History of the United States, Volume 4

Our glance at the Treaty of Washington introduces us to an international complication which has been transmitted from the very birthday of the nation, and is, alas, still unsett...

The enormous strides with which we paid off our war debt amazed the world. The debt had reached its highest point in August, 1865. At that date the figure was $2,844,649,626, or...

The year 1871 was marked by the conclusion of an important treaty between England and the United States. Besides settling certain questions which threatened the friendly relatio...

The presidential election of 1868 was decided at Appomattox. General Grant was borne to the White House on a floodtide of popularity, carrying twenty-six out of the thirty-four...

It is a long way that we have taken the reader, from the days of Columbus to where we can espy the dawn of the twentieth century. Yet, in comparison with the times which our nar...

Contrast of New Things with Old.—Postal Arrangements.—Art.—Extension of Suffrage.—Woman's Rights.—Higher Education for Women.—Socialism and State Socialism.—Widened Scope of Gov...

We have seen that the fall of Donelson had driven the Confederates out of Kentucky. In the following September, 1862, Bragg invaded the State from Tennessee with 40,000 men. Bue...

A civil war of vast proportions in the world's greatest republic naturally aroused deep interest among the monarchies of Europe. Russia evinced warm friendliness to the United S...

Gettysburg was the last general engagement in the East during 1863. The next spring, as we have noticed, Grant was appointed Lieutenant-General, with command of all the northern...

We can give but little idea of the advance in industrial artifice and appliances of all kinds made in the United States in the two decades after the Civil War. Take it first in...

It was fitting that the one hundredth anniversary of a great industrial nation should be celebrated by a World's Fair. Such a plan was first publicly proposed for the United Sta...

The Army of the Potomac lay inactive all through the winter of 1861-62. The country cried "Forward," but it was March before McClellan was ready to stir. Then he sailed down Che...

Aside from West Virginia, made during the war from the loyal part of Virginia, the new States created between 1860 and 1900 were Kansas, 1861; Nevada, 1864; Nebraska, 1867; Colo...

The North conducted the war upon three great lines of campaign: 1. The Western campaigns, to clear the Mississippi River and thus divide the Confederacy. 2. The campaigns in the...

Though arms were grounded, there remained the new task, longer and more perplexing, if not more difficult, than the first, of restoring the South to its normal position in the U...

It cannot be denied that the radical method of reconstruction resorted to by Congress occasioned dreadful evils. Among other things it ignored the natural prejudices of the whit...

Grant's First Election.—His Work During Reconstruction.—Its Difficulty.—Bayonet Rule in the South.—The Force Act.—Danger to State Independence.—"Liberal Republican" Movement.—Th...

Naval operations during the war fall into three great classes: Those upon inland waters, the Mississippi especially; those along the coast; and those upon the high seas. The fir...

Bragg Invades Kentucky.—Buell Saves Louisville.—Battle of Perryville.—Of Stone River.—Losses.—Chickamauga.—Thomas the "Rock of Chickamauga."—Grant to the Front.—Bragg's Movement...

McClellan to Fortress Monroe.—Yorktown.—Williamsburg.—Fair Oaks.—Lee in Command.—McDowell Retained at Fredericksburg.—Lee Assumes the Offensive.—Gaines's Mill.—The Seven Days' R...

Views of the War Abroad.—England's Hostility.—Causes.—The Trent Affair.—Seward's Reasoning.—Great Britain's Breach of Neutrality.—Louis Napoleon's Hypocrisy.—Invasion of Mexico....

Grant Comes East.—Battle of the Wilderness.—Flanking.—Spottsylvania.—The "Bloody Angle."—Butler "Bottled Up" at Bermuda.—Grant at the North Anna.—At Cold Harbor.—Change of Base...

Classification of Naval Deeds.—Our Navy when the War Began.—Enlargement.—Blockading.—Difficulty and Success.—Alternate Tediousness and Excitement.—Blockade-running Tactics.—Expe...

Fishery Clause of the Treaty of 1783.—Value of the Rights it Conveyed.—Effect of War of 1812.—Convention of 1818.—Its Fateful Provisions.—Troubles in Consequence.—The Reciprocit...

Three Great Lines of Campaign.—Confederate Posts in Kentucky.—Surrender of Fort Henry.—Siege of Fort Donelson.—Capture.—Kentucky Cleared of Armed Confederates.—Pope Captures Isl...

A Shining Instance of Peaceful International Methods.—Earlier Negotiations.—"ALABAMA CLAIMS" Insisted on.—A Joint Commission.—Its Personnel.—A Treaty Drafted and Ratified.—Its P...

Delicacy of the Task.—Reasons.—The Main Constitutional Question.—Different Views.—The Other Questions.—Answer.—Periods of Reconstruction.—During War.—President Lincoln.—Johnson....

Origin of the Plan.—Organization.—Financial Basis.—Conclusion to Make it a World Affair.—To be at Philadelphia.—Building.—Opening Exercises.—The Main Building.—Arrangement and C...

Reduction of National Debt.—Refunding.—Surplus.—Tariff.—Its History since the War.—Policy of the Political Parties.—Tariffs of 1890 and 1894.—Trusts.—The Dollar of the Fathers.—...

Progress in Cotton Manufacturing.—In Woollen, Iron, and Other.—In Travel.—New Submarine Cables.—First Pacific Railway.—Others.—Consolidation of Railways.—Electric Lighting.—Broo...

New States and Territories.—Alaska.—Its Resources.—Both Sides of the Rockies Filling Up.—Pacific Railways.—Colorado.—California.—Great American Desert.—Tabular View of the West'...