Rosenfeld Susan. Encyclopedia of American Historical Documents

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“Sec. 2301. Nothing in this chapter shall be so con-

strued as to prevent any person who shall hereafter avail

himself of the benefits of section twenty-two hundred and

eighty nine from paying the minimum price for the quan-

tity of land so entered at any time after the expiration of

fourteen calendar months from the date of such entry, and

obtaining a patent therefor, upon making proof of settle-

ment and of residence and cultivation for such period of

fourteen months,” and the provision of this section shall

apply to lands on the ceded portion of the Sioux Reserva-

tion by act approved March second, eighteen hundred and

eighty-nine, in South Dakota, but shall not relieve said set-

tlers from any payments now required by law.

Sec. 7. That whenever it shall appear to the Commis-

sioner of the General Land Office that a clerical error has

been committed in the entry of any of the public lands

such entry may be suspended, upon proper notification to

the claimant, through the local land office, until the error

has been corrected; and all entries made under the pre-

emption, homestead, desert-land, or timber-culture laws,

in which final proof and payment may have been made and

certificates issued, and to which there are no adverse

claims originating prior to final entry and which have been

sold or incumbered prior to the first day of March, eigh-

teen hundred and eighty-eight, and after final entry, to

bona-fide purchasers, or incumbrancers, for a valuable

consideration, shall unless upon an investigation by a Gov-

ernment Agent, fraud on the part of the purchaser has

been found, be confirmed and patented upon presentation

of satisfactory proof to the Land Department of such sale

or incumbrance: Provided, That after the lapse of two

years from the date of the issuance of the receiver’s receipt

upon the final entry of any tract of land under the home-

stead, timber-culture, desert-land, or pre-emption laws, or

under this act, and when there shall be no pending contest

or protest against the validity of such entry, the entryman

shall be entitled to a patent conveying the land by him

entered, and the same shall be issued to him; but this pro-

viso shall not be construed to require the delay of two

years from the date of said entry before the issuing of a

patent therefor.

Sec. 8. That suits by the United States to vacate and

annual any patent heretofore issued shall only be brought

within five years from the passage of this act, and suits to

vacate and annual patents hereafter issued shall only be

brought within six years after the date of the issuance of

such patents. And in the States of Colorado, Montana,

Idaho, North Dakota and South Dakota, Wyoming, and in

the District of Alaska and the gold and silver regions of

Nevada, and the Territory of Utah, in any criminal prose-

cution or civil action by the United States for a trespass on

such public timber lands or to recover timber or lumber

cut thereon, it shall be a defense if the defendant shall

show that the said timber was so cut or removed from the

timber lands for use in such State or Territory by a resident

thereof for agricultural, mining, manufacturing, or domes-

tic purposes, and has not been transported out of the same;

but nothing herein contained shall apply to operate to

enlarge the rights of any railway company to cut timber on

the public domain: Provided, That the Secretary of the

Interior may make suitable rules and regulations to carry

out the provisions of this section.

Sec. 9. That hereafter no public lands of the United

States, except abandoned military or other reservations,

isolated and disconnected fractional tracts authorized to be

sold by section twenty-four hundred and fifty-five of the

Revised Statutes, and mineral and other lands the sale of

which at public auction has been authorized by acts of

Congress of a special nature having local application, shall

be sold at public sale.

Sec. 10. That nothing in this act shall change, repeal,

or modify any agreements or treaties made with any Indian

tribes for the disposal of their lands, or of land ceded to the

United States to be disposed of for the benefit of such

tribes, and the proceeds thereof to be placed in the Trea-

sury of the United States; and the disposition of such lands

shall continue in accordance with the provisions of such

treaties or agreements, except as provided in section 5 of

this act.

Sec. 11. That until otherwise ordered by Congress

lands in Alaska may be entered for town-site purposes, for

the several use and benefit of the occupants of such town

sites, by such trustee or trustees as may be named by the

Secretary of the Interior for that purpose, such entries to

be made under the provisions of section twenty-three hun-

dred and eighty-seven of the Revised Statutes as near as

may be; and when such entries shall have been made the

Secretary of the Interior shall provide by regulation for the

proper execution of the trust in favor of the inhabitants of

the town site, including the survey of the land into lots,

according to the spirit and intent of said section twenty-

three hundred and eighty-seven of the Revised Statutes,

whereby the same results would be reached as though the

entry had been made by a county judge and the disposal of

the lots in such town site and the proceeds of the sale

thereof had been prescribed by the legislative authority of

a State or Territory: Provided, That no more than six hun-

dred and forty acres shall be embraced in one townsite

entry.

Sec. 12. That any citizen of the United States twenty-

one years of age, and any association of such citizens, and

any corporation incorporated under the laws of the United

States, or of any State or Territory of the United States

now authorized by law to hold lands in the Territories now

or hereafter in possession of and occupying public lands in

Alaska for the purpose of trade or manufactures, may pur-

1022 ERA 6: The Development of the Industrial United States

chase not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres to be

taken as near as practicable in a square form, of such land

at two dollars and fifty cents per acre: Provided, That in

case more than one person, association or corporation shall

claim the same tract of land the person, association or cor-

poration having the prior claim by reason of possession and

continued occupation shall be entitled to purchase the

same; but the entry of no person, association, or corpora-

tion shall include improvements made by or in possession

of another prior to the passage of this act.

Sec. 13. That it shall be the duty of any person, associa-

tion, or corporation entitled to purchase land under this act

to make an application to the United States marshal, ex offi-

cio surveyor-general of Alaska, for an estimate of the cost of

making a survey of the lands occupied by such person, asso-

ciation, or corporation, and the cost of the clerical work nec-

essary to be done in the office of the said United States

marshal, ex officio surveyor-general; and on the receipt of

such estimate from the United States marshal, ex officio sur-

veyor general, the said person, association, or corporation

shall deposit the amount in a United States depository, as is

required by section numbered twenty-four hundred and

one, Revised Statutes, relating to deposits for surveys.

That on the receipt by the United States marshal, ex-

officio surveyor-general, of the said certificates of deposit,

he shall employ a competent person to make such survey,

under such rules and regulations as may be adopted by the

Secretary of the Interior, who shall make his return of his

field notes and maps to the office of the said United States

marshal, ex-officio surveyor-general; and the said United

States marshal, ex officio surveyor-general, shall cause the

said field notes and plats of such survey to be examined,

and, if correct, approve the same, and shall transmit certi-

fied copies of such maps and plats to the office of the

Commissioner of the General Land Office.

That when the said field notes and plats of said survey

shall have been approved by the said Commissioner of the

General Land Office, he shall notify such person, associa-

tion, or corporation, who shall then, within six months

after such notice, pay to the said United States marshal, ex

officio surveyor-general, for such land, and patent shall

issue for the same.

Sec. 14. That none of the provisions of the last two

preceding sections of this act shall be so construed as to

warrant the sale of any lands belonging to the United

States which shall contain coal or the precious metals, or

any town site, or which shall be occupied by the United

States for public purposes, or which shall be reserved for

such purposes, or to which the natives of Alaska have prior

rights by virtue of actual occupation, or which shall be

selected by the United States Commissioner of Fish and

Fisheries on the island of Kadiak and Afognak for the pur-

pose of establishing fish-culture stations. And all tracts of

land not exceeding six hundred and forty acres in any one

tract now occupied as missionary stations in said district of

Alaska are hereby excepted from the operation of the last

three proceeding sections of this act. No portion of the

islands of the Pribylov Group or the Seal Islands of Alaska

shall be subject to sale under this act; and the United

States reserves, and there shall be reserved in all patents

issued under the provisions of the last two preceding sec-

tions the right of the United States to regulate the taking

of salmon and to do all things necessary to protect and pre-

vent the destruction of salmon in all the waters of the lands

granted frequented by salmon.

Sec. 15. That until otherwise provided by law the body

of lands known as Annette Islands, situated in Alexander

Archipelago in Southeastern Alaska, on the north side of

Dixon’s entrance, be, and the same is hereby, set apart as a

reservation for the use of the Metlakahtla Indians, and

those people known as Metlakahtlans who have recently

emigrated from British Columbia to Alaska, and such

other Alaskan natives as may join them, to be held and

used by them in common, under such rules and regula-

tions, and subject to such restrictions, as may prescribed

from time to time by the Secretary of the Interior.

Sec. 16. That town-site entries may be made by incor-

porated towns and cities on the mineral lands of the

United States, but no title shall be acquired by such towns

or cities to any vein of gold, silver, cinnabar, copper, or

lead, or to any valid mining claim or possession held under

existing law. When mineral veins are possessed within the

limits of an incorporated town or city, and such possession

is recognized by local authority or by the laws of the

United States, the title to town lots shall be subject to such

recognized possession and the necessary use thereof and

when entry has been made or patent issued for such town

sites to such incorporated town or city, the possessor of

such mineral vein may enter and receive patent for such

mineral vein, and the surface ground appertaining thereto:

Provided, That no entry shall be made by such mineral-

vein claimant for surface ground where the owner or occu-

pier of the surface ground shall have had possession of the

same before the inception of the title of the mineral-vein

applicant.

Sec. 17. That reservoir sites located or selected and to

be located and selected under the provisions of “An act

making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the

Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eigh-

teen hundred and eighty-nine, and for other purposes,”

and amendments thereto, shall be restricted to and shall

contain only so much land as is actually necessary for the

construction and maintenance of reservoirs; excluding so

far as practicable lands occupied by actual settlers at the

date of the location of said reservoirs and that the provision

of “An Act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses

Growth of the West and Federal Indian Policy 1023

of the Government for the fiscal year ending June thirti-

eth, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, and for other pur-

poses,” which reads as follows, viz: “No person who shall

after the passage of this act enter upon any of the public

lands with a view to occupation, entry, or settlement under

any of the land laws shall be permitted to acquire title to

more than three hundred and twenty acres in the aggre-

gate under all said laws,” shall be construed to include in

the maximum amount of lands the title to which is permit-

ted to be acquired by one person only agricultural lands

and not to include lands entered or sought to be entered

under mineral land laws.

Sec. 18. That the right of way through the public lands

and reservations of the United States is hereby granted to

any canal or ditch company formed for the purpose of irri-

gation and duly organized under the laws of any State or

Territory, which shall have filed, or may hereafter file, with

the Secretary of the Interior a copy of its articles of incor-

poration, and due proofs of its organization under the

same, to the extent of the ground occupied by the water of

the reservoir and of the canal and its laterals, and fifty feet

on each side of the marginal limits thereof; also the right

to take, from the public lands adjacent to the line of the

canal or ditch, material, earth, and stone necessary for the

construction of such canal or ditch: Provided, That no such

right of way shall be so located as to interfere with the

proper occupation by the Government of any such reser-

vation, and all maps of location shall be subject to the

approval of the Department of the Government having

jurisdiction of such reservation, and the privilege herein

granted shall not be construed to interfere with the control

of water for irrigation and other purposes under authority

of the respective States or Territories.

Sec. 19. That any canal or ditch company desiring to

secure the benefits of this act shall, within twelve months

after the location of ten miles of its canal, if the same be

upon surveyed lands, and if upon unsurveyed lands, within

twelve months after the survey thereof by the United

States, file with the register of the land office for the dis-

trict where such land is located a map of its canal or ditch

and reservoir; and upon the approval thereof by the Sec-

retary of the Interior the same shall be noted upon the

plats in said office, and thereafter all such lands over which

such rights of way shall pass shall be disposed of subject to

such right of way. Whenever any person or corporation, in

the construction of any canal, ditch, or reservoir, injures or

damages the possession of any settler on the public

domain, the party committing such injury or damage shall

be liable to the party injured for such injury or damage.

Sec. 20. That the provisions of this act shall apply to all

canals, ditches, or reservoirs, heretofore or hereafter con-

structed, whether constructed by corporations, individuals,

or association of individuals, on the filing of the certificates

and maps herein provided for. If such ditch, canal, or reser-

voir, has been or shall be constructed by an individual or

association of individuals, it shall be sufficient for such indi-

vidual or association of individuals to file with the Secretary

of the Interior, and with the register of the land office where

said land is located, a map of the line of such canal, ditch, or

reservoir, as in case of a corporation, with the name of the

individual owner or owners thereof, together with the arti-

cles of association, if any there be. Plats heretofore filed

shall have the benefits of this act from the date of their fil-

ing, as though filed under it: Provided, That if any section of

said canal, or ditch, shall not be completed within five years

after the location of said section, the rights herein granted

shall be forfeited as to any uncompleted section of said

canal, ditch, or reservoir, to the extent that the same is not

completed at the date of the forfeiture.

Sec. 21. That nothing in this act shall authorize such

canal or ditch company to occupy such right of way except

for the purpose of said canal or ditch, and then only so far

as may be necessary for the construction, maintenance,

and care of said canal or ditch.

Sec. 22. That the section of land reserved for the bene-

fit of the Dakota Central Railroad Company on the west

bank of the Missouri River, at the mouth of Bad River, as

provided by section sixteen of “An act to divide a portion of

the reservation of the Sioux Nation of Indians in Dakota into

separate reservations and to secure the relinquishment of

the Indian title to the remainder and for other purposes,”

approved March second, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine,

shall be subject to entry under the town-site law only.

Sec. 23. That in all cases where second entries of land

on the Osage Indian trust and diminished reserve lands in

Kansas, to which at the time there were no adverse claims,

have been made and the law complied with as to residence

and improvement, said entries be, and the same are

hereby, confirmed, and in all cases where persons were

actual settlers and residing upon their claims upon said

Osage Indian trust and diminished reserve lands in the

State of Kansas on the ninth day of May, eighteen hundred

and seventy two, and who have made subsequent pre-

emption entries either upon public or upon said Osage

Indian trust and diminished reserve lands, upon which

there were no legal prior adverse claims at the time, and

the law complied with as to settlement, said subsequent

entries be, and the same are hereby, confirmed.

Sec. 24. That the President of the United States may,

from time to time, set apart and reserve, in any State or

Territory having public land bearing forests, in any part of

the public lands wholly or in part covered with timber or

undergrowth, whether of commercial value or not, as pub-

lic reservations, and the President shall, by public procla-

mation, declare the establishment of such reservations and

the limits thereof.

1024 ERA 6: The Development of the Industrial United States

Source:

Statutes at Large, Vol. 27, 561, pp. 1,095–1,103.

Frederick Jackson Turner,

“The Significance of the Frontier in

American History,” 1893

In 1890, the U.S. Census declared that a frontier no longer

existed. Upon learning this, Turner developed his eponymous

“Thesis”: Existence of the frontier turned those raised in a

European culture into Americans, and “American democracy

is fundamentally the outcome of the experience of the Ameri-

can people in dealing with the West,” which led to the cre-

ation of a distinct American character. His work influenced

several generations of historians.

________________________

_______________________

Up to our own day American history has been in a large

degree the history of the colonization of the Great West.

The existence of an area of free land, continuous recession,

and the advance of American settlements westward,

explain American development. Behind institutions,

behind constitutional forms and modifications lie the vital

forces that call these organs into life and shape them to

meet changing conditions. The peculiarity of American

institutions is, the fact that they have been compelled to

adapt themselves to the changes of an expanding people-

to the changes involved in crossing a continent, this win-

ning a wilderness, and in developing at each area of this

progress out of the primitive economic and political condi-

tions of the frontier into the complexity of city life. . . .

Thus American development has exhibited not merely

advance along a single line, but a return to primitive con-

ditions on a continually advancing frontier line, and a new

development for that area. American social development

has been continually beginning over again on the frontier.

This perennial rebirth, this fluidity of American life, this

expansion westward with its new opportunities, its contin-

uous touch with the simplicity of primitive society, furnish

the forces dominating American character. The true point

of view in the history of this nation is not the Atlantic coast,

it is the West. . . .

The frontier is the line of most rapid and effective

Americanization. The wilderness masters the colonist. It

finds him a European in dress, industries, tools, modes of

travel, and thought. It takes him from the railroad car and

puts him in the birch canoe. It strips off the garments of

civilization and arrays him in the hunting shirt and the

moccasin. It puts him in the log cabin of the Cherokee

and Iroquois and runs and Indian palisade around him.

Before long he has gone to planting Indian corn and plow-

ing with a sharp stick; he shouts the war cry and takes the

scalp in orthodox Indian fashion. In short, at the frontier

the environment is at first too strong for the man. He

must accept the conditions which it furnishes, or perish,

and so he fits himself into the Indian clearings and follows

the Indian trails. Little by little he transforms the wilder-

ness but the outcome is not the old Europe, not simply

the development of Germanic germs, any more than the

first phenomenon was a case of reversion to the Germanic

mark. The fact is, that here is a new product that is Amer-

ican. At first, the frontier was the Atlantic coast. It was the

frontier of Europe in a very real sense. Moving westward,

the frontier became more and more American. As succes-

sive terminal moraines result from successive glaciations,

so each frontier leaves its traces behind it, and when it

becomes a settled area the region still partakes of the

frontier characteristics. Thus the advance of the frontier

has meant a steady movement away from the influence of

Europe, a steady growth of independence on American

lines. And to study this advance, the men who grew up

under these conditions, and the political, economic, and

social results of its, is to study the really American part of

our history. . . .

Since the days when the fleet of Columbus sailed into

the waters of the New World, America has been another

name for opportunity, and the people of the United States

have taken their tone form the incessant expansion which

has not only been open but has been forced upon them.

He would be a rash prophet who should assert that the

expansive character has now entirely ceased. Movement

has been its dominant fact, and unless this training has no

effect upon a people, the American energy will continually

demand a wider field for its exercise. But never again will

such gifts of free land offer themselves. For a moment, at

the frontier, the bonds of custom are broken and unre-

straint is triumphant. There is not tabula rasa. The stub-

born American environment is there with its imperious

summons to accept its conditions; the inherited ways of

doing things are also there; and yet, in spite of environ-

ment, and in spite of custom, each frontier did indeed fur-

nish a new field of opportunity, a gate of escape from the

bondage of the past; and freshness and confidence, and

scorn of older society, impatience of its restrains and its

ideas, and indifference to its lessons, have accompanied

the frontier. What the Mediterranean Sea was to the

Greeks, breaking the bond of custom, offering new experi-

ences, calling out new institutions and activities, that, and

more, the ever retreating frontier has been to the United

States directly, and to the nations of Europe more

remotely. And now, four centuries from the discovery of

America, at the end of a hundred years of life under the

Constitution, the frontier has gone, and with its going has

closed the first period in American history.

Growth of the West and Federal Indian Policy 1025

Cultural Diversity and National Unity

Charles Darwin, Introduction to

On the Origin of Species, 1859

Charles Darwin’s

On the Origin of Species

(1859) sets forth the

theory that evolution is governed by a process called natural

selection. According to Darwin, natural selection is the pro-

cess by which genetic mutations and recombinations occur in

such a way that only the individual most suited, or most “fit”

to a particular environment, survives. Darwin had spent five

years in South America as a naturalist on the HMS

Beagle

. In

his introduction, he states how this experience shaped his

ideas about how and why variation occurs in a species. Dar-

Source:

Frederick Jackson Turner, The Frontier in American History.

New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1921.

Carey Desert Land Grant Act, 1894

Federal U.S. legislation, passed on August 18, 1894, that made

federally owned arid lands available to settlers for agricultural

purposes. The act authorized the president to turn over to each

of the public-land states (those created out of the public

domain) up to 1 million acres of public desert land to sell to set-

tlers for irrigation, reclamation, cultivation, and occupancy. The

states could charge no more than 50 cents per acre (though

additional fees could be levied for water rights), and tract size

could range up to 160 acres. At least 20 acres of the tract had

to be cultivated or the land would revert to public domain. But

large-scale irrigation was prohibitively expensive until the New-

lands Reclamation Act authorized federal funds for irrigation.

________________________

_______________________

An Act

To amend sections twenty-four hundred and one and

twenty-four hundred and three of the Revised Statutes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-

tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-

bled, That section twenty-four hundred and one of the

Revised Statutes of the United States is hereby amended

so as to read as follows:

“Sec. 2401. When the settlers in any township not

mineral or reserved by the Government, or persons and

associations lawfully possessed of coal lands and otherwise

qualified to make entry thereof, or when the owners or

grantees of public lands of the United States, under any

law thereof, desire a survey made of the same under the

authority of the surveyor-general and shall file an applica-

tion therefor in writing, and shall deposit in a proper

United States depository to the credit of the United States

a sum sufficient to pay for such survey, together with all

expenditures incident thereto, without cost or claim for

indemnity on the United States, it shall be lawful for the

surveyor-general, under such instructions as may be given

him by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and

in accordance with law, to survey such township or such

public lands owned by said grantees of the Government,

and make return therefor to the general and proper local

land office: Provided, That no application shall be granted

unless the township so proposed to be surveyed is within

the range of the regular progress of the public surveys

embraced by existing standard lines or bases for township

and subdivisional surveys.”

Sec 2. That section twenty-four hundred and three of

the Revised Statutes of the United States as heretofore

amended is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

“Sec. 2403. Where settlers or owners or grantees of

public lands make deposits in accordance with the provi-

sions of section twenty-four hundred and one, as hereby

amended, certificates shall be issued for such deposits

which may be used by settlers in part payment for the

lands settled upon by them, the survey of which is paid for

out of such deposits, or said certificates may be assigned by

indorsement and may be received by the Government in

payment for any public lands of the United States in the

States where the surveys were made, entered or to be

entered under the laws thereof.”

Sec. 3. That all laws and parts of laws inconsistent with

this Act be, and the same are hereby, repealed.

Source:

Statutes at Large, Vol. 28, p. 423.

1026 ERA 6: The Development of the Industrial United States

win outlines the 14 chapters of his book, beginning with a

study of domesticated plants and animals. The early chapters

set the foundation for his discussion of natural selection in

chapter 4. The remaining chapters elaborate on the theory in

more detail, treating such topics as instinct and hybridism.

Darwin’s theories did not enter the dominant American

culture until the end of the 19th century, when a philosophy

called Social Darwinism took hold. Popularized by Yale pro-

fessor William Graham Sumner, his brand emphasized “sur-

vival of the fittest,” in which the best and most efficient

businesses would drive out those that were a drag on the econ-

omy. Under this philosophy, government regulation only

impeded the process. As oil magnate John D. Rockefeller

wrote in a metaphor for his own practices, “The American

beauty rose can be produced in the splendor and fragrance

which bring cheer to its beholder only by sacrificing the early

buds which grow up about it. . . . It is merely the working out

of a law of Nature and of God.”

________________________

_______________________

WHEN on board H.M.S. Beagle, as naturalist, I was much

struck with certain facts in the distribution of the inhabi-

tants of South America, and in the geological relations of

the present to the past inhabitants of that continent. These

facts seemed to me to throw some light on the origin of

species — that mystery of mysteries, as it has been called

by one of our greatest philosophers. On my return home,

it occurred to me, in 1837, that something might perhaps

be made out on this question by patiently accumulating

and reflecting on all sorts of facts which could possibly

have any bearing on it. After five years’ work I allowed

myself to speculate on the subject, and drew up some short

notes; these I enlarged in 1844 into a sketch of the conclu-

sions, which then seemed to me probable: from that

period to the present day I have steadily pursued the same

object. I hope that I may be excused for entering on these

personal details, as I give them to show that I have not

been hasty in coming to a decision.

My work is now nearly finished; but as it will take me

two or three more years to complete it, and as my health is

far from strong, I have been urged to publish this Abstract.

I have more especially been induced to do this, as Mr Wal-

lace, who is now studying the natural history of the Malay

archipelago, has arrived at almost exactly the same general

conclusions that I have on the origin of species. Last year

he sent to me a memoir on this subject, with a request that

I would forward it to Sir Charles Lyell, who sent it to the

Linnean Society, and it is published in the third volume of

the journal of that Society. Sir C. Lyell and Dr Hooker,

who both knew of my work—the latter having read my

sketch of 1844—honoured me by thinking it advisable to

publish, with Mr Wallace’s excellent memoir, some brief

extracts from my manuscripts.

This Abstract, which I now publish, must necessarily

be imperfect. I cannot here give references and authorities

for my several statements; and I must trust to the reader

reposing some confidence in my accuracy. No doubt errors

will have crept in, though I hope I have always been cau-

tious in trusting to good authorities alone. I can here give

only the general conclusions at which I have arrived, with

a few facts in illustration, but which, I hope, in most cases

will suffice. No one can feel more sensible than I do of the

necessity of hereafter publishing in detail all the facts, with

references, on which my conclusions have been grounded;

and I hope in a future work to do this. For I am well aware

that scarcely a single point is discussed in this volume on

which facts cannot be adduced, often apparently leading to

conclusions directly opposite to those at which I have

arrived. A fair result can be obtained only by fully stating

and balancing the facts and arguments on both sides of

each question; and this cannot possibly be here done.

I much regret that want of space prevents my having

the satisfaction of acknowledging the generous assistance

which I have received from very many naturalists, some of

them personally unknown to me. I cannot, however, let

this opportunity pass without expressing my deep obliga-

tions to Dr Hooker, who for the last fifteen years has aided

me in every possible way by his large stores of knowledge

and his excellent judgement.

In considering the Origin of Species, it is quite con-

ceivable that a naturalist, reflecting on the mutual affinities

of organic beings, on their embryological relations, their

geographical distribution, geological succession, and other

such facts, might come to the conclusion that each species

had not been independently created, but had descended,

like varieties, from other species. Nevertheless, such a

conclusion, even if well founded, would be unsatisfactory,

until it could be shown how the innumerable species

inhabiting this world have been modified so as to acquire

that perfection of structure and co-adaptation which most

justly excites our admiration. Naturalists continually refer

to external conditions, such as climate, food, &c., as the

only possible cause of variation. In one very limited sense,

as we shall hereafter see, this may be true; but it is pre-

posterous to attribute to mere external conditions, the

structure, for instance, of the woodpecker, with its feet,

tail, beak, and tongue, so admirably adapted to catch

insects under the bark of trees. In the case of the missel-

toe, which draws its nourishment from certain trees, which

has seeds that must be transported by certain birds, and

which has flowers with separate sexes absolutely requiring

the agency of certain insects to bring pollen from one

flower to the other, it is equally preposterous to account

for the structure of this parasite, with its relations to sev-

eral distinct organic beings, by the effects of external con-

ditions, or of habit, or of the volition of the plant itself.

Cultural Diversity and National Unity 1027

The author of the ‘Vestiges of Creation’ would, I pre-

sume, say that, after a certain unknown number of gener-

ations, some bird had given birth to a woodpecker, and

some plant to the misseltoe, and that these had been pro-

duced perfect as we now see them; but this assumption

seems to me to be no explanation, for it leaves the case

of the coadaptations of organic beings to each other and

to their physical conditions of life, untouched and un-

explained.

It is, therefore, of the highest importance to gain a

clear insight into the means of modification and coadapta-

tion. At the commencement of my observations it seemed

to me probable that a careful study of domesticated ani-

mals and of cultivated plants would offer the best chance

of making out this obscure problem. Nor have I been dis-

appointed; in this and in all other perplexing cases I have

invariably found that our knowledge, imperfect though it

be, of variation under domestication, afforded the best and

safest clue. I may venture to express my conviction of the

high value of such studies, although they have been very

commonly neglected by naturalists.

From these considerations, I shall devote the first

chapter of this Abstract to Variation under Domestication.

We shall thus see that a large amount of hereditary modi-

fication is at least possible, and, what is equally or more

important, we shall see how great is the power of man in

accumulating by his Selection successive slight variations.

I will then pass on to the variability of species in a state of

nature; but I shall, unfortunately, be compelled to treat

this subject far too briefly, as it can be treated properly

only by giving long catalogues of facts. We shall, however,

be enabled to discuss what circumstances are most

favourable to variation. In the next chapter the Struggle for

Existence amongst all organic beings throughout the

world, which inevitably follows from their high geometri-

cal powers of increase, will be treated of. This is the doc-

trine of Malthus, applied to the whole animal and

vegetable kingdoms. As many more individuals of each

species are born than can possibly survive; and as, conse-

quently, there is a frequently recurring struggle for exis-

tence, it follows that any being, if it vary however slightly

in any manner profitable to itself, under the complex and

sometimes varying conditions of life, will have a better

chance of surviving, and thus be naturally selected. From

the strong principle of inheritance, any selected variety

will tend to propagate its new and modified form.

This fundamental subject of Natural Selection will be

treated at some length in the fourth chapter; and we shall

then see how Natural Selection almost inevitably causes

much Extinction of the less improved forms of life and

induces what I have called Divergence of Character. In the

next chapter I shall discuss the complex and little known

laws of variation and of correlation of growth. In the four

succeeding chapters, the most apparent and gravest diffi-

culties on the theory will be given: namely, first, the diffi-

culties of transitions, or understanding how a simple being

or a simple organ can be changed and perfected into a

highly developed being or elaborately constructed organ;

secondly the subject of Instinct, or the mental powers of

animals, thirdly, Hybridism, or the infertility of species and

the fertility of varieties when intercrossed; and fourthly,

the imperfection of the Geological Record. In the next

chapter I shall consider the geological succession of

organic beings throughout time; in the eleventh and

twelfth, their geographical distribution throughout space;

in the thirteenth, their classification or mutual affinities,

both when mature and in an embryonic condition. In the

last chapter I shall give a brief recapitulation of the whole

work, and a few concluding remarks.

No one ought to feel surprise at much remaining as

yet unexplained in regard to the origin of species and vari-

eties, if he makes due allowance for our profound igno-

rance in regard to the mutual relations of all the beings

which live around us. Who can explain why one species

ranges widely and is very numerous, and why another

allied species has a narrow range and is rare? Yet these

relations are of the highest importance, for they determine

the present welfare, and, as I believe, the future success

and modification of every inhabitant of this world. Still less

do we know of the mutual relations of the innumerable

inhabitants of the world during the many past geological

epochs in its history. Although much remains obscure, and

will long remain obscure, I can entertain no doubt, after

the most deliberate study and dispassionate judgement of

which I am capable, that the view which most naturalists

entertain, and which I formerly entertained—namely, that

each species has been independently created—is erro-

neous. I am fully convinced that species are not

immutable; but that those belonging to what are called the

same genera are lineal descendants of some other and gen-

erally extinct species, in the same manner as the acknowl-

edged varieties of any one species are the descendants of

that species. Furthermore, I am convinced that Natural

Selection has been the main but not exclusive means of

modification.

Source:

Landmark Documents in American History, Facts On File, Inc.

Civil Rights Act, 1875

Federal act designed to prohibit social discrimination against

blacks, passed by Congress on March 1, 1875. The act guar-

anteed to all citizens—regardless of race, color, or previous

condition of servitude—equal rights in public places, such as

1028 ERA 6: The Development of the Industrial United States

Cultural Diversity and National Unity 1029

inns, theaters, restaurants, and public conveyances. Denial of

these rights was punishable by payment to the aggrieved per-

son and fine or imprisonment. Many whites refused to obey

the act, and in 1883 the Supreme Court struck down the law

as unconstitutional on the grounds that Congress did not have

the authority to legislate the social customs of any state. The

1875 act was the last federal civil rights legislation until the

Civil Rights Act of 1957.

________________________

_______________________

An Act

To protect all citizens in their civil and legal rights.

Whereas, it is essential to just government we recog-

nize the equality of all men before the law, and hold that it

is the duty of government in its dealings with the people to

mete out equal and exact justice to all, of whatever nativ-

ity, race, color, or persuasion, religious or political; and it

being the appropriate object of legislation to enact great

fundamental principles into law: Therefore,

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-

tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-

bled, That all persons within the jurisdiction of the United

States shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of

the accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges

of inns, public conveyances on land or water, theaters, and

other places of public amusement; subject only to the con-

ditions and limitations established by law, and applicable

alike to citizens of every race and color, regardless of any

previous condition of servitude.

Sec. 2. That any person who shall violate the foregoing

section by denying to any citizen, except for reasons by law

applicable to citizens of every race and color, and regard-

less of any previous condition of servitude, the full enjoy-

ment of any of the accommodations, advantages, facilities,

or privileges in said section enumerated, or by aiding or

inciting such denial, shall, for every such offense, forfeit

and pay the sum of five hundred dollars to the person

aggrieved thereby, to be recovered in an action of debt,

with full costs; and shall also, for every such offense, be

deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction

thereof, shall be fined not less than five hundred nor more

than one thousand dollars, or shall be imprisoned not less

than thirty days nor more than one year: Provided, That all

persons may elect to sue for the penalty aforesaid or to

proceed under their rights at common law and by State

statutes; and having so elected to proceed in the one mode

or the other, their right to proceed in the other jurisdiction

shall be barred. But this proviso shall not apply to criminal

proceedings, either under this act or the criminal law of

any State: And provided further, That a judgment for the

penalty in favor of the party aggrieved, or a judgment upon

an indictment, shall be a bar to either prosecution respec-

tively.

Sec. 3. That the district and circuit courts of the

United States shall have, exclusively of the courts of the

several States, cognizance of all crimes and offenses

against, and violations of, the provisions of this act; and

actions for the penalty given by the preceding section may

be prosecuted in the territorial, district, or circuit courts

of the United States wherever the defendant may be

found, without regard to the other party; and the district

attorneys, marshals, and deputy marshals of the United

States, and commissioners appointed by the circuit and

territorial courts of the United States, with powers of

arresting and imprisoning or bailing offenders against the

laws of the United States, are hereby specially authorized

and required to institute proceedings against every per-

son who shall violate the provisions of this act, and cause

him to be arrested and imprisoned or bailed, as the case

may be, for trial before such court of the United States,

or territorial court, as by law has cognizance of the

offense, except in respect of the right of action accruing

to the person aggrieved; and such district attorneys shall

cause such proceedings to be prosecuted to their termi-

nation as in other cases: Provided, That nothing contained

in this section shall be construed to deny or defeat any

right of civil action accruing to any person, whether by

reason of this act or otherwise; and any district attorney

who shall willfully fail to institute and prosecute the pro-

ceedings herein required, shall, for every such offense,

forfeit and pay the sum of five hundred dollars to the per-

son aggrieved thereby, to be recovered by an action of

debt, with full costs, and shall, on conviction thereof, be

deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and be fined not less

than one thousand nor more than five thousand dollars:

And provided further, That a judgment for the penalty in

favor or the party aggrieved against any such district

attorney, or a judgment upon an indictment against any

such district attorney, shall be a bar to either prosecution

respectively.

Sec. 4. That no citizen possessing all other qualifica-

tions which are or may be prescribed by law shall be dis-

qualified for service as grand or petit juror in any court of

the United States, or of any State, on account of race,

color, or previous condition of servitude; and any officer or

other person charged with any duty in the selection or

summoning of jurors who shall exclude or fail to summon

any citizen for the cause aforesaid shall, on conviction

thereof, be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and be fined

not more than five thousand dollars.

Sec. 5. That all cases arising under the provisions of

this act in the courts of the United States shall be review-

able by the Supreme Court of the United States, without

regard to the sum in controversy, under the same provi-

sions and regulations as are now provided by law for the

review of other causes in said court.

Source:

Statutes at Large, Vol. 19, pp. 333–337.

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

Legislation passed by the U.S. Congress suspending the immi-

gration of Chinese laborers to the United States for 10 years.

Although the Burlingame Treaty of 1868 had permitted immi-

gration, by the 1870s the large influx of Chinese laborers,

especially to California, was producing increasing resentment

among competing white laborers, including the Knights of

Labor. In 1879 Congress passed a bill prohibiting further Chi-

nese immigration, but it was vetoed by President Rutherford B.

Hayes. The following year a new treaty with China gave the

United States the right to limit or suspend the entry of Chinese

labor but not to prohibit it absolutely. The 1882 suspension of

immigration was renewed for another decade in 1892. The

1902 act, more restrictive than previous measures, extended

the law to the Philippines and Hawaii and prevented Chinese

migration from these islands to the mainland. Its prohibitions

remained in effect until 1943, when immigration was permit-

ted under a strict quota system.

In 1907 the United States and Japan concluded what is

known as “The Gentlemen’s Agreement” to limit Japanese

immigration. It was first affirmed in a Japanese diplomatic note

on February 24, 1907, and later confirmed in another Japa-

nese note on February 18, 1908.

________________________

_______________________

An Act

To execute certain treaty stipulations relating to Chinese.

Whereas, in the opinion of the Government of the

United States the coming of Chinese laborers to this coun-

try endangers the good order of certain localities within

the territory thereof: Therefore,

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-

tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-

bled, That from and after the expiration of ninety days next

after the passage of this act, and until the expiration of ten

years next after the passage of this act, the coming of Chi-

nese laborers to the United States be, and the same is

hereby, suspended; and during such suspension it shall not

be lawful for any Chinese laborer to come, or, having so

come after the expiration of said ninety days, to remain

within the United States.

Sec. 2. That the master of any vessel who shall know-

ingly bring within the United States on such vessel, and

land or permit to be landed, any Chinese laborer, from any

foreign port or place, shall be deemed guilty of a misde-

meanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a

fine of not more than five hundred dollars for each and

every such Chinese laborer so brought, and may be also

imprisoned for a term not exceeding one year.

Sec. 3. That the two foregoing sections shall not apply

to Chinese laborers who were in the United States on the

seventeenth day of November, eighteen hundred and

eighty, or who shall have come into the same before the

expiration of ninety days next after the passage of this act,

and who shall produce to such master before going on

board such vessel, and shall produce to the collector of the

port in the United States at which such vessel shall arrive,

the evidence hereinafter in this act required of his being

one of the laborers in this section mentioned; nor shall the

two foregoing sections apply to the case of any master

whose vessel, being bound to a port not within the United

States, shall come within the jurisdiction of the United

States by reason of being in distress or in stress of weather,

or touching at any port of the United States on its voyage

to any foreign port or place: Provided, That all Chinese

laborers brought on such vessel shall depart with the ves-

sel on leaving port.

Sec. 4. That for the purpose of properly identifying

Chinese laborers who were in the United States on the

seventeenth day of November, eighteen hundred and

eighty, or who shall have come into the same before the

expiration of ninety days next after the passage of this act,

and in order to furnish them with the proper evidence of

their right to go from and come to the United States of

their free will and accord, as provided by the treaty

between the United States and China dated November

seventeenth, eighteen hundred and eighty, the collector of

customs of the district from which any such Chinese

laborer shall depart from the United States shall, in person

or by deputy, go on board each vessel having on board any

such Chinese laborer and cleared or about to sail from his

district for a foreign port, and on such vessel make a list of

all such Chinese laborers, which shall be entered in reg-

istry-books to be kept for that purpose, in which shall be

stated the name, age, occupation, last place of residence,

physical marks or peculiarities, and all facts necessary for

the identification of each of such Chinese laborers, which

books shall be safely kept in the custom-house; and every

such Chinese laborer so departing from the United States

shall be entitled to, and shall receive, free of any charge or

cost upon application therefor, from the collector or his

deputy, at the time such list is taken, a certificate, signed

by the collector or his deputy and attested by his seal of

office, in such form as the Secretary of the Treasury shall

prescribe, which certificate shall contain a statement of the

name, age, occupation, last place of residence, personal

description, and facts of identification of the Chinese

laborer to whom the certificate is issued, corresponding

with the said list and registry in all particulars. In case any

Chinese laborer after having received such certificate shall

1030 ERA 6: The Development of the Industrial United States

Cultural Diversity and National Unity 1031

leave such vessel before her departure he shall deliver his

certificate to the master of the vessel, and if such Chinese

laborer shall fail to return to such vessel before her depar-

ture from port the certificate shall be delivered by the

master to the collector of customs for cancellation. The

certificate herein provided for shall entitle the Chinese

laborer to whom the same is issued to return to and re-

enter the United States upon producing and delivering the

same to the collector of customs of the district at which

such Chinese laborer shall seek to re-enter; and upon

delivery of such certificate by such Chinese laborer to the

collector of customs at the time of re-entry in the United

States, said collector shall cause the same to be filed in the

custom-house and duly canceled.

Sec. 5. That any Chinese laborer mentioned in section

four of this act being in the United States, and desiring to

depart from the United States by land, shall have the right

to demand and receive, free of charge or cost, a certificate

of identification similar to that provided for in section four

of this act to be issued to such Chinese laborers as may

desire to leave the United States by water; and it is hereby

made the duty of the collector of customs of the district

next adjoining the foreign country to which said Chinese

laborer desires to go to issue such certificate, free of

charge or cost, upon application by such Chinese laborer,

and to enter the same upon registry-books to be kept by

him for the purpose, as provided for in section four of this

act.

Sec. 6. That in order to the faithful execution of arti-

cles one and two of the treaty in this act before mentioned,

every Chinese person other than a laborer who may be

entitled by said treaty and this act to come within the

United States, and who shall be about to come to the

United States, shall be identified as so entitled by the Chi-

nese Government in each case, such identity to be evi-

denced by a certificate issued under the authority of said

government, which certificate shall be in the English lan-

guage or (if not in the English language) accompanied by

a translation into English, stating such right to come, and

which certificate shall state the name, title, or official rank,

if any, the age, height, and all physical peculiarities, former

and present occupation or profession, and place of resi-

dence in China of the person to whom the certificate is

issued and that such person is entitled conformably to the

treaty in this act mentioned to come within the United

States. Such certificate shall be prima-facie evidence of the

fact set forth therein, and shall be produced to the collec-

tor of customs, or his deputy, of the port in the district in

the United States at which the person named therein shall

arrive.

Sec. 7. That any person who shall knowingly and

falsely alter or substitute any name for the name written in

such certificate or forge any such certificate, or knowingly

utter any forged or fraudulent certificate, or falsely per-

sonate any person named in any such certificate, shall be

deemed guilty of a misdemeanor; and upon conviction

thereof shall be fined in a sum not exceeding one thousand

dollars, and imprisoned in a penitentiary for a term of not

more than five years.

Sec. 8. That the master of any vessel arriving in the

United States from any foreign port or place shall, at the

same time he delivers a manifest of the cargo, and if there

be no cargo, then at the time of making a report of the

entry of the vessel pursuant to law, in addition to the other

matter required to be reported, and before landing, or per-

mitting to land, any Chinese passengers, deliver and report

to the collector of customs of the district in which such

vessels shall have arrived a separate list of all Chinese pas-

sengers taken on board his vessel at any foreign port or

place, and all such passengers on board the vessel at that

time. Such list shall show the names of such passengers

(and if accredited officers of the Chinese Government

traveling on the business of that government, or their ser-

vants, with a note of such facts), and the names and other

particulars, as shown by their respective certificates; and

such list shall be sworn to by the master in the manner

required by law in relation to the manifest of the cargo.

Any willful refusal or neglect of any such master to comply

with the provisions of this section shall incur the same

penalties and forfeiture as are provided for a refusal or

neglect to report and deliver a manifest of the cargo.

Sec. 9. That before any Chinese passengers are landed

from any such vessel, the collector, or his deputy, shall pro-

ceed to examine such passengers, comparing the certifi-

cates with the list and with the passengers; and no

passenger shall be allowed to land in the United States

from such vessel in violation of law.

Sec. 10. That every vessel whose master shall know-

ingly violate any of the provisions of this act shall be

deemed forfeited to the United States, and shall be liable

to seizure and condemnation in any district of the United

States into which such vessel may enter or in which she

may be found.

Sec. 11. That any person who shall knowingly bring

into or cause to be brought into the United States by land,

or who shall knowingly aid or abet the same, or aid or abet

the landing in the United States from any vessel of any

Chinese person not lawfully entitled to enter the United

States, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall,

on conviction thereof, be fined in a sum not exceeding one

thousand dollars, and imprisoned for a term not exceeding

one year.

Sec. 12. That no Chinese person shall be permitted to

enter the United States by land without producing to the

proper officer of customs the certificate in this act

required of Chinese persons seeking to land from a vessel.