History of the United States

We, the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general...

The new President was inaugurated on the 4th of March, 1885. Perhaps the history of the country has furnished no other example of such rapid rise to great distinction. Grover Cl...

The time came when the American colonies began to act together. The final struggle between France and England for colonial supremacy in America was at hand. Necessity compelled...

Early in February, 1864, General Sherman moved from Vicksburg to Meridian. In this vicinity the railroad tracks were torn up for a hundred and fifty miles. At Meridian General S...

The old king Massasoit died in 1662. His son, Alexander, now became chief of the nation, but died within the year; and the chieftainship descended to the younger brother, PHILIP...

Benjamin Harrison, twenty-third President of the United States, was born at North Bend, Ohio, on the 20th of August, 1833. He is a grandson of President William Henry Harrison,...

Before the times of the Red men, North America was inhabited by other races, of whom we know but little. Of these primitive peoples the Indians preserved many traditions. Vague...

Ulysses S. Grant, eighteenth President of the United States, was born at Point Pleasant, Ohio, April 27, 1822. At the age of seventeen he entered the Military Academy at West Po...

The history of Connecticut begins with the year 1630. The first grant of the territory was made by the council of Plymouth to the earl of Warwick; and in March, 1631, the claim...

In November of 1776 Silas Deane, of Connecticut, was appointed commissioner to France. His first service was to make a secret arrangement to supply the Americans with materials...

The Federal forces now numbered about four hundred and fifty thousand men. Of these nearly two hundred thousand, under General McClellan, were encamped near Washington. Another...

The spring of 1621 brought hope to the Pilgrims of New Plymouth. The winter had swept off half the number. The governor himself sickened and died. Now, with the approach of warm...

In the spring of 1814 another invasion of Canada was planned; but there was much delay. Not until the 3d of July did Generals Scott and Ripley, with three thousand men, cross th...

The first settlers at Jamestown were idle and improvident. Only twelve of those who came in 1607 were common laborers. There were four carpenters in the company, six or eight ma...

The American Revolution was an event of vast importance. The question decided by it was whether the English colonies in America should govern themselves, or be ruled by Great Br...

At last came the king's answer to the appeal of Congress. The petition of the colonies was rejected with contempt. By this tyrannical answer the day of independence was brought...

Rutherford B. Hayes, nineteenth President of the United States, was born in Delaware, Ohio, on the 4th of October, 1822. His ancestors were soldiers of the Revolution. His prima...

The year 1517 was marked by the discovery of Yucatan by FERNANDEZ DE CORDOVA. While exploring the northern coast of the country, he was attacked by the natives, and mortally wou...

The war had now grown to enormous proportions. The Confederate States were draining every resource of men and means. The superior energies of the North were greatly taxed. On th...

In January of 1670 the proprietors of Carolina sent out a colony under command of Joseph West and William Sayle. On the first high land upon the southern bank of the Ashley Rive...

The history of New Jersey begins with the founding of Elizabethtown, in 1664. As early as 1618, a trading-station had been established at Bergen; but forty years passed before p...

For the Americans the year 1781 opened gloomily. The condition of the army was desperate--no food, no pay, no clothing. On the first day of January, the whole Pennsylvania line...

On the 5th of May, 1496, Henry VII., king of England, commissioned JOHN CABOT, of Venice, to make discoveries in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and to take possession of all co...

At the beginning of his administration, Mr. Jefferson transferred the chief offices of the government to members of the Democratic party. Such action was justified by the adhere...

President Polk was a native of North Carolina. In boyhood he removed with his father to Tennessee, and in 1839 rose to the position of governor of that State. At the head of his...

On the 1st of January, 1777, Washington's army at Trenton numbered about five thousand men. On the next day Cornwallis approached with greatly superior forces. During the aftern...

A royal government was now established in Virginia consisting of a governor and twelve councilors. The General Assembly of the colony was left undisturbed, and the rights of the...

France was not slow to profit by the discoveries of Columbus. As early as 1504 the fishermen of Normandy and Brittany reached the banks of Newfoundland. A map of the Gulf of St....

In the beginning of 1813 the American army was organized in three divisions: THE ARMY OF THE NORTH, under General Wade Hampton; THE ARMY OF THE CENTER, under General Dearborn; T...

James A. Garfield, twentieth President of the United J States, was born at Orange, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, November 19, 1831. He was left in infancy to the sole care of his mothe...

Captain John Smith was the first white man to explore the Chesapeake. In 1621 William Clayborne, an English surveyor, was sent out by the London Company to make a map of the cou...

The new President had been a member of the Continental Congress, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and Secretary of State under Jefferson. He owed his electio...

The Dutch had surrendered themselves to the English government in the hope of obtaining civil liberty. But it was a poor sort of liberty that any province was likely to receive...

The settlement of New Amsterdam resulted from the voyages of the brave Sir Henry Hudson. For ten years after its founding, the colony was governed by the directors of the Dutch...

As soon as the intentions of General Gage were known, the people of Boston, concealing their ammunition in carts, conveyed it to Concord. On the night of the 18th of April, Gage...

On the 10th of April, 1606, King James I. issued two patents to men of his kingdom, authorizing them to colonize all that portion of North America lying between the thirty-fourt...

On the 30th of April, 1789, Washington was inaugurated first President of the United States. The ceremony was performed in New York City, on the site of the Custom-house, in Wal...

On the day after the assassination of Mr. Lincoln, Andrew Johnson became President of the United States. He was a native of Raleigh, North Carolina--born in 1808. With no advant...

In the year 1612 the London Company obtained from the king a third patent, by which the government was again changed. The Superior Council was abolished, and the stockholders we...

During the year 1780 military operations at the North were suspended. Early in July Admiral De Ternay arrived at Newport with a French squadron, and six thousand land-troops und...

On the 24th of May the Union army crossed the Potomac from Washington to Alexandria. At this time Fortress Monroe was held by twelve thousand men, under General B. F. Butler. At...

During the progress of the Revolution the civil government of the United States was in a deplorable condition. Nothing but the peril of the country had, in the first place, led...

It was reserved for the people of a sunnier clime than Iceland first to make known to the European nations the existence of a Western continent. Spain was the happy country unde...

The new President was a Virginian by birth, a soldier by profession. During the war of 1812 he distinguished himself in the Northwest. In the Seminole War he bore a part, but ea...

The policy of Madison was adopted by his successor. The stormy times of the war gave place to many years of peace. The new President was a native of Virginia, a man of great tal...

The most general cause of the civil war in the United States was _the different construction put upon the Constitution by the people of the North and of the South_. A difference...

The new President was a military hero--a man of great talents and inflexible honesty. His integrity was unassailable; his will like iron. He was one of those men for whom no toi...

President Harrison was a Virginian by birth, the adopted son of Robert Morris. He was graduated at Hampden-Sidney College, and afterwards entered the army of St. Clair. He becam...

James Buchanan was a native of Pennsylvania, born on the 13th of April, 1791. In 1831 he was appointed Minister to Russia, was afterwards senator of the United States, and Secre...

There are several Periods in the history of the United States. It is important for the student to understand these at the beginning. Without such an understanding his notion of...

The western continent was first seen by white men in A. D. 986. A Norse navigator by the name of HERJULFSON, sailing from Iceland to Greenland, was caught in a storm and driven...

Martin Van Buren, eighth President, was born at Kinderhook, New York, on the 5th of December, 1782. After receiving a limited education he became a student of law. In 1821 he wa...

On the 4th of March, 1797, President Adams was inaugurated. From the beginning, his administration was embarrassed by political opposition. Adet, the French minister, urged the...

Abraham Lincoln was a native of Kentucky, born on the 12th of February, 1809. At the age of seven he was taken to southern Indiana, where his boyhood was passed in poverty and t...

The first Dutch settlement in America was made on Manhattan Island. The colony resulted from the voyages of Sir HENRY HUDSON. In the year 1607 this great sailor was employed by...

The new President was a man of the highest attainments in literature and statesmanship. At the age of eleven years he accompanied his father, John Adams, to Europe. At Paris, an...

The new chief magistrate was a native of New Hampshire, a graduate of Bowdoin College, and a statesman of considerable abilities. On account of ill health, Mr. King, the Vice-pr...