regarded as wrongful
action, he made unnecessary attacks and created
needless enmities. In this way, he as much as any
other cause aided in increasing the dissensions
which disaffected the Federalist party, and resulted
in the election of Thomas Jefferson to the Presi
dential chair. To those, who have studied the career
of the great Federalist, there can be no doubt but
what after the Constitutional convention his views
in regard to the common people underwent a slow
change. As the years rolled by the spectre of popu
lar sovereignty grew fainter than when he conjured
it up in 1787. This change was the result of his
own growth, and probably of the growth of the
American people. There were still disquieting
features in political life, but in the main the develop
ment of the nation was orderly, symmetrical and
satisfactory. He perceived the increasing power of
the intellect as a factor in the public arena and no
November 16, 1801, established the New York Eve
ning Post, which immediately became the organ of
his party and school of thought. The new journey
was an advance upon all of its predecessors, and ap
pealed to the educated classes. That it succeeded
was convincing evidence that the community had
obtained a position in which ability and training
had become dominant factors in public life.

On the 12th of July, 1804, Hamilton fell in a duel
with Aaron Burr. To the conscience of today, the
act seems indefensible, but allowance should be
made for the growth of moral conceptions during
the Nineteenth century. The duel was an acknowl
edged means of settling disputes in those days, was
employed in every civilized country and was regard
ed as what may be called a gentlemanly institution.
It was not only countenanced by society, but so

2334 , HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

strongly upheld that the man who refused to accept
a challenge was usually ostracized. Had Hamilton
lived, he would have remained a commanding figure
in the State and the Nation to his last breath. Yet
it may be questioned, if he could ever have revived
the dead Federalist party or brought a new political
organization into being. His death, untimely as it
may seem, was a magnificent climax to a life which
had been consecrated to the highest ideals of in
tellectuality and patriotism. That he should fall at
the hand of a crafty, political rival in the heat of a
combat which had been created by his own genius
for the amelioration of the American people is as
tragic and yet as superb as that of the taking off of
the great martyred president, Abraham Lincoln.

Of the Revolutionary leaders a majority are for
gotten. Time gently lays them away in the veiled
recesses of oblivion. Hamilton will always remain
in the American pantheon, a brilliant soldier, a fine
jurist, an eminent writer, a great statesman and an
ideal patriot.

His epitaph was written by Prince Talleyrand,
when he said after having visited Hamilton, "I have
beheld one of the wonders of the world. I have
seen a man, who has made the fortune of a Nation,
laboring all night to support his family."

JOHN JAY

Born, December 12, 1745; Died, May 17, 1829.

How curiously the threads of history run through
its ever changing patterns! The broad toleration
which marked the Commonwealth of the Netherlands
was to exert a profound influence upon American his
tory. It drew to Holland the Huguenots, who were
persecuted in France ; the descendants of these religi
ous exiles accompanied their neighbors across the
sea to establish New Amsterdam, and in the course
of time became a prominent factor in American poli
tical life, both colonial and national. The very
names of Bowdoin, Faneuil, Jay, Delancey and de
Peyster are interesting illustrations of this chain
of causation.

In the proud roll of the builders of the Republic,
the great Huguenot name is that of John Jay. He
came of an ancient Franco-Knickerbocker family
which settled in New York in the latter part of the
Seventeenth century. It possessed wealth, culture
and beauty, and from the beginning of its career
in the Western hemisphere it held high social posi
tion. Its members were successful in their mar
riages as they were in study, commerce, profes
sional life, the army and public affairs.

The generation to which John Jay belonged was
notable for its size, his parents having been blessed
with no less than ten children. Although the Jays
were of the landed aristocracy of the period, their
instincts were with the Colonists and against the

23*6 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

Crown. The sons all displayed more than usual
talent, the brightest of them being John, the young
est. As a boy he was playful and addicted to pranks,
so that although he made rapid progress in his
studies at home his parents soon determined to send
him to a boarding-school, where in addition to being
educated, he would also be disciplined. He was ac
cordingly despatched when just entering his teens,
to a popular institution at New Rochelle, N. Y., kept
by a Huguenot clergyman, the Rev. Dr. Steuppe
(Stoupe) who was pastor of the French Church in
that village. The management of this school was
based upon models happily long since passed away.
The clergyman was master, his wife associate-mas
ter, and one or more poor young men played the
parts of assistants. The dominie, though a fine
scholar, was eccentric, and his wife was as parsim
onious as she was learned. The curriculum included
French, Latin, deportment, music, literature, theo
logy and prayers. The table was so poor that the
boys were nearly starved, and their bedrooms were
innocent of fire in the winter. This was done "to
harden" them according to the ideas of that age.
Philip Schuyler, who was a student with young Jay,
says it was due to save the expense of firewood. A
letter is preserved from the future Chief Justice
John Jay to his mother, in which he describes
"stopping up the broken window panes with billets
of wood to keep the snow out of the beds."

The training imparted was excellent, and when
young Jay, at the age of fifteen, presented himself
at Columbia, then King's College, he experienced
no difficulty in matriculating; in fact he was bet
ter qualified for admission than most boys of his
age.

The Huguenots, and especially the clergymen,
made it a point to keep up the traditions of their

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2337

race. They rather looked down upon their Dutch
friends, who from their canons were gross and ig
norant of fine breeding. They paid great attention
to the social graces, training their young men and
women in such details as bowing, entering and leav
ing a parlor, entertaining company in the salon,
using poetry and anecdote in conversation and look
ing after their raiment.

The college was more like a club in those years
than an institution of today. The number of students
at King's varied between twenty and forty, and the
relations among them were exceedingly cordial. Jay
was both scholarly and popular. Here he made
many friendships which were to last him for life.
Among others who studied there at the time were
Anthony and Leonard Lispenard, the Rev. Dr.
Henry Van Dyke, Colonel Antill, Captain Grinnell,
Captain de Peyster, Richard Harison, Chancellor
Robert R. Livingston, Colonel Henry Rutgers and
Judge John Watts. He was graduated in the class
of 1764. Both presidents, Dr. Johnson and Dr.
Cooper, commended the lad as being a fine student
and a youth of rare promise. He was unostentatious,
and our knowledge of his accomplishments is derived
from the accounts of friends and schoolmates. Ac
cording to their statements he must have been an
unusually talented collegian. He is said to have
been a fluent speaker and writer in English, French
and Latin, and to have had a knowledge of Dutch
and Italian. This for a boy of nineteen is a record
of exceptional merit. After graduating he was en
tered as a law student in the office of Benjamin
Kissam and was admitted to the bar two years later.
In the next ten years he led a busy professional and
social life. He was the life of the large circle which
centered at his parent's mansion, and a welcome
guest in the leading parlors of the city of New York.

2338 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

Taking a deep interest in national and international
affairs he soon came to be regarded as an authority
in such matters by his clients, by other members of
the bar, and by the large group of acquaintances
which he had formed. When the agitation respect
ing governmental abuses by the British Crown be
came general, he was outspoken in his declarations
against the offensive measures. He was a clear
thinker and an eloquent talker, so that his opinions
carried considerable weight. When the merchants
of New York held a meeting and appointed a com
mittee of fifty-one to enter into a correspondence
with the other colonies on the subject of unjust
legislation he was appointed a member of that body.
To Jay are credited the recommendation of a Con
gress of deputies from the colonies in general and
the suggestion that it meet in Philadelphia, which
would be more convenient or central than any other
city which might be named. This was the embryo
of the Continental Congress which was to play so
important a part in the next ten years.

The recommendation was adopted by the various
colonies, and each sent a delegation. That from
New York contained Jay, James Duane, William
Floyd, Philip Livingston, Isaac Low, Henry Wisner,
John Haring, John Alsop and Simon Boerum. Three
of these were conspicuous above the rest, Jay, Liv
ingston and Duane; while of the three, Jay and
Livingston were worthy rivals for supremacy. The
Congress met in Philadelphia on September 5, 1774.
Its chief work was the drawing of an "Address to
the People of Great Britain," one of the best bits
of literary work in American history. While pur
porting to come from the committee of three, it was
really drawn by Jay, to whom the others had re
signed the duty.

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2339

He served in the Continental Congress from
1774 to 1777, and from 1778 to 1779 and on De
cember, 1778, was elected president of the body.
As political excitement increased so did his activity.
He became a prominent member of the New York
Committee of Observation, and was one of the spe
cial committee which recommended the election of a
Provincial Congress for New York State and of a
Committee of One Hundred with general powers for
the public good.

Although belonging to the Continental Congress,
he accepted a deputyship to the third and fourth
Provincial Congresses in 1776, which had the im
portant task of organizing a state government. To
perform this duty it was necessary to be absent
from the Continental Congress which passed and
signed the Declaration of Independence. This is
why his name does not appear upon the list of sign
ers of that deathless document. At the second Con
tinental Congress, in 1775, he drafted the "Address
to the People of Canada and of Ireland." The same
year he was appointed a member of the Secret Com
mittee, whose purpose was to correspond with the
friends of America in Great Britain, Ireland, and
other parts of the world, but whose real object was
to negotiate treaties with France, and if possible
Spain.

Though he did not sign the Declaration of Inde
pendence, yet it was upon Jay's motion that the
New York Provincial Congress unanimously ap
proved the same at White Plains on July 7, 1776.
Here also a secret committee was appointed by the
Convention, of which Jay was made chairman and
later a committee of which he was made a member,
whose purpose was to attack and crush the con
spiracies which the Tories had begun to form in
New York and New Jersey. Jay was now carry-

2340 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

ing as much work as the twenty-four hours of the
day would permit. He was a member of the Con
tinental Congress and the Continental Secret Com
mittee, not to speak of the committees of minor
importance. He was also a member of the Provincial
Congress, the Provincial Secret Committee, the
Anti-Conspiracy Committee, the Committee of Ob
servation and the Committee of One Hundred. The
mere labor of attending these different organiza
tions was great, as it involved the slow travel of that
period as well as an amount of work which it is
difficult to depict at the present time. There were
no labor-saving conveniences, such as manifold,
printing and reporting. While Jay made use of a
secretary wherever possible, nearly all of his writ
ten work was done by his own pen. At this time
he learned the knack of writing while driving along
a rough road, an accomplishment which stood him in
good stead during the years to come.

Events moved swiftly from this time on. Disaster
upon disaster befell the Colonial cause, discouraging
many who at the outset were enthusiastic for liber
ty. Jay remained undaunted. Not even the mis
takes of the Continental Congress, and they were
many, shook his conviction that right must eventu
ally triumph. Before Washington's retreat from
New York, Jay favored burning the city and re
pairing to the highlands. After the retreat, he is
sued an appeal to his fellow-countrymen, which for
eloquence and indomitable courage was as inspiring
as a bugle blast. It revived the colonial spirit, and
Congress was so carried away by its force as to
order it printed in both English and German and
distributed in every town within its jurisdiction.

Meanwhile he aided in drafting the first State
Constitution which was adopted by the Provincial
Congress. This body expressed its appreciation of

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2341

Jay's work by appointing him Chief Justice of the
Empire State, a remarkably high honor for a young
man, thirty-one years of age. It also made him a
member of the Council of Safety which directed the
military organization of the State subject to the
National jurisdiction in many respects, but going
beyond this in regard to local matters and interests.

In 1778, he was appointed envoy plenipotentiary
to Spain, and later on, a Peace Commissioner. In
the Spanish capital he made almost as favorable an
impression as Franklin had done in Paris. With rare
adaptability he put himself at ease among the dig
nified grandees of the Spanish Court, and was soon
a favorite of its ministry. In 1782, negotiations for
peace were reaching a critical point, and at Frank
lin's request Jay left Madrid and joined his col
league in Paris. It was well for the colonies that the
Peace Commission contained these two men in addi
tion to its third member, John Adams of Massa
chusetts. All were fine types of American man
hood, each making up for any deficiency, which
might exist in the other two. As a matter of fact,
it would seem as if Franklin, though among the
wisest of men, was a trifle too optimistic in his dip
lomatic work. In addition to this, he was getting
to be an old man and was suffering from illness.
Jay on the other hand knew better than Franklin
the duplicity of the Bourbon Court. He belonged
to a family which had suffered from indignity from
that royal house in the past, and the very blood in
his veins gave him an instinctive knowledge which
Franklin, framed in the powerful Anglo-Saxon
mould, did not possess.

It may be too, that Jay while in Madrid had been
enabled to look behind the scenes which Franklin
never was. The latter calculated that France
would be satisfied by the humiliation of England

2342 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION

and the restriction of her power in the New World.
Jay saw this and more. He perceived that beneath
the desire for revenge, always a failing with the
French people, and the assumed sympathy for a
crushed community, there was a grasping ambition,
which intended to make the New World into a New
France. Had the plans of the Cabinets at Versailles
and Madrid been carried out, the American colonies
would have jumped from the frying pan into the
fire. They would have passed from the tyranny
of the Common law to the greater tyranny of feudal
Bourbonism. Franklin and Adams were quick to
perceive the full significance of the situation when
Jay explained his views. Ordinary men would have
proceeded, like pawns upon a chess board, and played
into the hands of Vergennes, but the American Com
missioners were of a different make. They went
ahead upon their own initiative, disobeyed Congress
in every respect, secured American Independence
and defeated the finely drawn plans of France and
Spain.

The result though hailed with acclamation by the
nation at large precipitated many quarrels and much
abuse. Congress had been induced by French diplo
macy to command the three Commissioners to report
their proceedings to the French Ministers and to do
nothing without their approval and consent. Ver
gennes relied upon this, and apparently kept no
watch upon the dauntless trio. In European dip
lomacy of that time, an Envoy was an employe, who
did as he was told. If a French Minister had be
haved as did Jay and Franklin, the Bastile or the
grave would have been his reward. The storm which
broke out against Jay after the treaty had been con
summated was short-lived. The joy-restored peace
and acquired independence filled all hearts

John Adams, who had worked faithfully and well

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2343

as a Commissioner, declared that the title of "The
Washington of the Negotiation," which had been be
stowed upon him, belonged properly to John Jay.

On his return to New York in 1784, Jay took office
as Secretary for Foreign Affairs, to which he had
been elected by Congress in his absence. Here, he
remained for five years, during which time he labored
tirelessly in the discharge of his duties. During the
discussion concerning the National Constitution, he
was an energetic advocate of that instrument and
contributed to the Federalist with Hamilton and
and Madison. In the severe struggle which took place
in New York in respect to the adoption of the Con
stitution he was one of the leaders in its favor, and
aided largely in securing its approval. When gov
ernment was organized upon the new basis, he ac
cepted from Washington the Chief -Justiceship of the
Supreme Court, the latter having offered to him
whatever position he might be pleased to select. His
career upon the bench was such as to bring forth
Webster's great epigram, "When the spotless ermine
of the judicial robes fell on John Jay, it touched
nothing less spotless than itself."

In 1794 Washington appointed him a Special En
voy Extraordinary to Great Britain where in the
same year he negotiated what is known as "Jay's
Treaty." His diplomatic work in this affair was of a
very admirable kind and put an end to the difficulties
which had grown up between the two countries and
were so bitter that before his appointment, war
seemed imminent. The opposition in Congress took
a strange delight in fomenting discord, and even
when Washington appointed Jay as the best man to
heal up the threatening breach, the political foes of
the Administration, under the leadership of Aaron
Burr, tried their hardest to prevent pacific measures
and the confirmation of Jay's appointment. Yet of

2344 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

these malcontents a majority congratulated the Chief
Justice upon his return. If Jay's work was praised
at home, it was abused in England. Lord Sheffield
voiced English opinion when he referred to it "as
that most impolitic treaty of 1794 when Lord Gren-
ville was so perfectly duped by Jay."

While on his way home Jay was elected Governor
of New York State, and re-elected three years later
in 1798. At the expiration of the second term Presi
dent Adams offered him his old seat as Chief Justice
of the Supreme Court, which he declined. Public
life had lost nearly all of its attractions and the great
issues with which he had been identified were now
settled. The remaining twenty-eight years of his
life were spent in attending to his large estates, and
in philanthropic and religious work.

His brilliant career was based upon a singular
combination of virtues. Unlike his compeers he was
exceedingly religious and upright. He was devout
by heredity and education, and in addition, he had
a congenial distaste for vice and all the weaknesses
of life.

He was one of the first society leaders to frown
upon the time-honored practice of intoxication at
dinner parties. He objected to the social gambling
then so prominent in all walks of life. To him mar
riage was a sacrament, and all love was to be conse
crated to a wife. In speech and writing, his expres
sions were never marred by vulgarity, slang, pro
fanity or double entendre. His piety was unobstrus-
ive, and his religion more a matter of life than of
form and ceremony. This combination of qualities
militated mayhap against his popularity but in
creased the respect in which he was held by the
community, until it amounted almost to reverence.
In the acrimonious politics of the last decade of the
Eighteenth century the very terms of abuse which

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2345

were heaped upon him were compliments in disguise.
"The goodly aristocrat," "The Virtuous Envoy,"
"The Learned Abolitionist" and similar phrases were
the worst terms which his opponents could apply to
him. The age had a brutal frankness, and the
peccadilloes of prominent men were magnified by the
press and politicians of the opposition into crimes
of the first magnitude. Washington, Jefferson, Ham
ilton and Franklin were too often the target of Bil
lingsgate and villification. Jay, who probably had
as many enemies as any other man of his period,
passed through the ordeal with almost no personal
criticism.

His mind was legal and literary. In writing to
his wife and children he employed as faultless a
diction as in drafting a treaty or framing a Consti
tution. His letter on "Currency, Finance and the
Relations of the State to the Money World," is one
of the ablest contributions to financial science, while
his "Address to the People of Canada and of Ire
land" was declared to be "a production certainly of
the finest pen in America." His opinions as Chief
Justice are models of logic and literary excellence.

His aristocratic nature and lineage revealed them
selves at every point. Graceful and pleasing by
birth, he was chivalrous and fascinating by educa
tion. Nevertheless this man, who loved beauty and
aesthetic surroundings, was one of the strongest op
ponents of the tendency toward investing the gov
ernment with royal pomp and pageantry. He ob
jected to officials wearing the jeweled uniforms of
Europe, and to citizens of the Republic employing
titles that were echoes of monarchical institutions.

His success in life was largely aided by his wife,
Sarah Van Vrugh Livingston, oldest daughter of
William Livingston, the fighting Governor of New
Jersey. Strikingly beautiful, she was said to be the

2346 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

counterpart of Marie Antoinette, the unfortunate
French Queen. She had the grace, sweetness and ac
complishments of the latter, but beyond these she
inherited a powerful intellect from her talented
father. She must have been singularly attractive,
because she was as popular in Madrid and Paris as
in her own country. A careful housewife and man
ager she was eminently successful in the manage
ment of their estates when her husband was away
from home. She entertained with skill, and made
her parlors the first salon in New York for many
years. She was an ideal mother and transmitted the
characteristics of both herself and her husband to
their children and grandchildren, who have sus
tained the family name and prestige up to the pres
ent time.

It may be noted of Jay's personality that what
enemies he had were political and not personal, while
on the other hand the friends that he made, he re
tained for life. The friendship between himself and
Washington was a case in point, and called forth the
following letter from the First President which has
been preserved in the family archives.

"West Point, October 7, 1779.

"Dear Sir:

"Among the number of your friends, permit me
also to congratulate you, on your late honourable
and important appointment. Be assured sir, that my
pleasure on this occasion, though it may be equalled,
cannot be exceeded by that of any other.

"I do most sincerely wish you a pleasant and
agreeable passage, the most perfect and honourable
accomplishment of your ministry and a safe return
to the bosom of a grateful country.

"With the greatest regard, and sincerest personal
attachment,

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2347

"I have the honour to be, Your most obedient,
"Affectionate humble servant

"GEORGE WASHINGTON."

To John Jay.

While abroad he met with David Hartley, M. P.
and despite the war which prevailed between their
countries, he won the Commoner's heart in such a
way as to inspire the letter, which follows :

"Your public and private conduct has impressed
me with unalterable esteem for you as a public and
private friend, * * * if I should not have the good
fortune to see you again, I hope you will always think
of me as eternally and unalterably attached to the
principles of renewing and establishing the most
intimate connection of amity and intercourse and
alliance between our two countries. I presume that
the subject of American intercourse will soon be
renewed in Parliament, as the term of the present
Act approaches to its expiration. The resumption
of this subject in Parliament will probably give
ground to some specific negotiation, — you know my
sentiments already. I thank you for your inquiries
concerning my sister. She continues much in the
same way as when you were at Bath — that is to say
as we hope in a fair way to final recovery, though
very slowly. My brother is well, and joins with me
in sincere good wishes to yourself and family, and to
the renovation of all those ties of consanguinity
and friendship which have for ages been interwoven
between our respective countries."

Lafayette, who represented France, wrote while
on a visit to this country :

"Monticello, Nov. 10, 1824.

"My dear Sir:

"As soon as I found myself once more on the
happy shore of America, one of my first inquiries
was after you, and the means to get to my old

2348 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

friend. The pleasure to see your son was great in
deed, but I regretted the distance, engagements, and
duties which obliged me to postpone the high grati
fication to meet you after so long an absence. Since
that time I have been paying visits and receiving
welcomes, where every sort of enjoyments and sights
exceeding my own sanguine expectations, have min
gled with the feelings of a lively and profound
gratitude.

"From you, my dear sir, and in the name of Con
gress I was last honored with a benevolent farewell.
Now, I am going to Washington City the constitu
tional forms having changed, to await the arrival of
the members of the Houses and be introduced to
each of them with my thanks to their kind invita
tion to this our American land.

"Your letter reached me on my way through a
part of the States; I wish I could myself bear the
answer or tell you when I can anticipate a visit to
you, but waiting longer would not enable me to
know it, at least, for some time. I therefore beg
you to receive the grateful respects of my son and
the expression of most affectionate sentiments from
your old Revolutionary companion and constant
friend. "LAFAYETTE."

To John Jay.

Jay, like Hamilton and Jefferson, was a man of
broad conceptions and high ideals. He had a pro-
founder belief in humanity than Hamilton, and a
clearer perception of ethical principles than the
great Parliamentarian. In him, the practical and
theoretical were well balanced. His nature was al
truistic. He began public life as the president of
an abolition society and he closed it as the director
of the American Bible Society. In all things he
tried to do good, and upon this basis rests the en
during superstructure of his fame.

JOHN ADAMS

Born, October 31, 1735; Died, July 4, 1826

Fortune is a fickle jade, who distributes her
favors irrespective of the individual upon whom
they are conferred. To one, she presents a hundred
opportunities and to another none. It is well when
the man who receives her attention has the power
to enjoy his opportunities to the utmost. Such a
character was John Adams of Massachusetts, the
second President of the United States. Of all the
founders of the nation, none had a nobler endow
ment herewith to begin life, none had more oppor
tunities offered unto him, and none took greater ad
vantage of the flying moment. The story of his
career is the fitting by nature of a great personality
for an environment of world-importance, and the
creating of that environment for the man when he
was ready. His life possesses a symmetry that
may be compared to that of a classic statue. It is
absolutely unlike that of Franklin, who fought his
way from a candle maker upward, or of Hamilton,
who was an unknown newcomer from a West In
dian isle.

Adams belonged to a family which has furnished
so many examples of sterling manhood to the na
tion, and inherited the grim courage, tenacity, in
telligence and love of liberty which had marked it
for four centuries. From some ancestor, he derived
other and rarer qualities, insight into the great laws
which move nations, the poetic impulse, a masterly

2350 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

power of thought and expression and singular frank
ness and rectitude. Though a Yankee of Yankees,
he did not possess one of the so-called Yankee quali
ties. His mind tended to high thought even in boy
hood. At school, in his home in Braintree, Mass.,
and at Harvard, where he was graduated in 1755, he
found his chief joy in studying the masterpieces
of the literature of his time. From his diary and
speeches, as well as the comments of contempo
raries, we know that he was well acquainted with
Homer, ;Xenophon, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Shakes
peare, Pope, Bracton, Granville, Coke, Lord Hale,
Montesquieu, Voltaire, Justinian and all the writers
upon Roman, Natural, Ecclesiastical and Common
law. At the age of twenty-nine, he wrote a thesis
on Canon and Feudal law, which despite the prog
ress made in comparative jurisprudence since that
period may be studied today with edification and
delight.

He belonged to what was then the aristocracy of
New England, which in the Eighteenth century was
based upon education, wealth and family connec
tions. The college man was naturally a leading light
in Provincial society, and when he came of an opu
lent family holding a high social position, the com
bination made him one of the "four hundred" of
the time.

In college, if not before, Adams began to have
doubts as to the truth of the religious doctrines of
the time; but before coming to any conclusions, he
made a careful study of the works of the great theo
logians and the political and philosophic writers of
the age. None of these appears to have swayed
him; before he reached manhood's estate, he boldly
admitted that he was an Arminian, which in those
days corresponded to the Unitarian of today in be
lief, but to the Agnostic so far as public esteem was

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2351

concerned. As a matter of fact he seems to have
been a Deist.

He took up the study of the law, and was one of
the first American practitioners to appreciate and
master Blackstone, whose famous Commentaries
had just been published. In doing this he incurred
the scorn of the older members of the bar, who
regarded Coke on Littleton as the treasure house of
all legal knowledge. He read law not to become a
mere attorney but a jurist. The average member of
the legal profession in those days went through a
curriculum of a handful of books, and those pertain
ing exclusively to Common-law and Practice. Adams
went much farther, and gave several hours each day
to familiarizing himself with the subject as an en
tirety, beginning with the early Roman law and
tracing its development through the various Euro
pean countries to the present time. Little did he
know at the time when he was burning the mid
night oil over Justinian, Vattel and Montesquieu,
that he was preparing himself to be a great states
man and diplomat in long years to come.

His first great triumph in life took place in 1764,
when he was married to Abigail Smith, of Wey-
mouth, Mass., who possessed wealth, social position,
beauty, and an intellect of such rare power as to
make her the most distinguished member of her sex
in that period. In that year began the agitation
over the contemplated Stamp Act, in which both
Adams and his wife took strong grounds against
the proposed measure. The following year he was
prominent in the Town Meeting of Braintree, where
the law was denounced in scathing terms. He drew
and presented the resolutions which were adopted
at the session, and thereafter by at least forty towns
in the Colony of Massachusetts Bay.

So deep was the impression produced by these

2352 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

resolutions that shortly afterwards when the citizens
of Boston addressed a memorial to Governor Hutch-
inson, praying that the Supreme Court would over
look the absence of stamps upon all legal documents,
a practice which had been adopted as a practical
protest by the legal profession, Adams was chosen
with James Otis and Jeremiah Gridley as counsel
to represent Boston at the gubernatorial hearing.
Here the young lawyer delivered a speech notable for
its logic, cogency and erudition. In this, for the
first time the ground was publicly taken that the
Stamp Act was null and void since it was "Taxation
without Representation/' The same month he be
gan writing upon political topics, and contributed
a series of leading articles to the Boston Gazette.
They dealt with the vexed question of constitutional
and colonial rights, but were so cleverly phrased
that they appealed even more to non-professional
than professional readers. His practice and reputa
tion grew from day to day. So many Bostonians
engaged him as counsel, that in 1768 he left his home
and settled in that city.

The British government in those days had a
cunning policy of buying up the opposition by giving
appointments under the Crown, selecting an of
fice, whose honor and emoluments were equal to
their valuation of the man appointed. Adams must
have been regarded as a power, for the Attorney-
General offered him the position of Advocate-Gen
eral in the Admiralty Court. This meant not only
high official and social status but also a salary and
fees, which combined made the Advocate-General a
rich man. The bait was tempting, but Adams de
clined it, although not possessing much ready
money. Again and again was the offer made, but
without acceptance.

On March 5, 1770, occurred the Boston massacre.

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2353

Popular indignation rose to a white heat, and when
Captain Preston and the seven soldiers under him
in the outrage were indicted for murder, there was
difficulty in obtaining counsel to defend them. Law
yers, who were appealed to were afraid of losing
caste and declined to serve. Adams, with superb
courage, volunteered to represent the accused, and
with his cousin, Josiah Quincy, made a defense of
rare ability. His action roused a storm of protest at
first, but this died away in the recognition of his
moral courage. It even increased his popularity, so
that the people elected him that year to the legis
lature*

Here, he rose rapidly, and was soon the chief legal
adviser of the patriots. Before a year had gone by
he had become one of the four leaders of the Co
lonial party, his associates being Samuel Adams,
John Hancock, and Joseph Warren. Two years after
wards occurred the attempt of the British govern
ment to transfer the Massachusetts judges from
Colonial to Crown jurisdiction. Against this meas
ure Adams spoke convincingly, and what made a
larger impression, he wrote a series of articles which
were printed, distributed and read in every town of
Massachusetts.

He had now become a stumbling block to the ad
ministration. He was chosen a member of the Gov
ernor's Council, but Hutchinson quickly vetoed the
election. Early in 1773 and 1774, he was in constant
consultation with Samuel Adams respecting the
committees of correspondence, and in April was
elected a delegate to the First Continental Con
gress. His was the pen which drew the resolution
passed by that body, and his the voice that electrified
the proceedings in Philadelphia. In that famous
council he was intellectually and oratorically the
first.

2354 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

On his return from Philadelphia he was elected
to the Revolutionary Provincial Congress then as
sembled in Concord. Here he did good work and
from now on until April, 1775, he contributed many
invaluable studies upon the issues then pending to
the Massachusetts press. It may be said that
Adams, from 1764 had been pursuing an educational
campaign. When he began, he represented a very
small element in the community. Not until 1776 had
his opinions become those of the country at large.

With extraordinary clarity of vision he saw from
the beginning that beneath all the little issues lay
a vital question, involving the fundamental princi
ple of political being. Nearly all of the Colonial
leaders believed in the inviolability of British su
zerainty, and the British Constitution. They con
ceded to the mother country the legal right to frame
and repeal charters for the Colonies and objected
only when these charters conflicted with their own
rights. Adams saw that just as the Constitution
was a matter of growth in England and had ob
tained its power by expressing the necessities of
the community where it had grown, so in every col
ony a Colonial constitution had been evolved and
grown up which bore the same relation to the colony
as the British Constitution did to the kingdom. He
therefore held and with great logic that while a
Colony was in a formative state its charter might
be justly and properly amended, modified or re
pealed; but that after a colony had grown up pur
suant to a charter it had acquired vested rights
which could not be changed without its own consent.

His position was in a vague way the same as that
maintained by Daniel Webster in the Dartmouth
College case. It was partially expressed in the war
cry, "No Taxation without Representation," but it
went far deeper. The recognition of this great prin-

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2355

ciple is to be found in many of Adams's addresses,
and in most of the polemical literature which he
published during this period.

Equally clear was his vision as to the outcome of
the relations between the mother country and the
Colonies. Even as late as the second Continental
Congress very few of the Colonial leaders saw the
impending war. It is true that Washington, with
prophetic insight, had declared his willingness to
equip a thousand men and march at their head for
the relief of Boston, but the general belief as well
as hope was that the British government would soon
change its attitude and things would revert to their
former status. Both John and Samuel Adams were
the wise men who saw that war was inevitable.
They realized that the fifteen thousand men who
had gathered to besiege the British in Boston were
a gauntlet which the British Ministry would take
up in uncontrollable fury. In this crisis the two
kinsmen worked together, and it is difficult to say
how the credit should be divided between them for
their actions in the National Assembly. They knew
that Massachusetts could not stand alone against
England, and that the other colonies, especially Vir
ginia, must be brought in at all hazards to its sup
port. John Adams, therefore, moved the appoint
ment of Washington as the Commander-in-Chief of
the Continental Army. This must have been done
at the instance of Samuel Adams. The former, un
like the latter, was deficient in military knowledge
and judgment. As he never seemed to appreciate
Washington's generalship it is probable that in his
motion he was the mouthpiece of Samuel Adams,
who was a better authority in such matters and who
had a warm admiration for the Virginian.

In the fall of that year, Congress received me
morials from New Hampshire, South Carolina and

2356 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

Virginia, each asking advice as to the form of gov
ernment which it should adopt. Adams promptly in
duced his colleagues to recommend state govern
ments based upon popular suffrage. In May, 1776,
he offered a resolution that all the Colonies should
be invited to form independent governments. The
resolution was bitterly opposed, more especially by
the delegates from the middle States, but was finally
carried.

On June 7th, Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia,
moved the Declaration of Independence, and was
seconded by John Adams. In the discussion upon
the Declaration, he now made the great speech of
his life, one which will always hold a high place in
the history of American eloquence. Beside speak
ing he was one of the fighters in the parliamentary
arena, and both while the House was in session and
had adjourned he lost no time in trying to persuade,
convince and convert weak friends and strong ene
mies. It was his work during this crisis which
brought forth Jefferson's famous encomium that
Adams was the "Colossus of the debate."

In 1777, he was appointed Commissioner to
France, superseding Silas Deane. He reached his
post in April the following year. Here he was called
upon to perform a set of duties very different from
any which had yet devolved upon him. He found
that the interests of the Colonies in France were so
mismanaged as to be a disgrace in the eyes of the
business world. Instead of having a recognized
agent or committee with full power, they were rep
resented by numerous commissioners, deputies,
agents and people unknown to him. With the abili
ty of a business man he reduced chaos to order and
made the Commission the sole Colonial power in
Paris. Finding that the Commission itself was cum
brous, he recommended that instead of a three-head-

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2357

ed body there should be a single Minister. Congress
appreciated the wisdom of his advice and adopted
his plans, making Franklin the Minister at Paris
and Arthur Lee at Madrid. Adams returned im
mediately thereafter, reaching Boston in August,
1779. He had scarcely arrived home when he was
elected to the Constitutional Convention of Massa
chusetts, and immediately thereafter was appointed
Peace Commissioner to treat with Great Britain.

Proceeding to Paris he joined Franklin, and be
gan the negotiations which were to last long and
weary months ere peace and independence were se
cured. While residing abroad he was made a Special
Commissioner for obtaining a National loan in Hol
land. On arriving in the Netherlands he was com
pelled to undertake an educational campaign. The
Dutch knew little of the Colonies, and of this much
was not in their favor. Adams soon changed popu
lar feeling by numerous articles to the press of Hol
land, and personal interviews with statesmen, bank
ers, and private citizens. As a reward of his in
domitable energy, Holland recognized the independ
ence of the United States in April, 1782, and shortly
after a loan of two million dollars was consummated
between the two countries. This was followed in
October by a commercial treaty between Holland
and the young Republic. His labor in this matter
was arduous in many ways. Beside the difficulties
which appeared upon the surface, he had to over
come obstacles raised by British diplomacy on the
one side and by the crafty French Cabinet on the
other. To still further complicate the problem, Hol
land at that time was so bound by treaties with Rus
sia, Austria, and other countries that it seemed al
most impossible to induce her to act without obtain
ing the full consent of all her allies.

In his diplomacy, he adopted the vigorous and

2358 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

even brusque style which was used by Bismarck in
the Nineteenth century, and he was rewarded with
the same success as that which fell upon the Iron
Chancellor. On account of his courtly bearing, in
tellectual eloquence and profound legal knowledge,
this very brusquerie made him a puzzle to the diplo
mats of Europe. They assumed that his straight
forwardness was a crafty mannerism beneath which
were concealed designs altogether different from
those which he made public.

He had been so efficient a servant of the peopie,
that in 1783, when he asked leave to come home the
federal authorities instead of granting this request,
appointed him as Special Commissioner, with Frank
lin and Jay, to arrange a commercial treaty with
Great Britain. From London, he went again to Hol
land and thence to France for the young Republic.
He arranged the pourparlers of a Treaty with Prus
sia, but before it was signed he was appointed Min
ister to the Court of St. James. Proceeding to the
British capital, where he remained from May, 1785,
to February, 1788, he had to bear the brunt of the ill
will and detestation with which the Court viewed its
late Colonies. Though treated with formal courtesy
he was made to feel in a thousand and one ways that
the cause and the people he represented were ab
horrent to Great Britain. A man of weaker mould
would have resigned in disgust and gone back to the
United States. Adams was made of sterner stuff,
and endured contumely and insult with stoical forti
tude. He endeavored to make a diversion in favor
of the Colonies by many speeches and publications.
These won friends abroad, but in some way made
enemies at home. Men of unbalanced minds and
small-fry politicians, whose chief object in life is the
tearing down of men greater than themselves, used
these writings to support an argument that he was a

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2359

monarchist in disguise, and at heart opposed to re
publican institutions. They could not have affected
the public mind to any great extent because upon his
return Congress passed a vote of thanks to him for
"the patriotism, perseverance, integrity and dili
gence," he had manifested in the ten years passed
abroad.

At the first election for President under the pres
ent Constitution sixty-nine electoral votes were cast.
Each elector voted for two candidates, the one re
ceiving the largest number of votes being made
President and the second, Vice-President. The can
vass showed George Washington to have received
sixty-none votes, John Adams thirty-four, John Jay
nine, Robert Hanson Harrison six, with scattering
votes for John Rutledge, John Hancock, George Clin
ton, Samuel Huntington, John Milton, James Arm
strong, Benjamin Lincoln, and Edward Telfair. The
results were a surprise to nearly every one, especial
ly to Adams. It astonished and grieved him to see
that Washington was the unanimous choice of the
Nation while he had not received even a majority
vote for second choice. The great constitutionalist
was too much of a Spartan to make complaint, but
inwardly, he experienced intense pain. He was es
sentially a man who lived in the world of intellect,
and he could not understand how the people could
prefer Washington, who so far as he could see was
merely a second or third rate soldier. Neither could
he understand why the electors could for their second
choice have named such men as Rutledge, Harrison,
Hancock and the rest. To a certain extent he was
justified in these feelings. If honors had been
awarded for intellectuality and nothing else, he would
have been President and Jay, Vice-President; but
intellectuality is only one factor of life. Personality
is equally potent, and when it comes to the ultimate

2360 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION

struggle for a principle neither force can compare
with military genius. Upon the last cast of the dice
the world turns to the warrior, and not the sage nor
the philanthropist.

The second presidential election was similar to the
first. Again Washington received the vote of every
elector, and the second choice was almost as badly
broken as it had been at the first election. Adams
received seventy-seven votes, George Clinton fifty,
Thomas Jefferson four and Aaron Burr one. Dur
ing the eight years of his Vice-Presidency Adams
proved himself a patriot of the best kind, and a
statesman of more than average ability. He did not,
however, increase his popularity or political
strength. Despite his record and the many oppor
tunities which were offered to him he began to be
out-stripped by Jefferson on the one side and Ham
ilton on the other. Political opinion and agitation
were growing rapidly and assuming new phases to
meet new conditions in national life. Adams' mind
at this stage seems to have been set in the present
and past rather than upon the future. The young
and progressive lawyer was yielding to the tenden
cies of his profession and becoming conservative and
fixed.

Fortunately for him the country was still in a
formative condition, so that at the third election
which was hotly contested the inertia of the past
carried him through successfully and made him
President of the United States. The vote, however,
was singularly close, the canvass showing Adams to
have received seventy-one votes, Jefferson sixty-
eight, Thomas Pinckney fifty-nine, Aaron Burr, thir
ty, Samuel Adams fifteen, Oliver Ellsworth eleven,
George Clinton nine, and scattering votes for John
Jay, James Iredell, George Washington, John Henry,
Samuel Johnston, and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2361

The figures, to his trained mind, were like the
handwriting on the wall. Not alone had he been
elected by an insignificant majority, but he had not
received the support of the majority of the Federalist
party, they having thrown one hundred and forty-
five votes of which but seventy-one had gone to him.
The young Republican party had cast one hundred
and ten of which Jefferson had received sixty-eight.
It was clear to him and to every politician of the
period that the proud Federalist organization was
on the swift decline and that his star was in the
descendant : that the Republican party was the com
ing ruler of the nation, and that Thomas Jefferson
was its prophet. Though he had achieved the high
est honor in the land he must have realized that he
was the last of the school of thought for which he
had fought so long and well. Undoubtedly he was as
strong a democrat in the true sense of the word as
Clinton, but he had espoused the principles of strong
central government and had identified himself with
those who were popularly known as the "aristo
crats," a term which in most instances was perfectly
justified.

In careless moments, both in speech and writing,
he had used expressions which indicated a distrust
of the common people and an abiding faith in the
"well-born" and well-to-do. He favored a restricted
suffrage and believed that the governing class should
be drawn from the well-bred and well-educated.
There was hypocrisy and demagoguery in those
days ever more than at the present time, and his
opinions which would never have been allowed to
influence his political action, were seized upon by the
opposition, distorted and exaggerated to monstrous
proportions.

He saw before him a stormy term in office, but

2362 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

hoped by firmness and wisdom to preserve the na
tion according to his own views.

That he appreciated and discussed the gravity
and situation is shown in a beautiful letter to him
from his wife who seems to have been his alter ego :

Quincy, 8 February, 1797.

" 'The sun is dressed in brightest beams,
To give thy honors to the day.'

"And may it prove an auspicious prelude to each
ensuing season. You have this day to declare your
self head of a nation. And now, O Lord, my God,
Thou hast made Thy servant ruler over the people.
Give unto him an understanding heart, that he may
know how to go out and come in before this great
people; that he may discern between good and bad.
For who is able to judge this Thy so great a people?
were the words of a royal sovereign; and not less
applicable to him who is invested with the Chief
Magistracy of a nation, though he wear not a Crown
nor the robes of royalty.

"My thoughts and my meditations are with you,
though personally absent; and my petitions to
Heaven are that the things which make for peace
may not be hidden from your eyes. My feelings
are not those of pride or ostentation upon the oc
casion. They are solemnized by a sense of the ob
ligations, the important trusts and the numerous
duties connected with it. That you may be enabled
to discharge them with honor to yourself, with jus
tice and impartiality to your country, and with satis
faction to this great people, shall be the daily prayer
of your, "A. A."

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2363

The troubles in his administration were from ex
ternal rather than internal causes. The world was
convulsed with the deadly strife between England
and France, and the Americans were divided in their
sympathies between the two nations. At one mo
ment war with France seemed imminent. Wash
ington was appointed Lieutenant-General and the
Navy put into readiness for action. Adams saw the
folly of the nation embroiling itself in a European
conflict and averted war at the loss of the popularity
he had. Viewed in the calm light of today he pur
sued the right course. If mere selfishness be regard
ed the country was in no condition for war and had
it plunged into the contest would have suffered ruin
ously. The troubles it had fifteen years later in its
struggle with Great Britain would have taken place
during his administration with far greater loss to
the young and weak Republic.

In the latter part of his administration, he and his
colleagues were guilty of many unwise acts for which
the people held them responsible at the next election.
To increase still further his anxiety his own party
was split into fighting factions between which there
was as much enmity as between Federalist and Re
publican.

In 1800 the electoral vote announced the death
of Federalist power and the accession of a Republican
to the executive chair.

The remaining twenty-five years of his life he de
voted to study and literary work. He lived to see
himself a leader in the world of letters as he had been
in law and politics. The evil times which he had
prophesied as a result of the triumph of Jefferson
and Jeffersonian ideas never came. He had the mor
al courage to admit the fact, and to become as warm
a friend of the great Parliamentarian as he had
been his enemy.

GEORGE CLINTON

Born, July 26, 1739; Died, April 20, 1812.

Soldier, politician, statesman, executive and patriot
sum up the character and record of George Clinton,
the great revolutionary Governor of the Empire
State. He came of a race famous for military and
legal talent. English originally, it had passed through
the ups and downs which seem to attend the lives of
all who live by the sword, and had passed within a
hundred years from England to France, Scotland, Ire
land, and thence the New World. The habits engen
dered under such conditions of daily life must have
impressed themselves to a greater or less extent upon
the children of each generation. That they were
brave, intelligent, energetic and determined was a
matter of course. That they were courtly, self -cen
tered, tolerant and philosophic was partly at least a
matter of that broader education which comes from
experience and travel.

In addition to his talents the young man inherited
marked physical comeliness. He was a beau in his
youth, of striking appearance in middle age, and ex
ceedingly attractive, when as an old man he was one
of the great figures at the national capital. He re
ceived what training he could at his home in New
Britain in Ulster county, New York, but seems to
have cared more for hunting, fishing and athletic
sports than for reading or study. When scarcely
sixteen he took so deep an interest in the French war
that he left home, and going to New York enlisted
on a privateer, where he did good service against the

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2365

fleur de lys of France. His seafaring life was one of
unmixed trial and vexation. The boat was improp
erly provisioned and equipped ; its luck was bad, and
the crew contained more discordant and unpleasant
elements than was the case with most ships of that
time which bore Letters of Marque. Frequently the
food supply got so low that all were put on short
rations; the water fouled in the tank, causing con
siderable sickness; twice storms half -wrecked the
vessel, and the amount of prize money was insigni
ficant.

When Clinton was again on land, he said he had
neither money nor clothing, but muscles of steel, and
an appetite which struck fear into the minds of all
who entertained him. Yet this cruise was of rare
benefit, inasmuch as it gave him a knowledge which
was to be of value in years to come. He had gone
out to sea an ignorant boy ; he came back a good sail
or, with a proficiency in the use of the sword, pike,
musket, and cannon. Above all he had learned how
to obey orders, to work hard and to undergo continu
ous toil upon his feet for forty-eight hours at a
stretch, often performing this upon an empty stom
ach. These are unusual accomplishments, and they
can only be of advantage to a soldier or sailor.

In 1758, before he was nineteen, he became subal
tern in the Second Regiment of Ulster county, of
which his father, Charles Clinton, was Lieutenant-
Colonel, his brother James, a Captain, and another
brother, Charles, Assistant-Surgeon. Not long after
his apponitment the regiment was ordered to the
front, where it became part of the expedition under
Colonel John Bradstreet against Fort Frontenac,
near Lake Ontario. • Here George's naval knowledge
was unexpectedly put in use. On the lake, a French
sloop of war had been annoying the English troops
whenever possible. There was no English warship

2366 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

upon the waters, and the French commander kept a
very poor watch upon his vessel. A small force was
detailed under the command of Captain James and
Lieutenant George, who electrified the other mem
bers of the expedition by capturing the hostile craft.
The news traveled rapidly and the two brothers were
the heroes of the hour. It was at this period that
George Washington took part in the capture of Fort
Duquesne in the Ohio district, and the news of the
two victories reached Ulster county, N. Y., at the
same time, so that the names of the "Two Georges"
were joined together in public sentiment for the first
occasion. No one ever thought at that moment that
this chance union was symbolic of a greater one in
days to be.

Clinton gained wisdom and experience during this
war, New York state at the time being the gateway
through which there was always danger of the
French armies invading the Colonies. He performed
all sorts of duties and became thoroughly versed in
the manual of arms and tactics as practised in Eu
rope, and also with the Indian style of warfare.
What was to be of even equal value was the knowl
edge he acquired of the country. It was obtained at
a time when he was in the flush of youth and the
memory is at its best. So thoroughly were the facts
embedded in his mind that up to his old age he could
detail almost every strategic route and point between
New England, the Great Lakes and Pennsylvania.

On the disbanding of the Colonial army he became
a student in the law office of Judge William Smith,
and here worked zealously. Upon admission to the
bar he settled in New Britain, where shortly after
wards he was appointed a clerk of the Court of Com
mon Pleas by Admiral George Clinton, then Governor
of the State. The admiral was a second cousin so
that the appointment may be charged partly to kin-

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2367

ship, and partly to the gratitude of the British gov
ernment for the young man's services in the war.

He continued his membership in the militia and
did excellent service in inspiring the young men of
Ulster county to join the soldiery and to practice
military art. He rose by degrees until he was lieu
tenant-colonel in his old regiment. There was much
rivalry in the militia in those days, military func
tions being the chief popular amusement. We of to
day, who have a thousand fields in which to find en
tertainment, cannot realize the popularity of the
militia companies and regiments of the Eighteenth
century. The Second Ulster was one of the crack
regiments of the Colony. Its name was known even
beyond the New York frontiers, and by everyone in
terested in such matters the names of George Clinton
and James, his brother, were known and esteemed.

He attended to his public duties, and in 1768 was
elected a member of the Thirty-first Colonial As
sembly, his colleague being Charles de Witt, from
whom De Witt Clinton received his name.

During this session, several questions arose involv
ing the endless conflict between Crown and Colonies,
and in each Clinton espoused manfully the cause of
the people. He was re-elected to the Thirty-first
Assembly, which lasted nearly six years. During
this time the youth was maturing into a splendid
type of American manhood. He became a forcible,
if not an eloquent speaker, a clear and logical writer,
a good committeeman and a careful and successful
lawyer. His attitude toward the Crown became
more and more hostile, until just before the breaking
out of the Revolution he was regarded as one of the
"dangerous rebels" in New York. He had good com
pany, for among others in the Thirty-first Assembly
were Philip Livingston, Robt. R. Livingston, Peter R.
Livingston, Lewis Morris and Philip Schuyler. With

2368 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

such a combination of talent it is easy to see the fun
they must have had in their official work. They
knew even better than the Governor their exact legal
rights and privileges, and no matter how out-spoken
they were in their opposition to royal encroachment
or imposition, they were careful not to transgress
the cruel iron laws of that period. They seem to
have taken delight in saying and doing things which
almost touched the borderline of treason; but not
once did they commit an offense which the Gover
nor's legal advisers could pronounce actionable.

In 1775, when the committee of correspondence,
under the leadership of Samuel Adams, had arranged
for the assembling of the Second Continental Con
gress, Clinton was elected a member of that body.

In 1776, he was made a member of the Third Pro
vincial Congress of New York, which body adopted
unanimously the Declaration of Independence. He
would have been executed on July 15th, but was pre
vented by military duty. On July 7th, when at
Philadelphia, where he had voted for the resolution,
he was detailed by General Washington to proceed at
once to the highlands of New York with the rank of
General. He obeyed orders and did not wait until
the Declaration was signed. To his dying day Clin
ton referred to this unavoidable omission as the
greatest sorrow of his life.

From now on he was a whirlwind of energy. His
public papers, published by the State and elsewhere,
fill thirty large volumes, and are but a fraction of
what he did in these years. He attended to the rais
ing of troops, their drill and mobilization ; he estab
lished workshops and camps; and served in the
Fourth Provincial Congress which framed the first
State Constitution. Shortly after this he was again
called into the field and made a Brigadier-General.
October 1777, he and his brother James fought a bril-

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2369

liant battle against his cousin, Sir Henry Clinton.
In that year he was elected Governor of New York
state, an office to which he was re-elected from 1780
up to 1795. The position was one of the most re
sponsible in the Colonies. Outside of its civil juris
diction, its military relations were of the first import
ance. From the north and west there was ceaseless
danger of invasion by the British, and more deadly
still by the Indians.

In 1780 he thwarted an expedition, led by Sir John
Johnson, Brandt and Cornplanter into the Mohawk
Valley, whose object was the massacre of the inhabit
ants of that fertile territory, and thereafter the cap
ture of Albany. With masterly activity, Clinton
gathered the largest force possible and started to
meet the invaders. Believing that they would meet
no strong resistance, these were amazed when their
scouts came in and reported that a very heavy force
of soldiers and backwoodsmen was just behind. The
expedition beat a hurried retreat leaving what few
spoils it had taken in the advance.

His coolness and valor were shown when a Massa
chusetts regiment, whose officers had joined in a
cabal, refused to march to support General Schuyler.
When the news was conveyed to Clinton, he came
forward and threatened to shoot every officer and
ringleader of the regiment unless the orders were
obeyed. The regiment marched to the jrelief of
Schuyler. At the surrender of Yorktown his bri
gade received the colors of Cornwallis's army, and
after that victory he was put in command of the
New York troops stationed at Pompton, N. J.

After the declaration of peace between America
and England, he was appointed one of the commis
sioners to adjust the boundaries between New York
and Pennsylvania. This work was done thoroughly
and to the satisfaction of both commonwealths.

2370 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

Clinton's war record shows him to have been a su
perb fighter and efficient commander. He was a
good strategist and a thorough engineer. He only
lacked the genius of moving large bodies to have been
a worthy compeer of Washington. As Colonel and
Brigadier he had no superior in the Continental
forces. That his talents were properly appreciated
is shown by all the opinions which have come down
from revolutionary times. From Washington to the
soldier in the ranks Clinton is invariably referred to
in terms of love and approbation.

Washington's confidence in Clinton is well shown
in a letter sent to the Council of Safety:

"Headquarters in the Clove, 22 July, 1777.

"Gentlemen: I am informed by General George
Clinton that you have vested him with powers to call
out the militia of the counties of Ulster, Orange, and
Dutchess, and Westchester until the 1st of August,
at which time the new legislature is summoned to
meet.

"As it will probably be some time before the wheels
of the new government can be put in motion, I am
fearful that, unless this power is extended to a fur
ther time, there will be a vacancy between General
Clinton's present commission and the enacting new
laws by the legislature, a circumstance which at this
time may prove most fatal in its consequences be
cause, from the present appearance of matters, the
enemy are upon the point of making some capital
move. I could, therefore wish, if it can be done with
propriety, that before your board is dissolved, you
would extend this power of calling out the militia to
General Clinton or some other person till such time
as you may reasonably expect the new legislature
will have met and proceeded regularly to business.
I mention General Clinton or some other person, be
cause as he will enter into his office of Governor of

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2371

the State upon the 1st of August, he cannot probably
attend to the business of the militia. If you are of
the opinion that he can, I would prefer him to any
other. I have the honor to be gentlemen, your most
obedient Serv't, "George Washington."

It is worth recording at this point that this letter
of Washington's produced a reply which astonished
and amused the American Commander-in-Chief . It
was written by Pierre Van Cortlandt in the stately
language of that period, which translated into mod
ern speech was about as follows :

"Dear Sir: Your favor is at hand. I beg to in
form you that the Governor of our State is also the
Commander-in-Chief of all its forces and has a larger
power than the body of which I am president (The
Council of Safety). In making him our Governor,
we have given him a larger authority than what you
suggest."

That Clinton deserved all these commendations is
shown in a variety of ways. Beneath the stalwart
soldier was the kindly gentleman. No matter how
excited in the campaign, he never lost sight of the
amenities of life. He even consumed time in doing
favors for the poor and the distressed. To destitute
women he would give money and passes so that they
could rejoin relatives in other parts of New York or
in other Colonies. It made no difference whether
the woman was of Colonial or Tory feeling, her sex
made her sacred. It was the same thing with men
who were in trouble. What could be more eloquent
than the Governor's letter to Major-General McDou-
gall.

"Poughkeepsie, 16th May, 1779.

"Dear Sir: This will be handed to you by Mr.
James Grant, a half -pay officer in the British Service
and who has been a Prisoner on parole ever since the

2372 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

Commencement of the Present Controversy. I am
informed that he has strictly complied with it & (in)
all Respects, behaved with the greatest Prudence and
Propriety & his general Character is that of great
Truth and Integrity. He is very desirous of going
to New York, where he says he has private business
of Importance to him to transact (which I believe to
be true) ; he applied to me a year ago for this Indulg
ence at a Time when it was not so convenient to
grant it & before I was informed of his Character &
has waited patiently for it ever since. I have now
consented to his going and gave him my Pass on his
obtaining your Permission, which I take for granted
will not be refused, as an honest Scott merits a de
gree of Confidence as well as Indulgence."

On a par with this was his heroic rescue of a Brit
ish officer in New York city just after the Revolution.
While passing along the street the Englishman was
attacked by a mob, his clothing torn and he put in a
cart with intention of taking him to an open field,
where he was to be tarred and feathered. Clinton
happended upon the scene by accident and asked the
meaning of the turmoil. On being told he sprang
into the crowd, which parted on either side, knocked
down one man who resisted him, seized the prisoner
and carried him in his arms to the sidewalk, and
then escorted him to a place of safety.

In the next six years ensued the development of
the two great parties of the nation. Here Clinton
rose to be one of the foremost leaders and statesmen
of the land. He was always a believer in the people,
and naturally gravitated toward Jefferson and the
Republicans rather than toward Hamilton and the
Federalists, but it took him some time to evolve from
a States Rights man into a Nationalist. It was not
that he was opposed to the idea of a great central
government per se, but that he was fearful that this

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2373

might be employed for the crushing of liberty. His
hold upon the public heart was phenomenal. Thus
at one time while Governor the people insisted upon
making him Lieutenant-Governor also. At three
elections, he had no candidate against him. In 1795,
in a public address, he refused a renomination for
Governor on the ground that for almost thirty suc
cessive years he had held elective office and now
wished to retire to private life. But in 1800, he al
lowed the city of New York to elect him to the twen
ty-fourth session of the Assembly and the following
year he was again made Governor, this time over
General Stephen Van Rensselaer, one of the most
popular men of the State.

From 1789 up to 1808, he received at each presi
dential election a number of electoral votes for the
Chief Magistracy of the Nation. In 1804 he was
made Vice-President of the United States, being on
the same ticket as Thomas Jefferson, and in 1808 re-
elected, this time with President James Madison.
While holding the office, he passed away.

In these political struggles Clinton displayed signal
political talent, if not genius. He kept himself thor
oughly in touch with the people, and almost invari
ably interpreted their wishes accurately. Where he
took the initiative was in matters in which his educa
tion and superior knowledge made him a natural
leader. It was he, for example who perceived the
necessity of fortifying New York harbor, and after
he had made an appeal to the authorities, they re
sponded promptly to his request. He realized the
danger which threatened the State from the Indian
nations in the western part, and from the closing of
the Revolution was a strong advocate of a definite
Indian policy. A single act reveals his wisdom in
this matter, and that w#s when in 1783, he induced
General Washington to visit the Chiefs of the Sene-

2374 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

cas, Cayugas and the Tuscaroras. To the redmen
the honor was so great as to be a nine days' wonder,
and it developed a feeling of gratitude and affection
which lasted long after the parties to the action were
no more.

It was while the Governor and President were mak
ing this voyage that Washington suggested the pos
sibility of connecting the great lakes and tidewater.
Two years later Clinton commended the project of
Christopher Colles, a visionary inventor, who propos
ed the construction of a canal.

A careful study of his services during the long
years he was Governor shows him to have been ac
tuated by the deepest love and fidelity toward the
Empire State. He foresaw its colossal future and
tried to the best of his ability to facilitate its pro
gress. In every respect he was a strong man. When
the Massachusetts government was employing half
hearted measures toward the insurrectionists in the
Daniel Shays' Rebellion, Governor Clinton, fearful
that the disorder might spread to New York, took
such prompt and vigorous action that the mutiny
came to an end. In 1788, occurred the Doctor's riot
in New York city. At that time there was no provi
sion made for the dissecting rooms of medical stud
ents, and grave robberies were resorted to for the
necessary supply of subjects. A party of medical
students did this so wantonly as to excite popular
indignation which culminated in a riot. Governor
Clinton went immediately to the scene, and at the risk
of his own safety plunged into the mob and endeavor
ed to restore order. In spite of insult and abuse he
exhausted his powers of persuasion. Finding his ef
forts ineffectual he ordered out the militia and dis
persed the rioters at the point of the bayonet. There
was no other riot during his administration.

His life may be divided into four great chapters,

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2375

each one of which is a romance in itself. In the
first, he was the privateersman, lawyer and militia
man ; in the second one of the great warriors of the
Revolution ; the third shows him as the Governor of
the Empire State ; and the fourth witnesses him in
the Vice-President's chair. He carried to the na
tion capital the patriotism, power and probity which
had marked his gubernatorial career.

In private life, he was dignified, frank, amiable
and affectionate. Both his likes and dislikes were
strong and strongly expressed. When government
contractors put up the price of wood, he denounced
them as specimens of "wooden patriotism." When
the Continental troops were on the point of starva
tion one time, and the government had neither money
nor credit, Clinton impressed several tons of flour,
and so relieved the army's necessities.

One peculiarity was noticeable. He gloried in a
superb physique, being of moderate stature but great
breadth and muscularity. He was so proud of his
health and strength that he would never confess to
being ill even when suffering intense pain. On such
occasions, he would endeavor to assuage his suffering
by telling humorous stories and entertaining those
around him.

Once when wounded, and an officer called his atten
tion to blood trickling from his sleeve he laughed
and said "it had come from an injured comrade, who
had stood near him when shot."

In his old age he fainted while in a social gather
ing, and was kept from falling to the ground by a
handsome matron who stood near. Upon recovering,
he protested against any sympathy and asserted,
with a twinkle in his eye, that it was his favorite
habit to fall into the arms of beauty.

His wife was Cornelia Tappan, a member of the
Knickerbocker family, which gave many prominent

2376 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

men to the nation. She was cast in the same heroic
mold as himself and shared with him many of the
hardships of his long and earnest life. The union
was a happy one and was blessed with one son and
five daughters.

Had Clinton been a brilliant man, he would have
been one of the great immortals of the Republic, but
he did not possess the poetic genius, the power of
conceiving great ideals, nor the talent of swaying
men's actions by eloquence. His was the strength
of a great physical, mental and moral nature. He
was a builder rather than an architect, an artisan
rather than an artist. Without him and men of his
type the nation would have been an impossibility.
Others like Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton
and Jay planned, while he executed.

In the Teutonic mythology the wizard performed
wonders through having at his controls a kobold with
muscles of steel, unearthly intelligence and tireless
energy. The greater wizard, who drew the fabric of
the Republic had for his first kobold, George Clinton
of New York.

SAMUEL ADAMS
Born, September 27, 1722; Died, October 2, 1803.

Samuel Adams was the Richelieu of the Ameri
can Revolution. In his knowledge of human na
ture, his mastery of men, his political generalship,
his sacrifice of all personal ambition for the good of
his country and his singleness of purpose, he is the
very counterpart of the immortal cardinal. Where
Richelieu was a soldier, Adams was a parliamen
tarian ; the one was a leader of men upon the tented
field ; the other of men in the invisible battles of po
litical conflict.

The great Massachusetts leader was a descendant
of Henry Adams, of Devonshire, England, who
crossed the ocean and settled in Braintree, Mass., in
1636. From him descended a race, which generation
alter generation has produced illustrious children of
the Republic, and which can probably point to more
members of distinction and public performance than
any other family in the New World. Samuel's father
was a wealthy Bostonian, who held a prominent place
in the community. Deacon and Trustee, Justice of
the Peace, Selectman and member of the Colonial
Legislature were among the offices which he held
with great credit. By the governing classes, he was
respected but disliked, as he invariably opposed any
extension of Crown privilege or any curtailment of
popular rights and liberties. He was a politician of
no mean ability. Few in those days perceived the
principles upon which political action must be car-

2378 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

ried on wherever there is to be honest, popular gov
ernment. Among these were the elder Adams, who
evolved methods strange enough in those days, but
at the present time so common as to excite no com
ment. He formed clubs and societies in which he
and his intimate friends were the moving spirits.

That which made him a power more than all oth
ers was one he had established in a district of the
city devoted to maritime interests. Its members
were captains, shipwrights, carpenters, caulkers,
painters, supercargoes and ships storesmen. By
his political antagonists, it was known as the "Caulk
ers' Club," and on account of its meeting regularly
in executive session, and always acting as a unit,
the name by degrees evolved into the well known
political word, "Caucus."

From the habit of the club members employing
remarkable discipline in their political work came
the slang phrase in election excitment "he is a
caulker," meaning a delegate who obeyed his in
structions no matter how great the pressure brought
to bear to change his convictions and actions. The
phrase continued long after the original vanished
and was forgotten, and then degenerated into the
ridiculous form "he (it) is a corker," a term still
employed in New England and wherever New Eng
land influence is felt to indicate superiority or praise-
worthiness in man, action, or thing.

With such a father, Samuel Adams could not be
other than a clever politician. He was a leader among
his playmates, the boys of the Boston Latin School
and afterwards among the students at Harvard from
which in 1740, he was graduated. In his student
days he displayed the talents which were to mark
him in after life. A good speaker, a strong debater,
a quick writer and a tireless scholar, he kept him
self prominently in the eyes of the high school and

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2379

the college. Beside these gifts, he was suave, self-
possessed and tactful to the last degree. On one
occasion he was the moving spirit of a party which
determined to screw up a professor's door and so
make that worthy an involuntary prisoner. As he
began operations, he heard the professor coming to
the door. With rare presence of mind, he rapped
decorously and when the door was opened, he asked
if it were true that the professor was sick and if
he could be of any service in the premises. The
pedagogue thanked the sympathetic student, and
assured him that his only trouble came from the
mischievous boys of the class. Whereupon the
young statesman promptly acquiesced in the de
claration, and asserted "that he was doing his best
to keep his colleagues from engaging in objection
able mischief."

The young man's family destined him for a theo
logical career. The son had a deep love for the
bar. Fortunately or unfortunately, a compromise
was effected and Samuel went into business. His
commercial talents were limited, and only through
his dogged patience did he earn a fair livelihood
in the world of trade.

He might have succeeded but for the generosity
of his nature. When he had money, he lent ito any
friend, even when the hope of return was insigni
ficant. To the plea of distress, he could never give
a negative answer. Thus, although at one time he
seems to have prospered as a brewer, so far as out
put or sales were concerned, yet the profits at the
end of a year were notably small. He was not as
was declared by malicious enemies, one of his own
best customers: but from a financial point of view
he was almost as bad. He would give credit to fail
ing taphouses, to poor widows and every other type

2380 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

of person to whom a prudent business man would
never listen.

While his monetary returns were very small, his
actions built up by degrees a veritable mountain
of personal popularity. Hundreds of men, women
and children regarded him as a second father, and
among these there were scores who were attached
to him so fiercely that the feeling might have been
compared to that of a bull dog to its master.
Though intellectual in a very high degree, he al
ways had a warm love for the common people.
He is said to have known every man by sight and
name in the city of Boston. Young students, who
were perplexed would stop him on the street for ad
vice; blacksmiths would appeal to him as he went
by to give them a hand with an unruly horse, chil
dren would call upon him to repair a broken toy,
and anxious mothers would consult him often in
preference to their physicians. He was humorous,
but his humor was of that grim variety which
marks the Puritanic character. In his case it was
agreeable on account of his infinite tact. No matter
how great the provocation, he never permitted his
wit to inflict pain or to injure the self-respect of
others.

To this democratic spirit and conduct may be as-
scribed much of his political success. His quick
perception and powerful memory enabled him to as
certain in advance the sentiments of his fellow
townsmen prior to any town meeting. When he
appeared at the latter the views which he expressed
were nearly always successful. People looked at him
with amazement, because in many cases he took
positions utterly opposed to those of the British ad
ministration, and even of the refined and educated
classes of the community. They ascribed to him a
personal power over the masses, which must have

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2381

amused him. It is highly probable that in every in
stance he knew fairly well in advance the strength
of the movement which he represented, and being
a shrewd politician, he never wasted energy by ad
vocating a cause which he knew would not receive
the support necessary to its success.

At the age of thirty, he was the town meeting
leader of Boston, and enjoyed the prestige which
comes with success. Those who believed that some
men are lucky and others are born to good fortune,
flocked around him as a leader. In this wise by the
time he was forty, he was probably the strongest
man politically in the Colony of Massachusetts Bay.
Fortune favored him in several ways. In early life
he had had the advantages of wealth, and college
education; he belonged to a family which was num
erous and influential and which then as now was
marked by a justifiable family pride. He had be
come the leader of the middle and working classes
through his intellectual and political abilities. This
was a matter of greater power than it Is today.
Social divisions were not as marked in those days
and Massachusetts society was comparatively uni
form. It was rather stern, religious and conserva
tive. It was also grave, zealous and determined. No
one knew better than he, that when these men
once made up their minds upon any course no Crown
nor army could ever change it except by absolute ex
termination.

In 1764, the faint clouds upon the political horizon
began to enlarge and darken. The proposed Stamp
Act had become the subject of discussion, and its
unjust provisions had aroused public opposition and
resentment. None knew better than Adams the
feeling of the townsmen on the subject. When the
town meeting took place he spoke briefly but to the
point. Every other speaker followed him employing

2382 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

fiercer and more virulent argument than he had
done. To the surprise of the community, it looked
as if he had become conservative and the people
radical. Such was the impression produced upon
the governing classes who were therefore pleased
when he was appointed to draft the instructions
given by Boston to its delegates in the Colonial leg
islature.

But public feeling soon changed. In May, Adams
made the draft, and it fairly rang with what the ad
ministration regarded as disloyalty. The mere fact
that it came from the lips of their leader made it the
law and the gospel of Boston's delegates and the
legislature itself. Without knowing it, the man's
personality had impressed the entire colony as well
as the town in which he lived. In 1765, he was
elected to the legislature, where he was continued
in office for nine years. Here he was made clerk
of the House, a position he filled with great skill.
During this period he drew the larger part of the
State papers, papers which will ever remain models
of official workmanship. Within a year the adminis
tration came to regard the legislature as being "that
man or that traitor Samuel Adams." As a matter
of fact he was simply a fitting representative of the
Colony. His feelings were their feelings ; his nature
their nature. His most daring performances were
not exceptional because they would have been those
of nearly every other member had he had a similar
opportunity. But to the outside world, it looked as
if he were the master mind of the body, and they
were the puppets and pawns which moved when he
pulled the wires.

In 1767, immediately upon the passage of the
Townshend acts, he wrote the petition of the Assem
bly to the King, a letter of instruction to the Massa
chusetts Colonial Agent in London, and what was

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2383

the momentous paper of all a Circular Letter ad
dressed to the other twelve Colonies inviting them
to aid Massachusetts in the defense of the rights and
liberties of America. Copies of all three papers were
soon in the hands of the British monarch and cabi
net. Astonishment rivaled rage in their minds, when
they read the contents.

A royal order was immediately sent to Governor
Bernard, requiring him to command the legislature
to rescind or withdraw the Circular Letter under
penalty of dissolution and other punishments. There
were weak men in the Assembly but they formed a
minority. The Governor's communication was made
the subject of a long discussion, in which Adams was
the hero of the debate, and then by a vote of 92 to
17 the legislature refused to rescind its action. This
determination was greeted with applause by patriotic
colonials in every community and denounced by the
supporters of the government, who in the coming
struggle were to be the Tories of that time. It in
creased the bitter feeling in London, which now re
garded Boston as the hotbed of rebellion and Samuel
Adams as the arch rebel.

So strong was this feeling, that when in 1770
Samuel Adams, after a fiery town meeting in which
more than five thousand Boston citizens were pres
ent, offered the resolutions which he had himself
drawn and which had been passed amid wild cheers
of the citizens demanding that the two regiments
garrisoned in Boston should be removed to the castle
in the harbor, and the troops after long negotiation
were transferred, they were afterwards known in
parliament as the "Sam Adams" regiments.

In 1772, in order to get around some legal forms
which interfered with popular action, Adams devised
a scheme which was to play a strong part in the
Revolutionary drama. The English cabinet, with a

2384 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

view of punishing the Colonial malcontents in the
local courts, determined to make the judges Crown
officers payable from the royal purse instead of Co
lonial officials payable from the local treasury. This
scheme would have made every tribunal a political
engine to be manipulated by the Throne. The an
nouncement aroused indignant protests throughout
Massachusetts. The judges were notified that they
would be impeached if they should consent to the
transfer and receive their salaries from the royal
treasurer. A town meeting was held and a resolution
passed unanimously asking Governor Hutchinson to
convene the legislature to take action upon the mat
ter. As the law stood the legislature could only meet
when so ordered by the Governor. Without the lat-
ter's initiative it had no power nor jurisdiction. The
Governor promptly refused, and Adams just as
promptly suggested that the towns of the Colony
should appoint committees of correspondence to con
sult with one another upon public affairs. This prac
tically started a new autonomus and independent
Assembly in Massachusetts. Within a few days the
idea had been taken up and acted upon. Within a
few months the eighty leading towns had elected
Committees, and the whole system was in operation.

This move was a stroke of genius. Yet for nearly
a year no one perceived its full significance outside
of its author. It was discussed throughout the Col
onies and praised in a lukewarm way. It was all
very well, said critics but "cui bono ?" How would it
change matters ? The royal officials in Massachusetts
and other Colonies either treated it with contempt or
else laughed at it in derision.

On March 3, 1773, Dabney Carr of Virginia moved
in the House of Burgesses to appoint intercolonial
committees of correspondence for the consideration
of plans looking to the public welfare and protecting

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2385

the Colonies against royal encroachment. He made
an eloquent and scholarly address in favor of the
resolution, which was adopted by the House. This
was done after a careful discussion between Carr and
his brother-in-law, Thomas Jefferson, and probably
expressed the views of the latter as much as those
of the mover of the resolution. If these committees
had done nothing more they would have been of in
valuable service in that for the first time they
brought the Colonies together as a single body of
men. Now they began to coalesce into an organic
whole. Adams foresaw that the system of commit
tees was bound to have two results ; first, it would be
adopted by all of the other Colonies, and second that
it would develop into forms of state and national gov
ernment. Both of these occurred. In Massachusetts
by degrees the management of public affairs was vol
untarily entrusted to the Committees of Boston and
the five adjacent towns. At the head of this sub
committee, if it may be so termed, was Samuel
Adams.

On December 16, 1773, occurred the memorable
Boston Tea Party. A crowd of stalwart men, chosen
by Adams and his committee, boarded the English
tea ships in the harbor and emptied three hundred
and forty-two chests of tea into the sea. The shores
were crowded by patriotic citizens, who cheered the
transaction to the echo, and at its close departed
quietly to their homes.

The British ministry was infuriated at this out
rage, as they termed it, and in April, 1774, a series of
acts were passed by Parliament closing the Port of
Boston, annulling the charter of Massachusetts, and
placing the Colony practically under martial law.

Probably Adams had foreseen all this and made
preparations for the event. He certainly had worked
with care to start the movement for a Continental

2386 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

Congress, and had familiarized the public mind with
the immediate necessity for such a body. In doing
this he displayed a statesmanship of rare excellence.
In those days Massachusetts was very unpopular
with the other Colonies. Its reputation was that of
austerity, intolerance, obstinacy and gloom. Knick
erbocker New York disliked it on account of its
greed. Knickerbocker New Jersey shared these sen
timents; Pennsylvania, the Quaker State, remem
bered only too well the cruelty shown by the Old
Colony to the peaceful followers of Fox. The cav
alier Colonies still treasured up some antagonism to
the descendants of the Roundheads. If the sugges
tion for a Continental Congress had come from
Massachusetts, Samuel Adams knew full well that it
would meet with a feeble response. With inimitable
craft he induced his friends and correspondents in
the other Colonies to inspire Virginia to take the in
itiative. His scheme worked to perfection. Virginia
made the call and the Colonies responded. It is
amusing to note that Adams worked so skillfully
that no one at the time gave him credit in the affair.
When the summons was issued for a Continental
Congress, a few patriots were fearful that Massa
chusetts would not join the movement. There must
have been some ground for this fear judging from
the course Adams took in the Assembly hall when
the legislature of Massachusetts met at Salem on
June 17, 1774. The moment the delegates were
seated, he locked the door and put the key in his
pocket. Taking the floor, he put through the meas
ures for having Massachusetts represented at the
Continental Congress in September. Two Tory
members tried to jump out of the window but were
hauled ignominiously back. A third feigned sick
ness and was allowed to go out in charge of a clerk,
but the moment he got outside pushed the clerk over

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2387

and ran at full speed to the Governor. The latter
immediately drew up a writ dissolving the legisla
ture and handed it to a clerk to serve upon that
body. Accompanied by a guard the latter marched
to the hall but found all doors locked and barred.
While waiting outside for an opportunity to get in
and serve the writ, the legislature finished its busi
ness and adjourned sine die, the motion to adjourn,
one of the most delicious bits of parliamentary
humor in our early history, having been made by
Adams. The next legislature of Massachusetts was
called by the People and not by the Crown.

At the first Continental Congress Samuel Adams,
John Adams, Thomas Gushing and Robert Treat
Paine went from the Bay State. There were fifty-
three delegates in the Convention, representing the
flower of colonial manhood. Doubtless all realized
in a vague way the majesty of the occasion, but for
the time being they were perplexed with the
strangeness of the situation. It was the first time
the Colonies had come together in a representative
body. Heretofore, they had been appendages of
Great Britain, whose sole authority was the Crown.
Today they were representatives and leaders, each
of his own Commonwealth, recognizing no authori
ty but right and justice. They were more or less
distrustful of one another. Here together were
Pilgrim and Puritan, Knickerbocker and Huguenot,
Quaker and Anglican, soldiers, lawyers, planters,
merchants, officials and adventurers.

On occasions such as this the political intellect
comes to dominate the rest. Of all those present
the craftiest and deepest was Samuel Adams. His
conduct at this Congress was almost Machiavellian.
He realized that nothing must intervene which
would impair the harmony of the gathering and
that all personal feelings and tastes must be sub-

2388 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

ordinated, if not sacrificed for the public good. He
saw clearly that Virginia and Pennsylvania were to
be placated and compromised. The moment he ar
rived in Philadelphia he set about making the ac
quaintance of every delegate to the Congress.
When the meeting was called to order, he probably
was the only man there who knew everyone else
by name and sight.

Determined that Virginia should become the
leading colony of the convention he inquired
among its delegates as to its ablest man, and found
that Peyton Randolph was regarded as its most dis
tinguished lawyer. Going to the South Carolina
delegation, he picked out the finest looking man,
Thomas Lynch, and suggested that if South Caro-
lian would nominate Randolph, Massachusetts would
be only too glad to second the nomination on ac
count of the lawyer's high distinction. This suited
South Carolina perfectly, which had come to the
Congress fearful that New England would try to
run the affair in its own interests. Similar man
euvers created a Randolph sentiment, so that when
Lynch named the Virginian, he was elected presi
dent by acclamation. Equally diplomatic was his
treatment of the motion to open the proceedings
with prayer. This was opposed by John Jay, who,
though a very religious man, declared that he did
not think it was right for him to force his views
upon others, whose faith might require them to
object to such action; that there were at least five
sects in Congress, and it could not be expected that
they should unite in formal worship. As Jay seat
ed himself Samuel Adams rose and with his match
less suavity declared that he was no bigot and could
hear a prayer from a gentleman of piety and vir
tue, who was at the same time a friend of his coun
try. "I am a stranger in Philadelphia, but I have

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2389

heard that the Rev. Mr. Duche deserves the char
acter I have mentioned, and I therefore move that
Mr. Duche, an Episcopal clergyman, be pleased to
read prayers for this Congress."

This was a thunderbolt, and before the surprise
died away it was seconded by John Adams, who
had been already coached by his crafty cousin, and
went through without dissent. Religious feeling
was very strong in those years and Adams's action
was most felicitous. Of the delegates present a
majority of the New York, Virginian and South
Carolinan members were Episcopalians. Mr. Duche
was exceedingly popular in Philadelphia and Penn
sylvania, and had many friends in New Jersey. He
was moreover a fine looking, eloquent man who
would grace any pulpit. Some people have gone
so far as to say that Adams picked him out the day
before and had him at the hall on purpose. At
any rate his performance was like throwing oil
upon troubled waters. It pleased the Episcopalians
and it gratified the Middle and Southern colonies.

The work of this convention appears to have been
directed throughout by Samuel Adams. He sat
writing memoranda, and though taking the floor
but little and briefly himself, he talked with and
wrote to every speaker and gave information upon
every point which came before the House. To near
ly all present, he gave the impression of a quiet,
well-bred, highly educated gentleman of remarka
ble urbanity and kindliness. Only two men meas
ured him correctly. One was Patrick Henry, of
Virginia, who said: that "the good that was to
come from these Congresses was owing to the work
of Adams" and the other was the traitor-member,
Joseph Galloway of Pennsylvania who had prom
ised with the other fellow members to make public
no part of the transaction and who wrote to the

2390 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION

British government that "Samuel Adams eats lit
tle, drinks little, sleeps little, arid thinks much. He
is most decisive and indefatigable in the pursuit of
his object. He is the man who, by his superior ap
plication manages at once the faction in Philadel
phia and the factions of New England."

Other government agents sent similar messages
to London, which resulted in the British Cabinet
dispatching an order to General Gage to arrest
Samuel Adams and his tool John Hancock, and send
them over to London to be tried on a charge of high
treason. The London newspapers in commenting
on the news predicted gleefully that their heads
would soon ornament Temple Bar, according to the
barbarous custom then in vogue. An officer was
detailed to make the arrests which was to take
place on April 19, 1775, but fortunately the tidings
leaked out and Paul Revere managed to warn Adams
in time. He left his house a half hour before the
soldiers arrived and reached Philadelphia in time
for the Second Congress.

This was easier sailing than the first, but had its
own difficulties and trials. He got through all with
consummate address. Two incidents are worthy of
notice. One was his making John Hancock presi
dent of the body, not because he desired to give his
friend any particular honor, correspondents of the
time say, but for the reason that Hancock had
formed some views which Adams thought unwise,
and to prevent that vote being cast, he placed Han
cock in the chair. The other was his securing the
appointment of George Washington as Commander-
in-Chief of the Continental forces. He realized the
latter's military genius, and at the same time de
sired to conciliate the great colony of Virginia. In
the third Continental Congress he delivered the
famous address which even today is the delight of

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2391

schoolboys. It was in this noble speech that he
enunciated the words :

"We have explored the Temple of Royalty and
found that the idol we have bowed down to has
eyes which see not, ears that hear not our prayers,
and a heart like the nether millstone. We have this
day restored the Sovereign to whom alone men
ought to be obedient. He reigns in Heaven and with
a propitious eye beholds His subjects assuming that
freedom and thought and dignity of self-direction
which He bestowed on them. From the rising to
the setting of the sun, may His Kingdom come."

In 1776 he signed the Declaration of Independence,
and until 1782 was the most energetic member of the
Continental government.

He took part in framing the State Constitution of
Massachusetts. On the adoption of that instrument
he was made president of the State Senate. In 1789
he was made Lieutenant-Governor, and in 1794 Gov
ernor. The latter part of his life was uneventful, in
fact his career really closed when the Colonies be
came a nation. In the Bay State he found himself
in what to his temperament must have been a very
painful position. A deep feeling had grown up be
tween the federalist and republican parties. His po
litical instincts were in favor of the former, his per
sonal liking for the latter. As between Hamilton
and Jefferson he was a follower of the Virginian.
During the long struggle between the Colonies and
the Crown his hands were held up by his second wife
Elizabeth Wells, who though a royalist of the strong
est kind before marriage, became a self-sacrificing
patriot afterwards. Even in the darkest hours when
she was compelled to suffer, oftentimes wanting the
necessaries of life, she never complained but reso
lutely counselled her husband to keep up the good
fight if necessary until death. On one occasion, when

2392 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

about to attend Congress, Adams found that he had
neither coat nor horse, and only enough cash to pay
his expenses on the trip. His good wife, tradition
says, borrowed both of these articles from John
Adams and a friend and thus equipped him for the
journey.

He gave the best part of his life to his country,
and the life of his oldest son Samuel who served
through the long struggle as a surgeon, and who died
laboring in a military hospital.

In political activity, and statesmanlike qualities
Samuel Adams was easily the first of the Colonial
leaders. He had one mistress, his country, and to
her he consecrated all the elements of his being.
He cared little or nothing for wealth, place or dis
tinction. In all things he was an ideal patriot

PHILIP LIVINGSTON
Born, January 15, 1716; Died, June 12, 1778.

A scholar, merchant and patriot, who in his declin
ing years gave up everything for the rights of the
people, to whom he belonged, and who, when his body
was undermined by illness, and labor meant death,
willingly paid the price in order that he might assist
the cause of liberty, was Philip Livingston, better
known in historic annals as Philip the Signer of the
Declaration of Independence.

He was a great grandson of the Rev. John Living
ston, the famous Scottish Divine, who on account of
his faith was obliged to leave Scotland for Holland
in the middle of the seventeenth century. His grand
father Robert came to the New World and settled in
New York, where he bought a vast tract of land in
what is now Columbia and Dutchess counties, and
for which, he obtained a grant from King George L
This made the Livingstons Lords of the Manor of
Livingston and put them on a legal and social par
with the Dutch patroons. They were a stern, de
vout and intellectual race, and possessed to a marked
degree the qualities which insure success in any call
ing, involving the steady exercise of the mental
faculties.

Philip the Signer was a fair type of his race, differ
ing from his ancestors in a greater suavity and pleas-
anter manners. These doubtless represented the
softening influence of the New World. Education
was at a low ebb in the Colony of New York so far
as the higher branches were concerned. Philip re-

2394 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION

ceived his first training, as did most of the youths of
his class, from his mother, tutors, and the village
clergyman. He progressed so rapidly as to attract
notice from his parents' many friends. Upon their
advice his father sent him to Yale college in 1733.
This was an extraordinary event in those days for
many reasons. There was considerable jealousy be
tween New York and Connecticut, and more especi
ally between the lords of the manors and the Connec
ticut Yankees. In addition were the religious pre
judices of the age. The Livingstons were strict
Presbyterians, a sect at that time closely allied to the
Dutch Reformed Church. Both of these were suspi
cious of the Anglican Church, and for excellent rea
sons, and at the time there was a strong though un
just suspicion that Anglican influences were at work
in Yale.

The young man matriculated, studied hard, made
a fine record for scholarship and was graduated in
1737.

After graduation, he was apparently entered by
his father as a student in the Middle Temple, London,
but from the first he seems to have had no great
taste for the law, but a strong tendency toward com
merce. Three years afterwards, he was an active
business man in New York who was held in high
esteem by the merchants of the time. He was one
of the first college-bred merchants in the city, and
even in 1746 was described "as one of the fifteen
persons in the colony of New York, who possessed a
collegiate education."

He must have had the same broad commercial tal
ent that marked John Hancock in Boston, and in fact
the careers of the two men present a striking parallel.
At the age of thirty-five Livingston was not only
wealthy but was looked upon as one of the commer
cial leaders of the little city. He did not allow the

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2395

pursuit of wealth to dominate his nature. He kept
up his family relations by regular visits to Albany
and the Manor. He took part in public affairs and
was active at the local elections. A college man him
self, he was solicitous for the elevation of educational
standards, and was one of the group of men through
whose efforts Kings, afterwards Columbia College,
came into being in 1754.

At this time he became one of the seven aldermen
of New York. He made so excellent an official that
his constituents returned him eight consecutive
times. His electioneering was notable for its stately
courtesy and activity. New York had less than fif
teen thousand population, and probably not more
than two thousand electors. In his district were
some four hundred of these, and upon each one he
called during the campaign. The population was of
mixed nationality, Irish and Germans giving variety
to the Dutch, English and New England citizenship.
He was elected to the Twenty-eighth Provincial As
sembly as a delegate from New York city, in 1759.
Here his record was admirable, and was rewarded by
re-election to the Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth Assem
blies as a member from New York, and to the Thirty-
first as a member from Livingston Manor.

This change in district conceals a number of nota
ble facts. In the Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth As
semblies, which lasted from 1761 to 1769, Livingston
had been a strong upholder of Colonial rights. When
the Thirtieth Assembly was dissolved in January,
1769, he had incurred the animosity of the Governor.
So many complaints had come from England that the
Governor's party determined as far as possible to
carry the Thirty-first Assembly. They managed
affairs so well that Livingston found that there was
no chance of his being elected in New York, his
former position having been given to John Cruger.

2396 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

He therefore had himself elected from the Livingston
Manor, belonging to his family. This was a thunder
bolt to the Tories, who immediately set about con
cocting some scheme which would undo his election.
They unearthed precedents in regard to domicile, and
although these contravened the Livingston Manorial
rights yet they presented them, when the Thirty-
first Assembly convened and put them through, dis
missing their foe from his seat for non-residence in
May, of that year, 1769.

His development into a revolutionary advocate was
very gradual. As late as 1759, Great Britain had no
more loyal son than Philip Livingston. In the Gen
eral Assembly of that year he was the leader on the
floor of what was then the patriotic party. War was
raging between England and France, and the Mother
country needed the assistance of its Colonies. New
York responded nobly and supplied men, munitions
and money with a generous hand, Livingston con
tributed from his private purse, and through his vast
knowledge and mental discipline was enabled to act
as an executive in the Colonial war movement in New
York. And yet in this very action it is easy to see
the same class of motives that were to influence him
before another decade had passed.

In those days the Colonial merchant in the English
colonies enjoyed a freedom which his colleague in
French territory did not possess. While France was
theoretically kind, and helpful in its paternal rule,
yet the theory did not work, nor coincide with prac
tice. Monopolies, official fees and cruel laws harass
ed colonial commerce to such an extent that Canadian
trade paid profit to scarcely any one save the cour
tiers, who benefited by the fiscal system. Livingston
with his trained eye saw that the expulsion of France
from the New World meant more than the extension
of freedom ; it involved a far greater commercial f u-

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2397

ture which was to benefit both Canada and the Eng
lish colonies. From the first, he favored the move
ment which would extend the British ensign over the
American continent.

The wisdom of his views in matters of this sort
was exemplified in another way by his correspond
ence with Edmund Burke. The English statesman
had been appointed Colonial Agent for both the State
and the city upon the death of Robert Charles, the
former incumbent. Livingston was the chairman of
the special committee which conducted the official
correspondence with the agency, and in fact wrote
himself, it is said, many of the letters which passed
from New York to London. These were models
which were long held up for admiration in the eigh
teenth century. Excellent from a literary point of
view, they were marked also by a wonderful and ac
curate knowledge of facts, a grasp of legal and com
mercial principles, and a breadth of judgment which
amounted to practical statesmanship. Burke recog
nized the strong personality on the other side of the
ocean and put these letters by, as authoritative liter
ature on all matters pertaining to the new world.
They were, indeed, a series of lectures more thorough
and complete than any publications to be had upon
the subject. They gave Burke the information,
whose vast extent astonished his admirers in Parlia
ment and enabled him to disprove and even annihil
ate arguments adduced by the British Ministry. He
generously gave credit to his American correspond
ent in the premises.

In 1764, Livingston drew the address to Lieuten-
ant-Governor Cadwallader Golden in which he used
language so outspoken in regard to Colonial freedom
and royal taxation that several Tories pronounced
the document treasonable. The following year he
was sent as a delegate from New York to the Colon-

2398 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

ial, better known as the Stamp Act Congress. Only
nine Colonies were represented in this body, the Gov
ernors of Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia re
fusing to call special Assemblies for what they re
garded as improper and unconstitutional purposes.
The fourth absentee Colony, New Hampshire, re
garded it as imprudent to send delegates, but for
warded a dispatch in which they declared their sym
pathies with the movement and promising to stand
by all that was done.

New York sent Livingston as a delegate to the
First Continental Congress which met in Philadel
phia, September 5, 1774. The City of Brotherly
Love in that era was not two hours distant from
New York. The voyage was a memorable event, and
on this occasion it was made a gala affair by the
patriotic citizens of the little Metropolis. The peo
ple turned out en masse with flags flying and music
playing to escort their delegates to the wharves from
which they set sail for Amboy. Livingston, accom
panied by James Duane and John Alsop, walked down
Broad street to the foot of the thoroughfare, and
there embarked upon a ferryboat. From house to
wharf the delegates were accompanied with an en
thusiastic throng which increased at every step until
it was a solid army of cheering men and applauding
women. When they reached the Exchange the
street was blocked and the crowd called for a speech.
Alsop thanked the people in a short but forceful ad
dress and promised that he and his colleagues would
leave no stone unturned to bring back happiness to
the colony.

At the wharf there was another demonstration and
Livingston replied with eloquence and power. As
the boat cast off the people cheered madly and gave a
salvo of artillery from some field pieces which they
had borrowed for the occasion. The leaders of the

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2399

procession then adjourned to St. George's Tavern
where they drank confusion to the British Ministry
and health and success to their delegates. Dame
Rumor says that Livingston, Alsop and Duane had
left five pounds with the landlord to supply the wants
of those who were too poor to buy their own bever
ages.

The Congress, though brief, voiced in its proceed
ings the sentiments of the thirteen commonwealths.
It approved the opposition of Massachusetts to the
enforcement of the tyrannical laws which had been
passed respecting that colony. It adopted a declara
tion of rights in which it asked the repeal of the
eleven enactments which had created the troubles
between the Mother country and themselves. It un
animously resolved to import no merchandise from
Great Britain after the first day of the ensuing De
cember, unless the colonial grievances were redress
ed. It appointed a Committee, on which was Philip
Livingston, to prepare an address to the people of
Great Britain. It closed on October 26th with a
Petition to the King for justice, which like the ap
peal to Pharaoh merely hardened the heart of that
unjust monarch. And then as if to give warning of
more important action thereafter, it made all the ar
rangements for the holding of a new Congress the
next May.

The following spring a Provincial convention was
held in New York city, which appointed delegates to
the Second Continental Congress. The new delega
tion had a stronger personnel than its predecessor,
and foremost in its ranks was Philip Livingston. In
addition to these honors, it should be remembered at
this point that Livingston had also been a member of
the Committee of Fifty, and thereafter of the Com
mittee of Sixty, better known as the Committee of
Observation.

2400 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

The following year the Continental Congress pass
ed the Declaration of Independence, and on the fif
teenth day of July such delegates as had not gone to
their various posts of duty signed that immortal in
strument. Of the New York delegation but four had
remained at Philadelphia and of these Philip Living
ston was one. His signing was a fitting climax to
the arduous labor he had performed for popular
rights and liberties. Overwork had broken down his
health and in 1775 and 1776 he suffered constantly
from dropsy and cardiac troubles. It was against
the advice of his physician and the entreaties of
those near and dear to him that he had gone to Phila
delphia, White Plains and other places where political
duty called him. There was something singularly
heroic in this man braving risk and danger and leav
ing a great business and a happy and beautiful home
to take part in exciting scenes where death was liable
to come to him at a moment's notice. It required a
deeper courage than that of the soldier who goes into
battle under the fierce excitement of war's display.
Congress appreciated the man's mercantile talents
by appointing him a member of the Board of Treas
ury, and the following year a member of the Marine
Committee. He worked steadfastly in both commit
tees as well as in Congress, found time to attend to
other duties in New York, and was a member of the
association formed to carry out the commercial boy
cott against Great Britain.

Of the Provincial Congress and the Assembly, he
was a distinguished member, and in 1777, under the
new State constitution was elected a State Senator
from New York city. At these various conventions,
where he was so conspicuous a figure, he must have
felt the highest kind of family pride and joy upon
realizing the superb strength of the race to which
he belonged. Every roll call was almost a roster of

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2401

his race. From Albany county in the North came
Peter R. and Walter; from Dutchess, Gilbert, James,
Robert R., and Robert R. II ; from New York, Peter
Van Brugh and himself. These were visible to his
eye, while in his mind's eye rose the stalwart forms
of twenty younger men of his race ready to come
forward and take the places of their elders, the mo
ment duty called them. Across in Jersey was the
dauntless William Livingston, who was to be the war
governor of that State, while from New York to
Albany were thirty nephews and cousins on the ma
ternal side of the house, who were as patriotic and
dauntless as those of his own name.

This feeling of pride must have offset the consci
ousness that his hours were numbered and that at
any moment he was liable to pass away. At Phila
delphia, during the memorable debate that preceded
the Declaration of Independence he was so overcome
by the heat and excitement that for several days he
had to be helped in and out of the hall. After he had
signed the document, he shook hands with his Con
gressional colleagues, telling them it was for the last
time and then added, "But I pray that I get to New
York and do a little more for the cause, before I am
called."

In May, he left home to attend to his official duties
knowing that he was on the verge of another world.
Disease had made such progress that his life was a
question of days, if not of hours. Foreseeing the
end he wrote his people a valedictory letter in which
he said that he would never see them again and that
much as he desired to die in his own home, he must
blot out all desires for the sake of the public good.

He expired on June 12th, with none of his kindred
near him, excepting his son Henry, then eighteen
years of age, who was serving as a secretary-clerk to
General George Washington.

2402 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

Congress honored him in death by appropriate
obsequies, and by going into mourning for one
month. It passed resolutions of respect and grati
tude, which have been forgotten. His life's work
and his consecration to the American people were
and will be his epitaph.

ROGER SHERMAN

Born, April 19, 1721; Died, July 23, 1793.

From a cottage where poverty was his co-tenant,
led by a clear intellect and a spirit of the noblest
rectitude to a pedestal in the hall of fame, is in brief
the life record of Roger Sherman, Signer of the Dec
laration of Independence. He came of an English
family of Dedham, Essex county, England, which
sent its strongest offspring to the New World and
in the male line became extinct in its old home. It
throve in the colonies and thereafter the Republic,
and added many great names to American history.
Among warriors, it produced General William Te-
cumseh Sherman; among statesmen, Senator John
Sherman, and on the female side Senators William
M. Evarts and George Frisbie Hoar.

But its first and perhaps greatest name is that of
the Signer of the Declaration. Roger's father was a
farmer to whom fortune was not overkind in her
favors. The returns of his farm at Stoughton,
Mass., being small he eked out his income by shoe-
making. The boy farmed and made shoes like his
father before him. He attended the little country
school of his district, where he learned all that was
taught, but this was the smallest part of his educa
tion. His leisure time, he devoted to study. In
satiable book-hunger consumed him. He burned
the midnight oil constantly and had an open book in
front of him while pegging and sewing boots. When
a mere child, he won the friendship of the Rev. Sam-

2404 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

uel Dunbar, the minister of the congregation to
which his family belonged. This acquaintanceship
was of value, as the good divine aided him in his
studies and allowed him the run of a well-stocked
library. With no other help than this, the youth
became proficient in geography, history, mathema
tics, astronomy, surveying, logic, law, and politics.
He does not seem at this time to have cared for
either fiction or poetry. When he was twenty-two
years of age the Sherman family removed to Mil-
ford, Connecticut, where Roger worked on the cob
bler's bench until he secured employment as a sur
veyor. Two years afterwards he was appointed
surveyor of lands for the county of New Haven,
which position he held for that county for five years,
and thereafter for Litchfield county until 1758.

He was a rapid and accurate worker and soon
made for himself an excellent professional reputa
tion. Foreseeing the growth of that part of the
colony, he utilized his leisure time in real estate
speculation, which proved as profitable as his sur
veying. His popularity ere long began to tell. Of
fice was offered to him and accepted, and from 1748
he was a conspicuous figure in town affairs.

Between this year and 1761, he seems to have held
nearly every elective and appointive office within
the gift of his town. The churches of the neighbor
hood utilized his business ability by making him a
committeeman in every affair which required ener
gy, intelligence and probity. His interest in public
questions was broad and not confined to his own
personal business. He was foremost in matters of
public relief, and was one of the earliest advocates
of vaccination, which he introduced into New
Milford.

When his brother William desired to increase his
business, he advanced the requisite capital and be-

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2405

came a partner until the former's death and then
the sole owner. His management was very profit
able, but on account of the pressure of other matters
in 1760, he sold out. In 1752, a new phase of his
character was brought into notice in the form of a
pamphlet upon the currency question in which he
gave a clear and philosophic exposition of the laws
of credit and financial exchange. He had already
made a name for himself as an almanac maker, the
first of these productions having appeared in 1750.
He seems to have performed the mathematical work
for the Ames Almanac as would appear from a letter
to Nathaniel Ames.

New Milford, July 14, 1753.

Sr: — I received your letter this day and return
you thanks for the papers you sent inclosed. I find
that there was a considerable mistake in the calcu
lation of the two lunar eclipses, which I sent to you
in my last letter, which was occasioned by my mis
take in taking out the mean motion of the sun for
the radical year, and I have now sent inclosed
(them) with the rest of the eclipses as I have since
calculated them for the meridian of New London,
which I reckon 4 hours and 52 min. west from Lon
don — I have also sent one of my Almanacks. I ex
pect to go to New Haven in August next and I will
enquire of Mr. Clap about the comet you mentioned
and will write to you what intelligence I can get
from him about it the first opportunity — I am, Sr,
your very

humble servt,

Roger Sherman.

This letter is an invisible picture of the man's
wonderful growth. The poor young cobbler had at
the age of thirty-two achieved name, fame and com
petence. The communication in style, contents and
power of thought is equal to the best production of

2406 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

a Harvard or Yale professor of the time. During
this period he had begun to enlarge his mental hori
zon and to take up the study of poetry. The quota
tions in his almanacs show that he preferred the
works of Milton, Young, Dryden, Pope, Prior, Her
bert and Denham. He had also continued his study
of the law, and had made such progress that upon
the advice of several legal friends he applied for ad
mission to the bar, and to his surprise and delight
passed the examination with flying colors.

Admitted in February, 1754, within a year he had
done so well that the General Assembly appointed
him a Justice of the Peace. His progress in his new
calling was like that in his other vocations. In
1759, he was made Justice of the Quorum, and ipso
facto, a member of the Court of Common Pleas. He
was growing too large for the town, and in May,
1755, the people elected him to the General Assem
bly, of which body he was a member off and on until
1761. At forty years of age, the butterfly emerged
from the chrysalis, and Roger Sherman removed
from New Milford to New Haven.

He had come to New Milford poor and unknown,
he went away wealthy, full-powered, distinguished
and beloved. In his new home, he astonished every
one by giving up law and engaging in mercantile
pursuits. To these he devoted eleven years of his
life, and then consigned the business to his son
William. Into commerce, he brought the wide know
ledge and trained intellect which were characteristic
of the man. He not alone supplied the community
with staples but he built up new lines of trade, where
he knew a supply would engender an ensuing de
mand. Before that time, there was no regular book
business in New Haven although Yale College was
then a prominent feature of town life. Sherman
kept a full line of standard books, in addition to

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2407

which, he imported the latest publications from New
York and Boston, London and Paris. His enterprise
was a seven days' wonder and made his store the
headquarters of the literary and collegiate elements
of the place. According to the common people, he
knew more about books than either the professors
or the college librarian. The bar and the bench
kept up their friendship with him as did the legis
lators and officials. In this way, he became the cen
tre of a social circle of great power and extent.

The moment he reached New Haven, Yale College
called upon him for a donation. He promptly sub
scribed one of the largest gifts of the year. He did
other favors for the institution which determined
to add him to their administrative force. Elected
treasurer of the College in 1765, he discharged the
duties of that office with great ability for eleven
years. His treasurership must have given great
satisfaction, because in 1768 the College conferred
upon him the honorary degree of Master of Arts.

His popularity was not confined to the College.
The year he became treasurer he was made Justice
of the Peace for New Haven county, and Justice of
the Quorum. The following year promotion await
ed him in an appointment to a judgeship of the
Superior Court, where he dispensed justice for
twenty-three years, when he resigned to take a seat
in the First Congress of the United States under
the present Constitution.

When the questions came into being which were
to culminate in the American Revolution, Sherman
was outspoken in his advocacy of colonial rights.
In New England, James Otis was regarded as a radi
cal leader, and when his pamphlet, "The Rights of
the British Colonies" appeared in 1764 it was hailed
by most readers as the very voice of patriotism, but
the stern Puritan nature of Sherman went farther

2408 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

than the fiery impulses of the Massachusetts lawyer.

"It was a good paper," quoth he, "but from a log
ical point of view it concedes to the British Parlia
ment too much power over the Colonies."

The position taken by Sherman at that time is the
keynote of his attitude and conduct to the end of
his life. He had neither fear nor respect for a form
of government whose only claim to authority was
time-honored precedent. He believed in liberty,
order, justice and right, and for these he was willing
to sacrifice wealth, home, personal liberty and even
life itself. If he loved liberty, he hated license.
Equal with freedom in his eyes were law and order.
The excesses of the "Sons of Liberty" were denounc
ed by him with as much force and temper as by any
royalist. His opinions were summed up in his own
quaint way in a letter, he wrote to Matthew Gris-
wold.

"Sir: I hope you will excuse the freedom which
I take of mentioning, for your consideration, some
things which appear to me a little extraordinary,
and which I fear (if persisted in) may be prejudi
cial to the interest of the Colony — more especially
the late practice of great numbers of people assem
bling and assuming a kind of legislative authority,
passing and publishing resolves and &c — will not
the frequent assembling such bodies of people, with
out any laws to regulate or govern their proceedings,
tend to weaken the authority of the government,
and naturally possess the minds of the people with
such disorders and confusion as will not be easily
suppressed or reformed? especially in such a popu
lar government as ours, for the well ordering of
which good rules, and a wise, steady administration
are necessary."

When the Colonial merchants made their non
importation agreement Sherman was the active

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2409

member of the New Haven committee appointed to
secure its enforcement. This body sent out a letter
which became famous throughout the land, the first
clause being quoted and requoted for more than a
generation. It was as follows:

"New Haven, July 26, 1770.
"Gent:

"The time has now come for us whether we will
be freemen or slaves." * * *

Sherman's attitude in these exciting years was
the same as that of John Adams. It is well summed
up in his letter to Thomas Gushing of Boston, where
in Sherman writes, "It is a fundamental principle in
the British constitution, and I think must be in ev
ery free state, that no laws bind the people but such
as they consent to be governed by, therefore, so far
as the people of the Colonies are bound by laws made
without their consent, they must be in a state of
slavery or absolute subjection to the will of others :
if this right belongs to the people of the Colonies,
why should they not claim it and enjoy it. If it
does not belong to them as well as to their fellow
subjects in Great Britain, how came they to be de
prived of it?"

To the British Ministry this was treason absolute,
and as a matter of fact it rather startled many of
the patriotic Colonials themselves. Most of the
leaders of that time, including such men as James
Otis, Samuel Adams, John Dickinson and Philip Liv
ingston, believed that Parliament had the right to
bind the Colonies by regulations of commerce to an
almost unlimited extent. The three great excep
tions in the Colonies were Roger Sherman of Con
necticut, John Adams of Massachusetts, and Tho
mas Jefferson of Virginia.

At the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia,
Connecticut was represented by Eliphalet Dyer,

2410 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

Roger Sherman, and Silas Deane. Dyer and Sher
man were appointed upon the Committee on the
Declaration of Rights. Here again arose the old
question respecting the right of Parliament to regu
late trade. Five colonies conceded it, five denied it,
and two were divided. As a whole the Committee
stood six colonies against six. Upon every vote
taken by that body Sherman's name was to be found
upon the side of liberty.

At the second Congress, in 1775, Sherman, Dyer
and Deane again represented Connecticut. When it
came to the appointment of Washington as Com
mander-in-chief, Sherman did not manifest the tact
of Samuel Adams. He was opposed to Washington
(whom personally he admired greatly) because the
army besieging the British garrison in Boston was
all from New England, had its own general, whom
it loved and had manifested its ability to check the
English arms at that point. But when it came to
the ballot Sherman realized the wisdom of Adam's
idea and cast his vote for Washington.

During this year, Sherman never wearied in pre
paring Connecticut for the coming fray. In addi
tion to his patriotism, he had a personal interest in
the matter because with his consent his son Isaac,
then a young man of twenty-two, had entered the
Continental Army, in Massachusetts. The youth
had already made a good record, and the father
with as much paternal pride as patriotism aided his
son in making the latter's company one of the most
efficient in the Colonial forces around Boston. From
the correspondence between the two it is easy to in
fer that in the fall of 1775, Roger furnished Isaac
"with a genteel hanger, a yard and a half of super
fine scarlet broadcloth with suitable trimmings for a
coat of uniform and a piece of Holland."

In 1776, he appears to have been one of the most

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2411

active men in Congress. There seems scarcely to
have been a committee of importance but of which
he was a member. In the debate upon the basis of
representation there were many schools of thought.
Some believed that it should be population, others
wealth, and still others favored the State as a unit.
Sherman, with wisdom and foresight, advocated a
compromise plan which eleven years later, he sug
gested at the Constitutional convention, and was
adopted by that body, whereby representation
should have a double basis, first the Colonies as
units, and second the people as individuals.

In all measures there should be a majority of each
to make any bill law. As he wisely pointed out, if
the basis were wealth it would enable the rich colo
nies to dominate the poor ones. If it were mere
numbers two or three large colonies would shut out
all the small ones. If the colonies were to be used
as units, the smallest, poorest and least numerous
might offset and control the largest, most populous
and powerful.

His services during the Revolution were marked
by patriotism and wisdom. In the dispute which
arose between New Hampshire and New York,
which concerned the territory (that afterwards be
came Vermont), Sherman took a bold stand for the
settlers rather than for the litigants. Upon the cur
rency question, he opposed flat money as far as pos
sible and tried to introduce business principles into
government affairs.

In 1783, he and Judge Richard Law codified the
statutes of Connecticut, their work being adopted by
the General Assembly the following year. The
same year he urged the necessity of an impost tax
for the support of the general government.

At this time (1784) he was elected Mayor of New
Haven. In the meantime, the Union had been going

2412 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

from bad to worse. The confederacy which had
been formed proved but the shadow of a national
body; anarchy was beginning to stare each colony
in the face. Every thinking man realized the neces
sity of a complete change in the political system.
In this movement, for which the nation owes more
to Alexander Hamilton than to any other man, Sher
man was a faithful worker. He endeavored to have
Connecticut represented in the Federal convention
of 1786, but his commonwealth proved apathetic.

That year, Hamilton made his famous appeal,
which sounded like a bugle call to every lover of
liberty. The States awoke to the necessity of the
hour and the Constitutional convention of 1787 was
a triumphant success. With Sherman were William
Samuel Johnson, and Oliver Ellsworth. It was one
of the most memorable bodies that ever came to
gether in the history of the New World. The great
figures were Benjamin Franklin, then eighty-one
years of age, and George Washington, the hero of
a Continent; of the delegates a majority had been
staunch and faithful members of the Continental
Congress ; whilst three had attended the Colonial or
Stamp Act Congress of 1765, — Johnson, Rutledge
and Dickinson. Here, too, was Hamilton, one of the
youngest of the gathering, and yet already looked up
to as one of the rising statesmen of the land. Party
tendencies were in existence, but party lines had not
been formed. The convention was really divided in
to three great schools or classes. One believed in a
strong national government and was led by Hamil
ton, Gouverneur Morris, James Madison and James
Wilson.

The second favored a Confederacy, and was led
by William Paterson, John Lansing and Luther Mar
tin. The third was the compromise school, which
leaned toward the Nationalists rather than the Con-

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2413

federates. This was led by Sherman, Franklin,
Ellsworth and Dickinson. The convention lasted
from May 30th to September 17th, and was the scene
of as brilliant, erudite, and philosophic debate and
discussion as the world has ever known. The year
before the case of the Colonies appeared to be hope
less, but the crisis had brought forth the strentgh
and the men. Out of the throes of necessity the
Constitution had been born, and now that one hun
dred and fifteen years have passed away its wisdom
and extraordinary efficiency have been demonstrated
to the admiration of mankind.

His work finished in the Federal Convention,
Sherman returned to Connecticut, where he was
elected to the State Convention and there led the
forces which ratified the Constitution. His work
in reorganizing the nation was appreciated by the
people of Connecticut, who elected him to the first
House of Representatives under the new Constitu
tion. In 1791, two years later, his State made him
Senator, and while holding that office, he passed
away.

But for his broad tolerance, Sherman would have
been a typical Puritan; but for the wisdom gained
from poverty, suffering and self sacrifice, he would
have been harsh and severe in judgment; but for
the long struggle through which he grew into a
great manhood, he would have been bigoted and a
doctrinaire. His was the very intensity of serious
ness. He had no dislike for the trivialities or frivol
ities of life, but simply had no time for them. He had
a magnetic power which made every one as serious
and energetic as himself. Had he gone to a dance,
he would have had every dancer sitting down with
a school book in fifteen minutes. Had he joined a
social club, he would have converted it into a philo
sophical society within a fortnight.

2414 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

He suggests Cromwell without the latter's tre
mendous military genius, and Milton, divorced from
the muse. Jefferson remarked of Sherman that "he
never said a foolish thing." His imperturbability
was that of an ideal self-control and not of that
cheaper and commoner kind which means apathy or
deficient vitality. He was an intellectual engine
which moved along the lines of an absolute probity.
A builder of the Republic was he in every respect,
and a man who has stamped his individuality upon
the national life. But his name will never quicken
the beat of the heart nor excite the loving smile
which greets a Hamilton, Schuyler, Lee, Franklin,
Washington or Jefferson. Of the brightness and
joy of life, he saw little or nothing. Twice mar
ried, he proved himself a good husband, and a strict
but loving father. By his second wife, Elizabeth
Hartwell, he had seven children, four sons and three
daughters. Three of the boys were officers in the
Revolutionary army, and proved brave and faithful
soldiers.

No better summary of his career can be given
than the inscription upon the tablet which marks his
resting place.

"In Memory of

THE HON. ROGER SHERMAN, ESQ.

Mayor of the City of New Haven,

And Senator of the United States.

He was born at Newtown in Massachusetts,

April 19, 1721.
And died in New Haven, July 23d, A. D. 1793,

Aged LXXII.
Possessed of a strong, clear, penetrating mind, and

singular perseverance,

He became the self-taught scholar, eminent for jur
isprudence and policy.

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2415

He was nineteen years an assistant, and twenty-
three years a judge of the Superior Court,

in high reputation.

He was a delegate in the first Congress,

signed the glorious act of Independence,

And many years displayed superior talents and

ability in the national legislature.
He was a member of the general convention, approv
ed the federal constitution, and served his
country with fidelity and honor, in the
House of Representatives, and in the

Senate of the United States.
He was a man of approved integrity ; a cool discern
ing Judge; a prudent sagacious politician; a

true faithful and firm patriot.
He ever adorned the profession of Christianity

which he made in youth;

And distinguished through life for public usefulness,
Died in the prospect of a blessed immortality."

PHILIP JOHN SCHUYLER

Born, November 22, 1733; Died, November 18, 1804.

The strain and pressure of great crises are so in
tense as to consume if not exhaust the vitality of the
actors involved therein. Nearly all the great char
acters of history have been marked by stern and seri
ous faces, as if to them life had had no bright and
poetic side. At times, however, appears a man who
plays his part in the drama of history as Mercutio in
"Romeo and Juliet" bringing life and light with him
whenever he comes upon the boards. The Mercutio
of the Revolution was Philip John Schuyler, who be
longed to one of the first Knickerbocker families of
the State of New York.

In the middle of the seventeenth century, his an
cestors, Philip Pietersen Van Schuyler crossed the
ocean from Holland and settled at what is now Al
bany. Generation after generation passed in which
the family burgeoned in importance, influence and
strength. They supplied the Colonies with faithful
soldiers, efficient officials, public-spirited citizens and
philanthropic church-workers. In Philip, the vir
tues of the family were united in one personality.
His education was the best which his environment
permitted, he receiving his primary instruction at
home from his mother, who was Cornelia Van Cort-
landt, a woman of intellectual force, his secondary
education at a celebrated Huguenot school of that
period in New Rochelle, kept by the Rev. Dr. Steuppe
(Stoupe). Here young Schuyler made phenomenal
progress through very unpleasant causes. He was

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2417

attacked by the gout, which according to his own
declaration, was an inheritance from his grandfather,
and confined to his room for a year and more. Dur
ing this period of enforced retirement his only solace
was study. His books deadened the pain and helped
bring about convalescence. In leisure hours he oc
cupied an easy chair in the sitting-room, where he
conversed in French with Mrs. Steuppe and the domes
tics. In this way he acquired a coloquial as well as
a literary knowledge of French, which proved invalu
able to him in after life. He had already learned
Dutch, and in school took a thorough course in Latin,
so that by the time he was nineteen, he was as ac
complished a linguist as any of the bright young men
of Albany.

He was popular in the society of his town, of which
one portion was quite cultured and accomplished.
This was the set to which belonged the Van Rens-
selaers, Van Cortlandts, Livingstons, Ten Broecks
and Schuylers. The difference between this group
of families and their neighbors was in the education
of the daughters. The majority of the well-to-do
people brought up their girls according to the "three
k's" of the German Emperor, "koeche, kirche, and
kinder" (cooking, churching, and children). The
families mentioned taught their daughters French,
singing, dancing, and a fair knowledge of literature.
Young Schuyler fell promptly in love with Catherine
Van Renssealer, whose character may be inferred
from the nickname "The Morning Star," by which
she was everywhere known. The course of the true
love ran smoothly as may be seen in the family Bible
of the Schuylers, where in General Philip's own hand
writing is this entry.

"In the year 1755, on the 17th of September, was
I, Philip John Schuyler, married (in the 21st year,
9th month and 17th day of his age) to Catherine

2418 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

Van Rensselaer, age 20 years, 9 months and 27 days.
May we live in Peace and to the Glory of God"

This entry is eloquent to the student of Knicker
bocker times. It is written in the best English of
the time, which was a rare event in Albany, where
the old families in their records used Dutch alto
gether or Dutch words and phrases. The young
husband had already outgrown the provincialism
which marked Albany life. The reference to the
bride is in the modern style and not the ancient. He
recognized her as his equal and helpmate and did not
view her as housevrow as was too often the custom
of the time. The little prayer at the end tells vol
umes of the sweetness and sincerity of the writer's
character.

This year he raised a company of volunteers, and
as a reward for his public service received a commis
sion as Captain. When scarcely more than organiz
ed his company went to the front and served under
its young leader in the campaigns of 1755 and 1756
in the French war. Here to the delight of his people
young Schuyler displayed gallantry, strategic talent,
military skill, and what doubtless endeared him more
than the rest, an ease and gentleness which won
every heart. In 1758, he "became Deputy-Commis
sary under General Bradstreet, with the rank of
Major. In this branch of the service he displayed so
much talent in his accounts that he was selected as
his Commander's agent at the close of the war to go
to England and settle up the books with the home
government. This was done quickly and satisfac
torily. He returned bearing with him a letter of ap
preciation from the British war office. Upon the
conclusion of peace between England and France he
retired from military life and took energetic hold of
his own affairs.

From this point up to the Revolution, he was es-

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2419

sentially a man of business, and displayed an energy
and judgment of a high type. He erected improved
saw-mills on his timber lands and established a trans
portation line between Albany and New York, and
was thus enabled to sell timber direct from the forest
to the builder in the Metropolis. Avoiding the pro
fits which usually went to speculators, middlemen
and ship captains, he was able to obtain an extra
ordinary return of profit upon his ventures. This
he applied to the improvement of his estate, drainage
of marshes, laying of roads, the building of piers and
the establishment of farms for tenants.

Finding that a large tract of territory on his estate
was suitable for flax-culture he went into this in
dustry and erected a flax-mill, the first of its kind in
the colonies. He secured hecklers, limers, spinners
and weavers, some from the neighborhood and others
from Holland, so that ere long he had his new in
dustry upon a paying basis. He encouraged ship
building and became a part owner in many crafts,
thus helping ambitious young captains and at the
same time reaping a fair reward for his enterprise.

He entertained with generosity but wisdom. Both
he and his wife regarded themselves as trustees for
their children, and after that for the poor and af
flicted of their district. His views in these matters
were expressed by himself twenty-one years after
ward, when he transferred his estate at Saratoga to
his oldest son, who had then come of age. In the
deed he says: "I resign to your care and for your
sole emolument a place on which for a Series of years
I have bestowed much of my care and attention, and
I confess I should part from it with many a severe
pang did I not resign it to my child."

In the management of his estate his accounts
showed that the profits or net income of his property
were divided into four parts, one for entertainment

2420 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

or "the social duties;" second, the improvement of
the estate; third, charity and the church, and fourth,
the increase of the estate. Under such a system as
might be expected, his interests in northern New
York grew from year to year as did those of his ten
ants and employees. His example was more or less
contagious and incited his neighbors and friends to
similar lines of conduct. During this period the Al
bany district was very prosperous, and both travel
and traffic increased between that city and New
York.

His reputation for general ability and rectitude had
gone abroad so that when the Twenty-ninth General
Assembly took up the question of the boundary line
between New York and Massachusetts Bay, and later
between New York and New Hampshire, it chose him
as a Commissioner. The unpleasant duties involved
were performed by him with such tact as to win
approval from all three of the commonwealths in
volved. Shortly after this, he was made Colonel of
Militia, and in 1768 was elected a member of the
Thirtieth General Assembly. Up to this moment he
had not taken an active part in the discussions then
going on respecting colonial and coronal rights.
Many patriots were a little afraid of this wealthy
and talented aristocrat, fearing that his influence in
the legislature would be cast against the people and
for the Crown. Their fears were short-lived. Upon
the very first question he took strong ground for
popular rights and at the same time showed himself
to be a good speaker, a shrewd parliamentarian and
the possessor of great personal magnetism. It was
upon his nomination, two years later, that Edmund
Burke was made Colonial agent of New York at the
British capital.

This and other actions of Schuyler and the As
sembly were too much for the patience of the British

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2421

authorities. While the twenty-ninth Assembly had
lasted seven years, the Thirtieth, which besides
Schuyler contained Philip Livingston, George Clin
ton, and other patriots, was dissolved in less than
three months after it had convened. The dissolu
tion did not change public sentiment. At the fol
lowing election Schuyler was re-elected, as were
Philip Livingston, George Clinton, and with them
Lewis Morris and Robert R. Livingston. The Gov
ernor's Secretary, on hearing of the personnel of the
new Assembly, remarked "that the fish had leaped
from the frying-pan into the fire."

Schuyler's house now became the headquarters of
the patriot leaders in northern New York. He kept
in touch with current events and received by mail
papers from London, Boston, New York and Phila
delphia, as well as correspondence from the friends
he had been making since youth. Contemporaries
speak of meeting there in the afternoon and evening
and sitting around while the Colonel read to them the
most interesting tidings he had received by the last
mail. Before 1772 he was the acknowledged patriot
leader of his district.

He was to have been a delegate to the First Con
tinental Congress in 1774, but was prevented by ill
ness. Of the Second he was chosen a member, and
while there, was a member of the Committee with
George Washington, which drew up the military code
for the Colonial army. Upon the recommendation
of the New York Provincial Congress, where in the
speech nominating him he was declared to be one of
the ablest and bravest soldiers in New York, he was
appointed one of the four Major Generals that were
made by the Continental Congress. On his return
from Philadelphia, he perpetrated a joke which
might have cost him dearly.

Clad in the handsome uniform of blue and buff, he

2422 x HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

made an official call upon Governor William Tryon,
who resided upon Broad street, New York, and sent
in his card "Major General Philip Schuyler of the
Continental Army." But for the presence in the
city of a large military force which was there to re
ceive him and Washington, it is probable that the
Governor would have ordered his arrest. Under the
circumstances discretion was the better part of valor.
The Governor returned the card with the curt re
mark:

"General Schuyler? I know no such person," and
declined preemptorily to see his caller.

Washington assigned him to the Department of
Northern New York, where he took up the arduous
task of collecting an army and making it ready for
active duty. The work was herculean. Neither the
Continental nor the Provincial Congress had much
money nor credit. Though Schuyler, by indefatig
able labor, raised all the men necessary under his in
structions, the arms and ammunition came irregu
larly, so that fully a year passed by before his men
were ready for active duty. Generous and patriotic,
he drew upon his own resources, and at least one regi
ment was armed and uniformed at his own expense.
Beyond this he sold the government, food supplies
and other material, trusting to the eventual success
of the American cause for his reimbursement. Dur
ing this year he worked so hard as to break down
completely. He was compelled to relinquish his com
mand to General Montgomery and return home to re
gain his health.

His convalescence was quick, and he returned to
Albany, where he took up the work of organization
and supply with all his former energy. He was dis
satisfied with the manner in which many of the of
ficers performed their duty and spoke sharply when
ever he regarded it as necessary. In this way, he

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2423

antagonized many, who made a cabal against him
and had Congress take away or deprive him of his
power by placing General John Thomas in command
of the army and making Schuyler, Quarter-Master-
General and Commissary-General. As a matter of
rank and title, no change was involved, but he saw
clearly what the order meant and was grieved at
the ingratitude displayed by the national leaders.
To make matters worse he soon found himself in op
position to the military plans of Congress.

They favored an invasion of Canada from New
York State, and in default of this the maintenance
of a large army far up on the frontier. Schuyler,
who knew the country better than any man at the
capital, and realized the pitiful poverty of the govern
ment, saw that this was impossible and expressed
himself accordingly. Unfortunately for all parties
the Congressional leaders were thick-headed and per
sisted in keeping Thomas on the Canadian lines.
Ere long, events proved the correctness of Sehuyler's
position. A British Army under Burgoyne appeared
in the North, and Thomas and his men were com
pelled to fall back precipitously. Thomas himself
contracted the smallpox and died of that disease.

Through political influence, Congress now gave
command of the northern army to Major-General
Horatio Gates, without notifying Schuyler of the
fact. Intentionally or not, this was a direct insult
to the great New Yorker, who would have been justi
fied in throwing up his Commission and retiring to
private life. As it was, he stifled his indignation and
agreed to co-operate with Gates until the issue had
been passed upon by General Washington. The lat
ter with consummate tact recommended the two men
to act in harmony with each other, which they ac
cordingly did. Gates, always a marplot, shortly af
ter this began an intrigue for the removal of Schuy-

2424 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

ler, at the time the later was busy in negotiating
with Six Nations, who it was feared might take the
field against the Colonies, and also in fitting out an
armed flotilla upon Lake Champlain. Thus, while
Schuyler was working day and night for the defense
of his land, Gates was doing naught save conspire
against Schuyler, whom he regarded as an obstacle
to his ambitions. News of the plot was sent to
Schuyler by his friends in Philadelphia, and he im
mediately offered his resignation, determining to test
by this vital expedient how far the Government of
the Colonies was actuated by principle or the whims
of politicians. To the credit of Congress it declined
to accept his resignation and declared that his serv
ices were indispensable. The President, John Han
cock, went out of his way to make a personal request
that the New York general would continue at the
helm.

To increase his difficulties, his health which had
been precarious now became so poor that for days
at a time, he was scarcely able to do his work. The
people of New York appreciated the pathos of his
position, and in 1777 elected him a Member of the
Continental Congress. The same year he was ap
pointed Chief of the Military forces of Pennsylvania.
Washington poured oil upon his wounds by giving
him command of the Northern Department. Again
Congress interfered, and through the machinations
of the New England politicians, made Gates the Com-
mander-in-Chief of the Northern Army, Washington
having declined to act in the matter. In October a
Court-Martial was convened, before which the false
and malicious charges of Gates were brought for
ward and thoroughly investigated. The court un
animously adjudged Schuyler had not been guilty of
any neglect of duty and acquitted him with the high
est honors. The verdict which should have been

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2425

taken up by Congress immediately was held back
several months by Gates's political allies and then
was made a finding of the Government.

The month of the trial New York elected him again
to Congress, but he refused to take his seat until the
judgment of the Court-Martial had been confirmed by
the House. When this was done, he assumed hisj
legislative duties and worked faithfully as a Con
gressman until 1781. Nevertheless he resigned his
commission in the Army in 1779.

Besides attending to his duties at the Capital, he
acted as Indian Commissioner for New York, and
kept the Six Nations on friendly terms with the Con
tinentals. In 1779, at the request of Washington, he
was appointed a Commissioner to confer with the lat
ter on the Southern Department of the Army, and
from that time until the surrender of Cornwallis he
was one of Washington's most trusted counselors.
In these dark hours, when Congress appeared to be a
mass of ingratitude, folly and intrigue, Schuyler
must have been happy in the magnificent support ac
corded him by his own State. No sound came from
Albany or New York but words of affection and
praise. His people knew him and loved him. They
were with him to the end. Honors they showered
upon him thick and fast. He was their Indian Com
missioner and their Congressman, and in addition
they made him State Senator for the western district
of New York, to which office they elected him four
consecutive times.

It made no difference to his constituents whether
he could attend or not. They elected him not to
legislate, but to show their confidence and affection.
In fact they contracted the Schuyler habit and kept
sending him to the Senate for many years after
wards. He was there from 1786 until 1790, and
again from 1792 until 1797, and probably had he

2426 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

wanted it he could have been Senator for life with
reversion to his oldest son. He and Ruf us King were
the first Senators chosen by New York under the
present constitution. A second time he was made a
national Senator in 1797.

Besides being a great soldier, he was a statesman
of no mean rank. He was the first to perceive the
benefit of a canal connecting the Hudson river with
Lake Champlain, and in 1776 spent a week making a
rough draft of the route and a table of estimated
cost. The present canal was built upon almost the
very lines which he figured out, and the actual cost,
allowing for the difference in money values, was
within twenty-five per cent of his original estimate.
The man's foresight may be measured by the fact
that in speaking of this canal he said that it would
enable the lumbermen of the North to ship their tim
ber to tide water and to receive from New York the
necessaries of life at one half of the expense which
it then involved, and that in the event of war it could
be used as a waterway for small ocean corvettes and
sloops to go from Sandy Hook up to the Canadian
border.

After the Revolution, he advocated a canal from
the Hudson to Lake Erie, with a branch connecting
with Lake Ontario, and upon this matter talked with
Christopher Colles, the mad inventor, with Governor
George Clinton, and with President Washington. He
was one of the group of philanthropists which found
ed Union College, and in 1784 was among the first
contributors to its building fund. The project would
have fallen through but for his energy and zeal.
After the nucleus of an endowment had been secured
the project languished some years. He then made
personal appeals to his friends and thus obtained the
necessary funds which enabled the institution to be
gin its life in 1795. With praiseworthy generosity

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2427

he attached no conditions to his gifts, nor did he at
tempt to give the new school any sectarian bias
whatever.

In political life he was a Federalist sincere, though
liberal. He was a member of the New York trium
virate, the other two members being Hamilton and
Jay. Unlike his colleagues, his personality did not
arouse the adverse criticism theirs received.

No man did more for the foundation of the Amer
ican Republic than Philip Schuyler, and none was
more ungenerously treated by his own age. Not un
til after his death did the American people come to
appreciate the beauty and majesty of his character.
Webster said that of all the Generals of the Revolu
tion, Schuyler was second only to Washington.

Chancellor Kent, with the dignity befitting one of
his own great judgments, wrote: "Among the pa
triots of the American Revolution who asserted the
rights of their country in council, and equally vindi
cated its cause in the field, the name of Philip Schuy
ler stands preeminent. In acuteness of intellect, pro
found thought, indefatigable activity, exhaustless
energy, pure patriotism and persevering and intrepid
public efforts, he had no superior."

John Fiske the historian casts his vote as follows :

"The intrigues which soon after (1776-7) disgrac
ed the Northern Army and imperilled the safety of
the country, had already begun to bear bitter fruit.
Since the beginning of the war, Major-General Philip
Schuyler had been in command of the Northern de
partment, with his headquarters at Albany, whence
his ancestors had a century before hurled defiance at
Frontenace. His family was one of the most dis
tinguished in New York, and an inherited zeal for
the public service thrilled in every drop of his blood.
No more upright or disinterested man could be found

2428 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

in America, and for bravery and generosity he was
like the paladin of some mediaeval romance."

Oftentimes indirection paints a stronger picture
than direct assertion and discription. To him who
can read between the lines there is a world of admira
tion, confidence and friendship in a letter from
George Washington to General Schuyler which has
been preserved in the family archives.

"Mount Vernon, 21st Jan., 1784.
"Dear Sir:

"Your favor of the 20th of Dec. found me, as you
conjectured by that fireside from which I had been
too long absent for my own convenience ; to which I
returned with the greatest avidity, the moment my
public avocations would permit; and from which I
hope never again to be withdrawn.

"While I am here solacing myself in my retreat
from the busy scenes of life, I am not only made ex
tremely happy by the gratitude of my countrymen
in general but particularly so by the repeated proofs
of the kindness of those who have been intimately
conversant with my public transactions. And I need
scarcely add, that the favorable opinion of no one is
more acceptable than that of yourself.

"In recollecting the vicissitudes of fortune we have
experienced and the difficulties we have surmounted,
I shall always call to mind the great assistance I have
frequently received from you both in your public and
private character. May the blessings of peace amp
ly reward your exertions ; may you and your family
(to whom the compliments of Mrs. Washington and
myself are affectionately presented) long continue to
enjoy every species of happiness the world can af
ford.

"With sentiments of sincere esteem, attachment
and affection,! am Dear Sir, your most obedient, very
humble servant, "G. Washington."

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2429

In private life General Schuyler preserved the tra
ditions of his race to the very last. The honors
which came to him never changed the courteous sim
plicity of his manners nor the gentleness with which
he met alike the highest and the lowest of the land.
The chivalrous lover, and popular beau, ripened into
a wise father, a devoted husband and the sunny cen
ter of a great social circle. Even a large family, and
he had fourteen children, never disturbed his equa
nimity, but on the contrary appeared to develop the
paternal virtues and extend them into philantropic
habits of mind. His influence was always for good
and his energies applied to the betterment of all
things around him.

Time has dealt kindly with him. In his character
were so many of the romantic and poetic qualities of
human life that as the years have thrown oblivion
upon the cares, trials and petty incidents of his
career, these have grown brighter and assumed the
shadowy outlines of a Bayard or a Black Prince. No
revolutionary character was more idealistic than he.
A brave soldier, he fought only for principles and
not for fame, nor self aggrandizement. An able
legislator and statesman, he was singularly free from
personal ambition and seemingly incapable of poli
tical intrigue. A man of the highest birth and ac
complishments he never lost his interest in the
masses, who had not been similarly favored in this
world's affairs.

Enjoying all those things which so seldom are al
lotted to one individual, he never forgot the relativity
of life and the imminence of great spiritual powers.
He perceived the ideals of life and in both thought,
word and deed was himself an ideal, of whom the
American people may be proud.

JAMES MADISON

Born, March 16, 1751; Died, June 28, 1836.

Out of the great middle class of Virginia came
James Madison, scholar, statesman and fourth Presi
dent of the United States. His people were planters,
owning small estates, and raising enough tobacco to
keep themselves in comfort, though not in wealth.
His father, James, seems to have been a stronger
and more thoughtful type of man than most of the
people in the Rappahannock district. The planters
as a class in those days led easy-going, happy lives,
of which fox hunting, generous hospitality and social
entertainment were the chief features. The soil was
exceedingly fertile ; slave labor made needless much
exertion upon their part, and ambition scarcely trou
bled them unless it was in regard to the insignificant
political honors of the town. Education was at a low
ebb, and the number of reading men was small, and
of scholarly men next to nothing.

When, therefore, the elder Madison determined
that his seven children, of whom James was the
oldest, should have the advantages of a better educa
tion than he himself had had, or than was possible
to secure in that part of Virginia, it is clear that in
this respect at least he was an exceptional character
among the leisure-loving planters of his time. The
plans were carried into execution, and the boy was
entered at a school kept by a Scotchman named
Donald Robertson, where he made steady progress.
At that time he posessed a poor constitution, and had
little or no likings for the amusements of healthy boy-

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2431

hood. He lived in his imagination, and found his
chief pleasures in books and study. He was a courte
ous and affectionate Doy, and won the heart of the
old Scotch pedagogue, who took great delight in help
ing his favorite scholar in literary and mental paths,
which other youths avoided.

Young Madison was not only at the head of his
class, but was a class all to himself. When he got
as far as the school would take him, he prepared for
college under the Rev. Thomas Martin, the parish
clergyman, who lived in the Madison household.
From him he undoubtedly derived the desire to go
to Princeton College, which at that time as now, was
noted for its scholarship. This in itself was an un
usual thing. Local feelings were very strong in
those days. The average young Virginian went to
William and Mary College as a matter of colonial
pride and patriotism, a stronger factor than the love
of scholarship. Another cause contributed to this
feeling. William and Mary was more or less Angli
can in its tendency, as was the commonwealth ; while
Princeton was essentially Presbyterian. It must
therefore have been the subject of much discussion
among the town gossips when young Madison, in
1769, at the age of eighteen, went north to New
Jersey for his education.

His career at Princeton was more than creditable.
He stood very high in every study, and in addition
to the curriculum took courses in other topics, more
especially the Hebrew language and literature.
Judging from these courses, one biographer asserts
that the ambitious student contemplated entering
the legal profession ; another declares that it was not
law but theology toward which he aimed. It seems
more probable that he was influenced by a nobler
ambition, and that he desired to acquire all the cul
ture which it was possible to obtain at Princeton.

2432 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

Studies reflect disposition if not character, and the
theological bent displayed by his work during the
four years merely indicate a deep religiousness which
marked the man through life.

Poor health followed him through his college car
eer. At times, moods of depression seized him, in
which he looked forward to an early death and tried
to prepare himself for another life. It was in one
of these moods just after graduation that he wrote:
"I am too dull and infirm now to look out for extra
ordinary things in this world, for I think my sensa
tions for many months have intimated to me not to
expect a long or healthy life ; though it may be better
with me after sometime ; but I hardly dare expect it,
and therefore have little spirit or elasticity to set
about anything that is difficult in acquiring and use
less in possessing after one had exchanged time for
eternity."

This morbidity was merely superficial and repre
sented a body ill at ease. It did not disturb the great
mind and soul which lay beneath. These were now
vast engines, whose power and beauty were yet to
be disclosed to the world. Yet now and then we
obtain glimpses of the real man. Between 1772 and
1774 he displayed in conversation and correspondence
the deepest interest in state, national and religious
affairs. The statesman and the reformer within
him had risen up in protest against the evils of the
time. He already recognized the imperfections, fol
lies and wrongs in the Colonial government, the
tyranny and injustice of the English administration
and the cruel intolerance and bigotry of the govern
ing cult of Virginia.

Against these wrongs he raised the voice of pro
test, and in the seclusion of his study planned
changes in the law of the Commonwealth in the re
lation between Colony and Crown, and in the status

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2433

of sect and church. The highest compliment that
can be paid to him is that at the age of twenty-three
he had realized the necessity of the complete separ
ation of church from state, and of religious liberty
for every citizen within the borders. Ecclesiastical
forces were very strong in the middle of the eigh
teenth century; men were brought up to believe in
the exclusive holiness of their own faith and the un
pardonable sinfulness of all others. At this time
there were men in jail in Virginia, upright, sincere
Christians, for the heinous crime "of worshipping
God contrary to civil law." Even when sick and
weak, Madison never flinched from the performance
of duty. Although entirely unfitted for a soldier's
life, he had himself enrolled for the national defense,
and at one time held a commission as sub-lieutenant.
So far as is known his military career was formal
and not actual.

Though he had taken little or no part in public af
fairs, his high learning and courtesy had so impress
ed themselves upon the community, that in 1774 he
was made a member of the County Committee of
Safety. Here he showed himself to be efficient, in
telligent and patriotic. He worked even when suffer
ing from illness, and often against the protests of
sympathetic colleagues. The calm courage which is
displayed when the mind Controls the recalcitrant
body may not be equal to tnat of the soldier in the
brunt of battle, but is nevertheless an equally strong
evidence of a great manhood.

He won the affection as well as the respect of his
neighbors, who in 1776 elected him a delegate to the
Virginia Convention. His constituents builded bet
ter than they knew. Neither they nor he were
aware that public life was the arena for which Madi
son was better fitted than for any other. He took
his seat in the Convention, and soon became a power

2434 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

in that body. The committee to which was referred
the matter of a bill of rights and of a State Constitu
tion included him as an unknown member. In a
short time he became one of its leaders. Before the
Convention, he delivered a great speech on religious
freedom, and urged the prohibition of any established
church. He was a radical of radicals, and to his joy
found himself supported by some of the ablest law
yers and thinkers of the State.

But he was in advance of his time, and the amend
ments that he favored were too sweeping to be ac
cepted by the majority. Yet so strong was his argu
ment, and so well martialed his forces, that the con
vention adopted a compromise in the matter, and
passed the following clause upon the subject:

"That religion or the duty we owe to our Creator
can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by
force or violence ; and therefore, all men are equally
entitled to the free exercise of religion according to
the dictates of conscience."

This is the form in which Madison drafted it, and
thus it has remained to the present day. Other
Commonwealths have adopted the same sentiments
as their organic law, and a few have even borrowed
his simple speech. It will go down to posterity as
the first public achievement of the young statesman
from the Rappahannock.

The public career so favorably opened lasted forty
years, and is a noble chapter in the history of the
American nation. From the start he showed a per
sonality so vigorous as to demonstrate him to be a
statesman and not a politician. Elected to the First
Assembly under the Virginia Constitution, he was
renominated for a second election. Here he was
called upon to treat the voters to whiskey, according
to an ancient custom which has not yet entirely died
out even in 1902. To the surprise of the community,

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2435

Madison refused to employ any such methods. His
enemies sneered, his friends entreated, his party
leaders thundered. But it was to no avail. He
would not make a barroom campaign, and he would
not secure votes by appealing to the love of liquor
or to the affection which unlimited inebriety pro
duces. He was the first American candidate to make
a campaign upon a clean, manly basis. Virginia,
which had the same bibulous instincts as are now at
tributed to Bourbon county, Kentucky, looked on with
horror. The election went off without a Madisonian
voter being drunk. The opposition, according to the
goodly gossip of the time, was "gloriously befuddled
for a fortnight." Whiskey won and Madison lost,
but the loss was confined to an assemblymanship for
one year.

Beneath the loss he had won the greatest victory
of his time. He had set Virginia thinking; he had
gained the admiration of good and true people, irres
pective of party, and he had won the undying grati
tude of the women and children, who looked forward
with fears and trembling to the hustings every year.

And the loss was no loss. When the assembly con
vened there was but one subject of discussion, Madi
son and the whiskey vote. Every member of the
House knew too well the hideous tax the custom was
upon the candidate. Everyone had wanted to bid
defiance to the time-dishonored practice, but had not
had the courage for fear of losing the election. Here
was a thin, sallow mournful young college man,
whom a breath could blow away, deliberately antago
nizing constituents, public sentiment, distillers and
tavern keepers alike. It seemed incredible, but yet
it was a fact. When therefore an assemblyman
whose drink-bills had been over $1,000, rose and
named Madison as a member of the Governor's Coun
cil, the nomination went through with a roar of

2436 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

cheers. The young iconoclast had lost the assem
bly, but in losing it had leaped a great step upward
and onward, and had become a figure in State poli
tics.

His promotion did not change his methods. He
was simply a glutton for hard work. People com
plained that he was gloomy and pessimistic ; that he
never laughed and never joked ; but from Governor
to page all agreed that he was the hardest worker and
the best official Virginia had ever known. He seems
to have been a cyclopedia for every one at the capital.
Lawyers went to him for precedents ; orators for ref
erences; scholars for quotations, and clergymen for
authorities. Though the youngest man in the coun
cil, and probably in the State government, he was un
doubtedly the wisest. Thomas Jefferson, noted for
extraordinary versatility, memory, and general
knowledge did not hesitate to refer to Madison upon
all knotty points and vexed questions.

Talent of this sort impresses itself upon the popu
lar mind as deeply if not so pleasurably as eloquence
or martial daring. In 1780, Madison was sent as a
delegate to the Continental Congress. Although the
youngest man there, his fame had preceded him, and
from the gray heads he received a warm welcome.
Had he been marked by ordinary ambition he would
have endeavored to bring himself prominently before
the public by a startling measure, a brilliant speech
or parliamentary strategy, but his ambition was of
no ordinary kind. It was simply to do his duty and
to serve the nation. His unwritten motto was "do
that which comes to your hand, and do it the best you
can." The skillful worker of Virginia became an
even more skillful worker in Congress. By degrees
the leaders in the House began to notice this thin
and silent Virginian. Never had they seen a man
like him. His speech was Addisonian in its purity

THE BUILDERS OP THE REPUBLIC 2437

and elegance. His briefest note was a model of style
and courtesy. He never drank and never posed. He
did not yield to the social temptations of Congres
sional life, or on the other hand display any offensive
zealotry or fanaticism. They found him at work in
the library or at his desk in the early morning, and
those who called upon him in his poor rooms late at
night saw him studying and compiling. It was not
long before his talents became known and utilized.
A Massachusetts delegate would come to him for
points as to the exports and imports of Boston; a
New Yorker would apply for information respecting
a Knickerbocker grant ; a Pennsylvanian would con
sult him concerning French law. Madison himself
never alluded to these things, treating them as mat
ters of course ; but those who enjoyed his kindness
began by degrees to spread his fame abroad. All
unconsciously, the young man was becoming a
mental king in the halls of the natoin.

He had a hard life during these dark years, but bore
his lot with superb equanimity. Thanks to a good
Jew, named Hayne Solomon, he did not become a beg
gar. Solomon was a broker who had an office near
a poor little coffee house where Madison took his
meals. The future President was so embarassed fin
ancially that for days he could buy scarcely enough
food to keep body and soul together. The broker
was another patron of the place, and on one occasion
found to his surprise that Madison was a better He
brew scholar than himself. Before this time the
acquaintanceship had been of that distant nature
which is based upon accidental meeting. The dis
covery changed their relations. Together from that
time on they would discuss the history laws, and
religion of the Jews, the oppressions of the Chosen
People in European lands, their treatment under the
Inquisition, and the vast range of subjects which

2438 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

are connected with the records of that deathless race.
Ere long Solomon perceiving Madison's pecuniary dis
tress, offered him money. The latter thanked him
and declined to accept the loan. But the good Jew
would not be put off. He insisted upon it, and Madi
son was obliged to yield. That day, tradition says,
he had the first good meal which had passed his lips
for several months. Solomon's delicacy was admir
able. He knew that his learned friend was supposed
to be paid by the State of Virginia and through some
correspondent he kept a friendly eye upon the treas
ury of that Commonwealth. In this way he knew
the condition of his friend's pocket as well as Madi
son himself, and during the long months, he kept
Madison supplied with enough money for all his
wants.

At one time Madison owed him $600. When it
came to repayment the former insisted upon paying
interest on the loans, but the generous Israelite ut
terly refused to accept anything but the face of the
debt declaring it not a matter of business but merely
of friendship between two men. On one occasion
Madison left a handsome sum as interest in an enve
lope upon his friend's desk, yet when he reached his
rooms he was overtaken by a messenger from Solo
mon returning the envelope, and with it a bottle of
wine.

Up to 1784 his work had been constructive and col
lective. He had been one of a large number who had
worked together. It is true that he had been one of
the most efficient and intelligent, but the difference
between him and his colleagues had been inconsider
able. In this year, he was elected to Virginia legis
lature, and the question of religious liberty came up
in the form of a measure to impose a tax for the
support of teachers of the Christian religion. The
measure had been drawn by the clerical leaders of the

THE BUILDERS OF THE EEPUBLIC 2439

Commonwealth, and upon the face of the law seemed
wise and beneficent. But Madison saw at a glance
the danger which lurked beneath. He was almost
the only member of the Assembly to oppose the bill,
and the sponsors of the measure congratulated them
selves upon the weakness of the opposition. He made
so vigorous a fight that ere long the consideration of
the measure was postponed to the next session of
the legislature. This was all Madison desired. He
wrote one of the great political essays of American
literature "The Memorial and Remonstrance," and
sent it all over Virginia for signatures. He spoke
and wrote so well, and carried on so vigorous a cam
paign, that at the following election religious free
dom became a test question. The bill came up before
the next Assembly and was defeated forever. In its
place, Madison's own measure was passed which read
"No man shall be compelled to frequent or support
any religious worship, place or ministry whatever,
nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested or burden
ed in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer
on account of his religious opinions or belief; but
that all men shall be free to profess, and by aigument
maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and
that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge or
affect their civil capacities."

In 1785 and 1786, he was one of the great leaders
in the fight against paper money. The country
seems to have gone crazy over flat currency, and
there was danger that the craze would sweep away
all financial foundations.

In 1786, he drew the resolutions which brought
about the Annapolis Convention. This body met,
five States, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New
Jersey and New York being represented. So little
was the interest of the country at large in the mat
ter, that the Convention was scarcely noticed. Mary-

2440 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION

land, which had suggested the proposition in the be
ginning, neglected to send delegates, although the
meeting place was appointed within her own bor
ders. Yet this Convention was the embryo out of
which sprang the Constitutional Convention of the
following year. Among the great figures at Anna
polis were James Madison and Alexander Hamilton.
Here, Hamilton wrote his famous address which was
adopted by the Convention, urging upon the people
the necessity of a Union rather than a Confederacy.

During all these years Madison's voracious reading
habits continued. The man seemed determined to
know everything there was to be known. He was in
touch with zoology, botany, mechanics, archeology,
and geography. His mind had become a vast treas
ury of facts. It may be noticed however, that he
was either deficient in the scientific tendencies or else
that his mode of work had strengthened his memory
at the expense of his other faculties. Thus he ridi
culed geology, and tried to explain strata by the
funny assumption "that rock grows in layers in
every direction as the branches of trees grow in all
directions?" As to fossils and paleolithic remains,
he dismissed the matter by the hypothesis that the
Greater "created the earth at once nearly in the state
in which we see it, fit for the preservation of the be
ings he placed on it."

To the great Constitutional Convention of 1787,
Virginia sent a noble delegation, which included
George Washington and James Madison. The body
promptly made the former its president, and opened
the proceedings which were to make or unmake a
continent. The credit of the Convention and the
Constitution is due of course to the one hundred and
sixty-nine men who made the organic law of the land.
If among the individual members any two are to be
singled out, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton

fTHE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2441

undoubtedly deserve signal credit. The Constitution
was an untried experiment and encountered bitter
opposition above all from true patriots who regarded
it as the opening wedge of monarchy. In the Con
vention itself the measure was carried only by a
vote of eighty-nine to seventy-nine.

The battle was but begun. The defeated minority
returned to its respective States to carry on a bitter
war against the adoption of the instrument. Vir
ginia went Anti-Federalist, and under the leadership
of Patrick Henry, named Richard Henry Lee and
William Grayson, both Anti-Federalists, as nominees
for the United States Senate. Henry singled Madi
son out as the one man who should not represent the
Commonwealth. The strongest efforts were made
to keep the great statesman from the House, the op
position even changing the districts to prevent his
being chosen by the people. But the great common
people rallied to him, and he was returned to the
First Congress under the Constitution. While there,
he offered twelve amendments to the Constitution, of
which the first ten were duly adopted.

Now began the changing of old party lines and the
forming of new ones. Heretofore the struggle had
been between the Federalists and the Anti-Federal
ists, the former had won the day, and the Constitu
tion which the latter had fought so fiercely had be
come the basis of the American nation. There was
no raison d'etre, for the party and its passed away
to the limbo of Whig and Tory. Against the Feder
alist party now rose up the Republican. This be
lieved with its rival in a strong government ; unlike
its rival it had a profound faith in the common peo
ple. Madison belonged to the latter class. He had
been a Federalist because he recognized the necessity
of a strong central government. He became a Re
publican because he believed in the American citizen.

2442 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

In 1801, Jefferson appointed him Secretary of
State, which marks the second chapter in the latter*s
care ,r. To the student of history it was less suc
cessful than the first. As a legislator of both State
and nation, Madison was one of the greatest intel
lects the country has seen, but when it came to the
world of executive action, he did not rise equal to the
occasion. It was a time for men of action and not
of wisdom, for the soldier and the diplomat and not
the reformer and scholar.

At the expiration of Jefferson's second term, Madi
son was elected President of the United States. His
administration was weak and colorless. The war of
1811-1812 restored his popularity and re-elected
him. In spite of the navy's noble record on the sea
his second term cannot be praised nor admired. The
entire management of affairs was feeble and spirit
less. The nation at the time needed a man of milit
ant if not military characteristics, while Madison was
essentially a man of peace. At the close of his sec
ond term, in 1817, he retired to private life at Mont-
pelier, Va., where he spent twenty quiet and delight
ful years. Fortune favored him in the lottery of
marriage. His wife was Dorothy Payne Todd, a
widow of extraordinary beauty and accomplishments.
Her husband, John Todd, died in the yellow fever
epidemic of 1793, and in September of the following
year she married the Virginia statesman. Their
married life lasted forty-two years, and was cloudless
in its happiness. She was known in Washington so
ciety as "Dolly Madison," and was justly the most
popular woman of her time.

James Madison will be remembered not as Presi
dent nor as Secretary of State, but as a high-minded
and statesmanlike legislator, a political reformer of
the best type, and a father of the Federal Constitu
tion. In each of these characters he is a command-

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2443

ing and even magnificent figure. In addition to the
charms of intellect he was marked by a personal recti
tude so rare as to be memorable. Among the build
ers of the Republic his name will go down with those
of Jefferson, Hamilton, Franklin and Jay.

PATRICK HENRY
Born, May 29, 1736; Died, June 6, 1799.

Who in contemplating a chrysalis can descry be
neath its uncouth exterior, the matchless beauty of
the butterfly, or" who seeing an idle poet, dreamer
and musician, can conceive of his evolving into one
of the great orators and statesmen of the world?
The mysteries of physical life are insignificant be
side those which belong to the development of the
human soul. The dreamer who became a statesman,
the idle fiddler who made himself the peer of De
mosthenes, was Patrick Henry, a Virginian of Scotch
and English ancestry.

His parents were fairly well to do. His home was
marked by comfort, intelligence and affection. Ear
ly in boyhood he went to school, where he learned
the three R's and displayed a rare talent for indo
lence and geniality. At the age of ten he entered
the grammar school kept by his own father, and be
gan the classical education of that time. Despite
parental advice, entreaty and punishment, the youth
was incorrigibly idle. He was an affectionate and
lovable boy, who had no faults excepting that he
would not study. In the morning, he was the soul
of courtesy, and did everything a boy could do to
make himself useful to father, mother, brothers and
sisters, but when the school-hour arrived, he had
invariably vanished. Sometimes it was shooting,
sometimes fishing, and sometimes wild flowers,
which engrossed his day. Mischief had no charm

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2445

for him, neither did he desire the companionship of
playmates. According to his own family, he simply
loved idleness for its own sake. Up to the attain
ment of manhood's estate he was an insignificant
member of the community, if not a nonentity. His
features, though good, were coarse and sunburned;
his manners awkward; his conversation plain and
uninteresting. To all who knew him, he seemed a
creature whom nature intended for a solitary deni
zen of the wilderness, scarcely any higher than the
wild animals among which he loved to live rather
than a leader among men.

Parental love is very patient, but has its limits.
When his son was fifteen, the father gave him up
as hopeless, so far as mentality was concerned, and
put him to work as an errand boy in a country store.
Here he displayed a dull slowness worthy of the pro
verbial district telegraph messenger. Nevertheless,
though apathetic and lazy to the last degree, he was
honest, truthful and courteous.

His slowness must have been phenomenal, because
it disgusted the easy going country store-keeper.
There was no other store to go to, and so his father
started him and his brother William in business on a
very small scale. The young firm must have been
a source of infinite merriment to the neighbors in
Studley, Va. William was not quite so indolent as
Patrick, but on the other hand he was wild and dis
sipated. The store experiment lasted one year. Its
chief use to Henry was that it gave him leisure,
which he devoted to his violin and to reading. The
young man's moral sense prevented his leaving the
counter to go fishing and shooting, and to kill time
he began the use of books. This at the beginning
was a lazy man's dernier resort. To his surprise
he found that he enjoyed reading and ere long he
had become more or less of a bookworm.

2446 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

While head over heels in debt, and with no means
of livelihood, he fell in love with Miss Sarah Shelton,
the pretty daughter of a poor farmer in the neigh
borhood. With utter disregard of all prudence,
the young woman, who appeared to be as improvi
dent as himself, was married to him when he was
eighteen. The families of the happy pair united in
settling them on a small farm. Here the future
orator digged and delved in ragged clothes, depend
ing at times upon the kitchen of either mother or
mother-in-law for his next meal. But it never dis
turbed the serenity of his soul or his wife's. When
they had only corn meal and smoked bacon at their
house, the wife would cook while Henry read poetry
to her or played the violin. When the meal was in
sufficient, he would eke it out with a kiss and an em
brace. His sunny nature made his poor hovel a
little heaven for its inmates. Two years he devoted
to husbandry, and its only reward were a very sun
burned face and calloused hands as hard as the
shovel-handle which they daily plied.

Again he tried shop-keeping, and again ruin was
the result of his efforts. He had no brother as part
ner to worry him, and so had more time for himself.
He now added the flute to the violin, and when he
was too poor to afford a candle in the night time
would play in the dark, making believe that he was
serenading his wife. Another new joy was to lock
up the store and take her out with him to the river
and teach her how to fish. But through his play-
fullness and nonsense, a serious strain was making
itself manifest. Knowledge began to appeal to him.
Realizing his utter ignorance, he began to study the
great master works of antiquity. Incidentally he
became a graceful and accomplished dancer. Jef
ferson, who met him at this period, speaks of him

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2447

pleasantly, and sums him up by saying that "his pas
sion was music, dancing and pleasantry."

Having failed in every calling he had tried, Henry
now determined to take up one which is supposed to
demand the hardest study of all. He announced his
determination to study law. It made no difference
to him that he was penniless, and that several years
of hard reading ought to precede admission to the
bar. To him life was a royal comedy, and the legal
profession a delightful joke. He borrowed a copy
of Coke upon Littleton, and a few volumes of sta
tutes, which he read assiduously for six weeks.
With smiling imperturbability, he presented himself
for examination. But for his delightful personality,
he would have been rejected forthwith. But even
then he seems to have possessed a personal mag
netism that won men's hearts. With two of the ex
aminers he had no trouble. They signed his certifi
cate, which under the court rule of that day admit
ted him to the bar, but this did not satisfy him. He
wanted that of the gravest and severest of the ex
aminers, a Mr. Randolph. The latter was a courtly
advocate, whose manners, wig, costume, buckled
shoes and silk stockings were models of the highest
elegance. His feelings may be imagined, when
Henry appeared before him. The would-be lawyer's
hair was a mere shock; his hands and face were
red like those of a farm laborer; his clothes seedy
and even soiled, and his manners were to put it mild
ly breezy in the extreme.

The legal examination passed into a discussion,
where, to the elder man's surprise, Henry proved
himself a brilliant thinker and fascinating talker.
So far as it is known this was the first exhibition of
that intellectual and passionate eloquence which
were to make their owner immortal. Randolph

2448 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

signed the certificate, and from that time on was
an admirer of the extraordinary young lawyer. He
was thus launched at the bar, knowing probably less
of law and practice than any office boy in Virginia.
But something within the man had changed. His
constitutional indolence had vanished. He studied,
attended to what business he had, and in the eve
ning aided his father-in-law in the conduct of the
tavern, which the latter owned. In the tap room of
the establishment he soon was conspicuous for two
reasons, the one was his abstemiousness from drink
ing, and the other his fascination as a conversation
alist.

In 1763, Henry, who was unknown outside of
Hanover, where he was practicing law, was retained
in what is known as, "The Parson Cause" or the
"Tobacco Tithing Case." Far back in the seven
teenth century a law had been passed imposing a tax
upon the community whereby the taxpayers of each
parish were obliged to supply the parish minister
with an annual stipend of sixteen thousand pounds
of tobacco. The law was passed at the time when
tobacco was a currency and money was exceedingly
scarce. With the progress of the colony, the tax
had been scaled and converted into a pecuniary im
post upon the basis of two pence a pound. When in
1755, there was a very bad harvest and tobacco ad
vanced in price, the legislature passed a law whereby
a planter had the legal option between delivering
the leaf or paying cash at two pence a pound. In
1758 a similar law was passed, but this one did not
receive the royal assent. The price of the tobacco
soon rose thereafter more than three hundred per
cent. The clergy, desirous of getting the full bene
fit of the rise in prices, brought suit, and Henry was
retained in a small case upon the opposite side.

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2449

When he began the defense he was an obscure and
even unknown solicitor ; yet the astonishing brillian
cy of his work, and the wonderful eloquence of his
speech, not alone won what was considered a hope
less case, but also made him famous throughout the
Commonwealth. In the morning he had been a poor
man burdened with debt. When the case was closed
he received enough retainers to pay off most of his
debts and support him for a year. Before the
month had gone by he had been engaged in all the
tobacco-tax cases throughout Virginia.

His eloquence was and even is to-day a mystery.
His education had amounted to almost nothing, and
his little reading had been legal and historical. Prior
to that time his voice had been poor, his gesture
awkward, and his carriage ungraceful. No one had
ever trained him in speaking, nor had he ever had
an opportunity to study the art of the debater or
the elocutionist. Yet in this old court house, with
out a warning, he had suddenly displayed the best
qualities of a dozen schools of speaking, using hu
mor, sentiment, pathos, satire, dramatic climax, log
ic, antithesis, simile, metaphor, apostrophe, involved
and terrific parallels and diamond-cut epigrams.
The lazy fiddler, the jocular good-fellow, the serene
shopkeeper and the poor practitioner, had fallen
away from the man, like so many invisible gar
ments, and there had appeared the greatest orator
Virginia had ever known. It was more than a seven
days' wonder. It seemed almost a miracle. There
was an element too in his speech which appealed to
all hearts. The necessities of the suit brought out
a defense of the people against the Throne, and an
advocacy of popular against feudal, royal and spec
ial rights and privileges.

Virginia had at that time a caste system base4

2450 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

upon primogeniture and entail, which had already
brought about social inequality and unpleasant dis
tinctions. There was a landed aristocracy and an
ecclesiastical aristocracy, both small and exclusive,
and monopolizing largely the offices and honors of
the colony. Below these were various classes who
numerically were nine-tenths of the population.
Probably Henry did not have these facts in his mind
when he spoke, but they 'must have colored his
thought and increased the earnestness and intensity
with which he defended what he was pleased to term
the "majesty of the people." His strong language
touched the hearts of the hearers in more ways than
one. Directly it referred merely to the case at is
sue; indirectly it applied to nine out of every ten
men in that opulent colony.

Now that fortune had begun to favor him he
avoided the goddess as before. His prosperity en
abled him to buy better guns and fishing rods, to
own a horse and to spend two or three days in the
woods, where before he had spent an afternoon. In
May, 1765, Henry was elected to the House of Bur
gesses. This body contained many men of the high
est distinction, including John Robinson, Attorney-
General Peyton Randolph, Richard Bland, Edmund
Pendleton, George Wythe and Richard Henry Lee.
His entrance into political life was not cordially re
ceived by the aristocratic leaders of the time. His
dress was plain almost to poverty; he despised the
wigs, powder, patches and luxurious raiment so com
mon in those days, and either from deliberate pur
pose or from old habit, employed both the slang and
the vulgar pronunciation of his district. These in
curred the ridicule and contempt of the aristocracy.

Yet they admired his superb brain power and elo
quence. Admiration was succeeded by fear. They

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2451

realized that he represented the common people, who
were a great majority, and that he possessed the
ability to weld them into a compact body and wrest
from the old time leaders the reins of government.
On the other hand the people who had always admir
ed him were beginning to love him. They realized
in a vague way that his faults were their faults;
his improvidence their improvidence; his shiftless
habits their shiftless habits, and his folly their fol
ly. They saw clearly that he owned what they did
not, an intellect so powerful, and an eloquence so po
tent, as to make all other leaders seem small beside
him in the arena.

Between these antagonistic forces a conflict was
inevitable, and it came soon after his election and
when he was just twenty-nine years of age. The
Stamp Act had been passed and the English Colonies
were excitedly discussing the measure. In Virginia
the aristocratic leaders refused to commit them
selves, many of them favoring it, but all of them
preserving a discreet silence. Henry waited to see
if some older member would introduce the matter,
and finding that none had either the ability or cour
age to take up the task, became himself the leader
of the people. He drew a set of five resolutions, in
which he took strong ground for freedom, holding
that the settlers of Virginia had brought to the New
World the privileges, franchises and immunities
they had enjoyed at home ; that the Charters of
King James had practically made invested rights;
that only the people could tax themselves ; that Par
liament had no right to tax the people ; that only the
Assembly of the Colony had the right to tax, and
that any attempt by the British Crown to usurp this
right was a blow at freedom.

The resolutions fairly startled the staid House of

2452 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

Burgesses. The old leaders could hardly trust their
ears. They had believed up to that time that they
held the initiative in the legislature, and that beyond
this the body was loyal and obedient to the king.
The resolutions themselves were revolutionary ; they
came from the youngest member of the House, with
whom they were not on speaking terms, and more
monstrous still, they emanated from a man who rep
resented the mob. The reception accorded the read
ing showed them that there was danger in the air.
With gallantry and trained skill they took up the
gauntlet which Henry had thrown down, fought him
in a debate whose dignity and force had never been
surpassed in the history of the Commonwealth.
Randolph, Bland, Pendleton, Wythe, and all the aris-
tocrasts opposed the resolutions to the best of their
ability. But their argument proved unsuccessful
against Henry's impetuous eloquence. When it
came to a vote all five resolutions were carried, the
last by a majority of ono.

Henry's speech and the action of the legislature
were soon known to every patriot in the Thirteen
Colonies. The news strengthened the weak and
timid and revived those of fainting hearts. It dis
couraged the Tories everywhere, and alarmed the
aristocratic leaders, more especially of Virginia.
Above all it made Patrick Henry the idol of the com
mon people, who from that time on for thirty years
viewed him as tKeir own personal representative.

Law and politics saw Henry's sphere enlarge
steadily. He became the great criminal lawyer of
the State, and the popular leader of the. House of
Burgesses. The increasing tyranny of the British
government was slowly antagonizing the old aristo
cratic leaders and driving them into the arms of
Henry's party. New men were coming into power

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2453

and they belonged to the latter's school of thought.
This is illustrated by an incident in the legislature
of 1773, when Dabney Carr, a correspondent of Sam
uel Adams, moved the appointment of a committee
of correspondence with the other Colonies for the
protection and welfare of the people. It consisted
of eleven persons, Randolph, Bland, Lee, Pendleton,
Henry, Carr, Jefferson, Gary, Digges, Harrison, and
Nicholas. The motion was carried, and as if to
show how times had changed the two great voices
raised in favor were those of Patrick Henry and
Richard Henry Lee.

Events began to move swiftly. On May 24, 1774,
the House of Burgesses passed an order setting
aside the first day of June as a day of fasting, hu
miliation and prayer on account of the hostile in
vasion of the City of Boston by an armed force.
The next day Governor Dunmore dissolved the
House, whereupon the members withdrew to the Ra
leigh Tavern, where they organized an association
and passed resolutions denouncing the port bill and
other acts of Parliament, declaring that an attack
upon one Colony was an attack upon all, and recom
mending the clling of a "general Congress to meet
annually and to deliberate on those general mea
sures which the united interests of America may
from time to time require."

Political machinery was set moving in all the
counties which elected delegates to meet in Will-
iamsburg the first of August and there appoint depu
ties to the General Congress. The Williamsburg
meeting came off enthusiastically, and the delegates
appointed as deputies to Congress, Peyton Randolph,
Richard Henry Lee, George Washington, Patrick
Henry, Richard Bland, Benjamin Harrison, and Ed
mund Pendleton.

2454 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

At the First Continental Congress Henry pro
nounced one of the great orations of the world. It
was in this body that his limitations became pain
fully manifest. He was by all odds the great speak
er of that assemblage, but he was one of its poorest
writers and most inefficient committeemen.

Congress adjourned in October, and Henry return
ed to Virginia. The following March the conven
tion of delegates from the Virginia counties and
corporations met for the second time. Everybody
was conscious of the struggle going on, and all had
come prepared to play his part in the political drama
now unfolding. The proceedings began very mildly
as had been desired, and perhaps planned by the
Royalists and the peace-at-any-price advocates.
Things seemed to be going in a laissez-faire way
when Henry rose and moved the famous resolutions,
recommending militia to take the place of the Brit
ish standing army and garrisons for the securing of
American rights and liberties, and urging that the
Colony be put into a state of defense and a commit
tee appointed to carry this into action. The propo
sition was almost tantamount to a declaration of
war. It was the boldest act which had yet been
taken on the American Continent. It was a bugle
blast to the bold and a menace to the Crown. It
aroused the antagonism of the Tories, and through
what they regarded as impolicy the opposition of
such patriots as Bland, Harrison and Pendleton.
There was a fierce debate in which every argument
was employed against the resolutions, and when the
opponents of the measure had finished it looked as
if Virginia would continue to bear the ills she had,
rather than fly to others that she knew not of. All
eyes were now turned to Henry, who rose, calm,
collected, but so intensely earnest that the suspense
manifested by all present became painful. As he

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2455

drew himself back to begin speaking, the voices of
children playing in the street could be heard, and the
notes of birds in the eaves of the building. Then
from his lips came one of the greatest speeches he
had ever delivered, and one of the most masterly
the world has ever heard. At last he reached the
peroration.

"It is vain, Sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentle
men may cry peace, peace — but there is no peace.
The war is actually begun. The next gale that
sweeps from the North will bring to our ears the
clash of resounding arms. Our brethren are al
ready in the field. Why stand we here idle ? What
is it that gentlemen wish ? What would they have ?
Is life so dear or peace so sweet, as to be purchased
at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Al
mighty God — I know not what course others may
take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me
death."

As he closed there was a sigh, a gasp, but no ap
plause. The speech was the mausoleum of the op
position. The resolutions were adopted, and the
Committee of twelve appointed, the Chairman being
Patrick Henry, and his lieutenants, George Wash
ington, Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, Ben
jamin Harrison and Edmund Pendleton. The plan
for arming the colony was drawn and adopted.

Governor Dunmore of Virginia now followed the
example of Governor Gage of Massachusetts, seizing
twenty barrels of gunpowder in the city of Williams-
burg, which he placed on board of an armed schoon
er. Everybody was at sea and knew not what to do,
everybody excepting Patrick Henry. At his own
expense, he sent men on horseback to the members
of the Hanover Independent Company, asking them
to meet him in arms at Newcastle on May 2nd, on
business of the highest importance to American lib-

2456 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

!

erty. He also invited the County Committee and
every patriot he knew within twenty-five miles.
They met him and he spoke as only Henry could
speak. The meeting went wild. Captain Meredith
of the Company resigned his commission in Henry's
favor, who was immediately and unanimously elect
ed commander of the Volunteers. Captain Henry,
for such he was now, immediately marched upon
Williamsburg. As he and his soldiers advanced
armed men from every quarter on foot and on horse
back joined the ranks. Ere the destination was
reached at least five thousand riflemen were togeth
er. Many patriots frightened at Henry's boldness
begged him to desist, but in vain. The Governor
fumed and fulminated, but at the last hour his cour
age weakened and he caused a messenger to meet
Captain Henry with a bill of exchange for the
amount of the powder at Henry's own valuation.
Henry accepted the bill and gave the following ex
traordinary receipt :

"Received from the Hon. Richard Corbin, Esq.,
his Majesty's Receiver General 3301 as a compensa
tion for his gunpowder lately taken out of the public
magazine by the governor's order; which money I
promise to convey to the Virginia delegates at the
General Congress to be under their direction, laid
out in gunpowder for the Colony's use, and to be
stored as they shall direct, until the next Colony con
vention, or General Assembly, unless it shall be nec
essary, in the meantime to use the same in defense
of the Colony. It is agreed that in case the next
convention shall determine that any part of the said
money ought to be returned to His Majesty's said
Receiver General that the same shall be done accord
ingly."

In July, 1775, the Colonial convention met at Rich
mond and began the organization of its army. To

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2457

Henry, they paid the graceful compliment of elect
ing him Colonel of the First regiment and Command
er of all the forces raised and to be raised for the
Colony.

In 1776, Virginia elected Henry its first Governor.
There was but one ballot, he receiving sixty out of
one hundred and six votes. In 1778, he was re-elect
ed unanimously. In 1779 he was again elected, and
although he might have held the office on excellent
technical grounds, he refused to serve, as in his be
lief the Constitution made him ineligible for another
term.

1780 saw him back in the Assembly hard at work
for the cause of the Colonies. After the Revolution
he again became Governor of his State for two
terms, and was elected for a third, but declined to
serve.

In 1794, he was made United States Senator,
where he served with his usual distinction. Honors
were offered to him lavishly, but were not accepted
on account of the conscientious scruples in regard to
all political measures. Washington proffered to him
the Secretaryship of State, and afterwards the Chief
Justiceship, and Adams nominated him as Special
Minister to France.

In middle life, after the death of his first wife, he
married Dorothea Spotswood Landridge. By the
former there were six and by the latter nine child
ren.

Patrick Henry's place in American history is that
of a personality of transcendent influence. Of the
individuals who brought about the war of the Revo
lution, he and Samuel Adams may be regarded as
the leaders. In fiery patriotism, and absolute dis
regard for consequences, he was a Prince Rupert
among the Builders of the Republic. No statesman,
politician nor executive was he, but a poet, a hero,

2458 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

and an orator. The United States, through its sys
tem of representative government, has developed
oratory to a greater degree than any country of the
world, and has produced probably more men of elo
quence than any other nation. In the long roll of
eminent American speakers, two tower over all the
rest, Patrick Henry in the eighteenth and Daniel
Webster in the nineteenth century. So long as elo
quence moves the human heart, and patriotism ap
peals to the nobler qualities of the human character,
just that long will Patrick Henry wear the laurels
of immortality.

HENRY KNOX

Born, July 25, 1750; Died, October 25, 1806.

Personality and fame are related in a manner in
explicable to the student. Of two men, who play un
usual parts in a great political crisis the smaller and
less worthy is often put upon a far higher pedestal
than the other. Yet the injustice is not permanent.
Time, which tries all things, imperceptibly gives the
larger place to the larger man. This has been the
lot of General Henry Knox, Chief of the Artillery in
the Revolution, First Secretary of War under the
Confederation and the Federal Constitution, and all
his life a patriot of the highest distinction. Seem
ingly forgotten by the first half of the nineteenth
century, or moved aside to make way for less signi
ficant men, he is again resuming the high place which
he occupied in the dark days when the Republic was
being born.

He came of a race which has long been Scotland's
glory. A branch of it migrated in the eighteenth
century to the north of Ireland, which during the
days of the great eviction sent many of its most
stalwart sons across the ocean to the New World,
where they hoped to found a new Scotland free from
the evils and abuses of the old.

Among these immigrants was William Knox, a
ship builder, who settled in Boston, and established
there a good business. Of ten sons, Henry, the
seventh, was to make the family name as loved and
respected in the Colonies as John the great theolo
gian had done in Scotland. No better type of an

2460 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

American school boy can be found in our annals than
this young Bostonian. In sport and study, in af
fection and courtesy, in intelligence and ambition,
he displayed all the promise of a noble and well
rounded manhood. At the age of thirteen, when he
was in the graduating class of the Boston grammar
school, his father died, leaving practically no estate
for the widow and children. Henry promptly left
school and looked for employment. His quest was
rewarded in a few days by his becoming an errand
boy and clerk in the book store of Wharton & Bowes,
Cornhill, Boston. Fortunately for the youth his em
ployers, though strict men of business, believed in
the excellent theory more prevalent then than now
that an employer had a duty in regard to the physi
cal, mental and moral welfare of a clerk. When
labor was slack and the store quiet, they encouraged
the clerk to read and study, pointing out the lines
most advantageous for a boy's career. They permit
ted the carrying of books to the boy's home, and
acquiesced in all matters where they had authority,
when they believed it to be for his well-being. These
seven years were a liberal education to the appren
tice. As time passed on he became acquainted with
the patrons of the book store, among whom were the
cultured members of the community.

Although a hard student, he never lost his interest
in open air sports and was a leader in the games and
amusements of the Boston apprentices of the time.
Sunny and genial, he was at the same time combative
and even pugilistic. For at least three years he was
the champion of his neighborhood, and was called
upon frequently to uphold with his fists the glory
and honor of his crowd. In these encounters he usu
ally came out first, and by degrees acquired a reputa
tion as a skillful fighter in mimic war, and a delight
ful companion in peace. When twenty years of age,

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2461

he took part in the bloody affray known as the Bos
ton massacre. Here he endeavored to stop the riot
ing, and risked his life in his attempt to prevent an
armed conflict, and when this had taken place to
bring it to an end as speedily as possible.

The following year (1771) he opened a little shop
of his own which he called the "London Book Store."
Many of his invoices have been preserved and throw
an interesting light upon the literary tastes of that
period as well as upon the good judgment of the
young bookseller. Upon his shelves were works on
law, medicine, theology, politics, history, and philo
sophy. There were volumes of sermons by famous
divines, and a large assortment of fiction. The nov
elists then in vogue were Smollett, Fielding, Richard
son, Sterne, Swift, Goldsmith, and De Foe. Voltaire,
Cervantes, Baxter, Rochester, and Paley had each
his own set of readers. Many entries of school and
college books evidence that young Knox had secured
contracts with the educational establishments in
Massachusetts. The little stationery department
grew along lines that seem somewhat odd to a mod
ern reader. Besides paper, ink, quills, sand-boxes,
shot-cups, sealing wax and the other paraphernalia
of the old-time desk, were to be found bread-baskets,
paper-baskets, German flutes, English fifes, tele
scopes, protractors, dividers, ruling pens, paper
hangings, moguls, and standishes.

The business methods of his time were improved
by the young merchant who established an exchange
system with booksellers in other cities, and who also
anticipated in a vague way the present installment
plan of selling books by disposing of his goods on
long terms of credit.

Under these auspices, his shop became popular and
was frequented by the "quality" of Boston. Harri
son Grey Otis said, "it was a store of great display

2462 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

and attraction for young and old and a fashionable
morning lounge."

Knox appealed to youth as well as to cultured age.
He was exceedingly comely, and possessed a lightness
and grace more like that of a Frenchman than a staid
New Englander. The fashionable young maidens of
the city took to him, and by their presence made his
store all the more attractive to the young men of the
place. Among these fair patrons was Miss Lucy
Flucker, a Tory bell, who won his heart and lost her
own. The acquaintanceship formed over the books
and the counter deepened into love and ripened into
marriage. The attachment was a strong one, be
cause the union occurred against the fierce protests
of the girPs kindred, all of whom were staunch loy
alists. Business duties did not prevent the young
man from looking after his physical welfare. He
rowed, shot, and walked whenever he had the oppor
tunity, and seems to have been a skillful angler and
hunter.

When the Anti-Consumption League was estab
lished in New England as a retaliatory measure
against the Boston Port Bill, Knox became an earn
est member, although he realized that it meant the
ruin of his business, if not his bankruptcy. Books
and stationery were luxuries, rather than necessities
in those days, and were almost exclusively of foreign
make. They came to Boston in English ships from
English merchants in London, and they were the
first to be affected by the action of the Anti-Consum
ers. During these stirring times the young man
cast discretion to the winds, and was an open and
ardent advocate of Colonial rights. The moment
the nucleus of the Colonial army began to form, he
left his store to the care of his brother William and
went to the front, where he had a hearty welcome
from all who knew him.

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2463

As early as 1768, he had joined an artillery com
pany, known as "The Train." There were unique
social distinctions in these years which went down
even into the military and militia services. Conser
vative young men and those of middle age, belonged
to "The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company ;"
the young bloods of the city to the "Governor's
Guards." Those who wanted to master the science
of war joined "The Train," whose commander was
a notoriously strict drill-master. During the four
years that Knox served in this organization, he
learned nearly all that was taught at that time.
Gunnery, field work, and entrenching were the regu
lar curriculum. In addition to this was the making
of fascines, chevaux de frise, and other martial de
fenses. The artilleryman was instructed in the use
of the sword, musket, and bayonet so that his educa
tion was much more extensive and thorough than
that of the infantry soldier or cavalryman. ^

In 1772, a number of ambitious members of "The
Train" formed a new organization styled "The Bos
ton Grenadier Corps." It was commanded by Cap
tain Joseph Pierce, and Knox, now twenty-two years
of age, was lieutenant. The new company was really
the pick of the old. The members were not only
more ambitious but better off. They signaled their
advent by an unusually handsome uniform and from
the first were pronounced the best drilled company
in the New England militia. Either deliberately or
accidentally there were no small men in the ranks,
the shortest being five feet ten and the tallest six
feet two inches. The average member was two
inches taller than that of the other militia companies
and six inches taller than the British regular. So
fine and martial an appearance did the Grenadiers
make that they won the cordial praise of the British
officers stationed in Boston.

2464 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

Even before he left the city to join the Colonial
army, Knox had become recognized as a "rebel." It
was under these auspices that his love affair culmin
ated in marriage. The congratulations showered
upon bride and groom were somewhat dampened by
political conditions. The girl's family feared that
her husband would meet with a traitor's death, and
she herself must have been grieved by the fact that
while her husband was a rebel her only brother, a
lieutenant in the British Army might be called upon
to oppose him in the arena of war. The Fluckers
admired the young man in spite of his rebellious pro
clivities. They thought that his attitude was inspir
ed by military ambition rather than by any political
chimera, as they regarded the Colonial demands, and
secured for him the offer of a commission as lieuten
ant and thereafter as captain in the British Army.
Knox thanked them and refused to accept anything
from the Crown. His attitude was the same as that
of a score of other great patriots in Boston at the
time, and was unlike those of the many time servers,
who shouted liberty one day and took office with a
fat salary the next.

In addition to his business duties, military work
and patriotic activity, Knox found time to aid the
Colonial cause in other ways. Governor Gage had
started a system of espionage and surveillance upon
all suspected rebels, in which category was the young
bookseller. He was so open in his demeanor that he
received the high compliment of being one of the
first patriots who was forbidden to leave Boston.
With certain grim humor, he determined to give a
Roland for an Oliver, and with a group of patriots
established a counter espionage upon the officials and
their spies. With him in this work was his friend
Paul Revere the engraver.

At the time Revere was not suspected, and on ac-

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2465

count of his business relations with Knox could come
and go from the latter's store without arousing sus
picion. He took the precaution however, always to
bring a plate when he visited the bookseller, and if
there were any spies or British officers about, to have
a make-believe quarrel in regard to imaginary work.
Time and again when they had the wrong kind of an
audience, he would denounce Knox at the top of his
lungs, and Knox would give as good as he received,
until they were alone. They carried out this comedy
so successfully that on several occasions Revere was
asked by British spies for information respecting the
rebel bookseller.

Thus far only men of importance from an official
point of view had been forbidden to leave Boston.
Knox foreseeing the coming storm had encouraged
the departure of all patriots, especially those who
could bear arms. Judging from the old roster roll,
he must have been a prime factor in the causes which
led to nine-tenths of the Grenadier Corps leaving the
city and joining the Colonial forces outside. Several
months elapsed before the defection aroused any
alarm in Governor Gage and his cabinet. One day a
Tory leader realized that nearly all the Colonial sym-
phathizers had left the city, and that the population
was now practically nothing but loyalists and loyal
troops. Gage thereupon issued an order in council
prohibiting all migration. Those who had gone had
carried with them fire arms and munitions of war.
The amount they carried was of course small, but
rumor magnified it from day to day until the Tories
became panic stricken at the idea of huge magazines
intended for their destruction being established at
points comparatively near to the city. It was this
fear which induced Gage to send Percy's expedition
out in March, 1775, to find where the magazines were
located and how large were the forces of the rebels

2466 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

around Jamaica Plains, and a larger expedition to
Concord the following month. The departure of
both detachments was reported in time to the Colon
ials, through the well organized system of which
Paul Revere was the head, and Knox and other active
workers. The second expedition began the revolu
tion.

The day after the battle of Concord, Knox and his
wife left Boston for the patriot army. The sword
which he had worn in the Grenadier Corps was sewed
up in the quilted lining of his wife's cloak. No sold
ier ever had a more martial bride. In spite of her
family and the loss of everything dear to woman's
heart, she was as resolute and fearless as her hus
band.

Knox's experience and skill now brought him into
rapid prominence. Although he refused a commis
sion from General Artemus Ward when he joined the
Patriot Army, he nevertheless rose from the ranks
into command as the days passed by. When the
besieging works around Boston were started his was
the master mind that designed them and carried
them into execution.

In June, the Continental Congress made Washing
ton the Commander in chief of the Army, and Ward,
Lee, Schuyler and Putnam, Major-generals. Knox,
who seems to have had no ambition but to fight,
made no effort for a commission, or for promotion.
He was therefore surprised and delighted when in
July, Washington inspected the fortifications and
praised him more highly than had ever been done be
fore. The great commander recognized the sterling
manhood in the young engineer and formed for him
at that time a friendship and affection which was to
last as long as life. In a short time, social relations
had opened between them and we find both Knox and
his wife dining with Washington. Knox kept busy

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2467

at his work, of which the credit was taken apparent
ly by the officers above him.

Merit will not stay down. In November, Wash
ington wrote to Congress the following pithy note:

"The council of officers are unanimously of opinion
that the command of the Artillery should no longer
continue in Colonel Gridley ; and knowing no person
better qualified to supply his place, or whose appoint
ment will give more general satisfaction, I have
taken the liberty of recommending Henry Knox to
the consideration of Congress."

To increase the young artilleryman's pleasure sev
eral of his superior officers united in a request that
he receive command of the Artillery Service, and
that they be put under him. The same month, Con
gress acted upon Washington's request and made
Knox a Colonel, which was followed by his appoint
ment as Chief of the Artillery of the Continental
Army. It was a bold move on the part of George
Washington, but after events showed its wisdom.
To take a man from the ranks, a mere bookseller, and
put him at the head of one of the most important
branches of the army, displacing men who had been
professional soldiers, demanded as much courage as
it did wisdom. Fortunately for the Colonies Wash
ington possessed both. A bookseller in those years
was a mere tradesman, and a tradesman was not and
could not be a gentleman. The fact therefore that
Knox won the confidence and love not only of Wash
ington, but also of John Adams and other leaders at
this time, speaks volumes for the force and beauty
of his character.

This was the year that Knox performed the won
derful feat of going from Boston to Fort Ticonderoga
on Lake Champlain where were stored the mortars,
cannon, and howitzers which had been captured by
Ethan Allen, and bringing them across the ice and

2468 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

snow from that place to Boston. The task seemed
impossible. Of the generals only Washington be
lieved that Knox could and would do it. When there
fore the intrepid colonel came back to the Heights
and brought with him the noble train of artillery
which he had promised, he was the hero of the hour.
Adulation did not induce him to rest on his laurels.
Scarcely more than arrived, he began mounting the
artillery at the points where they could inflict a
maximum of damage upon the British forces.

This re-enforcement enabled the American army
to occupy and arm Dorchester Heights, which com
manded the harbor. The work was done under plans
drawn by Washington, Knox, Thomas and Ward.
The British position was now untenable, and Lord
Howe with his army sailed away to Halifax. Wash
ington entered the city at the head of his troops, and
with him rode his ablest lieutenant, the heroic com
mander of the artillery.

There was no rest for patriots in those days, and
after the capture of Boston, Knox went to Connecti
cut and Rhode Island to design fortifications for the
strategic points along the coast of these two Colonies.
In June, 1776, he was with Washington in New York.
Here he became acquainted with a handsome young
captain of a local artillery company who was so
bright, energetic and skillful as to arouse his ad
miration. He inquired the young man's name. It
was Alexander Hamilton.

Here the Continentals awaited the approach of the
British expedition that was to descend upon New
York, Knox having his headquarters at No. 1 Broad
way, where among his aides was his fair wife.

The Colonials had very little money, and in spite
of the high position of her husband she was compel
led to live as economically as possible. She accord
ingly dispensed with the rich raiment to which she

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2469

had been accustomed from her infancy and wore a
suit that was Puritanic in its simplicity and cheap
ness and military in its cut and finish. The defeat
at the Battle of Long Island discouraged many of
the American officers and generals, but not the men
of larger mind like Washington and Knox. Immedi
ately after that memorable conflict he wrote to his
wife who was in Connecticut :

"We want great men who, when fortune frowns,
will not be discouraged. God will I trust in time give
us these men. * * * It is, as I always said, mis
fortunes that must raise us to the character of a
great people. One or two drubbings will be of serv
ice to us and one severe defeat to the enemy, ruin."

He was voicing what fate had in store. The Con
tinentals were to have not one or two, but very many
drubbings, and then was to come the severe defeat of
Yorktown and the ruin of British hopes and power
in the New World. Through the dark years of the
war Knox fought by Washington's side. In Decem
ber, 1776, he led the American troops in the memor
able victory of Trenton, N. J., and the next day by an
odd coincidence, although no news of his heroic
prowess had reached Congress, that body made him
a Brigadier General.

At the Battle of Princeton, he was foremost on the
American side. When the army went into winter
headquarters, Washington sent Knox to New Eng
land to supervise the casting of cannon and the estab
lishment of powder factories. Upon his recommen
dation works were begun at Springfield, Mass., which
developed into the famous arsenal in that city. To
him, more than any other man, was due the found
ing of other military works, and more important
still the establishment of the military academy at
West Point. If that famous institution ever changes
its name, it should be called the Knox Military Col-

2470 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

lege by a grateful Republic. As early as September,
1776, he wrote to Congress a letter in which occur the
memorable lines "And as officers can never act with
confidence until they are masters of their profession,
an academy establishment on a liberal plan would be
of the utmost service to America, where the whole
theory and practice of fortifications and gunnery
should be taught."

In the winter of 1778-1779, Knox started a mili
tary instruction camp at Pluckemim, N. J. Here he
had weapons of all sorts and a curriculum of officers,
he being the chief if not the only professor. The in
novation proved popular, every student commending
it highly. This was the embryo of the military aca
demy at West Point.

In the councils of war between Washington, Roch-
ambeau and La Fayette, Knox was a constant figure.
He had mastered French while serving his appren
ticeship in the Boston bookshop, and was one of the
few officers who spoke it fluently. His geniality and
tact made him persona grata with the French sold
iers, who were always eager to have him act as in
terpreter in official dealings. In the writings of the
French who took part in the war are to be found fre
quent and always adulatory references to General
Knox.

During the campaign which culminated in the sur
render of Cornwallis at Yorktown, Knox seems to
have been in evidence at every point. Both the
American and French commanders speak in glowing
terms of the manner in which he handled the Amer
ican artillery. When the plans of cooperation were
drawn on the flagship, the "Ville de Paris" of De
Grasse's fleet, the leading persons were Admiral
Rochambeau, Duportail and Chastellux on the French
side, and Washington and Knox on the American.

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2471

During this period Mrs. Knox was the guest of Mrs.
Washington at Mount Vernon.

Congress, divided by intrigue and cross purposes,
at last recognized Knox's heroic service, and made
him a Major-General. Perhaps his highest compli
ment was a letter from Washington in 1782, in which
the latter wrote "I have so thorough a confidence in
you, and so well acquainted with your abilities and
activity, that I think it needless to point out to you
the great outlines of your duty."

Knox had just been appointed to command West
Point in that district, then the most important strate
gic site in the arena of war. No higher praise than
this could have been given. In April, 1783, Knox
organized the Society of the Cincinnati, which was
intended to perpetuate the friendships of the officers
of the army, and to provide for their widows and chil
dren. The organization aroused the bitterest an
tagonism, even Adams and Franklin opposing it,
upon the ground that it tended to injure the cause of
liberty. At the close of the war Washington as
signed to Knox the disbanding of the American
army, and the occupation of New York, upon the
evacuation of the British. On November 25, 1783,
the army of the British king took its departure, and
the American troops, with Knox on horseback, at
the head, entered the freed metropolis. On Decem
ber 4th, Washington took leave of his generals at
Fraunces, Tavern. After he had drunk their health
in a glass of wine, and bade them all good-by, he
turned to Knox, grasped his hand, and kissed him
farewell.

The noble virtues displayed by Knox during the
long years of the war made him equally prominent in
the peaceful but troublous times that followed.
Upon the new problems which presented themselves
to the infant republic, Knox took high statesmanlike

2472 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

grounds. He favored the formation of a small regu
lar army so as to be prepared for Indian uprisings
or conflicts with foreign powers. He saw the future
greatness of the west, and recommended the settling
of officers and soldiers in a new state or states west
of the Alleghanies. The work of disbanding kept
on and in 1784, of the Colonial forces there were left
less than seven hundred men.

His work ended, he retired to private life and re
turned to Boston, where he received an ovation from
the people. In the summer he was made an Indian
Commissioner by the legislature, and also a Commis
sioner in regard to the boundary between Massachus
etts and Nova Scotia, Maine at that time being a part
of the Bay State.

In 1785, Congress elected him Secretary of War,
with the notable salary of $2,450 per annum, out of
which he was to pay a clerk. During this period
Knox was a persistent advocate for a change in the
form of government, urging stronger authority and
a more efficient Constitution. Before the adoption
of the present system he sent to Washington a
sketch of a bicameral National government, singu
larly similar to the one which was afterwards framed
by the Constitutional Convention. When this body
was proposed Washington was uncertain whether to
attend it or not. The man of infinite patience seems
to have lost confidence in Congress and in representa
tive government. He felt like folding his hands and
letting affairs take their own course. He wrote for
advice to Knox, who answered with a letter full of
courage, enthusiasm, confidence and love for his old
commander.

The Constitution was adopted by the convention,
and then by the States. George Washington was
elected President, and as might have been expected
made General Knox the first Secretary of War. His

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2473

office was a larger one than it is at present. He was
also Secretary of the Navy, Indian Commissioner and
Pension Commissioner.

It was a very small country then. Knox kept the
accounts of the Navy Department, which are still
preserved. In 1793, the expense was $7,550, where
to-day it is sixty millions. In these years Knox ap
pears to have been inspired with almost prophetic
vision. He recommended the establishment of In
dian reservations and a policy of absolute justice to
ward the redmen. He was resolute in favoring a
large and powerful navy and the construction of
forts at every important port on the Atlantic coast.
Strangely enough in these measures he, though a
Federalist, received his chief support from Thomas
Jefferson, while from Hamilton and the other leaders
of his party he had either the mildest acquiescence
or downright opposition.

In 1794, he resigned his office and retired to priv
ate life. Settling at Thomaston, Me., he built a fine
mansion which he named Montpelier. It cost $15,-
000, a sum which at that time seemed incredibly ex
travagant. During the remaining years of his life,
he was active in developing that part of Maine which
he had made his home, and with rare insight started
many of the industries which have since become the
mainspring of that commonwealth's prosperity.

General Knox was essentially a great soldier. Of
the many brilliant warriors of the Revolution he
stands on a par with Washington and Schuyler. His
martial talent was singularly versatile, probably
more so than that of any other general. He was an
engineer, an artilleryman, a commander, and a stra
tegist. He was an expert in every branch of the
service and invaluable to Washington and Rocham-
beau. Few beside himself among the military char
acters of the period appreciated the value of a naval

2474 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

armament or knew how to take advantage of this
weapon of defense. In this respect Knox seems to
have been abler than any of his colleagues. He was
a statesman so far as the conception of great
thoughts and plans for the public welfare were con
cerned. He was not a statesman so far as the carry
ing of these plans into practice was involved. He
brought forth the conception and allowed others to
utilize it for their own aggrandizement or for the
people's well being. A fearless and uncompromis
ing patriot, a gentle and loving husband and father,
a staunch and resolute friend, a good and upright
man, he realized to a large extent the ideal of an
American soldier.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Born, February 12, 1809; Died, April 15, 1866.

In the mighty fabric of the Republic, which was
raised in the eighteenth century, two vital mistakes
were made by the builders. Although they intended
to make a great nation, they omitted some of the ties
which are necessary to hold a state together and al
though they called their work a Commonwealth
based on liberty, they allowed negro slavery to re
main as it was before they began their task. In all
constructions by man the lines of strain and stress
direct their force at the weakest point. Here is the
deadly line of least resistance, and around it is born
eventual ruin. The growing forces of the years test
ed each joint and stone of the Republic, and by de
grees produced long and threatening fissures in the
arches of Union and freedom. The fissures widened
into gaping spaces, and the world looked on in won
der at the threatened dissolution of the Republic.
Those who loved liberty and humanity despaired,
while those who believed in privilege and caste threw
their hats high in air. It looked indeed as if a gov
ernment by and of the common people, the only one
ever seen upon the earth, was about to pass away,
and that in its stead were to spring up a series of
disorganized and mutually antagonistic political com
munities. Yet with infinite appropriateness, out of
the common people came a man, a greater builder
than any who had preceded him, and with infinite
patience, dauntless courage and majestic intellect,
remedied the mistakes of his predecessors, stopped

2476 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

the process of ruin, and made the national edifice
more beautiful and imposing than it has ever been
before. He, the Master Builder, was Abraham Lin
coln.

The story of his life is the story of the possibilities
of humanity. He typified that manhood which
starts in poverty and want, and by its intrinsic virtue
rises until it attains the throne. His father was a
poor carpenter, his mother the daughter of a west
ern pioneer. Born in Kentucky, his family removed
to Indiana when he was seven years of age and set
tled in the forest country near Little Pigeon Creek,
in the Valley of the Ohio. The primitive home was
far from civilization. The President described it as
"a wild region with many bears and other wild ani
mals still in the woods, and there were some schools
so-called; but no qualification was ever required of
the teacher beyond readin', writin', and cipherin' to
the rule of three. If a straggler supposed to under
stand Latin happened to sojourn in the neighbor
hood, he was looked upon as a wizard. There was
absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education."

The rugged life tended to consecrate all energy
upon merely physical problems. Nevertheless
through the community ran a strong moral and reli
gious sentiment, and in the backwoods boy there was
an insatiable love of knowledge. The material fur
nished by his school he worked over and reworked in
order to obtain complete mastery of the facts as well
as mental discipline. Without any suggestion from
others he began when a mere boy to write down in a
note book his thoughts, discoveries and generaliza
tions. The life, though hard, was healthful, and the
youth grew into a giant man.

At maturity he was six feet four, with a strength
like that of Milo of Crotona. The graces and ac
complishments of life had been up to that time a

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2477

sealed book. He was awkward, plain and uncouth,
but even then he was gentle, kindly and courteous.
His giant strength was never misapplied. All who
knew him loved him and had confidence in his man
hood. His life was uneventful, and was devoted to
the rudest labor. Felling trees, splitting rails, chop
ping firewood, building cabins, clearing the soil and
speeding the plough were his college-curriculum.
When he had helped his father complete the farm,
he left home and went into business on his own ac
count. The work which came to him allowed him
leisure, which he devoted to reading and study. It
was after reaching his majority that he began Eng
lish grammar, and started in a haphazard way the
study of farm surveying and the law.

While at his books the news came of the Black
Hawk war. Lincoln volunteered as a private soldier
and was elected Captain. Hostilities were brief, his
service lasting scarcely two months. On his return
from the camp he became a candidate for the Illinois
legislature, and made so brilliant a campaign in ten
days as to come in the third out of twelve candidates.
His popularity was exemplified by the vote of his
neighbors, New Salem giving 277 for and 3 against
him. Store-keeping was his next venture, but prov
ed a failure. He worked at odd jobs, making enough
money to supply his modest wants, and devoting all
the rest of his time to legal studies. In 1834, he was
again a candidate for the Assembly and was elected.

In the legislation, he proved faithful to his consti
tuents and re-election came to him in 1836, 1838 and
1840. In the meantime he had been admitted to the
bar and had removed to Springfield, Illinois, where
he formed a law partnership with John T. Stuart.
He prospered both at the bar and in politics, becom
ing by degrees the chief Whig orator in Illinois. At
the beginning, his oratory was simple, straightfor-

2478 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

ward and strong, with but few marks of cultivation.
But it steadily improved with time and practice.
Quick perceptions, a powerful memory and steadfast
reading were developing the man from day to day.

In 1846 he was elected to Congress, where he fa
vored a bill for the emancipation of the slaves in the
District of Columbia. On account of prevailing con
ditions, slavery and anti-slavery were tabooed topics
at the time. There was a reign of terror through
out the land, which caused both those who favored
and those who opposed the institution to keep silent
on the subject. The moral cowardice displayed by
those whom he knew to be in favor of human free
dom disgusted the young Congressman who declined
re-election upon the expiration of his term.

His action in Washington had stamped him for
life. He was persona non grata with the pro-slavery
leaders, and from that time on was blacklisted in
their minds with the abolitionists of the land. In
1854 arose the tempest which followed the repeal of
the Missouri Compromise. This, measure, which
threw open the territories to slavery, and threatened
to make the United States a slave-holding Republic
from Maine to Oregon, aroused every cell and fibre
of Lincoln's being. Up to this point he had been a
great whig lawyer and leader. Without knowing it
he to became the Anti-Slavery champion.

In the campaign which followed, he was the chief
orator of his party, and was pitted against Senator
Stephen A. Douglass the leader of the State Demo
cracy. Lincoln's friends almost carried the legisla
ture, and named him as their candidate for senator
to succeed General James Shields whose term of of
fice was about to expire. There were four independ
ent members who held the balance of power in the
legislature, whose candidate was Judge Lyman
Trumbull. Rather than have his State represented

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2479

or misrepresented by a Pro-Slavery senator, Lincoln
induced his friends to transfer their support to
Trumbull, who was thereupon made Shields' succes
sor. The action showed Lincoln's patriotism and
love of liberty. Now came into being the new Re
publican party, which was formed for the Anti-Slav
ery elements of the old Whig and Democratic organi
zations.

In the birth of Republicanism, Lincoln was a prime
factor, and became by general consent its leader in
Illinois. In 1858 occurred the famous series of joint
discussions between Lincoln and Douglass, the for
mer attacking and the latter defending the doctrine
of non-intervention with slavery in the territories.
These debates aroused universal notice. The Pro-
slavery leaders of the South were irritated when they
saw that slavery, which had been connived at for
generations, was about to become an issue before the
American public. The politicians of the old schools
were dismayed because they realized that the intro
duction of this issue would sweep away the conven
tions and landmarks of a lifetime. The country was
deeply interested, when for the first time anti-slav
ery was proclaimed by a man whose moral and ment
al grandeur had been already recognized by the
Western States of the Union.

The importance of the contest was appreciated by
all, and by none more than Lincoln himself. In his
oration of June 16, 1858, he declared "A house divid
ed against itself cannot stand. I believe this gov
ernment cannot endure permanently half-slave and
half -free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved.
I do not expect the House to fall ; but I do expect that
it will cease to be divided. It will become all the
one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of
slavery will arrest the further spread of it and place
it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that

2480 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

it is in course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates
will push it forward until it shall become alike law
ful in all the States old as well as new, north as well
as south."

It can be seen from this speech that Lincoln favor
ed the extinction of slavery by gradual and peaceful
means, acting under the operation of State and Na
tional law, and that he believed slavery to be impot
ent to bring the Union to an end. His opinion must
have been prophetic, or perhaps based upon his con
fidence in the inexorableness of moral law in national
as well as individual life. To the politicians and
thinkers of that period the triumph of pro-slavery
ideas seemed inevitable. These controlled Congress,
the adjudications of the Supreme Court, the Demo
cratic party and the wealthy classes of the land.
With the slave-holders were the time-servers, the
office-seekers and the mob in every city. With slav
ery were all the forces of hypocrisy and double-deal
ing. Liberty was a proscribed topic in the parlor,
the newspaper and the pulpit. In fact a large part
of both press and pulpit were outspoken in favor of
the so-called righteousness of the human chattel sys
tem.

Though the Pro-Slavery forces were victorious in
1858, the victory cost them almost as much as de
feat. It aroused the American people, who began
organizing in a manner such as the country had
never known before. Lincoln was an advocate of an
educational campaign which would bring home to
every citizen the vital importance of the new issues.
On February 27, 1860, he delivered an address at the
Cooper Institute in New York, which for scholarship
and beauty was a masterpiece. He took up the long
asserted claim that slavery was sacred, and had been
deliberately and wisely made a part of the National
Constitution by the founders of the Republic, and

THE BUILDEES OF THE REPUBLIC 2481

destroyed it with a learning that was magnificent,
and a logic that was pitiless. He proved that nearly
every one of the builders of the Republic, and of its
great thinkers and writers, had opposed human bond
age and had argued or prayed for its abolition. The
speech, heard by cheering thousands, was read by
approving millions, it being published in nearly every
town and city of the land.

It did more than excite discussion, it impressed the
American people with the tremendous personality of
the speaker. When the National Republican conven
tion met in Chicago in May of that year, his name
was presented for the Presidency by the great dele
gations of the West. In this famous assemblage
fate seems to have interfered with the plans of the
politicians. The many slates which had been made
in the cabinets of State leaders were broken and the
names of Abraham Lincoln of Illinois and Hannibal
Hamlin, the noble patriot of Bangor, Maine, were
presented to the voters of the nation.

Even now the outlook was nearly hopeless. At
the utmost the Republicans were in a minority, and
the discussion now begun seemed destined to be trans
ferred to the halls of Congress, where it might drag
its slow length along for years to come. Again Fate
intervened and split the opposition into conflicting
factions. The American or Union party assembled
and nominated Bell and Everett; the Democracy
gathered at Charleston and split into two organiza
tions, one naming Breckenridge and Lane and the
other Douglass and Johnson. The canvass of the
votes in November was unspeakably eloquent. Lin
coln had received one million eight hundred thousand
votes and the opposition two million eight hundred
thousand votes. He was a minority President by a
million votes, but through the majority being split
upon three tickets, he had a plurality of five hundred

2482 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

thousand, and an electoral plurality of fifty-seven
votes.

The results of the election were immediate seces
sion and war. Before he was inaugurated seven
States had seceded and formed a new government
and nation styled the Confederate States of America,
with Jefferson Davis as President and Alexander H.
Stevens as Vice-President. The Federal property in
these Commonwealths was promptly seized, and more
especially all the arms and munitions of war. A
military organization was effected, and in Charleston
harbor the South Carolinians fired upon the steamer,
"Star of the West," which was conveying supplies to
Fort Sumter.

War had begun, and both North and South awaited
with eagerness the words of the new President. In
his inaugural address he spoke with a calmness and
serenity which will ever be memorable. His words
were those of a prophet as well as a statesman. De
claring that the nation is not a league but a union,
and that secession was illegal, he announced his in
tention of occupying all the places belonging to the
Federal government and to perform the duties of his
office in every State, South and North. As he closed
he said, "We are not enemies but friends. Though
passion may have strained it must not break our
bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory
stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave
to every living heart and hearthstone all over this
broad land will yet swell the chorus of the Union
when again touched as surely they will be by the bet
ter angels of our nature."

On April 12, 1861, General Beauregard, in com
mand of the Confederate forces at Charleston, S. C.,
opened fire upon Fort Sumter, and bombarded it for
thirty-four hours, when the garrison, worn out and
with the food supply exhausted was compelled to

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2483

surrender. Up to this point, there had been hopes
of peace ; now hope vanished, and the North rose up
for war. Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand
troops, and three hundred thousand men volunteered.
Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee
seceded and joined the Confederacy.

The war rose to ever larger proportions, until it
surpassed anything the earth had ever known. The
hosts of Goth and Hun, Vandal and Teuton, Roman
and Greek, were as playthings compared with those
which were marshaled under the Stars and Stripes
and the Stars and Bars. In single battles, more men
were killed, wounded and captured than large his
toric armies. The legions of the North made a hu
man wall from the Atlantic to the Mississippi and
from the Mississippi to the Mexican border. Around
the long coast of the South on both Atlantic and
Gulf, patrolled the Northern navy of more than a
thousand craft. The forces on land and sea amazed
the world with their prodigious numbers.

It was more than war such as had been known by
that name. It was not a quarrel over a territory, or
an international question, but the life and death
struggle between irreconcilable national forces.
Legally it was nationality versus States-Rights;
morally it was freedom versus slavery. Though the
two issues in the main coincided yet here and there
they swerved far apart. There were Pro-slavery
men in the Northern army and Anti-slavery men in
the Southern. The house was divided against itself,
father against son, and brother against brother. Of
the fierceness, the unconquerable pertinacity, the im
measurable self-sacrifice, the infinite heroism and the
amazing generalship of the struggle, nothing like it
is to be found in the annals of the race. At least a
million human beings gave up their lives while the
cost was up in the billions.

2484 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

During this long and terrible tragedy Lincoln was
the genius of the North. To the preservation of the
nation he consecrated his life, and dedicated every
moment to the people. Though surrounded by a
cabinet of extraordinary ability in both of his terms,
having been re-elected in 1864, he was the govern
ment. He kept in touch so far as he could with
every part of the nation and with the foreign pow
ers, who stood anxiously watching the contest. His
soul was a well-spring of encouragement to the weak,
praise to the brave, sympathy to the suffering, con
solation to the afflicted and hope for the despairing.
He cheered departing and welcomed returning troops,
superintended the fortifying of the capital, looked
into the welfare of camp, garrison and military
prison and was from first to last a miracle of physical
and intellectual activity.

In 1862 he struck a great blow at slavery by issu
ing the Emancipation Proclamation, which took ef
fect on New Year's day, 1863. The time had become
ripe for this measure. Prior to 1862 its issuance
would have been a blunder of the worst sort. Old
political associations ran strong, and a vast part of
the North would not have listened to any proposition
looking toward enfranchisement. Even now it was
denounced at the North while in the South the Con
federate Congress threatened death to any white of
ficer captured when commanding or serving with
Negro troops. But the denunciation met no re
sponse among the men grimed with battle, and the
threats of the South fell upon the deaf ear of white
and black alike. Before the year was done fifty-
thousand ex-slaves had been enrolled in the Union
armies, and ere the close of the war the number had
risen to two hundred thousand.

At last secession and slavery gave way. They
had fought a fight whose heroism is immortal, but

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 24§5

they had been crushed by the superior forces of the
North. Behind the latter were greater influences in
visible to mortal eyes. Long before the war was
over, the South had been obliged to realize the false
logic of its position. If the Confederacy had the
right to secede from the Union, each Confederate
State had in turn the right to secede from the Con
federacy. Once this was threatened, and the answer
from the Confederate leaders was the charge of trea
son. The American continent is concave and the
people of the Mississippi valley must own and use
that land under one government. There is no possi
bility of its being held by two. Slavery might be
protected for years by law and custom, but it had
become an anachronism, and in all crises was bound
to weaken the land in which it prevailed. General
Longstreet recognized the voice of destiny when he
pointed out one day that the faithful slaves were of
little benefit to the South while in the northern
armies were tens of thousands of newly arrived free
workingmen. On April 9th, at Appomattox, Major-
General Robert Edward Lee, the greatest warrior of
the South, surrendered to Major-General Ulysses S.
Grant, and the most momentous war of history was
closed.

The conflict over, Lincoln began forthwith to carry
out a plan of reconciliation and mercy. The motto
of the policy which he shaped might be summed up
in the words of his sublime Gettysburg speech,
"With malice toward none ; with charity for all."

On the day after the fall of Richmond, he made a
visit to the late Southern Capital, walked its streets
unguarded and held a levee in the mansion of Jeffer
son Davis. Returning to Washington he resumed
his work, looking forward to a reconstruction of the
South which would put it speedily in a position to
recover from the effects of the war. On April 14,

2486 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

1865, the anniversary of the fall of Fort Sumter, he
attended Ford's Theatre, and while sitting in a box
with his wife, was assassinated by John Wilkes
Booth.

Majestic as it had become at the time of his death,
his fame has increased steadily with each succeeding
year. Unto no historical character in the New
World, and perhaps the 'Old, has more study been
devoted, and each inquiry has but served to reveal
noble actions, lofty thoughts, and high ideals. In
him the manly virtues of mind and soul were at a
maximum. Possessing goodness and charity, wit
and humor, analysis and synthesis, logic and knowl
edge of human nature, freedom from prejudice and
bias, equanimity in all things, modesty and self-re
spect, kindliness and yet dignity, he seems to have
had none of the failings or shortcomings which so
often mar the great men of history. He fills so large
a place in human annals that he rises superior to
mere words. In him American institutions had
their fairest flower and their finest personal embodi
ment. Within and yet beyond the man was a spirit
uality rarely encountered in political life, which sug
gests the great poets, reformers and martyrs of the
race, rather than the busy workers or the tireless
statesmen. He was each and all of these, and in
each phase of his character he presents a complete
ness which will never be forgotten.

The morning-glory gleams a few glad hours ;
The shafted lilies and the rosebud bowers
Bloom a brief space and then dissolve away ;
But through the centuries an oak tree towers
O'er all the rest of Nature's proud array.

As sails the mariner away from home,
The silver shores recede beyond the foam ;

THE BUILDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 2487

The meadows fade beneath the billows bleak,
Till all that shows above the water's comb
To say farewell is one lone massive peak.

The stars which smile in splendor from the skies
To-night, are lost to-morrow to the eyes,
Or else to galaxies unborn give place, —
All but the Polar star which never flies
But stands, the fitting symbol of our race.

The heroes come and go and are forgot ;
The tides of time submerge each well-loved spot,
And faith and worship move to new-found stars
Yet still one sacred figure changeth not,
But groweth grander than its earthly bars —

The figure of the President who bore
A Nation's burden both in peace and war,
And never quailed beneath the heaviest load ;
Who armed with love, broke open wide the door
Which shut our land from liberty's abode ;

Who never lost his faith in fellow men,
Nor love, though tempted often and again,
Nor e'en his mirth, despite the hour's distress:
Who rendered homage by the tongue and pen
Unto the power which makes for righteousness.

OFFICIAL STORY OF THE AMERICAN
OPERATIONS IN THE WORLD WAR

OFFICIAL STORY OF THE AMERICAN
OPERATIONS IN THE WORLD WAR

From General John J. Pershing's Report to Secretary of War

Reprinted from "Current History"

January, 1920

General John J. Pershing, Commander in Chief of
the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe, sub
mitted his final report to the Secretary of War late
in November and it was made public December 13,
1919.

The War Department planned as early as July,
1917, to send to France by June 15, 1918, twenty-one
divisions of the then strength of 20,000 men each, to
gether with auxiliary and replacement troops, and
those needed for the line of communications, amount
ing to over 200,000, making a total of some 650,000
men. Beginning with October, six divisions were to
be sent during that quarter, seven during the first
quarter of 1918, and eight the second quarter. While
these numbers fell short of my recommendation of
July 6, 1917, which contemplated at least 1,000,000
men by May, 1918, it should be borne in mind that the
main factor in the problem was the amount of ship
ping to become available for military purposes, in
which must be included tonnage, required to supply
the Allies with steel, coal, and food.

SITUATION REVIEWED

On December 2, 1917, an estimate of the situation
was cabled to the War Department, with the follow
ing recommendation :

2492 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

Paragraph 3. In view of these conditions,
it is of the utmost importance to the allied
cause that we move swiftly. The minimum
number of troops we should plan to have in
France by the end of June is four army corps
of twenty-four divisions in addition to troops
for service at the rear. Have impressed the
present urgency upon General Bliss and other
American members of the conference. Gen
erals Robertson, Foch and Bliss agree with me
that this is the minimum that should be aim
ed at. This figure is given as the lowest we
should think of and is placed no higher be
cause the limit of available transportation
would not seem to warrant it.

Paragraph 4. A study of transportation
facilities shows sufficient American tonnage
to bring over this number of troops, but to do
so there must be a reduction in the tonnage
allotted to other than army needs. It is esti
mated that the shipping needed will have to
be rapidly increased, up to 2,000,000 tons by
May, in addition to the amount already al
lotted. The use of shipping for commercial
purposes must be curtailed as much as possi
ble. The Allies are very weak and we must
come to their relief this year, 1918. The year
after may be too late. It is very doubtful if
they can hold on until 1919 unless we give
them a lot of support this year. It is there
fore recommended that a complete readjust
ment of transportation be made and that the
needs of the War Department as set forth
above be regarded as immediate. Further de
tails of these requirements will be sent later.

GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING'S REPORT 2493

A SECOND REPORT
Again on December 20, 1917:

Understood here that a shipping program
based on tonnage in sight prepared in War
College Division in September contemplated
that entire First Corps with its corps troops
and some 32,000 auxiliaries were to have been
shipped by end of November, and that an ad
ditional program for December, January, and
February contemplates that the shipment of
the Second Corps with its corps troops and
other auxiliaries should be practically com
pleted by the end of February. Should such
a program be carried out as per schedule and
should shipments continue at corresponding
rate, it would not succeed in placing even
three complete corps, with proper proportion
of army troops and auxiliaries, in France by
the end of May. The actual facts are that
shipments are not even keeping up to that
schedule. It is now the middle of December
and the First Corps is still incomplete by over
two entire divisions (The First, Forty-second,
Second, and Twenty-sixth Divisions have ar
rived but not the Replacement and the Depot
Divisions), and many corps troops. It can
not be too emphatically declared that we
should be prepared to take the field with at
least four corps by June 30. In view of past
performances with tonnage heretofore avail
able such a project is impossible of fulfillment,
but only by most strenuous attempts to at
tain such a result will we be in a position to
take a proper part in operations in 1918. In
view of fact that as the number of our troops
here increases a correspondingly greater

2494 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

amount of tonnage must be provided for their
supply, and also in view of the slow rate of
shipment with tonnage now available, it is of
the most urgent importance that more ton
nage should be obtained at once as already
recommended in my cables and by General
Bliss.

SUBDIVISION PLAN

During January, 1918, discussions were held with
the British authorities that resulted in an agreement
which became known as the subdivision plan and
which provided for the transportation of six entire
divisions in British tonnage without interference
with our own shipping program. High commanders,
staff, infantry, and auxiliary troops were to be given
experience with British divisions, beginning with
battalions, the artillery to be trained under American
direction, using French material. It was agreed
that when sufficiently trained these battalions were
to be united for service under their own officers. It
was planned that the period of training with the
British should cover about ten weeks. To supervise
the administration and training of these divisions
the Second Corps Staff was organized Feb. 20, 1918.

In the latter part of January joint note No. 12,
presented by the military representatives with the
Supreme War Council, was approved by the council.
This note concluded that France would be safe dur
ing 1918 only under certain conditions, namely:

(a) That the strength of the British and
French troops in France be continuously kept
up to their present total strength and that
they receive the expected reinforcements of
not less than two American divisions per
month.

GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING'S REPORT 2495

CRITICAL SITUATION, MARCH, 1918—
ALLIED AGREEMENT

The first German offensive of 1918, beginning
March 21, overran all resistance during the initial
period of the attack. Within eight days the enemy
had completely crossed the old Somme battlefield and
had swept everything before him to a depth of some
fifty-six kilometers. For a few days the loss of the
railroad centre of Amiens appeared imminent. The
offensive made such inroads upon French and British
reserves that defeat stared them in the face unless
the new American troops should prove more immedi
ately available than even the most optimistic had
dared to hope. On March 27 the military represen
tatives with the Supreme War Council prepared their
joint note No. 18. This note repeated the previously
quoted statement from joint note No. 12, and con
tinued:

The battle which is developing at the pres
ent moment in France, and which can extend
to the other theatres of operations, may very
quickly place the allied armies in a serious
situation from the point of view of effectives,
and the military representatives are from this
moment of opinion that the above-detailed
condition can no longer be maintained, and
they consider as a general proposition that
the new situation requires new decisions.

The military representatives are of opinion
that it is highly desirable that the American
Government should assist the allied armies as
soon as possible by permitting in principle the
temporary service of American units in allied
army corps and divisions. Such reinforce
ments must, however, be obtained from other
units than those American divisions which are

2496 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

now operating with the French, and the units
so temporarily employed must eventually be
returned to the American Army.

The military representatives are of the
opinion that from the present time, in execu
tion of the foregoing, and until otherwise di
rected by the Supreme War Council, only
American infantry and machine-gun units, or
ganized as that Government may decide, be
brought to France, and that all agreements or
conventions hitherto made in conflict with
this decision be modified accordingly.

ASSIGNMENT OF FIRST ARRIVALS

The Secretary of War, who was in France at this
time ; General Bliss, the American military represen
tative with the Supreme War Council, and I at once
conferred on the terms of this note, with the result
that the Secretary recommended to the President
that joint note No. 18 be approved in the following
sense:

The purpose of the American Government
is to render the fullest co-operation and aid,
and therefore the recommendation of the mili
tary representatives with regard to the pre
ferential transportation of American infantry
and machine-gun units in the present emer
gency is approved. South units, when trans
ported, will be under the direction of the Com
mander in Chief of the American Expedition
ary Forces, and will be assigned for training
and use by him in his discretion. He will use
these and all other military forces of the
United States under his command in such
manner as to render the greatest military as
sistance, keeping in mind always the deter-

GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING'S REPORT 2497

mination of this Government to have its vari
ous military forces collected, as speedily as
their training and the military situation per
mit, into an independent American army, act
ing in concert with the armies of Great Brit
ain and France, and all arrangements made
by him for their temporary training and serv
ice will be made with that end in view.

While note No. 18 was general in its terms, the
priority of shipments of infantry more especially
pertained to those divisions that were to be trained
in the British area, as that Government was to pro
vide the additional shipping according to the six-
division plan agreed upon even before the beginning
of the March 21 offensive.

On April 2 the War Department cabled that pre
ferential transportation would be given to American
infantry and machine-gun units during the existing
emergency. Preliminary arrangements were made
for training and early employment with the French
of such infantry units as might be sent over by our
own transportation. As for the British agreement,
the six-division plan was to be modified to give pri
ority to the infantry of those divisions. However,
all the Allies were now urging the indefinite continu
ation of priority for the shipment of infantry and its
complete incorporation in their units, which fact was
cabled to the War Department on April 3, with the
specific recommendation that the total immediate
priority of infantry be limited to four divisions, plus
45,500 replacements, and that the necessity for fu
ture priority be determined later.

The Secretary of War and I held a conference with
British authorities on April 7, during which it devel
oped that the British had erroneously assumed that
the preferential shipment of infantry was to be con-

2498 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

tinuous. It was agreed at this meeting that 60,000
infantry and machine-gun troops, with certain auxil
iary units to be brought over by British tonnage dur
ing April, should go to the British area as part of the
six-division plan, but that there should be a further
agreement as to subsequent troops to be brought
over by the British. Consequently, a readjustment
of the priority schedule was undertaken on the basis
of postponing "shipment of all noncombatant troops
to the utmost possible to meet present situation,
and at the same time not to make it impossible to
build up our own army."

FIRST UNITS WITH BRITISH TROOPS

The battleline in the vicinity of Amiens had hardly
stabilized when, on April 9, the Germans made an
other successful attack against the British lines on a
front of some forty kilometers in the vicinity of
Armentieres and along the Lys River. As a result
of its being included in a salient formed by the Ger
man advance, Passachendaele Ridge, the capture of
which had cost so dearly in 1917, was evacuated by
the British on April 17.

The losses had been heavy and the British were
unable to replace them entirely. They were, there
fore, making extraordinary efforts to increase the
shipping available for our troops. On April 21 I
went to London to clear up certain questions concern
ing the rate of shipment and to reach the further
agreement provided for in the April 7 conference.
The result of this London agreement was cabled to
Washington April 24, as follows :

(a) That only the infantry, machine guns,
engineers, and signal troops of American di
visions and the headquarters of divisions and
brigades be sent over in British and American

GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING'S REPORT 2499

shipping during May for training and service
with the British Army in France up to six di
visions, and that any shipping in excess of
that required for these troops be utilized to
transport troops necessary to make these divi
sions complete. The training and service of
these troops will be carried out in accordance
with plans already agreed upon between Sir
Douglas Haig and General Pershing, with a
view at an early date of building up American
divisions.

(b) That the American personnel of the
artillery of these divisions and such corps
troops as may be required to build up Amer
ican corps organizations follow immediately
thereafter, and that American artillery per
sonnel be trained with French material and
join its proper divisions as soon as thoroughly
trained.

(c) If, when the program outlined in para
graphs (a) and (b) is completed, the military
situation makes advisable the further ship
ment of infantry, &c., of American divisions,
then all the British and American shipping
available for transport of troops shall be used
for that purpose under such arrangement as
will insure immediate aid to the Allies, and at
the same time provide at the earliest moment
for bringing over American artillery and
other necessary units to complete the organi
zation of American divisions and corps. Pro
vided that the combatant troops mentioned in
(a) and (b) be followed by such Service of the
Rear and other troops as may be considered
necessary by the American commander in
Chief.

2500 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

(d) That it is contemplated American divi
sions and corps, when trained and organized,
shall be utilized under the American Com
mander in Chief in an American group.

(e) That the American Commander in
Chief shall allot American troops to the
French or British for training them with
American units at his discretion, with the un
derstanding that troops already transported
by British shipping or included in the si : divi
sions mentioned in paragraph (a) are to be
trained with the British Army, details as to
rations, equipment, and transport to be deter
mined by special agreement.

INDEPENDENT AMERICAN ARMY

At a meeting of the Supreme War Council held at
Abbeville May 1 and 2, the entire question of the
amalgamation of Americans with the French and
British was reopened. An urgent appeal came from
both French and Italian representatives for Amer
ican replacements or units to serve with their armies.
After prolonged discussion regarding this question
and that of priority generally the following agree
ment was reached, committing the council to an in
dependent American army and providing for the im
mediate shipment of certain troops :

It is the opinion of the Supreme War Coun
cil that, in order to carry the war to a success
ful conclusion, an American army should be
formed as early as possible under its own com
mander and under its own flag. In order to
meet the present emergency it is agreed that
American troops should be brought to France
as rapidly as allied transportation facilities

GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING'S REPORT 2501

will permit, and that, as far as consistent with
the necessity of building up an American
army, preference will be given to infantry and
machine-gun units for training and service
with French and British armies ; with the un
derstanding that such infantry and machine-
gun units are to be withdrawn and united with
its own artillery and auxiliary troops into di
visions and corps at the direction of the
American Commander in Chief after consulta
tion with the Commander in Chief of the allied
armies in France.

Subparagraph A. It is also agreed that
during the month of May preference should
be given to the transportation of infantry and
machine-gun units of six divisions, and that
any excess tonnage shall be devoted to bring
ing over such other troops as may be deter
mined by the American Commander in Chief.

Subparagraph B. It is further agreed that
this program shall be continued during the
month of June upon condition that the Brit
ish Government shall furnish transportation
for a minimum of 130,000 men in May and
150,000 men in June, with the understanding
that the first six divisions of infantry shall
go to the British for training and service, and
that troops sent over in June shall be allo
cated for training and service as the American
Commander in Chief may determine.

Subparagraph C. It is also further agreed
that if the British Government shall trans
port an excess of 150,000 men in June that
such excess shall be infantry and machine-
gun units, and that early in June there shall
be a new review of the situation to determine
further action.

2502 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

PARIS IN GRAVE DANGER

The gravity of the situation had brought the Allies
to a full realization of the necessity of providing all
possible tonnage for the transportation of American
troops. Although their views were accepted to the
extent of giving a considerable priority to infantry
and machine gunners, the priority agreed upon as to
this class of troops was not as extensive as some of
them deemed necessary, and the Abbeville confer
ence was adjourned with the understanding that the
question of further priority would be discussed at a
conference to be held about the end of May.

The next offensive of the enemy was made between
the Oise and Berry-au-Bac against the French in
stead of against the British, as was generally expect
ed, and it came as a complete surprise. The initial
Aisne attack, covering a front of thirty-five kilomet
ers, met with remarkable success, as the German
armies advanced no less than fifty kilometers in four
days. On reaching the Marne that river was used
as a defensive flank and the German advance was di
rected toward Paris. During the first days of June
something akin to a panic seized the city and it was
estimated that 1,000,000 people left during the Spring
of 1918.

APPEAL OF PRIME MINISTERS

The further conference which had been agreed
upon at Abbeville was held at Versailles on June 1
and 2. The opinion of our allies as to the existing
situation and the urgency of their insistence upon
further priority for infantry and machine gunners
are shown by the following message prepared by the
Prime Ministers of Great Britain, France, and Italy,
and agreed to by General Foch :

The Prime Ministers of France, Italy, and Great
Britain, now meeting at Versailles, desire to send the

GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING'S REPORT 2503

following message to the President of the United
States:

We desire to express our warmest thanks to
President Wilson for the remarkable prompt
ness with which American aid in excess of
what at one time seemed practicable has been
rendered to the Allies during the last month
to meet a great emergency. The crisis, how
ever, still continues, General Foch has pre
sented to us a statement of the utmost gravi
ty, which points out that the numerical su
periority of the enemy in France, where 162
allied divisions now oppose 200 German divi
sions, is very heavy, and that, as there is no
possibility of the British and French increas
ing the number of their divisions (on the con
trary, they are put to extreme straits to keep
them up) there is a great danger of the war
being lost unless the numerical inferiority of
the Allies can be remedied as rapidly as pos
sible by the advent of American troops. He,
therefore, urges with the utmost insistence
that the maximum possible number of in
fantry and machine gunners, in which respect
the shortage of men on the side of the Allies
is most marked, should continue to be shipped
from America in the months of June and July
to avert the immediate danger of an allied de
feat in the present campaign owing to the al
lied reserves being exhausted before those of
the enemy. In addition to this, and looking
to the future, he represents that it is impos
sible to foresee ultimate victory in the war
unless America is able to provide such an
army as will enable the Allies ultimately to
establish numerical superiority. He places

2504 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

the total American force required for this at
no less than 100 divisions, and urges the con
tinuous raising of fresh American levies,
which, in his opinion, should not be less than
300,000 a month, with a view to establishing
a total American force of 100 divisions at as
early a date as this can possibly be done.

We are satisfied that General Foch, who is
conducting the present campaign with con
summate ability, and on whose military judg
ment we continue to place the most absolute
reliance, is not overestimating the needs of
the case, and we feel confident that the Gov
ernment of the United State will do every
thing that can be done, both to meet the needs
of the immediate situation and to proceed
with the continuous raising of fresh levies cal
culated to provide as soon as possible the num
erical superiority which the Commander in
Chief of the allied armies regards as essential
to ultimate victory.

A separate telegram contains the arrange
ments which General Foch, General Pershing,
and Lord Milner have agreed to recommend to
the United States Government with regard
to the dispatch of American troops for the
months of June and July.

(Signed)

D. LLOYD GEORGE,

CLEMENCEAU,

ORLANDO.

GJENERAL JOHN J. PEBSHING'S REPORT 2506

FINAL DISTRIBUTION OF TROOPS

Such extensive priority had already been given to
the transport of American infantry and machine
gunners that the troops of those categories which
had received even partial training in the United
States were practically exhausted. Moreover, the
strain on our services of supply made it essential
that early relief be afforded by increasing its per
sonnel. At the same time, the corresponding serv
ices of our allies had in certain departments been
equally overtaxed and their responsible heads were
urgent in their representations that their needs must
be relieved by bringing over American specialists.
The final agreement was cabled to the War Depart
ment on June 5, as follows :

The following agreement has been conclud
ed between General Foch, Lord Milner, and
myself with reference to the transportation of
American troops in the months of June and
July:

The following recommendations are made on
the assumption that at least 250,000 men can
be transported in each of the months of June
and July by the employment of combined Brit
ish and American tonnage. We recommend:

(a) For the month of June: (1) Absolute
priority shall be given to the transportation
of 170,000 combatant troops (viz., six divi
sions without artillery, ammunition trains, or
supply trains, amounting to 126,000 men and
44,000 replacements for combat troops) ; (2)
25,400 men for the service of the railways, of
which 13,400 have been asked for by the
French Minister of Transportation ; (3) the

2506 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

balance to be troops of categories to be deter
mined by the Commander in Chief, American
Expeditionary Forces.

(b) For the month of July: (1) Absolute
priority for the shipment of 140,000 combat
ant troops of the nature defined above (four
divisions minus artillery "et cetera," amount
ing to 84,000 men, plus 56,000 replacement) ;
(2) the balance of the 250,000 to consist of
troops to be designated by the Commander in
Chief of American Expeditionary Forces.

(c) It is agreed that if the available ton
nage in either month allows of the transporta
tion of a larger number of men than 250,000,
the excess tonnage will be employed in the
transportation of combat troops as defined
above.

(d) We recognize that the combatant
troops to be dispatched in July may have to
include troops which have had insufficient
training, but we consider the present emer
gency is such to justify a temporary and ex
ceptional departure by the United States from
sound principles of training, especially as a
similar course is being followed by France and
Great Britain.

(Signed)

FOCH,

MILNER,
PERSHING.

GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING'S REPORT 2507

The various proposals during these conferences re
garding priority of shipment, often very insistent,
raised questions that were not only most difficult but
most delicate. On the one hand, there was a critical
situation which must be met by immediate action,
while on the other hand, any priority accorded a par
ticular arm necessarily postponed the formation of
a distinctive American fighting force and the means
to supply it. Such a force was, in my opinion, ab
solutely necessary to win the war. A few of the
allied representatives became convinced that the
American services of supply should not be neglected,
but should be developed in the common interest.
The success of our divisions during May and June
demonstrated fully that it was not necessary to draft
Americans under foreign flags in order to utilize
American manhood most effectively.

THE MIGHTY ONSLAUGHT OF THE GERMANS

When, on March 21, 1918, the German army on the
western front began its series of offensives, it was
by far the most formidable force the world had ever
seen. In fighting men and guns it had a great su
periority, but this was of less importance than the
advantage in morale, in experience, in training for
mobile warfare, and in unity of command. Ever
since the collapse of the Russian armies and the
crisis on the Italian front in the Fall of 1917, Ger
man armies were being assembled and trained for
the great campaign which was to end the war before
America's effort could be brought to bear. Ger
many's best troops, her most successful Generals,
and all the experience gained in three years of war
were mobilized for the supreme effort.

The first blow fell on the right of the British
armies, including the junction of the British and

2508 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

French forces. Only the prompt co-operation of the
French and British General Headquarters stemmed
the tide. The reason for this objective was obvious
and strikingly illustrated the necessity for having
some one with sufficient authority over all the allied
armies to meet such an emergency. The lack of
complete co-operation among the Allies on the west
ern front had been appreciated, and the question of
preparation to meet a crisis had already received at
tention by the Supreme War Council. A plan had
been adopted by which each of the Allies would fur
nish a certain number of divisions for a general re
serve, to be under the direction of the military repre
sentatives of the Supreme War Council, of which
General Foch was then the senior member. But
when the time came to meet the German offensive in
March these reserves were not found available and
the plan failed.

FOCH IS SELECTED

This situation resulted in a conference for the im
mediate consideration of the question of having an
allied Commander in Chief. After much discussion,
during which my view favoring such action was
clearly stated, an agreement was reached and Gen
eral Foch was selected. His appointment as such
was made April 3 and was approved for the United
States by the President on April 16. The terms of
the agreement under which General Foch exercised
his authority were as follows:

Beauvais, April 3, 1918.

General Foch is charged by the British
French and American Governments with the
co-ordination of the action of the allied armies
on the western front ; to this end there is con-

GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING'S REPORT 2509

ferred on him all the powers necessary for its
effective realization. To the same end, the
British, French and American Governments
confide in General Foch the strategic direction
of military operations.

The Commmander in Chief of the British
French and American armies will exercise to
the fullest extent the tactical direction of
their armies. Each Commander in Chief will
have the right to appeal to his Government, if
in his opinion his army is placed in danger by
the instructions received from General Foch.

(Signed) G. CLEMENCEAU,

PETAIN,

F. FOOH,

LLYOD GEORGE,

D. HAIG, F. M.

HENRY WILSON,
General, 3, 4, 18.

TASKER H. BLISS,
General and Chief of Staff.

JOHN J. PERSHING,
General. U. S. A.

2510 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

EMPLOYMENT OP AMERICAN DIVISIONS,
MAECH TO SEPTEMBER

The grave crisis precipitated by the first German
offensive caused me to make a hurried visit to Gen
eral Foch's headquarters at Bombon, during which
all our combatant forces were placed at his disposal.
The acceptance of this offer meant the dispersion of
our troops along the allied front and a consequent
delay in building up a distinctive American force in
Lorraine, but the serious situation of the Allies de
manded this divergence from our plans.

On March 21, approximately 300,000 American
troops had reached France. Four combat divisions,
equivalent in strength to eight French or British di
visions, were available — the 1st and 2d then in line,
and the 26th and 42d just withdrawn from line after
one month's trench warfare training. The last two
divisions at once began taking over quiet sectors to
release divisions for the battle ; the 26th relieved the
1st Division, which was sent to northwest of Paris
in reserve; the 42d relieved two French divisions
from quiet sectors. In addition to these troops, one
regiment of the 93d Division was with the French in
the Argonne, the 41st Depot Division was in the
Services of Supply, and three divisions (3d, 32d, and
5th) were arriving.

On April 25 the 1st Division relieved two French
divisions on the front near Montdidier and on May
28 captured the important observation stations on
the heights of Cantigny with splendid dash. French
artillery, aviation, tanks, and flame throwers aided in
the attack, but most of this French assistance was
withdrawn before the completion of the operation, in
order to meet the enemy's new offensive launched
May 27 toward Chateau-Thierry. The enemy reac
tion against our troops at Cantigny was extremely

GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING'S REPORT 2511

violent, and apparently he was determined at all
costs to counteract the most excellent effect the
American success had produced. For three days his
guns of all calibers were concentrated on our new
position and counterattack succeeded counterattack.
The desperate efforts of the Germans gave the fight
ing at Cantigny a seeming tactical importance en
tirely out of proportion to the numbers involved.

Of the three divisions arriving in France when the
first German offensive began, the 32d, intended for
replacements, had been temporarily employed in the
Services of Supply to meet a shortage of personnel,
but the critical situation caused it to be reassembled,
and by May 21 it was entering the line in the Vosges.
At this time the 5th Division, though still incom
plete, was also ordered into the line in the same reg
ion. The 3d Division was assembling in its training
area and the 3d Corps staff had just been organized
to administer these three divisions. In addition to
the eight divisions already mentioned, the 28th and
77th had arrived in the British area, and the 4th,
27th, 13th, 33d, 35th, and 82d were arriving there.
Following the agreements as to British shipping, our
troops came so rapidly that by the end of May we
had a force of 600,000 in France.

The third German offensive, on May 27, against
the French on the Aisne, soon developed a desperate
situation for the Allies. The 2d Division, then in
reserve northwest of Paris and preparing to relieve
the 1st Division, was hastily diverted to the vicinity
of the Meaux on May 31, and, early on the morning
of June 1, was deployed across the Chateau-Thierry-
Paris road near Montreuil-aux-Lions in a gap in the
French line, where it stopped the German advance on
Paris. At the same time the partially trained 3d di
vision was placed at French disposal to hold the
crossings of the Marne, and its motorized machine-

2512 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

gun battalion succeeded in reaching Chateau-Thierry
in time to assist in successfully defending that river
crossing.

BELLEAU WOODS

The enemy having been halted, the 2d Division
commenced a series of vigorous attacks on June 4,
which resulted in the capture of Belleau Woods after
very severe fighting. The village of Bouresches was
taken soon after, and on July 1 Vaux was captured.
In these operations the 2d Division met with most
desperate resistance by Germany's best troops.

To meet the March offensive, the French had ex
tended their front from the Oise to Amiens, about
sixty kilometers, and during the German drive along
the Lys had also sent reenforcements to assist the
British. The French lines had been further length
ened about forty-five kilometers as a result of the
Marne pocket made by the Aisne offensive. This in
creased frontage and the heavy fighting had reduced
French reserves to an extremely low point.

Our Second Corps, under Major Gen. George W.
Read, had been organized for the command of the
ten divisions with the British, which were held back
in training areas or assigned to second-line defenses.
After consultation with Field Marshal Haig on June
3, five American divisions were relieved from the
British area to support the French. The 77th and
82d Divisions were removed south to release the 42d
and 26th for employment on a more active portion of
the front; the 35th Division entered the line in the
Vosges, and the 4th and 25th Divisions were moved
to the region of Meaux and Chateau-Thierry as re
serves.

On June 9 the Germans attacked the Mondidier-
Noyon front in an effort to widen the Marne pocket
and bring their lines nearer to Paris, but were stub-

GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING'S REPORT 2513

bornly held by the French with comparatively little
loss of ground. In view of the unexpected results
of the three preceding attacks by the enemy, this
successful defense proved beneficial to the allied
morale, particularly as it was believed that the Ger
man losses were unusually heavy.

On July 15, the date of the last German offensive,
the 1st, 2d, 3d, and 26th Divisions were on the Cha
teau-Thierry front with the 4th and 28th in support,
some small units of the last two divisions gaining
front-line experience with our troops or with the
French; the 42d Division was in support of the
French east of Rheims, and four colored regiments
were with the French in the Argonne. On the
Alsace-Lorraine front we had five divisions in line
with the French. Five were with the British Army,
three having elements in the line. In our training
areas four divisions were assembled and four were in
the process of arrival.

AMERICANS BAR THE WAY TO PARIS

The Marne salient was inherently weak and offered
an opportunity for a counteroffensive that was obvi
ous.

If successful, such an operation would afford im
mediate relief to the allied defense, would remove
the threat against Paris, and free the Paris-Nancy
railroad. But, more important than all else, it would
restore the morale of the Allies and remove the pro
found depression and fear then existing. Up to this
time our unite had been put in here and there at crit
ical points as emergency troops to stop the terrific
German advance. In every trial, whether on the de
fensive or offensive, they had proved themselves
equal to any troops in Europe. As early as June 28
and again on July 10 at Bombon, I had very strongly

2514 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION

urged our best divisions be concentrated under
American command, if possible, for use as a striking
force against the Marne salient. Although the pre
vailing view among the Allies was that American
units were suitable only for the defensive, and that
at all events they could be used to better advantage
under allied command, the suggestion was accepted
in principle, and my estimate of their offensive fight
ing qualities was soon put to the test.

The enemy had encouraged his soldiers to believe
that the July 15 attack would conclude the war with
a German peace. Although he made elaborate plans
for the operation, he failed to conceal fully his inten
tions, and the front of attack was suspected at least
one week ahead. On the Champagne front the ac
tual hour for the assault was known and the enemy
was checked with heavy losses. The 42d Division
entered the line near Somme Py immediately, and
five of its infantry battalions and all its artillery be
came engaged. Southwest of Rheims and along the
Marne to the east of Chateau-Thierry the Germans
were at first somewhat successful, a penetration of
eight kilometers beyond the river being effected
against the French immediately to the right of our
3d Division. The following quotation from the re
port of the commanding General, 3d Division, gives
the result of the fighting on his front :

"Although the rush of the German troops over
whelmed some of the front-line positions, causing the
infantry and machine-gun companies to suffer, in
some cases a 50 per cent, loss, no German soldier
crossed the road from Fossoy to Crezancy, except as
a prisoner of war, and by noon of the following day
(July 16) there were no Germans in the foreground
of the 3d Division sector except the dead."

On this occasion a single regiment of the 3d Divi
sion wrote one of the most brilliant pages in our mili-

GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING'S REPORT 2515

tary annals. It prevented the crossing at certain
points on its front, while on either flank the Ger
mans who had gained a footing pressed forward.
Our men, firing in three directions, met the German
attacks with counterattacks at critical points and
succeeded in throwing two German divisions into
complete confusion, capturing 600 prisoners.

The selection by the Germans of the Champagne
sector and the eastern and southern faces of the
Marne pocket on which to make their offensive was
fortunate for the Allies, as it favored the launching
of the counterattack already planned. There were
now over 1,200,000 American troops in France, which
provided a considerable force of reserves. Every
American division with any sort of training was
made available for use in a counteroffensive.

General Petain's initial plan for the counterattack
involved the entire western face of the Marne salient.
The 1st and 2d American Divisions, with the 1st
French Moroccan Division between them, were em
ployed as the spearhead of the main attack, driving
directly eastward, through the most sensitive por
tion of the German lines, to the heights south of
Soissons. The advance began on July 18, without
the usual brief warning of a preliminary bombard
ment, and these three divisions at a single bound
broke through the enemy's infantry defenses and
overran his artillery, cutting or interrupting the
German communications leading into the salient. A
general withdrawal from the Marne was immediately
begun by the enemy, who still fought stubbornly
to prevent disaster.

MAGNIFICENT DASH NEAR SOISSONS

The 1st Division, throughout four days of constant
fighting, advanced eleven kilometers, capturing
Berzy-le-Sec and the heights above Soissons and tak*

2516 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

ing some 3,500 prisoners and sixty-eight field guns
from the seven German divisions employed against it.
It was relieved by a British division. The 2d Divi
sion advanced eight kilometers in the first twenty-
six hours, and by the end of the second day was f ac-
ing Tigny, having captured 3,000 prisoners and sixty-
six field guns. It was relieved the night of the 19th
by a French division.

"The result of this counteroffensive was of decisive
importance. Due to the magnificent dash and power
displayed on the field of Soissons by our 1st and 2d
Divisions the tide of the war was definitely turned
in favor of the Allies."

Other American divisions participated in the Marne
counteroffensive. A little to the south of the 2d
Division, the 4th was in the line with the French and
was engaged until July 22. The 1st American Corps,
Major Gen. Hunter Liggett commanding, with the
26th Division and a French division, acted as a pivot
of the movement toward Soissons, capturing Torcy
on the 18th and reaching the Chateau-Thierry-Sois-
sons roads on the 21st. At the same time the 3d
Division crossed the Marne and took the heights of
Mont Saint Peter and the villages of Charteves and
Jaulgonne.

ADVANCING TO THE VESLE

In the 1st Corps, the 42d Division relieved the 26th
on July 25 and extended its front, on the 26th reliev
ing French division. From this time until August
2 it fought its way through the Forest de Fere and
across the Ourcq, advancing toward the Vesle until
relieved by the 4th Division on August 3. Early in
this period elements of the 28th Division participated
in the advance.

Further to the east the 3d Division forced the
enemy back to Roncheres Wood, where it was re-

GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING'S REPORT 2517

lieved on July 30 by the 32d Division from the Vosges
front. The 32d, after relieving the 3d and some ele
ments of the 28th on the line of the Ourcq River, ad
vanced abreast of the 42d toward the Vesle. On
August 3 it passed under control of our 3d Corps,
Major Gen. Robert L. Bullard commanding, which
made its first appearance in battle at this time, while
the 4th Division took up the task of the 42d Division
and advanced with the 32d to the Vesle River, where,
on August 6, the operations for the reduction of the
Marne salient terminated.

In the hard fighting from July 18 to August 6 the
Germans were not only halted in their advance, but
were driven back from the Marne to the Vesle and
committed wholly to the defensive. The force of
American arms had been brought to bear in time to
enable the last offensive of the enemy to be crushed.

BATTLES ON THE VESLE

The 1st and 3d Corps now held a continuous front
of eleven kilometers along the Vesle. On August 12
the 77th Division relieved the 4th Division on the 1st
Corps front, and the following day the 28th relieved
the 32d Division in the 3d Corps, while from August
6 to August 10 the 6th Infantry Brigade of the 3d
Division held a sector on the river line. The trans
fer of the 1st Corps to the Woevre was ordered at
this time, and the control of its front was turned over
to the 3d Corps.

On August 13 General Petain began an offensive
between Rheims and the Oise. Our 3d Corps parti
cipated in this operation, crossing the Vesle on Sep
tember 4, with the 28th and 77th Divisions and over
coming stubborn opposition on the plateau south of
the Aisne, which was reached by the 77th on Septem
ber 6. The 28th was withdrawn from the line on
September 7. Two days later the 3d Corps was

2518 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

transferred to the region of Verdun, the 77th Divi
sion remaining in line on the Aisne River until Sep
tember 17.

The 32d Division, upon its relief from the battle
on the Vesle, joined a French corps north of Soissons
and attacked from August 29 to 31, capturing Juv-
igny after some particularly desperate fighting and
reaching the Chauny-Soissons road.

On the British front two regiments of the 33d Di
vision participated in an attack on Hamel July 4, and
again on August 9, as an incident of an allied offen
sive against the Amiens salient. One of these regi
ments took Gressaire Wood and Chipilly Bridge, cap
turing 700 prisoners and considerable material.

ASSEMBLING OF THE FIRST AMERICAN ARMY

In conference with General Petain at Chantilly on
May 19 it had been agreed that the American Army
would soon take complete charge of the sector of the
Woevre. The 26th Division was already in line in
the Woevre north of Toul and was to be followed by
other American divisions as they became available,
with the understanding that the sector was to pass
to our control when four divisions were in the line.
But demands of the battle then going on further west
required the presence of our troops, and the agree
ment had no immediate result. Due to the presence
of a number of our divisions northeast of Paris, the
organization of an American corps sector in the
Chateau-Thierry region was taken up with General
Petain, and on July 4 the 1st Corps assumed tactical
control of a sector in that region. This was an im
portant step, but it was by no means satisfactory, as
only one American division at the moment was op
erating under the control of the 1st Corps, while we
had at this time eight American divisions in the
front line serving in French corps.

GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING'S REPORT 2519

The counteroffensive against the Marne salient in
July, and against the Amiens salient in August had
gained such as an advantage that it was apparent
that the emergency, which justified the dispersion of
our divisions, had passed. The moment was propiti
ous for assembling our divisions. Scattered as they
were along the allied front, their supply had become
very difficult. From every point of view the im
mediate organization of an independent American
force was indicated. The formation of the army in
the Chateau-Thierry region and its early transfer to
the sector of the Woevre, which was to extend from
Nomeny, east of the Moselle, to north of St. Mihiel,
was therefore decided upon by Marshal Foch and my
self on August 9, and the details were arranged with
General Petain later on the same day.

AMERICANS IN THE ST. MIHIEL OPERATION

At Bombon on July 24 there was a conference of
all the Commanders in Chief for the purpose of con
sidering allied operations. Each presented propos
als for the employment of the armies under his com
mand, and these formed the basis of future co-opera
tion of the Allies. It was emphatically determined
that the allied attitude should be to maintain the of
fensive. At the first operation of the American
Army the reduction of the salient of St. Mihiel was
to be undertaken as soon as the necessary troops and
material could be made available. On account of the
swampy nature of the country it was especially im
portant that the movement be undertaken and finish
ed before the Fall rains should begin, which was usu
ally about the middle of September.

Arrangements were concluded for successive relief
of the American divisions, and the organization of
the First American Army under my personal com
mand was announced on August 10, with La Fertes-

2520 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

ous-Jouarre as headquarters. This army nominally
assumed control of a portion of the Vesle front, al
though at the same time directions were given for
its secret concentration in the St. Mihiel sector.

The force of American soldiers in France at that
moment was sufficient to carry out this offensive, but
they were dispersed along the front from Switzer
land to the Channel. The three army corps head
quarters to participate in the St. Mihiel attack were
the 1st, 4th, and 5th. The 1st was on the Vesle, the
4th at Toul, and the 5th not yet completely organ
ized. To assemble combat divisions and service
troops and undertake a major operation within the
short period available and with staffs so recently or
ganized was an extremely difficult task. Our defici
encies in artillery, aviation, and special troops, caus
ed by the shipment of an undue proportion of in
fantry and machine guns during the Summer, were
largely met by French.

The reduction of the St. Mihiel salient was import
ant, as it would prevent the enemy from interrupt
ing traffic on the Paris-Nancy Railroad by artillery
fire and would free the railroad leading north through
St. Mihiel to Verdun. It would also provide us with
an advantageous base of departure for an attack
against the Metz-Sedan railroad system, which was
vital to the German armies west of Verdun, and
against the Briey Iron Basin, which was necessary
for the production of German armament and muni
tions.

FOCH'S PLAN OF BATTLE

The general plan was to make simultaneous attacks
against the flanks of the salient. The ultimate ob
jective was tentatively fixed as the general line
Marieulles (east of the Moselle) — heights south of
Gorze-Mars in Tour-Etain. The operations contem-

GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING'S REPORT 2521

plated the use of the western face of three or four
American divisions, supported by the attack of six
divisions of the Second French Army on their left,
while seven American divisions would attack on the
southern face, and three French divisions would
press the enemy at the tip of the salient. As the
part to be taken by the Second French Army would
be closely related to the attack of the First American
Army, General Petain placed all the French troops
involved under my personal command.

By August 20 the concentration of the scattered
divisions, corps, and army troops, of the quantities
of supplies and munitions required, and the neces
sary construction of light railways and roads, were
well under way.

In accordance with the previous general considera
tion of operations at Bombon on July 24, an allied
offensive extending practically along the entire ac
tive front was eventually to be carried out. After
the reduction of the St. Mihiel sector the Americans
were to co-operate in the concerted effort of the al
lied armies. It was the sense of the conference of
July 24 that the extent to which the different opera
tions already planned might carry us could not be
then foreseen, especially if the results expected were
achieved before the season was far advanced. It
seemed reasonable at that time to look forward to a
combined offensive for the Autumn, which would
give no respite to the enemy and would increase our
advantage for the inauguration of succeeding opera
tions extending into 1919.

On August 30 a further discussion with Marshal
Foch was held at my headquarters at Ligny-en-Bar-
rois. In view of the new successes of the French
and British near Amiens and the continued favorable
results toward the Chemin des Dames on the French
front, it was now believed that the limited allied of-

2522 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

fensive, which was to prepare for the campaign of
1919, might be carried further before the end of the
year. At this meeting it was proposed by Marshal
Foch that the generous operations as far as the
American Army was concerned should be carried out
in detail by :

(a) An attack beween the Meuse and the Argonne
by the Second French Army, reinforced by from four
to six American divisions.

(b) A French-American attack, extending from
the Argonne west to the Souain road, to be executed
on the right by an American Army astride the Aisne
and on the left by the Fourth French Army.

To carry out these attacks the ten to eleven Amer
ican divisions suggested for the St. Mihiel operation
and the four to six for the Second French Army,
would have eight to ten divisions for an American
Army on the Aisne. It was proposed that the St.
Mihiel operation should be initiated on September 10,
and the other two on September 15 and 20, respec
tively.

PERSHING'S PLAN SUPERSEDES THAT OF FOCH

The plan suggested for the American participation
in these operations was not acceptable to me because
it would require the immediate separation of the re
cently formed First American Army into several
groups, mainly to assist French armies. This was
directly contrary to the principle of forming a dis
tinct American army, for which my contention had
been insistent. An enormous amount of preparation
had already been made in construction of roads, rail
roads, regulating stations, and other installations
looking to the use and supply of our armies on a
particular front. The inherent disinclination of our
troops to serve under allied commanders would have
grown and American morale would have suffered.

GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING'S REPORT 2523

My position was stated quite clearly that the strateg
ical employment of the First Army as a unit would
be undertaken where desired, but its disruption to
carry out these proposals would not be entertained.

A further conference at Marshal Foch's headquar
ters was held on September 2, at which General
Petain was present. After discussion the question
of employing the American Army as a unit was con
ceded. The essentials of the strategical decision
previously arrived at provided that the advantageous
situation of the Allies should be exploited to the ut
most by vigorously continuing the general battle and
extending it eastward to the Meuse. All the allied
armies were to be employed in a converging action.
The British armies, supported by the left of the
French armies, were to pursue the attack in the di
rection of Cambrai ; the centre of the French armies,
west of Rheims, would continue the actions already
begun to drive the enemy beyond the Aisne ; and the
American Army, supported by the right of the
French armies would direct its attack on Sedan and
Mezieres.

It should be recorded that although this general
offensive was fully outlined at the conference no one
present expressed the opinion that the final victory
could be won in 1918. In fact, it was believed by the
French High Command that the Meuse-Argonne at
tack could not be pushed much beyond Montfaucon
before the arrival of Winter would force a cessation
of operations.

The choice between the two sectors, that east of
the Aisne, including the Argonne Forest, or the
Champagne sector, was left to me. In my opinion
no other allied troops had the morale or the offensive
spirit to overcome successfully the difficulties to be
met in the Meuse-Argonne sector, and our plans and
installations had been prepared for an expansion of

2524 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

operations in that direction. So the Meuse-Argonne
front was chosen. The entire sector of 150 kilomet
ers of front, extending from Port-sur-Seille, east of
the Moselle, west to include the Argonne Forest, was
accordingly placed under my command, including all
French divisions then in that zone. The First Amer
ican Army was to proceed with the St. Mihiel opera
tion, after which the operation between the Meuse
and the western edge of the Argonne Forest was to
be prepared and launched not later than Septem
ber 25.

THE FIELD OF BATTLE

As a result of these decisions the depth of the St.
Mihiel operation was limited to the line Vigneulles-
Thiaucourt-Regnieville. The number of divisions to
be used was reduced and the time shortened. Eigh
teen to nineteen divisions were to be in the front line.
There were four French and fifteen American divi
sions available, six of which would be in reserve,
while the two flank divisions of the front line were
not to advance. Furthermore, two Army Corps
Headquarters, with their corps troops, practically all
the army artillery and aviation, and the 1st, 2d, and
4th Divisions, the first two destined to take a leading
part in the St. Mihiel attack, were all due to be with
drawn and started for the Meuse-Argonne by the
fourth day of the battle.

The salient had been held by the Germans since
September, 1914. It covered the most sensitive sec
tion of the enemy's position on the western front,
namely, the Mezieres-Sedan-Metz railroad and the
Briey Iron Basin ; it threatened the entire region be
tween Verdun and Nancy, and interrupted the main
rail line from Paris to the east. Its primary strength
lay in the natural defensive features of the terrain
itself. The western face of the salient extended

GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING'S REPORT 2525

along the rugged, heavily wooded eastern heights of
the Meuse; the southern face followed the heights
of the Meuse for eight kilometers to the east and
then crossed the plain of the Woevre, including with
in the German lines the detached heights of Loup-
mont and Montsec which dominated the plain and af
forded the enemy unusual facilities for observation.
The enemy had reenforced the positions by every
artificial means during a period of four years.

On the night of September 11 the troops of the
First Army were deployed in position. On the south
ern face of the salient was the 1st Corps, Major Gen.
Liggett commanding, with the 82d, 19th, 5th and 2d
Divisions in line, extending from the Moselle west
ward. On its left was the 4th Corps, Major Gen.
Joseph T. Dickman commanding, with the 89th, 42d
and 1st Divisions, the left of this corps being oppo
site Montsec. These two army corps were to deliver
the principal attack, the line pivoting on the centre
division of the 1st Corps. The 1st Division, on the
left of the 4th Corps, was charged with the double
mission of covering its own flank while advancing
some twenty kilometers due north toward the heart
of the salient, where it was to make contact with the
troops of the 5th Corps. On the western face of the
salient lay the 5th Corps, Major Gen. Geo. H. Cam
eron commanding, with the 26th Division, 15th
French Colonial Division and the 4th Division in
line, from Mouilly west to Les Eparges and north to
Watronville. Of these three divisions the 26th alone
was to make a deep advance directed southeast to
ward Vigneulles. The French division was to make
a short progression to the edge of the heights in
order to cover the left of the 26th. The 4th Division
was to make a deep advance directed southeast to-
and 5th Army Corps, was the 2d French Colonial
Corps, Major Gen. E. J. Blondlat commanding, cover-

2526 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

ing a front of forty kilometers with three small
French divisions. These troops were to follow up
the retirement of the enemy from the tip of the sali
ent.

ADVANCE AT DAWN

The French independent air force was at my dis
posal, which, together with the British bombing
squadrons and our own air forces, gave us the larg
est assemblage of aviation that had ever been en
gaged in one operation. Our heavy guns were able
to reach Metz and to interfere seriously with Ger
man rail movements.

At dawn on September 12, after four hours of viol
ent artillery fire of preparation, and accompanied by
small tanks, the infantry of the 1st and 4th Corps ad
vanced. The infantry of the 5th Corps commenced
its advance at 8 A. M. The operation was carried
out with the entire precision. Just after daylight on
September 13 elements of the 1st and 26th Divisions
made a junction near Hattonchatel and Vigneulles,
eighteen kilometers northeast of St. Mihiel.

The rapidity with which our divisions advanced
overwhelmed the enemy, and all objectives were
reached by the afternoon of September 13. The ene
my had apparently started to withdraw some of his
troops from the tip of the salient on the eve of our
attack, but had been unable to carry it through. We
captured nearly 16,000 prisoners, 443 guns, and large
stores of material and supplies. The energy and
swiftness with which the operation was carried out
enabled us to smother opposition to such an extent
that we suffered less than 7,000 casualties during
the actual period of the advance.

During the next two days the right of our line
west of the Moselle River was advanced beyond the
objectives laid down in the original orders. This

GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING'S REPORT 2527

completed the operation for the time being and the
line was stabilized to be held by the smallest prac
ticable force.

RESULTS OF THE BATTLE

The material results of the victory achieved were
very important. An American army was an accom
plished J ict, and the enemy had felt its power. No
form of propaganda could overcome the depressing
effect on the morale of the enemy of this demonstra
tion of our ability to organize a large American force
and drive it successfully through his defenses. It
gave our troops implicit confidence in their superior
ity and raised their morale to the highest pitch. For
the first time wire entanglements ceased to be re
garded as impassable barriers and open-warfare
training, which had been so urgently insisted upon,
proved to be the correct doctrine. Our divisions con
cluded the attack with such small losses and in such
high spirits that without the usual rest they were
immediately available for employment in heavy fight
ing in a new theatre of operations. The strength of
the First Army in this battle totaled approximately
500,000 men, of whom about 70,000 were French.

BATTLING TO BREAK HINDENBURG LINE

The definite decision for the Meuse-Argonne phase
of the great allied convergent attack was agreed to
in my conference with Marshal Foch and General
Petain on September 2. It was planned to use all
available forces of the First Army, including such di
visions and troops as we might be able to withdraw
from the St. Mihiel front. The army was to break
through the enemy's successive fortified zones to in
clude the Kriemhilde Stellung, or Hindenburg line,
on the front Brieulles-Romagne sous Montfaucon-
Grand Pre, and thereafter, by developing pressure

2523 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

toward Mezieres, was to insure the fall of the Hinden-
burg line along the Aisne River in front of the
Fourth French Army, which was to attack to the
west of the Argonne Forest. A penetration of some
twelve to fifteen kilometers was required to reach
the Hindenburg line on our front, and the enemy's
defenses were virtually continuous throughout that
depth.

The Meuse-Argonne front had been practically
stabilized in September, 1914, and, except for minor
fluctuations during the German attacks on Verdun
in 1916 and the French counteroffensive in August,
1917, remained unchanged until the American ad
vance in 1918. The net result of the four years'
struggle on this ground was a German defensive sys
tem of unusual depth and strength and a wide zone
of utter devastation, itself a serious obstacle to offen
sive operations.

The strategical importance of this portion of the
line was second to none on the western front. All
supplies and evacuations of the German armies in
Northern France were dependent upon two great
railway systems — one in the north, passing through
Liege, the other in the south, with lines coming from
Luxemburg, Thionville, and Metz, had as its vital
section the line Carignan-Sedan-Mezieres. No other
important lines were available to the enemy, as the
mountainous masses of the Ardennes made the con
struction of east and west lines through that region
impracticable. The Carignan-Sedan-Mezieres line
was essential to the Germans for the rapid strate
gical movement of troops. Should this southern
system be cut by the Allies before the enemy could
withdraw his forces through the narrow neck be
tween Mezieres and the Dutch frontier, the ruin of
his armies in France and Belgium would be complete.

From the Meuse-Argonne front the perpendicular

GENERAL JOHN J. PEESHING'S REPORT 2529

distance to the Carignan-Mezieres railroad was 50
kilometers. This region formed the pivot of German
operations in Northern France, and the vital neces
sity of covering the great railroad line into Sedan
resulted in the convergence on the Meuse-Argonne
front of the successive German defensive positions.
The effect of this convergence can be best understood
by reference to the map. It will be seen, for ex
ample, that the distance between No Man's Land
and the third German withdrawal position in the
vicinity of the Meuse River was approximately 18
kilometers ; the distance between the corresponding
points near the tip of the great salient of the western
front was about 65 kilometers, and in the vicinity of
Cambrai was over 30 kilometers. The effect of a
penetration of 18 kilometers by the American Army
would be equivalent to an advance of 65 kilometers
further west ; furthermore, such an advance on our
front was far more dangerous to the enemy than an
advance elsewhere. The vital importance of this
portion of his position was fully appreciated by the
enemy, who had suffered tremendous losses in 1916
in attempting to improve it by the reduction of Ver
dun. As a consequence it had been elaborately forti
fied, and consisted of practically a continuous series
of positions 20 kilometers or more in depth.

In addition to the artificial defenses, the enemy
was greatly aided by the natural features of the ter
rain. East of the Meuse the dominating heights not
only protected his left, but gave him positions from
which powerful artillery could deliver an oblique fire
on the western bank. Batteries located in the elabor
ately fortified Argonne Forest covered his right flank,
and could cross their fire with that of the guns on the
east bank of the Meuse. Midway between the Meuse
and the forest the heights of Montf aucon offered ob
servation and formed a strong natural position which

2530 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

had been heavily fortified. The east and west ridges
abutting on the Meuse and Air River valleys afforded
the enemy excellent machine-gun positions for the
desperate defense which the importance of the posi
tion would require him to make. North of Mont-
faucon densely wooded and rugged heights consti
tuted natural features favorable to defensive fight
ing.

When the First Army became engaged in the sim
ultaneous preparation for two major operations an
interval of fourteen days separated the initiation of
the two attacks. During this short period the move
ment of the immense number of troops and the
amount of supplies, and confined entirely to the hours
of darkness, was one of the most delicate and difficult
problems of war. The concentration included fifteen
divisions, of which seven were involved in the pend
ing St. Mihiel drive, three were in sector in the Vos-
ges, three in the neighborhood of Soissons, one in a
training area and one near Bar-le-Duc. Practically
all the artillery, aviation and other auxiliaries to be
employed in the new operations were committed to
the St. Mihiel attack and, therefore, could not be
moved until its success was assured. The concen
tration of all units not to be used at St. Mihiel was
commenced immediately, and on September 13, the
second day of St. Mihiel, reserve divisions and artil
lery units were withdrawn and placed in motion to
ward the Argonne front.

MOVING TOWARD ARGONNE FOREST

That part of the American sector from Fresnes-en-
Woevre, southeast of Verdun, to the western edge of
the Argonne Forest, while nominally under my con
trol, did not actively become a part of my command
until September 22, on which date my headquarters
were established at Souilly, southwest of Verdun.

GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING'S REPORT 2531

Of French troops, in addition to the 2d French Colo
nial Corps, composed of three divisions, there was
also the 17th French Corps of three divisions holding
the front north and east of Verdun.

At the moment of the opening of the Meuse-Ar-
gonne battle the enemy had ten divisions in line and
ten in reserve on the front between Fresnes-en-Wo-
evre and the Argonne Forest, inclusive. He had
undoubtedly expected a continuation of our advance
toward Metz. Successful ruses were carried out be
tween the Meuse River and Luneville to deceive him
as to our intentions, and French troops were main
tained as a screen along our front until the night be
fore the battle, so that the actual attack was a tac
tical surprise.

The operations in the Meuse-Argonne battle really
form a continuous whole, but they extended over
such a long period of continuous fighting that they
•will here be considered in three phases, the first from
September 26 to October 3, the second from October
4 to 31, and the third from November 1 to 11.

FIRST FIGHTING IN ARGONNE

On the night of September 25 the nine divisions to
lead in the attack were deployed between the Meuse
River and the western edge of the Argonne Forest.
On the right was the 3d Corps, Major Gen. Bullard
commanding, with the 33d, 80th and 4th Divisions
in line ; next came the 5th Corps, Major Gen. Cameron
commanding, with the 79th, 37th and 91st Divisions ;
on the left was the 1st Corps, Major Gen. Liggett
commanding, with the 35th, 28th and 77th Divisions.
Each corps had one division in reserve and the army
held three divisions as a general reserve. About
2,700 guns, 189 small tanks, 142 manned by Amer
icans, and 821 airplanes, 604 manned by Americans,
were concentrated to support the attack of the in-

2532 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION

fantry. We thus had a superiority in guns and avia
tion, and the enemy had no tanks.

The axis of the attack was the line Montfaucon-
Bomagne-Buzancy, the purpose being to make the
deepest penetration in the centre, which, with the
Fourth French Army advancing west of the Argonne,
woud force the enemy to evacuate that forest with
out our having to deliver a heavy attack in that dif
ficult region.

Following three hours of violent artillery fire of
preparation, the infantry advanced at 5 :30 A. M. on
September 26, accompanied by tanks. During the
first two days of the attack, before the enemy was
able to bring up his reserves, our troops made steady
progress through the network of defenses. Mont-
faucon was held tenaciously by the enemy and was
not captured until noon of the second day.

By the evening of the 28th a maximum advance of
eleven kilometers had been achieved and we had cap
tured Baulny, Epinonville, Septsarges, and Danne-
voux. The right had made a splendid advance into
the woods south of Brieulles-sur-Meuse, but the ex
treme left was meeting strong resistance in the Ar
gonne. The attack continued without interruption,
meeting six new divisions which the enemy threw
into the first line before September 29. He devel
oped a powerful machine-gun defense supported by
heavy artillery fire, and made frequent counterat
tacks with fresh troops, particularly on the front of
the 28th and 35th Divisions. These divisions had
taken Varennes, Cheppy, Baulny, and Charpentry,
and the line was within two kilometers of Apremont.
We were no longer engaged in a manoeuvre for the
pinching out of a salient, but were necessarily com
mitted, generally speaking, to a direct frontal attack
against strong, hostile positions fully manned by a
determined enemy.

GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING'S REPORT 2533

By nightfall of the 29th the First Army line was
approximately Bois de la Cote Lemont-Nantfllois-
Apremont-southwest across the Argonne. Many di
visions, especially those in the centre that were sub
jected to cross-fire of artillery, had suffered heavily.
The severe fighting, the nature of the terrain over
which they attacked, and the fog and darkness sorely
tried even our best divisions. On the night of the
29th the 37th and 79th Divisions were relieved by
the 32d and 3d Divisions, respectively, and on the fol
lowing night the 1st Division relieved the 35th Divi
sion.

The critical problem during the first few days of
the battle was the restoration of communications
over No Man's Land. There were but four roads
available across this deep zone, and the violent artil
lery fire of the previous period of the war had virtu
ally destroyed them. The spongy soil and the lack
of material increased the difficulty. But the splen
did work of our engineers and pioneers soon made
possible the movement of the troops, artillery, and
supplies most needed. By the afternoon of the 27th
all the divisional artillery except a few batteries of
heavy guns had effected a passage and was support
ing the infantry action.

SECOND PHASE OF BATTLE

At 5 :30 A. M. on October 4 the general attack was
renewed. The enemy divisions on the front from
Fresnes-en-Woerve to the Argonne had increased
from ten in the first line to sixteen, and included
some of his best divisions. The fighting was desper
ate, and only small advances were realized, except by
the 1st Division, on the right of the 1st Corps. By
evening of October 5 the line was approximately Bois
de la Cote Lemont-Bois du Fays-Gesnes-Hill 240-Fle-
ville-Chehery-southwest through the Argonne.

2534 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION

It was especially desirable to drive the enemy from
his commanding positions on the heights east of the
Meuse, but it was even more important that we
should force him to use his troops there and weaken
his tenacious hold on positions in our immediate
front. The further stabilization of the new St.
Mihiel line permitted the withdrawal of certain divi
sions for the extension of the Meuse-Argonne opera
tion to the east bank of the Meuse River.

On the 7th the 1st Corps, with the 82d Division
added, launched a strong attack northwest toward
Cornay, to draw attention from the movement east
of the Meuse and at the same time outflank the Ger
man position in the Argonne. The following day the
17th French Corps, Major Gen. Claudel commanding,
initiated its attack east of the Meuse against the ex
act point on which the German armies must pivot in
order to withdraw from Northern France. The
troops encountered elaborate fortifications and stub
born resistance, but by nightfall had realized an ad
vance of six kilometers to a line well within the Bois
de Consenvoye, and including the villages of Beau
mont and Haumont. Continuous fighting was main
tained along our entire battlefront, with especial suc
cess on the extreme left, where the capture of the
greater part of the Argonne Forest was completed.
The enemy contested every foot of ground on our
front in order to make more rapid retirement further
west and withdraw his forces from Northern France
before the interruption of his railroad communica
tions through Sedan.

REPLACEMENTS INSUFFICIENT

We were confronted at this time by an insuffici
ency of replacements to build up exhausted divisions.
Early in October combat units required some 90,000
replacements, and not more than 45,000 would be

GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING'S REPORT 2535

available before November 1 to fill the existing and
prospective vacancies. We still had two divisions
with the British and two with the French. A review
of the situation, American and allied, especially as to
our own resources in men for the next two months,
convinced me that the attack of the First Army and
of the allied armies further west should be pushed
to the limit. But if the First Army was to continue
its aggressive tactics our divisions then with the
French must be recalled, and replacements must be
obtained by breaking up newly arrived divisions.

In discussing the withdrawal of our divisions from
the French with Marshal Foch and General Petain
on October 10 the former expressed his appreciation
of the fact that the First Army was striking the
pivot of the German withdrawal, and also held the
view that the allied attack should continue. General
Petain agreed that the American divisions with the
French were essential to us if we were to maintain
our battle against the German pivot. The French
were, however, straining every nerve to keep up their
attacks and, before those divisions with the French
had been released, it became necessary for us to send
the 37th and 91st Divisions from the First Army to
assist the Sixth French Army in Flanders.

OVER ONE MILLION AMERICANS IN BATTLE

At this time the First Army was holding a front
of more than 120 kilometers ; its strength exceeded
1,000,000 men ; it was engaged in the most desperate
battle of our history, and the burden of command
was too heavy for a single commander and staff.
Therefore, on October 12, that portion of our front
extending from Port-sur-Seille, east of the Moselle,
to Fresnes-en-Woevre, southeast of Verdun, was
transferred to the newly constituted Second Army,
with Lieut. Gen. Robert L. Bullard in command, un-

2536 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

der whom it began preparations for the extension of
operations to the east in the direction of Briey and
Metz. On October 16 the command of the First
Army was transferred to Lieut. Gen. Hunter Liggett,
and my advance headquarters was established at
Ligny-en-Barrois, from which the command of the
group of American armies was exercised.

HINDENBURG LINE BROKEN

Local attacks of the First Army were continued in
order particularly to adjust positions preparatory to
a renewed general assault. The 1st and 5th Divi
sions, which were now fresh. An attack along the
whole front was made on October 11. The resist
ance encountered was stubborn, but the stronghold
on Cote Dame Marie was captured and the Hinden-
burg line was broken. Cunel and Romagne-sous-
Montfacon were taken and the line advanced two
kilometers north of Sommerance. A maximum ad
vance of seventeen kilometers had been made since
September 26 and the enemy had been forced to
throw into the fight a total of fifteen reserve divi
sions.

During the remainder of the month important
local operations were carried out, which involved
desperate fighting. The 1st Corps, Major Gen. Dick-
man commanding, advanced through Grand Pre ; the
5th Corps, Major Gen. Charles P. Sommerall com
manding, captured the Bois de Bantheville; the 3d
Corps, Major Gen. John L. Hines commanding, com
pleted the occupation of Cunel Heights, and the 17th
French Corps drove the enemy from the main ridge
south of La Grande Montague. Particularly heavy
fighting occurred east of the Meuse on October 18,
and in the further penetration of the Kriemhilde-
Stellung on October 23 the 26th Division, entering

GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING'S REPORT 2537

the battle at this time, relieved the 18th French Divi
sion.

THE RESULTS

Summarizing the material results which had been
attained by the First Army by the end of October,
we had met an increasing number of Germany's best
divisions, rising from twenty in line and reserve on
September 26, to thirty-one on October 31 ; the ene
my's elaborately prepared positions, including the
Hindenburg line, in our front had been broken ; the
almost impassable Argonne Forest was in our hands ;
an advance of twenty-one kilometers had been ef
fected ; 18,600 prisoners, 370 cannon, 1,000 machine
guns, and a mass of material captured, and the great
railway artery through Carignan to Sedan was now
seriously threatened.

The demands of incessant battle which had been
maintained day by day for more than a mouth had
compelled our divisions to fight to the limit of their
capacity. Combat troops were held in line and push
ed to the attack until deemed incapable of further
effort because of casualties or exhaustion; artillery
once engaged was seldom withdrawn, and many bat
teries fought until practically all the animals were
casualties and the guns were towed out of line by
motor trucks.

The American soldier had shown unrivaled forti
tude in this continuous fighting during most incle
ment weather and under many disadvantages of posi
tion. Through experience, the army had developed
into a powerful and smooth-running machine, and
there was a supreme confidence in our ability to
carry through the task successfully.

While the high pressure of these dogged attacks
was a great strain on our troops, it was calamitous to
the enemy. His divisions had been thrown into con-

2538 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

fusion by our furious assaults, and his morale had
been reduced until his will to resist had well-nigh
reached the breaking point. Once a German division
was engaged in the fight, it became practically im
possible to effect its relief. The enemy was forced
to meet the constantly recurring crisis by breaking
up tactical organizations and sending hurried detach
ments to widely separated portions of the field.

Every member of the American Expeditionary
Forces, from the front line to the base ports, was
straining every nerve. Magnificent efforts were ex
erted by the entire Service of Supply to meet the
enormous demands made on it. Obstacles which
seemed insurmountable were overcome daily in ex
pediting the movements of replacements, ammuni
tion and supplies to the front, and of sick and wound
ed to the rear. It was this spirit of determination
animating every American soldier that made it pos
sible for the enemy to maintain the struggle until
1919.

THIRD PHASE

The detailed plans for the operations of the allied
armies on the western front changed from time to
time during the course of this great battle, but the
mission of the First American Army to cut the great
Carignan-Sedan-Mezieres railroad remained unchang
ed. Marshal Foch co-ordinated the operations along
the entire front, continuing persistently and un
ceasingly the attacks by all allied armies; the Bel
gian Army, with a French army and two American
divisions, advancing eastward; the British armies
and two American divisions, with the First French
Army on their right, toward the region north of
Givet ; the First American Army anS Fourth French
Army toward Sedan and Mezieres.

On the 21st my instructions were issued to start

GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING'S REPORT 2539

the First Army to prepare thoroughly for a general
attack on October 28 that would be decisive, if possi
ble. In order that the attack of the First Army and
that of the Fourth French Army on its left should
be simultaneous, our attack was delayed until No
vember 1. The immediate purpose of the First
Army was to take Buzancy and the heights of Barri-
court, to turn the forest north of Grand Pre, and to
establish contact with the Fourth French Army near
Boult-aux-Bois. The army was directed to carry the
heights of Barricourt by nightfall of the first day
and then to exploit this success by advancing its
left to Boult-aux-Bois in preparation for the drive to
ward Sedan. By strenuous effort all available artil
lery had been moved well forward to the heights
previously occupied by the enemy, from which it
could fully cover and support the initial advance of
the infantry.

On this occasion, and for the first time, the army
prepared for its attack under normal conditions.
We held the front of the attack, and were not under
the necessity of taking over a new front, with its
manifold installations and service. Our own person
nel handled the communications, dumps, telegraph
lines, and water service; our divisions were either
on the line or close in the rear ; the French artillery,
aviation, and technical troops, which had previously
made up our deficiencies, had been largely replaced
by our own organizations, and now our army, corps,
and divisional staffs were by actual experience sec
ond to none.

FOE'S LAST DEFENSE

On the morning of November 1 three army corps
were in line between the Meuse River and the Bois de
Bourgogne. On the right of the 3d Corps had the
5th and 90th Divisions ; the 5th Corps occupied the

2540 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

centre of the line, with the 89th and 2d Divisions,
and was to be the wedge of the attack on the first
day, and on the left the 1st Corps deployed the 80th,
77th, and 78th Divisions.

Preceded by two hours of violent artillery prepara
tion, the infantry advanced, closely followed by "ac
companying guns." The artillery acquitted itself
magnificiently, the barrages being so well co-ordin
ated and so dense that the enemy was overwhelmed
and quickly submerged by the rapid onslaught of the
infantry. By nightfall the 5th Corps, in the centre,
had realized an advance of almost nine kilometers, to
the Bois de la Folie, and had completed the capture of
the Heights of Barricourt, while the 3d Corps, on the
right, had captured Aincreville and Andevanne. Our
troops had broken through the enemy's last defense,
captured his artillery positions, and had precipitated
a retreat of the German forces about to be isolated
in the forest north of Grand Pre. On the 2d and 3d
we advanced rapidly against heavy fighting on the
front of the right and centre corps; to the left the
troops of the 1st Corps hurried forward to pursuit,
some by motor trucks, while the artillery pressed
along the country roads close behind. Our heavy
artillery was skillfully brought into position to fire
upon the Carignan-Sedan railroad and the junctions
at Longuyon and Conflans. By the evening of the
4th our troops had reached La Neuville, opposite
Stenay, and had swept through the great Forest de
Dieulet, reaching the outskirts of Beaumont, while
on the left we were eight kilometers north of Boult-
aux-Bois.

The followin^ day the advance continued toward
Sedan with increasing swiftness. The 3d Corps,
turning eastward, crossed the Meuse in a brilliant
operation by the 5th Division, driving the enemy
from the heights of Dun-sur-Meuse and forcing a

GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING'S REPORT 2541

general withdrawal from the strong positions he had
so long held on the hills north of Verdun.

APPEALS FOR ARMISTICE

By the 7th the right of the 3d Corps had exploited
its river crossing to a distance of ten kilometers east
of the Meuse, completely ejecting the enemy from
the wooded heights and driving him out into the
swampy plain of the Woevre ; the 5th and 1st Corps
had reached the line of the Meuse River along their
respective fronts and the left of the latter corps held
the heights dominating Sedan, the strategical goal of
the Meuse-Argonne operation, forty-one kilometers
from our point of departure on November 1. We
had cut the enemy's main line of communications.
Recognizing that nothing but a cessation of hostili
ties could save his armies from complete disaster, he
appealed for an immediate armistice on November 6.

Meanwhile general plans had been prepared for the
further employment of American forces in an ad
vance between the Meuse and the Moselle, to be di
rected toward Longwy by the First Army, while the
Second Army was to assume the offensive toward the
Briey Iron Basin. Orders directing the preparatory
local operations involved in this enterprise were is
sued on November 5.

Between the 7th and 10th of November the 3d
Corps continued its advance eastward to Remoiville,
while the 17th French Corps, on its right, with the
79th, 26th, and 81st American Divisions, and two
French divisions, drove the enemy from his final
foothold on the heights east of the Meuse. At 9
P. M. on November 9 appropriate orders were sent
to the First and Second Armies in accordance with
the following telegram from Marshal Foch to the
commander of each of the allied armies.

2542 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION

"The enemy, disorganized by our repeated attacks,
retreats along the entire front.

"It is important to co-ordinate and expedite our
movements.

"I appeal to the energy and the initiative of the
Commanders in Chief of their armies to make deci
sive the results obtained."

NOVEMBER 11, 1918

In consequence of the foregoing instructions our
Second Army pressed the enemy along its entire
front. On the night of the lOth-llth and the morn
ing of the llth and 5th Corps, in the First Army,
forced a crossing of the Meuse east of Beaumont and
gained the commanding heights within the reentrant
of the river, thus completing our control of the Meuse
River line. At 6 A. M. on the llth notification was
received from Marshal Foch's headquarters that the
armistice had been signed and that hostilities would
cease at 11 A. M. Preparatory measures had already
been taken to insure the prompt transmission to the
troops of the announcement of an armistice. How
ever, the advance east of Beaumount on the morning
of the llth had been so rapid and communication
across the river was so diffiicult that there was some
fighting on isolated portions of that front after
11 A. M.

GREAT ODDS OVERCOME

Between Sept. 26 and Nov. 11, twenty-two Amer
ican and four French divisions, on the front extend
ing from southeast of Verdun to the Argonne Forest,
had engaged and decisively beaten forty-seven differ
ent German divisions, representing 25 per cent, of
the enemy's entire divisional strength on the western
front. Of these enemy divisions, twenty had been
drawn from the French front and one from the Brit-

GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING'S REPORT 2543

ish front. Of the twenty-two American divisions,
twelve had at different times during this period, been
engaged on fronts other than our own. The First
Army suffered a loss of about 117,000 in killed and
wounded. It captured 26,000 prisoners, 847 cannon,
3,000 machine guns, and large quantities of material.
The dispositions which the enemy made to meet
the Meuse-Argonne offensive, both immediately be
fore the opening of the attack and during the battle,
demonstrated the importance which he ascribed to
this section of the front and the extreme measures
he was forced to take in its defense. From the mo
ment the American offensive began until the armi
stice his defense was desperate and the flow of his
divisions to our front was continuous.

HISTORICAL MEMORANDA

HISTORICAL MEMORANDA

HISTORICAL MEMORANDA

HISTORICAL MEMORANDA

HISTORICAL MEMORANDA

HISTORICAL MEMORANDA

HISTORICAL MEMORANDA

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