A Short History of the United States by Edward Channing

E >> Edward Channing >> A Short History of the United States

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24

[Sidenote: Spaniards and Frenchmen.]

[Sidenote: End of the French settlement, 1565. _Explorers_, 159-166.]

20. The Spaniards in Florida, 1565.--For this purpose the Spaniards
sent out an expedition under Menendez (Ma-nen'-deth). He sailed to the
River of May and found Ribault there with a French fleet. So he turned
southward, and going ashore founded St. Augustine. Ribault followed, but
a terrible storm drove his whole fleet ashore south of St. Augustine.
Menendez then marched over land to the French colony. He surprised the
colonists and killed nearly all of them. Then going back to St.
Augustine, he found Ribault and his shipwrecked sailors and killed
nearly all of them. In this way ended the French attempts to found a
colony in Carolina and Florida. But St. Augustine remained, and is
to-day the oldest town on the mainland of the United States.

CHAPTER 3

PIONEERS OF ENGLAND

[Sidenote: Hawkins's voyages, 1562-67.]

21. Sir John Hawkins.--For many years after Cabot's voyage
Englishmen were too busy at home to pay much attention to distant
expeditions. But in Queen Elizabeth's time English seamen began to sail
to America. The first of them to win a place in history was John
Hawkins. He carried cargoes of negro slaves from Africa to the West
Indies and sold them to the Spanish planters. On his third voyage he was
basely attacked by the Spaniards and lost four of his five ships.
Returning home, he became one of the leading men of Elizabeth's little
navy and fought most gallantly for his country.

[Illustration: SIR FRANCIS DRAKE.]

[Sidenote: Drake on the California coast, 1577-78. _Source-Book_, 9.]

22. Sir Francis Drake.--A greater and a more famous man was
Hawkins's cousin, Francis Drake. He had been with Hawkins on his third
voyage and had come to hate Spaniards most vigorously. In 1577 he made a
famous voyage round the world. Steering through the Straits of Magellan,
he plundered the Spanish towns on the western coasts of South America.
At one place his sailors went on shore and found a man sound asleep.
Near him were four bars of silver. "We took the silver and left the
man," wrote the old historian of the voyage. Drake also captured vessels
loaded with gold and silver and pearls. Sailing northward, he repaired
his ship, the _Pelican_, on the coast of California, and returned home
by the way of the Cape of Good Hope.

[Sidenote: Ralegh and his colonies. _Eggleston_, 13-17; _Explorers_,
177-189.]

23. Sir Walter Ralegh.--Still another famous Englishman of
Elizabeth's time was Walter Ralegh. He never saw the coasts of the
United States, but his name is rightly connected with our history,
because he tried again and again to found colonies on our shores. In
1584 he sent Amadas and Barlowe to explore the Atlantic seashore of
North America. Their reports were so favorable that he sent a strong
colony to settle on Roanoke Island in Virginia, as he named that region.
But the settlers soon became unhappy because they found no gold. Then,
too, their food began to fail, and Drake, happening along, took them
back to England.

[Sidenote: Ralegh's last attempt, 1587. _Explorers_, 189-200.]

24. The "Lost Colony," 1587.--Ralegh made still one more attempt to
found a colony in Virginia. But the fate of this colony was most
dreadful. For the settlers entirely disappeared,--men, women, and
children. Among the lost was little Virginia Dare, the first English
child born in America. No one really knows what became of these people.
But the Indians told the later settlers of Jamestown that they had been
killed by the savages.

[Sidenote: Ruin of Spain's sea-power. _English History for Americans_,
131-135.]

25. Destruction of the Spanish Armada, 1588.--This activity of the
English in America was very distressing to the King of Spain. For he
claimed all America for himself and did not wish Englishmen to go
thither. He determined to conquer England and thus put an end to these
English voyages. But Hawkins, Drake, Ralegh, and the men behind the
English guns were too strong even for the Invincible Armada. Spain's
sea-power never recovered from this terrible blow. Englishmen could now
found colonies with slight fear of the Spaniards. When the Spanish king
learned of the settlement of Jamestown, he ordered an expedition to go
from St. Augustine to destroy the English colony. But the Spaniards
never got farther than the mouth of the James River. For when they
reached that point, they thought they saw the masts and spars of an
English ship. They at once turned about and sailed back to Florida as
fast as they could go.

* * * * *

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

CHAPTER 1

Sec.Sec. 1-3.--a. To how much honor are the Northmen entitled as the
discoverers of America?

b. Draw from memory a map showing the relative positions of Norway,
Iceland, Greenland, and North America.

c. What portions of the world were known to Europeans in 1490? Explain
by drawing a map.

Sec.Sec. 4-6.--a. State Columbus's beliefs about the shape and size of the
earth.

b. What land did Columbus think that he had reached?

c. What is meant by the statement that "he took possession" of the new
land?

d. Describe the appearance of the Indians, their food, and their
weapons.

Sec.Sec. 7-9.--a. What other Italians sailed across the Atlantic before 1500?
Why was Cabot's voyage important?

b. Why was the New World called America and not Columbia?

c. Describe the discovery of the Pacific Ocean. Why was this discovery
of importance?

CHAPTER 2

Sec.Sec. 10-12.--a. What was the chief wish of the Spanish explorers?

b. How did they treat the Indians?

Sec.Sec. 13-16.--a. Describe a pueblo. What do the existing pueblos teach us
about the Indians of Coronado's time?

b. Describe Coronado's march.

c. What other band of Spaniards nearly approached Coronado's men?
Describe their march.

d. What other places were explored by the Spaniards?

Sec.Sec. 17-20.--a. Why did Verrazano explore the northeastern coasts?

b. Describe Cartier's experiences in the St. Lawrence.

c. Describe the French expeditions to Carolina and Florida.

d. What reason had the Spaniards for attacking the French?

CHAPTER 3

Sec.Sec. 21, 22.--a. Look up something about the early voyages of Francis
Drake.

b. Compare Drake's route around the world with that of Magellan.

Sec.Sec. 23-25.--a. Explain carefully Ralegh's connection with our history.

b. Was the territory Ralegh named Virginia just what is now the state of
Virginia?

c. What is sea-power?

d. What effect did the defeat of Spain have upon _our_ history?

GENERAL QUESTIONS

a. Draw upon an Outline Map the routes of all the explorers mentioned.
Place names and dates in their proper places.

b. Arrange a table of the various explorers as follows, stating in two
or three words what each accomplished:--

================================================
DATE. | SPANISH. | FRENCH. | ENGLISH.
-------+-----------+----------+-----------------
1492 | Columbus | |
1497 | | | Cabot.
================================================

TOPICS FOR SPECIAL WORK

a. Columbus's first voyage, Irving (abridged edition).

b. Coronado's expedition, Lummis's _Spanish Pioneers_.

c. Verrazano and Cartier, Higginson's _Explorers_.

d. The "Lost Colony," Higginson's _Explorers_.

e. The England of Elizabeth (a study of any small history of England
will suffice for this topic).

SUGGESTIONS TO THE TEACHER

The teacher is recommended to study sources in preparing her work,
making selections where possible, for the pupil's use. Some knowledge of
European history (English especially) is essential for understanding our
early history, and definite work of this nature on the teacher's part,
at least, is earnestly advised.

Encourage outside reading by assigning subjects for individual
preparation, the results to be given to the class. Let the children keep
note books for entering the important points thus given.

Map study and map drawing should be constant, but demand correct
relations rather than finished drawings. Geographical environment should
be emphasized as well as the influence of natural resources and
productions in developing the country and in determining its history.

In laying out the work on this period the teacher should remember that
this part is in the nature of an introduction.

II

COLONIZATION, 1600-1660

Books for Study and Reading

References.--Fiske's _United States for Schools_, 59-133;
Eggleston's _United States and its People_, 91-113 (for colonial life);
Parkman's _Pioneers_ (for French colonies); Bradford's _Plymouth
Plantation_ (extracts in "American History Leaflets," No. 29).

Home Readings.--Drake's _Making of New England_; Drake's _Making of
Virginia and the Middle States_; Eggleston's _Pocahontas and Powhatan_;
Dix's _Soldier Rigdale_ (Pilgrim children); Irving's _Knickerbocker
History_; Webster's _Plymouth Oration_; Longfellow's _Myles Standish_;
Moore's _Pilgrims and Puritans_.

CHAPTER 4

FRENCH COLONISTS, MISSIONARIES, AND EXPLORERS

[Sidenote: Settlement of Acadia, 1604.]

[Sidenote: Port Royal.]

26. The French in Acadia.--For nearly forty years after the
destruction of the colony on the River of May, Frenchmen were too busy
fighting one another at home to send any more colonists to America. At
length, in 1604, a few Frenchmen settled on an island in the St. Croix
River. But the place was so cold and windy that after a few months they
crossed the Bay of Fundy and founded the town of Port Royal. The country
they called Acadia.

[Sidenote: Champlain at Plymouth.]

[Sidenote: Quebec founded, 1608.]

[Sidenote: Champlain on Lake Champlain, 1609.]

[Sidenote: He attacks the Iroquois. _Explorers_, 269-278.]

27. Champlain and his Work.--The most famous of these colonists was
Champlain. He sailed along the coast southward and westward as far as
Plymouth. As he passed by the mouth of Boston harbor, a mist hung low
over the water, and he did not see the entrance. Had it been clear he
would have discovered Boston harbor and Charles River, and French
colonists might have settled there. In 1608 Champlain built a
trading-post at Quebec and lived there for many years as governor or
chief trader. He soon joined the St. Lawrence Indians in their war
parties and explored large portions of the interior. In 1609 he went
with the Indians to a beautiful lake. Far away to the east were
mountains covered with snow. To the south were other mountains, but with
no snow on their tops. To the lake the explorer gave his own name, and
we still call it in his honor, Lake Champlain. While there, he drove
away with his firearms a body of Iroquois Indians. A few years later he
went with another war party to western New York and again attacked
the Iroquois.

[Sidenote: French missionaries and traders.]

[Sidenote: They visit Lake Superior and Lake Michigan.]

28. The French on the Great Lakes.--Champlain was the first of many
French discoverers. Some of these were missionaries who left home and
friends to bring the blessings of Christianity to the Red Men of the
western world. Others were fur-traders, while still others were men who
came to the wilderness in search of excitement. These French discoverers
found Lake Superior and Lake Michigan; they even reached the headwaters
of the Wisconsin River--a branch of the Mississippi.

[Sidenote: The Jesuits and their work.]

29. The French Missionaries.--The most active of the French
missionaries were the Jesuits. built stations on the shores of the Great
Lakes. They made long expeditions to unknown regions. Some of them were
killed by those whom they tried to convert to Christianity. Others were
robbed and left to starve. Others still were tortured and cruelly
abused. But the prospect of starvation, torture, and death only made
them more eager to carry on their great work.

[Illustration: CHAMPLAIN'S ATTACK ON AN IROQUOIS FORT.]

[Sidenote: The League of the Iroquois.]

[Sidenote: Their hatred of the French. Its importance.]

[Sidenote: The missionaries and the Iroquois.]

30. The Iroquois.--The strongest of all the Indian tribes were the
nations who formed the League of the Iroquois. Ever since Champlain
fired upon them they hated the sight of a Frenchman. On the other hand,
they looked upon the Dutch and the English as their friends. French
missionaries tried to convert them to Christianity as they had converted
the St. Lawrence Indians. But the Iroquois saw in this only another
attempt at French conquest. So they hung red-hot stones about the
missionaries' necks, or they burned them to death, or they cut them to
pieces while yet living. For a century and a half the Iroquois stood
between the Dutch and English settlers and their common enemies in
Canada. Few events, in American history, therefore, have had such great
consequences as Champlain's unprovoked attacks upon the Iroquois.

CHAPTER 5

VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND

[Sidenote: New conditions of living in England.]

[Sidenote: The Virginia Company.]

31. The Virginia Company, 1606.--English people were now beginning
to think in earnest of founding colonies. It was getting harder and
harder to earn one's living in England, and it was very difficult to
invest one's money in any useful way. It followed, from this, that there
were many men who were glad to become colonists, and many persons who
were glad to provide money to pay for founding colonies. In 1606 the
Virginia Company was formed and colonization began on a large scale.

[Sidenote: The Virginia colonists at Jamestown, 1607. _Higginson_,
52, 110-117; _Eggleston_, 19-28; _Explorers_ 231-269.]

[Sidenote: Sickness and death.]

32. Founding of Jamestown, 1607. The first colonists sailed for
Virginia in December, 1606. They were months on the way and suffered
terrible hardships. At last they reached Chesapeake Bay and James River
and settled on a peninsula on the James, about thirty miles from its
mouth. Across the little isthmus which connected this peninsula with the
mainland they built a strong fence, or stockade, to keep the Indians
away from their huts. Their settlement they named Jamestown. The early
colonists of Virginia were not very well fitted for such a work. Some of
them were gentlemen who had never labored with their hands; others were
poor, idle fellows whose only wish was to do nothing whatever. There
were a few energetic men among them as Ratcliffe, Archer, and Smith. But
these spent most of their time in exploring the bay and the rivers, in
hunting for gold, and in quarreling with one another. With the summer
came fevers, and soon fifty of the one hundred and five original
colonists were dead. Then followed a cold, hard winter, and many of
those who had not died of fever in the summer, now died of cold. The
colonists brought little food with them, they were too lazy to plant
much corn, and they were able to get only small supplies from the
Indians. Indeed, the early history of Virginia is given mainly to
accounts of "starving times." Of the first thousand colonists not one
hundred lived to tell the tale of those early days.

[Sidenote: Sir Thomas Dale.]

[Sidenote: His wise action.]

33. Sir Thomas Dale and Good Order.--In 1611 Sir Thomas Dale came
out as ruler, and he ruled with an iron hand. If a man refused to work,
Dale made a slave of him for three years; if he did not work hard
enough, Dale had him soundly whipped. But Sir Thomas Dale was not only a
severe man; he was also a wise man. Hitherto everything had been in
common. Dale now tried the experiment of giving three acres of land to
every one of the old planters, and he also allowed them time to work on
their own land.

[Sidenote: Tobacco.]

[Sidenote: Prosperity.]

34. Tobacco-growing and Prosperity.--European people were now
beginning to use tobacco. Most of it came from the Spanish colonies.
Tobacco grew wild in Virginia. But the colonists at first did not know
how to dry it and make it fit for smoking. After a few years they found
out how to prepare it. They now worked with great eagerness and planted
tobacco on every spot of cleared land. Men with money came over from
England. They brought many workingmen with them and planted large pieces
of ground. Soon tobacco became the money of the colony, and the whole
life of Virginia turned on its cultivation. But it was difficult to find
enough laborers to do the necessary work.

[Sidenote: White servants.]

[Sidenote: Criminals.]

[Sidenote: Negro slaves, 1619.]

35. Servants and Slaves.--Most of the laborers were white men and
women who were bound to service for terms of years. These were called
servants. Some of them were poor persons who sold their labor to pay for
their passage to Virginia. Others were unfortunate men and women and
even children who were stolen from their families and sold to the
colonists. Still others were criminals whom King James sent over to the
colony because that was the cheapest thing to do with them. In 1619 the
first negro slaves were brought to Virginia by a Dutch vessel. The
Virginians bought them all--only twenty in number. But the planters
preferred white laborers. It was not until more that twenty-five years
had passed away that the slaves really became numerous enough to make
much difference in the life of the colony.

[Sidenote: Sir Edwin Sandys.]

[Sidenote: The first American legislature, 1619.]

36. The first American Legislature, 1619.--The men who first formed
the Virginia Company had long since lost interest in it. Other men had
taken their places. These latter were mostly Puritans (p. 29) or were
the friends and workers with the Puritans. The best known of them was
Sir Edwin Sandys, the playmate of William Brewster--one of the Pilgrim
Fathers (p. 29). Sandys and his friends sent Sir George Yeardley to
Virginia as governor. They ordered him to summon an assembly to be made
up of representatives chosen by the freemen of the colony. These
representatives soon did away with Dale's ferocious regulations, and
made other and much milder laws.

[Sidenote: End of the Virginia Company, 1624.]

[Sidenote: Virginia a royal province.]

37. Virginia becomes a Royal Province, 1624.--The Virginians
thought this was a very good way to be governed. But King James thought
that the new rulers of the Virginia Company were much too liberal, and
he determined to destroy the company. The judges in those days dared not
displease the king for he could turn them out of office at any time. So
when he told them to destroy the Virginia charter they took the very
first opportunity to declare it to be of no force. In this way the
Virginia Company came to an end, and Virginia became a royal province
with a governor appointed by the king.

[Sidenote: Intolerance in Virginia.]

[Sidenote: Persecution of the Puritans.]

38. Religious Intolerance.--In 1625 King James died, and his son
Charles became king. He left the Virginians to themselves for the most
part. They liked this. But they did not like his giving the northern
part of Virginia to a Roman Catholic favorite, Lord Baltimore, with the
name of Maryland. Many Roman Catholics soon settled in Lord Baltimore's
colony. The Virginians feared lest they might come to Virginia and made
severe laws against them. Puritan missionaries also came from New
England and began to convert the Virginians to Puritanism. Governor
Berkeley and the leading Virginians were Episcopalians. They did not
like the Puritans any better than they liked the Roman Catholics. They
made harsh laws against them and drove them out of Virginia
into Maryland.

[Sidenote: Maryland given to Baltimore, 1632.]

[Sidenote: Settlement of Maryland. _Higginson_, 121-123; _Eggleston_,
50-53; _Source-book_, 48-51.]

39. Settlement of Maryland.--Maryland included the most valuable
portion of Virginia north of the Potomac. Beside being the owner of all
this land, Lord Baltimore was also the ruler of the colony. He invited
people to go over and settle in Maryland and offered to give them large
tracts of land on the payment of a small sum every year forever. Each
man's payment was small. But all the payments taken together, made quite
a large amount which went on growing larger and larger as Maryland was
settled. The Baltimores were broad-minded men. They gave their colonists
a large share in the government of the colony and did what they could to
bring about religious toleration in Maryland.

[Sidenote: Roman Catholics in England.]

[Sidenote: Roman Catholics and Puritans in Maryland.]

[Sidenote: The Toleration Act, 1649.]

40. The Maryland Toleration Act, 1649.--The English Roman Catholics
were cruelly oppressed. No priest of that faith was allowed to live in
England. And Roman Catholics who were not priests had to pay heavy fines
simply because they were Roman Catholics. Lord Baltimore hoped that his
fellow Catholics might find a place of shelter in Maryland, and many of
the leading colonists were Roman Catholics. But most of the laborers
were Protestants. Soon came the Puritans from Virginia. They were kindly
received and given land. But it was evident that it would be difficult
for Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, and Puritans to live together
without some kind of law to go by. So a law was made that any Christian
might worship as he saw fit. This was the first toleration act in the
history of America. It was the first toleration act in the history of
modern times. But the Puritan, Roger Williams, had already established
religious freedom in Rhode Island (p. 33).

[Sidenote: Tobacco and grain.]

[Sidenote: Commerce.]

[Sidenote: Servants and slaves.]

41. Maryland Industries.--Tobacco was the most important crop in
early Maryland. But grain was raised in many parts of the colony. In
time also there grew up a large trading town. This was Baltimore. Its
shipowners and merchants became rich and numerous, while there were
almost no shipowners or merchants in Virginia. There were also fewer
slaves in Maryland than in Virginia. Nearly all the hard labor in the
former colony was done by white servants. In most other ways, however,
Virginia and Maryland were nearly alike.

CHAPTER 6

NEW ENGLAND

[Sidenote: The English Puritans.]

[Sidenote: Non-Conformists.]

[Sidenote: Separatists.]

42. The Puritans.--The New England colonies were founded by English
Puritans who left England because they could not do as they wished in
the home land. All Puritans were agreed in wishing for a freer
government than they had in England under the Stuart kings and in state
matters were really the Liberals of their time. In religious matters,
however, they were not all of one mind. Some of them wished to make only
a few changes in the Church. These were called Non-Conformists. Others
wished to make so many changes in religion that they could not stay in
the English State Church. These were called Separatists. The settlers of
Plymouth were Separatists; the settlers of Boston and neighboring towns
were Non-Conformists.

[Sidenote: The Scrooby Puritans. _Higginson, 55-56; Eggleston_, 34.]

[Sidenote: They flee to Holland.]

[Sidenote: They decide to emigrate to America.]

43. The Pilgrims.--Of all the groups of Separatists scattered over
England none became so famous as those who met at Elder Brewster's house
at Scrooby. King James decided to make all Puritans conform to the State
Church or to hunt them out of the land. The Scrooby people soon felt the
weight of persecution. After suffering great hardships and cruel
treatment they fled away to Holland. But there they found it very
difficult to make a living. They suffered so terribly that many of their
English friends preferred to go to prison in England rather than lead
such a life of slavery in Holland. So the Pilgrims determined to found a
colony in America. They reasoned that they could not be worse off in
America, because that would be impossible. At all events, their children
would not grow up as Dutchmen, but would still be Englishmen. They had
entire religious freedom in Holland; but they thought they would have
the same in America.

[Illustration: BREWSTER'S HOUSE AT SCROOBY. The Pilgrims held their
services in the building on the left, now used as a cow-house.]

[Sidenote: The voyage of the _Mayflower_, 1620.]

[Sidenote: The _Mayflower_ at Cape Cod.]

44. The Voyage across the Atlantic.--Brewster's old friend, Sir
Edwin Sandys, was now at the head of the Virginia Company. He easily
procured land for the Pilgrims in northern Virginia, near the Dutch
settlements (p. 41). Some London merchants lent them money. But they
lent it on such harsh conditions that the Pilgrims' early life in
America was nearly as hard as their life had been in Holland. They had a
dreadful voyage across the Atlantic in the _Mayflower_. At one time it
seemed as if the ship would surely go down. But the Pilgrims helped the
sailors to place a heavy piece of wood under one of the deck beams and
saved the vessel from going to pieces. On November 19, 1620, they
sighted land off the coast of Cape Cod. They tried to sail around the
cape to the southward, but storms drove them back, and they anchored in
Provincetown harbor.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24