roads and were then called the generally wished to increase the power of the government the were more in favor of what were called states rights � � i i rise of and the thought that whatever power the constitution did not expressly give to the general government could only be exercised by the states � the great leaders of the party were henry clay of and daniel of these were two of the greatest the country has ever known another orator ol the first rank john c of south was on the side he believed in the power of a state to � a law of the nation but the party generally agreed with that the laws of the united states were the supreme until the courts decided them add clay and are often spoken of together they were the three great of what is sometimes known as the compromise period of american history henry clay was born in virginia in he was a poor boy and gained his education with difficulty he settled in ken history of the united states as a young man and long represented that state in the house of representatives and the john c was born in south in and was at college clay and were both bold of the war with england in who was born in the same year with entered in during the war from this time these three men gradually came to the front as the greatest masters of the art of debate the country had known was a member of s cabinet clay of john s of and s but they were all three greatest in hm h ch of them desired to be p i h b president but all were k l l pointed was � v president for eight years from to clay was active in bringing about the compromise which favored later than this became the chief advocate of the doctrine that the states were sovereign and that the union was a compact of sovereign states clay and web rise of and on the other hand were of the authority of the union clay was the author of the compromise of which favored died in clay and in in martin van of new york was by the and elected president he followed the policy of but in a way he did not any bills passed by van was born at new york in he lived more than twenty years after his retirement from the dying in i mt i � j chapter the railroad and the telegraph soon after certain changes began in ways of travel that have made modern life different from that of the all preceding ages men in old times had along day after day and week after week to make a journey of hundreds of miles on horseback or they were over bad roads in stage or carriages pack horses or heavy carried all the freight that went by land boats rowed or pushed with poles went slowly up and history of the united states � made by ba the rivers carrying passengers and freight with oars and sails and other small vessels plied up and down the coast and all the ships at sea were by sails in ships our people made great improvements the a with � that is that backward � was famous for its speed fi gained advantages in the war of by being better than the english men of war at a later period the american ships were the sailing vessels in the world after the invention of the steam engine in england attempts were made in france scotland and america to build boats that would go by steam but robert an american built the first really successful this boat the was launched in and ran between new york and to the great wonder of all who saw her soon after look the place of boats on the western rivers and they greatly aided in the rapid development of in the new country served for commerce and travel where there were rivers and lakes but how should the traffic on the western rivers and the great lakes be connected railroad and telegraph with the rivers east of the mountains and the sea long used in europe were thought of for this purpose and washington was much interested in a proposed canal from the to the river but the first great canal in this country was that from the river to lake the chief of this work was de governor of new york it was eight years in construction it was begun on the th of july and in its completion was celebrated by a procession of boats from lake to the ocean where governor de poured a of lake water into the sea as a sign of their union this canal by opening a trade with the west made new york the greatest city of the united states but for the more country of the middle states a great national road for was planned and built from western as far as the western part of the extension of soon rendered it of no importance as a national work but the greatest change of all in the life ol americans was made by the railway which was introduced from england the first bars on which little cars loaded with coal were drawn from the mines the first railway in the united states was but two miles long and was used only for stone the cars were drawn by horses the first g merely tracks of i o history of the united states o t electric passenger train in america was run on the and railroad in but the cars were drawn by horses the first year the extension of was very rapid they changed america more than any other country because here the distances are so great we have almost as many miles of railway as all 