14. During Jefferson's second term, the country was much agitated by the aggressions of the British navy. England and France were engaged in war. The British authorities struck blow after blow against the trade between France and foreign nations; and Napoleon retaliated. The plan adopted by the two powers was to blockade each other's ports with men-of-war. By such means the commerce of the United States was greatly injured.

15. In May of 1806 England blockaded the whole coast of France. American vessels, approaching the French ports, were seized as prizes. The following November Bonaparte issued a decree blockading the British isles. Again American merchantmen were subjected to seizure. In January of the next year Great Britain retaliated by prohibiting the French coasting-trade. These measures were all in violation of the law of nations.

16. Great Britain next set up the peculiar claim of citizenship, that whoever is born in England remains through life a subject of England. English cruisers were authorized to search American vessels for persons suspected of being British subjects. Those who were taken were impressed as seamen in the English navy.

17. On the 22d of June, 1807, the frigate Chesapeake was hailed near Fortress Monroe by a British man-of-war called the Leopard. British officers came on board and demanded to search the vessel for deserters. The demand was refused and the ship cleared for action. But before the guns could be charged, the Leopard poured in a destructive fire and compelled a surrender. Four men were taken from the captured ship, three of whom proved to be American citizens. Great Britain disavowed this outrage, and promised reparation; but the promise was never fulfilled.

18. The President issued a proclamation forbidding British ships of war to enter American harbors. On the 21st of December Congress passed the Embargo Act, by which all American vessels were detained in the ports of the United States. The object was to cut off commercial intercourse with France and Great Britain. But after fourteen months the embargo act was repealed. Meanwhile, in November of 1808, the British government published an "order in council," prohibiting all trade with France and her allies. Thereupon Napoleon issued the "Milan decree," forbidding all trade with England and her colonies. By these outrages the commerce of the United States was well-nigh destroyed.

19. While the country was thus distracted, Robert Fulton was building the FIRST STEAMBOAT. Fulton was an Irishman by descent and a Pennsylvanian by birth. His education in boyhood was imperfect, but was afterward improved by study at London and Paris.

20. Returning to New York, he began the construction of a steamboat. When the ungainly craft was completed, Fulton invited his friends to go on board and enjoy a trip to Albany. On the 2d of September, 1807, the crowds gathered on the shore. The word was given, and the boat did not move. Fulton went below. Again the word was given, and the boat moved. On the next day the company reached Albany. For many years this first rude steamer, called the Clermont, plied the Hudson.

21. Jefferson's administration drew to a close. The territorial area of the United States had been vastly extended. But the foreign relations of the nation were troubled. The President declined a third election, and was succeeded by James Madison, of Virginia. For Vice-president, George Clinton was reelected.

CHAPTER XXXII.

3. The affairs of the two nations were fast approaching a crisis. The government of the United States had fallen completely under control of the party which sympathized with France. The American people, smarting under the insults of Great Britain, had adopted the motto of Free Trade and Sailors' Rights, and had made up their minds to fight; the sentiment was that war was preferable to national disgrace.

4. In the spring of 1810 the third census of the United States was completed. The population had increased to seven million two hundred and forty thousand souls. The States now numbered seventeen; and several new Territories were preparing for admission into the Union. The rapid march of civilization westward had aroused the jealousy of the Red men, and Indiana Territory was afflicted with an Indian war.

5. Tecumtha, chief of the Shawnees—a brave and sagacious warrior—and his brother, called the Prophet, were the leaders of the revolt. Their plan was to unite all the nations of the Northwest Territory in a final effort to beat back the whites. When, in September of 1809, Governor Harrison met the chiefs of several tribes at Fort Wayne, and purchased three million acres of land, Tecumtha refused to sign the treaty, and threatened death to those who did. In 1810 he visited the nations of Tennessee and exhorted them to join his confederacy.

6. Governor Harrison stood firm, sent for soldiers, and mustered the militia of the Territory. The Indians began to prowl through the Wabash Valley, murdering and stealing. The governor then advanced to Terre Haute, built Fort Harrison, and hastened toward the town of the Prophet, at the mouth of the Tippecanoe. When within a few miles of this place, Harrison was met by Indian ambassadors, who asked for a conference on the following day. Their request was granted; and the American army encamped for the night. The place selected was a piece of high ground covered with oaks.

7. Before daybreak on the morning of November 7th, 1811, the savages, seven hundred strong, crept through the marshes, surrounded Harrison's position, and burst upon the camp. But the American militia fought in the darkness, held the Indians in check until daylight, and then routed them in several vigorous charges. On the next day, the Americans burned the Prophet's town, and soon afterwards returned to Vincennes. Such was the success of the campaign that the Indians were overawed, the peace of the white settlements secured, and the way made easy for the organization and admission of the State of Indiana into the Union five years afterwards.

8. Meanwhile, Great Britain and the United States had come into conflict on the ocean. On the 16th of May, Commodore Rodgers, commanding the frigate President, hailed a vessel off the coast of Virginia. Instead of a polite answer, he received a cannon-ball in the mainmast. Rodgers responded with a broadside, silencing the enemy's guns. In the morning—for it was already dark—the hostile ship was found to be the British sloop-of-war Little Belt.

9. On the 4th of November, 1811, the twelfth Congress of the United States assembled. Many of the members still hoped for peace; and the winter passed without decisive measures. On the 4th of April, 1812, an act was passed laying an embargo for ninety days on all British vessels within the harbors of the United States. But Great Britain would not recede from her hostile attitude. Before the actual outbreak of hostilities, Louisiana, the eighteenth State, was, on the 8th of April, admitted into the Union. Her population had already reached seventy-seven thousand.

10. On the 19th of June a declaration of war was made against Great Britain. Vigorous preparations for the conflict were made by Congress. It was ordered to raise twenty-five thousand regular troops and fifty thousand volunteers. The several States were requested to call out a hundred thousand militia. A national loan of eleven million dollars was authorized. Henry Dearborn, of Massachusetts, was chosen commander-in-chief of the army.

11. The war was begun by General William Hull, governor of Michigan Territory. On the 1st of June he marched from Dayton with fifteen hundred men. For a full month the army toiled through the forests to the western extremity of Lake Erie. Arriving at the Maumee, Hull sent his baggage to Detroit. But the British at Malden were on the alert, and captured Hull's boat with everything on board. Nevertheless, the Americans pressed on to Detroit, and on the 12th of July crossed the river to Sandwich.

12. Hull, hearing that Mackinaw had been taken by the British, soon returned to Detroit. From this place he sent Major Van Horne to meet Major Brush, who had reached the river Raisin with reinforcements. But Tecumtha laid an ambush for Van Horne's forces and defeated them near Brownstown. Colonel Miller, with another detachment, attacked and routed the savages with great loss, and then returned to Detroit.

13. General Brock, governor of Canada, now took command of the British at Malden. On the 16th of August he advanced to the siege of Detroit. The Americans in their trenches were eager for battle. When the British were within five hundred yards, Hull hoisted a white flag over the fort. Then followed a surrender, the most shameful in the history of the United States. All the forces under Hull's command became prisoners of war. The whole of Michigan Territory was surrendered to the British. Hull was afterward court-martialed and sentenced to be shot; but the President pardoned him.

14. About the time of the fall of Detroit, Fort Dearborn, on the present site of Chicago, was surrendered to an army of Indians. The garrison capitulated on condition of retiring without molestation. But the savages fell upon the retreating soldiers, killed some, and distributed the rest as captives.

15. On the 19th of August the frigate Constitution, commanded by Captain Isaac Hull, overtook the British Guerriere off the coast of Massachusetts. The vessels maneuvered for a while, the Constitution closing with her antagonist, until at half pistol-shot she poured in a broadside, sweeping the decks of the Guerriere and deciding the contest. On the following morning, the Guerriere, being unmanageable, was blown up; and Hull returned to port with his prisoners and spoils.

16. On the 18th of October the American Wasp, under Captain Jones, fell in with a fleet of British merchantmen off the coast of Virginia. The squadron was under protection of the Frolic, commanded by Captain Whinyates. A terrible engagement ensued, lasting for three quarters of an hour. Finally, the American crew boarded the Frolic and struck the British flag. Soon afterwards the Poictiers, a British seventy-four gun ship, bore down upon the scene, captured the Wasp, and retook the wreck of the Frolic.

17. On the 25th of the month Commodore Decatur, commanding the frigate United States, captured the British Macedonian, a short distance west of the Canary Islands. The loss of the enemy in killed and wounded amounted to more than a hundred men. On the 12th of December the Essex, commanded by Captain Porter, captured the Nocton, a British packet, having on board fifty-five thousand dollars in specie. On the 29th of December the Constitution, under command of Commodore Bainbridge, met the Java on the coast of Brazil. A furious battle ensued, continuing for two hours. The Java was reduced to a wreck before the flag was struck. The crew and passengers, numbering upward of four hundred, were transferred to the Constitution, and the hull was burned at sea. The news of these victories roused the enthusiasm of the people.

18. On the 13th of October a thousand men, commanded by General Stephen Van Rensselaer, crossed the Niagara River to capture Queenstown. They were resisted at the water's edge; but the British batteries on the heights were finally carried. The enemy's forces, returning to the charge, were a second time repulsed. The Americans intrenched themselves, and waited for reinforcements. None came; and, after losing a hundred and sixty men, they were then obliged to surrender. General Van Rensselaer resigned his command, and was succeeded by General Alexander Smyth.

19. The Americans now rallied at Black Rock, a few miles north of Buffalo. From this point, on the 28th of November, a company was sent across to the Canada shore, but General Smyth ordered the advance party to return. A few days afterward, another crossing was planned, with the same results. The militia became mutinous. Smyth was charged with cowardice and deposed from his command. In the autumn of 1812 Madison was reelected President; the choice for Vice-president fell on Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

4. Late in July Proctor and Tecumtha, with nearly four thousand men, again besieged Fort Meigs. Failing to draw out the garrison, the British general filed off with half his forces and attacked Fort Stephenson, at Lower Sandusky. This place was defended by a hundred and sixty men under Colonel Croghan, a stripling but twenty-one years of age. On the 2d of August the British advanced to storm the fort. Having crowded into the trench, they were swept away almost to a man. The repulse was complete. Proctor now raised the siege at Fort Meigs and returned to Malden.

5. At this time Lake Erie was commanded by a British squadron of six vessels. The work of recovering these waters was intrusted to Commodore Oliver H. Perry. His antagonist, Commodore Barclay, was a veteran from Europe. With great energy Perry directed the construction of nine ships, and was soon afloat. On the 10th of September the two fleets met near Put-in Bay. The battle was begun by the American squadron, Perry's flag-ship, the Lawrence, leading the attack. His principal antagonist was the Detroit, under command of Barclay. The British guns had the wider range, and were better served. In a short time the Lawrence was ruined, and Barclay's flagship was almost a wreck.

6. Perceiving how the battle stood, Perry seized his banner, got overboard into an open boat, passed within pistol-shot of the enemy's ships, a storm of balls flying around him, and transferred his flag to the Niagara. With this powerful vessel he bore down upon the enemy's line, drove right through the midst, discharging terrible broadsides right and left. In fifteen minutes the British fleet was helpless. Perry returned to the hull of the Lawrence, and there received the surrender. And then he sent to General Harrison this dispatch: "We have met the enemy, and they are ours—two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop."

7. For the Americans the way was now opened to Canada. On the 27th of September Harrison's army was landed near Malden. The British retreated to the river Thames, and there faced about to fight. The battlefield extended from the river to a swamp. Here, on the 5th of October, the British were attacked by Generals Harrison and Shelby. In the beginning of the battle Proctor fled. The British regulars were broken by the Kentuckians under Colonel Richard M. Johnson. The Americans wheeled against the fifteen hundred Indians, who lay hidden in the swamp. Tecumtha had staked all on the issue. For a while his war-whoop sounded above the din of the conflict. Presently his voice was heard no longer, for the great chieftain had fallen. The savages, appalled by the death of their leader, fled in despair. So ended the campaign in the West. All that Hull had lost was regained.

8. Meanwhile, the Creeks of Alabama had taken up arms. In the latter part of August, Fort Mims, forty miles north of Mobile, was surprised by the savages, who murdered nearly four hundred people. The governors of Tennessee, Georgia, and Mississippi made immediate preparation for invading the country of the Creeks. The Tennesseeans, under General Jackson, were first to the rescue. Nine hundred men, led by General Coffee, reached the Indian town of Tallushatchee, burned it, and left not an Indian alive. On the 8th of November a battle was fought at Talladega, and the savages were defeated with severe losses.

9. During the winter, Jackson's troops became mutinous and were going home. But the general set them the example of living on acorns, and threatened with death the first man who stirred from the ranks. And no man stirred. At Horseshoe Bend the Creeks made their final stand. On the 27th of March, the whites under General Jackson stormed the breastworks and drove the Indians into the bend of the river. There, huddled together, a thousand Creek warriors, with the women and children of the tribe, met their doom. The nation was completely conquered.

10. On the 25th of April, 1813, General Dearborn embarked his forces at Sackett's Harbor, and proceeded against Toronto. On the 27th of the month, seventeen hundred men, landing near Toronto, drove the British from the water's edge, stormed a battery, and rushed forward to carry the main defences. At that moment the British magazine blew up with terrific violence. Two hundred men were killed or wounded. General Pike was fatally injured; but the Americans continued the charge and drove the enemy out of the town. Property to the value of a half million dollars was secured to the victors.

11. While this movement was taking place the enemy made a descent on Sackett's Harbor. But General Brown rallied the militia and drove back the assailants. The victorious troops at Toronto reembarked and crossed the lake to the mouth of the Niagara. On the 27th of May the Americans, led by Generals Chandler and Winder, stormed Fort George. The British retreated to Burlington Bay, at the western extremity of the lake.

12. After the battle of the Thames, General Harrison resigned his commission. General Dearborn was succeeded by General Wilkinson. The next campaign embraced the conquest of Montreal. On the 5th of November seven thousand men, embarking twenty miles north of Sackett's Harbor, sailed against Montreal. Parties of British, Canadians, and Indians, gathering on the bank of the river, impeded the expedition. General Brown was landed with a considerable force to drive the enemy into the interior. On the 11th of the month a severe but indecisive battle was fought at a place called Chrysler's Field. The Americans passed down the river to St. Regis, and went into winter quarters at Fort Covington.

13. In the mean time, the British on the Niagara rallied and recaptured Fort George. Before retreating, General McClure, the commandant, burned the town of Newark. The British and Indians crossed the river, took Fort Niagara, and fired the villages of Youngstown, Lewiston, and Manchester. On the 30th of December, Black Rock and Buffalo were burned.

14. Off the coast of Demerara, on the 24th of February, 1813, the sloop-of-war Hornet, commanded by Captain James Lawrence, fell in with the British brig Peacock. A terrible battle of fifteen minutes ensued, and the Peacock struck her colors. While the Americans were transferring the conquered crew, the brig sank. Nine of the British sailors and three of Lawrence's men were drowned.

15. On returning to Boston the command of the Chesapeake was given to Lawrence, and again he put to sea. He was soon challenged by Captain Broke, of the British Shannon, to fight him. Eastward from Cape Ann the two vessels met on the 1st day of June. The battle was obstinate, brief, dreadful. In a short time, every officer of the Chesapeake was either killed or wounded. Lawrence was struck with a musket-ball, and fell dying on the deck. As they bore him down the hatchway, he gave his last order—ever afterwards the motto of the American sailor—"Don't give up the ship!" The Shannon towed her prize into the harbor of Halifax. There the bodies of Lawrence and Ludlow, second in command, were buried by the British.

16. On the 14th of August the American brig Argus was overtaken by the Pelican and obliged to surrender. On the 5th of September the British brig Boxer was captured by the American Enterprise off the coast of Maine. On the 28th of the following March, while the Essex, commanded by Captain Porter, was lying in the harbor of Valparaiso, she was attacked by two British vessels, the Phœbe and the Cherub. Captain Porter fought his antagonists until nearly all of his men were killed or wounded; then struck his colors and surrendered.

17. From honorable warfare the naval officers of England stooped to marauding. Early in the year, Lewiston was bombarded by a British squadron. Other British men-of-war entered the Chesapeake and burned several villages on the shores of the bay. At the town of Hampton the soldiers and marines perpetrated great outrages. Commodore Hardy, to whom the blockade of New England had been assigned, behaved with more humanity. Even the Americans praised him for his honorable conduct. So the year 1813 closed without decisive results.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

2. General Riall retreated to Burlington Heights. On the evening of the 25th of July, General Scott, commanding the American right, found himself confronted by Riall's army, on the high grounds in sight of Niagara Falls. Here was fought the hardest battle of the war. Scott held his own until reinforced by other divisions of the army. The British reserves were brought into action. Twilight faded into darkness. A detachment of Americans, getting upon the British rear, captured General Riall and his staff. The key to the enemy's position was a high ground crowned with a battery. Calling Colonel James Miller to his side, General Brown said, "Colonel, take your regiment and storm that battery." "I'll try, sir," was Miller's answer; and he did take it, and held it against three assaults of the British. General Drummond was wounded, and the royal army, numbering five thousand, was driven from the field with a loss of more than eight hundred. The Americans lost an equal number.

3. After this battle of Niagara, or Lundy's Lane, the American forces fell back to Fort Erie. General Gaines crossed over from Buffalo, and assumed command of the army. General Drummond received reinforcements, and on the 4th of August invested Fort Erie. The siege continued until the 17th of September, when a sortie was made and the works of the British were carried. General Drummond then raised the siege and retreated to Fort George. On the 5th of November Fort Erie was destroyed by the Americans, who recrossed the Niagara and went into winter quarters at Black Rock and Buffalo.

4. The winter of 1813-14 was passed by the army of the North at Fort Covington. At this time, the American fleet on Lake Champlain was commanded by Commodore McDonough. The British general Prevost now advanced into New York at the head of fourteen thousand men, and ordered Commodore Downie to ascend the Sorel with his fleet.

5. The invading army reached Plattsburgh. Commodore McDonough's squadron lay in the bay. On the 6th of September, Macomb retired with his forces to the south bank of the Saranac. For four days the British renewed their efforts to cross the river. Downie's fleet was now ready for action, and a general battle was planned for the 11th. Prevost's army was to carry Macomb's position, while the British flotilla was to bear down on McDonough. The naval battle began first, and was obstinately fought for two hours and a half. Downie and many of his officers were killed; the heavier British vessels were disabled and obliged to strike their colors. The smaller ships escaped. After a severe action, the British army on the shore was also defeated. Prevost retired precipitately to Canada; and the English ministry began to devise measures of peace.

6. Late in the summer Admiral Cochrane arrived off the coast of Virginia with an armament of twenty-one vessels. General Ross, with an army of four thousand veterans, came with the fleet. The American squadron, commanded by Commodore Barney, was unable to oppose so powerful a force. The enemy entered the Chesapeake with the purpose of attacking Washington and Baltimore. The larger division sailed into the Patuxent, and on the 19th of August, the forces of General Ross were landed at Benedict. Commodore Barney was obliged to blow up his vessels and take to the shore. From Benedict the British advanced against Washington. At Bladensburg, six miles from the capital, they were met, on the 24th of the month, by the forces of Barney. Here a battle was fought. The militia behaved badly; Barney was defeated and taken prisoner. The President, the cabinet, and the people betook themselves to flight; and Ross marched unopposed into Washington. All the public buildings except the Patent Office were burned, together with many of the public archives. The unfinished Capitol and the President's house were left a mass of ruins.

7. Five days afterwards a portion of the British fleet reached Alexandria. The inhabitants purchased the forbearance of the enemy by the surrender of twenty-one ships, sixteen thousand barrels of flour, and a thousand hogsheads of tobacco. After the capture of Washington, General Ross proceeded with his army and fleet to lay siege to the city of Baltimore. The militia, to the number of ten thousand, gathered under command of General Samuel Smith. On the 12th of September the British were landed at the mouth of the Patapsco, and the fleet began the ascent of the river. The land-forces were met by the Americans under General Stricker. A skirmish ensued, in which General Ross was killed; but Colonel Brooks assumed command, and the march was continued. Near the city the British came upon the American lines and were brought to a halt.

8. Meanwhile the British squadron had ascended the Patapsco and begun the bombardment of Fort McHenry. From sunrise of the 13th until after midnight, the guns of the fleet poured a tempest of shells upon the fortress.[A] At the end of that time the works were as strong as at the beginning. The British had undertaken more than they could accomplish. Disheartened and baffled, they ceased to fire. The land-forces retired, and the siege of Baltimore was at an end.

9. On the 9th and 10th of August the village of Stonington, Connecticut, was bombarded by Commodore Hardy; but the British, attempting to land, were driven back. The fisheries of New England were broken up. The salt-works at Cape Cod escaped by the payment of heavy ransoms. All the harbors from Maine to Delaware were blockaded. The foreign commerce of the Eastern States was totally destroyed.

10. From the beginning, many of the people of New England had opposed the war. The members of the Federal party cried out against it. The legislature of Massachusetts advised the calling of a convention. The other Eastern States responded to the call; and on the 14th of December the delegates assembled at Hartford. The leaders of the Democratic party did not hesitate to say that the purposes of the assembly were disloyal and treasonable. After remaining in session, with closed doors, for nearly three weeks, the delegates published an address, and then adjourned. The political prospects of those who participated in the convention were ruined.

11. During the progress of the war the Spanish authorities of Florida sympathized with the British. In August of 1814 a British fleet was allowed by the commandant of Pensacola to use that post for the purpose of fitting out an expedition against Fort Bowyer, on the bay of Mobile. General Jackson, who commanded in the South, remonstrated with the Spaniards, but received no satisfaction. He thereupon marched a force against Pensacola, stormed the town, and drove the British out of Florida.

12. General Jackson next learned that the British were making preparations for the conquest of Louisiana. Repairing to New Orleans, he declared martial law, mustered the militia, and adopted measures for repelling the invasion. The British army, numbering twelve thousand, came from Jamaica, under Sir Edward Pakenham. On the 10th of December the squadron entered Lake Borgne, sixty miles northeast of New Orleans.

13. On the 22d of the month Pakenham's advance reached the Mississippi, nine miles below the city. On the night of the 23d Generals Jackson and Coffee advanced with two thousand Tennessee riflemen to attack the British camp. After a bloody assault, Jackson was obliged to fall back to a strong position on the canal, four miles below the city. Pakenham advanced, and on the 28th cannonaded the American position. On New Year's day the attack was renewed, and the enemy was driven back. Pakenham now made arrangements for a general battle.

14. Jackson was ready. Earthworks had been constructed, and a long line of cotton-bales and sand-bags thrown up for protection. On the 8th of January the British moved forward. The battle began with the light of morning, and was ended before nine o'clock. Column after column of the British was smitten with irretrievable ruin. Jackson's men were almost entirely secure from the enemy's fire, while every discharge of the Tennessee and Kentucky rifles told with awful effect on the exposed veterans of England. Pakenham was killed; General Gibbs was mortally wounded. Only General Lambert was left to call the fragments of the army from the field. Of the British, seven hundred were killed, fourteen hundred wounded, and five hundred taken prisoners. The American loss amounted to eight killed and thirteen wounded.

15. General Lambert retired with his ruined army. Jackson marched into New Orleans and was received with great enthusiasm. Such was the close of the war on land. On the 20th of February the American Constitution, off Cape St. Vincent, captured two British vessels, the Cyane and the Levant. On the 23d of March the American Hornet ended the conflict, by capturing the British Penguin off the coast of Brazil.

16. Already a treaty of peace had been made. In the summer of 1814, American commissioners were sent to Ghent, in Belgium, and were there met by the ambassadors of Great Britain. The agents of the United States were John Quincy Adams, James A. Bayard, Henry Clay, Jonathan Russell, and Albert Gallatin. On the 24th of December a treaty was agreed to and signed. In both countries the news was received with deep satisfaction. On the 18th of February the treaty was ratified by the Senate, and peace was publicly proclaimed.

17. The only significance of the treaty was that Great Britain and the United States agreed to be at peace. Not one of the issues, to decide which the war had been undertaken, was even mentioned. Of the impressment of American seamen not a word was said. The wrongs done to the commerce of the United States were not referred to. Of "free trade and sailors' rights," the battle-cry of the American navy, no mention was made. The treaty was chiefly devoted to the settlement of unimportant boundaries and the possession of some small islands in the Bay of Passamaquoddy.

18. The country was now burdened with a war-debt of one hundred million dollars. The monetary affairs of the nation were in a deplorable condition. The charter of the Bank of the United States expired in 1811, and the other banks had been obliged to suspend specie payment. Trade was paralyzed for the want of money. In 1816 a bill was passed by Congress to recharter the Bank of the United States. The President interposed his veto; but in the following session the bill was again passed in an amended form. On the 4th of March, 1817, the bank went into operation; and the business and credit of the country began to revive.

19. During the war with Great Britain the Algerine pirates renewed their depredations on American commerce. The government of the United States now ordered Commodore Decatur to proceed to the Mediterranean and chastise the sea-robbers into submission. After capturing two of their frigates he sailed into the Bay of Algiers, and obliged the frightened dey to make a treaty. The Moorish emperor released his American prisoners, relinquished all claims to tribute, and gave a pledge that his ships should trouble American merchantmen no more. Decatur next sailed against Tunis and Tripoli, compelled these states to give pledges of good conduct, and to pay large sums for former depredations.

20. The close of Madison's administration was signalized by the admission of Indiana into the Union. The new commonwealth was admitted in December, 1816. About the same time was founded the Colonization Society of the United States. Many distinguished Americans became members of the association, the object of which was to provide a refuge for free persons of color. Liberia, in western Africa, was selected as the seat of the proposed colony. Immigrants arrived in sufficient numbers to found a flourishing negro State. The capital was named Monrovia, in honor of James Monroe, who, in the fall of 1816, was elected as Madison's successor. Daniel D. Tompkins, of New York, was chosen Vice-president.

CHAPTER XXXV.

2. In December of 1817 Mississippi was organized and admitted into the Union. The new State came with a population of sixty-five thousand souls. At the same time the attention of the government was called to a nest of pirates on Amelia Island, off the coast of Florida. An armament was sent against them, and the lawless establishment was broken up. Another company, on the island of Galveston, was also suppressed.

3. The question of internal improvements now began to be agitated. Without railroads and canals the products of the interior could never reach a market. Whether Congress had a right to vote money to make public improvements was a question of debate. Among the States, New York took the lead in improvements by constructing a canal from Buffalo to Albany. The cost of the work was nearly eight million dollars.

4. In 1817 the Seminole Indians of Georgia and Alabama became hostile. Some negroes and Creeks joined the savages in their depredations. General Jackson was ordered to reduce the Indians to submission. He mustered a thousand riflemen from Tennessee, and in the spring of 1818 completely overran the hostile country.