A Brief History of the United States

67. Describe old Peter's reluctance to surrender to the English. Why was the colony named New York? Were the people pleased with the English rule? Was the English occupation per...

[Footnote: Captain John Smith was born to adventure. While yet a boy he leaves his home in Lincolnshire, England, to engage in Holland wars. After a four-years service he builds...

CLAUSE 3. Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of adjournment) shall be pr...

BATTLE OF BRANDYWINE (Sept. ll).--The Americans took position at Chad's Ford, on the Brandywine. Here they were attacked in front while Cornwallis stole around in the rear, as C...

[Footnote: Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy, 1435. He was trained for the sea from his childhood. Being the eldest of four children, and his father a poor wool-comb...

CAMPAIGN AT THE NORTH.--Clinton did little except to send out predatory parties. Norwalk, Fairfield, and New Haven, Conn., were either burned or plundered. Tryon, who commanded...

We hold these truths to be self-evident--that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liber...

_Effects of the Battle_.--The news that American blood had been spilled flew like wild-fire. Patriots came pouring in from all sides. Putnam left his cattle yoked in the field,...

[Footnote: One objection which Rosecrans opposed to a forward movement was his inferiority in cavalry. This was removed in July, when General John H. Morgan, with about four tho...

[Footnote: "We meet," said Penn, "on the broad pathway of good faith and good will; no advantage shall be taken on either side, but all shall be openness and love. The friendshi...

[Footnote: This was not a sudden movement on their part. The sectional difference between the North and the South had its source in the difference of climate, which greatly modi...

Horace Greeley was pure, simple and conscientious in character He had a peculiar disregard for dress and neglected many of the courtesies of society, but he was a true gentleman...

[Footnote: John C. Calhoun and Robert Y. Hayne were the prominent advocates of the doctrine of "State rights," which declared that a State could set aside an act of Congress. Du...

The colonists fortified their houses with palisades, carried their arms with them into the fields when at work, and stacked them at the door when at church. The Narraganset Indi...

GENERAL REVIEW OF THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR.--The Confederates had captured the large arsenals at Harper's Ferry and Norfolk. They had been successful in the two great battles o...

Here they were attacked by Santa Anna with twenty thousand of the best troops of Mexico. The battle lasted from early morning till dark. In the final desperate encounter, our in...

[Footnote: Andrew Johnson was born in Raleigh, N. C., December 29, 1808. When only ten years of age, he was bound apprentice to a tailor of that city. Never having been at schoo...

1. Fort du Quesne was the key to the region west of the Alleghanies, and as long as the French held it, Virginia and Pennsylvania were exposed to Indian attacks.

_Battle of Nashville_ (December 15, 16)--Hood crossed the Tennessee, and after severe fighting, driving Schofield's army before him, shut up General Thomas within the fortificat...

3. _The Southern Colonists_ differed widely from the northern in habits and style of living. In place of thickly-settled towns and villages, they had large plantations, and were...

_The Effect_ of this contest can hardly be overestimated. Had the Merrimac triumphed, aided by other iron vessels then preparing by the Confederacy, she might have destroyed the...

Perry's flag-ship, the Lawrence, engaged two of the heaviest vessels of the enemy, and fought them till but eight of his men were left. He helped these to fire the last gun, and...

The experience of all teachers testifies to the lamentable deficiency in historical knowledge among their pupils; not that children dislike the incidents and events of history,...

[Footnote: John Randolph of Roanoke was not prominent in the republican party until a later administration, being elected representative in 1799. He was a descendant of Pocahont...

CHAMPLAIN (sham-plane), at the beginning of the seventeenth century, crossed the Atlantic in two pigmy barks--one of twelve, the other of fifteen tons--and ascended the St. Lawr...

_The Effect_.--Both parties felt that this surrender virtually ended the war. Joy pervaded every patriot heart. All the hardships of the past were forgotten in the thought that...

228. What line was now held by the Union army? Where were the Confederates located? What movements did they make to break through the Union lines? Describe Bragg's expedition. W...

THE SANITARY AND CHRISTIAN COMMISSIONS were "splendid examples of organized mercy," furnished by the people of the North. They devised and provided every possible comfort for th...

1789. Washington inaugurated, April 30 1791. Vermont admitted to the Union, March 4 1792. Kentucky admitted to the Union, June 1 Discovery of Columbia River by Captain Gray, May...

[Footnote: State the two ways in which amendments to the Constitution may be proposed. The two ways in which they may be ratified. What restriction in this article has now lost...