Oakfield High School - Oak Leaves Yearbook (Oakfield, WI)

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the sole possession of the American Government that part of the Oregon territory south of the forty-ninth parallel, thus adding to our domain a strip of land larger than Texas. Another cession of territory from Mexico at this time made the western strip still larger, and added the so-called Gadsden’s Purchase to the national domain. The country was now called to face the problem of expansion; consequently, great questions loomed up concerning the organization of all this western territory. It might have been a long time e’er these wild new regions became aught but sparsely settled, had it not been for the discovery of gold in California. When that news swept over the land, California, from having been a mere name in a romance or the geographical expression of an obscure region, was transformed into an alluring image whose face reflected light and magnetism all over the earth. Young and old, good and bad, were attracted to the Pacific slope, and in four years two hundred fifty thousand men of every sort and character were on the new El Dorado. Tho expansion and boundary questions were thus settled for a while, the Federal government was not to be left in peace. The great battle of Slavery was to be fought in Congress before it was was fought in the field. All compromises were in vain,—the North and South could not agree. We know the result, an inevitable clash between these people of one blood, one tongue and one government. The question whether this great nation of ours should keep on growing in size and wisdom and rerenown, or should be torn asunder, to lose all the power it had gained since its birth of independence, became one of momentous importance. There is no need to dwell on that war for we are all familiar with it. What we wish to emphasize here is that this nation came forth from that conflict whole and united. It had been proven once for all time by a terrible experience, indeed, that the United States was one Union, forever inseparable. After the passions of war had cooled, and the hatred and bitterness had died away, men turned once more to the ever new and enticing project of expansion. On the Pacific, the greatest of oceans, the Americans were, in their enterprise, far in advance of their possessions. Russia and England both laid claim to the power to rule navigation in the Pacific waters; and the American eagle found itself facing the new problem of trying to please both the Russian bear and the English lion. Trouble was avoided, however, by a treaty with Russia in 1867, which added to the United States territory all of Alaska, a very valuable asset. Out in the Pacific, nearly midway between America and Asia, lie a group of twelve islands, forming a land area nearly as large as New Jersey. These islands, the Hawaiian, first came under the notice of the United States, when, in 1820, fourteen of our missionaries sailed to them and founded the modern history of Hawaii. Altho the islands struggled nobly for a Christian, republican Government, internal troubles hindered them greatly and they finally petitioned the United States for admission to the Union. In 1894 the Republic of Hawaii was proclaimed and soon became and integral part of the United States. Altho the Government was thus constantly gaining new territory, it was not satisfied, but turned longingly towards that island in the Atlantic,

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nation’s sure expansion. In this way began the great American Exodus, properly following the Genesis of the Constitution. While this western movement was going on. President Jefferson and some of the leading statesmen were busy in the East, laying the foundations of a broader, a greater, a nobler domain. Napoleon Bonaparte, the French ruler and dictator, surprised the Americans by offering them the large territory of Lousiana, then in his hands, for the sum of fifteen million dollars. This great tract included the grandest river valley in the world, and was one million square miles in area. President .Jefferson realized its value, and, stretching his Constitutional powers “'til they cracked,” as he himself said, he bought Louisiana, at the rate of two and one-half cents an acre. Thus the American flag, then glistening with seventeen stars, was made to float proudly over the wide west, doubling our national domain. The United States, being a progressive country, did not for long call Louisiana its latest possession. A new territory, Florida, was soon ceded to us by Spain, for the sum of five million dollars. This new land rectified our southern frontier and added sixty thousand square miles of territory to the United States. On July 10, 1820, the red and yellow flag of Spain was hauled down, and the “red, white, and blue,” with thirteen stripes and twenty-four stars, was hoisted. Our country was growing strong and powerful now, and was justly beginning to feel itself one of the national powers. Everything heretofore added to our domain had been gained by diplomacy and purchase, but a new strip of territory soon presented itself to the ambitious government as a very desirable addition to our country. Texas, then a part of Mexico, had been settled partly by westward-forging Americans, who rose in arms against Mexican anarchy, wrested the reins of government from the oppressor, founded an independent Republic, and soon applied for admission into the Union. The request, seeming very favorable, was granted, and and a state five time the size of England was soon represented on the flag. But, as was to be expected, Texas and Mexico became at once involved in serious boundary difficulties which resulted in war between the United States and Mexico. At its close the former had secured, whether fairly or unfairly, all the disputed territory and a strip of land composing New Mexico and California besides. Before the end of the Mexican affair, this ever progressing, ever-energetic country of ours was busy obtaining new territory in the far West. The great region of the North-West, between the Rockies and the Pacific, and between Russian America on the North and Mexican America on the South, lay an almost unknown region. But it was known that there were splendid mountains, rivers, and fertile lands there. In 17i 2 the foundation of the American title to Oregon was secured by the entry of Captain Gray into the Columbia river valley. American trading posts were established and in 1818 the United States and Great Britian, who also claimed the region, made a treaty for its joint occupation. American missionaries and settlers were soon pouring over the rugged mountains until the British began to be jealous of American supremacy. Happily, negotiations with Great Britian settled the disputes and brought within

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Cuba, known more poetically and descriptively as the “Pearl of the Antilles. One hundred million dollars were offered to Spain for the island and refused. In 1895 an insurection broke out there against Spanish rule and the United States quickly recognized the new Republic of Cuba. Spain gathered all her forces to put down the uprising, as well as the one which had arisen in the Philippines, and resorted to terrible cruelty, even the peaceable Cubans being driven from their homes and left to die of disease and starvation by the tens of thousands. Our government considered it proper to exert pressure upon Spain in order to make her recognize the Independence of Cuba, but the action was resented by the Spanish. Soon affairs between the two powers grew more complicated, and when our battleship “ Maine was blown up in Havana harbor, things were brought to a climax. War was declared on the eighteenth of April, 1898, and on December tenth of the same year, Cuba and Porto Rico were in the hands of the United States Government. Meanwhile, in the farther Past our soldiers were wresting the Philippines from the Spanish, inspired by the victories in Cuba. It was not long after, that the Treaty of Peace was signed, leaving those important colonies in our possession. And then the grand old “ red, white, and blue” was hoisted in the new accessions and Spanish mle in America was ended. Thus were added to the I nited States by the force of arms, two other great territories, bringing with them, responsibility indeed, but power also, and increased domain. In the light of this great romance of conquest, so proudly wrought by our Federal Government, together with the staunch Americans supporting it, the words of Mr. McKinley, spoken at Omaha, seem to be a sure and not too optimistic prophecy for the future:— “The genius of the nation, its freedom, its wisdom, its humanity, its courage, its justice, favored by Divine Providence, will make it equal to every task and the master of every emergency. Jennie Pratt.