Advanced American history

Preface

The three greatest achievements of the American people tiave been these : they have transformed a continent from a low condition of barbarism to a high state of civiUzation ; they lave developed a commercial and industrial system of vast proportions ; and they have evolved the greatest democracy the kvorld has yet seen. In this text, therefore, it has been my lim to present fully and clearly these three aspects of our growth: to show the forces of civilization pressing ever westkvard upon the wilderness and extending the boundaries of the ivhite man's domain; to show an industrious and ingenious 3eople moving ever forward to make new conquests in the economic world ; and to show a liberty-loving nation struggling tvith new problems of government and advancing ever nearer ;o a complete realization of popular rule.

The manuscript was read by Max Farrand of Yale University ; James Morton Callahan of the West Virginia University; W. J. Kerby of the Catholic University of America; James Curtis Ballagh of the University of Pennsylvania ; General John C. Black, former President of the Civil Service [^^ommission ; H. R. Tucker of the McKinley High School, St. Louis, Missouri ; Lynn J. Barnard of the School of Pedagogy, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; E. E. Hill of the Chicago Normal School, Chicago, Illinois; William Fairley, Principal 3f the Commercial High School, Brooklyn, New York; David H. Holbrook of the East High School, Minneapolis, Minnesota; W. A. Lewis of the Central High School, Kansas City, Missouri; John R. Todd of the College of the City of New York; and William A. Wetzel, Principal of the High School, Trenton, New Jersey. To these gentlemen I am greatly invi PREFACE

debted for many useful suggestions and criticisms. While preparing the book I received many courtesies from the officers of the Library of Congress and from those of the Department of Prints in the Public Library of New York.

CONTENTS I

A GLANCE AT EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY page

1. Population ^

2. The Leading Nations 3

3. Government; Religion; Education 4

4. Industry and Commerce 5

5. The Progressive Spirit of the Fifteenth Century ....

II " THE FINDING OF STRANGLE COASTS "

6. The Blocking of the Old Trade Routes 8

7. Explorations of the Portuguese 9

8. Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gama 9

9. The Voyage of Cabot ^^

III ABORIGINAL AMERICA

ID. Physical Characteristics ^°

11. Climate and Soil 7,

12. Plants and Animals ^°

13. The North American Indian ^"

IV

THE GOLD-HUNTERS OF SPAIN AND THE FISHERMEN OF FRANCE

14. The Gold-Hunters from Spain 25

15. The Fishermen of France ^9

16. The Clash between Spain and France 3"

V THE RISE OF ENGLAND IN THE SIXTEENTH CEXTURY

17. England Pushes out upon the Seas 34

18 The Clash between Spain and England 30

19. England's First Efforts at Colonization 39

VI THE COMING OF THE ENGLISH, THE FRENCH AND THE DUTCH

20 The Coming of the English ; Virginia 42

21. The Coming of the French; Quebec . M

22. The Coming of the Dutch ; New Amsterdam 53

vii viii CONTENTS

VII THE COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND page

23. The Background of New England Colonization .... 56

24. The Pilgrims ; Plymouth 57

25. The Puritans; Massachusetts 62

VIII

THE EXPANSION OF MASSACHUSETTS; THE DEVELOrMENT OF

NEW ENGLAND

Q^. New Hampshire 67

27. Rhode Island 68

28. Connecticut 70

IX THE OLD DOMINION AND ITS NEIGHBORS

30. Virginia as a Royal Province 79

32. The Carolinas 86

X

THE MIDDLE COLONIES

33. The End of Dutch Rule in New York and the beginning of

English Rule 91

34. New Jersey 95

35. Pennsylvania and Delaware 97

XI

Zd- The Area of Settlement ; Population ; Towns and Cities . . 102

Zy. Industrial and Commercial Conditions 105

"Z^. Social and Political Conditions io0

XII A HALF CENTURY OF COLONIAL GROWTH (1700-1750)

39. Pushing Back the Frontier Line 115

XIII

41. The Extension of the French Power in America .... 125

42. The Border Warfare of the French and the English . . . 128

43. The French in the Mississippi Valley 131

44. The French and Indian War (1755-1763) 135

XIV OVER THE MOUNTAINS

45. Clearing the Way for the White Man 141

CONTENTS ix

PAGE

46. Early Settlements in the Upper Ohio Valley 143

47. Kentucky 144

48. Tennessee 146

49. Life in the Backwoods 148

XV

LIFE IN THE COLONIES DURING THE CLOSING YEARS OF THE

COLONIAL PERIOD (1763-1783)

50. Industrial and Commercial Conditions (1763-1783) . . . 150

51. Social and Political Life 154

XVI THE QUARREL

52. The Relations Between the Colonies and the Mother Country

53. Questions of Taxation 160

54. Party Divisions ; Lawlessness 165

55. The Intolerable Acts 169

XVII BLOWS AND SEPARATION

56. The Spirit of Union 171

57. War and Revolt 173

58. The Loyalists 17S

59. The Second Continental Congress 176

60. The British Expelled from Boston 178

61. The Declaration of Independence 179

XVIII THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY

62. The Contestants and the Plan of Campaign 183

63. The Campaign at the North 185

64. The French Alliance 189

65. The War at the South 192

66. The Treaty of Peace of 1783 197

XIX A CRITICAL PERIOD (1783-1789)

67. State Constitutions and State Governments 199

69. The Evil Days of the Confederation 203

70. The Northwest Territory 208

XX

71. Centrifugal and Centripetal Forces 2II

72. The Constitutional Convention of 1787 213

•73. The Ratification of the Constitution 217

X CONTENTS

XXI SETTING THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IN MOTION page

74. The Organization of tlie New Federal Government .... 222

75. The Financial Measures of the New Government .... 226

76. The Emergence of Political Parties 230

XXII

SETTING THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IN MOTION, 1789-1801

(Continued)

77. Foreign Relations 234

78. The Retirement of Washington and the Election of John

Adams 237

79. More Trouble with France 238

80. The Downfall of the Federalist Party 240

XXIII A SURVEY OF THE NEW-BORN NATION

81. Social and Political Conditions 243

82. Industrial and commercial Conditions 246

83. A Westward-Moving People 249

XXIV THE STRUGGLE FOR COMMERCIAL FREEDOM (1801-1817)

84. JefFersonian Simplicity 255

85. The Tripolitan War 258

86. The Louisiana Purchase 259

87. The Unfriendly Conduct of England and France .... 262

XXV

THE STRUGGLE FOR COMMERCIAL FREEDOM (Continued)

88. Drifting Toward War 267

90. Effects of the War of 1812 274

XXVI

91. The Land Policy of the National Government 278

92. Along the Ohio River : Ohio ; Indiana ; Illinois .... 279

93. Around the Gulf of Mexico : Louisiana ; Mississippi ; Ala-

bama; Florida 285

94. Across the Mississippi : Missouri 289

95. The Stages of Frontier Development; Frontier Life . . . 291

XXVII AN ERA OF GOOD FEELING (1817-1825)

96. The Growth of American Nationality 294

97. The Missouri Compromise 297

98. The Monroe Doctrine 300

99. The Tariff of 1824 303

100. New Leaders : The Election of John Quincy Adams . . . 304

CONTENTS xi

XXVIII

THE JACKSONIAN ERA (1825-1841) PAGE

loi. Jackson's Campaign Against Adams 306

102. Jackson and the Offices 310

103. Jackson and Nullification 311

XXIX

THE JACKSONIAN ERA (.Couthuied)

104. Jackson and the Bank 318

105. Jackson and the Indians 320

106. The Administration of Alartin VanBuren (1837-1841) . . 321

XXX

107. The Westward Movement Between 1820 and 1840 .... 326

108. Commercial and Industrial Progress 333

109. Education and Literature 336

no. Social Betterment 338

XXXI THE GREAT WESTWARD EXTENSION

111. Tyler and the Whigs 344

112. The Texan Question 345

113. The Oregon Question 348

114. The Acquisition of California and New Mexico . . . .351

XXXII THE WESTWARD MOVEMENT IN THE FORTIES (1840-1850)

115. The Preemption Act; Agricultural Implements; Immigration 357

116. Along the Upper Mississippi and Around the Great Lakes:

Iowa ; Wisconsin 360

117 Along the Pacific Coast: Oregon: California 362

1x8. Utah; New Mexico 365

XXXIII SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1850

119. Slaveholders: Poor Whites: Free Negroes 369

120. The Legal Status of the Slave 372

121. Conditions of Slave Life 373

122. Moral and Industrial Aspects of Slavery 376

XXXIV SLAVERY AN OVERSHADOWING ISSUE; PARTY REORGANIZATION

123. The Wilmot Proviso; The Election of 1848 380

124. The Compromises of 1850 383

125. The Execution of the Fugititve-Slave Law 387

126. The Repeal of the Missouri Compromise (1854) .... 389 xii CONTENTS

XXXV

THE RISE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY (1854-1860) page

127. The Beginnings of the Republican Party ..'..... 393

128. The Dred Scott Decision 399

129. The Lecompton Constitution 1 401

130. The Lincohi-Douglas Debates . . . ;.^ 402

131. The Election of i860 '/. 405

XXXVI PROGRESS IN THE FIFTIES (1850-1860)

133. Commercial and Industrial Growth ; Inventions .... 414

134. The Growth of Cities 417

135. Education and Literature ..." 419

XXXVII SECESSION AND THE CALL TO ARMS

136. Secession ; The Confederate States of America .... 423

137. The Inactivity of the Federal Government ; Efforts of Com-

promise 426

138. Lincoln and the Forts 427

139. Preparation for War; the Second Secession 431

140. The North and the South 433

XXXVIII THE CIVIL WAR

141. The Beginnings of the War: 1861 437

142. The Blockade; The Trent Affair 439

143. Organization and Plan of Campaign 441

144. The War in the West, 1862 444

145. The War in the East, March 1862-May 1863 447

146. Emancipation 453

148. The Close of the Struggle 459

XXXIX

149. Keeping the Ranks Filled 465

150. Meeting the Expenses of the War 467

151. Industry and Commerce in War Times 470

152. War Time Politics 473

XL

153. Lincoln's Policy of Reconstruction; His Assassination . . 476

154. Johnson's Efforts in the Work of Reconstruction .... 478

155. The Congressional Plan of Reconstruction 479

156. The Quarrel Between the President and Congress ; Impeach-

ment 484

j=;7. The Final Measures of Reconstruction 487

CONTENTS xiii

XLI

EIGHT YEARS OF TROUBLOUS TIMES (1869-1S77) PAGE

158. Western Development (1862-1877) 490

159. Industrial Prosperity and Industrial Reverses 493

160. The Currency and the Tariff 496

161. The Aftermath of Reconstruction 499

162. Corruption in High Places 500

163. The Election of 1876 502

XLII EIGHT YEARS OF WONDROUS GROWTH (1877-1885)

164. Hayes ; Garfield ; Arthur 505

165. Industrial Progress (1877-1885) 509

166. Progress in Education 515

167. The Growth of Cities 518

168. The Growth of Labor Organizations 519

169. The Election of Grover Cleveland 521

XLIII THE BEGINNING OF A NEW INDUSTRIAL ERA (1885-1897)

170. The Regulation of Commerce ; Industrial Unrest .... 524

171. The New Northwest and the New Southwest 530

172. The Surplus, The Tariff, and the Trusts 533

173. Four Years of Financial and Industrial Depression (1893-

1897) 537

174. The Election of 1896 542

XLIV THE UNITED STATES AS A WORLD POWER

175- The Dingley Bill 546

176 Intervention in Cuba ; the Spanish War ; Expansion . . . 547

177. The Reelection of McKinley; His Assassination .... 554

178. Roosevelt Continues the Policy of McKinley (1901-1905) . 556

XLV

179. Twentieth Century Progress in Social Matters 564

180. The Rule of the People 569

181. Commercial and Industrial Progress (1900-1912) .... 573

182. The Roosevelt Policies ( 1905- 1909) 578

183. The Administration of President Taft (1909-1913) . . . .s8o

184. The Election of 1912 585

185. The Wilson Administration 587

APPENDICES

A Constitution of the United States 591

B The Declaration of Independence 606

C Reading List 610

Index 615

LIST OF COLORED MAPS

FACING PAGE

Before the French and Indian War 139

After the French and Indian War 139

The United States after the Treaty of 1783 196

Our Country in 1800 . . 252

The Growth of the United States from 1776 to 1867 486

The New West 53°

XIV

I

\ GLANCE AT EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY

The serious study of American history may properly begin with a urvey of Europe in the fifteenth century. What kind of a place was the Did World at the time the New World was discovered? What kind )f a civilization did the people of Europe enjoy at the time they first aegan to go out to the wilds of America? What, in brief, was the European background of early American history?

I. POPULATION.

A striking and highly important fact about the Europe of smaii- :he fifteenth century was the smallness of its population. No of the

•^ 1 Popula-

:omplete official census of any modern country had as yet Won

3een taken, but it is safe to say that the population of

Europe five hundred years ago was hardly a tenth as great

IS it is now. Germany alone to-day can boast of more people

■han could be counted in all Europe at the time of the dis-

:overy of America. In the year 1500 all England contained

ess than half as many people as London contains to-day, and

all Prussia contained less than a third as many as Berlin now

contains. France was by far the most populous country, but

even France did not have a fourth as many people as she has

to-day.

X

The population ^ of Europe in the fifteenth century was sparse as well as small. People for the most part lived on farms or in villages. There were many towns, but no great cities. The two largest places were Paris and Venice, but Paris was not as large as our Indianapolis, while Venice was scarcely larger than our Toledo. London was still .a town, Berlin was

The Strand in 1560.

From the map of Ralph Aggas.

only a fishing village, while St. Petersburg did not exist at all. So, when thinking of the Europe of the fifteenth century we must dismiss from our minds the teeming population and crowded centers of to-day and picture a very thinly populated continent where there were no great cities and where urban life on a large scale was unknown.

1 The estimated population of Europe in the year 1500 is as follows:

Prussia 800,000

EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 3

2. THE LEADING NATIONS.

Another striking fact about Europe in the fifteenth century was the looseness and weakness of the political organization which existed in the several countries. There were no great, compact, well-organized sovereign States. Power, like population, was scattered. Most of the countries were broken up into numerous political divisions and were without strong central governing powers, without truly national governments. Russia Russia was just emerging from a condition of barbarism and her influence was as yet hardly felt at all in the affairs of Europe. Germany consisted of a multitude of political fragments, with each Gerfragment conducting its own affairs pretty much as it pleased. Italy made no pretense of being a nation ; it was simply a geographical expression. It consisted for the most part of free cities or republics such as Venice, Florence, Sienna, Genoa, itaiy These cities, extremely jealous and independent of each other, kept the Italian peninsula in a turmoil with their rivalries and made it impossible for Italy to become a great, united country. Austria had a central government with an emperor Austria at the head, but the emperor was held in check by nobles and petty princes. France, after many centuries of disunion and France discord, had by the end of the fifteenth century been consolidated into something like a national power and could fittingly be called a nation. This century saw likewise the consolidation of Spain. For in 1479, by the marriage of Ferdinand and spain Isabella, Aragon and Castile were united into a single kingdom and in the very year in which America was discovered Spain spread her power over Granada and forthwith took a foremost place among the States of Europe. England, too, at the end of the fifteenth century could be called a nation, for by 1485 the King (Henry VII) had put down rebellious England nobles and the central government was receiving the obedience of all subjects. Thus, four powers, Austria, Spain, France, and England, were the only countries of Europe in the fifteenth century that could properly be called nations;

all the others were too small or too weak and insignificant to deserve the name.

3. GOVERNMENT; RELIGION; EDUCATION.

The prevailing type of government was monarchy. The only republics were the free cities of Italy and — in the last years of the century — Switzerland. In England there was a representative Parliament and the semblance, at least, of representative government. In most of the countries, however, the monarch was absolute ; such power as the King could wield he wielded as a despot. In the cities and towns the people were usually allowed to manage their own affairs in their own way, but in the management of the affairs of the country at large the people had no voice. The larger affairs of government, whether of a legislative, executive, or judicial nature, were in the hands of privileged classes — kings, nobles, clergy. Popular government, as we understand the tefm, had no existence whatever.

If in its political organization Europe in the fifteenth century was decentralized and weak, in its religious organization it was centralized and strong. The Catholic faith was universal. The Greek Catholic church with its head at Constantinople prevailed in southwestern Europe and throughout " all the Russias." Throughout western Europe — Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Spain, England — the supreme and all pervasive religious and spiritual force was the Roman Catholic church with the Pope (the Bishop of Rome) at its head. Protestantism as a religious movement or as a distinct form of religious belief had not yet appeared. With the exception of a few Jews and skeptics the entire population was Catholic. So in the fifteenth century Europe was Catholic to the core, and the strongest of social forces was the Catholic church.

The schools were under the control and direction of the Church. Education for the most part was confined to the clergy and to the wealthy and favored classes. There were universities — about fifty in all Europe — at which students were trained in grammar, rhetoric, logic, theology, philosophy,

EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 5

and medicine. Below the universities there were in all the larger towns church schools in which pupils were taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and the rudiments of Latin. The number of pupils who received the benefits of education was but an insignificant portion of the whole population. In every country the vast majority of the people were illiterate and ignorant.

4. INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE.

Where the population was so sparse and the masses so ig- Agncuinorant there could be of course only a very simple industrial life. Everywhere Ae chief occupation of the people was agriculture. All classes from the king to the serfs were engaged in tilling the soil. Even the artisans in the towns tilled little plots of land. But agriculture was still in a very rude state. Plows were constructed chiefly of wood and the reaping of grain was done with a sickle. In the towns spin ning, weaving, tanning, shoe-making, and other trades flourished. The manufacturing industry was in the household Manufacr 1 1 1 1 • 1 1 1 • • turing

stage of development and was extremely simple, both m its indusorganization and in its methods. The typical industrial establishment was a little shop — usually one of the rooms of a dwelling — in which the entire working force consisted of three persons : the master, one skilled workman known as a journeyman, and an apprentice. Mechanical devices were few. The use of steam as a motive power had not yet been discovered, and almost all kinds of work were performed by hand.

Commerce in Europe at the opening of the fifteenth century Trade was in a prosperous condition. During the long period of Orient the CrlisaHes (i 100-1350) the merchants of Europe established a thriving trade with the Orient. They sent to the Far East woolen goods, tin, copper, and other metals and received in exchange spices, drugs, dyes, precious stones, silks, and various articles of Oriental luxury. The Mediterranean Sea was the center of the world's commercial activity. The metropolis of the world was Venice. This remarkable city located at the head of the Adriatic was the place of exchange for most of the trade that passed between the Orient and Europe. The commercial glory of Venice is a favorite theme of historians, yet the volume of her commerce seems to our eyes really very small. For example, her best customer was Germany, yet the annual value of the German trade with Venice in the fifteenth century amounted to only a little more than a million dollars.

Commerce on a grand scale was impossible where the means of communication were so bad as they were in Europe in the fifteenth century. Trade by water was everywhere exposed to piracy and the vessels in which the goods were carried were small and ill-fitted to sustain the heavy gales of the ocean. Trade by land was everywhere exposed to

highwa}' robbery which was so common that it was almost respectable.

There were but few roads and these few were usually in a wretched condition. Sometimes a road was so bad that it required seven or eight horses or oxen to draw one of the clumsy wagons of the time. As bridges were rare the difficulty and danger of crossing streams often proved to be insuperable obstacles to the movement of goods. Worse than all this there was lacking that indispensable handmaid of commerce, the post-office ; there was in all Europe as yet no regularly organized postal system.

A ship of the Fifteenth Century.

S. THE PROGRESSIVE SPIRIT OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.

Such was the civilization which Europeans of the fifteenth century enjoyed and which they could take with them to transplant in a newly-found world. It was a simple and crude civilization, to be sure, but it was vigorous and progressive, and it contained within itself the seeds of a marvelous growth. Indeed, the fifteenth century has to its credit some of the

EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 7

greatest movements and events recorded in the history of — human progress. It was the century of the 'Renaissance, The ' that movement in art and literature which restored to man- sance kind the priceless heritage of Greek and Roman culture which had been lost when the Roman world was overrun by barbarians in the fifth and sixth centuries. It was the century which saw (about 1455) the invention of printing with movable Printing type. It was the century in which the mariner's compass came The

Compass

mto general use and enabled the sailor to pursue his way across trackless waters to undiscovered lands. Above all, the fifteenth century was a period of geographical exploration and discovery. At the opening of the century all that was known of the world was what had been revealed by daring Phoenicians two thousand years before and by medieval travelers like Marco Polo in China and Tartary. Geographical knowledge was confined chiefly to Europe, southern and middle Asia, and northern Africa. The fifteenth century was not far advanced when an impulse to exploration began to show itself. Bold spirits sailed farther and farther into unknown seas and Expiorapenetrated deeper and deeper into unknown lands and by the time the century closed the boundaries of geographical knowledge had extended so far as to include all the continents of the earth.

WORK

1. The growth of commerce and its results : Adams, 1 279-312.

2. Describe the principal medieval trade routes between the Far East and Europe : Cheney, 22-26.

3. Give an account of the travels and adventures of Marco Polo.

4. The Crusades : Adams, 259-278.

5. ^The Renaissance: Adams, 364-391; also Green, 302-310.

6. State in the form of a summary the important features of European civilization in the fifteenth century.

1 For the full name of the author and the full title of the book see Reading List (Appendix C) where the names of the authors are arranged in alphabetical order.

II " The Finding Of Strange Coasts "

What led to the great discoveries and explorations of the fifteenth century? How did it happen that more new countries were discovered by Europeans in that one century than were discovered in all the ages that had gone before? What parts of the earth were then reached for the first time and by what nations and what persons were the first great discoveries made?

6. THE BLOCKING OF THE OLD TRADE ROUTES.

The impulse which led men of Europe in the fifteenth century to go out upon unknown waters and find strange coasts was due almost wholly to a pressure of commercial conditions. About 1450, the trade which the Mediterranean cities were carrying on with the Orient received a serious check at the hands of the Ottoman Turks. These truculent and conquering barbarians began to overrun Asia Minor in the fourteenth century and did not halt in their career of conquest until they had spread their power over all the countries bordering upon the Black Sea and the eastern edge of the Mediterranean. In 1453 they captured Constantinople, and from that date the overland trade with the Orient began rapidly to decline. The new Turkish masters committed such depredations upon commerce that merchants were forced to abandon the old overland routes to the Orient and seek a passage for their goods by way of the River Nile and the Red Sea. But they could not long avail themselves even of this outlet, for the Turks, after taking Constantinople, carried their conquest southwards and by 15 17 had all Syria and Egypt in their power. The Ottoman Government was as unfriendly to commerce in Cairo and Alexandria as it was in Constantinople. It imposed such heavy tolls upon goods moving upon the Nile and the Red Sea as to

"THE FINDING OF STRANGE COASTS" 9

render trade by this route unprofitable. Thus by the opening of the sixteenth century the Turkish conquerors had interposed insurmountable barriers to all trade moving by the old routes between Europe and the Far East.

7. EXPLORATIONS OF THE PORTUGUESE.

But the movements of commerce are well nigh irresistible. Henry Trade will have an outlet; if it cannot surmount barriers it gator will go around them. As soon as the Turks began to interfere with trade moving by the old routes, men began to seek new routes to the Orient. In this search Portugal took the lead. Even before the fall of Constantinople, Prince Henry of Portugal, — known as Henry the Navigator, — a man distinguished above all his contemporaries for his encouragement of science and geographical discovery, began to explore the African coast, and by 1434 his sailors had passed Cape Bajador, the southernmost point then known to Europeans. Ten years later Cape Verde had been passed and before the Prince died (1460) Portuguese ships had reached Sierra L.eone.

The work of exploration begun by Henry the Navigator was carried forward by those who came later, and by 1471 Portuguese sailors had followed the African coast beyond the Equator. In 1487 Bartholomeu Dias, a Portuguese captain, Barthoioreached the Cape of Good Hope and caught sight of the Indian Diaz Ocean, Dias wanted to sail on, but his crew refused to go further. He returned to Lisbon convinced that he had found an ocean route to the Indies.

8. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS AND VASCO DA GAMA.

About the time Dias was making his brilliant and ever mem- The orable voyage, Christopher Columbus appeared in Portugal coiumbus with a plan for reaching the Indies by sailing directly west shape across the Atlantic. Columbus thought that such a voyage Earth was possible because he believed the earth to be round like a ball. Learned men of the time quite generally believed the earth to be a globe, but with the exception of a few astronomers like Toscanelli of Florence this belief was half-hearted and theoretical. To the mind of Columbus the sphericity of the earth was a living truth. That India could be reached by sailing westward was a proposition concerning which he had

no doubt whatever. He believed that a voyage westward from Lisbon straight across to Cipango (Japan) was about as simple and as practicable as a trip from his native city of Genoa across to the island of Corsica. Such a voyage seemed to him much shorter than it actually was because he entertained the common error that the earth was much smaller than it actually is. ris op er o urn us. ^^ ^^ ^^^ know precisely when

Columbus decided to venture upon a westward voyage, but we know that at the time of the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope his whole being was absorbed in plans for the undertaking. Such a voyage required the support of the rich and powerful, and Columbus labored for years, now in Portugal, now in Spain, to secure royal assistance and approval. The way of the suppliant was long and hard, but Columbus was as persistent a man as ever lived, and his indomitable perseverance was at length rewarded and the needed assistance secured.

On August 3, 1492, under the powerful auspices of Spain, Columbus sailed westward for Palos and on October 12 he landed at a little island (possibly San Salvador) of the Bahama group. After skirting the coast of Cuba and landing at Haiti, where he left some men to build a fort and make a settlement — the first to be made in the New World — he returned to Spain (March 1493), with the startling news that he had reached the coast of India by a westward route. This was glorious news for Spain, for it now seemed that the trade of the Orient, the great prize for which the commer-