History4U

The Creeks and their allies, the Seminoles, murdered some white settlers, so Monroe sent troops southward to bring them to order. The leader of this force, General Jackson, was such a hard fighter that he soon drove the Indians back into Florida. There, finding the Spaniards had helped them, he burned a few small towns, and killed two English traders, who had also helped the Indians.

The leader of the Hawaiian Islands was Kalakaua, who ruled as he pleased. When he died his sister, Liliuokalani became Queen of the Hawaiian Islands (1891). Instead of favoring the Americans and missionaries, as every one expected, Liliuokalani soon showed that she too wanted to change the laws so as to rule just as she pleased. Like her brother, she spent much money, listened to the proposals of the Louisiana Lottery Company and of the opium dealers, and tried to change the laws so they could carry on their business in the Hawaiian Islands.

Our greatest trouble during Jefferson's rule was brought about by the war between France and Great Britain. The British did not want the French to have any food from abroad, and, hoping to starve them, said that no vessels should be allowed to enter French ports. The French, to take their revenge, then promptly decreed that no vessels should enter British ports To make sure these orders should be obeyed, French ships stopped all American vessels to ask where they were going. The British did the same, and, moreover, seized any men on board who were born in England, for they said: “Once an Englishman, always an Englishman.”

Several other naval battles took place during the War of 1812. One of the most famous of these was a duel between Captain James Lawrence's ship, the Chesapeake, and the British frigate Shannon. The Chesapeake had just come back from the Cape Verde Islands, and had, lost a mast in a storm. The crew, numbering many foreign sailors, was therefore sure the ship was “unlucky;” but when the British captain sent Lawrence a challenge to come out and fight, he sailed out of Boston harbor without delay.

One day, in 1793, some planters remarked in Mrs. Greene's presence that if a machine could only be invented which would separate cotton from its seeds, the Georgians would soon be rich. The lady promptly answered that if the machine could be made, she was sure Mr. Whitney was the man to do it, for he was very clever. Encouraged by her praise, Whitney now sent for cotton in bolls, and, locking himself up in an old outhouse, worked patiently until he made the first “cotton gin” or “cotton engine.”

It was during President Madison's first term that war broke out. Ever since the beginning of the Revolutionary War, the British had secretly excited the Indians against the Americans. This was easy to do, because the Indians were already angry at the rapid advance of the settlers. In 1800, so many Americans had gone to live in the Northwest Territory that it was cut in two. Three years later, one part of it became the state of Ohio, while the rest was called Indiana Territory. Although the white men had paid the Indians for part of this land, the red men would not give it up. They were encouraged in behaving so by the British, and, led by their chief, Tecumseh, they prepared for war. But the governor of Indiana Territory was William Henry Harrison, son of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He was very brave, and, meeting the Indians at Tippecanoe, in 1811, he won a great victory over them.