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Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Silver dollar, the (search)
pieces were struck. These are held in the most sacred reverence by the few fortunate collectors of coins who possess them. Because of the cessation in the coinage of the silver dollar, there was a steady increase in the coinage of the half-dollar and other fractions of the dollar until 1834, when $3,260,000 in halves were coined and issued. Yet the public demand for a metallic currency so continually increased that Congress passed an act (Jan. 25, 1834) making the dollars of Mexico, Peru, Chile, and Central America, of a given weight and certain fineness, a legal tender in payment of debts. The object was, as the United States was not then a silver-producer, to economize the importation and use of the silver of other countries. The act approved June 28, 1834, left the silver dollar at its original weight and fineness; but in 1837 there was a radical change made by act approved Jan. 18, 1837. The change was in the fineness of both the gold and the silver coins. By increasing t
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Spain. (search)
ns concerning commerce and neutral rights, and a board of commissioners was provided for to liquidate losses on the part of the Americans in consequence of illegal captures by Spanish cruisers, such losses to be paid by the Spanish crown. The rising of the people of the Spanish-American provinces to secure their political independence of Spain began soon after the royal family of Portugal abandoned Europe and took refuge in Brazil in 1807. The rising began in Buenos Ayres, Venezuela, and Chile. In 1810 Mexico revolted, but did not secure its independence until 1821. The other states followed at various intervals, Bolivia, in 1824, being the last. The people of the United States naturally sympathized with these movements. When the diplomatic appropriation bill came up in Congress, March 24, 1818, Henry Clay moved to insert an appropriation for a minister to the new South American republic of La Plata. Early in the session of 1819 he proposed the acknowledgment of the South Ame
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Strain, Isaac G. 1821-1857 (search)
Strain, Isaac G. 1821-1857 Naval officer; born in Roxbury, Pa., March 4, 1821. While yet a midshipman (1845), he led a small party to explore the interior of Brazil, and in 1848 explored the peninsula of California. In 1849 he crossed South America from Valparaiso to Buenos Ayres, and wrote an account of the journey, entitled The Cordillera and Pampa, Mountain and plain: sketches of a journey in Chile and the Argentine provinces. In 1850 he was assigned to the Mexican boundary commission, and afterwards (1854) led a famous expedition across the Isthmus of Darien, for an account of which see Harper's magazine, 1856-57. In 1856, in the steamer Arctic, Lieutenant Strain ascertained by soundings the practicability of laying an ocean telegraphic cable between America and Europe. He died in Aspinwall, Colombia, May 14, 1857.
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Treaties. (search)
nued. Foreign Power and Object of Treaty.Where Concluded.Date. Borneo: Convention of Peace, friendship, good understandingBruniJune 23, 1850 Brazil: Treaty of Peace and amityRio de JaneiroDec. 12, 1828 Convention of Satisfying U. S. claimsRio de JaneiroJan. 27, 1849 Convention of Trade-marksRio de JaneiroSept. 24, 1878 Brunswick and Luxemburg: Convention of Rights of citizensWashingtonAug. 21, 1854 Central America: Convention of Peace, amity, navigation, etcWashingtonDec. 5, 1825 Chile: Convention of Peace, commerce, and navigationSantiagoMay 16, 1832 Convention of Arbitration of Macedonian claimsSantiagoNov. 10, 1858 China: Treaty of Peace, amity, and commerceWang-HiyaJuly 3, 1844 Treaty of Peace, amity, and commerceTientsinJune 18, 1858 Convention of Adjustment of claimShanghaiNov. 8, 1858 Convention of Additions to treaty of June 18, 1858WashingtonJuly 28, 1868 Treaty of EmigrationPekingNov. 17, 1880 Treaty of Commercial and judicialPekingNov. 17, 1880 Treaty
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Trescot, William Henry 1822-1898 (search)
illiam Henry 1822-1898 Diplomatist; born in Charleston, S. C., Nov. 10, 1822; Great Bridge at McConkey's Ferry. graduated at Charleston College in 1840; admitted to the bar in 1843; assistant Secretary of State from December, 1860, till the secession of South Carolina; held a seat in the legislature of that State in 1862-66; began the practice of law in Washington in 1875; was a member of the commission of 1880 to revise the treaty with China; special agent to the belligerents of Peru, Chile, and Bolivia in 1881, and during the same year represented the government in the negotiations concerning its rights in the Isthmus of Panama; appointed with General Grant in 1882 to effect a commercial treaty with Mexico. His publications include A few thoughts on the foreign policy of the United States; The diplomacy of the Revolution; Diplomatic system of the United States; An American view of the Eastern question; The diplomatic history of the administrations of Washington and Adams; Add
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), United States of America. (search)
f seven months)......August, 1541 Don Pedro de Valdivia invades and conquers Chile......1541 Cortez returns to Spain, 1540; and dies there, aged sixty-two.....ta Rica, Paraguay, Brazil, Honduras, Mexico, Bolivia, United States, Venezuela, Chile, San Salvador, and Ecuador, adjourns......April 19, 1890 John C. Fremont pla United States cruiser Baltimore injured by a mob in the streets of Valparaiso, Chile, resulting in death of two sailors......Oct. 16, 1891 Nathaniel Duncan Ingraourt at Los Angeles, Cal.......Nov. 5, 1891 Señor Pedro Montt, minister from Chile, officially presented to President Harrison......Nov. 14, 1891 A lunatic ent Minister Matta......Jan. 21, 1892 Satisfactory answer to the ultimatum from Chile submitted to Congress with a message from the President......Jan. 27, 1892 J of $75,000 in the matter of the Chilean affair of Oct. 16, 1891, accepted from Chile by United States minister Eagan......July 17, 1892 Proviso for closing the W
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), War of 1812, (search)
village of Newark, Canada, and evacuates Fort George, opposite Fort Niagara (he is severely censured)......Dec. 10, 1813 Fort Niagara captured by the British......Dec. 19, 1813 Buffalo and Black Rock burned by the British and Indians......Dec. 30, 1813 General Jackson defeats and crushes the Creek Indians at Great Horse Shoe Bend, on the Tallapoosa......March 27, 1814 Frigate Essex, Capt. David Porter, surrenders to the British ships Phoebe and Cherub in the harbor of Valparaiso, Chile......March 28, 1814 General Wilkinson, with about 2,000 troops, attacks a party of British, fortified in a stone mill, at La Colle, Lower Canada, near the north end of Lake Champlain, and is repulsed......March 30, 1814 British blockade extended to the whole coast of the United States......April 23, 1814 Sloop-of-war Peacock captures the British brig Épervier off the coast of Florida with $118,000 in specie......April 29, 1814 British attack and destroy the fort at Oswego, N. Y
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Wise, Henry Augustus 1819-1869 (search)
Wise, Henry Augustus 1819-1869 Naval officer; born in Brooklyn, N. Y., May 12, 1819; entered the navy as midshipman in 1834; served on the coast of Florida during the Seminole War, and on the Pacific coast as colonel during the Mexican War; was appointed assistant chief of the bureau of ordnance and hydrography with the rank of commander in 1862; and was promoted captain and chief of ordnance in 1866, resigning in 1868. He died in Naples, Italy, April 2, 1869. He was author of Los Gringos, or an Interior view of Mexico and California, with wanderings in Peru, Chile, and Polynesia, etc.
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), B. (search)
hara to form the Egyptian, Phoenician, and Assyrian bronzes. Dr. Wilson (Prehistoric Man) supposes that tin was first brought to the Mediterranean from Malacca, and gave a new impetus to early Eastern civilization. Britain was the next source. Chili and Mexico are more lately known as productive sources of the same useful metal. The ordinary Assyrian bronze is composed of copper 10, tin 1. Their bell-metal was, copper 86, tin 14. The ancient bronze cutting-tools contained from 4 to 15e were ignorant of their real value, than the Indians with our glass beads. Ancient American Bronzes.Copper.Tin.Iron. Chisel from silver-mines, Cuzco946 Chisel from Cuzco92.3857.615 Knife from grave, Atacama97.872.13 Knife964 Crowbar from Chili92.3857.615 Knife from Amaro95.6643.9350.371 Perforated axe964 Personal ornament, Truigilla95.4404.560 Bodkin from grave96.703.30 The bronzes of Europe took a much wider range of variation. Copper.Tin.LeadIron. Spear-head, Lincolnshir
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), M. (search)
h a pan of water, which still farther condenses escaping fumes. Mer′cu-ry-fur′nace. A furnace in which cinnabar is treated for the production of mercury. The localities yielding the sulphide of mercury are not numerous. The Almaden mines of Spain were known to the Greeks 700 B. C., and were celebrated in the time of Pliny. The mines of Idria, the Palatinate, and of New Almaden in California, are extensive and rich. The ore is also found in Peru, China, Hungary, Sweden, Japan, and Chili. In the furnace the ore is subjected to distillation in retorts which lead to condensing-chambers, or the blocks of ore are roasted in a furnace, the whole volatile results of the furnace passing with the metalliferous fumes to a series of condensing-chambers. See condenser. See previous article. The latter is the plan adopted at Idria in Austria, the former in Bavaria and California. Dr. Ure's retort-furnace, erected at Landsberg in Bavaria, resembles the apparatus for the distillati
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