American colonial history, for use in secondary schools

Front matter

E

\HW:^^m¥WWvW^.

OLONIAL HISTO

Preface

This book contains Part I of Ashley's American History. Its purpose is to provide the necessary material for the study of American Colonial History in connection with the course in EngUsh History, as recommended by the Committee of Five on the Study of History in Secondary Schools.

SUGGESTIONS

On account of the limited time at the disposal of high school pupils, the marginal references have been selected with care. Most of them will be found in the average public library, and a fair proportion in the ordinary high school library. Many of the groups of marginal references can be used for topics to supplement the lists given at the ends of the chapters.

The following lists of books will probably be found most useful in connection with this text. As duplicates are always more useful for class use than even a large number of titles, a large high school library would probably contain a much larger number of books from the first and second lists than from the third.

I. A SMALL LIBRARY

One or more copies of each of the following: — Cambridge Modern History, Vol. VII.

COMAN, Industrial History of the United States.

MacDonald, Select Documents of United States History {i']']6-iS6l') ^ Burgess, Middle Period.

Dodge, Bird^s Eye Viezv of the Civil War.

Hart (ed.), American History told by Contemporaries, Vol. IV. American History Leaflets, Nos. 4, 5, 23, 30.

II. A MEDIUM-SIZED LIBRARY

Selected from the books given above and the following: — Epochs of American History, 3 volumes.

Channing and Hart, Guide to American History. MacDonald, Select Charters Illustrative of American History. MacDonald, Select Statutes of United States History. The American Nation : —

Bourne, Spain in America.

Andrews, Colonial Self- Government. vii viii Suggestions

Howard, Preliminaries of the Revolution,

Van Tyne, The Americaji Revolution.

McLaughlin, Confederation and the Constitution,

Hart, Abolition and Slavery.

Channing, History of the United States, Vol. I. Parkman, Strtiggle for a Continent.

FiSKE, Critical Period of American History. Ashley, American Federal State, Hart, Actual Government.

Hart (ed.), American History told by Contemporaries, 4 volumes. A?nerican History Leaflets.

Old South Leaflets.

Dewey, Financial History of the United States. Foster, A Century of Afuerican Diplomacy. Johnston, American Political History, 2 volumes. Burgess, Middle Period.

Burgess, Civil War and the Constitution, Vol. I. Stan wood. History of the Presidency.

Andrews, The United States in our Own Time. Larned (ed.), History for Ready Reference, Vol. VI. Elson, History of the United States.

in. A LARGE LIBRARY

Selected from the books given above and the following : —

WiNSOR, Narrative and Critical History of America, 8 volumes, * The American Nation, rest of the 27 volumes. *Fiske, 13 volumes on American history. *Semple, American History and its Geographic Conditions,

Brigham, Geographic Lnfluences in American History,

Ogg, Opening of the Mississippi.

Eggleston, Beginners of a Nation.

Lodge, Short History of the English Colonies.

Doyle, English Colonies, 5 volumes.

Johnston (Woodburn) (eds.), American Eloquence, 4 volumes.

Roosevelt, Winning of the West, 4 volumes. ♦Taussig, Tariff History of the United States.

Schouler, History of the United States ( 1 783-1865), 6 volumes. *McM aster, //zj/^ry of the People of the United States (1783- 1860) 7 volumes published.

White, Money and Ba?iking. ♦Rhodes, Llistory of the United States since the Compromise of 18^0, 7 volumes.

Snggestio7zs ix

American Cominonzvealth Series; especially volumes on Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, Texas, Louisiana, and Kansas.

Larned, History for Ready Reference, 6 volumes. *Sparks, Expansion of the United States.

Blaine, Twenty Years of Congress.

Cox, Three Decades of Federal Legislation.

Burgess, Civil War and the Constitution, Vol. IL

Johnson, War of Secession.

Wood-Edmunds, Civil War in the United States.

Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, 4 volumes.

Burgess, Reconstruction and the Constitution.

Foster, American Diplomacy in the Orietit.

Johnson, American Railway Transportation.

Those starred in this list should be included in list II if possible.

Chapter I Conditions Affecting Colonization In America. 1-23

PAGE

Introduction I

Geography and American colonization

Climate and rainfall

Natural resources ......

Geographical divisions of the United States Influence of geogi'aphy on English colonization Geographical advantages of the French colonies

The North American Indian :

The Indian tribes ....

Life and character of the Indians General relations of Indians and Whites Help given to the English by the Indians Results of Indian wars

Europe during the Fifteenth Century :

13. Connection between the history of Europe and America

14. Political Europe after 1450

15. Trade with the East before 1475 ....

16. Search for new sea routes to India ....

17. Summary

5' 7 8 10

17 18

19 20 21

CHAPTER II The Discovery of a New World

18. Preparation of Columbus 24

19. Columbus's first voyage ...••«. 25

SECTION PAGE

20. The Pope's division of the earth 26

21. Later voyages of Columbus ...... 27

22. The Cabots 28

23. Vespucius and the naming of America .... 29

24. The Pacific Ocean 30

Explorations in the United States (15 13-1543) :

27. De Soto 32

28. Verrazano and Cartier 32

The Close of the Sixteenth Century :

29. The situation in Europe ....... 33

30. The French in Florida (i 562-1 565) 34

31. The English in the New World (i 562-1 583) . • • 35

32. The Ralegh colonies (i 584-1 590) 36

33. The results of the first century 37

CHAPTER III EARLY ENGLISH COLONIZATION (i6oc^i66o). 40-62

35. The settlement at Jamestown ...... 41

36. The influence of tobacco culture ..... 42

37. The first Virginia assembly (1619) 43

38. Virginia becomes a royal province (1624) . ... 43

New England before 1628 :

39. The Plymouth Company and the Council for New England 44

40. The English Puritans 46

41. The Puritans and the English monarchs .... 47

42. The Pilgrim migrations 48

43. Early history of New Plymouth 48

Beginnings of Massachusetts Bay (i 628-1 636):

44. The Massachusetts Bay Company 49

45. King Charles and the Puritans 50

46. Character of the Massachusetts Bay colony . , .51

47. Political problems and dangers 52

48. Religious difficulties 53

Expansion in New England (1635-1645) :

49. Providence plantations and Rhode Island ... 54

50. The Connecticut Valley 55

Contents xiii

SECTION PAGE

51. New Haven 56

52. Northern New England 57

53. The New England confederation (1643) .... 57

54. The charter of Maryland (1632) 59

55. The proprietor and the freeman 60

56. Religious toleration 60

57. Summary 61

58. 59-

60. 61. 62.

65. 66. 67. 68.

69. 70.

73. 74. 75-

77- 78.

79. 80.

Chapter IV Later English Colonization (1660-1700). 63-85

Commercial situation of England about 1660 England and the Colonies (i 660-1 685)

The founding of New Netherland The province of New Netherland New Netherland and its neighbors .

Conquest of New Netherland (1664) The English in New York (1664-1685)

The Quaker Colonies :

New Jersey and the Quakers Penn and his colony ....

The government of Pennsylvania Boundaries of Pennsylvania

The South after the Restoration (i 660-1 730 Misgovernment in Virginia ( 1 660-1 676) Bacon's rebellion (1676) .

The Carolina charters (i 663-1 665) .

Proprietary government in Carolina (1667-1729)

Problems of New England ( 1 655-1 675) .

Massachusetts and the Crown (i 675-1 684)

The Great Revolution (i 685-1 700) :

The Dominion of New England ....

The revolution of 1689 in England and New England Revolutionary movements in the Middle and Southern

Colonies

Results of the revolution in America The colonies in 1700 .

63 64

65 65 67

67 68

73 74 75 75

77 78

83 84 xiv Contents

Chapter V Rivalry Of French And English (1689-1763) 86-103

SECTION PAGE

81. Introduction 86

French Exploration and Settlement :

82. Founding of New France 86

?>T,. Exploration of the West 88

French and English Colonies (i 689-1 754) :

85. TheTreaty of Utrecht (1713) 89

86. Georgia 91

87. The English colonists and their governors ... 92

88. Government' of the French colonies .... 93

89. Preparation for the final conflict ..... 94

98,

99 100

Expulsion of the French (i 754-1 763) : The struggle for the upper Ohio valley . The situation in America and in Europe The first period of the war (i 754-1 757) . The second period of the war (1758-1760) The Peace of Paris (1763)

Summary

95 95 97 98 lOI

Chapter VI Colonial Conditions (1750). 104-126

Population and Society :

Number of the people 104

Classes of society 105

Indented servants ........ 106

vSlavery 106

Colonial life ......... 108

Occupations : loi. Agriculture no

102. Commerce and shipping . . . . . . .ill

103. Industry and labor . , . , . . . .112

104. Colonial currency . . 1 13

106. Colonial churches . . . . . . . • I15

107. Superstition . . . „ 116

Contents xv

SECTION PACE

109. Education uS

no. Newspapers 120

112. Colonial Government . . . . , . . .122

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

Indians. By MacNeil 12

Columbus 25

Caravel of Columbus 26

Sir Walter Raleigh 36

Captain John Smith 41

A Puritan. By St. Gaudens 51

Roger Williams 54

New York in the Seventeenth Century (New Amsterdam) . . 66

William Penn 70

Pine tree shilling 77

William Pitt 99

Fireplace in a colonial kitchen. From Mrs. Earle's " Home

Life in Colonial Days" 108

A colonial hall. From Mrs. Earle's " Home Life in Colonial

Days" 109

A colonial church 1 15

Pillory 117

Page from an old school book 118

Harvard College . . . . . . . . . .119

Conestoga wagon 121

MAPS AND DIAGRAMS

Relief Map of the United States. By Howell . . opposite

Isothermal Lines (United States and Europe)

Average Rainfall in the United States

Navigable Rivers and Portages of the United States .

Location of the Principal Indian Families and Tribes .

Europe, a.d. 1490

Trade Routes from Europe to the East

Toscanelli's Map of the Occident ....

Line of Demarkation (1494) . . .

America (1515) (Schoener). Simplified from Wmsor's " Narra

tive and Critical History of America " . America (1541) (Mercator). Simplified from Wmsor's " Amer

Exploration and Settlements before 1600

Land Grants under Charter of 1606 ....

Eastern North America (1621). From Dutch map in O'Cal

laghan collection

New England Settlements

Boundaries of Pennsylvania

North Atlantic Coast (1650- 1 695) {Colored) . . opposite Treaty of Utrecht; Territorial Changes (i 713) {Colored) '* Scene of the French and Indian War (i 754-1 759) Treaty of Paris; Territorial Changes (1763) {Colored) opposite Density of Population in English Colonies (1750)

IT 12

18 20 24

29 29 \

37 40

45 58

13 82 90

97 100 104

PART I THE COLONIAL PERIOD (1492-1763)

Chapter I Conditions Affecting Colonization In America

I . Introduction. — Not many years ago the common What is opinion about history was expressed in the words, "happy ^'^^^^y'' is that people who have no history." To persons holding such a view, history was a record of wars and intrigues, of cruelty, misfortune, and destruction. This opinion of history, common enough a generation ago, is held by few to-day, for we are beginning to realize that history is less a narrative of events than a record of progress — that it should not record the horrors of a nation's life but its achievements. It is hardly necessary to state that this must be quite as much a study of the means used to produce certain results, of the conditions which made possible and necessary certain achievements, as a description of the results themselves; for, after all, the purpose of studying history is not to learn facts, but to understand the causes and results of the great movements in the life of a people.

This task is one of great interest and importance, but it Choice of presents many difficulties. We cannot, in a short time and topics in within a brief text, examine very much of the material to be j^j^^qj. found on this broad subject. We must therefore decide what phase or phases of history should receive special consideration, and then seek to concentrate our attention on those topics which mark most clearly the path we wish to follow. Since we cannot study all the phases of American development, we shall devote ourselves particularly to the develop-

B I

Two things to be noted.

ment of the American nation — a subject that is political rather than social — and seek to discover how the American nation became what it is to-day. Many military events will be examined in the course of this study, for our wars have greatly influenced our national development. Commercial activities and social life will be considered to some extent, because without some knowledge of them we cannot understand certain changes in our country.

In connection with each subject studied we should note two things : (i) what are the facts regarding the topic under consideration ? (2) how is this event connected with other events we have studied ? The first involves not only an act of memory but discrimination between the details that are more important and those that are insignificant; the second compels us to use the knowledge that we have gained in reasoning out the causes and results of the different movements.

Three condi- Before taking up in a systematic way the record of Ameritions affecting can development, we must consider first three things that American j^^^^^ influenced our progress greatly, especially during our

early years. One of these is the geography of the United States, which has influenced our history from the beginning and is now a factor of the first importance in determining the character of our life and occupations. The second deals with the original inhabitants, the Indians, whose influence during colonial times was very great, and the third with the situation in Europe at the time the continent was discovered.

Four important

geographical

influences.

Winsor (ed.), America, IV, x-xv.

2. Geography and American Colonization. — In all ages the geography of different countries has exerted a very great influence on their history. In the development of the United States we can study the influence of physical conditions as, step by step, the territory was explored and opened to settlement. The effect of topography, soil, and climate can be measured, because we have fairly full and exact information of every early attempt to gain a foothold

Geographical Cofiditions 3

on this continent. During the colonial period, the geographical characteristics which affected our history most were four in number: (i) The accessibihty of the new continent. Accessibility. Its position with reference to Europe, the character of its coast line, the extent of its water systems, and the navigability of its rivers aided exploration and settlement. (2) The possibility of a food supply. As no colony could continue Food supply. to exist if dependent on Europe or on other colonies for its food, it was necessary that grains and vegetables should be raised easily within the colony. Climate, rainfall, the character of the soil, and many other physiographical conditions affected this problem. (3) Its defensibility. The Defensibiiity. dangers to which a colony was exposed and the ease with which it might be defended were matters of the first importance. If located in the heart of the country, scattered settlements were out of the question. The neighborhood of unfriendly European colonies was also to be avoided, and especial care was necessary to prevent the destruction of a colony through disease caused by extreme heat or cold or by the fevers all too common in the low marshy coastal belt. (4) Its general resources. Permanency depended on General the development of certain industries, which would not only resources, help the colonists to sustain life, but would produce articles which they could exchange for the necessaries that must be procured in Europe. The precious metals of Mexico and South America, the sugar and tobacco of Cuba, and the furs of New France explain the success of Spanish and French colonies. Topography and occupations account to a large extent also for the character of a colony. The compact little hamlets of New England could never have been developed in the broad fertile valleys of the South any more than the system of French trading posts could have been established in the narrow valleys of Massachusetts. After considering some of these physical conditions and the geographical divisions of the United States, we shall note briefly how English and French colonization was affected by them. 3. Climate and Rainfall. — The climate of the United

Temperature of the coast and interior.

Winsor (ed.), America, IV, ii, vi.

Farrand, Basis of A me?: History, 17-21.

States, while on the whole temperate, presents many variations. Two things that had a very great influence on our early history should be noted carefully, (i) The temperature of the Atlantic slope and of the Mississippi basin is much lower than that of Europe in the same latitude, because the warm waters of the Gulf Stream wash the shores of western Europe. (2) The winters in the northern half of the United States are very severe, especially in the interior which possesses to a marked degree the characteristics of a continental climate. The earliest American colonies were

Isothermal Lines established below the latitude of Rome and the extreme cold was thus avoided, but most of the English colonists of the seventeenth century settled farther north and found themselves face to face with all the hardships and privations that a long winter would be likely to cause. In several cases the intense suffering led to the complete abandonment of the settlement. This very struggle for existence, however, seems to have benefited those who were courageous enough to attempt or hardy enough to endure the life north of the fortieth parallel.

The rainfall throughout the eastern half of the United Staito is sufficiently abundant to insure good crops without being so excessive as to prevent cultivation. It is heaviest on the Gulf slope, but almost as great along the Atlantic border. West of the Mississippi River the rainfall is less abundant and beyond the one hundred and fifth meridian is too light for the production of most crops. However, the great semi-arid plains of the West form one of the finest grazing regions in the world.

Variations in rainfall.

Shaler, United States, I, 15-20.

Average Rainfall

4. Natural Resources. — These climatic conditions have made it possible for Europeans to live within the United States. They contributed very largely to the success of the early settlements, because of the ease with which a supply of food could be raised. Without maize or Indian corn many of the early colonies would have been complete failures. Being a native product of this continent, maize was found Shaler,

growmg wild to some extent. From the Indians who cul-

Agricultural food supplies.

Winsor (ed.), Atnerica, IV, xiii-xv.

tivated it in a crude way, all early settlers secured supplies

Non agricultural foods.

Commercial value of natural resources.

Influence of natural resources in recent history.

by purchase or force, and it remained the chief food of the immigrants during the colonial period. This was largely due to the ease with which it was grown in half-cleared forests where wheat could not be raised, and to the abundance of the crop. As it is sensitive to the cold, it cannot be raised in the North, much to the loss of the colonists in that part of the continent. The early settlers depended a great deal on the pumpkins and squashes grown with the maize in the clearings. In the Great Lake basin wild rice was one of the chief foods for a large part of the population.

Besides the agricultural productions on which the colonists depended, they used as food the immense supplies of fish and game. Colonization would have been very difficult, perhaps impossible, in New England and around the St. Lawrence, but for the fisheries, the cod particularly being a source of considerable wealth because exported in large quantities. Frontiersmen found it possible to sustain life on the flesh of the animals killed.

Far more valuable to the early settlers was the vast trade in peltries which engaged the attention of a large percentage of the population in New France and New Netherland. This fur trade determined the location of almost all of the frontier towns, which were at the beginning little more than trading posts. In the South the greater productivity of the soil and the mildness of the climate made the question of food supply a less serious one, but the growth of tobacco in Virginia especially and the exportation of rice from the coast plantations aided greatly in the development of colonies in that section. The abundance of excellent timber along the coast furnished material for the construction of homes and stimulated industries like ship building. Although the dense forests interfered somewhat with agriculture, they were a valuable aid to the colonists in other ways, lumber being one of the chief exports of the English provinces.

From this fragmentary account we can appreciate perhaps the influence of natural conditions on colonial development. We can understand also how the favorable agricultural conditions in this country, coupled with its unexcelled Farrand,

supply of coal, iron, copper, and other minerals, its numerous ^'^^'^ of Amer.

rivers and excellent harbors, have made it possible for the winsor (ed.)

United States to develop with amazing rapidity since the America, colonial period.

5. Geographical Divisions of the United States. — The General,

topography of the United States is very interesting. On the winsor (ed.),

east and the west are two great oceans, the narrower America,

separating us from those European countries from which ^^' "^~^'

almost all American settlers came. One half of the southern Farrand,

border is a great arm of the sea, and nearly one third of the Basis of Amer.

northern boundary is a system of lakes penetrating nearly

one half of the distance to the Pacific. Two great systems of mountains divide the country into several distinct geographical divisions. One, the Appalachian, running northeast and southwest, parallel with the Atlantic coast line, is low and comparatively narrow, with passes connecting the East with the West along the Mohawk, in Pennsylvania and at Cumberland Gap.^ The second, the Cordilleran system, averages one thousand miles across and is really a high table land fringed for the most part by high ranges on its eastern and western edges.

East of the Appalachian system is the Atlantic slope, nar- Atlantic row and consequently rather steep at the north, giving that ^^°P^- section short, rapid rivers, with narrow valleys, and often

Snaler,

with numerous water falls; broader at the south, so that the united states country is more nearly level, the valleys therefore wider, 1.53-58, 61- and the rivers slower and navigable for a longer distance. ^' °9-74- Along the coast there are numerous bays and harbors, some of which are particularly fine. On the south Atlantic slope and on the eastern Gulf slope the coast is often marshy for a considerable distance inland.

Between the great mountain systems lies the magnificent Mississippi Mississippi basin, the river and its tributaries comprising ^^^^"*

^ The highest peaks are but little over six thousand feet. There are two ranges separated from Pennsylvania and North Carolina by a broad, fertile valley.

Ainericaji Histoiy

Shaler, United States, I, I02- 107, 127-130.

Great Lake basin.

Brigham,

Geographic

Influences,

105-114.

Shaler,

United States,

The Atlantic slope.

Winsor (ed.), America, IV. xxiii-xxx.

nine thousand miles of navigable streams more than three feet in depth, draining an area of about a million and a quarter square miles of the finest land on the globe. With a fertile soil and abundant rainfall, except in the West, a climate that is marked by short, hot summers, and in the North by long severe winters, the Mississippi basin is to-day the greatest agricultural region in the world. In colonial times comparatively little use could be made of these characteristics because it was not easily accessible before the days of steam. Mountain ranges shut it off from the Atlantic coast. Falls and rapids in the St. Lawrence basin practically closed that avenue of approach. Access by way of the lower Mississippi was precluded because of the river current and the swamps on either side which made the banks uninhabitable except in places for a long distance from the Gulf. Since the middle of the eighteenth century, however, the Mississippi valley has been the scene of many of the most important conflicts in our history, and it has furnished the issues for numerous great national contests.

North of the eastern Mississippi basin and the Atlantic slope is the basin of the Great Lakes, covering a comparatively small territory aside from the w^ater area. Since it was closed to the outside world for one half the year, when the St. Lawrence was frozen over, and was inaccessible directly because of the rapids in the St. Lawrence River and Niagara Falls, the upper St. Lawrence basin was practically unoccupied during the colonial period. The lower St. Lawrence basin, which is open to sea-going ships as far as Montreal, w^as the seat of a thriving colony, supported in large part by the fur trade with the interior.

6. Influence of Geography on English Colonization. — All of the English colonies proper were confined to the Atlantic slope, w^hich offered many advantages to the settler. It was the most accessible part of the continent, being almost directly across from Europe ^ and offering shelter to the

^ On account of the prevailing west winds in the north temperate zone and eastward direction of the north Atlantic currents, however, most of the pioneers because of its many harbors.' As far inland as the mountains the sloping character of the country, with the numerous short but navigable rivers, gave easy access to a region which was attractive and usually fertile. In the South the Atlantic slope was much broader than in the North. The valleys of Virginia and the Carolinas are broad and fertile. As the climate favored the growing of tobacco, rice, and cotton which can be raised most profitably on large plantations, a scattered agricultural population was inevitable. In New EnglandAe stony clay soil of the narrow valleys was not well adapted for agriculture, w^hile the abundance of small but sheltered harbors made it desirable for the people to keep near the coast and give their attention to commerce. The middle section, in this as in most other respects, was a mean between the North and the South and partook of the characteristics of each. The magnificent harbor of New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River and at the eastern extremity of the only low pass from the coast to the West, gave that location advantages over every other, and made it the natural commercial metropolis of the East.

During the colonial period, however, there was little com- Communicamunication between New York and the interior because the *^°^ ^'^^ *^^ Iroquois controlled the Mohawk route and the French occupied that part of the Great Lake basin beyond. Farther pa^rand south several passes permitted entrance to the Ohio valley. Basis of Amer. the key to the whole of that basin, the junction of the Al- History, 27-35. legheny and Monongahela, lying but a step beyond the last range of hills. Still farther south the great valley between the parallel ranges of the Appalachian mountains, and the gaps from that valley to the fertile region south of the Ohio River, made emigration to the West possible though not easy.

The mountains were of special value to the colonies be- TheAppalacause they could be crossed only with difficulty. They ^^/^" moanafforded protection from attack from the interior and allowed

early voyagers came by way of the Canaries and the West Indies, the trade winds blowing regularly from the east in that latitude.

tarns.

Brigham,

Geographic

Influetices,

76-89.

Semple, Amer.

Hist, and its

Geographic

Conditions,

36-51-

The great

interior basins.

Winsor (ed.), America, IV, xx-xxiii.

Hold of the French on the interior.

Farrand, Basis of Amer.

History, 23-27.

the English colonies to thrive in comparative peace, expanding with a natural and healthy growth into the foothills without danger of attack from their European rivals. The strength of the English colonies was to a great extent the result of compactness due partly to their agricultural and commercial pursuits, and in part also to the mountain barrier which confined them to the narrow sea border.

7. Geographical Advantages of the French Colonies. — The territory occupied by the French presented marked contrast to that of the English. France was fortunate enough to gain possession of the two great basins — those of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi — which apparently were the gateways to the interior of the continent. Apparently, for it was by no means easy, as we have noticed, to pass from the lower St. Lawrence to the four great lakes beyond Niagara Falls, or to ascend the Mississippi as far as either of its important branches. Had the French been in search of homes, they could not easily have established themselves in the lower St. Lawrence on account of the cold and the sterility of the soil, or have founded extensive colonies in the lower Mississippi valley because of the swampy, malarial condition of the country. Neither could they have penetrated to the interior by either route readily had they been accompanied by their families and encumbered with household necessities.

With the French, however, actual colonization was always subordinate to their real work of exploring, trading, and occupying the country. For this task their geographical position was of the highest value. From Montreal, a trader, with comparatively little difficulty, might reach the valley of the Ohio, the basin of the upper Great Lakes, the Mississippi and its many branches, and the entire system of waterways northwest of Lake Superior, because short portages over comparatively level spaces connected the waters of the three great interior basins of the continent, which two centuries ago formed probably the richest fur-bearing region on the globe. Where the trader might go, the soldier could

II follow. In time, for both commercial and military reasons, posts were established at the points where important waterways or paths joined, giving the French control of the region to which these ways penetrated. The skill shown in the selection of these points is apparent from a glance at the map. Notice the position of Montreal, Fort Frontenac, Fort Duquesne, Detroit, Fort St. Marie, Fort St. Joseph, Fort e^