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opposition to secret societies, unlike the first, which had itself been such a society. The name was adopted by the members of the National Christian Association when that body began to mingle in politics Its platform demanded prohibition of the sale of liquor, recognition of the Sabbath, the withdrawal of the charters of secret societies and legislative prohibition of their oaths, arbitration of international disputes, the introduction of the Bible into schools, the restriction of land monopolies, resumption of specie payments, justice to the Indians and a direct popular vote for President and Vice-President. The origin of the party is as follows: The meeting in 1872 in Oberlin, Ohio, of the National Christian Association was adjourned in order to allow a political mass meeting in sympathy with its views to be held. This meeting nominated Charles Francis Adams for President. This organization for political purposes was completed at a convention in Syracuse, New York, in 1874, and the name American party was adopted. A convention at Pittsburgh, June 9, 1875, adopted a platform of the principles above set forth and nominated James B. Walker, of Illinois, for President. In 1880 nominations were again made; in 1884 the nominee, S. C. Pomeroy, withdrew in favor of St. John, the Prohibition candidate, on his assurance that he "stood on every plank of the American platform." The party is inclined to endorse the Prohibition candidates if these are satisfactory, on the score of the secret society plank. III. This party was organized by a convention held in Philadelphia September 16-17, 1887. Its platform declares the present system of immigration and naturalization of foreigners detrimental to the welfare of the United States;" it demands its restriction and regulation so as to make fourteen years' residence a prerequisite of naturalization, and excludes from the benefits of citizenship all anarchists, socialists and other dangerous characters; it demands free schools; condemns alien proprietorship in the soil and grants of land to corporations; demands the establishment of a navy and the construction of fortifications and a judi

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cious system of internal improvements; it reasserts the "American principles of absolute freedom of religious worship and belief," and "the permanent separation of Church and State," and declares in favor of the enforcement of the Monroe Doctrine. The completion of the organization of the party is going forward rapidly.

American System.-In the debates which resulted in the tariff law of 1824, Henry Clay called his plan of protective duties and internal improvements the American system." The term is usually restricted, however, to denote the policy of protection to home industries by means of duties on imports. (See Tariffs of the United States.)

American Whigs.-In England, before the American Revolution and after it, too, the Whigs were the party that struggled against the extension of the royal prerogative; the Tories upheld it. So it naturally followed that Americans opposing the oppression of Great Britain likewise took the name of Whigs. They were known as American Whigs. The name was first used in New York in 1768. The name Tory was by contrast employed to designate partisans of Great Britain. After the revolution there was thus but one party, the Whigs. The estates of some of the Tories had been confiscated, others had left the country and those that remained were left without a cause. The Whigs soon broke up into factions, the Strong-Government Whigs and the Particularists, and these respectively gave rise to the Federalists and Republicans.

Americans Must Rule America,-One of the mottoes of the "Know-Nothings."

Americans, The, Must Light the Lamps of Industry and Economy.-This occurs in a letter of Benjamin Franklin to Charles Thomson, Secretary of Congress for fifteen years. It was written by him in 1765 from London immediately after the passage of the Stamp Act. He was at that time the London agent of Pennsylvania.

Ames, Fisher, was born in Dedham, Massachusetts, April 9, 1758, and died July 4, 1808. He was a lawyer,

graduating at Harvard. In politics a Federalist, he served in the House of Representatives from 1789 to 1797, where he held foremost rank as an orator, his best known speech being the one in favor of Jay's treaty.

Amistad Case, The.-In June, 1839, the schooner L'Amistad sailed from Havana for Principe with a number of slaves that had been kidnaped in Africa. The slaves overpowered the whites, and killed all but two. These white men steered the vessel northward instead of to Africa as directed, and soon the vessel was seized and taken into New London, Conn., by Lieutenant Gedney of the United States brig Washington. The Spanish Minister requested the delivery of the slaves to be taken to Cuba for trial. President Van Buren was desirous of granting this request as a matter of comity, but the Anti-Slavery Society procured counsel, and the District Court of the United States decided that even by the Spanish laws the slave trade was illegal, and the negroes were free men. The Circuit Court affirmed this decision, and so, in March, 1841, did the Supreme Court, where John Quincy Adams devoted himself to the cause of the negroes without remuneration. The negroes were sent back to Africa in an American vessel. Amnesty, Proclamation of. (See Proclamation of Amnesty.)

Anarchy Poles.-A derisive name for Liberty Poles. Ancient Mariner of the Wabash.-A name applied to Richard W. Thompson, of Indiana, who was Secretary of the Navy under President Hayes.

Annapolis Academy. (See United States Naval Academy.)

Annexations.-The territory of the United States at the commencement of our existence as a nation comprised all our present territory between the Atlantic on the east, the Mississippi on the west, British America on the north and the thirty-first degree of north latitude on the south, with a few slight differences owing to subsequent re-arrangements of boundary lines. There have since been six different additions made to our territory, which have brought it to its present extent.

I. LOUISIANA.-Before the year 1763, France owned what was known as the Province of Louisiana, a vast region which comprised, east of the Mississippi, the territory south of the thirty-first degree of north latitude and as far east as the Perdido River, and, west of the Mississippi, the whole of the present Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington, that part of Minnesota west of the Mississippi, Wyoming and Colorado east of the Rocky Mountains and north of the Arkansas River, and all but a small southwestern section of Kansas and the narrow northwestern strip of Indian Territory. By the Treaty of Paris of 1763, which closed our French and Indian War, the French territory east of the Mississippi passed to England, and that west of the Mississippi to Spain. By the Treaty of Paris of 1783, which ended the Revolution, England gave Florida back to Spain. During the first years of our national history, therefore, Spain owned the western shore of the Mississippi and both shores at its mouth. It was soon seen that our citizens who were settling along the Mississippi would have their commerce threatened and hampered by Spain, especially as that country at first refused us the free navigation of the river. It was not until 1795 that a treaty was negotiated by Thomas Pinckney, whereby Spain granted us free navigation of the river and the right to use New Orleans, or some other place which would be provided, as a place of deposit for merchandise. In 1800 a secret treaty was negotiated between France and Spain by which the latter retroceded" to France the Province of Louisiana. Napoleon, then First Consul of France, threatened to send an army and fleet to New Orleans. It was feared that French ambition in Louisiana and Spanish designs in Florida would ultimately prove hurtful to us. In 1802 the right of deposit in New Orleans was taken away, and no other place was designated. The western portion of the United States clamored for some governmental action. Congress appropriated $2,000,000 for the purchase of New Orleans, and President Jefferson,

in January, 1803, sent James Monroe as minister extraordinary with discretionary powers, to act with our Minister to France, Robert R. Livingston, in the purchase. Napoleon at this time found himself burdened with debt and threatened with an English war, and proposed to sell the whole Province of Louisiana. A convention to that effect was speedily arranged and signed on April 30, 1803, by Livingston and Monroe for the United States, and Barbé-Marbois for France. The price agreed upon to be paid was $15,000,000, of which $3,750,000 were claims of our citizens against France, which the United States agreed to assume. The people of the United States as a whole rejoiced, though the Federalists claimed that the measure was unwarranted by the Constitution, and even Jefferson thought a constitutional amendment would be necessary. The purchase, however, was finally accepted without an amendment, and was generally acquiesced in. An early session of Congress was called for October 17, 1803. Two days later the treaty was ratified by the Senate, and on October 25th the House passed a resolution to carry it into effect by a vote of ninety to twenty-five, the Federalists voting in the minority. Napoleon accepted six per cent. bonds, payable in fifteen years, for this territory, which more than doubled the area of the United States. Concerning this purchase Livingston is said to have exclaimed: "We have lived long, but this is the noblest work of our whole lives." And Napoleon is said to have remarked: "I have just given to England a maritime rival that will, sooner or later, humble her pride." Portions of the boundary line of this purchased territory were in dispute for a long time, but so far as Spain was concerned, the differences of opinion were settled by the treaty of 1819 (see next section of this article), and the treaty of 1846 with Great Britain settled the remainder. (See Northwest Boundary.) The region acquired by this purchase was divided into the Territory of Orleans and the Territory of Louisiana.

II. FLORIDA.-When Great Britain in 1763 acquired that part of Louisiana east of the Mississippi from

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