New American history for grammar schools, in three parts: I. From the Old world to the New, II. The birth of the nation, III. The nation's life and progress

Front matter

fe^^

Hi a

Book GopyrigfitN^

Chapter I. Il

in.

IV.

V.

VI.

vn.

VIIL

IX.

X.

XL

XIL

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

Foreword . . . .

The Vikings .......

Europe and the East .....

Columbus and his Work ....

Following where Columbus Led

America Avr> its Inhabitants

Spain's Attempt at Colonizing North America

French Explorations and Settlements

Virginia ........

The Pilgrims at Plvmouth ....

The Dutch Colony of New Netherland Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut Maryland, Delaware, Neav Jersey, Pennsylvania Indian Troubles iv \r,w England

PAGE 1

Part II The Birth Of The Nation

I. Foreword

CONDITIONS IN EUROPE AND AMERICA II. English Colonies and Colonists. ....

III. Life in New France .......

IV. A C LANCE at England and France ....

xi

CONTENTS

THF, XKW UNION

CHAPTER

XXVII. The Dkvei.ui'ment uf thk West .

XXVIII. Changes in 1nikt.striai> Conoition«(

XXIX. The New Sooth

XXX. Politics since the Wah .

II. ClHI!EX( Y (UksTIONS .

III. The Tahii i- .

y. L.UiOK I'Uolil.K.MS

XXXI. FoHEiGN Relation- sin* i; the Wa

'1'he Stanish Wau XXXII. Ameuka as a Would I'owek.

XXXIII. The A.mekhan People

PA(iE

. 466

. 416

. 48«

. 4!>2

. 500

. 527

. 635

APPENDICES I. Chronological Charts:

DlSCOVEKIE.S AND E.\ I'LOK ATIONS ...... i

The Struggle or En<;lani> anh Fkani e i'()r America . iii

Stkl'ggi-i: joii Im)i;i-;:ni)Ence ..... . iv

Review oe National Period dy Ar)AiiNi>TRATioNS . , viii

Slavery and the War hetween the States . . . xi II. Growth of the United States :

Table of Thirteen Original Colonies .... xiii

Table of States and Territories ..... xiv

Population at Each Census ....... xvii

III. Table of Presidents and Vice Presidents . . . . xviii

IV. Reviews xix

V. Declaration of Independence xxii

VI. Constitution of the United States ...... xxvi

VII. Pronouncing List of Proper Names xlii

COLOR MAPS

Distribution of Indian Tribes .......

European Claims in North America at tlie Tim*' of tlie Foundiu}:

Last English Colony, Georgia, 1738 America at the Close of the Last French War North America at tlie Outbreak of the Revolutinn North America at tlie Close of the Revolution (Treaty, 1783) Claims ami Sessions United Stales in 18():^, .

United States in IHID .

United States in 18:]() .

Territory claimed l)y Texas wlien Compromise of 18-JO Slave and Free Territory, 1854 United States in 1860 .

Map showing the Three Secessions Territorial Expansion of the United States .... betueen

United States in rj09 .

admitted to the Union, 1845 facing 02 of the iiKj

PART I

FROM THE OLD WORLD TO THE NEW

"A land waitinir for its people, wealth waiting for possessors, an empire waiting for the nation-builders."

XVII

PART I

FROM THE OLD WORLD TO THE NEW

DiSCOVEKV

1. 'I'he Norsemen

2. Europe and the East — •• How shall we reach the Indies?''

3. Columbus

4. Vasco da tiaiua

5. Early followers of Columbus

Cabot, Vespucius, Calboa, Magellan

IL EXPLOUATIOX

1. Spain Cortez Pizarro

Ponce de Leon De Soto Coronado

France Verrazano Cartier Chaniplain Marquette Joliet La Salle

3. Holland Hudson

III. Colonization 1. Spain

Saint Augustine Santa F6

France Canada Louisiana

3. England ^

Mrginia IMj'nioulh Massachusetts Rhode Island Connecticut Maryland New Jersey Pennsylvania North Carolina South Carolina Georgia

Holland New York

PART I

FOKKWORD

I

(HcE upon a time, as the storybooks say, a great thing happL-nc'il in this old world of ours. Perhaps you know already what this great event was, and will tell me that I mean the discovery of America. And if I ask how and when and by whom this discovery was made, perhaps you will be ready to tell me that too.

But you must remember that so great a thing as the discovery of a new world was not accomplished by one man alone, nor was it accomplished in the single day when Columbus first saw land after his long voyage. Sometimes we' think of it as if a great curtain had been rolled away from before the eyes of Columbus, disclosing the whole continent of America; so that he had only to go home and tell the king of Spain that the New World was discovered.

This is a \'ery wrong idea. We must look back many years before the time of Columbus to find the beginning of the great work, and we must study on to a time many years after his death l)efore we can say that Europe had really found America. Years of toil, great sums of money, the suffering and death of many brave men, were necessary before the work was done. And even then it took centuries more to find what the new continent was like, to settle it with white people, and to make it useful to the world.

It is not one story, but many, that we must read, if we are to know how it all came about. We must read about old Europe B )

and the people there before we can know about America and the new nations that were planted here by European hands.

So let us set out upon our journey, following the white-winged ships on their voyages across the blue waters, from the Old World

to the New.

II The Vikings

"Lords of the waves we are — Kings of the seething foam — Warriors bold from the Norseland cold — Far o'er the sea we roam."

Far away, in the cold northern countries that we know as Norway and Sweden and Denmark, lived a race of men who called themselves Vikings. They ar-e often called Northmen or Norsemen, but I like best their own name for themselves. Viking means "son of the bay," and the name helps us to know what kind of people they were — bold and hardy, fond of adventure, and full of love for the great blue ocean that crept up into the thousands of bays along their shores. They built many ships, and we hear of their daring voyages in almost every part of Europe.

If we could have followed these Viking sailors, we should have found some of them going to England and to France; some to Ireland and the smaller islands near by; but perhaps more than to any other place they went to build up a Viking colony in Iceland. Their settlements there grew rapidly, and we may read about their farms and hay crops, their sheep and cattle, and, as we should expect, about their ships and their trade with all the countries round about.

Would you like to see a Viking ship? It would not look much like one of our ships to-day, nor would it travel so fast as ships

A Norse sea king do now. The bow antl the stern rose higli out of the water, but the middle was lower and iuul no deck. Each vessel carried from thirty to sixty oarsmen, who used oars twenty .feet long. A single mast and but one sail, both of which could be taken down when not in use, completed what would seem to us a strange ship. But

they were well built, and in them the Northmen used to spend many weeks at a time upon the sea.

Only two years after Iceland was settled, one of these ships was driven westward by a storm, till it reached the land we now call Greenland, and many years later a Viking colony was made there. * Then comes a story of a Viking ship which sailed even farther into the unknown west than this. The vessel had started on a voyage from Iceland to Greenland, and the captain had set out, steering by the sun and stars, Viking fashion.

But a thick fog came, and neither sun nor stars could be seen. Still, on and on sailed the Viking ship, and after a time the welcome land was seen. It was not snow-bound Greenland the ship had reached, however, but a The finding low woody shore of which the captain knew nothing, of Vinianj gg he turned back, and it was left for another man to land on the new-found shore. This man was Leif, son of Eric, or Leif Ericsson, as he is often called. In the year 1000 Leif set out to search for the new land. After a short voyage Leif and his thirty-five followers saw the shore, and sailed along beside it for some distance. They called one place they saw Slate-

■:iK

Viking ship

Both ships and sails were gayly oolored.

Notice the dragon's head on the prow.

THE VIKINGS land, because of its large flat rocks Another they called Woodland, and another Vinland, because of the wild grapes they found there. In Vinland they spent the winter, and on going home in the spring, told fine stories of the pleasant land they had found.

"Where was Vinland?" you would like to ask, and I should like to tell you, if I could. That it was in America somewhere, probably between Nova Scotia and Long Island Sound, we may be almost sure, but just where we cannot tell. That no lasting settlements were made in Vinland by the Nortlimen we ai'e sure. Homo voyages were made to its shores to obtain wood, but encounters with the natives, of which the old Norse stories tell, kept the Vikings from making homes in the land the,y had found. In time they stopped sailing to Vinland, and came even almost to forget about it. They deserted even the Greenland colonies after a time, and the New World was left once more to its savage owners.

Meeting of Northmen with natives

THINGS TO REMEMBER 1 The Vikings or Northmen lived in northwestern Europe. They were great sailors

2. The Vikings made colonies in Iceland and Greenland.

3 In the year 1000 Leif Ericsson, a Norseman, made a voyage to a place he called Vinland.

4 Vinland was probably somewhere on the northeastern coast of North America.

THINGS TO RE.\D

1. " Viking Tales," Hall.

2. Legends of the Northmen, from "Young Folks' Book of American Explorers," Higginson, pp. 1-15.

3. Harald the Viking, from " Tales of the Enchanted Islands of the Atlantic," Higginson, pp. 16S-1S5.

4. " Studies in American History," Sheldon-Barnes, pp. 6-12.

6. The Saga of the Land of Grapes, from " Wandering Heroes," Price, pp. 151-170.

6. The Northmen in Europe, from " Story of the Middle Ages," Harding, pp. 104-113.

1. Find the exact meaning of explore, settlement, colony.

2. Make a map showing Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland, Nova Scotia, Long Inland Sound.

3. Write an imaginary account of Leif Ericsson's voyage, supposing ycmrself to be one of his men. The following topics may help you.

My love for the sea — my many voj^ages — a voyage I once made with Leif many years ago — why we went — what we saw — what we called the land we found — the place — the people — our return.

4. Make spears and shields like those the Northmen used, and play at being Vikings.

Ill

EUROPE AND THE EAST

We may wonder how it happened that the knowledge of Vinland did not spread to the other countries of Europe, and wii>- no other people made voyages to explore and settle the new land. There were many reasons for this. One was that the Northmen, in spite of their many voyages, had little knowledge of geography, and so had no idea that they had found anything strange or wonderful.

Another reason was that in Europe this was a time of great confusion and many wars. People were not thinking much

Camels on the desert

Caravans sometimes have as many as 1000 camels, which follow each other in single file, covering a mile or more in length. A camel can carry from 300 to 600 pounds, and can travel from 18 to 25 miles a dav.

about expl(jring new countries. And still another was that Europeans did not care much what lay to the west of them. What little attention they had to spare from their troubles was turned toward the East; toward India, the land of spices and diamonds and pearls; toward Cathay, the land of silk; toward that mysterious ishmd which they called Cipango, which, though none of them had been there to see, was believed to be the richest of them all.

There had been for many hundreds of years some trade with the East. Caravans from Asia brought goods to the shores of the Red Sea, the Caspian, and the Persian Gulf. There they were met by European traders, who brought the goods, partly by land and partly by sea, to Europe. Constantinople had become a great commercial city, the center of much of this eastern trade. ^ , Her shi})s sailed up through the Strait of Bosporus

Trade routes i' » i

and th(.' Black Sea to meet the caravans which had come across the mountains and the deserts lying between the people of Europe tmd those of the great East.

In the eleventh century Europe was threatened by a great danger, which made people think more than ever of the countries to the east of them. The Turks, a fierce and warlike people, began to come in vast companies from their homes in central Asia, and soon took possession of the whole eastern end of the Mediterranean.

The Holy Land, to which Christian pilgrims journeyed to worship, was no longer safe because of these intruders. Christians everywhere throughout Europe became alarmed. Armies were formed, and the Crusades, or "Wars of the Cross" were begun, to drive back the Turks from the Holy Land, and to keep them from capturing Europe itself.

One crusade followed another for nearly two centuries; but the Christians never A Crusader really succeeded in driving the Turks away.

EUROPE AND THE EAST

Marco Polo

One of the great results of the Crusades was to interest people even more in the East, and to increase the commerce with India. Venice and Genoa became great trade centers, and the Mediterranean was filled with richly laden ships. Great fortunes were made. Wealth and learning spread throughout Europe. There grew up much curiosity about the Indies and Cathay. The men who came with the caravans often told the traders strange stories about their countries in the East. Marco Polo, a Venetian, who had really been in these far-away countries, came home and told wonderful tales of the richness and

splendor of what he saw. He told of beautiful rivers with hundreds of great cities on their banks, of the rich products of the countries, and of a great ocean away to the east of Cathay, in which la}' the lovely island of Cipango.

During all these years, while the stories about Asia were arousing more find more interest, the Turks had been gathering strength once more, and now, after hard Capture fighting, they had

of Con- capturf>d Constanti-

stantinople ^^^^^ rpj^.^ ^^^ ^

great blow to European commerce. Just as people were beginning to find out something about the East, the way was closed. They could no longer meet the caravans from India on the shore of the Black Sea; they did not even dare to go l)y way of the Red Sea, for fear of the Turkish vessels always on the watch for them. What should they do? Must they do without gold and pearls and diamonds, without spices and ivory and silks? Some of the learned men began to wonder if there was no other way to India.

Marco Polo

EUROPE AND THE EAST

II

Some one remembered about the great ocean Marco Polo had told them of. What ocean was it? How could they get to it? Or could they, perhaps, sail around Africa, and so through the Indian Ocean to India?

This was not entirely a new idea. The western coast of Africa had been explored for a short distance, before this time. Prince Henry of Portugal, afterward known as Henry the Navigator, had sent many ships down the coast to search for gold and to see if an ocean route to India could not be found. Henry the Now he tried harder than ever. The story of the Navigator voyages would be a long one. It was slow work ; but year by year the ships crept a Uttle farther south. The sailors were easily frightened and often wished to turn back. Many of the captains themselves believed that in the Torrid Zone the ocean was of boiling water, and the air was filled with flame.

But still they went on, encouraged by Prince Henry, who was a great man, and one tliat we should honor for his zeal and steadiness of iiur))osp.

When he died, in .14(53, the Gold Coast had been reached, and we find ourselves wishing that he Henry the Navifjator

could have lived to see

the good work go on. Each year the ships sailed farther south.

In 1471 the Equator was crossed, and in 1486 the Cape of Good

12 AMEK.OAN HISTORY FOR GRAMMAR SCHOOLS

Hope was discovered. The Portuguese seemed likely to be the ones who would answer the question, " How shall we reach the Indies?"

1. At the time when the Northmen found Vinland, most people in Europe were interested in the East, with which there was much trade.

2. After the Turks captured the Holy Land, the Crusades were undertaken to recover it.

3. In 1453 the Turks took Constantinople ; commerce with the East was stopped. It became necessary to find a new routp to India.

4. Henry the Navigator sent ships down the coast of Africa. These ships passed the Equator in 1471 and the Cape of Good Hope in 1486.

1. "The Adventures of Marco Polo," Atherton.

2. "Story of Marco Polo," Brooks.

3. "Marco Polo," Towle.

4. "Studies in American History," Sheldon-Barnes, pp. 12-16.

5. The Crusades in "The Story of the Middle Ages," Harding, pp. 114-

1. Find the exact meaning of caravan, commercial, Christian.

2. Find out what years mark the beginning and the end of the eleventh century.

3. Find out what you can about the Turks.

4. Map study : Look up the location of the Red Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf, Constantinople, the Bosporus, the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Holy Land, Venice, Genoa, Portugal, the Gold Coast.

5. Make a map showing the roxitos of trade with India before Constantinople was taken.

6. Write about Marco Polo, teUing about: where he traveled; his book; some of the wonderful things he described; what people thought of his stories.

IV

" He gained a world; he gave that world Its grandest lesson: On ! sail on ! "

Miller.

Just when the idea that the earth is round came into men's minds we cannot tell, but we know that it had been beUeved by learned men for many years before the times of which we have been reading, though the common people probably had no idea of such a thing. There had been men, too, who had thought that if the earth is round, Cathay might be reached by sailing west.

After 1471, when the Portuguese ships suc3eeded in sailing beyond the Equator, and it began to be seen that the voyage around the coast of Africa would be a long one, more men took up these ideas of a western route.

Portugal was the great gather- Coiumbus

ing place for those who were in- There i. no reaUy authentic portrait. of Colum-

'=' ' bus, though several, of which this is one,

terested in these questions, and are usually accepted as likenesses. The

there we find a man who grew original of this picture i« a painting m the

" Marine Museum, Madrid.

to be very sure that sailing west

was the best way to reach Asia. This man was Christopher

Columbus.

He was a native of Genoa, and had come from that place to Lisbon, where we hear of him making his hving sometimes byvoyages on the sea, and sometimes by making maps for other sailors. We do not know much about his early life. He was fairly well educated, and had a great love of geography, probably because he had spent much of his life on the ocean.

He was the first of those who believed in the western route to think of really trying it himself. It took a good deal of courage to be willing to attempt such a voyage. There were many diffi-

Toscanelie's Map ; drawn from his Description culties to be overcome. The ships of that time were small and easily wrecked. The fear of the miknown ocean, which was called the "Sea of Darkness," was great. No one knew, of course, how far this ocean extended, but the geographers had reckoned, as nearly as they^could, the size of the earth, and some of their estimates were not far from right.

Columbus thought the earth smaller than it really is. He believed that by sailing west only twenty-five hmidred miles, he would come to Japan. The actual distance from Portugal to Japan is more than twelve thousand miles. Perhaps if Columbus had known how large the earth is, Up would not have been so eager to start on his voyage.

The king of Portugal wa.s anxious to know of a shorter route to India, so Columbus applied to him for assistance in getting money and ships. The king became interested, and might have helped him, if Columbus had not asked for such great rewards in return for what he might discover. These the king refused, but he determined secretly to try the route, and so find out whether Columbus was right or not. He sent out a ship with copies of Columbus's maps and charts, but he gained nothing by his deception. The sailors were frightened by the great ocean, and soon came back, saying, "You might as well expect to find land in the sky as in that waste of waters."

When Columbus heard of the trick the king had played upon him, he at once left Portugal. This was in 1484. He determined to apply to the king and queen of Spain, and we soon hear of him traveling with his Uttle son on his way to the Spanish court. It was a long time before he «ould get the king and queen, who were busy with a great war, to pay much attention to him. The years slipped by. While he was still waiting and hoping, the news came in 1487 that a Portuguese ship had sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and into the Indian Ocean. Can't you imagine how impatient Columbus must have been to show people that his way was a better one than this?

It was more than four years later, however, that his time came. In 1492 the war that had kept the king and queen busy came Columbus's to an end, and Queen Isabella became interested in first voyage Columbus and his plans. He came very near losing this chance, as he had lost the one in Portugal, by wanting too much in return for his work. But at last the matter was arranged, and preparations for the voyage were begun.

It was hard work to find sailors who were willing to go upon the ships the queen provided. The queen forced some to go whether they wished to or not. She even released criminals from prison to help make up the crew. At hi.st all was ready, and Columbus set sail from the little town of Palos, on the morning of August 3, 1492, with ninety sailors on board the three ships that formed the fleet.

Of these three ships the Santa Maria was the largest, and was the flagship. The Pinta and the Nina were smaller, and had no decks. They were not much, if any, larger than many of our

^M

Hi fc!>^BBBy.' '

^y^ ^jf

^^^H^IRsi i

The Fleet of Columbus

pleasure boats of to-day, but Columbus was glad to have any ships at all, so I do not believe that he found any fault with his fleet.

It was a strange voyage. After leaving the Canary Islands, September 6, they were soon out of sight of land. Then it was that loneliness and terror of the great waste of rolling waters took possession of the poor sailors. Nothing but sea and sky '— the sea glittering in the sunlight by day, or rolling black and awful by night ; the sky filled with far-away stars, or glaring with the hot rays of the pitiless sun.

Columbus did not dare to tell the sailors how far away they were from home, so each day he gave the number of miles they had sailed as less than it really was. Anxiously, as the days went on, did the admiral look for signs of land. Sometimes he saw weeds floating in the water, sometimes birds flying overhead, sometimes a crab, once a whale; always something to keep up his courage, and something to tell the sailors as a sign that land was near.

Twice they were disappointed, finding what they had believed to be land to be only banks of clouds. They had been on the great ocean a month. But there were always new signs, — floating logs, a branch with berries on it, a stick carved by human hands. Late one night Columbus thought he saw a moving light. Every eye was strained, gazing out into the darkness, every sailor intent upon securing the reward offered to him who should first see land.

The signal agreed upon was the firing of a cannon on the ship where the sharp-eyed sailor should prove to be. It was two o'clock. The moon was near its setting. The Pinta was ahead. Boom ! sounded her great gun. How the hearts must have beat when the sound was heard. Land at last ! To the homesick sailors it meant that the weary voyage was over, that they would soon be on their homeward way. To Columbus it meant success; it meant wealth, power, and fame!

With hearts filled with happy thoughts, they furled the sails of each little vessel, and lay down to wait the coming of the dawn, and their first sight of the long-sought land.

Early in the morning — it was the morning of ()ctol)er 12 — preparations were made for going ashore. Columbus, with a small company of officers and seamen, carrjqng the royal banner of Spain, set off in a little boat to take possession of the land for the queen. What land was it? Colvmibus could hardly tell so goon. It seemed to be a beautiful little island, with green trees and wonderful fruits, with silvery streams, and away in the distance a little lake. There were no towns nor great buildings to be seen. A few strange-looking men had been seen among the trees. It must be some island to the north of Cipango, thought

Landing of Columbus From Vanderlip's painting in the Capitol at Washington.

Columbus, He named it San Salvador. We know now that it was one of the Bahamas, probably Watling's Island.

Reaching the shore, the company fell upon their knees, thanked God for their success, and, holding high the royal banner, pro- The landing, claimed this land a part of the dominion of Queen October 12, Isabella. A crowd of natives had gathered near, ^^^^ watching the strange movements of the newcomers,

and the Spaniards suon made friends with them. They gave the red men beads and bits of colored cloth, and tried to talk with them about the country. Believing that he had found the long-sought Indies. Columbus called the natives Indians. This was not, to be sure, much like the land of riches and splendor he had expected to find, but surely Cipango was not far away, and there he would see the great cities, and find tlie pearls and the gold.

For three months he sailed about among the islands, which we know now to have been the Bahamas. He touched upon the shore of Cuba; he explored Hayti, and named it Ilispaniola. But he found no spices, no gold, and no place that seemed to be quite like Cipango.

At last the Santa Maria struck a sand bar, and could not be saved, Columbus saw that it would be best to start for home. He built a fort at Hispaniola, and left there forty men with provisions for a year; then, with the rc^st of the men, he set sail for Spain.

It was a great day for Columbus when he stood before the king and queen, telling them of the strange sights he had seen, and showing the wonderful things he had brought home, — curious plants, l)rilliantly colored birds, and even several of the cinnamon-colored men.

Preparations were at once l)egun for a second v 03^ age.

Columbus was happier then than ever afterward, I fear.

The second voyage took place in

1493. A Second

fleet of voyage

seventeen vessels,

with fifteen hundred

men, set out from Cadiz to found a colony and to continue the

work of exploration. The record of this voyage is much like that

of the first ; they found many islands, but could not discover to

what country they belonged, nor could they find very much

gold.

Departure of Columbus on his second voyage

Columbus's third and fourth voyages

The success of Columbus made the Portuguese try harder than ever to reach India by saiUng down the coast of Africa. In 1497 Vasco da ^ A^^t commanded by Vasco da Gama set out on

Gama's the voyagp that was to answer the old question,

voyage " How are we to reach the Indies?" In 1499 the

Portuguese joyfully announced to the world that Da Gama had succeeded in getting to India, and had returned with a cargo of gold, ivory, spices, and rich silks. Da Gama became a hero in the eyes of Europe, and results of Columbus's enterprise looked smaller than ever.