1784

 

__________

 

“You have submitted to him as your head and superior.”

 

Elias Boudinot, advice to a niece on marriage.

__________

Control of this area is yet to be determined.

 

 

IN 1784 the U.S. Navy included one ship, the Alliance. Congress sold the vessel in 1785. (2/212) 

Cost-cutting was the name of the game.

 

* 

JOHN C. MILLER notes that in this era, “Thomas Jefferson operated on his plantation at Monticello a small nail factory in which the ‘hands’ were Negro slave children, and George Washington used slave girls to manufacture woolen, cotton and linen cloth.” (300/147)

 

* 

THE BARBARY PIRATES are a problem, according to the historian Benjamin Andrews. They had begun to “annoy our commerce” soon after we became an independent nation. 

The Betsy was captured in 1784, next year the Maria, of Boston, and the Dauphin, of Philadelphia, and their crews of twenty-one men carried to a long and disgraceful captivity in Algiers. 

The Dey’s bill for these captives, held by him as slaves, was:

 

3 Captains at $6,000………………….$18,000

2 Mates at $4,000……………………....8,000

2 Passengers at $4,000…………………..8,000

       14 Seamen at $1,400…  …..……....……..19,600

                                                                                                                      _________

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             $53,600

 

For custom, eleven per cent……………..5,896

                                                                                                                                         _________

           

                                                                            $59,496

 

Later, as Andrews puts it, a single cruise lost us ten vessels to “these half-civilized peoples.” (2/328-329)

 

*

 

ELIAS BOUDINOT offers his niece the following advice in a letter:

 

Your duty to man, depends in the performance of it, on the fulfillment of your duty to God. Your domestic connections will call for your particular attention. Here you must not forget that your husband should be the first object of it. By your union, you have submitted to him as your head and superior. I know that it is a favorable observation with many, that husband and wife are equal and there should be no superiority. This is not true, but a dangerous error, from whence many disagreeable consequences flow. 

 

It is true, neither in theory or practice. In point of merit, perhaps it may be strictly true, but in point of order, God has thought proper to make it otherwise, and that for the punishment of sin…

 

*

 

CALEB BINGHAM comes to Boston, and opens a school for girls., advertising that they will be taught writing, arithmetic, reading, spelling, and English grammar. He wrote the famous Young Lady’s Accidence, for his pupils, and explained to parents that “newspapers were to be introduced in the school at the discretion of the master.” (226/97)

 

* 

WITH the British slow to give up old posts in the Northwest, in 1784, James Monroe put forth a proposal to bolster the U.S. Army. 

    Monroe did everything he could to promote the adoption of a measure calling for a force of 450 men enlisted for three years, which David Howell of Rhode Island had introduced. This modest scheme was so alarming that only three states approved and even the Virginia delegation was inimical. (24/44)

 

    When Monroe heard he might face danger from the Indians if he went to Oswego, he remarked that he would escape by either “a little fighting or a great deal of running.” (24/46) 

    At the opening of Congress, for the 1784-1785 session, “three weeks elapsed before a quorum was present; not a delegate appeared from New England during the first two weeks of the session. Understandably an atmosphere of melancholy settled over Congress.” (24/48) 

    When Monroe visited the Northwest, he learned that the settlers believed “the eastern states were not just indifferent but were in fact actively hostile” to their interests. Monroe deemed “a great part of the territory…miserably poor, especially that near Lakes Michigan & Erie & upon the Mississippi & the Illinois [which] consists of extensive plains which have not had from appearances & will not have a single bush on them for ages[.]” (24/53) 

    Rufus King remarked to Elbridge Gerry, that every immigrant to the West was a resident lost forever to the East.

 

Iroquois war club.

Letchworth State Park, New York.
Land long controlled by the Iroquois.
Pictures from blogger's collection, unless noted otherwise.

1786

 

A disagreement between a supporter of Shay and an opponent.

    There was discussion in 1786, with the French minister, about agreement to close the Mississippi to American trade for thirty years, in return for trade concessions elsewhere. The Northern states generally favored the idea, Southern states opposing. “As tension mounted some New England delegates began to discuss forming a northern confederation. Vague rumors of these conferences disturbed Monroe, who would have been truly alarmed had he known that a few had even talked of creating a monarchy.” (24/56) 

    Ammon describes Monroe’s wife, Elizabeth Kortright, as “a remarkably beautiful woman,” “a devoted wife and doting mother.” 

    As for Monroe, lacking an estate, he turned to law – although the work did not greatly interest him.  Ammon notes, without comment, that when Monroe’s brother Andrew faced bankruptcy, James “had to sell several slaves to meet his brother’s needs.” Meanwhile, he adds that Mr. and Mrs. Monroe had to wait anxiously for new furniture to be shipped from New York. (24/61, 62, 65) 

* 

Shay’s Rebellion: “The farmers swore that the incidence of taxes upon them was excessive, and upon the merchants too light.” “At this period men were imprisoned for debt, and all prisons were frightful holes.” (2/175) 

After several minor engagements, in which the insurgents were worsted, the decisive action took place at Petersham, where, in February, 1787, the rebels were surprised by [General] Lincoln. A large number were captured, many more fled to their homes, and the rest withdrew into neighboring States. (2/176-177)

1794

 

__________ 

“Experience the kindness and friendship of the United States of America and the invaluable blessings of peace and tranquility.” 

“Mad Anthony” Wayne to the Native Americans

__________  

The British remained antagonistic to the young United States,
sometimes paying Native Americans for scalps.

 

June 30: The Ohio History Connection adds detail to the story of the clash of Native Americans vs. settlers to control the lands that would become the seventeenth state in the Union. 

A combined force of 1,500 Shawnee, Delaware, Ottawa, Miami, and Ojibwa attacked a pack train returning from Fort Recovery [built the previous December] to Fort Greene Ville. Little Turtle, Blue Jacket, and Simon Girty led the assault. The attack was made less than one thousand feet from Fort Recovery. Of the 140 American soldiers escorting the wagons, the American Indian forces killed or wounded fifteen. They also seized three hundred horses. American Indian casualties amounted to three dead warriors. Soon after this attack, the American Indians, emboldened by their earlier success, launched a night attack against Fort Recovery. The 250 American soldiers succeeded in defending the fort but lost twenty-two men. The American Indians suffered forty dead and twenty wounded.

 

* 

August 20: The following comes from The Great Republic by Morris. After the defeats of Harmar in 1790, and St. Clair, in 1791:

 

Wayne’s Victory over the Indians 

Washington determined that no more blunders should be made, and appointed Anthony Wayne to command of the next expedition. He raised a large force, moved cautiously, and took every precaution against surprise, as Washington had told him to do. He had 4,000 men under his command, and the consummate woodcraft and tricks of the red men failed to deceive him. At the Fallen Timbers, near the present city of Toledo, he met a large force, August 20, 1794, of Canadians and Indians, completely routed them, killed a great many, with slight loss to himself, and so crushed the confederation of tribes that they gave no more trouble for a long time.

 

Mrs. Hendricks picks up the same story: 

General Wayne continued his march into the heart of Indian country, but before attempting to capture the point where the Miami villages were located, he thought best to offer the tribes a last opportunity to enter into a treaty of peace. In a report to the secretary of war General Wayne, after stating that he had given the Indians such opportunity, said: “But, should war be their choice, their blood be upon their own heads. America shall no longer be insulted with impunity. To an all-powerful God I therefore commit myself and gallant army.” In the address he sent to the tribes General Wayne kindly entreated them to lay down their arms and “experience the kindness and friendship of the United States of America and the invaluable blessings of peace and tranquility.”

 

In a council of the confederate tribes, Little Turtle made every effort to induce them to accept General Wayne’s offers of peace, but some of the chiefs accusing him of cowardice he said no more, but sorrowfully led his warriors forth to battle. On August 20th, 1794, on the Bank of the Maumee, near Presque Isle, about two miles south of the site of Maumee City, the two armies met. The engagement was quick and decisive, General Wayne gaining complete victory over the savages, who fled in every direction. Not only were the armies of the two races led by notable warriors in this engagement – Wayne and Little Turtle – but they were assisted by those who, in after years, became conspicuous figures in the history of the northwest. William Henry Harrison, at that time a lieutenant, was General Wayne’s aide-de-camp and Tecumseh, the famous Shawnee chief, fought bravely in Little Turtle’s band. (91/82)

 

Benjamin Andrews gives a similar description: “Wayne advanced with great skill and pursued the Indians to the Maumee Rapids. Nearby, an English fort, against the treaty, stood fifty miles inside U.S. territory.” After failing to work out a peace agreement, Wayne “attacked, routed the enemy, and mercilessly ravaged the country, burning crops and villages.” (2/277) 

NOTE TO TEACHERS: It might work to have students write a headline and a short article for a newspaper run by Native Americans, describing the defeat of the confederated times.

 

* 

“Those who mean well and have served the cause of liberty.” 

August 15: James Monroe is made ambassador to France. Ammon calls him an “ardent francophile.”  

As further proof that America was not an unfeeling spectator of France’s valiant struggle, he submitted the resolutions of both Houses of Congress and Randolph’s letter, adding on his own authority that the President had requested him to inform France that Washington also shared these sentiments. If he could promote harmony between the two nations, Monroe would deem it “the happiest event of my life, and return hereafter with the consolation, which those who mean well and have served the cause of liberty [,] alone can feel.” These were no empty phrases. Not until he read this address did Washington begin to comprehend the gulf which separated the administration from the republican opposition.

 

 

In London, John Jay was appalled, protesting, in Ammon’s words, “that these ill-considered remarks had jeopardized his negotiations. He was especially aggrieved that Monroe had not considered the effect his remarks would have on public opinion in England.”  The Secretary of State advised Monroe to be careful not to let his private views color public statements – but said he “still had the power to cultivate the French republic with zeal.” Monroe felt that the United States “would best serve its own interests by taking advantage of the deep involvement of the European powers in the war to seize the posts [disputed forts on U.S. soil] and to open the Mississippi by force; neither Spain nor England was in a position to retaliate.” 

“A few months later he suggested to Madison that the United States should seize the posts, invade Canada and occupy the Bermudas as a means of forcing Britain to acknowledge American claims: “…this would be acting like a nation and we should then be respected as such here and in England.” (24/121, 128) 

Federalists were appalled when Monroe also met with Irish revolutionaries, and scandalized by his friendship with Thomas Paine. Paine had a disastrous drinking problem later, one friend saying, “he drank like a fish.” 

Ammon writes, “Accepting the premise that the survival of freedom in America was dependent upon the advancement of republicanism in Europe, Monroe saw no impropriety in these friendships.” (24/135, 136) 

As for Eliza, Mr. and Mrs. Monroe’s eight-year-old, her experience attending French schools served to turn her into a snob, so much so that she was “highly unpopular with her contemporaries.” (24/139) 

As for Jay, Monroe suspected “principles and crooked policy…[were] disguised under the appearance of great sanctity and decorum. He considered Jay’s Treaty a personal “mortification.” (24/141, 145) 

He was also highly critical of the president: 

Most of the monarchs of the earth practice ingratitude in their transactions with other powers ... but Mr. Washington has the merit of transcending, not the great men of the antient [sic] republicks, but the little monarchs of the present day in preaching it as a public virtue. God only knows, but such a collection of vain, superficial blunderers, to say no worse of them, were never ... before placed at the head of any respectable state. (24/155)

1797

 

__________ 

“Our government and people branded as cowards.” 

James Monroe

__________ 

 

A FRENCH TRAVELER in Philadelphia notes that among the ladies of that city, “beauty is general.” 

    Had he been interested he could, at that juncture, have visited Charles Wilson Peale’s museum. A popular exhibit was the skeleton of a mastodon. Even so learned a man as Thomas Jefferson would, a few years later, tell Lewis and Clark to be on the lookout for mastodons, still possibly living in the West.

Peale's museum. Picture not in blogger's possession.

 

* 

March 5: The meeting of the Fifth Congress opens. Harrison Gray Otis, a member from Massachusetts, will soon declare that he does “not wish to invite hordes of wild Irishmen, nor the turbulent and disorderly of all parts of the world” who might “come here with a view to disturb our tranquillity [sic].” 

    After leaving office, according to Bacheller and Kates, writing in 1932, Washington finds he has much work to do at home. 

    He found his mansion and his farms down-at-the-heel after his eight years as the nation’s Chief Executive, but an army of joiners, painters and gardeners soon put things to rights. So, at sixty-five, and world famous, he settled down with Martha and his grandchildren to the life of a Virginia farmer. He rose with the sun, breakfasted at seven, and then rode forth over his farms to whose management he gave nearly all of his waking hours. (109/157)

 

    Once again, there is no mention of slaves or slavery, in this second-to-last chapter in a book for adolescent readers. 

* 

Summer: When the story of Alexander Hamilton’s affair with Maria Reynolds, wife of James Reynolds, broke, Hamilton accused James Monroe of having a hand in revealing it. An eyewitness described the scene when Hamilton visited Monroe at his lodgings. Monroe had just returned from France, having been recalled by the new Federalist administration. “Colo. Monroe rising first and saying do you say I represented falsely, you are a scoundrel. Colo. H. said I will meet you like a gentleman. Colo. M. said I am ready get your pistols, both said we shall for it will not be settled in any other way.” 

    Fortunately, calmer heads prevailed, and a duel was prevented by the intervention of others. (24/159)

Maria Reynolds. Picture not in blogger's possession.

 

* 

November: James Monroe expresses his displeasure with the way foreign nations are treating the young Republic, and the Federalist leaders’ failure to take action. 

Our national honor is in the dust; we have been kicked, cuffed, and plundered all over the ocean; our reputation for faith scouted; our government and people branded as cowards, incapable of being provoked to resist. … Long will it be before we shall be able to forget what we are, nor will centuries suffice to raise us to the high ground from which we have fallen. (24/166)

     Says Harry Ammon: “Monroe was quite sincere in his belief that the Federalists were seeking an alliance with England not just in the interests of trade but, like the aristocrats of Europe, in the hopes of checking the onrushing tide of republicanism.” 

    On Washington’s part, he believed that Monroe’s subservience to France had led him to sacrifice U.S. interests. (24/166, 168) 

    Ammon also explains: “It was Jefferson’s firm opinion that it was of ‘immense consequence, that the states retain as complete authority as possible over their own citizens’ to combat the tendency of the central government to seize powers not specifically excluded from its sphere.” (24/170)

1799

 

Year 1799

__________

 

“A people well informed on the subject of their rights, their interests, and their duties would never fall into the excesses which proved the ruin of the ancient republicks.”

 

Governor James Monroe, on support for public education

__________

Constellation vs. La Vengeance. 

 

 

THE FOLLOWING SELECTION is from Charles Coffin.

 

The war with France on the ocean went on. In 1799 Commander Truxtun, in the Constellation, fell in with the French frigate L’Insurgente. The Constellation carried 38 guns and 309 men, L’Insurgente 40 guns and 409 men. The fight lasted more than an hour. The French ship lost 70 men, and was obliged to surrender.

 

Captain Truxtun had a second battle in the night, with a ship larger than the Constellation – La Vengeance, which carried 54 guns. Twice the captain of La Vengeance struck his colors, but Commander Truxtun did not know it, and the French ship crept away in the darkness. (72/116-117)

 

* 

December 14: George Washington dies at Mount Vernon. Lord Byron later calls him, “The first, the last, the best, the Cincinnatus of the West.” 

Tobias Lear, his secretary, wrote of Washington’s last night and final hours. He woke up early on a Saturday, at between 2 and 3 a.m. At ten he struggled to sit up and Lear bent close to hear what he wanted. “I am just going,” he whispered. “Tis well.” 

Harry Lee, at Washington’s memorial service, coined the phrase, “First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen.” (109/159)

 

* 

IN WASHINGTON D.C., “There was only one hotel, and the President’s house was only partly finished. Mrs. Adams, during the winter of 1799, used to hang her laundry in the great unfinished east room.”

 

* 

AS GOVERNOR of Virginia, a post with little power, James Monroe called for a state-supported system of education: “A people well informed on the subject of their rights, their interests, and their duties would never fall into the excesses which proved the ruin of the ancient republicks.” (24/177)

1816

 

THE FEDERALIST PARTY was “shattered” in 1816, as Harry Ammon writes, and offered only token opposition during the presidential election. The Electoral College vote: 183 for James Monroe, 34 for Rufus King. 

In those days, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia were the most populous states, with 29, 25, and 25 electoral votes, respectively.

What was to come.