Ten years after we got Florida General Jackson became President of the United States.  He had fought his way up.  Here are the four steps:  first the boy, “Andy Jackson”; then “Judge Jackson”; then “General Jackson”; last of all, “President Jackson.”

Shortly after he became the chief ruler of the nation the first steam railroad in the United States was built (1830).  From that time such roads kept creeping further and further west.  The Indians had frightened the white settlers with their terrible war-whoop.  Now it was their turn to be frightened, for the locomotive whistle[17] could beat their wildest yell.  They saw that the white man was coming as fast as steam could carry him, and that he was determined to get possession of the whole land.  The greater part of the Indians moved across the Mississippi; but the white man kept following them and following the buffalo further and further across the country, toward the Pacific Ocean; and the railroad followed in the white man’s track.

[Illustration:  THE GREAT STEEL RAILROAD BRIDGE ACROSS THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AT ST. LOUIS. (Built by Captain Eads, and completed in 1874.)]

[Illustration:  NIAGARA SUSPENSION BRIDGE.]

[Footnote 15:  See map in this paragraph.]

[Footnote 16:  For our first land purchase see paragraph 188.]

[Footnote 17:  The first steam railroad built in the United States extended from Baltimore to Ellicott’s Mills, Maryland, a distance of twelve miles.  It was opened in 1830.  It forms a part of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.]

219.  Summary.—­Andrew Jackson of North Carolina gained a great victory over the Indians in Alabama and also in Florida.  In 1815, in our second war with England, General Jackson whipped the British at New Orleans, and so prevented their getting possession of that city.  A few years later we bought Florida of Spain.

After General Jackson became President of the United States the first steam-railroad was built in this country.  Railroads helped to settle the west and build up states beyond the Mississippi.

Who fought the greatest battle of the War of 1812?  Tell about Andrew Jackson’s boyhood.  Tell the story of the gun.  Tell about Tarleton.  What did Mrs. Jackson do?  What did Andrew do?  What did Andrew use to do at the blacksmith shop?

Tell about Tarleton’s men and the bees.  What did bands of armed men use to do in the country where Andrew lived?  Tell about playing at battle.  What did Tarleton say?  Tell about Andrew and the boots.  Tell how he saw a battle through a knot-hole.  Tell how Andrew’s mother died.  What did he say about her?  Tell about Andrew Jackson as a judge.  Why was he made a general?  Tell about Tecumseh and the Alabama Indians.  After General Jackson had beaten the Indians, where did they go?  What is said about the “Holy Ground.”  What about Jackson and Weathersford?  Tell about the great battle of New Orleans.  Who gained the victory?  When did we buy Florida?  What were the four steps in Andrew Jackson’s life?  What is said about railroads?