A Short History of the United States Part 44

[Sidenote: The cities.]

[Sidenote: New York.]

[Sidenote: Chicago.]

363. The Cities.--The tremendous increase in manufacturing, in farming, and in trading brought about a great increase in foreign commerce. This in turn led to the building up of great cities in the North and the West. These were New York and Chicago; and they grew rapidly because they formed the two ends of the line of communication between the East and the West by the Mohawk Valley (p. 239). New York now contained over eight hundred thousand inhabitants. It had more people within its limits than lived in the whole state of South Carolina. The most rapid growth was seen in the case of Chicago. In 1840 there were only five thousand people in that city; it now contained one hundred and nine thousand inhabitants. Cincinnati and St. Louis, each with one hundred and sixty thousand, were still the largest cities of the West, and St. Louis was the largest city in any slave state. New Orleans, with nearly as many people as St. Louis, was the only large city in the South.

[Sidenote: The North and the South.]

[Sidenote: Growth of the Northwest.]

[Sidenote: Density of population, 1860.]

364. The States.--As it was with the cities so it was with the states--the North had grown beyond the South. In 1790 Virginia had as many inhabitants as the states of New York and Pennsylvania put together. In 1860 Virginia had only about one-quarter as many inhabitants as these two states. Indeed, in 1860 New York had nearly four million inhabitants, or nearly as many inhabitants as the whole United States in 1791 (p. 156). But the growth of the states of the Northwest had been even more remarkable. Ohio now had a million more people than Virginia and stood third in population among the states of the Union. Illinois was the fourth state and Indiana the sixth. Even more interesting are the facts brought out by a study of the map showing the density of population or the number of people to the square mile in the several states. It appears that in 1860 Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Ma.s.sachusetts each had over forty-five inhabitants to the square mile, while not a single Southern state had as many as forty-five inhabitants to the square mile. This shows us at once that although the Southern states were larger in extent than the Northern states, they were much less powerful.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DENSITY OF POPULATION IN 1860.]

[Sidenote: Improvements in living.]

365. City Life.--In the old days the large towns were just like the small towns except that they were larger. Life in them was just about the same as in the smaller places. Now, however, there was a great difference. In the first place the city could afford to have a great many things the smaller town could not pay for. In the second place it must have certain things or its people would die of disease or be killed as they walked the streets. For these reasons the streets of the Northern cities were paved and lighted and were guarded by policemen.

Then, too, great sewers carried away the refuse of the city, and enormous iron pipes brought fresh water to every one within its limits.

Horse-cars and omnibuses carried its inhabitants from one part of the city to another, and the railroads brought them food from the surrounding country.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AN OMNIBUS]

[Sidenote: Growth of the railroad systems.]

366. Transportation.--Between 1849 and 1858 twenty-one thousand miles of railroad were built in the United States, In 1860 there were more than thirty thousand miles of railroad in actual operation. In 1850 one could not go from New York to Albany without leaving the railroad and going on board a steamboat. In 1860 one continuous line of rails ran from New York City to the Mississippi River. Traveling was still uncomfortable according to our ideas. The cars were rudely made and jolted horribly. One train ran only a comparatively short distance. Then the traveler had to alight, get something to eat, and see his baggage placed on another train. Still, with all its discomforts, traveling in the worst of cars was better than traveling in the old stagecoaches.

Many more steamboats were used, especially on the Great Lakes and the Western rivers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HORACE GREELEY]

[Sidenote: Schools.]

[Sidenote: Newspapers.]

[Sidenote: Horace Greeley.]

367. Education.--The last thirty years had also been years of progress in learning. Many colleges were founded, especially in the Northwest. There was still no inst.i.tution which deserved the name of university. But more attention was being paid to the sciences and to the education of men for the professions of law and medicine. The newspapers also took on their modern form. The _New York Herald_, founded in 1835, was the first real newspaper. But the _New York Tribune_, edited by Horace Greeley, had more influence than any other paper in the country.

Greeley was odd in many ways, but he was one of the ablest men of the time. He called for a liberal policy in the distribution of the public lands and was forever saying, "Go West, young man, go West." The magazines were now very much better than in former years, and America's foremost writers were doing some of their best work.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE FIRST SEWING MACHINE.]

[Sidenote: The telegraph.]

[Sidenote: The Howe sewing machine.]

[Sidenote: Agriculture machinery.]

[Sidenote: Stagnation in the South.]

368. Progress of Invention.--The electric telegraph was now in common use. It enabled the newspapers to tell the people what was going on as they never had done before. Perhaps the invention that did as much as any one thing to make life easier was the sewing machine. Elias Howe was the first man to make a really practicable sewing machine. Other inventors improved upon it, and also made machines to sew other things than cloth, as leather. Agricultural machinery was now in common use.

The horse reaper had been much improved, and countless machines had been invented to make agricultural labor more easy and economical. Hundreds of homely articles, as friction matches and rubber shoes, came into use in these years. In short, the thirty years from Jackson's inauguration to the secession of the Southern states were years of great progress.

But this progress was confined almost wholly to the North. In the South, living in 1860 was about the same as it had been in 1830, or even in 1800. As a Southern orator said of the South, "The rush and whirl of modern civilization pa.s.sed her by."

CHAPTER 36

SECESSION, 1860-1861

[Ill.u.s.tration: WILLIAM H. SEWARD.]

[Sidenote: Candidates for the Republican nomination 1860.]

[Sidenote: Lincoln nominated. The platform.]

369. The Republican Nomination, 1860.--Four names were especially mentioned in connection with the Republican nomination for President.

These were Seward, Chase, Cameron, and Lincoln. Seward was the best known of them all. In the debates on the Compromise of 1850 he had declared that there was "a higher law" than the Const.i.tution, namely, "the law of nature in men's hearts." In another speech he had termed the slavery contest "the irrepressible conflict." These phrases endeared him to the antislavery men. But they made it impossible for many moderate Republicans to follow him. Senator Chase of Ohio had also been very outspoken in his condemnation of slavery. Senator Cameron of Pennsylvania was an able political leader. But all of these men were "too conspicuous to make a good candidate." They had made many enemies.

Lincoln had spoken freely. But he had never been prominent in national politics. He was more likely to attract the votes of moderate men than either of the other candidates. After a fierce contest he was nominated.

The Republican platform stated that there was no intention to interfere with slavery in the states where it existed; but it declared the party's opposition to the extension of slavery. The platform favored internal improvements at the national expense. It also approved the protective system.

[Sidenote: The Charleston convention, 1860. _McMaster_, 360-361.]

[Sidenote: The Douglas Democrats.]

[Sidenote: The Breckinridge Democrats.]

370. The Democratic Nominations.--The Democratic convention met at Charleston, South Carolina. It was soon evident that the Northern Democrats and the Southern Democrats could not agree. The Northerners were willing to accept the Dred Scott decision and to carry it out. But the Southerners demanded that the platform should pledge the party actively to protect slavery in the territories. To this the Northerners would not agree. So the convention broke up to meet again at Baltimore.

But there the delegates could come to no agreement. In the end two candidates were named. The Northerners nominated Douglas on a platform advocating "popular sovereignty." The Southerners nominated John C.

Breckinridge of Kentucky. In their platform they advocated states'

rights, and the protection of slavery in the territories by the federal government.

[Sidenote: The Const.i.tutional Union party.]

371. The Const.i.tutional Union Party.--Besides these three candidates, cautious and timid men of all parties united to form the Const.i.tutional Union party. They nominated Governor John Bell of Tennessee for President. In their platform they declared for the maintenance of the Const.i.tution and the Union, regardless of slavery.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LINCOLN'S SURVEYING INSTRUMENTS AND SADDLEBAG.]

[Sidenote: The campaign of 1860.]

[Sidenote: Lincoln elected.]

372. Lincoln elected President, 1860.--With four candidates in the field and the Democratic party hopelessly divided, there could be little doubt of Lincoln's election. He carried every Northern state except Missouri and New Jersey. He received one hundred and eighty electoral notes. Breckenridge carried every Southern state except the "border states" of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and received seventy-two electoral votes. Bell carried the three "border" Southern states and Douglas carried Missouri and New Jersey. There was no doubt as to Lincoln's election. He had received a great majority of the electoral votes. But his opponents had received more popular votes than he had received. He was therefore elected by a minority of the voters.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LINCOLN'S BOOKCASE. From the Keyes-Lincoln Memorial Collection, Chicago.]