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FIRST ACTS OF THE FIRST PRESIDENT-Non-partisan spirit of
Washington's administration-Jefferson and Hamilton's an-
tagonisms-Personal characteristics of Washington-The na-
tional debt-Hamilton's genius as a financier - Capital
established at Philadelphia-Bank of the United States-
Population in 1790-War with the Miami Indians-Defeat of
General Harmer-General St. Clair surprised and his troops
massacred-The Dark and Bloody Ground-The French Rev-
olution and America's interest therein-Political dessensions
in the cabinet-Washington's second administration-Domes-
tic disturbances in Pennsylvania-Wayne defeats Little Turtle
-Seizure of American vessels by Great Britain-Washington
assailed by slanderers-The Algerine pirates-Washington's
farewell address-Election of John Adains-The Anti-Federal
party - France demands an alliance with America - Com-
merce of the United States assailed-War with France threat-
ened-Washington recalled from retirement-War on the

MONROE'S ADMINISTRATION--A period of peace and develop-
ment -Trouble with Hayti-The Ohio purchase-Punishment
of the buccaneers-The first national highway-Insurrection
of the Seminoles-Jackson's successful expedition--A great
financial crisis-The question of African slavery-The Missouri
compromise-Monroe's second administration-Emancipation
of the South American States-Visit of Marquis de Lafayette—
The political contest of 1824-Election of John Quincy Adams-
Strange disappearance of William Morgan-The tariff is made
a question-Election of Jackson-Jackson's war on the United
States Bank-The doctrine of nullification-Clay's compro-
mise bill—Uprising of Indian tribes under Black Hawk-Or-
ganization of Indian Territory-Osceola's rebellion-Another
financial panic-Jackson overthrows the United States Bank
-A great fire in New York City-Close of Jackson's second
administration-Election of Van Buren-Continuance of the

Seminole war-Capture of Osceola-Nullification of state
banks--Great business depression follows Jackson's specie
circular-The independent treasury bill-Efforts to relieve
the business paralysis-Great discontent among the people—
Canadians attempt to achieve independence-Assistance by
a regiment of Americans-A supply ship sent over Niagara
Falls Surrender of New York insurgents-Election of Harri-

son-Rout of the Democratic party-The census of 1840-The

first Whig administration-Death of Harrison-John Tyler

becomes President-Attempts to recharter the United States

Bank-The Law and Order party-Dorr's rebellion-Rise of

the Mormon sect-Driven from Illinois they settle in Utah... 443-492

HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.

BOOK FIRST.

EPOCH OF DISCOVERY AND PLANTING.

CHAPTER I.

To the men of the ancient world the character of the globe-its form, its fashion-was a mystery. They knew it not. The greatest minds of antiquity stood puzzled and dumb before the enigma. It is impossible for the man of the present day, by force of imagination, to put himself in the place of the man of antiquity and consider the earth, the sun and the stars as he considered them. With the lapse of time, the increase of knowledge and the diffusion of light, the mystery has cleared away, the unknown has become the known. The sky is no longer a curtain and the ocean no longer a boundless deep. The earth is no longer an impossible plain held up from below by mythical monsters and carried forward through an impossible panorama of seasons and vicissitudes. All things have been resolved from doubt into certainty. The fogs of fear and superstition have been tossed afar by the salubrious wind, and though man does not know all, he does know much of the sphere which he inhabits, the nature of things and the system of universal nature.

The revelation of the form and bigness of the earth was long retarded. It seemed that the darkness of the ancient and medieval night would never give place to day. Every form of ignorance and every spirit of superstition, all the misconceptions of the past and all the folly and fears of the present, stood in the way and brandished weapons and torches like goblins of the night. Nothing less than the sublime law of progress, under the reign of which the old and hurtful darkness gives place at length to the new and beautiful dawn, could have availed to bring in a newer and truer concept of the world and to fix it as an unchangeable scientific belief in the minds of men.

It were an impossible task to discover the origin of the new opinions respecting the form and figure of the earth. It appears that the old belief was never satisfying to the great minds of antiquity. In the writings of Aristotle we already catch glimpses of a conjecture that the earth is a sphere and not a plain. The popular mythology did not suffice with men like Socrates and his companions and followers, and they reached out vaguely to frame each for himself a concept of the world on which he enacted the brief drama of his life.

But scientific views of nature were soon lost in the decadence and darkness that followed the Classical ages. The decline of the Roman Empire was coincident with a decline in the human mind. The triumph of the Goths was not only the triumph of physical violence over the remains of order and civilization, but it was also the victory of ancient barbaric thought over the science, the philosophy and learning which had flourished for a season under the auspices of Greek and Roman scholars. The Christian Church at length fell into league with the barbarians, and though ever struggling with their brutalities and looking backward with yearning and regret to the vast and orderly

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