Chapter III: Part 3

A public document I had never seen, nor did I know there were such
things; and how to begin I couldn’t tell. I made many apologies, and
tried to get off, for I know’d I had a man to run against who could
speak prime, and I know’d, too, that I wasn’t able to shuffle and cut
with him. He was there, and knowing my ignorance as well as I did
myself, he also urged me to make a speech. The truth is, he thought my
being a candidate was a mere matter of sport; and didn’t think for a
moment that he was in any danger from an ignorant backwoods bear
hunter. But I found I couldn’t get off, and so I determined just to go
ahead, and leave it to chance what I should say. I got up and told the
people I reckoned they know’d what I come for, but if not, I could
tell them. I had come for their votes, and if they didn’t watch mighty
close I’d get them too. But the worst of all was, that I could not
tell them anything about government. I tried to speak about something,
and I cared very little what, until I choked up as bad as if my mouth
had been jamm’d and cramm’d chock full of dry mush. There the people
stood, listening all the while, with their eyes, mouths, and ears all
open, to catch every word....

At last I told them I was like a fellow I had heard of not long
before. He was beating on the head of an empty barrel near the
road-side, when a traveler, who was passing along, asked him what he
was doing that for? The fellow replied that there was some cider in
that barrel a few days before, and he was trying to see if there was
any then, but if there was he couldn’t get at it. I told them that
there had been a little bit of speech in me a while ago, but I
believed I couldn’t get it out. They all roared out in a mighty laugh,
and I told some other anecdotes, equally amusing to them, and
believing I had them in a first-rate way, I quit and got down,
thanking the people for their attention. But I took care to remark
that I was as dry as a powder-horn, and that I thought it was time for
us all to wet our whistles a little; and so I put off to the liquor
stand, and was followed by the greater part of the crowd.

I felt certain this was necessary, for I knowed my competitor could
open government matters to them as easy as he pleased. He had,
however, mighty few left to hear him, as I continued with the crowd,
now and then taking a horn, and telling good-humored stories, till he
was done speaking. I found I was good for the votes at the hunt, and
when we broke up I went on to the town of Vernon, which was the same
[_town_] they wanted me to move. Here they pressed me again on the
subject, and I found I could get either party by agreeing with them.
But I told them I didn’t know whether it would be right or not, and so
couldn’t promise either way.

Their court commenced on the next Monday, as the barbecue was on a
Saturday, and the candidates for Governor, and for Congress, as well
as my competitor and myself, all attended.

The thought of having to make a speech made my knees feel mighty weak,
and set my heart to fluttering almost as bad as my first love scrape
with the Quaker’s niece. But as good luck would have it, these big
candidates spoke nearly all day, and when they quit, the people were
worn out with fatigue, which afforded me a good apology for not
discussing the government. But I listened mighty close to them, and
was learning pretty fast about political matters. When they were all
done, I got up and told some laughable story, and quit. I found I was
safe in those parts, and so I went home, and did not go back again
till after the election was over. But to cut this matter short, I was
elected, doubling my competitor, and nine votes over.

Early Days in Illinois

Morris Birkbeck was an Englishman who came to the United States and settled in southeastern Illinois where he founded the town of Albion. His account of the people and life in Illinois in 1817, just before it became a state, is good reporting. He has a sharp eye for detail, and because he was fresh from Europe, he sees and records the contrasts between the Midwestern backwoods and the Old World. The following selection comes from his book, _Notes on a Journey in America, from the Coast of Virginia to the Territory of Illinois_.

_August 1._ Dagley’s, twenty miles north of Shawnee Town. After
viewing several beautiful prairies, so beautiful with their
surrounding woods as to seem like the creation of fancy, gardens of
delight in a dreary wilderness, and after losing our horses and
spending two days in recovering them, we took a hunter as our guide
and proceeded across the Little Wabash to explore the country between
that river and the Skillet-fork.

Since we left the Fox settlement, about fifteen miles north of the Big
Prairie, cultivation has been very scanty, many miles intervening
between the little “clearings.” This may therefore be truly called a
new country.

These lonely settlers are poorly off—their bread corn must be ground
thirty miles off, requiring three days to carry to the mill and bring
back the small horse-load of three bushels. Articles of family
manufacture are very scanty, and what they purchase is of the meanest
quality and excessively dear: yet they are friendly and willing to
share their simple fare with you. It is surprising how comfortable
they seem, wanting everything. To struggle with privations has now
become the habit of their lives, most of them having made several
successive plunges into the wilderness, and they begin already to talk
of selling their “improvements” and getting still farther “back” on
finding that emigrants of another description are thickening about
them.

Our journey across the Little Wabash was a complete departure from all
mark of civilization. We saw no bears, as they are now buried in the
thickets, and seldom appear by day; but, at every few yards, we saw
recent marks of their doings, “wallowing” in the long grass or turning
over decayed logs in quest of beetles or worms, in which work the
strength of this animal is equal to that of four men. Wandering
without track, where even the sagacity of our hunter-guide had nearly
failed us, we at length arrived at the cabin of another hunter, where
we lodged.

This man and his family are remarkable instances of the effect on the
complexion produced by the perpetual incarceration [_imprisonment_] of
a thorough woodland life. Incarceration may seem to be a term less
applicable to the condition of a roving backwoodsman than to any
other, and especially unsuitable to the habits of this individual and
his family; for the cabin in which he entertained us is the third
dwelling he has built within the last twelve months, and a very
slender motive would place him in a fourth before the ensuing winter.
In his general habits the hunter ranges as freely as the beasts he
pursues; labouring under no restraint, his activity is only bounded by
his own physical powers: still he is incarcerated—“Shut from the
common air.” Buried in the depth of a boundless forest, the breeze of
health never reaches these poor wanderers; the bright prospect of
distant hills fading away into the semblance of clouds, never cheered
their sight. They are tall and pale, like vegetables that grow in a
vault, pining for light....

Our stock of provisions being nearly exhausted, we were anxious to
provide ourselves with a supper by means of our guns, but we could
meet with neither deer nor turkey; however, in our utmost need, we
shot three raccoons, an old one to be roasted for our dogs and the two
young ones to be stewed up daintily for ourselves. We soon lighted a
fire and cooked the old raccoon for the dogs; but famished as they
were, they would not touch it, and their squeamishness so far abated
our relish for the promised stew that we did not press our complaining
landlady to prepare it; and thus our supper consisted of the residue
of our “corn” bread and _no_ raccoon. However, we laid our bear skins
on the filthy earth (floor there was none), which they assured us was
“too damp for fleas,” and wrapped in our blankets slept soundly
enough; though the collops [_slices_] of venison hanging in comely
rows in the smoky fireplace and even the shoulders put by for the dogs
and which were suspended over our heads would have been an acceptable
prelude to our night’s rest, had we been invited to partake of them;
but our hunter and our host were too deeply engaged in conversation to
think of supper. In the morning the latter kindly invited us to cook
some of the collops, which we did by toasting them on a stick, and he
also divided some shoulders among the dogs; so we all fared
sumptuously.

The cabin, which may serve as a specimen of these rudiments of houses,
was formed of round logs with apertures of three or four inches
between. No chimney, but large intervals between the “clapboards” for
the escape of the smoke. The roof was, however, a more effectual
covering than we have generally experienced, as it protected us very
tolerably from a drenching night. Two bedsteads of unhewn logs and
cleft boards laid across; two chairs, one of them without a bottom,
and a low stool were all the furniture required by this numerous
family. A string of buffalo hide stretched across the hovel was a
wardrobe for their rags; and their utensils, consisting of a large
iron pot, some baskets, the effective rifle and two that were
superannuated [_too old to use_], stood about in corners, and the
fiddle, which was only silent when we were asleep, hung by them.

Ominous Loomings: The Missouri Compromise, 1820

When the War of 1812 ended, the United States consisted of eighteen states—nine free and nine slave. Very soon Indiana was admitted as a free state, offset by Mississippi as a slave state. It was inevitable that this precarious balance between the North and the South would some day cause trouble, and the trouble came very soon. In 1818, Illinois entered as a free state, and the enabling legislation to admit Missouri was introduced in Congress in 1819.

The South assumed that Missouri would be a slave state, but a New York Congressman amended the Missouri statehood bill to provide for gradual freeing of the slaves there. The South reacted vigorously to keep from losing its equal representation in the Senate and blocked passage of the bill. Meanwhile, Alabama came in to balance Illinois, and there were eleven northern and eleven southern states.

The following year, when Maine applied for admission into the Union, Henry Clay of Kentucky engineered the famous Missouri Compromise. This agreement provided that Missouri would come in as a slave state but that no more slave states would be admitted from territory north of Missouri’s southern boundary. This compromise is important because it foreshadows the struggle between the North and South that eventuated in the Civil War a generation later. Although most of the oratory dealt with the slavery issue, the struggle also concerned the broader matter of political control in the West.

Representative Arthur Livermore Argues Against Extending Slavery

The following selections illustrate the debate in Congress over the Missouri question. The first speech is by Congressman Arthur Livermore of New Hampshire against the extension of slavery.

I propose to show what slavery is, and to mention a few of the many
evils which follow in its train; and I hope to evince that we are not
bound to tolerate the existence of so disgraceful a state of things
beyond its present extent, and that it would be impolitic and very
unjust to let it spread over the whole face of our Western territory.
Slavery in the United States is the condition of man subjected to the
will of a master who can make any disposition of him short of taking
away his life. In those States where it is tolerated, laws are enacted
making it penal to instruct slaves in the art of reading, and they are
not permitted to attend public worship or to hear the Gospel preached.

Thus the light of science and of religion is utterly excluded from the
mind, that the body may be more easily bowed down to servitude. The
bodies of slaves may, with impunity, be prostituted to any purpose and
deformed in any manner by their owners. The sympathies of nature in
slaves are disregarded; mothers and children are sold and separated;
the children wring their little hands and expire in agonies of grief,
while the bereft mothers commit suicide in despair. How long will the
desire of wealth render us blind to the sin of holding both the bodies
and souls of our fellow-men in chains!

But, sir, I am admonished of the Constitution, and told that we cannot
emancipate slaves. I know we may not infringe that instrument, and
therefore do not propose to emancipate slaves. The proposition before
us goes only to prevent our citizens from making slaves of such as
have a right to freedom. In the present slaveholding States let
slavery continue, for our boasted Constitution connives at it; but do
not, for the sake of cotton and tobacco, let it be told to future ages
that, while pretending to love liberty, we have purchased an extensive
country to disgrace it with the foulest reproach of nations.

Our Constitution requires no such thing of us. The ends for which that
supreme law was made are succinctly stated in its preface. They are,
first, to form a more perfect union and insure domestic tranquility.
Will slavery effect this? Can we, sir, by mingling bond with free,
black spirits with white, like Shakespeare’s witches in Macbeth, form
a more perfect union and insure domestic tranquility? Secondly, to
establish justice. Is justice to be established by subjecting half
mankind to the will of the other half? Justice, sir, is blind to
colors, and weighs in equal scales the rights of all men, whether
white or black. Thirdly, to provide for the common defense and secure
the blessings of liberty. Does slavery add anything to the common
defense? Sir, the strength of a republic is in the arm of freedom.
But, above all things, do the blessings of liberty consist in slavery?

Senator James Barbour Defends Slavery

In the second selection we have chosen, Senator James Barbour of Virginia defends slavery:

The gentleman from Pennsylvania asks shall we suffer Missouri to come
into the Union with this savage mark [_of slavery_] on her
countenance? I appeal to that gentleman to know whether this be
language to address to an American Senate, composed equally of members
from States precisely in that condition that Missouri would be in,
were she to tolerate slavery. Are these sentiments calculated to
cherish that harmony and affection so essential to any beneficial
results from our Union? But, sir, I will not imitate this course, and
I will strive to repress the feeling which such remarks are calculated
to awaken.

... They assure us that they do not mean to touch this property
[_slavery_] in the old states.... What kind of ethics is this that is
bounded by latitude and longitude, which is inoperative on the left,
but is omnipotent on the right bank of a river? Such a doctrine is
well calculated to excite our solicitude; for, although the gentlemen
who now hold it are sincere in their declarations, and mean to content
themselves with a triumph in this controversy, what security have we
that others will not apply it to the South generally?

Let it not, however, be supposed that in the abstract I am advocating
slavery. Like all other human things, it is mixed with good and
evil—the latter, no doubt, preponderating.... Whether slavery was
ordained by God Himself in a particular revelation to His chosen
people, or whether it be merely permitted as a part of that moral evil
which seems to be the inevitable portion of man, are questions I will
not approach; I leave them to the casuists [_debaters_] and the
divines [_preachers_]. It is sufficient for us, as statesmen, to know
that it has existed from the earliest ages of the world, and that to
us has been assigned such a portion as, in reference to their number
and the various considerations resulting from a change of their
condition, no remedy, even plausible, has been suggested, though
wisdom and benevolence united have unceasingly brooded over the
subject.

However dark and inscrutable may be the ways of heaven, who is he that
arrogantly presumes to arraign [_challenge_] them? The same mighty
power that planted the greater and the lesser luminary in the heavens
permits on earth the bondsman and the free. To that Providence, as men
and Christians, let us bow. If it be consistent with His will, in the
fullness of time, to break the fetter of the slave, He will raise up
some Moses to be their deliverer. To him commission will be given to
lead them up out of the land of bondage.

Representative James Stevens Argues for the Compromise

In the final selection James Stevens, Representative from Connecticut, pleads with Congress to accept the Compromise:

I have listened with pain to the very long, protracted debate that has
been had on this unfortunate question. I call it unfortunate, sir,
because it has drawn forth the worst passions of man in the course of
the discussion....

If the deadliest enemy this country has, or ever had, could dictate
language the most likely to destroy your glory, prosperity, and
happiness, would it not be precisely what has been so profusely used
in this debate—sectional vaunting?... Indeed, sir, there is no view of
this unhappy division of our country but must be sickening to the
patriot and in direct violation of the dictate of wisdom, and the
last, though not least, important advice of the Father and Friend of
his Country. He forbids the use of the words Northern and Southern,
Atlantic and Western, as descriptive of the various parts of your
country.

But, sir, we have now arrived at a point at which every gentleman
agrees something must be done. A precipice lies before us at which
perdition [_ruin_] is inevitable. Gentlemen on both sides of this
question, and in both Houses, indoors and out of doors, have evinced a
determination that augurs ill of the high destinies of this country!
And who does not tremble for the consequences?...

I wish not to be misunderstood, sir. I don’t pretend to say that in
just five calendar months your Union will be at an end;...

But, sir, I do say, and, for the verity of the remark, cite the
lamentable history of our own time, that the result of a failure to
compromise at this time, in the way now proposed, or in some other way
satisfactory to both, would be to create ruthless hatred, irradicable
jealousy, and a total forgetfulness of the ardor of patriotism, to
which, as it has heretofore existed, we owe, under Providence, more
solid national glory and social happiness than ever before was
possessed by any people, nation, kindred, or tongue under Heaven.

The Monroe Doctrine

Although the United States was mainly concerned with internal problems during Monroe’s presidency, there was one important policy established during this period in the area of foreign relations. This was the Monroe Doctrine. It was a statement of policy made by the President in a message to Congress in 1823, which defined the role of the United States in international affairs and which, in some respects, is still vital United States policy.

The Doctrine states that the United States will not tolerate further foreign colonial expansion by European powers in North or South America. This policy was necessary because Spain’s colonies in Latin America had recently revolted, and it looked as though the other European powers might try to reconquer Spain’s former colonies. In addition, Russia was moving southward from Alaska and claiming land down to the 51st parallel, which would have taken in much of what is now British Columbia. The Monroe Doctrine also declares that the United States will not interfere with existing European colonies in the Americas nor with the internal affairs of European nations. In the following selection we reprint part of the Monroe Doctrine.

Excerpts from the Monroe Doctrine

In the wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves
we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy so
to do. It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously menaced
that we resent injuries or make preparation for our defense. With the
movements in this hemisphere we are of necessity more immediately
connected, and by causes which must be obvious to all enlightened and
impartial observers....

We owe it, therefore, to candor and to the amicable relations existing
between the United States and those powers to declare that we should
consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any
portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With
the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have
not interfered and shall not interfere. But with the Governments who
have declared their independence and maintained it, and whose
independence we have, on great consideration and on just principles,
acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of
oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by
any European power in any other light than as the manifestation of an
unfriendly disposition toward the United States.

In the war between those new Governments and Spain we declared our
neutrality at the time of their recognition, and to this we have
adhered, and shall continue to adhere, provided no change shall occur
which, in the judgment of the competent authorities of this
Government, shall make a ... change on the part of the United States
indispensable to their security....

Our policy in regard to Europe, which was adopted at an early stage of
the wars which have so long agitated that quarter of the globe,
nevertheless remains the same, which is, not to interfere in the
internal concerns of any of its powers; to consider the government _de
facto_ [_actually ruling_] as the legitimate government for us; to
cultivate friendly relations with it, and to preserve those relations
by a frank, firm, and manly policy, meeting in all instances the just
claims of every power, submitting to injuries from none. But in regard
to those continents circumstances are eminently and conspicuously
different.

It is impossible that the allied powers should extend their political
system to any portion of either continent [_North or South America_]
without endangering our peace and happiness; nor can anyone believe
that our southern brethren, if left to themselves, would adopt it of
their own accord. It is equally impossible, therefore, that we should
behold such interposition in any form with indifference.

John Quincy Adams

Lighthouses in the Sky

John Quincy Adams, who succeeded James Monroe as President in 1825, was the son of John Adams, the second President. He too had served a long apprenticeship in government, having been Senator, minister to Great Britain and Russia, and Secretary of State. Although he served only one term and was defeated for re-election by Andrew Jackson, he was a forward-looking President. We illustrate his interest in science and the internal development of the United States by a portion of his first message to Congress. He begins with a plea that the object of government is to improve the lot of the people. He favors roads and canals, but even more, moral and intellectual improvements.

Excerpts from Adams’ First Message to Congress

Upon this first occasion of addressing the Legislature of the Union,
with which I have been honored, in presenting to their view the
execution so far as it has been effected of the measures sanctioned by
them for promoting the internal improvement of our country, I can not
close the communication without recommending to their calm and
persevering consideration the general principle in a more enlarged
extent....

Among the first, perhaps the very first, instrument for the
improvement of the conditions of men is knowledge, and to the
acquisition of much of the knowledge adapted to the wants, the
comforts, and enjoyments of human life public institutions and
seminaries of learning are essential. So convinced of this was the
first of my predecessors in this office [_George Washington_], now
first in the memory, as, living, he was first in the hearts, of our
countrymen, that once and again in his addresses to the Congresses
with whom he co-operated in the public service he earnestly
recommended the establishment of seminaries of learning, to prepare
for all the emergencies of peace and war—a national university and a
military academy. With respect to the latter, had he lived to the
present day, in turning his eyes to the institution at West Point he
would have enjoyed the gratification of his most earnest wishes; but
in surveying the city which has been honored with his name he would
have seen the spot of earth which he had destined and bequeathed to
the use and benefit of his country as the site for an university still
bare and barren.

In assuming her station among the civilized nations of the earth it
would seem that our country had contracted the engagement to
contribute her share of mind, of labor, and of expense to the
improvement of those parts of knowledge which lie beyond the reach of
individual acquisition, and particularly to geographical and
astronomical science. Looking back to the history only of the half
century since the declaration of our independence, and observing the
generous emulation with which the Governments of France, Great
Britain, and Russia have devoted the genius, the intelligence, the
treasures of their respective nations to the common improvement of the
species in these branches of science, is it not incumbent upon us to
inquire whether we are not bound by obligations of a high and
honorable character to contribute our portion of energy and exertion
to the common stock?...

In inviting the attention of Congress to the subject of internal
improvements upon a view thus enlarged it is not my design to
recommend the equipment of an expedition for circumnavigating the
globe for purposes of scientific research and inquiry. We have objects
of useful investigation nearer home, and to which our cares may be
more beneficially applied. The interior of our own territories has yet
been very imperfectly explored. Our coasts along many degrees of
latitude upon the shores of the Pacific Ocean, though much frequented
by our spirited commercial navigators, have been barely visited by our
public ships....

The establishment of an uniform standard of weights and measures was
one of the specific objects contemplated in the formation of our
Constitution, and to fix that standard was one of the powers delegated
by express terms in that instrument to Congress. The Governments of
Great Britain and France have scarcely ceased to be occupied with
inquiries and speculations on the same subject since the existence of
our Constitution, and with them it has expanded into profound,
laborious, and expensive researches into the figure of the earth and
the comparative length of the pendulum vibrating seconds in various
latitudes from the equator to the pole....

Connected with the establishment of an university, or separate from
it, might be undertaken the erection of an astronomical observatory,
with provision for the support of an astronomer, to be in constant
attendance of observation upon the phenomena of the heavens, and for
the periodical publication of his observations. It is with no feeling
of pride as an American that the remark may be made that on the
comparatively small territorial surface of Europe there are existing
upward of 130 of these light-houses of the skies, while throughout the
whole American hemisphere there is not one. If we reflect a moment
upon the discoveries which in the last four centuries have been made
in the physical constitution of the universe by the means of these
buildings and of observers stationed in them, shall we doubt of their
usefulness to every nation? And while scarcely a year passes over our
heads without bringing some new astronomical discovery to light, which
we must fain receive at second hand from Europe, are we not cutting
ourselves off from the means of returning light for light while we
have neither observatory nor observer upon our half of the globe and
the earth revolves in perpetual darkness to our unsearching eyes?

Transcriber’s Notes

--Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook
is public-domain in the country of publication.

--Silently corrected a few palpable typos, leaving period spellings
unchanged.

--In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by
_underscores_.

--Added subheadings in the text to match entries in the Table of
Contents.

--Added captions to illustrations based on the attributions in front
matter.