A School History of the United States Part 31

If the settler chose his farm wisely, others would soon settle near by, and when a cl.u.s.ter of clearings had been made, some enterprising speculator would appear, take up a quarter section, cut it into town lots, and call the place after himself, as Piketown, or Leesburg, or Gentryville. A storekeeper with a case or two of goods would next appear, then a tavern would be erected, and possibly a blacksmith shop and a mill, and Piketown or Leesburg would be established. Hundreds of such ventures failed; but hundreds of others succeeded and are to-day prosperous villages.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mississippi produce boat[1]]

[Footnote 1: From a model in the National Museum at Washington.]

%307. The New States._--While the northern stream of population was thus traveling across New York, northern Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and into Michigan, the middle stream was pushing down the Ohio. By 1820 it had greatly increased the population of southern Indiana and Illinois, and crossing the Mississippi was going up the Missouri River. In the South the destruction of the Indian power by Jackson in 1813, and the opening of the Indian land to settlement, led to a movement of the southern stream of population across Alabama to Mobile. Now, what were some of the results of this movement of population into the Mississippi valley?

In the first place, it caused the formation and admission into the Union of six states in five years. They were Indiana, 1816; Mississippi, 1817; Illinois, 1818; Alabama, 1819; Maine, 1820; Missouri, 1821.

%308. Slave and Free States.%--In the second place, it brought about a great struggle over slavery. You remember that when the thirteen colonies belonged to Great Britain slavery existed in all of them; that when they became independent states some began to abolish slavery; and that in time five became free states and eight remained slave states.

Slavery was also gradually abolished in New York and New Jersey, so that of the original thirteen only six were now to be counted as slave states. You remember again that when the Continental Congress pa.s.sed the Ordinance of 1787 for the government of the territory lying between the Ohio River and the Great Lakes, Pennsylvania and the Mississippi River, it ordained that in the Northwest Territory there should be no slavery.

In consequence of this, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois were admitted into the Union as free states, as Vermont had been. Kentucky was originally part of Virginia, and when it was admitted, came in as a slave state.

Tennessee once belonged to North Carolina, and hence was also slave soil; and when it was given to the United States, the condition was imposed by North Carolina that it should remain so. Tennessee, therefore, entered the Union (in 1796) as a slave state. Much of what is now Alabama and Mississippi was once owned by Georgia, and when she ceded it in 1802, she did so with the express condition that it should remain slave soil; as a result of this, Alabama and Mississippi were slave states. Louisiana was part of the Louisiana Purchase, and was admitted (1812) as a slave state because it contained a great many slaves at the time of the purchase.

Thus in 1820 there were twenty-two states in the Union, of which eleven were slave, and eleven free. Notice now two things: 1. That the dividing line between the slave and the free states was the south and west boundary of Pennsylvania from the Delaware to the Ohio, and the Ohio River; 2. That all the states in the Union except part of Louisiana lay east of the Mississippi River. As to what should be the character of our country west of that river, nothing had as yet been said, because as yet no state lying wholly in that region had asked admittance to the Union.

%309. Shall there be Slave States West of the Mississippi River?%--But when the people rushed westward after the war, great numbers crossed the Mississippi and settled on the Missouri River, and as they were now very numerous they pet.i.tioned Congress in 1818 for leave to make the state of Missouri and to be admitted into the Union.

The pet.i.tioners did not say whether they would make a slave or a free state; but as the Missourians owned slaves, everybody knew that Missouri would be a slave state. To this the free states were opposed. If the tobacco-growing, cotton-raising, and sugar-making states wanted slaves, that was their affair; but slavery must not be extended into states beyond the Mississippi, because it was wrong. No man, it was said, had any right to buy and sell a human being, even if he was black. The Southern people were equally determined that slavery should cross the Mississippi. We cannot, said they, abolish slavery; because if our slaves were set free, they would not work, and as they are very ignorant, they would take our property and perhaps our lives. Neither can we stop the increase of negro slave population. We must, then, have some place to send our surplus slaves, or the present slave states will become a black America.

%310. The Missouri Compromise.%--Each side was so determined, and it was so clear that neither would yield, that a compromise was suggested.

The country east of the Mississippi, it was said, is partly slave, partly free soil. Why not divide the country west of the great river in the same way? At first the North refused. But it so happened that just at this moment Maine, having secured the consent of Ma.s.sachusetts, applied to Congress for admission into the Union as a free state. The South, which had control of the Senate, thereupon said to the North, which controlled the House of Representatives, If you will not admit Missouri as a slave state, we will not admit Maine as a free state. This forced the compromise, and after a bitter and angry discussion it was agreed

1. That Maine should come in as a free, and Missouri as a slave, state.

2. That the Louisiana Purchase should be cut in two by the parallel of 36 30', and that all north of the line except Missouri should be free soil[1]. This parallel was thereafter known as the "Missouri Compromise Line."

[Footnote 1: The Compromise was violated in 1836, when the present northwest corner of Missouri was taken from the free territory and added to that state. See maps, pp. 299 and 348]

[Ill.u.s.tration: AREAS OF FREEDOM AND SLAVERY IN 1820]

The admission of Maine and Missouri raised the number of states to twenty-four.[1] No more were admitted for sixteen years. When Missouri applied for admission as a state, Arkansas was (1819) organized as a territory.

[Footnote 1: For the compromise read Woodburn's _Historical Significance of the Missouri Compromise_ (in _Report American Historical a.s.sociation_, 1893, pp. 251-297); McMaster's _History of the People of the United States_, Vol. IV., Chap. 39.]

%311. The Second Election of Monroe.%--This bitter contest over the exclusion of slavery from the country west of the Mississippi shows how completely party lines had disappeared in 1820. In the course of that year, electors of a President were to be chosen in the twenty-four states. That slavery would play an important part in the campaign, and that some candidate would be put in the field by the people opposed to the compromise, might have been expected. But there was no campaign, no contest, no formal nomination. The members of Congress held a caucus, but decided to nominate n.o.body. Every elector, it was well known, would be a Republican, and as such would vote for the reelection of Monroe and Tompkins. And this almost did take place. Every one of the 229 electors who voted was a Republican, and all save one in New Hampshire cast votes for Monroe. But this one man gave his vote to John Quincy Adams. He said he did not want Washington to be robbed of the glory of being the only President who had ever received the unanimous vote of the electors.

March 4, 1821, came on Sunday. Monroe was therefore inaugurated on Monday, March 5.

SUMMARY

1. The dull times on the seaboard, the cheap land in the West, the love of adventure, and the desire to "do better" led, during 1814-1820, to a most astonishing emigration westward.

2. The rush of population into the Mississippi valley caused the admission of six states into the Union between 1816 and 1821.

3. The question of the admission of Missouri brought up the subject of shutting slavery out of the country west of the Mississippi, which ended in a compromise and the establishment of the line 36 30'.

MOVEMENT OF POPULATION.

_Northern Stream._

Effect of hard times in the East.-- Scenes along the highways.--Arrival of the emigrants in the West.--The half-faced camp.--The log cabin.-- Household utensils.--Clearing the land.--Growth of towns.

_Middle Stream._

Moves down the Ohio valley, across southern Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and pushes up the Missouri.

_Southern Stream._

The defeat of the Creek Indians opens their lands in Mississippi Territory to settlement.

This settlement of the West leads to:

Admission into the Union of:

1816. Indiana.

1817. Mississippi.

1818. Illinois.

1819. Alabama.

Admission of these states brings up the question of slavery.

1820. Maine.

1821. Missouri.

Organization of new territories.

1819. Arkansas.

1822. 1823. Florida.

_Status of slavery after 1820_.

FREE STATES.

N.H., Vt., Ma.s.s., R.I., Conn.

N.Y., N.J., Pa., Ohio, Ind., Ill., Maine.

SLAVE STATES.

Del., Md., Va., N.C., S.C., Ga., Ala., Miss.

La., Ky., Tenn., Missouri.

_Country west of the Mississippi._

1804. Not settled.