A School History of the United States Part 16

[Ill.u.s.tration: Benjamin Franklin]

In the Revolution the British lost 102 vessels of war, while the Americans lost 24--most of their navy.

%160. Revolutionary Heroes.%--It is not possible to mention all the revolutionary heroes ent.i.tled to our grateful remembrance. We should, however, remember Lafayette, Steuben, Pulaski, and DeKalb, foreigners who fought for us; Samuel Adams and James Otis of Ma.s.sachusetts, and Patrick Henry of Virginia, who spoke for freedom; Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution; Putnam who fought and Warren who died at Bunker Hill; Mercer who fell at Princeton; Nathan Hale, the martyr spy; Herkimer, Knox, Moultrie, and that long list of n.o.ble patriots whose names have already been mentioned.

%161. The Treaty of Peace.%--The story is told that when Lord North, the Prime Minister of England, heard of the surrender of Yorktown, he threw up his hands and said, "It is all over." He was right; it was all over, and on September 3, 1783, a treaty of peace (negotiated by Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay) was signed at Paris.

Meantime the British, in accordance with a preliminary treaty of peace signed in November, 1782, were slowly leaving the country, till on November 25, 1783, the last of them sailed from New York.[1] Was.h.i.+ngton now resigned his commission, and in December went home to Mt. Vernon.

[Footnote 1: They did not leave Staten Island in New York Bay till a week later. For an account of the evacuation of New York see McMaster's _With the Fathers_, pp. 271-280.]

%162. Bounds of the United States.%--By the treaty of 1783 the boundary of the United States was declared to be about what is the present northern boundary from the mouth of the St. Croix River in Maine to the Lake of the Woods, and then due west to the Mississippi (which was, of course, an impossible line, for that river does not rise in Canada); then down the Mississippi to 31 north lat.i.tude; then eastward along that parallel of lat.i.tude to the Apalachicola River, and then by what is the present north boundary of Florida to the Atlantic.

But these bounds were not secured without a diplomatic struggle. As soon as France joined us in 1778, she began to persuade Spain to follow her example. Very little persuasion was needed, for the opportunity to regain the two Floridas (which Spain had been forced to give to England in 1763) was too good to be lost. In June, 1779, therefore, Spain declared war on England, and sent the governor of Lower Louisiana into West Florida, where he captured Pensacola, Mobile, Baton Rouge, and Natchez. Made bold by this success, Spain, which cared nothing for the United States, next determined to conquer the region north of Florida and east of the Mississippi, the Indian country of the proclamation of 1763. (See map of The British Colonies in 1764.) The commandant at St.

Louis[2] was, therefore, sent to seize the post at St. Joseph on Lake Michigan, built by La Salle in 1679. He succeeded, and taking possession of the country in the name of Spain, carried off the English flags as evidence of conquest. Now when the time came to make the treaty of peace, Spain insisted that she must have East and West Florida and the country west of the Alleghany Mountains, because she had conquered it.

France partly supported Spain in this demand. The country north of the Ohio she proposed should be given to Great Britain, and the country south to Spain and the United States.

[Footnote 2: It will be remembered that Spain now held Louisiana, or the country west of the Mississippi. (See Chapter VIII.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: RESULTS OF THE %WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE% BOUNDARY DEFINED BY TREATY 1783. AND TERRITORY HELD BY GREAT BRITAIN 1783-1796., AND SPAIN 1783-1795]

The American commissioners, seeing in all this a desire to bound the United States on the west by the Alleghany Mountains, made the treaty with Great Britain secretly, and secured the Mississippi as our western limit.

Spain at the same time secured the Floridas from Great Britain, and insisting that West Florida must have the old boundary given in 1764,[1]

and not 31 as provided in our treaty of peace, she seized and held the country by force of arms; and for twelve years the Spanish flag waved over Baton Rouge and Natchez.[2]

[Footnote 1: See Chapter X.]

[Footnote 2: Read Hinsdale's _Old Northwest_, pp. 170-191; McMaster's _With the Fathers_, pp. 280-292.]

The area of the territory thus acquired by the United States was 827,844 square miles, and the population not far from 3,250,000. Apparently an era of great prosperity and happiness was before the people. But unhappily the government they had established in time of war was quite unfit to unite them and bring them prosperity in time of peace.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Was.h.i.+ngton's sword]

SUMMARY

1. In accordance with one of the Intolerable Acts, General Gage became governor of Ma.s.sachusetts in 1774.

2. Seeing that the people were gathering stores and cannon, he attempted to destroy the stores, and so brought on the battles of Lexington and Concord, which opened the War for Independence.

3. The Congress of colonial delegates, which met in 1774 and adjourned to meet again in 1775, a.s.sembled soon after these battles, and a.s.sumed the conduct of the war, adopted the army around Boston, and made Was.h.i.+ngton commander in chief.

4. Was.h.i.+ngton reached Boston soon after the battle of Bunker Hill, which taught the British that the Americans would fight, and he besieged the British in Boston. In March, 1776, they left the city by water, and Was.h.i.+ngton moved his army to the neighborhood of New York.

5. There he was attacked by the British, and was driven up the Hudson River to White Plains. Thence he crossed into New Jersey, only to be driven across the state and into Pennsylvania.

6. On Christmas night, 1776, he recrossed the Delaware to Trenton, and the next morning won a victory over the Hessians. Then on January 3, 1777, he fought the battle of Princeton, and he spent the remainder of the winter at Morristown.

7. In July, 1777, Howe sailed from New York for Philadelphia, to which city Was.h.i.+ngton hurried by land. The Americans were defeated at the Brandy wine, and the city fell into the hands of Howe. Was.h.i.+ngton pa.s.sed the winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge.

8. Meantime an attempt had been made to cut the states in two by getting possession of New York state from Lake Champlain to New York city, and an army under Burgoyne came down from Canada. He and his troops were captured at Saratoga.

9. In February, 1778, France made a treaty of alliance with us and sent over a fleet. Fearing this would attack New York, Clinton left Philadelphia with his army. Was.h.i.+ngton followed from Valley Forge, overtook the enemy at Monmouth, and fought a battle there. The British then went on to New York, while Was.h.i.+ngton stretched out his army from Morristown to West Point.

10. So matters remained till December, 1778, when the British attacked the Southern States. They conquered Georgia in the winter of 1778-1779.

11. In the spring of 1780 they attacked South Carolina and captured General Lincoln. Gates then took the field, was defeated, and succeeded by Greene, who after many vicissitudes drove the British forces in South Carolina and Georgia into Charleston and Savannah, during 1781.

12. Meantime a force sent against Greene under Cornwallis undertook to fortify Yorktown and hold it, and while so engaged was surrounded by Was.h.i.+ngton and the French fleet and forced to surrender.

THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE

CAMPAIGNS OF 1775-1776

_In New England_.

1775. Concord and Lexington.

Continental Army formed.

Was.h.i.+ngton, commander in chief.

Battle of Bunker Hill.

1775-1776. Siege of Boston.

1776. Evacuation of Boston.

_In Canada_.

1775. Arnold's march to Quebec.

Montgomery's march to Montreal.

Capture of Montreal.

1776. Defeat and death of Montgomery at Quebec.

Americans return to Ticonderoga.

1776. Howe sails for New York.

Was.h.i.+ngton marches to New York.

The Declaration of Independence.

Capture of New York.

Retreat across the Jerseys.

Surprise at Trenton.

1777. Battle of Princeton.

Was.h.i.+ngton at Morristown.

Burgoyne and St. Leger move down from Canada to capture New York state and cut the colonies in two.

St. Leger defeated at Fort Stanwix.

Burgoyne captured at Saratoga.

Howe sails from New York to Chesapeake Bay and moves against Philadelphia.

Was.h.i.+ngton moves from New York to Philadelphia.