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CHAPTER III.
ENGLISH EXPEDITIONS.
I. DISCOVERIES
AND EXPLORATIONS. --
1. England was the first to compete with Spain for the
honors and 
advantages
of western discovery. In May, 1497, John Cabot, a Venetian
by birth, but then a resident in England, accompanied by his son
Sebastian, sailed, under the patronage of Henry VII., on a voyage
of discovery.1 On the 3rd of July he fell in with land,
which he named Prima Vista,2 and which is
believed to have been the coast of Labrador. 
Thus
the continent of America was discovered by Cabot more than a year
before it was seen by Columbus,3 and more than two
years before Vespucci4 visited it. The next year
Sebastian Cabot made a second voyage, during which he
explored the continent from Labrador to near Albemarle
Sound.
2. In 1576
Martin Frobisher was sent out to find the north-west
passage.5 He sailed to the coast of Labrador, and as
far 
north
as the inlet that bears his name. Sir Francis Drake was the
first Englishman who navigated the Pacific Ocean. He sailed north,
in 1579, as far as Cape Orford, Oregon, and naming the country
New Albion, took possession of it for his queen. He then
returned to England by the Cape of Good Hope, thus completing the
second circumnavigation of the globe.
Il.
ATTEMPTS TO FORM
SETTLEMENTS. -- 1. In 1584 Sir
Walter Raleigh,6 under a commission from Queen
Elizabeth, despatched Philip Amidas and Arthur Barlow to America,
with two small vessels. They reached the coast 
of
North Carolina, and spent several weeks in trafficking with the
natives. On their return to England, they gave so brilliant a
description of the country, that Elizabeth bestowed upon it the
name of Virginia, as a memorial that the discovery had been
made under the patronage of a virgin queen.
1 The commission granted Cabot is the oldest state paper of England in reference to America. It is dated March 5, 1496.
2 First seen. 3 See p. 10, ¶ 10. 4 see p. 10, ¶ 12. 5 See p. 13, ¶ 2, and note.
6 Before this, Raleigh's half brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, made two attempts to effect a settlement in the New World. Both were ineffectual. On his second voyage, in 1583, he visited Newfoundland, and then sailed south, along the coast of Maine, to near the month of the Kennebec. But the loss of a part of his fleet compelled him to return to England. On his homeward voyage his vessel was lost, with all on board.
QUESTIONS. -- 1. What is said of England in connection with western discovery? Who first discovered the continent of America? When and where? How long before Columbus saw it? now long before the visit of Vespucci? What more is said of Sebastian Cabot? 2. What is said of Frobisher? What of Drake's voyage? 11. 1. Give an account of the expedition of Amidas and Barlow. By whom was Virginia named? Why so named?
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3.
Encouraged by the reports of Amidas and Barlow, and by the favor
of his queen, Raleigh the next year sent out a fleet, 
under
the command of Sir Richard Grenville, for the purpose of
making a settlement. As the colonists approached the coast of
North Carolina, they narrowly escaped shipwreck on a cape named
from that circumstance Cape Fear. They landed at Roanoke Island,
in Albemarle Sound, where they Year, remained nearly a rounded by
Indians, whom ill treatment rendered hostile. At length,
threatened with starvation, they returned to England.
4. Two years
afterwards, Raleigh 
despatched
a company of emigrants, with wives and families, under John
White, to establish homes in the New World. They arrived at
Roanoke, and on the site of the former settlement laid the
foundations of the City of Raleigh. White soon embarked for
England to obtain reënforcements and supplies. He left a
colony of more than one hundred persons; among them his infant
granddaughter, Virginia Dare, the first child born of English
parents in the present United States. After three years, he
returned to find the city of Raleigh a desert. Nothing is known of
the fate of the colony.
5.
In 1602 Bartholomew Gosnold visited the
coast of New England. He discovered Cape Cod, and named it, from
his 
catching
there a great number of codfish.
He concluded to settle on one of the Elizabeth
Islands, where he erected a fort and storehouse; but discontents
arose, and it was thought expedient to abandon the settlement. In
1603 Martin Pring explored the coast of America, from the
eastern part of Maine to Martha's Vineyard, and in 1605 George
Weymouth from Cape Cod to the Penobscot.
III. THE
CHARTER OF VIRGINIA.
-- 1. England was now ready to take possession of her
claims in America. Accordingly, the king, James I., granted, under
the name of Virginia, the territory lying between the
thirty-fourth and forty-fifth parallels of latitude, to two
companies, the London Company and the Plymouth Company. To the
London Company, composed of
QUESTIONS. -- 3. 3. Give an account of the expedition under Grenville. 4. Give an account of the expedition under John White. Who sent out these expeditions? 5. What can you tell of Gosnold's voyage? Of Pring's? Of Weymouth's? 1. For what was England now ready? What territory did the grant of Virginia include? To what companies was Virginia granted?
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"noblemen, gentlemen, and merchants;" in and
about London, was granted a territory, called South
Virginia, extending from the thirty-fourth to the
tbirty-eighth parallel, that is, from the latitude of Cape Fear to
the latitude of the southern limit of Maryland. To the Plymouth
Company, composed of "knights, gentlemen, and merchants,"
residing in Plymouth and in the West of England, was granted a
territory, called North Virginia, extending from the
forty-first to the forty-fifth parallel, that is, very nearly from
the latitude of the city of New York to the latitude of the
south-eastern part of Maine. The intermediate territory of
three degrees was open to both companies, with the condition that
neither should settle within one hundred miles of any settlement
previously established by the other.
2. The general direction of affairs in Virginia,
North and South, was committed to a body of men appointed by the
king, styled the Council of Virginia, and resident in
England. The local affairs of each colony were to be managed by a
local council resident in the colony, its members to be
named by the king, or in accordance with his will. Each local
council could choose its own president, who was to be the chief
magistrate in the colony. The colonists had no civil privileges,
and for a time the produce of labor was to be shared in
common.1
CHAPTER IV.
CONDITION, AT THE CLOSE OF THIS PERIOD, OF WHAT IS NOW THE UNITED STATES.
I. PROGRESS
OF DISCOVERY. -- 1.
At the commencement of this Period, the existence of the
American continent was unknown to Europe. When first
discovered, it was supposed to be a part of Asia. Balboa,2
Magellan,3 Drake.4 and others proved
it to be separated from Asia by a wide ocean; and the various
discoveries and explorations that have been briefly described in
the previous chapters, determined with a good degree of accuracy
the extent and the general outline of the continent, except at its
extreme north.
1 See p. 32, ¶ 8. 2 See p. 11, ¶ 1. 3 See p. 12, ¶ 1. 4 See p. 16, ¶ 2.
QUESTIONS. -- Of whom was each company composed? The name and extent of the grant to each? What of the Intermediate territory? 2. To whom was the general direction of affairs committed? How were the members of the local councils named? What authority had they? What Is said of the colonists? Of the produce of labor? 1. What of America at the beginning of this period? What was at first supposed in regard to America? What was afterwards proved?
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2. The
American Fisheries did much to open to Europe the way to
the shores of the New World. From an early date, the rich fishing
grounds off Newfoundland attracted the attention of the maritime
nations of Europe. They are supposed to have been noticed by the
Cabots, and soon after their time began to be much frequented.
Indeed, for many years they were the only attraction to the
northern part of the American coast. In the latter half of the
sixteenth century, it is estimated that "four hundred vessels came
annually from the harbors of Portugal and Spain, of France and
England, to the shores of Newfoundland."1
II.
CLAIMS.2 -- 1. "It was
held in these times, among the Christian states of Europe, and is
still a received principle of the law of nations, that
newly-discovered countries belong to the discoverers. This
title might be liable, indeed, to some exception in favor of the
native inhabitants; but, in case those inhabitants were not
Christians, they were looked upon as fair subjects for plunder and
conquest, the exclusive privilege of which was attached to the
discovery."3 But occupation was necessary to complete
the title by discovery; and if the nation originally discovering a
country neglected for a long time to take possession of it, other
nations could appropriate it.
2. In conformity to this doctrine, the
immense region known as North America was, at the close of this
period, claimed by Spain, England, and France. Spanish
claims, under the name of Florida,4 on the east,
and of New Mexico,5 in the interior and on the west,
extended north indefinitely from the southern boundary of the
United States. Within the present limits of the United States,
Spain had confirmed her claims by Settlements at St. Augustine and
at Santa Fé. French claims extended South, under the
name of Acadia,6 to the latitude of Philadelphia, and
under the name of New France,7 indefinitely. The French
had established a colony at Port Royal. English claims, by
priority of discovery, might have been much more extensive than
the charter for Virginia' made them. James, in this charter, while
he did not, avoid the regions claimed by France and Spain on the
Atlantic coast, did avoid those actually occupied by
them
1 Bancroft. 2 See Map, p. 19. 3 Hildreth. 4 See p. 12, § III
5 see p. 14, ¶ 5. 6 See p. 15, § III. 7 See p. 14, ¶ 1. 8 See p. 17, § III.
QUESTIONS. -- 2. What is said of American fisheries? II. 1. What principle of the law of nations is mentioned? Effect of occupation on title by discovery? 2. What nations Claimed North America? Describe and name the Spanish claims within the present limits of the United States. French claims. English claims.
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III.
ABORIGINES. --
1. When our ancestors first landed upon the shores
of the New World, they found it an almost unbroken wilderness,
inhabited by numerous tribes or clans of
Indians,1 each tribe under its own sachem, or
chief. Of their number, when the English settled among them, we
have no certain estimate. They probably did not exceed one hundred
and fifty thousand within the limits of the thirteen original
states.
2. The different
tribes within the boundaries of the United States were nearly the
same in their physical characteristics. In person the
Indians were tall, straight, and well-proportioned. Their skins
were red, or of a copper brown; their eyes black; their hair long,
black, and coarse. The same moral characteristics were
common to the different tribes. They were quick of apprehension,
and not wanting in genius. At times they were friendly, and even
courteous. In council, they were distinguished for gravity and
eloquence; in war, for bravery and address. They were taciturn and
unsocial, except when roused by some strong excitement. When
determined upon revenge, no danger would deter them, - neither
absence nor time could cool them.
3. Of their
employments, war was the favorite. Their weapons were
war-clubs, hatchets of stone called tomahawks, and bows and
arrows. Their warlike expeditions usually consisted of small
parties, and it was their glory to lie in wait for their enemy, or
come upon him by surprise. They rushed to the attack with
incredible fury, and at the same time uttered their appalling
war-whoop. Their captives they often tortured with every variety
of cruelty, and to their dying agonies added every species of
insult. Next to war, hunting and fishing were esteemed
honorable. In the former, the weapons of war became the implements
of the chase; in the latter, they used nets made of thread twisted
from bark or from the sinews of the moose and deer; for
fish-hooks, they used crooked bones. Their arts and
manufactures were, for the most part, confined to the
construction of wigwams, bows and arrows, wampum, ornaments, stone
hatchets, and mortars for pounding corn; to the dressing of skins,
and the weaving of mats from the bark of trees, or from a coarse
sort of hemp. Their agriculture extended not much beyond
the cultivation of porn, beans, peas, potatoes, and melons. Their
skill in medicine was confined to a few simple
prescriptions and operations. When they knew no remedy, they
resorted to their powwow, or priest, who undertook a cure by means
of sorcery. The Indians, however, were liable to few diseases
compared with the number that prevails in civilized society. Their
women, or squaws, tilled their scanty fields, and performed
the drudgery connected with their household affairs.
1 The Indians living in the United states, east of the Mississippi, have been arranged in eight families. The following will give the reader the names of these families, and of the most
QUESTIONS. -- 1. What was the condition of the New World at the time of its discovery? By whom inhabited? What was the probable number of the Indians? 2. What is said of their physical characteristics? Of their moral characteristics? 3. What was the favorite employment of the Indians? What is said of their warlike expeditions? Of the treatment of their captives? What other employments were honorable? What of their arts and manufactures? Their agriculture? Their skill in medicine? The women?
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© 1999, 2000, 2001 for NEGenWeb Project by Ted & Carole Miller