The making of Virginia and the middle colonies, 1578-1701

Front matter

Class Book

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT

THE MAKING OF

Preface

AS in "The Making of New England," and "The Making of the Great West," this book aims to meet, so far as it may, the want for brief, compact, and handy manuals of the beginnings of onr country. And though primarily designed for school or home instruction, in the study of history, pains have been taken to make it of interest to adult readers, more especially to teachers, by the addition of copious explanatory notes, or by reference to first-hand authorities, as aids to fuller investigation.

To so fill out the bare outlines of the school history as to give the pupil something more than the dry bones ; to so condense the exhaustive narrative as to put its essence, without loss of vitality, in a few words, are objects that have been kept steadily in view in preparing these volumes. It is not enough to state that, in such or such a year, war broke out between two countries. Every intelligent person demands a reason, and is entitled to it. Many times I have heard teachers giving, or attempting to give, verbal explanations of some obscure statement in the text-book from memory. Not seldom teachers are asked questions in the school-room vi PREFACE

that they are unable to answer. A manual, from which short selections might be read, would have satisfied the pupil, and have saved the teacher's credit.

The maps being mostly designed as aids to ready and rapid reference from the text, are unencumbered with anything not expressly treated of therein. And instead of being bound by the strict order of chronology, it has been thought better to follow the development of one colony into another, as in Virginia and Maryland, through its legitimate channels.

Contents

I. The English in Virginia.

PAGE

Sib Humphrey Gilbert 1