A Short History of the United States by Edward Channing

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[Illustration: THE OLDEST CHURCH SOUTH OF THE POTOMAC.]

[Sidenote: The English conquest of New Netherland, 1664. _Higginson_.
97-98.]

69. Conquest of New Netherland, 1664.--The English government now
determined to conquer New Netherland. An English fleet sailed to New
Amsterdam. Stuyvesant thumped up and down on his wooden leg. But he was
almost the only man in New Amsterdam who wanted to fight. He soon
surrendered, and New Netherland became an English colony. The Dutch
later recaptured it and held it for a time; but in 1674 they finally
handed it over to England.

[Sidenote: New Netherland given to the Duke of York and Albany.]

70. New York.--Even before the colony was seized in 1664, Charles
II gave it away to his brother James, Duke of York and Albany, who
afterward became king as James II. The name of New Netherland was
therefore changed to New York, and the principal towns were also named
in his honor, New York and Albany. Little else was changed in the
colony. The Dutch were allowed to live very nearly as they had lived
before, and soon became even happier and more contented than they had
been under Dutch rule. Many English settlers now came in. The colony
became rich and prosperous, but the people had little to do with their
own government.

[Sidenote: Origin of New Jersey, 1664.]

[Sidenote: Settlement of New Jersey.]

71. New Jersey.--No sooner had James received New Netherland from
his brother than he hastened to give some of the best portions of it to
two faithful friends, Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley. Their
territory extended from New York harbor to the Delaware River, and was
named New Jersey in honor of Carteret's defense of the island of Jersey
against the Puritans. Colonists at once began coming to the new province
and settled at Elizabethtown.

[Sidenote: East and West Jersey.]

[Sidenote: Prosperity.]

72. Later New Jersey.--Soon New Jersey was divided into two parts,
East Jersey and West Jersey. West Jersey belonged to Lord Berkeley and
he sold it to the Quakers. Not very many years later the Quakers also
bought East Jersey. The New Jersey colonists were always getting into
disputes with one another, so they asked Queen Anne to take charge of
the government of the province. This she did by telling the governor of
New York to govern New Jersey also. This was not what the Jersey people
had expected. But they had their own legislature. In time also they
secured a governor all to themselves and became a royal province
entirely separate from New York. Pennsylvania and New York protected the
Jersey people from the French and the Indians, and provided markets for
the products of the Jersey farms. The colonists were industrious and
their soil was fertile. They were very religious and paid great
attention to education. New Jersey became very prosperous and so
continued until the Revolution.

[Sidenote: Founding of Carolina, 1663. _Higginson_, 124-127.]

73. The Founding of Carolina.--The planting of New Jersey was not
the only colonial venture of Carteret and Berkeley. With Lord Chancellor
Clarendon and other noblemen they obtained from Charles land in southern
Virginia extending southward into Spanish Florida. This great territory
was named Carolina.

[Sidenote: Northern Carolina.]

[Sidenote: Southern Carolina.]

74. The Carolina Colonists.--In 1663, when the Carolina charter was
granted, there were a few settlers living in the northern part of the
colony. Other colonists came from outside mainly from the Barbadoes and
settled on the Cape Fear River. In this way was formed a colony in
northern Carolina. But the most important settlement was in the southern
part of the province at Charleston. Southern Carolina at once became
prosperous. This was due to the fact that the soil and climate of that
region were well suited to the cultivation of rice. The rice swamps
brought riches to the planters, they also compelled the employment of
large numbers of negro slaves. Before long, indeed, there were more
negroes than whites in southern Carolina. In this way there grew up two
distinct centers of colonial life in the province.

[Illustration: Southern Carolina.]

[Sidenote: Indian war.]

[Sidenote: Bacon's Rebellion, 1676.]

75. Bacon's Rebellion, 1676.--By this time the Virginians had
become very discontented. There had been no election to the colonial
assembly since 1660 and Governor Berkeley was very tyrannical. The
Virginians also wanted more churches and more schools. To add to these
causes of discontent the Indians now attacked the settlers, and Berkeley
seemed to take very little interest in protecting the Virginians. Led by
Nathaniel Bacon the colonists marched to Jamestown and demanded
authority to go against the Indians. Berkeley gave Bacon a commission.
But, as soon as Bacon left Jamestown on his expedition, Berkeley
declared that he was a rebel. Bacon returned, and Berkeley fled. Bacon
marched against the Indians again, and Berkeley came back, and so the
rebellion went on until Bacon died. Berkeley then captured the other
leaders one after another and hanged them. But when he returned to
England, Charles II turned his back to him, saying, "The old fool has
killed more men in Virginia than I for the murder of my father."

[Illustration: THE HOUSE IN WHICH NATHANIEL BACON DIED. From an original
sketch.]

[Sidenote: Greedy Governors.]

[Sidenote: Founding of William and Mary College, 1691.]

76. Virginia after Bacon's Rebellion.--The Virginians were now
handed over to a set of greedy governors. Some of them came to America
to make their fortunes. But some of them were governors whom the people
of other colonies would not have. The only event of importance in the
history of the colony during the next twenty-five years was the founding
of William and Mary College (1691) at Williamsburg. It was the second
oldest college in the English colonies.

[Illustration: THE OPENING LINES OF THE PENNSYLVANIA CHARTER SHOWING
ORNAMENTAL BORDER AND PORTRAIT OF CHARLES II.]

[Sidenote: King Philip's War, 1675-76. _Higginson_, 137-138;
_Eggleston_, 81-89.]

77. King Philip's War, 1675-76.--It was not only in Virginia and
Maryland that the Indians were restless at this time. In New England
also they attacked the whites. They were led by Massasoit's son, King
Philip, an able and far-seeing man. He saw with dismay how rapidly the
whites were driving the Indians away from their hunting-grounds. The
Indians burned the English villages on the frontier and killed hundreds
of the settlers. The strongest chief to join Philip was Canonchet of
the Narragansetts. The colonial soldiers stormed his fort and killed a
thousand Indian warriors. Before long King Philip himself was killed,
and the war slowly came to an end.

[Sidenote: William Penn.]

[Sidenote: The Pennsylvania Charter, 1681.]

78. William Penn.--Among the greatest Englishmen of that time was
William Penn. He was a Quaker and was also a friend of Charles II and
James, Duke of York. He wished to found a colony in which he and the
Quakers could work out their ideas in religious and civil matters. It
chanced that Charles owed Penn a large sum of money. As Charles seldom
had any money, he was very glad to give Penn instead a large tract of
land in America. In this way Penn obtained Pennsylvania. James, for his
part, gave him Delaware.

[Sidenote: Settlement of Pennsylvania, 1682. _Higginson_, 101-105;
_Eggleston_, 57-60; _Source-Book_, 67-69.]

79. Founding of Pennsylvania, 1682.--William Penn had a great
reputation for honesty and fair dealing among the English Quakers and
among the Quakers on the continent of Europe as well. As soon as it was
known that he was to found a colony, great numbers of persons came to
Pennsylvania from England and from Germany. In a very short time the
colony became strong and prosperous. In the first place, the soil of
Pennsylvania was rich and productive while its climate was well suited
to the growth of grain. In the second place, Penn was very liberal to
his colonists. He gave them a large share in the government of the
province and he allowed no religious persecution. He also insisted on
fair and honest dealing with the Indians.

[Sidenote: Mason and Dixon's line.]

[Sidenote: Its importance in history.]

80. Mason and Dixon's Line.--In the seventeenth century the
geography of America was very little understood in Europe--and the
persons who drew up colonial charters understood it least of all.
Charter lines frequently overlapped and were often very indistinct. This
was particularly true of the Maryland and Pennsylvania boundaries. Penn
and Baltimore tried to come to an agreement; but they never could agree.
Years afterward, when they were both dead, their heirs agreed to have a
line drawn without much regard to the charters. This line was finally
surveyed by two English engineers, Mason and Dixon, and is always
called after their names. It is the present boundary line between
Pennsylvania and Maryland. In colonial days it separated the colonies
where slavery was the rule from those where labor was generally free. In
the first half of the nineteenth century it separated the free states
from the slave states. Mason and Dixon's line, therefore, has been a
famous line in the history of the United States.

CHAPTER 9

COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT, 1688-1760

[Sidenote: New policy of the Stuarts.]

[Sidenote: Reasons for the new policy.]

81. The Stuart Tyranny.--Instead of admiring the growth of the
colonies in strength and in liberty, Charles and James saw it with
dismay. The colonies were becoming too strong and too free. They
determined to reduce all the colonies to royal provinces, like
Virginia--with the exception of Pennsylvania which belonged to their
friend, William Penn. There was a good deal to be said in favor of this
plan, for the colonists were so jealous of each other that they would
not unite against the French or the Indians. If the governments were all
in the hands of the king, the whole strength of the British colonies
could be used against any enemy of England.

[Sidenote: End of the Massachusetts Company, 1684.]

[Sidenote: Governor Andros of New England, 1688.]

82. The Stuart Tyranny in New England.--The Massachusetts charter
was now taken away, and Sir Edmund Andros was sent over to govern the
colony. He was ordered to make laws and to tax the people without asking
their consent. He did as he was ordered to do. He set up the Church of
England. He taxed the people. He even took their lands from them, on the
ground that the grants from the old Massachusetts government were of no
value. When one man pointed to the magistrates' signatures to his grant,
Andros told him that their names were worth no more than a scratch with
a bear's paw. He also enforced the navigation laws and took possession
of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Plymouth. At the same time he was
also governor of New Hampshire and of New York.

[Illustration: A PROCLAMATION OF 1690 FORBIDDING THE PRINTING OF
NEWSPAPERS WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE GOVERNMENT.]

[Sidenote: Flight of James II.]

[Sidenote: Rebellion against Andros, 1689.]

83. The "Glorious Revolution" in America, 1689.--By this time
Charles was dead, and James was King of England. The English people did
not like James any better than the New Englanders liked Andros. In 1688
they rebelled and made William of Orange and his wife Mary, James's
eldest daughter, King and Queen of England. On their part, the
Massachusetts colonists seized Andros and his followers and shut them up
in prison (April 18, 1689). The people of Connecticut and Rhode Island
turned out Andros's agents and set up their old governments. In New
York also Andros's deputy governor was expelled, and the people took
control of affairs until the king and queen should send out a governor.
Indeed, all the colonies, except Maryland, declared for William
and Mary.

[Sidenote: Policy of William and Mary.]

[Sidenote: The Massachusetts Province charter, 1691.]

84. The New Arrangements.--For a year or two William was very busy
in Ireland and on the continent. At length he had time to attend to
colonial affairs. He appointed royal governors for both Pennsylvania and
Maryland. William Penn soon had his colony given back to him; but the
Baltimores had to wait many years before they recovered Maryland. In New
York there was a dreadful tragedy. For the new governor, Slaughter, was
persuaded to order the execution of the leaders in the rising against
Andros. Massachusetts did not get her old charter back, but she got
another charter. This provided that the king should appoint the
governor, but the people should elect a House of Representatives. The
most important result of this new arrangement was a series of disputes
between the king's governor and the people's representatives. Maine and
New Plymouth were included in Massachusetts under the new charter. But
New Hampshire remained a royal province.

[Sidenote: Prosperity of the colonies, 1700-60.]

85. The Colonies, 1700-60.--During these years immigrants thronged
to America, and the colonies became constantly stronger. Commerce
everywhere developed, and many manufactures were established.
Throughout the colonies the people everywhere gained power, and had it
not been for the French and Indian wars they would have been happy.
Aside from these wars the most important events of these years were the
overthrow of the Carolina proprietors and the founding of Georgia.

[Illustration: Carolina Rice Fields.]

[Sidenote: Bad government of the Carolina proprietors.]

[Sidenote: Rebellion in Carolina, 1719.]

[Sidenote: North and South Carolina.]

86. North and South Carolina.--The Carolina proprietors and their
colonists had never got on well together. They now got on worse than
ever. The greater part of the colonists were not members of the
Established Church; but the proprietors tried to take away the right to
vote from all persons who were not of that faith. They also interfered
in elections, and tried to prevent the formation of a true
representative assembly. They could not protect the people against the
pirates who blockaded Charleston for weeks at a time. In 1719 the people
of Charleston rebelled. The king then interfered, and appointed a royal
governor. Later he bought out the rights of the proprietors. In this way
Carolina became a royal province. It was soon divided into two
provinces, North Carolina and South Carolina. But there had always been
two separate colonies in Carolina (p. 52).

[Sidenote: General Oglethorpe.]

[Sidenote: Grant of Georgia, 1732.]

87. Founding of Georgia, 1732.--In those days it was the custom in
England to send persons who could not pay their debts to prison. Of
course many of these poor debtors were really industrious persons whom
misfortune or sickness had driven into debt. General Oglethorpe, a
member of Parliament, looked into the prison management. He was greatly
affected by the sad fate of these poor debtors, and determined to do
something for them. With a number of charitable persons he obtained a
part of South Carolina for a colony, and named it Georgia for George II,
who gave the land. Parliament also gave money. For the government
thought it very desirable to have a colony between the rich plantations
of Carolina and the Spanish settlements in Florida.

[Sidenote: Settlement of Georgia, 1733. _Higginson_, 127-130;
_Eggleston_, 62-65; _Source-Book_, 71-73.]

[Sidenote: Progress of the colony.]

88. Georgia, 1733-52.--Naturally Oglethorpe had no difficulty in
getting colonists. For the poor debtors and other oppressed persons were
very glad to have a new start in life. Savannah was founded in 1733. The
Spaniards, however, were not at all glad to have an English colony
planted so near Florida. They attacked the Georgians, and Oglethorpe
spent years in fighting them. The Georgia colonists found it very
difficult to compete with the Carolina planters. For the Carolinians had
slaves to work for them, and the proprietors of Georgia would not let
the Georgians own slaves. Finally they gave way and permitted the
colonists to own slaves. But this so disheartened the Georgia
proprietors that they gave up the enterprise and handed the colony over
to the king. In this way Georgia became a royal province.

CHAPTER 10

EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH

[Sidenote: Louis of France and William of Orange.]

89. Causes of the French Wars.--At the time of the "Glorious
Revolution" (p. 58) James II found refuge with Louis XIV, King of
France. William and Louis had already been fighting, and it was easy
enough to see that if William became King of England he would be very
much more powerful than he was when he was only Prince of Orange. So
Louis took up the cause of James and made war on the English and the
Dutch. The conflict soon spread across the Atlantic.

[Sidenote: Disadvantages of the English colonists.]

[Sidenote: Advantages of the French colonists.]

90. Strength of the Combatants.--At first sight it might seem as if
the English colonists were much stronger than the French colonists. They
greatly outnumbered the French. They were much more prosperous and
well-to-do. But their settlements were scattered over a great extent of
seacoast from the Kennebec to the Savannah. Their governments were more
or less free. But this very freedom weakened them for war. The French
colonial government was a despotism directed from France. Whatever
resources the French had in America were certain to be well used.

[Illustration: A "GARRISON HOUSE" AT YORK, MAINE, BUILT IN 1676.]

[Sidenote: King William's War, 1689-97. _Eggleston_, 122-123.]

91. King William's War, 1689-97.--The Iroquois began this war by
destroying Montreal. The next winter the French invaded New York. They
captured Schenectady and killed nearly all the inhabitants. Other bands
destroyed New England towns and killed or drove away their inhabitants.
The English, on their part, seized Port Royal in Acadia, but they failed
in an attempt against Quebec. In 1697 this war came to an end. Acadia
was given back to the French, and nothing was gained by all the
bloodshed and suffering.

[Sidenote: Queen Anne's War, 1701-13. _Higginson_, 143-147;
_Source-Book_, 98-100.]

92. Queen Anne's War, 1701-13.--In 1701 the conflict began again.
It lasted for twelve years, until 1713. It was in this war that the Duke
of Marlborough won the battle of Blenheim and made for himself a great
reputation. In America the French and Indians made long expeditions to
New England. The English colonists again attacked Quebec and again
failed. In one thing, however, they were successful. They again seized
Port Royal. This time the English kept Port Royal and all Acadia. Port
Royal they called Annapolis, and the name of Acadia was changed to
Nova Scotia.

[Sidenote: King George's War, 1744-48.]

93. King George's War, 1744-48.--From 1713 until 1744 there was no
war between the English and the French. But in 1744 fighting began again
in earnest. The French and Indians attacked the New England frontier
towns and killed many people. But the New Englanders, on their part, won
a great success. After the French lost Acadia they built a strong
fortress on the island of Cape Breton. To this they gave the name of
Louisburg. The New Englanders fitted out a great expedition and captured
Louisburg without much help from the English. But at the close of the
war (1748) the fortress was given back to the French, to the disgust of
the New Englanders.

[Sidenote: La Salle on the Mississippi, 1681.]

[Sidenote: _McMaster_, 62-65; _Source-book_, 96-98.]

94. The French in the Mississippi Valley.--The Spaniards had
discovered the Mississippi and had explored its lower valley. But they
had found no gold there and had abandoned the country. It was left for
French explorers more than one hundred years later to rediscover the
great river and to explore it from its upper waters to the Gulf of
Mexico. The first Frenchman to sail down the river to its mouth was La
Salle. In 1681, with three canoes, he floated down the Mississippi,
until he reached a place where the great river divided into three large
branches. He sent one canoe down each branch. Returning, they all
reported that they had reached the open sea.

[Sidenote: La Salle attempts to found a colony. _McMaster_, 79-80.]

[Sidenote: Louisiana settled, 1699.]

95. Founding of Louisiana.--La Salle named this immense region
Louisiana in honor of the French king. He soon led an expedition to
plant a colony on the banks of the Mississippi. Sailing into the Gulf of
Mexico, he missed the mouth of the Mississippi and landed on the coast
of Texas. Misfortune after misfortune now fell on the unhappy
expedition. La Salle was murdered, the stores were destroyed, the
Spaniards and Indians came and killed or captured nearly all the
colonists. A few only gained the Mississippi and made their way to
Canada. In 1699, another French expedition appeared in the Gulf of
Mexico. This time the mouth of the Mississippi was easily discovered.
But the colonists settled on the shores of Mobile Bay. It was not until
1718 that New Orleans was founded.

[Sidenote: The French on the Ohio, 1749. _McMaster_, 82-86.]

[Sidenote: The English Ohio Company, 1750.]

96. Struggle for the Ohio Valley.--At the close of King George's
War the French set to work to connect the settlements in Louisiana with
those on the St. Lawrence. In 1749 French explorers gained the Alleghany
River from Lake Erie and went down the Ohio as far as the Miami. The
next year (1750) King George gave a great tract of land on the Ohio
River to an association of Virginians, who formed the Ohio Company. The
struggle for the Ohio Valley had fairly begun. Governor Dinwiddie of
Virginia learned that the French were building forts on the Ohio, and
sent them a letter protesting against their so doing. The bearer of this
letter was George Washington, a young Virginia surveyor.

[Sidenote: George Washington. Scudder's _Washington; Hero Tales_ 1-15.]

[Sidenote: He warns the French to leave the Ohio.]

97. George Washington.--Of an old Virginia family, George
Washington grew up with the idea that he must earn his own living. His
father was a well-to-do planter. But Augustine Washington was the eldest
son, and, as was the custom then in Virginia, he inherited most of the
property. Augustine Washington was very kind to his younger brother, and
gave him a good practical education as a land surveyor. The younger man
was a bold athlete and fond of studying military campaigns. He was full
of courage, industrious, honest, and of great common sense. Before he
was twenty he had surveyed large tracts of wilderness, and had done his
work well amidst great difficulties. When Dinwiddie wanted a messenger
to take his letter to the French commander on the Ohio, George
Washington's employer at once suggested him as the best person to send
on the dangerous journey.

[Sidenote: The French build Fort Duquesne.]

[Sidenote: Washington's first military expedition, 1754.]

98. Fort Duquesne.--Instead of heeding Dinwiddie's warning, the
French set to work to build Fort Duquesne (Due-kan') at the spot where
the Alleghany and Monongahela join to form the Ohio,--on the site of
the present city of Pittsburg. Dinwiddie therefore sent Washington with
a small force of soldiers to drive them away. But the French were too
strong for Washington. They besieged him in Fort Necessity and compelled
him to surrender (July 4, 1754).

[Illustration: BRADDOCK'S CAMPAIGN.]

[Sidenote: Braddock's expedition, 1755. _Higginson_, 152-154;
_Eggleston_, 129-131; _Source-book_, 103-105.]

99. Braddock's Defeat, 1755.--The English government now sent
General Braddock with a small army of regular soldiers to Virginia.
Slowly and painfully Braddock marched westward. Learning of his
approach, the French and Indians left Fort Duquesne to draw him into
ambush. But the two forces came together before either party was
prepared for battle. For some time the contest was even, then the
regulars broke and fled. Braddock was fatally wounded. With great skill,
Washington saved the survivors,--but not until four shots had pierced
his coat and only thirty of his three companies of Virginians were
left alive.

[Sidenote: The French and Indian War.]

[Sidenote: William Pitt, war minister, 1757.]

100. The War to 1759.--All the earlier French and Indian wars had
begun in Europe and had spread to America. This war began in America and
soon spread to Europe. At first affairs went very ill. But in 1757
William Pitt became the British war minister, and the war began to be
waged with vigor and success. The old generals were called home, and new
men placed in command. In 1758 Amherst and Wolfe captured Louisburg, and
Forbes, greatly aided by Washington, seized Fort Duquesne. Bradstreet
captured Fort Frontenac, on Lake Ontario. There was only one bad
failure, that of Abercrombie at Ticonderoga. But the next year Amherst
captured Ticonderoga and Crown Point and opened the way to Canada by
Lake Champlain.

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