Part 4

A fanatic Abolitionist, John Brown, with a few followers, seized the Federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry in 1859, defended it heroically against overpowering numbers, but was finally taken, tried and condemned for treason. This incident served as an argument in the South for the necessity of secession to protect the institution of slavery.

In the Presidential election of 1860, the Republican convention nominated Lincoln. Douglass and John C. Breckenridge split the Democratic vote, and Lincoln was elected President. This was the immediate cause of the Civil War. The first state to secede was South Carolina. A state convention, called by the Legislature, met on December 20, 1860, and declared that the union of that state and the other states was dissolved. Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana, followed in the first month of 1861, and Texas seceded February 1st. They formed a Confederacy with a constitution and government at a convention at Montgomery, Alabama, February, 1861. Jefferson Davis was chosen President, and Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President.

Sumter fell on April 14th, and the following day Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers. The demand was more than filled. The Confederacy, also, issued a call for volunteers which was enthusiastically received. Four border states went over to the Confederacy, Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee. Three went over, in May, and the last, June 18.

The leading events of the Civil War were, the battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861; Wilson's Creek, August 2; Trent Affair, November 8, 1862; Battle of Mill Spring, January 19; Ft. Henry, February 6; Ft. Donelson, February 13-16: fight between the "Monitor" and "Merrimac," March 9; Battle of Shiloh, April 6-7; capture of New Orleans, April 25; battle of Williamsburgh, May 5; Fair Oaks, May 31-June 1; "Seven Days' Battle"--Mechanicsville, Gaines's Mill, Frazier's Farm, Malvern Hill, June 25-July 1; Cedar Mountain, August 9; second battle of Bull Run, August 30; Chantilly, September 1; South Mountain, September 14; Antietam, September 17; Iuka, September 19; Corinth, October 4; Fredericksburg, December 13; Murfreesboro, December 31-January 2, 1863. Emancipation Proclamation, January 1; battle of Chancellorsville, May 1-4; Gettysburg, July 1-3; fall of Vicksburg, July 4; battle of Chickamauga, September 19-20; Chattanooga, November 23-25; 1864--battles of Wilderness and Spottsylvania, May 5-7; Sherman's advance through northern Georgia, in May and June; battle of Cold Harbor, June 1-3; the "Kearsarge" sank the "Alabama," June 19; battles of Atlanta, July 20-28; naval battle of Mobile, August 5; battle of Winchester, September 19; Cedar Creek, October 19; Sherman's march through Georgia to the sea, November and December; battle of Nashville, December 15-16; 1865--surrender of Fort Fisher, January 15; battle of Five Forks, April 1; surrender of Richmond, April 3; surrender of Lee's army at Appomattox, April 9; surrender of Johnston's army, April 26; surrender of Kirby Smith, May 26.

Lincoln, who had been elected for a second term, was assassinated on April 14, 1865, in Ford's Theatre, Washington.

The United States expended $800,000,000 in revenue, and incurred a debt of three times that amount during the war.

The Reconstruction Period lasted from 1865 to 1870. The South was left industrially prostrate, and it required a long period to adjust the change from the ownership to the employment of the negro.

Alaska was purchased from Russia, in 1867, for $7,200,000.00.

An arbitration commission was called for by Congress to settle the damage claims of the United States against Great Britain, on account of Great Britain's failure to observe duties of a neutral during the war. The conference was held at Geneva, at the end of 1871, and announced its award six months later. This was $15,000,000.00 damages, to be paid to the United States for depredations committed by vessels fitted out by the Confederates in British ports. The chief of these privateers was the "Alabama."

One of the first acts of President Hayes, in 1877, was the withdrawal of the Federal troops of the South. The new era of prosperity dates from the resumption of home rule.

The Bland Bill of 1878 stipulated that at least $2,000,000, and not more than $4,000,000, should be coined in silver dollars each month, at the fixed ratio of 16-1.

Garfield, the twentieth President of the United States, was elected 1880, and was assassinated on July 2, 1881, in Washington, by an insane office-seeker, and died September 19th.

The Civil Service Act of 1833 provided examinations for classified service, and prohibited removal for political reasons. It also forbade political assessments by a government official, or in the government buildings.

The Interstate Commerce Commission was established in 1877 with very limited powers, based on the clause in the constitution, drawn up in 1787, giving Congress the power to regulate domestic commerce.

Harrison was elected 1888. Both Houses were Republican, and the tariff was increased. In 1890, the McKinley Bill raised the duties to an average of 50 per cent, but reciprocity was provided for.

The Sherman Bill superseded the Bland Bill, and provided that 4,500,000 ounces of silver bullion must be bought and stored in the Treasury each month. This measure failed to sustain the price of silver, and there was a great demand, in the South and West, for the free coinage of that metal.

The tariff was made the issue of the next Presidential election, in 1892, when Cleveland defeated Harrison by a large majority of electoral votes. Each received a popular vote of 5,000,400. The Populist Party, which espoused the silver cause, polled 1,000,000 votes.

Congress was called in special session, and repealed the Silver Purchase Bill, and devised means of protection for the gold reserve which was approaching the vanishing point.

Cleveland forced Great Britain to arbitrate the boundary dispute with Venezuela in 1895, by a defiant enunciation of the Monroe doctrine. Congress supported him and voted unanimously for a commission to settle the dispute.

Free coinage of silver was the chief issue of the Presidential election, in 1896. McKinley defeated Bryan by a great majority. The Dingley Tariff Bill maintained the protective theory.

The blowing up of the "Maine," in the Havana Harbor, in 1898, hastened the forcible intervention of the United States, in Cuba, where Spain had been carrying on a war for three years.

On May 1st, Dewey entered Manila Bay and destroyed a Spanish fleet. The more powerful and stronger Spanish fleet was destroyed while trying to escape from the Harbour of Santiago de Cuba, on July 3.

By the Treaty of Paris, December 10, Porto Rico was ceded, and the Philippine Islands were made over on a payment of $20,000,000, and a republic was established in Cuba, under the United States protectory.

Hawaii had been annexed, and was made a territory, in 1900.

A revolt against the United States in the Philippine Islands was put down, in 1901, after two years.

McKinley was elected to a second term, with a still more overwhelming majority over Bryan.

McKinley was assassinated on September 6, 1901, at the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, by an Anarchist. Theodore Roosevelt, the Vice-President, succeeded him, and was re-elected, in 1904, defeating Alton B. Parker.

Roosevelt intervened in the Anthracite Coal Strike, in 1902, recognised the revolutionary Republic of Panama, and in his administration, the United States acquired the Panama Canal Zone, and began work on the inter-oceanic canal. Great efforts were made, during his administration, to repress the big corporations by prosecutions, under the Sherman Anti-Trust Law. The conservation of natural resources was also taken up as a fixed policy.