The story of American democracy, political and industrial

Front matter

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Foreword

I TRY here to present in one volume a readable story of American history with particular reference to the constant struggle for democracy in society, politics, and industry. So compact a treatment ought not to be encumbered with bristling footnotes or bibliographies ; and so the general accuracy of the treatment will have to be vouched for by the standing of my text-books in the same field, — The American People and American History and Government.

The older historians used to close their narratives at a date somewhat remote from that of their own labors, — " pulling up abruptly " (in the words of Mr. H. G. Wells) as they approached contemporary history " as though they had suddenly come upon something indelicate." While I have been toiling over the concluding chapters of this volume, my respect for that judicious procedure has been unexpectedly enhanced. On so recent a period as the years since the World War the most impartial conclusions are at the mercy of fresh evidence daily to be expected. I can only trust that the reader will not disagree with my troubled decision that to attempt that difficult period in such a work as this was worth while, even at the possible cost of serious imperfections.

Willis Mason West

WiNDAGO Farm

January 1, 1922

Part I — The English In America, To 1660 Chapter Page

I. What the English Found ........ 1

Geographical influences ; the natives ; Spain in America ; France and her failure.

II. Virginia and Maryland to 1660 14

III. New England and the Pilgrims 47

IV. Massachusetts Bay ......... 62

V. Other New England Colonies ....... 98

Rhode Island (religious freedom) ; Connecticut (political democracy) ; the New England Confederation.

Part II — Colonial America (1660-1763)

VI. The Struggle to Save Self-government (1660-1690) . . 107

VII. "Colonial Americans" from 1690 to 1763 .... 133

VIII. Colonial Life 145

Part III — Separation From England (1763-1783)

IX. The Causes 168

How the French Wars prepared the way ; causes inherent in American development ; relation of the struggle to English history ' the social uprising in America.

X. Ten Years of Agitation, 1765-1774 189

XI. The American Revolution 206

From colonies to commonwealths; the new state constitutions; Congress and the war; the peace treaty.

Part IV — The Making Of The Second "west"

XII. The Southwest: Self-developed ...... 237

XIII. The Northwest: A National Domain 249

Vlll

CONTENTS

Part V — The Constitution And The Federalists Chapter Page

XIV. The "League or Friendship" 260

The "Critical Period," 1783-17S8; the evils, and their source in the Articles of Confederation.

XV. The Federal Convention and the Constitution . . 272

XVI. Federalist Organization 300

Making the Constitution move; Hamilton's financial policy.

XVII. Decline of the Federalists 316

Rise of political parties; foreign relations, 1795-1800; domestic troubles, 1797-1800 f Alien and Sedition laws and Kentucky Resolutions) ; expiring Federalism.

Part VI — Jeffersonian Republicanism, 1800-1830

XVIII. America in 1800 337

XIX. The "Revolution of 1800" 353

XX. Territorial Expansion ....... 370

Louisiana Purchase ; \\ est Florida ; I^wis and Clark Expedition.

XXL The War of 1812 380

Part VII — A New Americanism, 1815-1830

XXII. A Third "West" 393

Immigration ; new lands and the steamboat ; internal improvements ; rapid growth.

XXIIL Foreign Relations, 1815-1830 405

XXIV. Nationalism and Reaction 411

• Protective tariffs; extension of Federal jjovver by the courts;

the Missouri Compromise; rise of new political parties.

Part VIII — A New Democracy, 1830-1850

XXV. The America of 1830 421

The three sections (the West and optimistic democracy) ; the awakening of labor, 1825-1837; intellectual and social progress.

XXVI. The "Revolution of 1828" 453

XXVII. The "Reign" of Andrew Jackson, 1829-1841 . . .462

CONTENTS

IX

CHAPTER

XXVIII.

XXIX.

XXX.

XXXI.

XXXII.

XXXIII.

XXXIV.

XXXV.

XXXVI.

XXXVII.

XXXVIII.

XXXIX.

XL.

XLI.

XLII.

XLIII.

XLIV.

XLV.

XLVI.

Part IX — Slavery Page

Slavery and Expansion 490

The Struggle to Control the New Territory • • . 496

The Breakdown of Compromise 503

On the Eve of the Final Struggle 516

America in 1860 ; the political campaign of 1860.

PART X — NATIONALISM VICTORIOUS, 1860-1876 The Call to Arms 526

Campaigns ; finances ; slavery abolished : European relations.

The Close of an Era 567

PART XI — A BUSINESS AGE, 1876-1914 National Growth 578

The Political Story, 187G-1896 591

Civil service and the tariff.

Another Phase of the Political Story .... 603

Greenbacks and free silver.

America a World Power 610

The war with Spain and the aftermath.

The People vs. Privilege 625

Railroads (the Grangers); "big business"; public service

corporations.

Forward-Looking Movements ...... 646

The labor movement ; the farmer movement; socialists and

single taxers; the "progressive" movement in politics;

Woodrow Wilson's first administration.

Part XII — The World War

The heaped materials; the Balkan fuse; and the hand to light the fuse.

The Peace Congress and the Proposed World League . 731

Appendix : The Federal Constitution .... 1

Index 15

ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS

1. George Washington ........ Frontispiece

PAGE

2. Lines of equal temperature in America and Europe ..... 2

3. An Algonkin village (from Beverly's Virginia, 1701) .... 5

4. Columbus at the court of Ferdinand and Isabella (Brozik) ... 8

5. Champlain's fight with the Iroquois (from Champlain's Les Voyagen) . 10

6. French posts and Indian portages. Colored .... facing 10

7. Queen Elizabeth knighting Francis Drake (from Gilbert's drawing) 15

8. Facsimile of the title page of Hakluyt's Voyages 18

10. Facsimile of the London Company's Proclamation of the Virginia Lottery,

1615 25

11. Captain John Smith (from Smith's Generall Hisforie) .... 28

12. The two possible Virginias of 1609 (the "west and northwest" clause) . 29

13. Facsimile of the first page of King James' C ounterhlaste to Tobacco . 35

14. Facsimile of Baltimore's instructions to the first Maryland governor

regarding Protestants .......... 45

15. Virginia and New England in 1620 48

16. Facsimile of the Mayflower Compact, as given in the Bradford manu-

script 53

17. Pilgrims going to meeting (Boughton) 56

18. Governor Edward Winslow (from the portrait in Pilgrim Hall) . . 60

19. "Marks" of Indian chieftains to a covenant with Massachusetts in 1644

(Massachusetts State Archives) ........ 70

20. The Cradock House at Medford 71

21. Kettle (said to be first iron casting in America; Lynn Library) . . . 72

22. Jo\mCotion(Drnke's History and Antiquifies of Boston) .... 79

23. Colonial fireplace and utensils . . . . . . . .84

24. Facsimile from the " Body of Liberties " ....... 85

25. New England in 1640 99

26. Old grist mill (1645) at New Londt)n, Connecticut 103

27. English America, 1660-1690. Colored .... facing 107

28. Pine Tree Shilling (Massachusetts Historical Society Collections) . .113

29. Boston's summons to Andros (Mas.sachusetts Archives) . . .117

30. William Penn at twenty-two (Lely) 129

31. The Appalachian "Fall Line" 134

32. A page from the earliest known edition of the New England Primer 154

X

ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS xi

PAGE

33. Apagefrom the Paisley edition of same ("evening prayer") . . . 155

34. Advertisement for a runaway white "servant" (Boston News Letter,

35. The Baltic (American-built English schooner, 1765. Water color in

Essex Institute) 160

36. An American "deep-sea-going" ship 161

37. Massachusetts paper money of 1690 162

38. Mount Vernon (from a photograph) 164

39. Lexington Green (from a photograph) 165

40. Boone's Fort 166

41. Colonial cartoon — reception of a bishop in New England . . . 177

42. Handbill of New York Sons of Liberty — "We Dare" . . . .191

43. Facsimile of Pennsylvania Journal's announcement of suspension due to

Stamp Act 192

44. Paul Revere's engraving of the landing of British regiments . . . 194

45. The Concord Minute Man (French) 207

46. The Concord Fight (Simmons in Boston State House) .... 208

47. The Washington Elm at Cambridge (photo) ...... 209

48. Facsimile of the first of Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Inde-

49. A continental bill (Massachusetts Historical Society) .... 227

50. Boundaries proposed by France in 1782. Colored . . facing 233

51. Crossed swords, American and English (Massachusetts Historical Society) 235

52. The United States in 1783; nominal and actual territory. Colored /acinar 237

53. Western settlement, 1769-1784 239

55. Daniel Boone at eighty-five (the Harding portrait) .... 243

56. The United States in 1783. State claims and cessions. Colored facing 251

57. Manasseh Cutler 256

58. An old Ohio mill 257

59. Frontier lines, 1774, 1790, and 1820. Colored . . . facing 258

60. George Washington (Stuart) 275

61. Benjamin Franklin (Duplessis) ........ 278

62. "Eighth Federal pillar reared" (Boston Chronicle, June 12, 1788) . . 297

63. John Adams (Stuart) 302

64. Harvard in 1770 (Paul Revere's engraving) ...... 315

65. Alexander Hamilton (Trumbull) ........ 335

66. Physical map of the United States ........ 340

67. California redwoods .......... 341

68. Sectional elevation of the United States (after Draper) .... 342

69. Movement of centers of population and of manufactures . . . 343

71. Farm tools in 1800 346

72. Modern plowing 347

73. A colonial spinning wheel 352

Xll

ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS forN

74. A Conestoga wagon ......

75. Cincinnati in 1810 (after Howe) ....

76. United States growth from 1800 to 1853. Colored

77. "Louisiana" and "West Florida" (three maps, 1756-

78. Meriwether Lewis in hunting costume .

79. Explorations in Louisiana Territory. Colored

80. Photographic reproduction of part of the Boston Centinel

1814, showing secession tendencies .

81. The National Road

82. Distribution of population in 18''20.

83. Thomas Jefferson (Stuart) .....

84. Chicago ("Fort Dearborn") in 1831; based on a

85. Time card showing the long factory day in 1848 .

86. Ralph Waldo Emerson (the Concord statue by French)

87. The "DeWitt Clinton" locomotive

88. Jefferson's home, Monticello .....

89. The birthplace of Abraham Lincoln .

90. A Jackson cartoon — "Clar de Kitchen" .

91. The presidential election of 1828 ....

92. Test vote on the Compromise of 1850 .

93. An antislavery handbill of 1851 .

94. Test vote on the Kansas-Nebraska Bill .

95. Railroad construction from 1830 to 1860. Colored

97. Harvesting to-day .......

98. Union and Confederacy in 1862 ....

99. Scene of the Civil War ......

100. Union and Confederacy after Gettysburg

101. Lincoln and McClellan at Antietam

102. Lee and Jackson ....

103. Abraham Lincoln (the French statue)

104. Ulysses S. Grant in 1865

105. Railroad land grants, 1850-1871 ....

106. The Capitol at Washington .....

107. Rate of increase of population from 1910 to 1920 .

108. Ellis Island

109. Future Americans .......

110. The biggest electric locomotive ....

111. Forging a railway car axle .....

112. A modern blast furnace (the Carrie Furnaces of the Carnegie

pany)

114. The Panama Canal at the Miraflores Locks .

115. Ladle pouring molten metal into pig-iron molds facing facing ovember 9, contemporary

PAGE

Steel facing

Com-

391 396 403 408

585 587 623 638

ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS

Xlll

116. Wilson and Gompers \v;itcliing a procession of tlic American Federation

117. The Minnesota Capitol

118. The Arrow Rock Dam

119. The United States Supreme Court in 19^20 ....

l^O. Maps of the Balkans (the seed plot of war) in 1912 and 1913 . Vll. General John J. Pershing .......

VZi. "Mittel Europa" in 1918, showing also the frontier .states lost by Russia after Brest-Litovsk .......

1'23. German lines in the west in July and November. 1918

I '24. American airplanes .......

656 664 673 681 694 721

727 753

THE STORY OF

AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

PAKT I -THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA CHAPTER I

WHAT THE ENGLISH FOUND

American freedom has its roots deep in the story of •England. In that island, comparatively free from peril of despotic conquest from abroad, was first wrought out for the world the beginning of constitutional liberty.

" Lance and torch and tumult, steel and gray-goose wing, Wrenched it, inch and ell and all, slowly from the king."

So, at a price, in the field, on the scaffold, in the dungeon, and in the harder martyrdoms of broken lives and ruined homes, did Englishmen through heroic centuries work out the union of a strong government and free institutions.

The story of colonial America is the story of transplanting those institutions by Englishmen of the day of Elizabeth and Shakspere to our new continent for a still ^, ^

\ 1 The Eng-

ireer growth. Many other peoples soon began to lish roots play each its indispensable part in making this of American composite nation. Even in the closing colonial period. Frenchman, Dutchman, German, gave us much of our blood and our thought ; and, later still, Norseman, Irishman, and finally Slav and Latin, besides their contributions in music and art, have made the sinew of our

THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA national life. But the forces that have shaped that life — the institution-building forces — were supplied by the early English settlers.

American history has no primitive period. The earliest colonists had command enough over nature not to be controlled by her to any such degree as were the cai in- early Greeks or Latins or the primitive English

fluences: \^ their old liome. Nature has counted for less, and man for more, than in Old-World history. Moreover, our early history has- to do with the Appalachian coast only, and that fringe of the continent is more like the

Lines of Equal Temperature in America and Europe.

European homes of the early colonists than is any other large district in America. The lives of the English settlers were far less changed by removal thither than if they had colonized the Mississippi valley or the Pacific coast.

But the Appalachian coast does differ from the European coast of the Atlantic in two matters that vitally influenced colonization. In the first place, the summers are hotter and the winters colder than in Europe. Unexpected fevers in one season, and unforeseen freezing in the other, ruined more than one attempt at settlement. Captain George Weymouth explored

Climate of the Ap palachian district

GEOGRAPHY AND SETTLEMENT 3

the region near the mouth of the Kennebec In the spring of 1605, and l)rought back to England glowing reports of a bahiiy climate " like that of southern France " ; but the colonists who, trusting to this account, tried to settle there a little later, suffered cruelly from a winter like that of Norway. Theii, too, as one goes from north to south, the climate changes more suyiftly in America than in Europe. In their settlements, between Maine and Florida, English colonists encountered climates as different as they would have found in the Old World if they had spread out from Norway to Morocco — many times the variation they had known in the home island.

Owing to differences in soil, as well as to this variation in climate, the natural products varied greatly from north to south. The rich lands of the south were suited to the cultivation of tobacco or rice or cotton, in large tracts, by slaves or bond servants. The middle district could raise foodstuffs on a large scale. The north was less fertile : farming was not profitable except in small holdings occupations with trustworthy " help " ; but the pine and oak ^'■°™ °°''t^ forests of that region, its harbors, and the fish in its seas, invited to lumbering, shipbuilding, commerce, and fishing. Each section had its distinct set of industries, and so came to have its peculiar habits of living. Virginia Englishman and New England Englishman grew apart in life and character.

In our day these tendencies to sectionalism are vanquished by constant intercourse and by the amazing fluidity of our population. Of three brothers born in Minnesota forty years ago, one lives in New Orleans, one in San Francisco, the third in Boston ; and the three meet in occasional visits of business or friendship. But nothing of this was known to the colonial period. Communication from north difficulty to south was difficult. Colony was divided from of comcolony, or groups of colonies were divided from ™"'"'=*<^°° one another, by arms of the sea. Even when two colonies lay side by side without intervening bays, there were still no roads running from one to the other. The only highways

4 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA

were the rivers, flowing from the mountains to the sea, and as a rule, a colony found it about as convenient to communicate with England as with its neighbor on either side.

But geography did give the English colonists two advantages over their European rivals in America. Their terri- Engiish ad- ^^^2/ ^^'<^^ ^<^^^^ more accessible and more compact vantages: tha)i that held by France or Spain. We someand accls- ^^^^^^ ^P^^^ ^f the vast inland valleys of the St. sibie terri- Lawrcncc and the Mississippi, where the French ^°^^ cast their fortunes, as " gateways to the conti-

nent " ; and so they are — to the interior. But in the early days men did not care to go far into the interior. They liked better the fringe of the continent, where they could keep touch with the old home. Moreover, in the age before steamships, vessels could hardly ascend the Mississippi above New Orleans, because of the swift current and countless snags and bars, and much of the year the St. Lawrence was ice-locked ; but the strip of coast colonized by England, between the Appalachians and the sea, had countless little harbors easily open to the small sailing vessels of that day. On the other hand, when once small bands of French and Spaniards had won their way to the interior, they spread themselves out too fast — faster than their strength justified. But the rugged Appalachians, singularly impassable for such low mountains, covered as they were with forests tangled with underbrush and vines, kept the English colonists from scattering too hastily. It was easier for the English than for the others to get into America ; and, after they got there, it was not so easy for them to weaken themselves by dis- The native pcrsiug too widely. True, four rivers broke the "Indians" Appalachian wall — the Potomac, Delaware, Susquehanna, and Hudson-Mohawk; but, without more engineering skill than that age possessed, only the Mohawk could be used as a road to the inner country — and that route was closed by the formidable Iroquois.

The distribution of the natives reinforced the geographical influence. We have little accurate knowledge about the num-

THE NATIVES 5

bers of the natives ; but it is certain that those east of the Mississippi did not exceed 200,000. Many a single city in that district to-day contains more people than dwelt in all the continent, north of Mexico, when Europeans first touched its shores. Three groups of Indian peoples held the country between the Mississippi and the Atlantic. The Gulf Tribes (Choctaws, Seminoles, Creeks) had made the most progress toward civilization ; but they were too far south and west to affect White settlement much until the beginnings of

An Algonkin Village. From Beverly's History of Virginia (1701) ; based on a picture by John White (one of Raleigh's colonists) in 1585, now in the British Museum. The palisades must have been twelve feet high. Probably a spring of water was found inside. The fields of corn and tobacco in the rear were common property. Ceremonial dances were held within the circle of posts about the "lodge" in the foreground.

Georgia and Tennessee, almost at the end of the colonial period. The roaming Algonkins were the largest group, but also the weakest and least civilized. Numbering from 75,000 to 100,000 souls, — thinly scattered in petty, mutually hostile tribes^ — they " haunted rather than inhabited a vast hunting preserve " stretching from the Atlantic to the INIississippi and from the Ohio to the far north. They included the Powhatans, Delawares, Narragansetts, Pequods, Mohegans, and indeed nearly all the tribes with which the early English settlers came in con-

6 WHAT THE ENGLISH FOUND

tact. The third group, the Iroquois Confederacy, was the strongest native power for war. They numbered about 10,000, and lived in compact, fortified villages in what is now western New York.

In South and Central America the Spaniards had to deal only with races gentler than any of these North American And their Indians. So the Spaniards overran the continent influence on faster than they could occupy it. Their rule, too, colonization ^^^ built upon the slavery of the natives, and the conquerors mixed their blood with this enslaved population until their own nationality was lost. In the north, the French came into conflict with the formidable Iroquois, and deadly blows from this fierce confederacy did much to prevent French mastery in America. The English, in their time of weakness, touched only the Algonkins, who could not seriously imperil their settlement. At the same time the Algonkins were untameahle, and so the English did not mix blood with them. And they were dangerous enough, to scattered settlements to help keep the English colonies fairly compact. This compact settlement gave opportunity for truer civilization and for more division of labor and consequent industrial progress, and made it easier for the colonies to unite against England when the time came. The natives, like nature, seeming unkind to the English settler, were really kinder to him than to his rivals.

In various ways, too, the Indians aided English colonization directly. They furnished the first settlements with ,. Indian ^^^^ " Indian corn " that warded off starvation ; corn " and and soon they taught the settlers to plant both to acco corn (maize) and tobacco — the two native products of supreme value in the early period. Maize was long the main food supply. European grains failed in the new climate season after season, while the colonist was learning the new conditions. Moreover, to clear and prepare the soil for wheat or barley took much time. Maize was a surer crop and needed less toil. The colonist learned from the Indian to raise it, at need, without even clearing the forest,

SPAIN IN AMERICA 7

— merely girdling the trees to kill the foliage, and planting among the standing trunks. It was no accident that this Indian grain came to be called " corn," the general name for European grains. Tobacco the colonist exchanged for European goods. If Indian corn enabled him to live through the first hard years, it was tobacco that first made him rich. Nor do these gifts tell the whole story of the European settlers' debt to the natives. Colonies too far north to raise tobacco found their first wealth in furs, obtained mainly from native hunters. Indian tributions wampum at times made an important part of ^^°^ *^^ colonial money. Forest trails, worn into deep paths by the feet of generations of Redmen, became highways for White travel. The New York Central Railroad follows the old Iroquois trail from Lake Erie to the Hudson ; and in Minneapolis one of the finest streets (Hennepin Avenue) is an ancient Indian trail from the neighboring Lake Harriet to the Mississippi just above the Falls of St. Anthony. Water routes, too, discovered by native pilots in birch canoes, were adopted by White traders. And stations for the exchange of furs, where certain trails and waterways joined, became the sites of mighty cities like Milwaukee, Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, and Duluth.

Spain was first in the field in American colonization. During the crusades, Europe had learned to depend on Asiatic spices, sugars, cottons, silks, and metal- Spain in wares, as luxuries and even as daily necessities. America For two hundred years a vast caravan trade had brought these articles, in a steady stream, from central Asia to the eastern shores of the Mediterranean ; but in the fifteenth century the rise of Turkish barbarians in Asia Minor closed this route. Europe, just then awaking from the long torpor of the Middle Ages, and astir with new impulses, eagerly sought new trade routes into Asia. Portugal found one, to the south, around Africa. Columbus, aided by the Spanish Isabella, tried a still bolder western road — and stumbled on America in his path.

ENGLAND'S RIVALS

This discovery marked the close of the fifteenth century. The next century in the New World was Spain's. The story of her conquests is a tale of heroic endeavor, marred by revolting ferocity. The details, as an old Spanish chronicler said, are " all horrid transactions, nothing pleasant in any of them." Not till twenty years after the discovery did the Spaniards advance to the mainland for settlement ; but, once begun, her handful s of adventurers swooped swiftly north and south. By 1550, she held not only all

Columbus at the Court of Fekuinand and Isabella. From the painting by Brozik in the Metropolitan Museum in New York City.

South America (save Portugal's Brazil), but also all Central America, Mexico, the Californias far up the Pacific coast, and the Floridas. The gold from Mexico and Peru helped to give Spain her proud place as the most powerful country in Europe through most of the sixteenth century ; and she guarded her American possessions jealously. The Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean were Spanish lakes, and the whole Pacific was a " closed sea." Frenchman or Englishman, caught upon those waters, was given a grave beneath them.

FRANCE IN AMERICA 9

Nor was Spain content with even this huge empire on land and sea. She phmned grandly to occupy the Mississippi valley and the Appalachian slope in America, and Spain's to seize Holland and England in Europe. But, in ^^^^ 1588, she received a fatal check when the gallant English " sea dogs " destroyed her " Invincible Armada " in that wonderful nine-days sea fight. That victory did more than merely save England : it marked a turning point in World history. Spain never recovered her old supremacy upon the sea, and so other European people? were left free to try their fortunes in America.

For a time France seemed most likely to succeed Spain as mistress of North America. A quarter of a century went to exploration and failures. Then, in 1608, France in Champlain founded a French colony at Quebec, America Soon, canoe fleets of traders and missionaries were coasting the shores of the Great Lakes and establishing French stations there at points still known by French names. Finally, in 1682, after years of splendid effort. La Salle succeeded in following the Mississippi to the Gulf, setting up a French claim to the entire valley. In later years New France consisted of the colony on the St. Lawrence, in the far north, and the semi-tropical colony of New Orleans, joined to each other, along the interior waterways, by a slight chain of trading posts and military stations — Detroit, Sault Ste. Marie, Vincennes, Kaskaskia, St. Louis, and the like.

From the beginning of this colonization, it was plain that France and England tvere the real rivals for the control of eastern North America. The open struggle between them began in 1689, and lasted some England the seventy years in a series of wars, until France "vais for

A.iii6nc&

was thrust out of the continent in 1763.

It is easy to point out certain French advantages. At home French statesmen worked steadily to build a French empire in America, while the English government French adignored English colonies. The thought of such an vantages empire, too, inspired French explorers in the wilderness, —

ENGLAND'S RIVALS splendid patriots like Champlain, Ribault, and La Salle. France also sent forth the most zealous of missionaries, like the heroic Marquette, to convert the savages. These two mighty motives, patriotism and missionary zeal, played a greater part in founding New France than in establishing either Spanish or English colonies. Moreover, the French could deal with the natives better than the less sympathetic English could, and their leaders were men of far-reaching views.

Champlain's Fight with the Iroquois, on the shores of Lake Champlain. From Les Voyages du Sieur de Champlain (Paris, 1613), the volume in which this lake is first given Champlain's name.

Why, then, did France fail ?

The chief external cause was the relentless hatred of the Iroquois. Curiously enough, it was the ability of the French to make friends with the natives, which brought upon them this terrible scourge. Champlain came first in touch with Algonkin tribes, and won their friendship. He accompanied these allies on the warpath against the Iroquois, — and so made the Iroquois foes to New France. (1) The Iroquois annihilated the Huron Indians, whom French missionaries, after many heroic martyrdoms, had christianized, and upon whom the French had hoped to

The Iroquois and the French

WHY FRANCE FAILED 11

build a native civilization. (2) At times they struck terrible blows at New France itself. (3) They shielded the English colonies, during their weakness, from French attack. The French in Canada could strike at the English only by way of the route followed later by Burgoyne. Everywhere else the wilderness between Canada and the English settlements was impassable except by prowling bands ; and this one route was guarded by the Iroquois. (4) They changed the whole course of French exploration, turning it to the north.

The home of the confederacy in western New York was " the military key to the eastern half of the continent," as Winfield Scott called it, and Ulysses S. Grant afterward. It commanded the headwaters of the Delaware, Susquehanna, and Mohawk-Hudson system, and the portage at Niagara from Erie to Ontario, as well as part of the headwaters of the Ohio. The French leaders had keen eyes for military geography and would certainly have seized this position at any cost, if they had been able to learn its character. They would then have fortified the Ohio by a chain of posts, as they did their other waterways ; and this would have buttressed their position on the Mississippi and the Lakes so as to defy attack.

But the French did not suspect the importance of the Ohio valley until too late. Montreal was founded in 1611 ; but, instead of reaching the interior from there French by the upper St. Lawrence and Lake Erie, French colonization