Chapter XIX

CHRONOLOGY OF THE U. S. FROM 1783 TO 1812.

1783.

Washington’s army had lain in camp at Newburg, N. Y., since the surrender of Cornwallis. The Preliminary treaty of peace was signed Jan. 20th, at Paris; but it was not officially announced in the camp at Newburg, until April 19th; just eight years from the Battle of Lexington that commenced it!

July—Congress prepared to disband the army, and Washington
to resign his commission as Commander-in-Chief.

” 21—The great difficulty Congress had to contend with was
raising money to pay the troops. Congress had no authority,
under the Confederation, to lay taxes or impose duties. It
exhausted its own credit in the issue of paper money which
soon became of little value. It made some foreign loans, and
persuaded the States, which alone could lay taxes, to raise a
small sum. But this did not suffice to pay the army at last.
There was much suffering and discontent.

On this day a body of soldiers, in large part new recruits,
who had comparatively little to complain of, without
muskets, but wearing side arms, beset the doors of Congress
in Philadelphia, for three hours. No violence was offered.
Congress adjourned to Princeton, N. J.

Sept. 3—The final and definite Treaty of Peace between
England, France, and the United States, in which the
independence of the latter was acknowledged, its boundaries
defined, and various matters of interest arranged to the
profit of the United States, was signed at Paris.

Nov. 2—A proclamation is issued by Congress for disbanding
the army.

” 25—The British troops evacuate New York, and it is occupied
by American troops under Gen. Knox.

Dec. 4—Long Island and Staten Island abandoned by the
British. Washington takes leave of his officers, at New York.

” 25—He resigns his commission to Congress, in a public
audience, given him at Annapolis, Md., where Congress was
then sitting, and goes home to Mt. Vernon.

Cæsar Rodney, a signer of the Declaration of Independence,
died this year.

1784.

The want of public credit was very much felt. There was no authority sufficient to raise money to meet the interest, even, on the debt; and this produced great distress.

Nov. 1—The Continental Congress meets at Trenton, N. J.
Richard Henry Lee, of Va., is chosen President.

Oct. 4—A treaty with the Six Nations, who had sided with the
British during the war, was made at Ft. Schuyler (formerly
Ft. Stanwix—now Utica, N. Y.).

Commerce begins to revive. Reciprocity treaties were made,
and trade with eastern Asia commenced this year by a voyage
to China, from New York.

1785.

Jan.—Congress adjourns to New York, where it continued to
hold its sessions for some years.

Mar. 10—Thomas Jefferson appointed to fill the place of
Franklin, as Minister to France; Franklin wishes to return
home. He had been there nine years.

July—Commercial treaties negotiated with Prussia, Denmark,
Portugal, and Tuscany.

The treaty with Prussia stipulated that, in case of war
between that country and the United States, there should be
no privateering.

” 13—Stephen Hopkins, of R. I., a signer of the Declaration
of Independence, died.

” 28—Wm. Whipple, of N. H., a signer of the Declaration of
Independence, died.

” ”—Treaties made with the Cherokees, Choctaws, and
Chickasaws.

1786.

Financial troubles were now approaching a crisis. In 1784-5 the importations from England had amounted to $30,000,000. The exportations to only $9,000,000. Paper money was depreciated so much as to be of little value. Debt oppressed government and people; want of vigorous authority was everywhere felt; and many disorders in Tennessee, Kentucky and elsewhere, begin to threaten the internal peace of the country.

June 19—Gen. Nathaniel Greene, an able commander in the
Revolutionary armies, died. He manouvered against Cornwallis
in North and South Carolina with great ability.

Dec. 5—Shay’s Rebellion broke out in Mass. That State wished
to raise money to aid Congress in paying the interest on
the federal debt. The people felt unable to pay it. They
mobbed the courts but were dispersed by troops under Gen.
Lincoln. Three were killed and one wounded, in an attack
the insurgents made on an arsenal. There was little other
fighting. Fourteen persons were tried and condemned to death
but afterwards pardoned.

1787.

These and other events convinced the people that an important change in the government was necessary. It became clear that a vigorous central authority, alone, could answer the purpose. The States were nearly independent of each other; but this produced conflicts and want of harmony, which nearly ruined them all.

A congress of deputies to consider commercial questions, called by Va. had, in Sept., 1786, recommended a convention to revise the Articles of Confederation.

Feb. 2—The Continental Congress assembled, electing Gen. St.
Clair, President.

” 12—Congress approves the call for a Constitutional
Convention.

May 25—The convention assembled in Philadelphia, and elected
Gen. Geo. Washington, President.

July 11—The Continental Congress organize the Northwest
Territory—north of the Ohio river. Preparations were
immediately made for settling it.

Sept. 28—The Constitution, as signed by the members of the
convention, laid before Congress, which sends it to the State
Legislatures for approval.

Arthur Middleton of S. C., and Thomas Stone of Md., signers
of the Declaration of Independence, died, Jan. 1st and Oct.
5th, respectively.

Dec. 7—Delaware ratifies the Constitution.

” 12—Pennsylvania accepts the Constitution.

1788.

July 4—The anniversary of Independence is kept with great
display, in Philadelphia, in special honor of the adoption of
the new Constitution.

By the close of July nine more States had ratified the
Constitution, and it went into operation.

Sept. 13—Congress selects the first Wednesday of Jan. (1789)
for the appointment of Presidential electors; the first
Wednesday in February for their appointment of President
and Vice-President; and March 4th (the first Wednesday that
month) for the new government to go into operation.

1789.

Jan. 4—Thomas Nelson, of Va., signer of the Declaration of
Independence, died.

Feb. 13—Ethan Allen, of Revolutionary fame, died.

April 30—Washington inaugurated as first President.

May 12—A Tariff Bill for raising a revenue reported in
Congress. This became a law, and went into effect Aug. 1st,
1789.

” 20—The Department of Foreign Affairs (afterwards called
State Department,) organized.

The Treasury Department is next established, followed by the
War Department, to which the Navy was joined for the present.

The Judiciary was then constituted. Salaries, and the rules
for parliamentary procedure were determined. The Postmaster
general had long been an officer of the government, and
required less change than most of the others. This made a
very busy session. Congress also passed a resolution to add
ten amendments to the Constitution—which were submitted to
the States and afterward ratified. Congress adjourned the
last of September.

The democratic tone of the government, and the spirit applied
to the interpretation of the Constitution by the first
Congress, has generally prevailed ever since. That tone and
spirit were truly republican.

Nov. 8—The President made a tour through New England.

” 13—North Carolina ratified the Constitution.

Many Indian treaties were made this year.

1790.

Jan. 8—Congress reassembled. This session was scarcely
inferior in interest and importance to the first from the
variety of new questions required to be settled, and the more
perfect development given to former ones.

Feb. 8—Provision was made for payment of the foreign debt.

Mar. 1—An act ordering a census to be taken was passed.

” 24—A naturalization law was originated.

Apr. 15—A patent law was constructed.

” 30—Treason was defined and the penalty determined on.

May 29—The Constitution ratified by Rhode Island; making up
the whole number of thirteen States.

” 31—“An act to encourage learning” secured copyrights to
authors.

July 16—Three very exciting debates that had occupied much of
the time of Congress, had a bearing on the location of the
National Capital, which was this day permanently settled.
The President was authorized to determine the site on the
Potomac, and have the buildings erected so as to be ready
for occupation in 1800. Agreeably to this act Maryland and
Virginia ceded the District of Columbia to the United States.

Gen. Putnam, a brave Revolutionary soldier, Benjamin
Franklin, of Pa., Wm. Hooper, of N. C., and Francis
Hopkinson, of N. J., all except Putnam signers of the
Declaration of Independence, died this year.

The Territory South of the Ohio was organized this year.
The financial system of the country was established, the
slavery question debated and settled in accordance with
the compromise of the Constitution, and the State debts
transferred to the United States.

Aug. 12—Congress adjourned to meet next in Philadelphia and
thereafter until 1800.

” 13—A treaty with the Creek Indians solemnly ratified by
Washington.

Dec. 6—The Third Session of Congress commenced. The President
congratulates Congress on the improvement of the finances,
and the prosperity of the country.

1791.

Feb.—The United States Bank established. It was to have a
capital of $10,000,000—its charter to run twenty years.

” 4—Kentucky voted admission into the Union in the next year
(Jan. 1st, 1792).

” 18—Vermont having (Jan. 20th) ratified the Constitution
and asked admission into the Union, it is granted this day.
The immediate prosperity that followed the adoption of the
Constitution of 1787, the strength, vigor, and moderation
seen to be combined in its arrangement of the government, led
most of the States to remodel their State Constitutions on
it, in a short time.

July—The subscription to the stock of the National Bank is
all taken in a few hours after the books are opened.

Aug.—Great Britain first sends a minister to the United
States Government.

Sep. 17—An expedition of 2,000 troops, under Gen. St. Clair,
starts from Ft. Washington against the Indians in the
Northwest Territory.

Nov. 4—Gen. St. Clair is surprised and defeated by the
Indians. There were 600 killed—the whole loss amounted to
upward of 900. Several other smaller expeditions had been
sent against the Indians in the course of the year. One, Gen.
Harmer’s, had been defeated. Internal taxes on spirits were
first commenced this year. Benj. Harrison, of Va., a signer
of the Declaration of Independence, died this year. A voyage
around the world, by way of Oregon, China, and the Cape of
Good Hope, had opened wide fields to commerce. The first
census was now completed. The Second Congress, assembled at
Philadelphia, Oct. 24, was occupied in arranging the new
ratio of Representatives. It was a very difficult matter to
settle from the sectional struggles that entered into the
question.

1792.

Feb. 16—A bounty for fishing vessels provided.

” 20—The Post Office Department reorganized.

Apr. 2—The establishment and regulations of the U. S. Mint
are embodied in a law.

” 14—Act apportioning Representatives passed. This gave the
next House of Representatives in Congress 105 members.

May 8—Laws organizing the Militia are passed.

Dec. 8—Henry Laurens, first President of the Continental
Congress, died. The second presidential election this
year resulted in the re-election of Washington and
Adams. Washington received all the electoral votes—the
anti-federalists opposing only Mr. Adams, whose electoral
vote was 77, the candidate of the opposition receiving 50.
Much seditious opposition was made in North Carolina and
Pennsylvania to the excise law,—the tax on spirits. The
President issued a proclamation against them, Sept. 29th.

1793.

Jan. 24—The proclamation of the French Republic is greeted
in Boston with a celebration in its honor. The close and
friendly relations of the United States with France, arising
from their aid to us in the Revolutionary War, led the French
minister, Genet, to a course of conduct inconsistent with
the existence of our friendly relations with England. The
U. S. Government decided to proclaim neutrality—the people
sympathized strongly with France. Washington and his cabinet
pursued a strict neutral course, in which the people finally
acquiesced, and Genet’s recall was solicited and obtained.

Feb. 12—A Fugitive Slave law passed.

July 23—Roger Sherman, signer of the Declaration of
Independence, died.

Oct. 8—John Hancock, of Mass., the first signer of the
Declaration of Independence, died. This year laid the
foundation of the policy of neutrality or non-interference
with the European wars, that became the settled policy of the
United States.

The year was also distinguished by the violence of party
feeling.

Dec. 2—Congress assembles at Philadelphia.

” 31—Jefferson resigns his seat in the Cabinet. He was
Secretary of State.

1794.

Mar. 11—An act is passed for building four ships of war,
which laid the foundation of our present navy.

Some hostile English “Orders in Council” led to arrangements
for fortifying the harbors of the country.

” 22—The Slave trade is regulated by law, no American
vessel being allowed to supply slaves to another nation.
The importation of slaves into this country had been
allowed until the year 1808, by Art. 1st, Sec. 9th, of the
Constitution.

” 26—As a retaliation on the British “Orders in Council” for
seizing all goods going to France in American vessels, an
embargo was laid on all shipping which was continued 60 days.
This stopped all commerce for the present.

June 5—A law relating to neutrality passed in Congress.

” 19—Richard Henry Lee, of Va., died; Abraham Clark, of N.
J., and John Witherspoon, of N. J., later, all signers of the
Declaration of Independence, died.

July 16—An insurrection breaks out against the excise law in
western Pennsylvania, by an armed attack on the officers of
the law. An army of 15,000 men was raised and marched into
that region, the appearance of which immediately restored
order.

Aug. 20—Gen. Wayne inflicts a thorough chastisement on the
Indians of Ohio, on the Maumee river.

Nov. 4—Congress again assembles.

” 28—Baron Steuben, a German, who had done us great service
as an officer in the Revolutionary war, died, aged 61.

1795.

This year a commercial treaty was negotiated with England, which was the cause of violent demonstrations of the two parties. Only the firmness and moderation of Washington and his supporters saved the country from war with that power.

Jan. 23—Gen. Sullivan died. He had been an able Maj. Gen. in
the Revolutionary war.

” 29—A more stringent naturalization law passes.

May 19—Josiah Bartlett, of N. H., signer of the Declaration
of Independence, died.

Aug. 3—A Treaty with the Northwestern Indians concluded,
which closed the Indian war.

Sept 5—A treaty is concluded with Algiers, which closed a war
with those pirates, whose attacks had been so disastrous to
our commerce.

Oct 20—A treaty of boundaries, and which opened the
Mississippi to navigation, is concluded with Spain.

Dec. 7—The fourth Congress meets.

1796.

March 24—The U. S. House of Representatives require the
President to send them the papers relating to the British
treaty. The President declines, denying that they form part
of the treaty making power.

April 30—The exciting struggle on the British treaty is
closed, by a provision made by the House of Representatives
for carrying it into effect.

June 1—An act is passed admitting Tennessee into the Union.

” 29—A new treaty is made with the Creek Indians, and the
Southern, as well as the Northern Indians, are pacified.

Sept. 19—Washington’s Farewell address is issued, to let
the people know that he would not accept office again. A
presidential election was held this autumn, in which John
Adams was elected President. Serious difficulties began to
rise with France, which took great offense at the treaty with
Great Britain.

1797.

Feb. 3—Mr. Pinckney, American Minister to France, was refused
a reception, by the French government, and obliged this day
to leave the country. Much violence was done about this time,
to American commerce, by the French.

Mar. 4—John Adams is inaugurated President of the United
States.

” 25—A special session of Congress is called to consider the
threatening posture of our relations with France.

June 14—Congress imposed a fine of $10,000 and ten
years imprisonment on any American who should engage in
privateering, in any way, against a nation with whom we were
at peace.

July 3—The President transmits to Congress information of
Spanish troubles on the southern and western frontier. These
were afterwards discovered to have aimed at detaching the
Mississippi and Ohio valleys from the United States, and
erecting them into an independent power, in close alliance
with Spain.

Two new envoys are sent to France. These envoys spent many
months in Paris, treated with insolence and neglect.

In this year Francis L. Lee, of Va., Carter Braxton, of Va.,
and Oliver Wolcott, of Conn., signers of the Declaration of
Independence, died.

1798.

The French government continues to labor to draw the United States into a war with them against England. Two of the three Commissioners are required to leave France.

April 3—The Mississippi Territory organized.

” 14—The navy is taken from the control of the Secretary of
War, and a Navy Department with a Secretary, organized.

June 12—All commercial intercourse with France suspended.
In anticipation of war the naturalization law is amended;
an “Alien Act” passed; and the navy and army largely
strengthened.

” 21—The President announces the failure of the Commissioners
sent to France, to make peace.

July 8—A limited naval warfare with France is authorized, and
several U. S. vessels of war go to sea.

” 16—An additional naval armament provided for.

” 17—Washington accepts the appointment of Commander-in-Chief
of the Army, which is being raised in expectation of war.

”—About this time some 365 armed vessels had been
commissioned by the U. S. government, besides the regular
navy, to make war on the armed vessels of France. This
armament was, however chiefly used for defense.

Lewis Morris, of N. Y., James Wilson, of Pa., and Geo. Read,
of Del., signers of the Declaration of Independence, died
this year.

1799.

At the commencement of this year Congress provided for the raising of am army of 40,000 men.

Feb. 18—By invitation of the French government, the President
nominates another embassy to France.

Feb. 7—The French frigate l’Insurgente captured in the West
Indies by the U. S. frigate Constellation.

April—The Legislature of New York abolishes Slavery in that
State.

Dec. 14—Gen. Washington’s death, in the 68th year of his age.

Wm. Paca, of Md., a signer of the Declaration of
Independence, died this year.

A change in the government of France, and the vigorous action
of the U. S. government in arming for war, induced the
French to retreat from their unfriendly position and offer
to arrange the difference. The refusal of our government to
entangle themselves with European politics became a settled
principle, of great value to us; though it was strongly
opposed by the Anti-Federalists.

1800.

Jan. 23—Edward Rutledge, of S. C., signer of Dec. of Ind.
died.

Feb. 1—The U. S. frigate Constellation beats without
capturing the French frigate La Vengeance.

April 4—General bankruptcy law passed by Congress.

May 7—The Territory of Indiana organized by act of Congress.

” 10—An act authorizing the election of a Territorial
Assembly in the Territory of Mississippi, organized some
years before, was passed.

July—The government is moved to the new capital at Washington.

Oct. 1—The envoys to France arrange a convention, or
temporary treaty, which prevents the formal outbreak of war,
though it had long continued to be waged on the sea. More
than 50 vessels had been captured from the French this year.
The gratitude of Americans to France for her aid, formerly,
made a large part of the people very unwilling to declare
war; but her arrogant demands and war on our commerce had the
good effect to separate the country from all close alliances
in Europe.

Nov.—The fourth presidential election resulted in the
defeat of the Federalist party, by the election of Thomas
Jefferson as President. Its opponent, the anti-federalist,
or Republican party, feared a strong central government; yet
when they came into power they adopted the same policy. Any
other policy would have ruined the country.

1801.

Feb. 16—The Convention with France, to remain in force eight
years, ratified.

Mar. 3—The Sixth Congress terminates, and with it the
administration of President Adams.

” 4—Jefferson inaugurated President. The trial of the
Constitution was now past. It was permanently settled in the
respect of the people, and had made the country respected
by other nations. The “Sedition Laws” passed in July,
1798, became inoperative at this time, by the provision
accompanying them. They had been framed for the suppression
of dangerous political intrigues in time of war. Party spirit
was exceedingly bitter at this time, and these laws produced
much excitement, but contributed to the safety of the
government.

June 10—The Basha of Tripoli declares war on the United
States.

” 14—Benedict Arnold died in London.

Aug. 6—The U. S. vessel of war Experiment, captures a
Tripolitan vessel in the Mediterranean sea.

Dec. 7—The Seventh Congress assembles. The reaction, at this
time, in public sentiment, produced by the French Revolution,
the excesses of which resulted in a military despotism under
Napoleon Bonaparte, infused a spirit of moderation and
caution into the politics of the United States under the new
party now in power, that was highly beneficial. Extreme views
were checked, and no serious change was made in the general
policy of the country.

1802.

Jan. 4—The reapportionment of Representatives in Congress
by the census of 1800, was made. No change in the number of
inhabitants to one Representative (one to every 33,000) was
introduced. The foundation of a Military Academy at West
Point, N. Y., was laid at this time.

April 14—The Naturalization Laws, made very stringent in the
last administration to correspond with a state of war, were
liberalized.

April 30—An act authorizing the formation of a State
Constitution in Ohio, preparatory to its admission into the
Union, is passed.

May 3—Washington, D. C., incorporated as a city.

Oct. 16—Commerce on the Mississippi by American citizens,
suspended by the Spanish authorities at New Orleans.

It became evident that the possession of the Mississippi
River and territory near it was of the highest importance
to the welfare of the West, and measures looking toward the
acquisition of it began to be taken.

A large reduction was made this year in the public debt, and
the policy of economy in public expenditure became a leading
feature of the administration.

1803.

March 3—The anxiety of the people in regard to the navigation
of the Mississippi leads Congress to invest the President
with extraordinary authority to negotiate, or use force, in
his discretion. He was authorized to call on the States to
furnish 80,000 men, if need be.

April 30—A treaty is concluded with Napoleon Bonaparte for
the purchase of the whole of the Louisiana Territory for
$15,000,000.

Aug. 13—By a treaty with the Kaskaskia Indians a large part
of Illinois is opened to settlement.

Oct. 31—The U. S. frigate Philadelphia ran on a sunken rock
in the harbor of Tripoli, and was captured. The American
fleet had captured or destroyed several Tripolitan vessels of
war during the summer.

Dec. 20—The President takes possession of Louisiana.

1804.

Feb. 2—Geo. Walton, of Geo., signer of the Declaration of
Independence, died.

” 15—New Jersey passes a law freeing all the slaves born in
the State after the next 4th of July.

” 16—Lieut. Decatur, of the U. S. Navy, ran into the harbor
of Tripoli in the night and burned the Philadelphia—captured
by the Tripolitans, some time before. This done he withdrew
in safety, in the sloop he had employed for the bold
enterprise.

July 11—Alexander Hamilton, an eminent statesman, was killed
in a duel with Aaron Burr, Vice-President of the United
States. He was 48 years old and his death was considered as a
public calamity.

Aug. 3—Com. Preble attacks Tripoli, sinks two vessels,
captures three more, and bombards the city.

The city was blockaded during the remainder of the year and
through the winter.

Nov. 18—Gen. Philip Schuyler died at Albany, N. Y.

Jefferson was re-elected President in this month.

1805.

Great commercial prosperity marked this period. France and England were at war and most of the carrying trade fell to American vessels. The peaceful acquisition of Louisiana, and the prosperity of the west in consequence, contributed much to the development of the country. The grand era of progress in the United States began to dawn, though overcast by threatening difficulties with Spain and England.

March—Chief Justice Chase having been impeached by the House
of Representatives, was acquitted by the Senate.

” 4—Jefferson’s second inauguration as President.

June 3—A treaty of peace made with Tripoli.

A Territorial Legislature is authorized in the Territory of
Orleans, and the Territory of Louisiana organized.

June 11—The Territory of Michigan is organized. It was very
thinly settled, but separated by so great a distance from the
inhabited parts of Indiana Territory as to require a separate
government.

July 4—Large cessions of land are obtained, by treaty and
purchase, from the Indians. Most of their lands in Ohio,
Indiana, and along the Ohio River were acquired in an
equitable manner. Large cessions are obtained this year from
the Creeks and Cherokees, who received a fair equivalent.

Sept. 12—Wm. Moultrie, a distinguished Revolutionary soldier,
died.

Measures are set on foot to purchase Florida from the
Spaniards. There seemed no alternative but such a purchase
or a war. Difficulties with England began to increase.
Several American vessels with valuable cargoes are seized by
the British.

1806.

Jan. 16—Two million dollars are voted that the President may
commence negotiations with Spain for Florida. The British
continue to violate our flag by impressing seamen on our
vessels.

March 26—A retaliatory law was enacted by Congress forbidding
the importation of certain English goods, to take effect in
November in order to give time for negotiation. Provision was
also made for increasing the army and navy.

The summer of this year was disturbed, in the west, by rumors
of a design to separate the Louisiana Territory and Western
States from the Union, by the establishment of an independent
government.

Apr. 10—Gen. Horatio Gates, an officer of the Revolution,
died.

Dec.—The session of Congress commencing the first of this
month was largely occupied with a law forbidding the slave
trade after 1808. There was much violent debate but the law
was enacted early in the next year.

Robt. Morris, of Pa., on the 8th of May; Geo. Wythe, of Va.,
on the 8th of June; James Smith, of Pa., on the 11th of July,
signers of the Declaration of Independence; and Gen. Henry
Knox, an officer of the Revolution, on the 25th of Oct.,
died. Gen. Knox was Secretary of War during Washington’s
administration.

1807.

Feb. 10—An act for commencing the Coast Survey, and
appropriating $50,000 for that purpose, is passed.

The English had defeated and almost annihilated the French
and Spanish navies, and became very tyrannical toward neutral
nations, which begins to injure our commerce. Bonaparte
retaliates in the same spirit which doubles the difficulty.

Mar. 18—A treaty made by American ambassadors with England
was rejected by our government because the British refused
to allow that British born citizens could become American
citizens by naturalization. These the English government
claimed the right of impressing from our vessels, which we
denied.

June 22—A British ship of war, the Leopard, fires into the
American frigate Chesapeake while unprepared to resist, and
took several men from her. Three Americans were killed, and
eighteen wounded. It greatly exasperated the Americans.

July 2—The President ordered all English ships of war to
leave American waters.

Aug. 25—Com. Preble, of the U.S. navy, died.

Sept. 15—Aaron Burr tried for treason, (he was the leader of
the conspiracy believed to have endeavored to detach the
Mississippi Valley from the Union,) was acquitted for want of
evidence, though generally believed guilty.

Nov. 26—Oliver Ellsworth, U. S. Chief Justice, died.

Dec. 17—Bonaparte’s “Milan Decree” subjects American
commercial vessels to seizure.

” 22—This and like British “Orders in Council” caused
Congress to lay an embargo, forbidding any vessels to sail
from our ports.

1808.

Jan. 1—The act of Congress, passed in the previous session,
to carry out the provision of the Constitution to abolish the
slave trade at this time, goes into effect to-day.

Apr. 17—Bonaparte orders the seizure and confiscation of all
American vessels in France, or that should afterwards arrive
there.

Nov. 7—The tenth Congress assembles again. Much discussion is
had over the embargo, but it is finally determined to make
it still more stringent and place the country in a state of
defense.

”—A presidential election this month results in the choice
of James Madison for the next term. He was a republican, or
democrat, in politics.

1809.

Jan. 9—An act is passed “more effectually to enforce the
embargo.”

Feb. 3—Illinois organized under a Territorial Government.

” 27—The embargo is partially repealed.

Mar. 3—The Tenth Congress closes, at the same time as the
Administration of Jefferson. Madison was inaugurated the
next day. He served two terms. A war with Great Britain was
commenced in his first, and ended in his second term.

” 9—Thos. Haywood, of S. C., signer of the Declaration of
Independence, died.

Apr. 19—An arrangement of the difficulties with England
concluded with the British Minister, Erskine, and, in
the expectation of permanent peace, the Embargo and
Non-intercourse acts cease by proclamation of the President.

May 22—An extra session of the eleventh Congress meets.

July 20—News arrives of the rejection by the English
government of the Erskine treaty.

Aug. 9—The President forbids, by proclamation, all
intercourse with Great Britain and France.

Nov. 8—A new English minister having been sent, his arrogant
tone causes the U. S. government to decline further
intercourse with him.

1810.

Mar. 23—Bonaparte orders the sale and confiscation of 132
American vessels (detained in France by previous decree) and
their cargoes, and the same confiscation is ordered of all
American vessels afterward entering French ports. The 132
vessels and their cargoes were worth $8,000,000.

Aug. 5—The French government announces the revocation of
their confiscation act, to take effect Nov. 1. A deadly
struggle had been, for many years, going on between Napoleon
Bonaparte and England. This hostility of France to American
commerce was in retaliation, of the British “Orders in
Council” against neutral commerce trading with France.
England had nearly destroyed the French navy and considered
herself mistress of the seas. She wished to reduce American
commerce to the condition of colonial times, which, with
impressment of seamen, was the cause of the present struggle.
Our commerce was constantly growing, our people spirited, and
resolved to have their rights and Flag respected.

1811.

Feb. 26—An act passed establishing naval hospitals.

May 16—The American frigate President, and the British sloop
of war Little Belt, fire into each other. The Little Belt
is disabled. This was a retaliation of the firing of the
British ship Leopard on the American Chesapeake, four years
before, and also of the capture of an American merchantman
bound to France, off New York, by a British vessel about
this time. Several instances of impressment, by the British,
from American vessels, had lately occurred, and there was a
feeling of great exasperation toward England. The English
government had not yet made any atonement for the attack on
the Chesapeake.

June 1—Gen. Eaton, prominent in the war with Tripoli, died.

” 19—Samuel Chase, Chief Justice of the U. S., died.

Aug. 2—Wm. Williams, of Conn., died. The two last were
signers of the Declaration of Independence.

The relief of American commerce from outrages by the French
proved delusive, and many grievous wrongs are suffered this
year.

Nov. 7—Two twin brothers of the Shawanese tribe of Indians
(Tecumseh and the Prophet) had been for some years engaged in
forming a conspiracy among a large number of Indian tribes
on the Northwestern frontier to exterminate the whites. Gen.
Harrison’s army is attacked by the Indians this day, at
Tippecanoe. They are defeated by Gen. Harrison.

Dec. 2—The ratio of Representation is revised on the census
of 1800, and fixed at 35,000.

1812.

Jan.—Various acts are passed for putting the army and navy in
a condition for war.

Apr. 4—An embargo is laid on American shipping, by act of
Congress.

” 8—Louisiana admitted into the Union as a State.

” 20—Geo. Clinton, Vice-President of the United States, died.

June 4—The Territory of Missouri organized.

” 23—The British government repeal the obnoxious “Orders
in Council,” but refuse to give up the right of search and
impressment on American vessels. The American government
refuses to be satisfied with this; besides, it had already
declared war, June 18th.