country"-comprising the present states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, and a portion of British Columbia.

The Oregon country had been visited in 1792 by Captain Gray of Boston, in his ship Columbia. While engaged in trafficking with the Indians on the Pacific coast, he had discovered and named the Columbia River in honor of his ship. In that day, as in the days of the early explorers, the possession of the mouth of a river carried with it the right to all the country which it drained; thus, since the Columbia River drained practically the whole of the "Oregon country,' the United States, encouraged by the reports of Lewis and Clark, laid claim to the country on the strength of Captain Gray's discovery. The Pacific Fur Company, an organization founded in New York by John Jacob Astor, strengthened our government's claim by founding a settlement at Astoria (1811), on the Columbia River.

326. Ohio Admitted to the Union-1803.—Ohio, the first state to be formed out of the Northwest Territory, was admitted to the union in 1803, as the seventeenth state. Her constitution provided liberally for the support of her public schools, and prohibited slavery.

327. Duel between Hamilton and Burr-1804.-Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr had been political enemies from the time of the organization of the government. Burr, while still vice-president of the United States, became a candidate for governor of New York. Hamilton, now a private citizen, threw his influence against Burr, thereby defeating him. Burr, embittered by his defeat, challenged Hamilton to a duel. Hamilton thought that he could not decline the challenge. They met on the dueling field opposite New York city, and at the first fire, Hamilton received his death wound at the hand of Burr.

The result of this duel produced intense excitement throughout the country, and served to call attention forcibly to the crime of dueling. That method of settling disputes now came under the ban of public censure in the north,

though in the south it was still approved. A grand jury in New Jersey at once indicted Burr for murder.

328. Burr's Conspiracy in the Southwest and His Trial for Treason-1807.-Burr, now a fugitive from justice, went into the south west country, where he became involved in the organization of some mysterious scheme, the full nature of which has never been known. It is believed that he planned to establish an empire in the southwest, the same to include Texas and a portion of the territory of the United States, with New Orleans as its capital. Burr, of course, was to be its emperor. He was so strongly suspected of conspiracy against the government that Jefferson issued a proclamation in 1806 which led to his arrest a year later on the charge of treason. In the resulting trial at Richmond, Virginia, this charge, however, was not sustained, and Burr went free.

329. The Cumberland National Road-1806.-In the year 1806 congress passed an act providing for the building of a

national road-the same to extend from Cumberland, Mary. land, to Wheeling, West Virginia,-a distance of one hundred forty miles. The development of the western country made such a road almost an imperative necessity. The road was completed to Wheeling in 1820, and later surveyed westward as far as Jefferson City, Missouri. By 1838 it had

been completed to within a few miles of St. Louis, -a distance of nearly eight hundred miles,-when work was discontinued owing to the fact that the railroad had superseded it. Portions of it were then transferred to the several states through which it passed, on the condition that the states would keep it in repair.

As a means in the development and growth of the great west, the Cumberland road was an important factor. For years along this national thoroughfare, there was poured into the western country a vast population-the inhabitants of future states which were destined to give additional strength and stability to the national government.

330. Robert Fulton and the First Steamboat-1807.Robert Fulton was the second American inventor to attract

hour

THE FIRST STEAMBOAT

boat Clermont, with which, in 1807, he made a successful trip from New York to Albany and return, traveling at the rate of five miles per

This invention was soon to revolutionize the commerce of the world.

331. The Barbary States and the Tripolitan War-18031805. The Barbary states were a group of pirate states located along or near the northern coast of Africa, of which the chief were Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and Morocco. These states made their living by preying upon the commerce of other nations or demanding tribute money. By the treaty with Algiers in 1795, the United States agreed to pay tribute

to the pirates of that country. She later entered into a similar treaty with Tunis, but in spite of this annual tribute, American commerce continued to be molested, and her officers insulted. In 1800, a few of these states made a demand upon President Adams for more tribute money. The following year, a similar demand was made upon his successor. Jefferson replied by sending a fleet of American war vessels under Commodore Dale to make a demonstration (1801) on the coast of the pirate states. A pirate cruiser was captured, and for a time American commerce had the freedom of the Mediterranean.

Two years later, however, congress declared war against Tripoli, which was concluded by a treaty of peace in 1805. In this war, Lieutenant, afterwards Commodore, Decatur first distinguished himself as a naval officer. The American fleet captured many vessels, though it suffered the loss of the frigate Philadelphia, under Captain Bainbridge, who, with all his crew, fell into the hands of the Tripolitans. By the provisions of the treaty, these prisoners were ransomed by the payment of $60,000.

332. Trouble with Great Britain and France.—Jefferson did not escape his share of trouble with Great Britain and France. Under Napoleon, war between these two countries had been renewed with vigor, and nearly all the nations of Europe had become involved. The United States, remaining neutral, was soon engaged in carrying nearly the whole of the commerce of Europe-a circumstance which made England exceedingly jealous of the growing commercial importance of the young republic. Many American sea-captains, however, became so bold as to abuse their rights as neutrals. Supplies for France were sent to American ports; here transferred to American ships, and sent to France under a neutral flag. England, glad of an excuse, retaliated by capturing American vessels suspected of carrying French cargoes, and renewed her old policy of stopping and searching American vessels for British deserters, and of impressing American seamen.

As the war continued, American trade suffered more and more at the hands of both England and France. After England's great naval victory at Trafalgar (October, 1805), her sea-captains became insolent in the extreme, practically establishing a blockade of the American ports, and capturing American vessels indiscriminately,-almost as soon as they had put to sea. American commerce thus became a bone of contention between these two powers, now engaged in a death grapple for the mastery of Europe.

333. The British Orders in Council: Napoleon's Berlin and Milan Decrees.-In 1806 England notified the United States that she had issued an Order in Council establishing a blockade of certain French and other European ports, and intimated that American commerce with these ports was at an end until the blockade should be raised. The United States, however, insisted that this was a "paper blockade" (meaning thereby that England did not keep men-of-war at the blockaded ports in order to enforce it), and in her turn intimated that it would not be respected.

Napoleon's reply to England's Order in Council was the Berlin Decree, which declared the British Islands to be in a state of blockade, and forbade all commerce with them, by any country whatsoever.

Great Britain's rejoinder to the Berlin Decree was another Order in Council (this time a sweeping one), which now declared all ports of France and her allies (Italy, Spain, Holland, and Germany) to be in a state of blockade, and, in effect, forbade the United States, though a neutral power, trading with any of these countries.

To this Order in Council, Napoleon retorted in a similar manner with the Milan Decree, which virtually forbade the United States trading with Great Britain, or any of her colonies, and at the same time ordered the capture of American ships which should permit themselves to be searched by English vessels.

Thus was the commerce of the United States being crushed