The United States

Front matter

EMERSON

DAVID

Class 1*7S

Contents

EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT

CHAPTER PAGE

I. How the New World Became Known. 1

Chapter I Before Columbus

Introduction. — Five hundred years ago the people on one side of the earth knew nothing of the other side; in fact they did not know that there was another side. The continents of North and South America, with their fertile plains, mighty rivers, and rich store of timber, metals, and fur-bearing animals, were the abode only of savage or semi-savage peoples. Probably the native Americans, who looked out upon the waters of the Atlantic or of the Pacific, wondered little what there was bevond. But on the other side of the world, in Europe, man had reached a higher stage of civili¬ zation and would not be content leaving mysteries unsolved. The Europeans of the fifteenth century were in a period of unusual eagerness for learning, and when the ocean beckoned them to come and investi¬ gate its mysteries, they accepted the invitation. The history of the United States is just this coming of the civilized races of Europe over the ocean to the unused continent, their struggles here, and the gradual de¬ velopment of the country through the centuries.

The motives that have led men across the water to explore and settle the new land, the ideas and ideals that have grown up with them, and the great leaders who have contributed their share to the making of the nation, are all matters for the American citizen of today to study, if he would know how his nation came to its present greatness.

Claudius Ptolemy. — In the second century after Christ, Claudius Ptolemy, a Greek geographer, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, gave to the world the most in¬ fluential book on geography ever written, and accom¬ panying it, a map of the world remarkable for the fact that it was based upon the theory that the earth was round instead of flat. In order to render it easier for his readers to locate places on the surface of the earth, to state directions and to measure distances between places, the author covered his map with a network of lines that characterize the maps of even the present day. These include the equator, parallels of latitude, and meridians of longitude. Ptolemy placed on his map the parts of the world then known, central and southern Europe and Asia, and northern Africa; but in his ignorance he did not include the north¬ ern parts of Europe and Asia, the southern parts of Africa, and the whole of North and South America. The mapmaker’s very failure to cover his whole globe suggested the incompleteness of man’s knowledge of the geography of the earth and challenged him to go forth and explore the unknown.

Mediaeval Maps. — This challenge, however, was not at once accepted. After the days of Ptolemy, the greatness of Greece and Rome diminished, and the civili¬ zation of Europe fell into decay before the hordes of barbarians from the North. Ptolemy , and his map were forgotten. The maps made in this period of stagnation in the world’s history, lacking Ptolemy’s helpful lines, were shapless masses. One of them, made by Richard of Haldingham in England, in the latter part of the thirteenth century, shows the earth as a flat surface, with Jerusalem,, in Palestine, as the center of the world. There is not the least suggestion

The World as Known Before the Voyage of Columbus

on the map that the world is round, nor that Richard of Haldingham or any other man of his time had en¬ deavored to find out n4w facts about the geography of the earth’s surface.

The Northmen. — Perhaps the first to make any dis¬ coveries in geography after Ptolemy were the Norse sea-rovers, who sailed to the countries surrounding the Baltic Sea, to Iceland, and even to Greenland about the vear 1,000 a.d. and later. Not much is known about these old voyages, but it is certain that Greenland began to find a place on the maps of Northern Europe considerably before the days of Columbus. Some scholars affirm that the Norsemen discovered America. They point out that the same Norse sagas or tales that speak of Greenland in these early times, mention also other regions that were reached by the Norsemen on the west and south of that land. Such regions would necessarily be the mainland of North America, and as they are not far distant from Green¬ land, it does not seem improbable that the men of Northern Europe actually reached the American con¬ tinent before the days of Columbus. According to the sagas, Leif Ericson discovered the new lands in the west in the year 1,000 a.d.

It is a question whether or not Columbus himself knew of these maps and received inspiration and sug¬ gestion from them. But there is no doubt that culti¬ vated men and women in southern Europe of his day, knew of them; and Columbus probably saw them. Without a doubt he knew of the sea tales of the sagas.

Marco Polo. — The next venture into the bounds of Ptolemy’s unknown regions was made by a Venetian traveller, Marco Polo. He travelled overland from Europe to China and the adjacent countries just after the year 1250, and his voyage put these eastern parts of Asia, Japan, and the many surrounding islands on the map for the first time. Another result of his ex¬ plorations, perhaps the most important, was the proof that Polo gave to the world that there was an ocean east of Asia.

The Portuguese. — Other additions to geographical knowledge were made in the southern parts of Africa by the Portuguese mariners of the fifteenth century, under the patronage of Prince Henry the Navigator, the son of the King of Portugal. These brave seamen had full confidence in the old Greek geographers, who taught that the world was spherical and that the land was surrounded on all sides by water. They knew, too, the old Greek stories, that at least two different parties in ancient times, starting in Asia, had sailed around Africa to the waters of the Atlantic long before the days of the Christian era. So the Portuguese hoped that they might be able to rediscover the same way around Africa in the opposite direction, from Europe to Asia.

The Commercial Triumphs of the Portuguese. — The

Portuguese, especially after the capture of Constanti¬ nople by the Turks in 1453, were impelled also by the commercial necessity of finding a new route to the Spice Islands, which lay off the southeastern coast of Asia. Here Europeans had long been accustomed to buy their silks, gems, and drugs, as well as great quan¬ tities of spices which they used to cover up rancid tastes and smells in their food, for refrigerators and cold storage were then altogether unknown. The merchants of the cities of northern Italy had grown very rich by importing the far-away products to the cities of west¬ ern Europe. The route to the East over the Black and Caspian Seas, controlled by Genoa, was closed when the Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453, while the route over the Euphrates River and the Red Sea, controlled by Venice, remained open for only a few years more.

The Portuguese Circumnavigate Africa. — Ever more bold in their southern voyages from year to year, the

Portuguese reached the equator on the west coast of Af¬ rica in 1471, and in 1486, rounded the “ Cape of Good Hope/’ on Africa’s southern point. With this triumph to encourage them, their zeal and confidence that they would at last come to the Spice Islands in this way were redoubled. Success came in 1498, when Vasco da Gama reached the eastern markets, at Calicut, on the west coast of India. The present name of the fabric, calico, is derived from this old town in India, where da Gama filled his ships with the goods of the East.

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

Christopher Columbus’s Dream. — A young Italian sailor, Christopher Columbus, native of the city of Genoa- in northern Italy, was destined to immortalize himself by making the greatest geographical discovery in the history of the world. He had the advantage of knowing all about Ptolemy’s ideas on geography, and he accepted the old Greek belief that the world was round. He was stirred, too, by Marco Polo’s story of a sea to the east of Asia. He reasoned that if the earth was round and if there was a sea on the east of Asia, the Asiatic coasts could be reached by sailing westward from Europe. If in fact the maps of northern parts of Europe and of the North Atlantic came to his attention, Columbus must have reasoned that he, too, like the Northmen, might find lands in the west. But in his case it was the rich lands of Japan, described by Marco Polo, and not the barren Greenland, that attracted him. The growing distances reached by the Portuguese around Africa before 1492 must have inspired Columbus with the thought that long voyages over the ocean, which had never been attempted till the voyages of the Portuguese, were possible after all.

The Sea a Place of Horror. — Down to that time the ocean depths had been thought of by men and women as abounding in every kind of horrible monsters. The common sailors had been the victims of the

Christopher Columbus most awful superstitions concerning the sea, and had been afraid to sail far away from the land. The Portu¬ guese seamen and Columbus and his men deserve great credit for embarking on long voyages in spite of these beliefs.

Columbus Sets Out. — Columbus determined to test the theory that the world was round by sailing west¬ ward over the Atlantic and trying to find the con¬ tinent of Asia in that direction. It proved to be very expensive to build ships and to equip them. The kings of Portugal, of France, and of England, to whom he applied in turn for financial assistance, turned him away. Finally, by the help of Queen Isabella of Spain, and of the seaport town of Palos, Spain, he got to¬ gether three ships, and in these he set out from Palos with ninety men on a lucky Friday, August 3, 1492. Columbus himself sailed in the flagship, the Santa Maria.

His Four Voyages. — The weather proved fair and the voyage easy, yet the superstitious and cowardly sailors, out of sight of land for days with nothing but the waste of waters surrounding them, became terrified and demanded to go back. Only the leader’s heart was strong. On another lucky Friday, October 12. land was discovered, which the devout Columbus named San Salvador or Holy Saviour, one of the Bahama Is¬ lands, but which one is not known. Cuba and Hayti and other large islands of the group now known as the West Indies, were also found on this first voyage. On a second, in 1493-1494, Columbus established a colony in Hayti; on a third, in 1498, he explored the coast of northern South America; and on a fourth, in 1502, skirted the coast of Central America.

Columbus’s Belief that He had reached Asia. — Co¬ lumbus believed that he had been in the waters ad¬ joining Asia, and that the large continental mass, now called South America but bv Columbus known as “ Mondo Novo ” (New World), was connected with Asia. The accompanying map by the two Columbus brothers, Christopher and Bartholemew, clearly shows this. On his first voyage, thinking that he was in “ Cipango ” (Japan) and that “ Cathay ” (China) was

The Ships of Columbus not far off, the leader sent off an interpreter to deliver to the ruler of the latter country a letter from the Spanish sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella. In a letter, which he wrote in 1503 concerning his fourth voyage. Columbus indicated that he still believed that he had been in the neighborhood of China.

Americus Vespucius and the Naming of America.— Amerieus Vespucius-, another Italian seaman in the service of Spain, made four voyages along the shores of South America. As a result of certain of his letters, which were widely published and became very popu¬ lar, the world came to look upon him as the discoverer of a new continent. Columbus was credited with the discovery of only a few islands off the coast. Martin Waldseemiiller, a German professor in a French col¬ lege at St. Die, suggested that the new continent be called America, in Vespucius’s honor. The professor intended no discredit to Columbus, for on a great map of the world of the year 1507, which was the first map to show the name America, across South America, Wald-

Wald see muller’s Great Map of 1507. The Western Half

seemiiller wrote of the present South America as a “ land, discovered by Columbus, a captain of the King of Spain, and by Americus Vespucius, both men of very great ability.”

The pleasant sounding name, America, suggested by the greatest geographical authority of the time, was tWMiMB HI 1

♦SCVKfcv** KfWStmr TM imhi in common use in a few years for South America; and shortly for North America also.

OTHER SPANISH VOYAGES

The Spanish Claim to America. The Line of De¬ marcation. — The monarchs of Spain looked to the explorations of Columbus to sustain their claim to the whole of North and South America. Although the

Balboa Claiming the Pacific Ocean in the Name of Spain claim was excessive and although disputes were bound to arise over it with Portgual and other rival nations, the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, wdio was appealed to for a decision in the matter, decided in Spain’s favor. By a famous proclamation, the head of the Church drew an imaginary line from pole to pole in the Atlantic Ocean, assigning to Spain all the lands and seas west of this line, which included all of America except the eastern strip of Brazil, and to

Portugal all east of it. The other nations quite nat¬ urally took the ground that there was enough new territory in America for all, and calmly disregarded the Pope’s line of demarcation.

Discovery of the Pacific Ocean. — The Pacific Ocean was discovered by a Spaniard named Balboa while searching for gold on the Isthmus of Panama. Here Balboa learned from the natives that he was traversing a narrow neck of land and that a great sea lay beyond. The discovery was dramatic in the extreme. Guided by Indians and followed by a band of picked men, Balboa made his way through an almost impenetrable forest until he believed that the moment of discovery was at hand. Then his men were halted while he went ahead to high ground, that he might first behold the great view alone. As the isthmus here runs east and west, he appropriately called the waters which he beheld from this height, the South Sea. Several days more of hard marchin&d^rought him and his party to the very ocean side, where Balboa advanced proudly into the water and took possession of the sea and all the lands it washed for the King of Spain. Later he made the first suggestion of an Atlantic-Pacific Canal over the Isthmus. Four years earlier, when Columbus was on his fourth voyage, the natives had disclosed to him the nearness of the southern sea; but he turned back.

The Spaniards in Mexico. — The Spaniards paid little attention to the eastern seaboard of North Amer¬ ica, where they found no gold or other precious metals. Under Ponce cle Leon they made a fruitless search in Florida for a fountain of perpetual youth, a drink of the waters of which they hoped would restore one’s youth forever; and they made several other unsuccessful expeditions along the same shores. In Mexico it was different, for here they found great quantities of gold and silver and a very interesting civilization. Cortez conquered the country of the Mexicans with a small band of followers in 1519-1521. His treatment of the natives was cruel in the extreme.

An Early Account of Mexico. — In 1544 Sebastian Cabot drew an interesting map of the world, on which there is an inscription describing Mexico in the fol¬ lowing words: “This mainland, which the Spaniards named New Spain, the most illustrious gentleman, Don Fernando Cortez, Marquis del Valle de Guaxacon, con¬ quered. There are, in this land, provinces and cities innumerable; the chief of*them is the city of Mexico, which contains more than fifty thousand inhabitants; it is in a salt lake which extends over forty leagues. There is, in the said city, and in all the other provinces, much gold, silver, and all kinds of precious stones; and there is produced in the said la and provinces much good silk, and cotton alum, orchil, dyewood, cochineal, and saffron, and sugar, with which many ships come loaded to these kingdom^ of Spain. The natives of this land are very expert in all that relates to trade; instead of coins, they make use of certain m kernels, split in halves, which they call cacoa. They have much wheat and barley, and many other grains, and vines, and fruits of different kinds. It is a land of many animals, deer, mountain boars, lions, leopards, tigers, and much other game, both birds and land ani¬ mals. It is a people very skillful in moulding any object after nature, and in painting pictures. The women usually adorn themselves with precious stones and valuable pearls. These Indians use a certain kind of paper, on which they draw what they wish to ex¬ press with figures (pictures) instead of letters. They never had peace among themselves; on the contrary, some persecuted others, in continuous fights in which the prisoners on either side were sacrificed by their enemies to their gods, and their dead bodies were given to the army at public banquets. They were idolaters, and adored whatever took their fancy; they were very fond of eating human flesh, whereas now they have laid aside these fierce and cruel customs, and have clad themselves in Jesus Christ, believing heartily in our holy evangelical faith, and obeying our most holy mother church and its most holy precepts.”

The Spaniards in Peru. — Another small Spanish army conquered Peru, on the west coast of South America, in 1533. Concerning this country and its na¬ tive inhabitants the Cabot map of 1544 contains the fol¬ lowing: “ These provinces were discovered by the hon¬ ored and valiant gentleman, Francisco Pizarro, who was the governor of them during his life; in which there is infinite gold and silver, and mines of very fine emeralds. The bread which they have they make of maize, and the wine likewise; they have much wheat and other grain. It is a warlike race; they use, in their wars, bows, and slings, and lances, and their arms are of gold and silver. There are in the said provinces cer¬ tain sheep of the form of small camels; they have very small wool. They are an idolatrous people, and of very subtle mind; and on all the sea-coast, and for more than twenty miles inland it never rains. It is a very healthy land. The Christians have made many settlements in it, and continually keep increasing them.”

The Spaniards in the Interior of North America.—

The Spaniards, seeking for gold, were greatly disap¬ pointed in the results of their expeditions into the interior of North America. From one of these expedi¬ tions, which was shipwrecked in the Gulf of Mexico, four survivors reached the Pacific Ocean, and reported strange tales of hunch-backed cows (buffaloes) on the plains of the interior, and of stone houses, the pueblos of the Zuni Indians. Inspired by these tales, another

De Soto’s Expedition traversed the present Gulf States of the United States and even crossed the Mississippi, but found nothing of value. The little army of this expedition, led by de Soto, who has passed down in history as the dis¬ coverer of the Mississippi River, was fearfully harassed by battles with the natives.

Coronado in the Southwest. — A third expedition, under Coronado, which set out from the city of Mexico, came to the pueblos of the Zunis, the Colorado River, and the plains of the middle of what is now the United States.

Concerning the discovery of the Colorado River and its grand canons, one who was with Coronado wrote as follows: “After they had gone twenty days they came to the banks of the river, which seemed to be more than three or four leagues in an air-line across to the other bank of the stream, which flowed between them. The country was elevated and full of low, twisted pines, very cold, and lying open toward the ’ north, so that, this being the warm season, no one could live there on account of the cold. They spent three days on this bank looking for a passage down to the river, which looked from above as if the water was six feet across, although the Indians said that it was half a league wide. It was impossible to descend.”

Coronado on the Great Plains West of the Mississippi. — “ Quivira,” an Indian town found by Coronado somewhere in the present state of Kansas or Nebraska, was described by an old authority, as reached “ through mighty plains, and sandy heaths, so smooth and weari¬ some, and bare of wood, that they made heaps of ox dung for want of stones and trees, that they might not lose themselves at their return; for three horses were lost on that plain and one Spaniard, which went from his company on hunting. All the way the plains are as full of crooked-backed oxen, as the mountain Serena in Spain is of sheep .... Quivira is in forty degrees; it is a temperate country, and hath very good waters, and much grass, plums, mulberries, nuts, melons, and grapes, which ripen very well. There is no cotton; and they apparel themselves with ox-hides and deer skins.”

Permanent Spanish Settlements in North America. —

A few struggling settlements were made by the Span¬ iards in the southern part of the present United States, among them St. Augustine in Florida in 1565. This was the first permanent European settlement in the United States. In about forty years more the Spaniards settled Santa Fe in New Mexico.

Magellan’s Circumnavigation of the Globe. — Co¬ lumbus’s first venture is the most celebrated voyage in the history of the world. Second to it in geograph- • ical importance is the voyage of Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese in the service of Spain, who was the first man to sail around the world. He set out from Spain in 1519. His first great feat was the finding of the strait now named for him at the southern tip of South America. Through this it took him five weeks to pass. It was a still greater feat to sail across the mighty Pacific, and be the first man to cross this great¬ est waste of waters. The remarkable voyage proved that the earth was round, since one of Magellan’s vessels, the Victoria, got back to its starting point in Spain by a continuous voyage to the west. The leader himself was killed in the Philippine Islands, but the Spice Islands, the goal of the endeavor, were reached by the survivors. A shipload of cloves and a few samples of other spices were carried back to Europe.

THE CLAIM OF OTHER NATIONS TO NORTH

AMERICA

The English Claim. — The English advanced a claim to North America, based on the voyages of the two Italians in their service, John Cabot, and Sebastian, his son. These two explorers reported in 1497 and 1498 that they had discovered the mainland of China seven hundred leagues west of England, and had coasted along this land for three hundred leagues. Their voy¬ ages, about which little is known, were widely cele¬ brated in England, where it was believed that it was the mainland of North America that the Cabots had reached. About a century elapsed before England at¬ tempted to take .advantage of these discoveries.

Description of Labrador.

-— An inscription on the Cabot map of 1544 speaks as follows of the lands which Sebastian Cabot and his father had dis¬ covered: “The people of this land are dressed in the skins of ani¬ mals. They use in their wars bows and arrows, lances and darts, and certain clubs of wood, and slings. It is a

A CAPE BRETON I,

John Cabot, 1497 .

very

There many

and stags and

Ponce de Leon 1512

0 ]00 200 sterile land, are on it white bears, many large like horses, many other animals; and like¬ wise there is infinite fish, sturgeon, salm¬ on, very large soles, a yard in length, and many other kinds of fish; and the greatest quantity of them is called codfish (baccallaos). And likewise there are in the same land

Atlantic Discoveries hawks, which are as black as crows, eagles, partridges, linnets, and many other kinds of birds of different species.” Probably this was somewhere in the vicinity of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

The French Claim. The Fishermen. — Almost as valuable in Europe as the spices, drugs, and gems of the Spice Islands of the East, was sea-food, from what¬ soever quarter of the globe derived. To the Europeans of the time, loyal members of the Roman Catholic Church, who were prohibited from eating meat on the many Church holidays and festivals, the announcement of the discovery of abundant new fishing grounds was extremely welcome. French fishermen found America’s greatest fishing grounds, the Grand Banks off Newfound¬ land, in 1504; and in every succeeding year they came there in increasing numbers. This was the foundation of France’s claim to territory in America.

The French Claim. Verrazano and Cartier. — Not long after, a great French expedition, under the com¬ mand of the Italian, Verrazano, forged the second link in the French claim to North America, by sailing along the eastern coast from the Carolinas to Maine. Ver¬ razano discovered the Hudson River, which he described as “ an exceeding great stream of water, which within the mouth was very deep, and from the sea to the mouth of the same, with the tide which we found to rise eight feet, any great ship laden may pass up.” A decade later, another Frenchman, Jacques Cartier, made ex¬ tensive explorations in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and along the St. Lawrence River.

The Portuguese Claim. — In the year 1500 a Portu¬ guese expedition under the command of Pedro Cabral, on its way down the w r est coast of Africa to the Spice

Islands of the East, was driven by storms to the coast of Brazil. With the exception of one short interval, the Portuguese maintained their hold here till the nine¬ teenth century. In the same year, farther north, an¬ other Portuguese, Gaspar Cortereal, reached the islands in the vicinity of Newfoundland.

1. What great voyages on the sea were made before Colum¬ bus? Did Columbus know of these? What aid did he receive from each ? Did Columbus know about Ptolemy and his map ? Do you believe in the discovery of America by the Northmen? Why? Why are the names of Prince Henry the Navigator and of da Gama to be remembered in connection with Columbus?

2. Mention various reasons why we consider Columbus a great man? Was Columbus superstitious? What arguments can you give that the world is round? Why did Columbus believe that he had reached Asia? Explain why the new world was not named after Columbus. Was Waldseemiiller a detractor of Columbus?

3. On what did the Spaniards base their claim to North America? Who was Balboa? What was Indian life in Mexico like, when the Spaniards arrived there? Who were the more civilized, the Indians of Mexico or of Peru? Why do you think so? Were the Spaniards^ good explorers? Where do you think “ Quivira ” was? Why? Give name and date of settlement of the oldest European settlement in North America. Compare Columbus with Magellan? Did they have any quali¬ ties in common? What?

4. Compare the Indians of Labrador with those of Mexico and of Peru? Which were the less advanced in civilization? Why? Were the Italians and Portuguese greater explorers than the Spaniards? Why? On what did the English, the French, and the Portuguese base their claims to parts of North America?

1. Resolved, That Magellan was a greater explorer than Columbus.

2. Resolved, That Spain’s claim to North America was better than that of England.

1. Imagine yourself back in Columbus’s day, and write on what he thought of the explorers who lived before him?

2. Consider that you had accompanied Columbus on his first voyage, and describe to your friends what you saw.

3. The part played by Italians in the early discoveries in America.

1. Columbus’s letter concerning his first voyage. Hart, Source Book, 103: Hart, Colonial Children, 4.

2. Magellan’s experiences on his great voyage. Halsey, Epochs, I, 82-92; McMurray, Pioneers on Land and Sea.

1492. Discovery of America

1513. Discovery of the Pacific Ocean

1. Edward Channing, United States.

2. John Fiske, Discovery of America .

Chapter II Preliminary English Voyages

Introduction. — The expeditions of the Cabots, and the voyages of the French fishermen and of Verrazano and Cartier had laid the foundations of the claims of England and of France to the eastern coast of North America; but for about a hundred years these two nations made no attempt to follow up these first voyages and render their title to thecontinent good by actual settlement. For a large part of this time the people of Europe were engaged in wars over the establishment of Protestant churches, after Martin Luther and the other leaders of the Protestant Reformation broke away from the Roman Catholic Church. To wage these wars the nations of Europe found that all their resources were needed at home; they had no energy to spare on colonization abroad. Alone of the great powers, Spain dared to send colonizing expeditions to America in this period, for example the great expeditions that conquered and held Mexico and Peru. In her case this was not a scattering of energies but rather an assem¬ bling of the sinews of war. The gold and silver of Mexico and Peru supported her and made her great. So jealously did she guard her treasures in the new world that the other nations could not, without great